Revelation Chapter 9

Revelation 9:1

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. (ESV)

Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpets about to be sounded. This first woe begins with a star that falls/or is fallen from heaven. It is widely accepted that the word fallen here is in regard to something that had already happened with many accepting outright that this star is Satan. There is a good chance that we have already seen him fallen from heaven in order to cause the waters to become cursed. He has spewed water out of his mouth in order to overtake Israel but the woman was taken to a place prepared for her by God. So he becomes angry and goes to make war against the Christians on the earth. So here he is opening the shaft of the abyss with a key that was given to him (by God no doubt). Two things to note about the abyss or the bottomless pit; first, it is on earth. It is astonishing to think that there are things beneath the earth that we know nothing about. Inside this abyss is at least one angel already, animals like locusts, and the antichrist, as well as smoke. This is here now and we have no knowledge of what is happening below us. The second thing to note is that this abyss is likely under the sea, or at least very near it. We know this because that is where the beast is said to come from and also once Satan is frustrated with not being able to kill Israel, he is seen standing on the shore of the sea. The first woe is upon us, we will learn what else this woe has in store for us in the next several lessons.

ref: Revelation 12:15-17

Revelation 9:2

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. (ESV)

In some translations the term “shaft of the bottomless pit” is simply bottomless pit or abyss. There is a distinction made in these verses that possibly the shaft is a smaller or more narrow way to/out of the abyss. Now whether or not there is another more accessible way to the pit is not made clear but what is made clear is that every other time the bottomless pit is mentioned outside of Revelation 9, it refers to it without the “shaft”. When the beast comes out and Satan is thrown in there is not a shaft mentioned which might lead us to believe that this shaft is somewhat small and contained. Out of this opening came smoke, thick and black enough to darken the sky and sun. At this point if you remember the sun already has a third less light and shines for only two thirds of the day anyway so to have smoke come up and darken the earth further would be dreary at best and absolutely hopeless at worst. As dreary or hopeless as the smoke may seem, once we take a closer look at the smoke we will see something even more dreadful and terrifying.

Revelation 9:3

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. (ESV)

Out of the smoke came locusts with power like scorpions. We will have time later to talk about locusts, so in this lesson I want to speak about scorpions of the earth...and it is not good. In the old testament, Moses was speaking to the stiff necked people of Israel after delivering the 10 commandments and told them, “and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.” It really is starting to look like God is the same yesterday, today and forever. We (especially in the western world) have amassed much wealth and have multiplied our money. Our hearts have been lifted up and we have forgotten the Lord our God. So He is going to put us through a great and terrifying wilderness of sorts. Have we not already seen a fiery serpent in Revelation 8:10? You ever wonder why Moses would refer to the serpents as fiery? Have we not also seen a third of the waters become undrinkable? So now we have locusts with the power of scorpions come out of the smoke and we must look at it like he was telling the Israelites, God did this that he might humble and test us, to do us good in the END. It is crazy to realize that this is what God has planned for us, just to humble us and to see if we are truly His. But we don’t think He means us to be here for the stinging of the scorpions. We must be better in His sight than Ezekiel when he was told, “And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” We too are a rebellious house. We have forgotten God and yet still think we deserve better than to be tested by Him.

With all this talk about serpents and scorpions and testing by God, I do want to leave you with a little excerpt from Jesus. “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Now notice with me that when He makes the comparison between the evil father and the heavenly Father He does not say that He will give us fish or eggs, but the Holy Spirit. Since He is Holy, He can decide to give us fish and eggs as well as serpents and scorpions for He knows the gift we need in order to make us humble and we must endure these things in order to pass His test, that He might do us good in the END.

ref: Deuteronomy 8:11-20; Ezekiel 2:6; Luke 11:11-13

Revelation 9:4

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (ESV)

Out of the smoke came locusts given the power of scorpions. These are not your run of the mill locusts we have here obviously and it is interesting the command they receive; do not harm the grass, green plants or any tree. If you remember back a few lessons you will remember that when the first trumpet sounded, a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up and ALL the green grass was burned up. We didn’t really discuss it in the lesson but the words “burned up”, every time we see it in the old testament gives the notion that it is consumed by fire, as in worthless from this point on. It happens when the chaff is thrown into the unquenchable fire, it will happen when our works are put through fire, it happened to the beasts that were burned up at the altar, as well as we will see with Babylon very soon. So here all the grass is burned and they are told not to destroy basically any green plant. It would appear then they are being sustained by something other than the plants of the earth. It also does not limit where they will go, for it doesn’t make logical sense that you would see great swarms of locusts in places too hot or too cold to grow enough food to sustain a plague of locusts. They are here to bring about God’s punishment and testing.

They are also told to only harm those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So now that we know their purpose, we must be asking ourselves, who are those that have the seal of God on their foreheads? In the study of Revelation 7:2 we discussed these seals somewhat. After the first 6 seals were opened, God hit pause for a second so that 144,000 of His servants could be sealed on their foreheads. These are strictly Israelite virgin men from 12 of the 14 tribes of Israel (Dan and Ephraim excluded). We also know that these men are probably located in Jerusalem and are groaning over the city because of the abominations in it due to what Ezekiel had given us. We spoke briefly about Christians being sealed with the Holy Spirit, and while this is true, this seal is said to be given in our hearts, not on our foreheads. So not being a virgin, not living in Jerusalem, and not hailing from one of the tribes of Israel makes me along with most people on the earth, susceptible to this plague if it were to hit today, even though I am a Christian. I don’t want to have to go through this particular plague as I imagine most don’t, but that is not my call. The only way for any of us to avoid this plague would to either be in the group of 144k or be dead. Those are the options available to us at that point; and if we are not in that group or are not dead, we sure wish we would be.

ref: Luke 3:17; 1 Corinthians 3:15; Hebrews 13:11; Revelation 18:8; Ezekiel 9:4; 2 Corinthians 1:22

Revelation 9:5

They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. (ESV)

The locusts are allowed to torment people who aren’t a part of the 144k for 5 months. There are many speculations on whether these locusts are actual locusts or a symbol of something else or maybe a hybrid of the two. The theories about symbolism range from them being Apache helicopters to being demons. I do hold to a more literal approach to these locusts due to the fact that they are told not to worry about the grass or any green plants as we spoke about last lesson; but I do understand that there is some symbolism due to how they are described in the next few verses. The five months also presents a problem for theologians because that time period doesn’t really represent anything else in biblical meaning so many assume this timeline to be symbolic of something else (that we don’t know). One of the most convincing arguments I’ve studied for this is that they are some sort of locust due to the life cycle of most locusts being in the vicinity of five months. Sometimes things would just make sense if every now and then we assume that God knows what He is talking about. Whatever they end up being, they must follow the orders given them, consisting of tormenting people but not killing them. They will be stinging people like scorpions for 5 months and this torment is most definitely a physical torment, which I think is important. We often complain in America about being persecuted as Christians but really don’t have a good grasp on what physical torment for the sake of God looks like. Now I do understand that not only Christians will be stung but it is important to note that we will be among those being tormented. You may say, "At least we won’t die during this time." but it won’t be for a lack of trying.

Revelation 9:6

And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. (ESV)

