Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/alphon_1/7251/revelatn.009

Text File | 1992-08-13 | 9KB | 191 lines

                  THE BOOK OF REVELATION

CHAPTER.9.

THE FIFTH TRUMPET:  DEMONIC OPPRESSION - THE FIRST WOE.
Rev 9:1-12

Whenever possible, we seek to interpret words in the book of
Revelation literally.  However, the use of the word `star' in
Revelation 9:1 is obviously intended figuratively rather that
literally, for the `star' is referred to as `him' thus
clearly possessing personality.  A `key' to the bottomless
pit could not be given to a thing or object, but to a person.
The word `star' parallels our customary reference to a
`baseball star' or some other well-known individual.  It
indicates an angel to whom is given, at this point in the
Tribulation Period, `the key to the bottomless pit.'

This usage coincides with that in Revelation 20:1, where we
find that at the end of the Tribulation Period an angel
comes down from heaven `having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand,' indicating that the angel
retains the key during the Tribulation Period and that the
awful spiritual forces about to be unleashed from the `pit of
the abyss' are controlled by the angel.  This must be a good
angel to whom God can entrust such grave responsibility.  His
location in heaven would further indicate that he is a good
angel, for fallen angels do not reside in heaven.

The Bottomless Pit:

The bottomless pit is literally, in the Greek, `the pit of
the abyss,' not hell or hades.  It has been suggested that it
may be at the bottom of the great gulf fixed in hades which
separated the place of torment and the place of comfort,
described as the abode of the dead by the Lord Jesus in Luke
16:19-31.

The word "abyss" occurs seven times in the Book of the
Revelation and only twice in the rest of the New Testament.
In both of the two occurrences outside of revelation, the
word is translated `deep.'  This is seen in Luke 8:31 where
the demons besought Christ that He would not command them to
`go out into the deep.'  The demons were pleading for the
Lord Jesus Christ not to torment them before their time.  The
abyss, then, is the habitation of the demons.  It is also a
place of torment as seen by the demon who pleaded with
Christ, "Torment me not" Luke 8:28.

A study of scripture indicates two kinds of demons: those
that are free, living in a spiritual realm and seeking to
indwell the bodies of men, and those that are confined `into
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment' (2 Pet
2:4) - evidently for some great sin.

The First Woe !
When the bottomless put was opened, smoke arose out of the
pit until the air became saturated with a smoglike condition
worse than anything any city has ever experienced.  Out of
this smog will come locustlike scorpion creatures that have
no counterpart in all history.  They have been aptly called
`internal cherubim.'  Shaped like locusts, and like unto
horses, they have face like men, hair like women, and teeth
as lions; they have breastplates of iron, their wings are as
a sound of `chariots of many horses running to battle,' and
they possess stings in their tails as scorpions.

APOLLYON - `Destroyer'

"And they had a king over them, who is the angel of the
bottomless pit..."  Rev 9:11.  The leading angel of these
evil spirits from out of the pit of the abyss is, in the
Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek, Apollyon, meaning
`destroyer.'

Torment Five Months:

Unlike any kind of locusts that have existed before them,
these are not going to harm vegetation but men.  They will
not be able to kill them, but they will torment them five
months.  This torment is described as `the torment of a
scorpion, when he striketh a man' (9:5).  It has been said
that the sting of a scorpion, though seldom fatal, is one of
the most painful stings known.  The venom seems to set the
veins and nervous system on fire, and the effects last for
several days.  By contrast, the effects of this sting will
extend five months.

Verse 6 speaks of pain so intense that `men (shall) seek
death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and
death shall flee form them.'  Although these infernal
creatures will not be observed by the human eye, they will
cause such physical pain that men will seek death, but death
will be removed from them.  This is a description of almost
unimaginable suffering.

Those Exempt From This Judgment:

The fact that these terrible spirit beings have power to hurt
`only those men which have not the seal of God in their
foreheads' (9:4) may serve as a clue to part of God's purpose
in this fifth trumpet judgement.  It may serve in the hand of
God to help some uncommitted individuals during the
Tribulation Period realize the power of God and turn in faith
to receive the Messiah.

THE SIXTH TRUMPET:  DEMONIC INVASION - THE SECOND WOE.
Rev 9:13-21

The Second Woe:

At the blowing of the sixth trumpet, John heard a voice from
the horns of the golden altar which is before God saying,
"Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river,
Euphrates."  This is our first introduction to these four
bound angels.  That they are evil angels seems obvious
because they are bound.  Evidently they are anxious to bring
havoc upon mankind but have been bound by God, prohibiting
the fulfillment of their intent.  Why they hate man we are
not told; perhaps it is because man is the special object of
God's love (John 3:16).  There is a day coming, however, when
God will permit these awful creatures to come forth,
indication the He has a yet unfulfilled purpose and plan that
will be unveiled according to His good pleasure.  For it
states that they had been `prepared for an hour, and a day,
and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.'
Those that will be slain are no doubt incorrigibles that
would never accept Christ and would only serve as a hindrance
to `undecided' people (those who have neither the mark of the
Father nor the mark of the beast).

The Euphrates River in Scripture:

There is no need to spiritualize `the great river Euphrates,'
considered by Bible scholars to be the greatest river of
boundaries in the Bible.  No doubt the most prominent river
referred to in the Scriptures, it formed one of the
boundaries of the Garden of Eden.  It was also a boundary for
Israel (Gen 15:18), the easternmost boundary of Egypt, and
the boundary of the Persian Empire.  It is used in Scripture
as a symbol of Israel's enemies.

An Evil Army of 200 Million:

An army of 200 million men would be an awesome host to
confront mankind.  This will be an army of 200 million
horselike creatures with riders on their backs called
`horsemen.'  The four angels bound at the Euphrates River
seem to be leaders of these evil spirits, riding on horselike
creatures, having heads of lions and emitting fire, smoke and
grimstone.  They have tails live serpents, form which their
power is sent forth.

No human horseman ever looked like these creatures.  Since
these are literal events that are taking place, the
descriptions should be taken literally.  If they are thus
taken, they would not be regular human beings.  What we
have described is a very horrible and terrible thing that is
coming upon the earth during this period of the Great
Tribulation after the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is
gone.

One-Third Of Men Killed:

By the power of their tail and the `brimstone and fire and
smoke' which proceeds out of their mouths, the horsemen will
kill one-third of the world's population.  We have already
seen the 25% of the population will be killed by the fourth
horseman of the Apocalypse (Rev 6:8) as a result of the
pestilence following the world war at the beginning of the
Tribulation Period.  According to today's population figures,
that would be seven hundred million to one billion people,
depending on when the Tribulation takes place.  This one-
third would again involve a similar number of people,
approximately six hundred or seven hundred million to one
billion people.

Only Unrepentant Killed By This Judgment:

"And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues
yet repented not of the works of their hands" (Rev 9:20).  We
can assume from this verse that the men killed by the evil
spirits will be men who have received the mark of the beast
during the Tribulation Period, having rejected Christ and
accepted the Antichrist to rule over them.  This is not
clearly stated, therefore we say it is assumed.  However, we
know that unrepentant men are so killed.  Thus it is those
with the mark of the beast, or possibly the undecided, who
will be killed.