Revelation 9

CHAPTER 9THEME: The fifth and sixth trumpetsThe last three trumpets are separated from the other four by the fact that they are three woe trumpets. My translation of chapter 8, verse Rev_8:13, reads, “And I saw and heard one eagle, flying in midheaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe to them dwelling upon the earth, by reason of the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to blow the trumpet.” We are coming to a section that is weird and wild; it boggles the mind as we read through this chapter. All kinds of interpretations have been given of this section. But let us get our feet back on the ground, and we will find that the things mentioned here ought not to frighten us. If you are a child of God, you are not going through these things. It is not the “blessed hope” of the church to endure these things. The church will have been taken out of the world by this time, and these are the things which will happen in the Great Tribulation period to a Christ-rejecting world. These woes mark the deepest darkness and the most painful intensity of the Great Tribulation period. They are generally associated with the last three and one-half years of the Seventieth Week of Daniel, which is the Great Tribulation period. These will be the blackest days in human history. The language used in this section is admittedly the most difficult of interpretation, but this does not preclude our policy of following the literal line, even when the figures adopted are the most vivid and wild. If another interpretation is proper, John will furnish us the key.

Revelation 9:1

FIFTH TRUMPETFALLEN STAR AND PLAGUE OF LOCUSTSHere in verse Rev_8:1 we have a description of the scene as the fifth angel sounds a trumpet and a star falls from heaven. And the fifth angel sounded (blew the trumpet), and I saw a star out of heaven fallen into the earth, and there was given to him a key of the long shaft (pit, well) of the abyss. Notice the proper meaning of “the bottomless pit” is the long shaft (or pit or well) of the abyss. “I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.” We have already seen two stars, and we said that they were literal stars, meteors, that fall to the earth. I recall several years ago sitting with my wife on a lanai of a hotel on Waikiki Beach and watching a shower of meteors or shooting stars. Meteors are the shooting stars which we see on a summer night. But here we have a different kind of star because it is called “him” and acts with intelligence. We are talking now about an unusual person. This star is different, therefore, from the stars mentioned at the sounding of the fourth trumpet. This star not only acts with intelligence, but he is given a key which he usesno inanimate star could do this. We believe that this star is Satan. Some have identified this star as Antichrist; if this is so, it lends support to the view that Antichrist is Satan incarnate, but I do not accept that. My point is that Antichrist is exactly that: he is everything Christ is not, and he is motivated by Satan. The reasons for interpreting this star as Satan are abundant. The prophet Isaiah writes: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isa_14:12). In Luke’s Gospel we read: “And he [Jesus] said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luk_10:18). That would be like a fallen star, you see. Also, Paul writes: “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2Co_11:14). These Scriptures confirm the position that Satan is in view here. John will state later that Satan was put out of heaven and cast to the earth (see Rev_12:7-9). If we have established the fact that the “star” is Satan being cast out of heaven, then what does he do? He goes down and takes the key to the abyss, which apparently means that God is permitting him to do so. A key denotes authority and power, and this is given to him of God; it is the permissive will of God. “The long shaft of the abyss” means the long shaft leading to the abyss. The abyss is the bottomless pit which will be seen in chapter 20, verse Rev_20:3. The abyss and hades may be synonymous terms, but the abyss and hell are not the same. Our Lord probably referred to the abyss in Mat_12:40: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The Lord speaks here of His descent into the “heart of the earth.” The body of Jesus was not actually buried in the earthit was put in a new tomband it certainly was not in the heart of the earth. Rather, what we have in this language of Matthew is that He went to the abyss, which apparently is hades or sheol. When the Lord Jesus told about the deaths of the rich man and Lazarus (see Luk_16:19-31), He made it quite obvious that hades is in two compartments. The rich man died and went to the place of torment. The poor man died and went into Abraham’s bosom, or paradise as our Lord called it. The Lord went down there in His death to announce to the saved His victory and that He would be leading them into the presence of God.