For five months people will be stung with something like scorpion stings and be in torment. For five months they will want to die but they won’t be able to. Can we imagine that? Can you imagine being stung I’m sure multiple times over the course of five months and wanting to die but not being able to? The thought makes my imagination run wild. We’ll be looking for death but will be unable to find it. This seems to go beyond just a hope to be put out of misery but a searching for a way to die. What does that look like? Perhaps running into oncoming traffic (if people can still drive), or maybe putting a gun to your head. Maybe some will jump out of buildings or want to put a noose around their own throats. There are many ways we can seek to die, but scripture says we won’t find those ways. How crazy it would be if suicide attempts were no longer able to be effective, not to mention just a natural sort of death where an elderly person or infant gets stung and just dies naturally. Death will flee. Earlier in Revelation we heard Jesus say, “I have the keys of Death and Hades”, which means whatever the intention of these locusts and their king over them, Jesus still has a say on whether people are allowed to die or not. Not only does He have a say in it, He has all authority over it. Even now we cannot die without the ok from our savior, and in this period of time He will not give the go ahead. Can you imagine trying everything in your power to die and not being able to pull it off? The power of Jesus will be seen in this mighty way for five full months; that all of our prayers to keep our loved ones alive will be fulfilled and yet I can imagine many if not most will come to hate Him because of it. We hear things like “how can a loving God allow death” often but we might soon hear “how can a loving God keep me alive”. This will sting our innermost being and though we have always wanted to live a long life and sometimes He doesn’t allow it, now we will want our lives to be cut short and He won’t allow that either. This also will give new physical understanding of the verse, “I have lay before you life and death...choose life”. Of course there are spiritual meanings to this verse but also in a real way there are physical ones; and though some will actually choose death, their plans will be thwarted even though they will be far from receiving life.

ref: Deuteronomy 30:19

Revelation 9:7

In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, (ESV)

I would love to explain to you in full detail the next few verses with a zeal and confidence of one who has all the answers, but I don’t. There are plenty of commentaries that explain what all of these symbols mean, the horses represent battle, the crowns represent kingdoms, their faces representing the attributes, knowledge, and evilness of humans, etc. Most any of the arguments we receive by scholars are very similar and are probably correct in some form but there is one word here that gives me pause. While most agree that these are merely attributes, “appearance” in this verse should make us wonder. We tend to lean as these being unseen attributes so why would John use the word appearance here if he meant unseen? Now I do realize that there is a use of similes and their faces might not be actual faces but like them, but we should also look at the other uses of this word in the new testament. “For if we have been united with him in a death LIKE his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection LIKE his”, and “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the LIKENESS of men”, and “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the LIKENESS of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh”. A staple doctrine in Christianity is that Jesus while on earth was 100% man and 100% God. He became tired like a man, became hungry like a man, and He looked like a man. We don’t say He had all these attributes but actually looked like God. So however this woe plays out it would appear that somehow someway, they may actually have a LIKENESS to horses, with heads like crowns of gold and faces like human faces.

ref: Romans 6:5, Philippians 2:7; Romans 8:3

Revelation 9:8

their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth (ESV)

The locusts have hair like women’s hair. The consensus is up in the air on this topic. Some say it may be because of their seduction or attractiveness but this seems to be an educated guess at best from most scholars. So I looked at this and thought, “these creatures are created by God, so why would He give them women’s hair? Would they need seduction or attractiveness in order to fulfill the command to sting us and cause us torment? I can see the argument but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, so let’s look at what Paul had wrote about women’s hair to see if that clarifies things. “For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man...That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels...Judge for yourselves:is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.” I think this verse is important because God just as easily could have given them hair like a man and they would’ve had God as their covering. But as it sits they have hair like a woman which means they are in need of a covering (whom we will discuss later). Like women, it seems they ought to have a symbol of authority on their head and this because of the angels. The bible does not exactly make it clear what role the angels play in wives not having a symbol of authority on their heads but whatever it is toward these disobedient wives may play out in this scenario, as well as it could very well mean the destruction of women that are disgraceful or are left uncovered.

“Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions 'teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.” This is especially interesting as we look at Joel’s prophecy regarding locusts, lion’s teeth, and land being laid waste, not to mention the Lord’s vine. These locusts resemble closely the kingdom, with teeth like a lion that will lay waste to the vine. As it says the locusts, with teeth like lions’ teeth are beyond number and when they strip off the bark, these limbs will be made white. The locusts are coming against the land and are powerful for we have already seen them like horses prepared for battle. They are going to war against God’s people as well as anyone else in their path. It is also interesting that the verse says that when they are finally thrown down, the branches of the vine will be made white. This is an exciting prophecy that the branches are made white, since we know that by the time we get to the end, God’s people will be clothed in white similar to the ones we have already encountered.

