Revelation

9.1-21

As the fifth angel sounded the judgment trumpet, John saw another star that "had fallen to the earth" (v1). This star is not an element of nature, however, but Satan himself, the star of the morning (Isa 14:12), who had long before fallen to earth from heaven (Lk 10:18). Five months of torment ensue (vv5,10) as Satan unlocks the pit of the Abyss (v2) where demons have been imprisoned awaiting their final punishment (2Pet 2:4, Rev 20:10,13-14), where Satan too will be bound during the millennial reign (20:1,3) before God establishes His eternal Kingdom (Ps 145:13, Dan 7:14, Rev 5:10,11:5). From this pit, innumerable demons like locusts will be led by a king whose name means Destruction (v11). They will invoke such pain on the unredeemed (v4) that they will wish for death (v6). When the sixth trumpet sounds, "a voice" (v13) from the horns of the altar before God (therefore, either the voice of Christ or one of the Presence Angels) commands, "Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates" (v14). Because "holy" angels are never "bound" in Scripture, we know these are demons. The Euphrates flowed from the river that divided out of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:14). Near here, sin originated, the first lie was told, the first murder was committed, the Tower of Babel was built, and these demons have been bound. Consider Daniel 10:13 for a possible reference to these demons before they were bound. Their demonic army of 200,000,000 will stalk and slaughter (heads of lions) by incineration and asphyxiation, killing one-third of the remaining mankind (v17-18). By now, with well over half of the pre-Tribulation population of the world dead, those remaining alive and still unredeemed appear no longer capable of repentance (vv20-21).

CHAPTER 9

1 Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him.
2 And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
3 Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
5 And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
6 And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
7 And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
8 And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle.
10 And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.
11 They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
12 One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 And the four angels were released, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
16 And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
17 And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sit on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths come fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.
20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
21 And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts.