And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
The Fifth Trumpet. First Woe. Chap. 9 Rev 9:1-12
1. fall from heaven ] Rather, fallen. St John does not say that he witnessed the actual fall.
to him was given ] Clearly therefore the star is identified with a person: no doubt a “fallen angel,” in the common sense of the term. For the identification of angels with stars, cf. Rev 1:20, and Job 38:7: and of fallen angels in particular, Enoch xviii. 16, xxi. 3, &c. The fall of this star may legitimately be illustrated, as to the image by Isa 14:12, and as to the meaning by Luk 10:18; Luk 12:9 in this book: but it is not to be assumed that this passage refers to the same event as either of the two last, still less that the first does.
of the bottomless pit ] Lit. of the pit (or well) of the abyss: the depth of Hell, the home or penal prison of the demons (see Luk 8:31, where the word translated “the deep” is the same), is conceived as a pit in the earth’s surface, no doubt literally bottomless, but of finite area, so that it can be fitted with a cover which can be fastened down with a padlock or seal. Cf. Rev 11:7, Rev 17:8, for the notion of evil beings issuing from the pit; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3, for their being confined there. But notice (i) that this pit is nowhere identified with the “lake of fire,” the final destination of the Devil and his angels: (ii) that we are not told that the Devil himself is cast into it yet; rather the contrary is implied.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the fifth angel sounded – See the notes on Rev 8:6-7.
And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth – This denotes, as was shown in the notes on Rev 8:10, a leader, a military chieftain, a warrior. In the fulfillment of this, as in the former case, we look for the appearance of some mighty prince and warrior, to whom is given power, as it were, to open the bottomless pit, and to summon forth its legions. That some such agent is denoted by the star is further apparent from the fact that it is immediately added, that to him (the star) was given the key of the bottomless pit. It could not be meant that a key would be given to a literal star, and we naturally suppose, therefore, that some intelligent being of exalted rank, and of baleful influence, is here referred to Angels, good and bad, are often called stars; but the reference here, as in Rev 8:10, seems to me not to be to angels, but to some mighty leader of armies, who was to collect his hosts, and to go through the world in the work of destruction.
And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit – Of the under-world, considered particularly of the abode of the wicked. This is represented often as a dark prison-house, enclosed with walls, and accessible by gates or doors. These gates or doors are fastened, so that none of the inmates can come out, and the key is in the hand of the keeper or guardian. In Rev 1:18 it is said that the keys of that world are in the hand of the Saviour (compare the notes on that passage); here it is said that for a time, and for a temporary purpose, they are committed to another. The word pit – phrear – denotes properly a well, or a pit for water dug in the earth; and then any pit, cave, abyss. The reference here is doubtless to the nether world, considered as the abode of the wicked dead, the prison-house of the guilty. The word bottomless, abussos – whence our word abyss means properly without any bottom (from a, the alpha privative (not), and buthos, depth, bottom). It would be applied properly to the ocean, or to any deep and dark dell, or to any obscure place whose depth was unknown. Here it refers to Hades – the region of the dead the abode of wicked spirits – as a deep, dark place, whose bottom was unknown. Having the key to this, is to have the power to confine those who are there, or to permit them to go at large. The meaning here is, that this master-spirit would have power to evoke the dead from these dark regions; and it would be fulfilled if some mighty genius, that could be compared with a fallen star, or a lurid meteor, should summon forth followers which would appear like the dwellers in the nether world called forth to spread desolation over the earth.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 9:1-12
I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.
Moral evil in the universe
I. It is exposable (Rev 9:1). Moral evil, in its incipient state, so stupefies the faculties and blinds the conscience that the subject only becomes aware of it by the advent of s messenger from heaven–an angel from heaven uncovers it, makes it bare to the soul.
II. It is fathomless. Bottomless pit. Who can fathom its–
1. Origin.
2. Issues.
III. It is burning. A great furnace. Like all fire, it exists in two states–latent or active. Where it becomes active it is consuming and transmuting: it consumers the good, and transmutes its embers into evil, and in all it inflicts agony on the soul–the agony of moral regrets for the past, and terrible forebodings for the future.
IV. It is obscuring.
1. How benighted men are on the eternal question of right!
2. How blinded men are to the eternal conditions of well-being!
V. It is alarming (Rev 9:3). What hellish squadrons, to terrify and destroy the soul, issue from the fathomless abysses of moral evil! Terrible armies come in the memories of the past and in the apprehensions of the mysterious future. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The fallen stars
A star falling from heaven may be interpreted as something bright that leaps from its proper place, or may be used as the symbol of many things that are out of their true position, and as the type of many persons who are wandering, or who have wandered, or who will wander from their proper locality. It stands for broken plans, broken character, for virtue turned upside down, and for a world filled with riot, confusion, and shame.
1. As we study history, we find, in each age, a large number of prominent men who for a long season gave a brilliant light, and then all at once became eclipsed by their sins, being struck from the celestial skies. Is there any sight more sad than this? It is opportunity clipped, virtue smothered, consummate grandeur scorched, and a posterity robbed of examples that might have been splendidly luminous beyond all human estimate. Such men have struck a blow at humanity, and they stand unenvied, in the niche of fame, as traitors to their race, aliens from God, and bad specimens of a discrowned morality; and such is the penalty of a high position misused, of a great trust betrayed, and of a grand possibility disgraced.