ref: 1 Corinthians 11:6-15; Joel 1

Revelation 9:9

they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. (ESV)

Continuing further in Joel we see a vision of something with the appearance of horses just as these locusts, with their sound like chariots. They leap on the tops of mountains, they scale walls, they run on the wall, they climb into houses, and they enter in through windows. They are able to avoid death, never stopping on their quest to torment people. They are so numerous they make the ground quake and the sky shake. The sun and moon are darkened by them just as it said in Rev 9:2. They are truly a terrifying site and once again one of the worst attributes of them is that we will not be able to die from their injuries. It seems they move throughout the land completely and systematically in order that no one will be missed except those that are sealed. They are dressed for battle and war is what they are prepared to bring. Woe to the land on their account and thank God this plague ONLY lasts 5 months.The earth quakes before them; the sky shakes. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars cease their shining. The Lord raises His voice in the presence of His army. His camp is very large; Those who carry out His command are powerful. Indeed, the Day of the Lord is terrible and dreadful —who can endure it?

ref: Joel 2:3-11

Revelation 9:10-11

They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

We have previously covered the fact they they have tails and sting like scorpions so I won’t say much about it other than that is where their power to hurt us lies. Even though they are dressed for battle and have faces like humans and teeth like a lion, they inflict injury to us through their sting.

Their king is the angel of the bottomless pit, Abaddon. There are a few different theories about who this angel is and the views vary greatly. One such view is that Abaddon is another name for Lucifer. I don’t agree with this for a couple of reasons; one being that Satan already has a Hebrew name, the second reason is that he is already ruler of this world. We may not like it and try to explain it away but he rules over this world. That is not to say that he still does not have to answer to the Most High, but just that he does have authority. Another view is that this angel is Jesus; the main argument being that earlier He said He has the keys to Death and Hades, among others. The most obvious problem with this view is that Jesus is not an angel. “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’” There is not an angel that He has said this to, but He has said it to His Son, Jesus. You may have noticed that we have a pretty broad spectrum of thought, from Lucifer to Jesus and yet we still can’t agree. I would go with another option, that Abaddon is neither one of them but is indeed another totally different angel. So now another question remains, is he an angel of God or a fallen angel? I wish I had knowledge enough to tell you, and you can find scholars on both sides of the fence. On the fallen side, the main reasoning is that he is the king of the bottomless pit and this pit has only spit out what seems to be pain and suffering, and he has the name destroyer, but that does not necessarily mean he’s evil. On the other side of the view this may have been the angel who received the key in 9:1 and this key being held under the authority of Jesus and may be the one who has the power to put Satan under lock and key later in Revelation (though it could certainly be another angel). Another argument is that this may be the same destroyer that was working for God during the last plague in Egypt that killed the firstborn. But once again that does not necessarily mean he is not fallen. If I were asked to choose, I would lean slightly toward this being an angel of God but I say this cautiously because he simply may not be. I think what skews our vision in this is that we think that we have preconceived notions of what God accepts/allows in approval or disapproval. We think that if people are being killed then this is not something that He wants but allows the enemy to do, but this is very far from the truth. In the end, if it pleased Him to crush His Son because of sin; I can’t really believe that He would feel one way or another about doing the same to any of us. Thankfully for us we have as king over us the King of kings and Lord of lords.

ref: John 12:31; Hebrews 1:5

Revelation 9:12-13

The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, (ESV)

