Before we get into chapter 9, let’s go over the most widely accepted itinerary of the Tribulation. Different people have different thoughts on this, but I’m going on the beliefs of Warren Wiersbe, Tony Evans, etc.
The first thing to occur is the rapture of believers. Non-believers, or those who are left behind, will still have an opportunity to be saved, but they will go through at least some of the tribulation period.
At first, the seven seals will be broken, and those seals will bring:
-Antichrist – this will be Satan’s counterpart to Jesus. The Antichrist will arrive on the scene and will appear to have all of the answers. They will be enamored by many who will see this person as the solution to all of the world’s problems. The antichrist will be seen as a savior to the people. Lots of promises will be made. Many treaties and agreements will give the appearance of solidarity and peacefulness. But, in today’s scripture, we’re going to see that change.
-War & bloodshed
-Famine
-Pestilence
-Death & Hades
-Cries for judgment from the martyrs
-Earthquake
-Silence in Heaven
During the breaking of the seals, we are told that 144,000 Messianic Jews receive a mark on their foreheads signifying their allegiance to God. These 144,000 will be God’s messengers who will witness to those left behind. Today, we’ll read about how they are protected.
The seven seals usher in the seven trumpets which bring:
-Hail & fire mixed with blood – 1/3 planet, 1/3 trees & all green grass destroyed
-Mountain-like disruption- 1/3 sea turns to blood
-Wormwood star falls – 1/3 fresh water becomes bitter
-Sun, moon & stars lose 1/3 of their light
At the end of chapter 8, we are told there is an eagle or an angel who is flying overhead making a declaration.
13 I looked again and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!” (Revelation 8:13 HCSB)
Three times, the messenger cries out “woe”; there are three more trumpets to be sounded. What we’ve seen so far with the trumpets has been calamity on the first components of God’s creation for the most part- the ecosystem. That’s about to change.
Revelation 9:1 HCSB “9 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.”
This isn’t the first time that a star is mentioned in Revelation; however, this star is given masculine pronouns. The key was given to him. Verse 2 tells us that “he” opened the shaft. What we can presume is that the star is not a celestial object, but this is referring to a person. This is speaking of someone who has fallen from heaven.
Isaiah 14:12 NKJV “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!”
Jesus witnessed the fall and spoke of it in Luke 10:18 NIV “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
It is believed that the star is actually Satan. The second part of the verse 1 tells us that he is given a key to unlock the pit of the abyss or the bottomless pit. To what is this referring?
To get an understanding of the abyss, we’ll go back to Luke 8. This is where Jesus encounters the demon-possessed man. “30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”
“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.” (Luke 8:30 NIV)
Who had possessed the man? Demons.
And where did the demons beg Jesus not to send them? The Abyss.
If demons are begging Jesus not to send them to the Abyss, we have to assume it’s not Disney World for demons there.
2 Peter 2:4 HCSB “For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment;”
Not many of the translations use the word “Tartarus”. Instead, we see “bottom part of hell” or “lowest hell” or “dark pits of hell”. So, then what is Tartarus?
“The last and innermost circle of hell could be called “the prison for fallen angels,” or Tartarus, as 2 Peter 2:4 calls it in the New American Bible. This deepest part of hell is the place reserved for angelic spirits (not human souls) who denied the Lord God and were eternally banished from His company in heaven.”[i]
Jude 1:6 NLT also refers to these fallen angels. “And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.”
It is quite possible that Tartarus is actually the Abyss to which Satan will receive the key. The other thing to note here is that Satan “does not have complete authority, for the key to the pit had to be given to him before he could loose his army.”[ii] Satan is only given this key for a specific purpose and only for a specific time period.
“Ordinarily the abyss is ‘the place of no return,’ but for a brief season Satan will be permitted, by divine authority of course, to lead forth to the earth some who have been held captive there. This world of ‘outer darkness,’ upon which man has never looked, a place where ‘there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 25:30), a place originally prepared for the devil and his angels’ (Matthew 25:41), will release many strange and wicked things upon the earth.”[iii]
Revelation 9:2 HCSB “2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.”
The smoke that comes up from the abyss is so thick it darkens the sun and the air which have already been compromised from previous trumpets. That’s bad enough. But out of the smoke comes forth what John describes as locusts. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
In case you haven’t heard, there is an explosion of cicadas in some parts of the U.S. I had never really experienced them until a few weeks ago and it was a bit unsettling. They were everywhere and the noise was unlike anything I had heard before. Cicadas, even though they’re creepy and noisy, aren’t destructive. Locusts, on the other hand, are very harmful. Even an average swarm can destroy crops sufficient to feed 2,500 people for a year.[iv] Again, this is reminiscent of one of the ten plagues Egypt endured.
The locusts that John witnesses are a bit different than what we might see. Here’s what we know so far. They take commands from Satan. They aren’t allowed to destroy any grass, green plant, or tree. Those things have already been compromised by the previous seals and trumpets. Instead, these locust-like creatures are instructed to attack who? Only those unsealed by God. These are going to be the 144,000 plus any new converts. Don’t get confused with the wordage here! Those who don’t have the seal of God are the unsaved. Satan is instructing this locust army to attack his own followers. This gives us a great insight into his character.