2. Again, great cities and countries that have become extinct are fallen stars–Babylon, Nineveh, and Tyre, and others of like nature, which once led the world in beauty, culture, commerce, and force, but which now are lost in the ashes that serve as their mausoleum. No one could have foreseen their fate, because so stately, so magnificent, and so glorious did they appear, and right royal in their beauty.
3. In each ones personal history we discover that bright luminaries have fallen from their place; for no one can look back upon a past life without detecting various periods when awful slips were made. How innocent we once were! What bright dreams of goodness flitted athwart the brain, crowned the soul, and illuminated a possible future! Ah! the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. We meant to do that which was right, but temptation came, then we turned aside to the evil way; and probably there is not a person in the world at the age of twenty-one who has not lost somewhat of the freshness of early life, and we all moan over some good thing that we have too easily let go. Are we as truthful as we once were? as honest? as pure? Ah! the firmament of our souls has become strangely darkened, and many of the brilliant lights that once studded it appear to have died out. Only here and there twinkles one little star, very lonely, sad, obscure. Clouds and darkness are round about us, while a thick vapour has thrown its fearful shroud over our original beauty. Yet, all this we can remedy; and these choice constellations of early days, now so disguised, can be made to shine with renewed glory, can once more proclaim their power, and can yet again blaze with gorgeous splendour. And Jesus came on purpose to tell us how to keep these starlike virtues in their orbit, how to call them back when they have wandered, and how to summon up their original splendour. He did not wish us to be freed from all temptation, that, merely by the absence of exposure, our innocence might be eternally fortified, and that our goodness might be iron-clad–no, not that; but He endeavoured to show us how to meet temptation, how to conquer it, how to take our innocence and to push it into virtue, and how to change a mere passive goodness into a decided, active, and glorious nobleness of character. (Caleb D. Bradlee.)
Why should God permit this star to fall
Could not He who made the heavens have kept the constellations in their place, and have saved from extinction those brilliant lights? If Be could only make them, but could never control them after they were born, where was His omnipotence? If He could only make them, and yet not know that they would rebel, where was His omniscience? Or, in other words, why did God ever allow sin to attack the children of men? that old question that is ever new, and that will ever come up to trouble us; for it has puzzled the human heart ever since the human heart was made, yet is not the answer really very plain? Without free will we should be machines; but with it there must be the possibility of our going astray. God can, and does, prevent sin from injuring the world ultimately; but He cannot, consistently with the freedom of the human mind, stop a human being from going astray if that human being so desires. And if the star will fall from heaven, why it must fall; but God will prevent it from scorching the world, while God, perhaps, in time will so inflame it with His blessed love, pity, and grace that it will find again its place, regain its power, and shine once more in splendour. (Caleb D. Bradlee.)
The evil effects of degeneracy: the fallen star
The evil effects are–
I. Widespread.
II. Destructively injurious.
III. Bitterly afflictive.
1. To him who falls.
2. To them whom he drags down with him.
3. To them whose sympathies being only with goodness are afflicted by anything that tends to degeneracy of manners, to feebleness of faith, or to the lowering of the tone and felicity of human life.
4. To the widespread, outlying multitudes, amongst whom the spread of goodness is retarded by any act of unfaithfulness and any instance of defection. (R. Green.)
Abuse of the best things
The best things, when abused, become the worst; there is no devil like a fallen angel, no enemy to the gospel like an apostate Christian, no hate like the theological hate, no war like a religious war, and no corruption like religious corruption. The reasons are not far to seek. The best things are the strongest; they can therefore do evil when used in an evil way. (A. J. Morris.)
Shall men seek death, and shall not find Jr.—
The extremity of anguish
I. A state of misery in which death is sought.
1. Death is universally regarded amongst men as the greatest evil. The ravenous beast, the furious storm, the destructive pestilence, the engulfing earthquake, are only terrible because death is terrible.
2. The relief which men generally seek in this world in their sufferings is from death. The mariner will forsake his ship with valuable cargo, the king will resign his kingdom, the wounded will suffer amputation of every limb, if thought needful, to avoid death.
II. A state of misery in which death is sought as a relief in vain. It is miserable to seek relief in the most deeply felt evil, but to seek it in such an evil in vain adds wondrously to the misery of the case. Fatigue, disappointment, the consciousness of lost energy, add to the anguish. Earth runs from death; hell runs after it, and runs in vain.
III. Concluding inferences:
1. The fact that men are exposed to such a state of being implies that some sad catastrophe has befallen our nature.
2. There is something in the universe to be dreaded by man more than death, and this is sin.
3. Christianity should be hailed as the only means to deliver us from this extremity of anguish. It destroys sin; it condemns sin in the flesh. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
As it were crowns like gold.—
The fictions of sin
These mystical locusts personify the lusts and passions which destroy the soul, and which, destroying the soul, destroy all things. Our text suggests that sin affects great things, it promises great things, and it never gives what it promises. On their heads were as it were crowns of gold. It is not a real, solid, golden crown, but as it were. Sin always acts by an infernal magic; it is full of illusion, imposition, and mockery. There is indeed a Mephistophelean element in all sin; it saves its word whilst it lies, it gives a spurious gift, it is ironical, scornful, and derisive. It is the supreme sophistry; the supreme satire.