The scorpion locusts are behind us but we have two other woes to go through. These locusts have plagued the earth and caused unknown torment for five months. As we study through these verses, it would be easy to move through to the sixth trumpet which will be just as shocking as the last one but there is something in this verse we must explore. The golden altar that is before God; the one who the dead in Christ were seen underneath, speaks. As exciting as that sounds, can you imagine the things the altar could say? We offer up many things “on the altar” of God, and if the altar was able to comment on those things, what would it say? When we say we sacrifice time for His Kingdom, would the altar talk about how that time was free anyway and no real sacrifice was found? When we do things in the service of God or inside of the church, would it come back and talk about how we grumbled the whole time and how we don’t actually even like the people we are “serving”? When we give our tithes and offerings, could it come back and talk about the amount of excess we kept for ourselves and that the widow with two small coins gave more in faith than we ever have in all of our years of giving? Would the altar call out against me for all the things I’ve done “in the name of God” but really did for my own glory? Would the tears and pleads that we cry out to God cause the altar to do as it has done here, releasing a second woe onto the earth in order that His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? One thing that is made plain in this passage and a little later in Revelation is that when the altar speaks, things happen and the glory of those things reflect directly upon the One who sits on the throne.

Revelation 9:14

saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." (ESV)

The voice from the altar speaks to the sixth angel and gives him the command to release the four angels. These four angels were bound for an unspecified time at the river Euphrates. We don’t know the circumstances around how or why they became bound, but most scholars agree that these are fallen angels since they were indeed bound. We don’t know if they came from the abyss as well since it had been unlocked for a time or if they were somehow bound inside of the river or under the ground. One thing we do know is that the Euphrates river is near many of the accounts of the Bible, from the garden of Eden, to Babylon and was the eastern border of the nation of Israel. To me this gives me great excitement because we can look at modern day maps and see where certain events will take place. That simple exercise makes these events all the more real and tangible as that day draws near. Imagine for a second that you might be sitting at home watching the news, tending to your stings that you’ve received over the past month, finally taking a moment to breathe; when all of a sudden breaking news comes across that four angels have come up out of the sea. Uncertainty would grip you because you are not sure the motives of these angels just yet or what they will do upon the earth. Are they answers to our prayers, coming to tend to us as when Jesus was done with His 40 days in the wilderness or do they have another agenda?

Revelation 9:15

So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (ESV)

As humans we like to think our life has some kind of bigger meaning or purpose. We think that even in the little things our lives impact the world around us but most of us don’t really tap into the core purpose of our lives. Can you imagine being created and at some point being bound for a singular purpose? Though bound, I think there would be something freeing in knowing at least you will fulfill exactly what you had been prepared to do, even if it was something terrible. These angels were kept bound for this exact time; they weren’t moving about trying to figure out what God had for their lives, but knew when the time was correct they would be released to kill a third of mankind. Now their is some debate on who these angels represent; some saying that they are 4 different kingdoms that come together to accomplish their goal and some say it is one kingdom, namely Islam; that will spread to kill a third of the earth. Both have their arguing points and many of them seem valid, but without knowing the entirety of God's plan we cannot say for certain. It could very well be that they are literal angels not representing kingdoms or people at all. Now some would say it is fairly harsh of God (or His altar rather) to command the killing of a third of the people, but I do want to remind you that the earth had been seen for the last 5 months groaning and chasing after death. They had been searching after it with no luck whatsoever, but at this time death will come searching for many of them. Truly a “beware of what you wish for” type of situation.

Revelation 9:16

The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. (ESV)

The four angels had troops mounted on horses. Their number is 200 million. If you remember back to lesson on Revelation 6:8, we talked about the four horseman given power to kill a fourth of the earth, which in today’s number is approx 2 billion people or about the number of professed Christians on the earth today. So assuming that those 2 billion are dead by this time and the four angels are given authority to now kill a third of mankind, today that number would be approx 2 billion as well (8bil/4=2bil leaving 6bil alive; 6bil/3=2bil). Many scholars don’t believe 200 million is a literal number but more of a figurative one basically meaning an innumerable amount of troops. The strange thing is that several times John uses the word many, for an innumerable number of people so one should wonder why he didn’t just use that word here. Perhaps it is because he heard the number of them being 200 million. So we have 200 million people killing 2 billion people equalling 10:1 ratio. Now these numbers may be guesses and in the end may equal to be much more or less than that due to the fact that it doesn’t seem like a very large ratio killed by such a formidable force.