That is, I believe, what Paul meant when he said that the Lord Jesus “…led captivity captive …” (Eph_4:8). He went to the abyss to announce that His redemption had been wrought. It behooves us not to be dogmatic where the Scriptures are silent, but there is the thought that a shaft leads from the surface of the earth to the heart of the earth. I know that may sound very much like I am being superstitious. I do accept this idea, but I would not be dogmatic about it. If you have some advance information and can prove to me that it means something else, I would certainly be glad to accept it. The Lord now holds the key to the abyss (see Rev_1:18). Peter tells us the demons are imprisoned there (see 2Pe_2:4). In Luk_8:30-31 we read: “And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep [abyss].” The abyss is a very literal place. The idea that heaven and hell are mythological and that heaven is a beautiful isle of somewhere, a Shangri-la, hanging out in space, is not the teaching of the Word of God. The teaching of the Word of God is that heaven is as literal as the place where you live today and that hell is equally as real as the place where you now live. During the last part of the Great Tribulation, the key to the abyss is given to Satan, and he is given a freedom that he never has had before. I believe this explains why men cannot die during this period. Satan wants to keep them alive; he does not want his army decimated at all.

Revelation 9:2

And he opened the long shaft (pit, well) of the abyss, and there came smoke out of the long shaft of the abyss as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the shaft of the abyss. Out of the shaft, like a great erupting volcano, will come smoke to cover the entire earth. This is smog of the most vicious type. The literal interpretation of this verse is the correct and most satisfying one.

Revelation 9:3

And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them in order that they should not hurt the grass of the earth nor any green things, nor any tree, but only (except) the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. To me this beggars description. John uses symbolic language which describes creatures so frightful that this is the only way he could speak of them. These are locusts, but they are of a very unusual character. As Govett remarks (The Apocalypse Expounded by Scripture, pp. 185-186), they are “no common locusts,” and he gives the following reasons:

1. for they eat no vegetable productions; (2) the locusts of the earth have no king (Pro_30:27); these have; (3) in the plague of Egypt the inspired recorder had said, “Before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such” (Exo_10:14); (4) yet they are literal creatures resembling the literal animals named: the lion, the horse, the scorpion, the man. This is a plague of locusts which is as literal as the plague of locusts in Egypt. Joel prophesied of a coming plague of locusts (see Joel 1). Again, a working knowledge of the Old Testament is essential to the understanding of Revelation. The difference between the locusts here and the locusts in Joel is the character of the locusts and the object of their destruction. They sting as scorpions, and their objects are evil men.

Revelation 9:5

And it was given to them in order that they should not kill them, but in order that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh at man. The scorpion is shaped like a lobster and lives in damp places. His sting is in his tail; though it is not fatal, it is very painful indeed. This is the picture we are given here. These were mentioned by Joshua when he spoke of the hornet, “And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you …” (Jos_24:12). Therefore you can see that believers, living during the Great Tribulation who will be acquainted with the Old Testament, will understand what John is talking about regarding these scorpions.

Revelation 9:6

And in those days shall the men seek death, and shall not find it; and they shall earnestly desire to die, and death fleeth from them. Satan is given the key to this long shaft (which evidently is what is called sheol in the Old Testament and hell [hades] in the New Testament). The shaft leads to the abyss where the spirits of the dead of the ages past have gone. This is where the Lord Jesus went to announce the redemption that He had wrought on the cross. Satan does not want his crowd to die, and it is only his crowd that are attacked by these locusts. Men during this period try to commit suicide and are unable to do itthis reveals something of the awfulness of that day.

Satan wants them here because there is a battle between light and darkness that is being waged. There are others who think that maybe it is God who will not let these men die because sinful man must face the consequences of his rebellionthere is no escape. It is not a laughing matter to reject Jesus Christ; it is not a simple thing to ignore Him. People say there are so many important things in this lifeand I am willing to grant that many things take second, third, and fourth placebut the most important thing is your decision concerning Jesus Christ.