1. There is no reality in the greatness that sin promises. Sin promises distinction, glory, fame. The devil is quite flush of crowns. But men always find at last that selfish greatness, soiled greatness, unrighteous greatness is false greatness, and that it only mocks those who have made such immense sacrifices on its behalf. Take a conqueror, of whom Napoleon is the type. He was himself a locust, with a crown upon his head. And just as the locusts strip the trees and leave rich and smiling landscapes desolate, so did this imperial locust and his legions strip kingdoms and leave a track of blood and ruin. But how empty was all his glory, and how little it came to! An exile at St. Helena, you feel he got the crown, as it were. And to-day how utterly discredited he is, and how beggared all his greatness! The world knows him as a colossal brigand. Take a poet, and let Byron be our typical instance. How much of greatness and fame did he seem to acquire, and yet his career was based on egotism, sensuality, godlessness; and how poor he looks now! Take a politician. I have been reading the biography of a notorious statesman. He was a brilliant man and he loved brilliance. All his letters are about splendid events, gorgeous pageantries, eloquent speeches. He breakfasts with wits, takes tea with duchesses, dines with the queen. You read about literature, diplomacy, rank, but the great words of righteousness and humanitarianism are hardly breathed. How poor it all looks now! How theatrical it looks, how theatrical it was! How differently we look upon Wilberforce, who brought men liberty; upon Cobden, who gave us bread; upon Shaftesbury, who made mercy to distil upon waste places as the gentle rains drop upon the plains, beneath. Their crowns are solid, they glow as they age; but as for my dramatic statesman, ms diadem was dust before he was. It is always so. Wherever glory is built on egotism, violence, unrighteousness, it possesses only an apparitional crown. The burglar seizes property, but in his hands it is no longer property, but pillage. The sensual man seizes love, but beautiful love thus seized instantly dies and becomes a ghastly corpse–that we call lust. The ambitious man seizes greatness, but the moment that he touches it in the spirit of egotism and pride the splendid crown becomes tinsel. The coveted thing, whatever it be, loses its essence when the lawless lust has got it. If you want greatness and glory seek for it in another and truer pathway. You young men, be sure that you seek it in the ways of truth and wisdom and purity. Wisdom is the principal thing. She shall bring thee to honour. You professional men. You justly contemplate promotion and distinction in your calling, lawyer, physician, artist. Be sure you make no compromise. Be ready to go without a crown that you may get one. You municipal men. You political aspirants. Bring the religious and moral into your life or some day you will be mocked by knowing the crown for which you struggled is only a miserable counterfeit. And then we all hope for a larger glory and honour still. It is astonishing what a faith we have in the possibilities of our nature; what an instinct for greatness; what an appetite for glory! Years ago I remember a poor woman dying; she was a very poor woman, and was carried to the grave from a lowly cottage. But her children put this verse on her funeral card: And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. They felt she was great enough to have the sun for her robe, the moon for a footstool, and Orion, Venus, Sirius, Arcturus, Aldebaran, for the stars of her forehead. And they were right. The most magnificent things of the Apocalypse do not startle us. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. But let us aim at true greatness–not mock greatness. We do not want the crowns of the locusts–we want one of those other crowns, such as the elders wore, as the angels wore, as the saints wore. The true crown is a crown of righteousness, it fadeth not away.
II. There is no reality in the wealth that sin promises. Wealth without morality, without humanity, without spirituality, is in an extraordinary degree unreal and tantalising. On the Stock Exchange is what is known as phantom gold. Certain transactions in gold are known by this name. It is gold that exists only on paper, and it is dealt in as a pure speculation. But how much of the wealth of society is phantom gold! It is on paper only; it is truly a visionary, speculative thing. There is no real solid joy in it. Look at illegitimate wealth–wealth gotten by immoral means. Men sometimes get it, and then they are detected and they are deprived of it. There are rogues in prison to-day who have been deprived of their ill-gotten wealth. You have seen a mouse in a trap–it gets the cheese as it were. And if they do not go to prison, wealth that comes badly has a trick of melting away swiftly. They put it into a bag with holes, they get it and are poor, they never have anything. Fairy gold turns to withered leaves and dust. And sometimes conscience will not let them enjoy it. Look at Judas! He got the thirty pieces of silver as it were. And there is much the same deception and disappointment with all selfish, godless, unspiritual wealth. Men have it, and yet they have it not, they get the golden prize, and then harndling it find it as it were. They have it, and it is a phantom. It is like a man promising you money, and then showing you a five-pound note in a looking-glass. Balzac, the French writer, built himself a splendid mansion, but when he had finished it he had exhausted his resources, and so he proceeded to furnish it in imagination, Here a ticket announced a great picture, there a cabinet, conch, table, etc. The realities were not there, only labels. And it is often much the same with the selfish unspiritual rich, their outward life overbrims with riches, lint their soul is empty. They have certificates, title-deeds, parchments declaring that they have wealth and power and happiness, but the realities are utterly wanting in their deepest, truest life. They cant translate it into the true riches of brain and heart, of character, experience, and hope. A friend of mine in London is a jeweller for the theatres, and he was showing me the other day the jewels of the stage. What a size those jewels are! Mammoth gems, mountains of light, stars of the first magnitude. What colours those jewels have! Rich, burning, gorgeous hues. And what a quantity! Pearls by the peck. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, abound. Crowns, mitres, diadems, necklaces on every side. The crown-jewels in the Tower look mean and shabby compared with this treasury of gems. And yet one crown jewel would far more than have bought them all. Clever, ingenious, plausible–they were still Brummagem. One simple, small, modest gem of royalty outweighs all the gay and garish gems of the mimic kings and queens of the gaslight. And it is much the same with Vanity Fair, with all unspiritual glory, and fashion, and luxury. The rich and gay are but actors, their purple brings them no self-respect, their gold no gladness, their splendour no satisfaction of soul. Have no unrighteous wealth. It will only deceive and curse you. Do not hold your wealth in the spirit of selfishness. Be the steward of God, using for His glory, for high and generous purposes, whatever He gives you. And be sure of this, that no wealth is truly yours until it is realised in the spiritual and godly. The gold of this land is good.
