End times series:
Revelation 9-10
By Liaf
In our last message on Revelation, we were looking at the "trumpet" judgements. We saw that the first four were natural disasters of various kinds that would wipe out 1/3 of whatever. An angel announced three more woes to come, "Woe, Woe, Woe!"
Let’s turn to our King James Bible of Revelation chapter nine and continue reading about these terrible "woes". God is not dickering around with this Earth. He means serious business during these terrible times.
Revelation 9:1-12: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; 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 the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
I DO NOT believe these events are symbolic. The context of these verses are such that John is merely describing what he saw in his own words. A "star" (an angelic being of some sort) fell from heaven and was given a key to open the "bottomless pit". The Greek word is the same origin of our word "abyss". The angel was given a key to the abyss. How do we know this is some sort of angelic being that fell and not a meteor or something? The answer is simple. He is given a key, and he used it to open the abyss. This sounds like an intelligent action to me. It takes a certain amount of cognitive thought to do the sequential action described here. This opening of the abyss released "locusts" (and I think it is safe to assume they are demonic beings). See Jude 1:6. I’m not saying these are the same beings, but the Bible (and apocryphal works) make it clear that some demonic beings are confined for a later purpose or judgement. Unlike the other trumpet judgements before that involved nature, this judgement is to afflict pain on men. The demonic forces afflict men directly by their stings instead of mankind being a victim of some sort of catastrophe. Notice that in this case, God does not allow men to die (and I am assuming for five months) so that they endure pain for a season. Perhaps those that died earlier had a little more mercy shown to them. John goes on to describe the locusts. Some feel that this is a description of futuristic warriors. I doubt that; humans would not be confined in an abyss somewhere waiting to get out so that they could inflict others. And on that note, the name of the King over them (Abaddon or Apollyon) literally means "destroyer". When we studied the book of Daniel, I said that demonic beings were the powers behind the rulers of various empires. Behind the scenes is some very intense spiritual warfare. However, during the Tribulation, these beings will be made directly manifest for all to see. I have no justification to water down God’s Word into saying these horrible beings are merely fierce warriors. And if I am wrong and they are fierce warriors, they must be totally possessed so as to have supernatural powers. In this case, one would likely relate them to Antichrist’s army. However, I will show later that Antichrist is empowered by Satan midway into the Tribulation. We are not there yet. Antichrist will come on the scene as a "smooth talker" and a "nice guy" and he turns a little nasty with his military campaigns, but something happens midway into the Tribulation (and one incident we already talked about in Daniel chapter 9). The last half of the Tribulation is when he is supernaturally empowered to be the deplorable character that he will become. Let’s continue reading this chapter to the end.
Revelation 9:13-21: And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
The sixth trumpet releases four angels who in turn have a demonic army of 200,000,000! Again, I believe these are real demons, at least their leaders are demonic as Scripture clearly says. If they are a human army of 200,000,000, they must be demonically empowered. They slay 1/3 of all men. If there are demonic beings enslaved by the Euphrates, that may be why there is so much evil in that region today. It may not be because people who live there are in and of themselves any more evil than the rest of mankind, but rather there is an evil aura about the location. Again, this great army has a unique description, to say the least, as John saw them. In spite of their horrible appearance and ability to kill others, those who were not killed carried on "business as usual". What was their business? They "yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts." Their stubborn, sinful ways are the reason why there is a Tribulation to begin with. The evil of mankind over the generations culminated in the generation that experiences the Tribulation. And as such, God must judge mankind.
The next chapter of Revelation is another Interlude before the last trumpet is sounded.
Revelation 10:1-4: And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
The description of this angel has elements of the heavenly realm, and judgement (his feet) which one was on the oceans and the other on the lands. This means that whatever the angel has to deliver will be for the entire Earth. When he cried out (as a lion), seven thunders uttered their voices. What did they say? We are not sure. We can guess by doing lots of Biblical study, but the fact that John was not permitted to write them down show us that they were not meant to be revealed in this book of Revelation. That indicates to us that what is written in the book of Revelation is meant to be understood. When God does not want to reveal something, he will not allow it to be written down. (See Daniel 12:4). What we have written down in this book is admissible territory to investigate. In addition, this parallels Daniel 12:4 where God sometimes shuts things up. They will be revealed later or perhaps through other scriptures. This indicates to us that prophecy and the Word of God still have some revelations yet to come. Let’s read on:
Revelation 10:5-11: And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
In short, this angel swore by the Lord that the time was at hand to reveal the mystery of God when the seventh angel was about to sound the seventh trumpet (this did not happen yet). What is this mystery? More on that soon. Partly, this has to do with "Thy Kingdom Come" I talked about in an earlier message. We will discuss this more when we get to the seventh trumpet. Then John has a similar experience that Ezekiel had (in Ezekiel chapter 3). He was told to eat a little "book". The "bitter belly" indicates that these are "terrible things to swallow" as our cliché goes, but the mouth "as sweet as honey" means that there is fervor in John to speak the bitter things. Since he is to prophesy before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, he has that unusual desire to speak the Word of God, even though it may be terrible things. Only people who are born of the Spirit and are controlled as such and can understand this. People who do not know about the things of God may interpret this site as being "doom and gloom" and perhaps a little off the wall. They cannot understand how ol’ "Liaf" here can be so friendly and forward in everyday situations (I get along well with most people) with a good work ethic and humorous and then come home to type in these "gloomy" messages. Does he have a split personality? No. I enjoy (as with the mouth of sweet honey) teaching God’s Word. Sometimes it’s severe I’ll admit, but I have no personal ax to grind or any animosity with anybody. I may sound that way, but in fact my mood is generally upbeat even with the harsh messages. We need these messages once in a while to "stay on our toes". Facts are facts. Don’t always assume that the tone indicate the teacher’s emotions. In a like manner, I seriously doubt that John was gloomy even though the Tribulation judgements are severe. After all, God’s Kingdom will be coming. Instead, he was to have a fervor about the whole thing.
In our next message on Revelation, we will talk about the seventh trumpet. With that, we will be approaching the middle of the Tribulation. When that comes, lots of things will happen. For the next few chapters, I will be teaching one chapter at a time since there is much material to cover and understand.