Revelation 9:17

And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions 'heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. (ESV)

Where earlier the locusts were described as like horses, here John says that he saw horses with riders on them. Much like the locusts before, these riders also were prepared for battle, wearing breastplates, but these were adorned with color. The color described as sapphire is more closely related to violet or dark blue along with fire and sulfur closely relate to plagues that come out of the horses heads; that being fire, smoke and sulfur. It would be quite wonderful to see what John saw as related to these vision without having to go through them in the end times. We would not have to sit here and wonder what he meant by the horses heads being like lions heads. We most often associate that with their ferocity but what if it really is as simple as being a new animal we have never seen before that was a horse that had a head like a lion? We tend to think that it couldn’t possibly be the case but then we turn around and say we believe in angels, which most everyone has never seen. Whatever the case may be the riders seem to not play a huge part in the killing of the people because it is the fire smoke and sulfur that we need to be worrying about.

Revelation 9:18

By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. (ESV)

As formidable as the horses with riders seem with their lion’s head and breastplates, it is the fire, smoke and sulfur that is the most dangerous. Now what we don’t know is if these will be working in tandem or if they are to be dispersed separately from one another and harm that way. I say that because individually they are all harmful in their own right but are often seen in the bible together, especially in Revelation. The fire mixed with sulfur (as seen in the lake of fire) is the punishment that is reserved for the devil and his angels along with anyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life. What it seems we have here is a preview of that punishment in order that man might turn from wickedness and repent. Jesus had stated that it was an evil and adulterous generation that asks for a sign, and this sign we are given is meant to lead us into repentance. One would think that if we could experience just a little bit of the punishment to come then we would turn to God, but that isn’t the case. We don’t get just a little bit of a preview but literally one-third of the earth will die because of it.

I don’t know the timeframe that these trumpets play out in but I do wonder if once the sixth trumpet sounds, if it will be less than a day left before the Lord returns. I say this because of what He said earlier, “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” We tend to read only the first part of this passage but it seems pretty clear that on the day that fire and sulfur are rained from heaven, on that day the Son of Man will return. It’s not really clear if there is another instance of this being rained down in Revelation but if this is it then time is extremely short.

ref: Matthew 12:36; Luke 17:28-30

Revelation 9:19

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. (ESV)

So as stated earlier the power the horses and riders had resided in the mouths like a lion, and this scripture further details that they also have power in their tails. The plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur are there in order that a third of man would be killed; possibly to give us a preview of the torment that is to come. But here we see another aspect; they have power in their tails that are like serpents with heads. So while their mouths are going around killing one in three people, their tails come behind them and inflict injury to those that are left. Now I don’t know if this is the rest of everyone else that’s not killed but it is certain that God is trying to show us something here, and that something is that His time is near. It is hard to imagine with 200 million troops that there would not be anyone who would not be affected either by death or from wounds by these horses. I am suspicious about who it is that will be actually dying, for while it almost seems obvious to assume that of course it would be aimed toward the non-believers on the earth, we will discuss in the next lesson about how that assumption may be exactly wrong and the non-believers may be the ones who only get wounded.

Revelation 9:20

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, (ESV)

We have one third of man dead. So in what seems like a short period of time, half of the earth’s population has been killed by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts in addition to fire, smoke and sulfur. All of these things have happened leading to death in numbers it is hard to imagine, and yet God has not revealed His wrath unto us yet. By this time, we have spent at least a few millennia telling a dying world that they need to accept the love displayed by God by Him sending His only Son to die for us; and often they did not accept it so we see now only a kindling of the Lord’s anger. Yet still those that have not died still have not repented. I spoke in the last lesson about these that are left (at least the majority) as being non-believers and this verse verifies that due to the refusal to repent. Not only do they not repent of what they’ve done but refuse to stop the worshiping of their demons and idols. Even as I’m typing this I’m left to wonder at this point in these events, if all of the faithful have been killed off by earlier plagues due to John stating that “the rest of mankind, who were not killed”. It may very well be that all the righteous have been killed and if that be the case it makes the words of Jesus even more eye opening, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Granted there will be a little more time in order for man to repent but one wonders if one has not done so by now, after seeing half the earth die, I don’t know exactly what would be needed for this to happen.