III. There is no reality in the pleasure that sin promises. Pleasure that is not moral; pleasure that is selfish; pleasure that has no thought of God in it is always fictitious. It is imagination, illusion, falsehood. I remember a picture of the Prodigal Son, and there was one fine touch in it. The poor fellow had come to the feeding of the swine, and the painter had put in one of those poetic touches which mean so much a few poppies gave bits of colour to the dismal picture. Yes, one deep lesson of the parable was there–the prodigal had been under the power of opium, he had been the victim of illusion. And this illusion had betrayed him to the far country, the swine, the hunger, the brink of despair. It is always thus–the poppy plays the grand part. The devil makes men to see wondrous delights in sensual, selfish, godless pleasures. But they prove sooner or later as the podigal son did that it is illusion, that unrighteous and unspiritual enjoyment is a miserable cheat. The African saw blocks of silver on the other side of the river, but when he crossed the river they turned into black stones. He never gives you a crown of roses but as it were. Brethren, seek for a real crown–greatness, wealth, pleasure. Make for this. Dont be deceived. And there is One who can give it. It is in the truth and grace and power of Christ that you shall realise all the grand and beautiful and enduring satisfactions of the heart. There is no as it were in Jesus Christ. It is reality; it satisfies, abides. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Stings in their tails.—
The tail of a habit
A beast escaped with a halter, says Thomas Manton, is easily caught again; so a lust indulged will bring us into our old bondage. Nothing is harder to bury than the tail of a habit; but unless we do bury it, tail and all, the viper will wriggle out of its grave. A clear, clean, and complete escape is the only true deliverance from an evil practice which has long been indulged. A drunkard is not safe from the drink while he takes his occasional glass with a friend. A man who allows himself any one sin will be sure to allow another; where one dog comes into the room another may follow. A fish is not free for his life while a hook is in his mouth, and a line holds him to the rod. However thin the connecting medium, it will be the death of the fish, if it holds; and, however slight the bond which links a man to evil, it will be his sure ruin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
There come two woes more.—
Woes to come
To my own apprehension, while reading this in private, it seemed just such an utterance as the angel of God might address to the soul of the ungodly when he leaves the body. Death is over, saith the angel. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. Thou hast passed through the woes of death, but behold there comes a judgment, and then comes a second death: One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
1. The woe which is supposed to be passed is the woe of death. Death to the righteous has lost its sting, but to the wicked death has all its terrors. Its horrors are not diminished by anything that Christ hath done; yea, rather, death gathers more cause of dismay; for the very Cross itself may fill the obdurate heart with consternation. When the sinner dies impenitent, having rejected the mercy of Christ, death is woe indeed. One of my predecessors, Mr. Benjamin Keach, has left on record an account of a man that had been a trouble to his Church–for he had backslidden–and his cries, shrieks, and tears, at the very prospect of death, were enough to make ones hair turn white and stand upon end. The poor wretched man seems to have had a foretaste of perdition before he entered into its fire; and so it is ofttimes with the wicked: thou hast had thy harvest; thy summer is ended; but thou art not saved; thou hast been warned, but thou shalt not be warned again, and all the while conscience says this is just–I knew my duty and I did it not; I knew it was my duty to repent, but I steeled my heart against God, and I would not forsake my sins; I turned my back upon the Cross to dance in a merry circle downwards to the pit. This shall make death woeful indeed, when it shall be hurled into the mind; thou knewest thy duty, but thou didst it not:
2. Of the two woes that loom in the future, I would now briefly but solemnly speak.
(1) The first woe of the man who dies in his sins is the woe of judgment; that is terrible indeed. Scarce can a prisoner stand in the docks to be tried for his life by his fellow-man without trembling; at least, it is a wonder if it should be so. But conceive the great assize–the graves are opened! What horrors shall seize hold upon the wicked at that moment!
(2) After the woe of judgment there comes the woe of hell. Oh, what a woe is that in which all the woes of the lost are condensed! You cannot compare the pains of this life with the agonies to be endured hereafter. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER IX.
The fifth angel sounds, and a star falls from heaven to
earth, 1.
The bottomless pit is opened, and locusts come out upon
the earth, 2, 3.
Their commission, 4-6.
Their form, 7-10.
Their government, 11, 12.
The sixth angel sounds, and the four angels bound in the
Euphrates are loosed, 13-15.
The army of horsemen, and their description, 16-19.
Though much evil is inflicted upon men for their idolatry,
&c., they do not repent, 20, 21.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX.
Verse 1. A star fall from heaven] An angel encompassed with light suddenly descended, and seemed like a star falling from heaven.
The key of the bottomless pit.] Power to inundate the earth with a flood of temporal calamities and moral evils.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the fifth angel sounded; the fifth of the seven angels mentioned Rev 8:2, to whom were given seven trumpets. It denoteth the beginning of a new period of calamities and miseries to the earth, or to the church.