Revelation 9:7

And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as of chariots of many horses rushing into battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails was their power to hurt men five months. I am sure you will agree that this is a frightful, weird, and unnatural description. A little closer examination, however, will reveal a striking similarity to the locusts of Palestine, which I think we need to note. Dr. Vincent makes this comment in his book on Revelation: The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armor, is so striking that the insect is named in German Heupferd hay-horse, and in Italian cavaletta little horse. The faces of locusts resemble the faces of men, and the antennae of the locust are compared to a girl’s hair. Joel compares the teeth of the locust with those of a lion (see Joe_1:6). Many have commented on the weird sound that the locust makes. In his Word Studies in the New Testament, Dr. Vincent quotes Olivier, a French writer: It is difficult to express the effect produced on us by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled on all sides and to a great height by an innumerable quantity of these insects, whose flight was slow and uniform, and whose noise resembled that of rain. There are those today who have attempted to liken this description of the locust to the airplane. I remember as a young fellow hearing a preacher who said that since the sting of the locust is in the tail, it compares to the rear gunner on a bomber! Well, that all sounds very good, but we have now passed from the propeller plane to the jet plane and into the missile age. Maybe you would want to compare these locusts to the missile. Seriously, I do not want to compare it to anything that is known today, because this is not the weapon that is used today but the weapon that is going to be used in the Great Tribulation periodwhatever that is going to be. Our weapons today are so frightful that even Russia and the United States (although they are at opposite poles) are willing to sit down and talk, as long as one thinks the other is as strong or stronger than he is. “Their power was to hurt men five months.” It will be five months of unspeakable agony for those who have been attacked by these unnatural locusts.

Revelation 9:11

They have over them (as) king, the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon. These locusts are further differentiated from ordinary locusts in that they have a king over them. Pro_30:27 says of natural locusts that they have no king. The king or leader of these locusts is probably one of the fallen angels, the chief henchman of Satan, and he is permitted to lead an invasion of earth for the first time. This is something that is going to be rather frightening. His name in Hebrew means “destruction,” and in Greek it means “the destroyer.” This confirms what Daniel told us, that the demon world of the fallen angels is divided into gradations.

I think there are generals, majors, lieutenants, sergeants, and buck privates. In Ephesians we find that the angels of God are divided in the same way.

Revelation 9:12

The one woe is past; behold there come yet two woes after these things. The first woe introduced to us the last half of the Great Tribulation period, and it had a duration of five months. Apparently, the last two woes will cover the remainder of that period. The warning here indicates that worse things are to follow, and the next trumpet reveals that this was not just an idle warning.

Revelation 9:13

SIXTH TRUMPETANGELS LOOSED AT RIVER EUPHRATES And the sixth angel blew (sounded) the trumpet. And I heard one (a single) voice out of the horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel having the trumpet, loose the four angels which have been bound at the great river Euphrates. When the sixth angel blew the trumpet, a command came from the horns of the golden altar. That golden altar speaks of prayer; that is what it spoke of in the tabernacle here on earth. This is where the angel offered prayer at the beginning of the blowing of the trumpets (see Rev_8:3). The sixth angel not only blows the trumpet but is also given a command to loose the four angels bound at the river Euphrates.

This angel receives in turn his orders from a voice that was there at the horns of the golden altar. It is the voice of Christ. He has now ripped off the seventh seal which led into the trumpets and which will lead into the seven personalities and the seven bowls of wrath. The angels who are bound are evidently evil. Why would they be bound if they were not evil? Releasing them turns loose a flood tide of destruction on the earth. They were bound away from the others, I believe, because of the enormity of their crime. Why were they bound at this particular location at the Euphrates River? Though this is rather difficult to explain, the prominence of this area in Scripture cannot be overlooked. The Garden of Eden was somewhere in this section. The sin of man began here. The first murder was committed here. The first war was fought here. Here was where the Flood began and spread over the earth. Here is where the Tower of Babel was erected. To this area were brought the Israelites of the Babylonian captivity. Babylon was the fountainhead of idolatry. And here is the final surge of sin on the earth during the Great Tribulation period. The Euphrates actually marks the division between East and West. It was Kipling who said that East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet. That is true to a certain extent. Perhaps there has been a restraining influence in the past which has kept the hordes of the East from spilling over into the West, but it is going to be broken down. It was Napoleon who made the statement: “China is a sleeping giant, and God pity the generation that wakes her up.” Well, we woke her up, and she is very much alive today. China represents one-fourth of the world’s population.

