The Book of Revelation
“Woe to the World”
Revelation 9
Last week we looked at the first four trumpet judgments against heaven and earth. They resulted in a third of the vegetation, sea life, fresh water, and light being destroyed and diminished. Literally a third of the earth’s food supply and water are gone, and a third of natural light will be eliminated.
After the fourth trumpet sounded an angel announced for all to hear that the final three trumpet judgments were about to be sounded, each measurable worse than the one before it. These will be so horrifying that God assigned a “woe” to each one, indicating that each will bring extreme grief, distress, suffering, affliction, and calamity.
Read Revelation 9:1-12
Fifth Trumpet Judgment: Demonic Locust.
We see a star falling from heaven, but it’s not a meteorite, rather it’s an angelic being. The reason I say this is because John uses a personal pronoun describing the star, calling it “him,” and that he is given a key and opens the door to the abyss reveals intelligence. And then in Revelation chapter one there were stars in the hand of Jesus that were called angels or messengers.
Now some have speculated that this angel is Satan seeing that he has fallen from heaven and had these keys, but there are some problems with this. Satan no longer possesses the keys of Hades and Death, Revelation 1:18, and the idea that Jesus would return them to Satan seem untenable to me.
Further, fallen here doesn’t mean rejected or ousted, but rather he was sent on a mission from heaven to earth for this specific purpose. And so this angel is one of the good guys on a divine mission to begin the fifth trumpet judgment.
The word abyss means “no depth,” which is why it’s also referred to the “bottomless pit.” It refers to a deep cavern within the depths of the earth. The Scriptures speak of this place as the place where fallen angels, or demons, are incarcerated. You may say its demon jail. The demons that possessed the Gaderene man begged Jesus not to cast them into this place, Luke 8:31.
And so we see an angel from heaven that has been given the keys to this abyss opening this dark hellish prison of demons. And the smoke of hell literally rises above the earth so thick and dark that it blocks out the sun.
From this abyss come a plague of demonic locusts that last for approximately five months, and all those upon the earth, with the exception of the 144,000, will experience horror after horror.
A plague of locust is one of the most feared plagues. Locust would invade a country stripping it clean of every green thing bringing severe famine. Such plagues generally occur from May through September, or a five-month period.
God also uses a locust plague as divine judgment against people. We see it used by God in the eighth plague against Egypt. And we see the same thing recorded in Joel. The Lord said,
“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” (Joel 2:25 NKJV)
But these are no ordinary locust as their description indicates, further they have the power to hurt through scorpion-like tails. These demons assume a locust-like form. The fact that they are demons and not locust is seen in their leader who is named “Apollyon,” which means “destroyer.” Normal locust have no leader, they move where the winds blow.
Further, these locusts come from the abyss where evil spirits are imprisoned, and they attack only human beings rather than vegetation. And they are hell bent on spreading as much misery as they possible can, inflicting horrible excruciating agony.
The idea of having scorpion tails only adds to the horror. Not only are locusts the most feared plagues, but also they belong to the largest and most deadly insect tribe. Their bite can sometimes be fatal, thus ranking them with snakes in their hostility towards human beings.
Yet, as malignant as these demonic creatures are, the Lord God has set upon them certain limitations. In other words, they can only go as far as the Lord permits. Not even their demonic leader can change that.
First they were to leave the vegetation alone and attack only humans. Isn’t ironic, here we have rebellion turning upon itself, as these demons who are in rebellion to God are inflicting pain on humans who are also in rebellion to God.
Second, they cannot harm those with God’s seal upon their foreheads, or the 144,000.
Finally, they’re not allowed to kill, only to torment. This word torment means acute pain, and from this pain people are going to want to die but they won’t be able to.
Death is out of their reach. They’ll desire death, but death will escape them. You could say death isn’t found at this time, and will actively run from those who are pursuing it. Can you imagine wanting to die but not being able to?
This brings me to a very hard but necessary teaching. There are many people that are physically, mentally, and emotionally afflicted who just want to die. But death is only within God’s domain, not ours. Job describes this saying,
Since his (man’s) days are determined, the number of his months is with You (that is, the Lord); You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.” (Job 14:5 NKJV)
Job is probably the best example of someone who was afflicted beyond measure and who just wanted to die.
From the physical torment of disease, and the mental anguish from all of his possessions being stolen, to the deep sorrow he felt at his children’s deaths, Job literally despaired of life. In fact the sorrow was so deep that he wished for death. Listen to his lament.
“Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, who long for death, but it does not come.” (Job 3:20-21a NKJV)
Job talked about how his soul was weary of life. But God was withholding death from Job just as He is withholding death from many who desire it, and that’s because He has a purpose for the pain and a plan for everyone’s life that’s still unfulfilled.
With that in mind, please don’t shortcut God’s plan for your life because of the pain.
The problem stems from this feel good society we live in. We only look at the here and now, rather than the future and eternity. We want happiness and self-fulfillment, and if we don’t have it then we want to opt out. What’s happened is that society has lost sight of God’s plan and purpose, imposing instead its own set of standards.
The Great Commandment says that we are to love God first and foremost, and then love our neighbors as ourselves. If we take the easy way out of life’s pain, then it’s against this love, because love never loses its purpose for living, and God’s love is the antidote.
When we love God, His love for us becomes so clear, because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and by the stripes He received, we are healed. We’re His and His life becomes ours, because Jesus became sin for us and paid the price so we’ll never have to face eternal torment and agony.
Therefore affliction has a purpose in God’s economy. In this time of Tribulation, it’s so people can repent. With Job it was to test His faith, and in the end God gave Job back double for His trouble.