And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: what this star falling from heaven means, is not easy to resolve. Those who think it the devil, once a star, but fallen, forget that John is not here told a story of what was in the beginning of the world, but what should be, and that five hundred years after Christs coming. And the same reason holds against those who think those seditious persons are meant, who did so much mischief in and about Jerusalem during the siege; this had been to have revealed to John those things which he knew were done many years before. Amongst those who think some particular eminent minister of the church, who apostatized, is meant, those seem to me to judge better, who think that Boniface the Third is meant, who, in the year 606, obtained the privilege of the popes supremacy, than those who understand it of Arius or Pelagius, who both of them fell two hundred years before this. It seems very harsh to interpret it of Christ, or any good angels descending from heaven, because the word is rightly by us translated falling, and not to be interpreted so softly as descending. In all probability, therefore, the first apostacy of the bishop of Rome was here prophesied. But how
to him was given the key of the bottomless pit, ( by which hell is meant here, as often in Scripture), is hard to say; unless we understand it of his instrumentality, to send many thousands to hell by that corrupt doctrine and worship, which by him then began to obtain. But his key was borrowed, (if God had not permitted him he could not have done it), and it turned but one way; he had only a power to open it, not (as Christ) both to open and shut it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. The last three trumpets ofthe seven are called, from Re 8:13,the woe-trumpets.
fallrather as Greek,“fallen.” When John saw it, it was not in the act offalling, but had fallen already. This is a connectinglink of this fifth trumpet with Rev 12:8;Rev 12:9; Rev 12:12,”Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devilis come down,” c. Compare Isa14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, sonof the morning!”
the bottomless pitGreek,“the pit of the abyss” the orifice of the hell whereSatan and his demons dwell.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the fifth angel sounded,…. His trumpet:
and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: some take this star to be Jesus Christ, the bright and morning star; and understand by falling, no other than his descending from heaven to earth, in which sense the word is used in Ge 14:10; and that because he is not only said to have the keys of hell and death, Re 1:18; but particularly the key of the bottomless pit, Re 20:1; but then there is a wide difference in the use of the key by the star here, and the angel there, or between the opening of the pit, and letting out smoke and locusts, and the shutting it up, and Satan in it; the one well suits with Christ, the other not: nor is Satan here designed, as others think, who once was a bright star, and shone among the morning stars, but by sin fell from heaven, his first estate; and the fall of this Lucifer, son of the morning, was as lightning from heaven, Lu 10:18. But then this was a matter over and past, and what was well known to John; nor did he need a vision to represent this unto him: nor is Arius intended, who lived before any of the trumpets were blown; nor the Emperor Valens, who fell from the heavenly doctrine of Christ’s divinity into the Arian heresy, which he encouraged and defended; whereby Christ, the sun of righteousness, was obscured, and the air, the church, enlightened by Christ, was darkened; in whose time the locusts, the Goths and Vandals, infected with Arianism, greatly distressed the eastern Christians; but his reign was long before the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, which was after the year 600: wherefore by this star is meant antichrist; but whether the western or eastern antichrist, the pope of Rome, or Mahomet, is a question: some interpreters go one way, and some another: Brightman thinks both are intended, seeing they both are antichrist, and rose to the height of their power much about the same time; and the characters and circumstances in this vision very. Well agree with them both: what is objected to Mahomet is, that he never was a doctor or teacher in the church, or had any dignity in it, which a star in this book most commonly signifies, and therefore could not be said to fall from it; but this may be observed, that the Arabians, among whom he lived, had received the Christian religion before his time; that he himself was conversant with the Scriptures, as appears by his wretched perversion of them in his Alcoran; and certain it is, that his accomplices were such as had professed Christianity, as Sergius, a Nestorian of Constantinople, and John of Antioch, an Arian, and he himself set up for a prophet: others think the pope of Rome is meant by the star, seeing the bishops of that city had shone out in great light and purity of doctrine and practice formerly, but now about this time most sadly apostatized; they had been indeed gradually declining for some time, but now they may be said openly to fall from heaven, when Phocas, who murdered his master, the Emperor Mauritius, and took the imperial crown to himself, gave to Pope Boniface the Third the title and power of universal bishop, about the year 859, which he and his successors exercised in a most haughty and tyrannical manner:
and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit; which shows that this could not be a star in a literal sense, but must design some man, or body of men, and agrees well with the popes of Rome: by “the bottomless pit” is meant hell, out of which the beast arose, and into which Satan will be cast, Re 11:7; and by “the key” is designed the power of it, of opening and shutting it, of saving persons from it, or of casting them into it; and which the popes of Rome take to themselves, even all power in heaven, earth, and hell, signified by their triple crown; and which they arrogate to such a degree as to say, that if the pope should send many thousands into hell, no one ought to say, what dost thou? This is a different key from what were given to Peter; he had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, his pretended successors have the key of the bottomless pit; his were keys of knowledge, theirs of ignorance, and of the depths of Satan, let out of this bottomless pit, of which the antichristian religion, both Popish and Mahometan, consist; his were given by Christ, theirs by Phocas a murderer; or they had their power from the dragon, Re 13:2; from Satan himself, according to whose working and influence they come forth, though by divine permission.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Seven Trumpets. | A. D. 95. |
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