If you take the peoples of the East, of the Orient, beyond the Euphrates River, you have most of the population of the world. Suppose they start moving? My friend, they are going to move someday. From the time of Alexander the Great, the white man has had his day. Colonialism, as far as the white man is concerned, is over now, but communism’s colonialism is still on the march. The dark races are awakening.

They have been held back, and apparently these four angels had something to do with holding them back. Zechariah locates Babylon as the last stand of false religion (see Zech. 5). This is where Satan’s last stand will take place.

Revelation 9:15

And the four angels were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they might kill the third of men. And the number of the armies of the cavalry was two ten thousands (myriads) of ten thousands (myriads). “And the four angels were loosed, who had been prepared for the hour, and day, and month, and year.” You will have to take that literally, my friend, because I do not know how else you would take it. The very hour is marked out. “That they might kill the third of men.” At the blowing of the sixth trumpet, one-third of the population of mankind will be removed. We have already seen a fourth removed, and now a third is removed. Over one-half of the population of the earth will be destroyed in the Great Tribulation period. No wonder that the Lord Jesus said, “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved …” (Mat_24:22). The size of the army is stupendous. It is numbered at 200 million. China and India and Japan could easily put that many in the field tomorrow. The great population is in the East today. God help the white man, my friend, when these angels are removedhe will not stand a chance. What is spoken of here in this passage is the wholesale invasion of the earth by the demon world represented in the locusts. Now they are motivated to a world war. Actually, we have never yet had a real world war in which every nation was involved, but that will take place in the Great Tribulation Period. Are these 200 million human beings? I have so far indicated that they could be, but frankly, I believe that what we have here is the invasion by the demon world, which is a further result of Satan’s opening the door of the shaft of the bottomless pit. The following description of these horsemen further confirms this fact.

Revelation 9:17

And, thus (after this manner) I saw the horses in the (my) vision, and those that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire (fiery red), and hyacinth, and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire, and smoke and brimstone. By these plagues was the third of men killed, by the fire, by the smoke, and by the brimstone that proceeded out of their mouths. Many suppose these to be tanks. How do they know that tanks will be used in the Great Tribulation period? We are talking about a period that is in the future. Modern tanks reveal that this may well be, but I have a notion that they will have something more refined and sophisticated in that period. Notice that the colors are as striking as the horsemen are unnatural. “Fire” is fiery red; “hyacinth” is the same color as the flowerdull, dark blue; “brimstone” is light yellow. The horse is the animal of war (see Job_39:19-25). The underworld is now making war on mankind. These creatures from the underworld are unnatural. They are probably demons or demon-controlled. We are given a literal description of them. In his book on Revelation, William R. Newell makes this very timely observation, “Believe, and you scarcely need any comment.” The problem with men who come to Revelation and say that it is difficult to understand and impossible to interpret is that they do not believe it. If you simply believe it and read it, it is very clear. Hellish forces will be at work during this period. These three plagues mentioned here are literal plagues. The fire is literal, the smoke is literal, and the brimstone is literal. The same thing took place at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe this world during the Great Tribulation period will actually be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. People talk about homosexuality attaining respectability in our day. Well, it was the accepted life-style in Sodom and Gomorrah, but homosexuals went out of businessGod put them out of business. If you think God is going to permit mankind to go into eternity an unnatural creature, you are wrong. At this point one-third of the population is killed. One-third of nature had already been affected, but mankind had not been touched with a judgment of this magnitude. If the population of the world were 1.5 billion, this would mean that 500 million would be slain. Remember that a fourth part had been slain under the fourth seal. This terrible decimation of the earth’s population seemed incongruous with all of history until the atomic bomb fell upon Hiroshima. Since then men have been using more frightening language than that of Revelation. They now talk of the total decimation of earth’s inhabitants. But the Lord Jesus said that He will not permit it: “…except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved …” (Mat_24:22)and the human race would commit suicide if it could.

