As chapter nine begins, the fifth trumpet is sounded and first “woe” from verse of chapter eight begins.
First John sees a “star” fallen from heaven, however, unlike the other stars he has seen, this one is not a comet or meteor, but actually an angelic being – possibly Satan or at least a high-ranking demon in his army.
He is given the keys to the “bottomless pit.” MacArthur points out that this pit is mentioned seven times in Revelation and always refers to the place where some of the demonic hordes are incarcerated.
Once the pit is opened a great smoke rose out of it, so great that it darkened the sun and air.
From this smoke, came locusts unlike anything the world has ever seen. They were given great power, however they were also given limits.
Unlike the vegetation-devouring locusts humans are used to, these demon-locusts were forbidden from harming the grass, the trees, and any other green thing.
Their only target?
“Only those men which do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” In other words, everyone on earth except the two groups singled out in chapter 7 – the 144,000 and their converts.
However, they were not allowed to kill anyone, only torment them with their painful scorpion-like strike.
This is a sober foreshadowing of what hell will be like, as people are suffering immense torment, wishing for death to end it all, but there will be no end.
In this case, however, there is an end as the locusts are only allowed to torture the people for five months.
7-11
Starting in verse seven, John transitions from the actions of the locusts to their physical appearance.
He compares them in form to horses ready for battle with crowns like gold on their head and faces like a human – most likely a reference to the fact that these were no every day locusts, but rational, intelligent demonic beings.
They also had hair like a woman and teeth as a lion’s – powerful and deadly.
He then describes them as having breastplates of iron, signifying that they were invulnerable to attack.
They were so many that their wings sounded like great horses rushing into battle.
Then, he again mentions their tails were like that of a scorpion with a powerful sting.
Finally, John mentions that these demonic locusts have a king who leads them. In Hebrew he is known as Abaddon, but his Greek name is Apollyon.
8-12
As the sixth trumpet and second woe begins, John hears a voice coming from the altar of God. It calls for four fallen angels, who had previously been bound, to be set free in order to accomplish God’s judgments.
These angels then, who had been prepared for this very time, were released and permitted to kill one-third of mankind.
They accomplish this through their army of horsemen who John says numbers 200 million.
He describes these horses as having breastplates of red, blue and yellow and heads like lions.
However, it is the mouths of these horses that bring destruction for they breathe fire, smoke and brimstone.
John says it is through these three plagues that 1/3 of mankind will be destroyed.
They are twice as deadly because they can spew their venomous plagues from both directions.
The next two verses are some of the saddest, some of the most inconceivable words in the Bible.
John says the remaining two-thirds of mankind did not repent of the works of their hands or any of the wrong things they were doing. Despite all the death and destruction, they just kept sinning!
Final Thoughts
There are so many things I could say about this chapter.
For one, while other books of the Bible assure us of their existence, it is Revelation and the Apostle John which give us our first concrete images of Satan’s army of demons.
I don’t know about you, but I am certainly glad that God is on my side because they are nasty, hateful critters.
However, it also helps us keep on our guard in present day because while we may not have to encounter them during the tribulation, they certainly will be happy to torment us while we are still on this earth.
Good reason to put on the whole armor of God each day!!
Secondly, while on one hand it is hard to believe that people could be so steeped in their sin that they refuse to repent even with death all around them, on the other hand it’s not so hard to imagine whenever I think about how even we as Christians can sometimes be so stubborn and selfish.
We get so set on doing things our own way that when God wants us to go a different way, we want to close our ears and ignore his existence.
What is something you got from this chapter? I’d love to hear it in the comments.