Upon the sounding of this trumpet, the things to be observed are, 1. A star falling from heaven to the earth. Some think this star represents some eminent bishop in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do not agree. Some understand it of Boniface the third bishop of Rome, who assumed the title of universal bishop, by the favour of the emperor Phocas, who, being a usurper and tyrant in the state, allowed Boniface to be so in the church, as the reward of his flattery. 2. To this fallen star was given the key of the bottomless pit. Having now ceased to be a minister of Christ, he becomes the antichrist, the minister of the devil; and by the permission of Christ, who had taken from him the keys of the church, he becomes the devil’s turnkey, to let loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ. 3. Upon the opening of the bottomless pit there arose a great smoke, which darkened the sun and the air. The devils are the powers of darkness; hell is the place of darkness. The devil carries on his designs by blinding the eyes of men, by extinguishing light and knowledge, and promoting ignorance and error. He first deceives men, and then destroys them; wretched souls follow him in the dark, or they durst not follow him. 4. Out of this dark smoke there came a swarm of locusts, one of the plagues of Egypt, the devil’s emissaries headed by the antichrist, all the rout and rabble of antichristian orders, to promote superstition, idolatry, error, and cruelty; and these had, by the just permission of God, power to hurt those who had not the mark of God in their foreheads. 5. The hurt they were to do them was not a bodily, but a spiritual hurt. They should not in a military way destroy all by fire and sword; the trees and the grass should be untouched, and those they hurt should not be slain; it should not be a persecution, but a secret poison and infection in their souls, which should rob them of their purity, and afterwards of their peace. Heresy is a poison in the soul, working slowly and secretly, but will be bitterness in the end. 6. They had no power so much as to hurt those who had the seal of God in their foreheads. God’s electing, effectual, distinguishing grace will preserve his people from total and final apostasy. 7. The power given to these factors for hell is limited in point of time: five months, a certain season, and but a short season, though how short we cannot tell. Gospel-seasons have their limits, and times of seduction are limited too. 8. Though it would be short, it would be very sharp, insomuch that those who were made to feel the malignity of this poison in their consciences would be weary of their lives, v. 6. A wounded spirit who can bear? 9. These locusts were of a monstrous size and shape, Rev 9:7; Rev 9:8, c. They were equipped for their work like horses prepared to battle. (1.) They pretended to great authority, and seemed to be assured of victory: They had crowns like gold on their heads it was not a true, but a counterfeit authority. (2.) They had the show of wisdom and sagacity, the faces of men, though the spirit of devils. (3.) They had all the allurements of seeming beauty, to ensnare and defile the minds of men–hair like women; their way of worship was very gaudy and ornamental. (4.) Though they appeared with the tenderness of women, they had the teeth of lions, were really cruel creatures. (5.) They had the defence and protection of earthly powers–breastplates of iron. (6.) They made a mighty noise in the world; they flew about from one country to another, and the noise of their motion was like that of an army with chariots and horses. (7.) Though at first they soothed and flattered men with a fair appearance, there was a sting in their tails; the cup of their abominations contained that which, though luscious at first, would at length bite like a serpent and sting like an adder. (8.) The king and commander of this hellish squadron is here described, [1.] As an angel; so he was by nature, an angel, once one of the angels of heaven. [2.] The angel of the bottomless pit; an angel still, but a fallen angel, fallen into the bottomless pit, vastly large, and out of which there is no recovery. [3.] In these infernal regions he is a sort of prince and governor, and has the powers of darkness under his rule and command. [4.] His true name is Abaddon, Apollyon–a destroyer, for that is his business, his design, and employment, to which he diligently attends, in which he is very successful, and takes a horrid hellish pleasure; it is about this destroying work that he sends out his emissaries and armies to destroy the souls of men. And now here we have the end of one woe; and where one ends another begins.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fallen (). Perfect active participle of , already down. In Lu 10:18 note (constative aorist active, like a flash of lightning) after and in Re 7:2 note (present active and linear, coming up, picturing the process) after .
Of the pit of the abyss ( ). is an old adjective (alpha privative and , depth, without depth), but (supply place), the bottomless place. It occurs in Ro 10:7 for the common receptacle of the dead for Hades (Sheol), but in Lu 8:31 a lower depth is sounded (Swete), for the abode of demons, and in this sense it occurs in Rev 9:1; Rev 9:2; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3. is an old word for well or cistern (Luke 14:5; John 4:11) and it occurs in Re 9:1f. for the mouth of the abyss which is pictured as a cistern with a narrow orifice at the entrance and this fifth angel holds the key to it.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Fall [] . Lit., fallen. The star had fallen before and is seen as fallen. Rev., properly construes star with from heaven instead of with fallen. Compare Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18.
Of the bottomless pit [ ] . Rev., of the pit of the abyss. See on Joh 4:6, and compare Luk 14:5. It is not however a pit that is locked, but the long shaft leading to the abyss, like a well – shaft, which, in the East, is oftener covered and locked.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE FIFTH TRUMPET AND THE FIRST WOE, v. 1-12
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) “And the fifth angel sounded,” (kai ho pemptos angelos esalpisen) “And the fifth (of the seven) angel trumpeted,” as introduced, and one by one successively announce judgments, Rev 8:2.
2) “And I saw a star,” (kai eidon astera) “And I saw or recognized a star; Apparently Lucifer, the bright one of fallen angels, apollyon, the destroyer, Rev 9:11; Perhaps referred to as Lucifer meaning “day-star” that fell, Isa 14:12; Eze 28:12-14.
3) “Fall from heaven unto the earth,” (ek to ouranou peptokota eis ges tes) “That had fallen out of heaven (onto) into the earth;” The fall appears to have come about the time of the final war in heaven, Rev 12:7-12 after which he has but “a short time” on earth to do his work, for 42 months, Rev 12:13-17.
4) “And to him was given,” (kai edothe auto) “And there was given over to it (him),” (the star) perhaps to the Devil, King of demon spirits and hell, called also “prince of this world,” Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Eph 2:2; Heb 2:14.