Revelation 9:19

For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and by them they hurt. These are unnatural horses which are able to kill with their mouths. The weirdest feat of all is that, instead of horses’ hair for tails, they have serpents which are also used in destroying mankind.

Revelation 9:20

And the rest of men who were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold and silver and copper and stone and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. “Sorceries” is the Greek word pharmakeion, from which we get our English word pharmacy. Pharmacy means “drugs.” What were called drugstores when I was a boy are today called pharmacies. The Great Tribulation will be a period when the use of drugs will not be controlled. Drugs will play a large part in the lives of the unsaved and will serve several purposes. Drugs will enable them to bear the judgments of the Great Tribulation period.

I am sure that many a person will turn to drugs when he is stung or bitten by these unnatural creatures. Although they will not die, they will feel like they are going to die, and as a result, they will take drugs to overcome the pain and help them endure the Great Tribulation. Drugs will also figure largely in the religion of that day. There will be a regular drug culture and drug religion in the days of the Great Tribulation period. What we are seeing today is very small in comparison to what it will be then. People will resort to everything that will deaden the pain or lift them out of the trouble of that time. Liquor will certainly be very prominent as it is even now. I want to share with you a statement by Dr. J. A. Seiss from his book (The Apocalypse, p. 106) published about 1906. The reason I mention the date is that it seems like he wrote it yesterday or that maybe he was preparing it for tomorrow’s edition of your local paper. This is his comment on the word sorceries: We have only to think of the use of alcoholic stimulants, of opium, of tobacco, of the range of cosmetics and medicaments to increase love attractions, of resorts to the pharmacopoeia in connection with sensualityof the magical agents and treatments alleged to come from the spirit-world for the benefit of people in thisof the thousand impositions in the way of medicines and remedial agents, encouraging mankind to reckless transgression with the hope of easily repairing the damages of nature’s penaltiesof the growing prevalence of crime induced by these things, setting loose and stimulating to activity the vilest passions, which are eating out the moral sense of societyfor the beginnings of that moral degeneracy to which the seer here alludes as characteristic of the period when the sixth trumpet is sounded. You would think that he had written that for today, but in his day there was no great drug culture nor were drugs and alcohol as big a problem as they are today. Drugs are used today in practically every modern cult which uses sex as a drawing card. We are told here that they were guilty not only of sorceries, of indulging in drunkenness and in drugs, but also of fornications which lead to thefts. It is alarming the way that adultery is being practiced in the United States. It is promoted as an evidence of our liberty and of the tremendous advancement of civilization! It is interesting that, instead of playing the requiem, this crowd wants to sing and dance and say that the race is improving. Sorceries and fornication and robbery are going to be increased and a greater emphasis placed upon them. I believe that the Antichrist will use all three of these to bring mankind into subjection to himself. Mankind will be easily lured in that day. Under the influence of drugs, he will accept anything. One of the reasons that our contemporary nightclubs push liquor is not only for the money that is in it, but it also makes their entertainers acceptable. A very inferior singer or comedian goes over well if you’ve had two cocktails; and if you’ve had three, then he is a star.

Drugs and liquor will put Antichrist over. Paul wrote: “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2Th_2:9-10). I believe that the gospel will go out to every creature before the Rapture, and certainly each one is going to hear it during the Great Tribulation period. What Paul describes here will only happen to those who have rejected the Word of God. “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2Th_2:11-12). The moment that you reject the gospel and shut your heart to God, you are wide open for the big lie when it comes. This is the reason so many today fall for everything that comes along. Someone has said that those who stand for nothing will fall for anything. This is it exactly: those today who are not standing for the Word of God are easy prey for the cults.