I don’t know fully what God’s purpose and plan is for your life, but God has one that includes the pain you are presently enduring. So hang in there.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that we’re to run this race of life with the endurance of a marathon runner. The word for “race” is where we get our English word, “agony.” What the Lord is saying is that this life is filled with struggle and conflict. And that’s because we live in a sin-filled world.
So we are to run with endurance to the end. This is not a 100-yard dash, but a long distance marathon. Now, in every marathon there’s a point where the runners “hit the wall.” This is where every part of your body hurts, and your mind has only one thought, it goes like this: “Are you nuts, quit and stop the pain.” The problem with listening to this is that if you quit, you don’t cross the finish line and receive your reward.
Now many have used the description of these locusts to try to explain them by their characteristics.
• As horses they’re posed and ready for battle
• The crowns they’re wearing reveal their authority to conquer
• Having human faces symbolize their determination and intelligence.
And while this is all well and good, what we do know is this; that they’re really bad dudes who enjoy their work of inflicting pain and torment on the human population.
One woe is passed, and two more are yet to come. And they’re even worse.
Read Revelation 9:13-21
Sixth Trumpet Judgment: Two Hundred Million Army
These are fallen angels who have been kept bound in the River Euphrates until this divinely appointed time.
The Euphrates River was one of the original boundaries of the land promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:18). And across its shores the Assyrians and Babylonians descended upon humanity with great destruction.
William Barcley said these are Angels of Punishment coming from that part of the world that brought death, disaster, and slavery.
The army they command has been in question however. The number, 200 million have some believing it’s China’s army, which has been listed at over 200 million. Others see it as similar to the 5th trumpet judgment, in that these are demonic and humanity won’t be able to stop them, seeing their destructive power is reminiscent of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
But the real issue isn’t who they are, but rather what they will inflict upon the world. One-third of the world’s population will die.
This is by far the most intense of all the judgments, and this death toll of one-third, added to the death toll of one-forth earlier at the fourth seal judgment, along with all those who’ve died as a result of the first three trumpet judgments, and those who have been martyred for their faith, is beyond counting. Overall this may well add up to one-half of earth’s population.
And what’s the overall purpose behind such torment and death? I believe it’s to get the people who are left to repent, to turn away from their idols and abominations and turn back to God. This is seen in the last two verses.
“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
They didn’t repent of their idolatry. This has always been a long-standing problem. The Old Testament is full of stories of how God’s people repeatedly returned to worshipping idols.
Idolatry is closely associated with culture. An idol is anything that obscures and competes with God. It’s what we give our attention to, and consumes our time, energy, and money.
• Materialism is an idol. It’s the consumer mentality or our need to buy and accumulate stuff. The Bible says that money isn’t the problem, rather it’s our love of money, or better yet, what our money can buy, that’s the root of evil.
o It’s ironic we have printed on our money, “In God We Trust,” when in reality it’s not God at all, but rather our trust is in what we can get with our money.
• Success is also an idol. We live a society that worship celebrities. It’s about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. We want to read of those who have succeeded, and how we can then transfer their techniques and philosophies to our lives so we can have the same success.
o And we do the same thing in church. We worship the success stories. Books are written and seminars presented in how to succeed in ministry. The celebrity cult of success is also alive and well within the church.
• There’s also the idol of self. It’s the “me” generation. It’s all about us. It’s living for the weekend, career, retirement, or recreation. It’s what makes us feel good.
o This also includes the preoccupation with outward appearances. It’s the “Mirror, mirror, on the wall” syndrome. And its altar can be found in a person’s closet or the mirrors in the bathroom or fitness club.
• Our relationship with others can also be idolatrous. It’s where we pay more attention to another person than we pay attention to God. It’s when we try to get from someone else what we should be getting from God. It’s where we mistakenly think that a relationship will satisfy us in a way that only God can.
o Here’s the point. It’s not until we truly love God as stated in the Great Commandment that we’ll ever be able to love anyone else and have that relationship we truly desire.
And while there are always idols, I think we can see by these examples just how prevalent idols are in our culture, and how easy it is to make new ones.
The Apostle John then shows just how ridiculous such worship really is by revealing that our idols cannot see, hear, or walk. They can’t answer a single prayer, give more strength, nor lift a finger to help in times of trouble. They can’t extend life, nor get someone to heaven. They are lifeless and can do absolutely nothings except damage and destroy a person’s life forever.
Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord's anger be aroused against you (Deuteronomy 11:17-18a NKJV)
John also reveals they didn’t repent of their murders, sexual immoralities, and their thefts, or numbers six through eight in God’s Ten Commandments.
John also adds they didn’t repent of their sorceries.
Sorcery includes all kinds of witchcraft including, but not limited to, astrology, palm reading, séances, fortune telling, crystals, amulets, charms, magic spells, and the use of drugs.
Why do I say the use of drugs? The word for sorcery in the Greek language is where we get our word “pharmacy.” What we need to understand is that legal drugs have entrapped more people, especially Christians, than the illegal street drugs. And it’s through the use of drugs that we give place to demonic activity as they literally start changing our mental and emotional make up, controlling our very actions and behaviors.
Further, as the end of the world approaches, we’ll see a dramatic rise in demonic activities like never before.
As I end I like to say that God takes no pleasure in seeing His creation go through such wrath. God loves us and desires us to escape, therefore He warns us through His word as to what’s coming so that we can escape.
Therefore He has made a way of escape through His Son, Jesus Christ, who has taken upon Himself God’s wrath due to each one of us. Today, if you want to escape God’s wrath, then cast yourself completely upon Jesus Christ and receive Him today as your personal Savior and Lord.
The writer of Hebrews tells us,
“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3a NKJV)