5) “The Key of the bottomless pit,” (he kleis tou phreatos tes abussou) “The key of the shaft or (shaft-key) of the abyss (bottomless pit), of hades, present abode of souls of the unsaved and the devil and fallen angels or demon-slave-spirits to the Devil; This place is prepared for the Devil and his angels, Mat 25:41; Heb 2:14; Rev 17:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL
Rev 8:1 to Rev 11:19.
WE concluded the last talk by an appeal that men surrender their souls to the Son of Man before the day of His wrath come. The Opening of the Seventh Seal will add emphasis to that entreaty. We read that when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour.
When the coming birth of John the Baptist was announced to Zacharias, the priest, whose lot it was to serve in the Temple at that time, the angel confirmed the promise by paralyzing the priests tongue, and when he came out and could not speak unto them, the people perceived that he had seen a vision in the Temple. If the dumbness of a single servant of God excited the wonder of the multitude, what a portentous event when every angel in the whole heavenly host shall find his tongue suddenly tied, and turning his dumb eyes to the Father upon the throne, and to the Son sitting at the right hand, shall see them as silent as themselves, and a stillness, like that which must obtain in the deepest depths of ocean, reigning in a world where for millenniums silence has been a stranger. Would it not necessarily mean the awful calm prophesying some unthinkable catastrophe? The effect of this silence would be heightened by the sight of seven angels standing before God, their trumpets at their lips; and augmented still more by the event of another angel bending over the altar, holding in his hands a golden censer in which was mingled the prayers of all the saints, while the smoke of the same went up before God out of the angels hand. The very fact that these prayers were being presented would signify the portentousness of the coming storm, and would seem to show that up to the very time when judgment beginsChrist, Heavens chief angel, and mans intercessor, will be pleading with the prayers of all the saints, that the storm of justice be yet a little withheld, and man offered further opportunity to repent.
But at the very time while this silence reigns in Heaven, sin increases on the earth. Calmness there, confusion here; overwhelming anxiety there, riotous indifference here. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets, seeing the increased sin, prepare themselves to sound.
THE TRUMPETS OF JUDGMENT
At the blast of their trumpets judgment begins.
This judgment will involve nature first.
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up, etc. (Rev 8:7-12).
Have you never noticed how when mans sin necessitates the exercise of Divine justice, God approaches mans judgment by the way of mercy? He smites first of all the inanimate world, where His blow will fall upon unfeeling grass, trees and flowers, but at the same time prove conclusively His power, and call mans attention to the occasion of His anger.
When Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let Gods people go from Egypt, the Lord smote the waters which were in the great river Euphrates, and turned them to blood (Exo 7:19-21). Afterward, you remember, He sent frogs over all the land, and still later turned the dust into lice, and followed that with the plague of flies; and when the judgment against the inanimate world would not suffice, He brought the murrain upon the beasts and that was succeeded by the hailstorm, which smote the cattle; and that by the swarms of locusts which devoured the crops, and so on. It was Gods attempt to teach Pharaoh and the people, without having to touch their persons with the hand of judgment. And to this hour the Divine method of judgment is always in mercy. Almost every man who sins against God will find himself corrected a hundred times, and in as many ways, before any wrath is executed against his person. So in the sounding of the trumpets of judgment, when the four against the natural world were finished, and evil men were waxing worse and worse, a significant thing occurred. John saw an eagle, not an angel, but an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with great voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound (Rev 8:13, R. V.)
If you will consult your Scripture you will find the saints often likened to eagles (Luk 17:34-37; Mat 24:26-28; Isa 40:31).
The announcement is succeeded by the blasts of the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets. When the fifth sounds the star falls from heaven unto the earth. That this star is simply the messenger of judgment is evidenced in that it says, to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit, etc. Read Rev 9:1-6. That was the beginning of Gods judgments upon the sinner. Again, judgment is tempered with mercy; all men are not destroyed in a moment, but only a portion of them; the baser portion we may believe. And in that very destruction the remainder are again called to repentance. People often ask the question why God permits sin to go on; and why He privileges gross sinners to live, saying that they are cursing themselves and destroying others. Peter has answered that, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Pe 3:9).
But the five woes will no more suffice to change the course of men whose hearts are set upon sin, than the five plagues of Egypt sufficed to turn Pharaohs feet into paths of righteousness. And scarcely will this woe have passed when the sixth angel shall sound. Read Rev 9:14-19.
The man who makes a practice of preaching a gradual improvement in the world, which by the product of evolution, will finally bring in the Millennium without the Master, the Kingdom of God on earth without the King; must find it difficult to interpret what follows,
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev 9:20-21).
It necessitates the sounding of the seventh trumpet, bringing the end. As Pharaoh went down before the tenth plague, never to rise again, and sinful Egypt was left without a king, so the nations of the world, forgetting God, shall one day hear the trumpet sound that shall unseat every ruler and bring an end to every government, whelm every rebellious people as effectually as the Red Sea buried Pharaoh and his wicked followers. I suppose there are those who regard this as an awful fate for the world, and so it is; and yet, no worse for the unregenerate than the natural death that sweeps its every generation. The end of all sin is awful! But if righteousness succeed judgment, how desirable!
Have you ever stopped to think what it would mean to have wickedness removed from the whole realm, one righteous sovereign reigning from sea to sea; and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth? Then jealousies between peoples would be at an end; boundary disputes would cease; unjust restrictions in trade would be lifted; wars of greed and conquest come to an end; slavery and pauperism pass forever; famine and pestilence be obsolete words; the gates of the cemeteries would rust upon their hinges; hearts cease from sorrow; and tears from touching the cheeks of men; the brotherhood of man would find its first open field for exercise; and the Fatherhood of God become a blessed fact, instead of being as now, a theological vagary. John was not wicked but wise when he prayed for this consummation, and I believe that it is only needful for men to understand the issue, to join in the prayer of the seer.
