Thursday, December 11, 2025

One Year Journey Through the New Testament

Revelation 9

Welcome to our journey through the New Testament!

Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit

1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. ² And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. ³ Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶ In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

⁷ 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. ⁸ They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. ⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. ¹¹ And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

¹² One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. 

(Revelation 9:1–12, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• After the warning of the angel concerning the three woes to come, John records the sounding of the fifth angel, bringing torment on the inhabitants of the earth.
• This fifth trumpet and first woe on the earth is a direct attack on humanity. A star fell from heaven to earth, which seems to have morphed into a being. This being had a demonic quality, thus signifying that the devil or one of his demons were the initiator of this woe. The description of the star falling from heaven is reminiscent of the description of Satan being cast from heaven for attempting to make himself equal with God. This being had the key to the bottomless pit. An alternate interpretation sees this being as an angel, sent to judge men and women on earth. The bottomless pit is descriptive of the “shaft of the abyss,” or reservoir of evil. It represents a prison of demons, and is the name given to the place where Satan will be bound during the Millennium. A smoke like that of a great furnace (a hellish image) came up out of the shaft and darkened the sky. Out of the smoke came a swarms of locusts, encompassing the earth. They had power like scorpions to torment humanity for five months (the life expectancy of a locust). They were not to harm the remaining vegetation of the earth, but rather to torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (remember that the 144,000 Jews had the seal of God on their forehead). It appears that all of the Tribulation saints that were to be martyred for their faith are now gone, and that process transitions into this process.
• The locusts were not allowed to kill human beings, but were allowed to torment them, striking them with the painful sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. They have the appearance of small horses, but still are able to inflict excruciating pain. This imagery, combining the elements of horses, locusts, and scorpions, is meant to terrify those upon whom this torment is unleashed. This torment had the desired purpose of bringing humanity to repentance, but those marked by the beast were doomed to destruction. Whether demon or angel, the one who opens this bottomless pit and releases these horrid creatures upon mankind is an instrument of God through the forces of evil on earth. This is a strong and fearful beginning to the three woes accompanying trumpets five through seven.
• John continues his description of the locusts which terrorize the earth. He lifts up mankind’s response and the detailed appearance of the creatures of pain.
• The response of men and women to the terrifying image of the locusts and the pain associated with their scorpion-like sting is nothing short of horror. They actually look to die, perhaps attempting suicide, but cannot die. They consider death less painful than living with the torment of these creatures, yet death escapes them. These are not ordinary locusts. They are shaped like horses prepared for battle. They wore crowns on their heads and appeared like men in their facial features. They had hair, long like a woman, and their teeth resembled those of a lion. They wore armor, of which the breastplate was like one of iron. The sound of their wings as they flew was like an army of chariots going to battle. Their tails were like the tails of a scorpion, and they stung with those ominous tails. They were given a finite period of five months in which to hurt men.
  Their king and ruler was the angel of the bottomless pit, who was called Abaddon in Hebrew, but Apollyon in Greek. These names are often translated as “destroyer,” and refer to the ruler of the locusts. The “angel” designation has many possible meanings, but it is not out of the question to identify this king of the locusts as Satan himself. He is a destroyer, and is called the “prince of darkness” in much literature. Therefore, it is safe to believe that this scene describes Satan’s mocking punishment of those who were duped by the antichrist into selling their souls for a morsel of bread. To do business, they took the mark of the beast, counting food and other staples as a reasonable price for their souls. This elevation of the flesh over the spirit of man is telling of their priorities. Give me bread whether I live eternally or not. Then, the terror of the Apocalypse comes upon them, and the see the foolishness of their decision. Unfortunately, it is too late, and the horror goes on for five months as the locusts of Satan roam the earth, inflicting pain and punishment on every hand. One woe is past, but two more are coming. Know and understand that Satan will woo you, but then He will punish you. He never changes his modus operandi. He is a smooth talker with a dagger behind his back, waiting to harm and kill at his first opportunity. Be aware, and do not be deceived!

Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

²⁰ But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, 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. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. 

(Revelation 9:13–21, NKJV)

Points to Ponder:

• After the first woe (fifth trumpet), the unleashing of the horse/locust/scorpion creatures to torment mankind, the second woe (sixth trumpet) is announced and released. The second woe is the action of four angels to kill a third of mankind.
• The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and a voice, possibly from the Tribulation saints that were under the altar after they were martyred, or perhaps God’ voice, called out to the angel who had the sixth trumpet and called upon him to release the four angels bound at the Euphrates River. The identity of these angels is not completely clear. They could be the angels that represented the four winds of an earlier part of the vision. They could be representatives of the armies of the earth who will come and fight against the army of Jesus Christ at Armageddon. This great army, with which the angels are identified, are the instruments of judgment, sent to punish the earth and to destroy or kill one third of mankind. This unleashing of the angels and the army were scheduled and set by God, and they are released at the appropriate time to do their damage. The army that marched forward to kill was numbered at two hundred million troops. It is slightly possible to see these soldiers as instruments whereby the Tribulation saints are killed, but they numbered only one-fourth of the inhabitants of the earth. This could be a horde that simply wreaks havoc on the earth, but they also could be amassing for a future conflict that will determine the future order of the earth for a thousand years.
• The death of one-third of the population of the earth could have made a difference in the thinking of the rest left alive, but obviously it did not. They continued their practices of worshipping demons, idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood. They continue to worship unclean, false, dead idols that cannot hear or answer them. They cannot walk beside them or care for them. No, these idols are simply incompetent figments of their worshippers imaginations. These unrepentant sinners continued their practices of murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft. This decadent mass of humanity did not seek God or His forgiveness. They refused to repent and continued headlong down their spiral of sin into death. This is just one more example of the spiritual blindness thrust upon those who took the mark of the beast. His influence and control are pervasive and powerful. Once marked, there was no turning back. The lesson for us today is that we cannot be duped by the enemy of our souls. We must sell out to Jesus Christ every day and live fully for Him!

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All Scriptures from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Join us this afternoon at 5:00 pm for a discussion of this chapter live online. Live@5 with Dr. Greg Sloop can be found on Facebook on the Dr. Greg Sloop page or on the Kannapolis Church of God Facebook page or Youtube page. Another blog will be posted each weekday at 6:00 a.m.