They aren’t allowed to kill, but they will be permitted to torture Satan’s followers for 5 months. Why 5 months? It’s probably not a coincidence that the lifespan of locusts is 3-5 months.[v]
We’re told here that people will long for death, but they will be unsuccessful. That’s a horrible and depressing image. As if that isn’t enough imagery for you, John goes into great detail.
Revelation 9:7 HCSB “7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. Something like gold crowns was on their heads; their faces were like men’s faces; 8 they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth; 9 they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle; 10 and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. 11 They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.”
Several times throughout our study on Revelation, we’ve talked about symbolism or imagery vs. literal descriptions. In fact, we talked about these very verses and how many Bible scholars envision helicopters being described here. There are some similarities, but remember, these creatures are what are being released from the Abyss. I don’t believe these are going to be helicopters.
These beings have been locked away, in the lowest portion of hell. Chained and restrained. They are so terrifying that demons beg Jesus to NOT be placed with them. The creatures that are now free to swarm and attack non-believers cause fear in demons. I looked for an accurate illustration of these creatures, and quite frankly, none of them did justice. The above image is as close as I could find to the imagery given in John’s account. I feel as if this army will be so full of evil and destruction that it’s almost indescribable.
What we can assume from this description is they are prepared for battle and are intent on inflicting pain and agony to the point that people will hope to die. Dr. David Jeremiah writes in his guide to those left behind, “The sting of scorpions is not lethal, but as the poison enters the system it literally sets the nerve center on fire. This torment is so painful that the agony lasts for five months.” [vi]
With their sharp teeth and their stinging tails, they are able to attack from both the front and the back. The items on their head that look like crowns signify their authority that Satan bestows upon them. However, just like Satan, their power and authority are limited by God. Their breastplates indicate they’ll be protected. The sound they make will be evident and intrusive. They won’t be ignored.
These locust-like creatures, we are told, have a king. Interestingly enough, there is a Bible verse in Proverbs that informs us “27 locusts have no king, but they are able to work together” (Proverbs 30:27 ERV).. There are probably several different reasons for this verse, but for our context today, I believe it goes to prove that what John writes about in Revelation 9 are not actual locusts, but something much more horrible and destructive.
We’re told their king is the angel of the abyss. We’re given his name in both Hebrew and Greek. Abaddon and Apollyon. The meaning of these names, respectively, are “place of destruction” and “The Destroyer”. Generally, both of these names are used to identify Satan, or possibly, one of his high-ranking officials.
Warren W. Wiersbe offers us a bit of encouragement. “As God’s people, we can be thankful that Jesus Christ holds the keys of hell and death (Rev. 1:18) and exercises divine authority even over Satan. God has His timetable for all these events, and nothing will happen too soon or too late (2 Thess. 2:6; note also Rev. 9:15).”ii
The first woe that the messenger (eagle or angel) in Revelation 8 warned about has passed. Two more woes to come.
I want to set up camp here. Over and over in this study, the word “mercy” goes through my mind. Each week, I feel as if I’m made more and more aware of God’s mercy. This week has been no exception.
There’s a lot of darkness in today’s scripture. Just the mere fact that the objects of demons’ fears are let loose and given freedom to torture people is terrifying. The fact that people will be so afflicted that it would seem multitudes of suicides will be attempted but will all fail. At first glance, that doesn’t seem to be merciful, does it?
Those who are tormented by these locust creatures are unable to die. Seems cruel, doesn’t it?
For five months, the suffering will be intense, intolerable, and inhumane.
Here’s the thing about locusts in the Bible.
Locusts generally “represent discipline, power, and a call to repentance” because “they appeared during times of God’s wrath and judgment.”[vii]
God won’t allow death to those unsaved people because it is His desire that all be saved. Today’s scripture, though it sounds harsh and savage and grim, is actually a beautiful and loving display of God’s mercy.
God knows what’s coming. He knows that the door of opportunity to be saved is about to close. He gives the unsaved people on earth a tiny taste of what their eternity will be like should they not choose Him. He offers protection from death and eternal life in hell by allowing them to experience this tribulation.
As a child, did you ever play the game “Mercy”? It’s a game played between two people who face each other and interlock their hands. The object of the game is to bend the other person’s hand back until they surrender by yelling “mercy”. Surrendering happens when it becomes painful and unbearable. Some people will endure the great pain and allow their wrists or fingers to be bent back so far that they’ll end up with broken bones.
God will sometimes bend us back to an uncomfortable and sometimes painful position so that we’ll yell for “mercy”. HIS MERCY! He does this when we need to be disciplined. He does this to empower us or equip us for His purpose. And sometimes He does this because we need to repent. It’s not cruel. It’s not mean. It’s loving. It’s merciful.
As a child of God, we are the recipients of His mercy every single day of our life! But God is so loving, He extends mercy to those who reject Him over and over and over again. But we’ll soon see that God’s mercy to the unsaved has an expiration date.
Two things in life are infinite; the stupidity of man and the mercy of God.
G. I. Gurdjieff
[i] The Fallen Angels in “Tartarus” – Emmaus Institute for Biblical Studies
[ii] Be Victorious by Warren W. Wiersbe
[iii] Revelation by Lehman Strauss
[iv] How a single locust becomes a plague – BBC News
[v] Life Cycle of Locusts | Hunker
[vi] After the Rapture by Dr. David Jeremiah
[vii] Understanding The Locust’s Spiritual Meaning In The Bible (biblemeanings.net)
Beacons of Light 