One last note, often in scripture it speaks about idol worship, and that is something that we in the western world have a hard time envisioning as far as bowing down and truly worshipping an inanimate object (not to mention an unseen Holy God). When we read verses like this we think more along the lines of something that we lend our time to or put on a pedestal such as our cell phone or car and the like; but I do tend to think that this is speaking of actual worship and acknowledgement of something being lord in our lives. In addition to that there are not near as many verses outlining worshipping demons rather than idols. But in these times there will be a resurgence upon worshipping demons and you can see us definitely moving in that direction. We are increasingly being entertained by all sorts of movies featuring the undead, demons, haunting spirits and the like not to mention our fascination with psychics, palm reading, horoscopes, superstitions and other such nonsense, even among so called Christians. We must begin to think eternally about the things we tie ourselves to rather than doing them for entertainment’s sake because we are extremely prone to believe these ideas as fact.

ref: Luke 18:8

Revelation 9:21

nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (ESV)

Repentance on our part is still sought. All these events are unfolding in order that the Son may have men draw unto Him in repentance and obedience but our proud hearts won’t heed the signs. I’m certain that when these plagues hit we will tend to act just as innocent as we do today when confronted with the evil we perform on a daily basis. We will sit around and wonder why all this calamity has come upon us but yet we still won’t repent. There are some very special verses in the bible that let us know how God feels about the magnitude of the sins we commit, with this being one of them. He has bundled these four sins together: murders, sorceries, sexual immorality and thefts. Upon a closer look these four in some way touch at least 6 of the 10 commandments with an argument being made for 2 more. We could spend an extraordinary amount of time talking about these 4 subjects but I just want to hit on 1, sexual immorality. Most Christians love talking about this subject because we tend to think that as long as we are not gay, then we are shining in God’s eyes but this encompasses much more than that. We would be hard pressed to find a homosexual in America that doesn’t realize that the bible speaks words against that lifestyle so I’m not going to beat that dead horse. I do however want to talk about the few sexual sins that Christians often find themselves immersed in, that left unrepentant will lead to the same lake of fire that homosexuals will find themselves in.

The adulterous lust that Jesus spoke about, especially lust as in the realm of scantily dressed women or pornography. “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” It is almost a daily battle for most men not to succumb to this sin. With a woman’s skin so readily available to any and every man it would be easy to excuse this sin away as something that can no longer be controlled, as this problem is rampant even inside of the church building. Nevertheless we are to abstain from such behavior, making a covenant with our eyes that we should not lust after this. If this covenant is not able to be kept Jesus prescribed a difficult yet very practical solution to this problem, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” I wonder how many will try to use the excuse on judgement day that we were not able to help but lust after the flesh because it shows itself everywhere and I can imagine Jesus looking at us and saying, how come you didn’t tear out your eye that caused you to sin? It really boils down to whether we think He was serious about us being thrown into hell for this, which I believe He was.

Along the same lines we have actual physical adultery and divorce running wild in our churches as well. I want to be absolutely clear about this, God hates divorce. Did He give us an out through Moses, yes; but it was ONLY for sexual immorality and even that is not necessarily a given. He did however give a prerequisite for granting a divorce, it is because of a hard heart. No matter what your spouse puts you through on a daily basis, divorce was only instituted because of the hardness of man’s heart. Do a simple phrase search through your bible and see who in the bible was found with a hard heart and what their final condition was and you will soon discover that this is not something that a Christian should ever aspire to do. I would go as far as to say that God would rather have you miserable inside of your marriage covenant for the rest of your days rather than to leave with the wife of your youth. Either that or we can just keep treading the course of not repenting for our sexual immoralities and see where that leads us.

ref: Matthew 5:28-32; Matthew 19:8