Revelation Chapter 9
Introduction:
Chapter 9 is the revelation of trumpets 5 and 6: trumpet 5 is a star fallen from heaven to the earth is given the key to the abyss; trumpet 6 is four angels that have been bound at the river Euphrates are loosed with a large cavalry to kill one third of humanity; those still alive do not turn from their sins.
:1-2 Then the fifth angel sounded: I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him* was given the key to the bottomless pit (Lit. shaft of the abyss). He opened the bottomless pit and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace (Luke 8:30-31; Revelation 20:1-3). So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit (Joel 2:2, 10).
:3-5 Then out of the smoke locusts** came upon the earth. To them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree (that’s good since much of the trees and all the grass was burned up by the first trumpet Revelation 8:7), but only those men who do not have the seal of GOD on their foreheads (Ephesians 4:30; Revelation 14:1). They were not given authority to kill them but to torment them for five months (as noted in chapter 8 this is the only seal, trumpet or bowl judgment that has a time frame). Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man (scorpions have poisonous stingers on their tail, some are deadly to humans).
:6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die and death will flee from them (death is a living spirit (Exodus 12:23; Jeremiah 4:7; Hebrews 11:28 “destroyer” TLV, “…lest he that destroyed them…” KJV) and one of GOD’s torments to those with the mark of the beast is to withhold it).
:7-9 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; on their heads were crowns of something like gold and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running onto battle (Joel 2:1-11 about The Day of The LORD sounds a lot like this). I heard a preacher say John, seeing the future could have seen modern combat helicopters and this is the best he could describe them based on his experience and knowledge.
:10-11 They had tails like scorpions and there were stings in their tails; their
power was to hurt men five months. They has king over them the angel* of the
bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3), whose name was Abaddon (Lit. Destruction) ,
but in the Greek he has the name Apollyon (Lit. Destroyer).
:12 One woe is past! Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things (Revelation 8:13, 11:14).
:13-15 Then the sixth angel sounded: and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar (Revelation 8:3) which is before GOD, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year (GOD has a plan and a time for everything Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; Acts 1:7), were released to kill a third of mankind (the seals and the trumpet and the bowls all result in the death of millions of people who have rejected GOD).
:16-17 Now the number of the horsemen of the army was two hundred million; I heard the number of them, and thus I saw the horses in the vision; those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone ( brimstone means burning stone, Genesis 19:24).
:18-19 By these three plaques a third of mankind (as noted in verse 15) was killed – by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and their tail; for their tails are like serpents having heads and with them they do harm (I have seen pictures where the tails are depicted like Medusa’s head with many snakes; I believe they have a tail that is a snake.)
:20-21 But the rest of mankind that were not killed by these
plaques 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 (Psalm 115:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:19-22); and they
did not repent of their murders and sorceries (drugs), or their sexual
immorality or their thefts (Revelation 21:8, 22:15).
* We know stars as celestial bodies such as our sun, Sol, GOD has given them all names and treats them as living beings (Psalm 147:4, 148:3; Amos 5:8 [these are all about creation] the star of Revelation 8:10-11, Wormwood, I described as maybe an asteroid breaking up in the atmosphere, but maybe it’s a living being of the heavenly host who travels around the earth touching waters in different places and making them bitter.) In Revelation 20:1-3 it says an angel shut up the devil in the bottomless pit; angel and star are interchangeable here.
** These are not like the locusts of the plaques of Egypt
(Exodus 10:1-2, 13-25) or any other locusts mentioned in The Bible. These are
hybrid locusts GOD created just for this purpose. Unlike the regular locusts these
do not consume vegetation, we do not know what they eat. Their only function is
to torment people who are not sealed by GOD.
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