THE INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION
Going back over these four chapters it is interesting to study the instruments of destruction that will be employed.
When God is smiting nature He employs natural forces. Hail and fire mingled with blood burn up the third part of the trees and all green grass; a burning mountain turns the third part of the sea into blood; destroys the third part of all creatures, and whelms the third part of all the ships; the blazing star, or as the original word suggests, the great light, like unto a lamp or torch, turns the three parts of the rivers into wormwood, and men drinking therefrom die of the bitterness; while at the sounding of the fourth angel the great luminaries are smittenthe third part of the sun, the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; light is shortened and darkness increased. If any man imagine that these figures of speech are enormously overdrawn he must be poorly impressed with the power of those natural forces which are eternally subject to the manipulations of Gods mighty hand. If he doubts Gods ability to so loosen the winds and storms of heaven as to make hail and fire mingle with blood, a medium of judgment to a world that had rejected mercy, he has never seen, or even given serious consideration to the reports of a single cyclone. Once in a while God gives us a hint of what He can do with the lightnings of heaven; once in a while God permits us to see what the gentle wind that daily kisses our cheekscan easily accomplish for the mightiest structures of earth; once in a while God permits a single mountain in the midst of the sea to break its crust and send its flames and lava into the waters while the shock thereof rolls landward a thousand miles. All these things are but gentle warnings, and like the little light that was seen for days by the inhabitants of Pompeii who looked Vesuvius-ward; they speak eloquently to men, pleading that they escape, while they can, from the coming doom. He who can bind the sweet influence of the Pleadies, can also loose the bands of Orion.
But to natural forces He adds supernatural creatures. When men have disregarded the judgments against Nature, and He must punish them in their own persons, He employs agents, not instruments, in the work. These agents
the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
And they had hair as the hair of Women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months (Rev 9:7-10).
I see no necessity of holding this language to be figurative. The pit is filled with fallen spirits which kept not their first estate, and if Satan assumes the form of a great dragon and the serpent, why should not his subjects and emissaries assume the forms here suggested, forms of power, forms of intelligence, forms of mighty malignance, forms, the very sight of which, superinduces fear, and speak of tremendous power. We saw in our last study that there were supernatural creatures about the throne who had the faces of a lion, symbol of courage; of an ox, likeness of faithful endurance; of a man, indicative of intelligent action; and of the eagle, speaking of alacrity in obedience.
Why then should hell not have its antipodes of these living ones, in the form of infernal tormentors, whose pleasure would accord with their office? Already science is beginning to confirm this suggestion of Scripture. Only a few years ago the most advanced physician among us would have laughed to scorn the present theory of disease, namely, that mens bodies and even their every drop of blood, was crowded with living creatures and that fever is only the expression of the destructive work of these Satanic myrmidons. If in these days the devil is able to smite men with such a multitude of his servants, as Dr. Simpson has said, How much more may this become the case when all the restrictions of this age shall be let loose.
Eventually the Son of Man Himself appears in judgment. One might think that this was a modification of justice and gave the promise of mercy; but not so! On the contrary, the part that Jesus Christ, the merciful, shall play, will prove the consummation of judgment against impenitent men. You go but to the second Psalm and you read words that illuminate all of this Scripture, for even there the Psalmist is speaking of the final contest between the heathen and the Lord of Heaven ; the former shall rage.
The kings of the earth shall set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying,
Let us break Their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. * *
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessel.
No wonder the Psalmist concluded with that cry,
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Psa 2:1-12).
Dont you remember that George Elliot makes Baldasar put his very life in pawn for the sake of Tito Meleme, the boy who so excited his ardent love? For him he makes all possible sacrifice! But when Tito proved himself unworthy, played traitor, it was that very man who had shown him such mercy and grace, that eventually exercised against him direful judgment.
It is significant that this Book of Revelation speaks of the Lamb as one whose wrath shall fill the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free-man with such fear that they shall hide themselves from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and shall say to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us * * from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand!
THE DESCENT OF THE SON OF MAN
And I saw another mighty Angel come down from Heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire:
And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth,
And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices,
I was about to write: and I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to Heaven,
And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created Heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when He shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the Prophets (Rev 10:1-7).
Three plain suggestions here:First the personal Coming of Christ. The strong Angel coming down out of Heaven is Jesus. That is suggested not alone by the fact that He is designated as the strong Angel, but by the more definite testimony, the rainbow was upon Him.
That could never crown another than this minister of Gods mercy. His face was as the sun. That is the same description of the Son of Man given in the first chapter.
And His feet as pillars of fire. Those are the feet which were described in the first chapter which were like unto burnished brass.
And He had in His hand a little book open, and He was the only One found that could break the seals of the Book, and open it.
He set His right foot upon the sea, but His left foot on the earth. The Lord has promised to Him as He had to the Israelites of old, possession of every place upon which He should set His foot, so now He comes to claim the sea and the land as His very own.
I should like to talk to you about His rightful inheritance. When He poured out His Blood on Calvary He bought back the sea and the land, as well as the souls thereof; they are His, and when He comes He will claim them to do with them as He pleases.
But by far the more important lesson of this tenth chapter is found in the circumstance that His descent will bring an end to the probation period.
And the servants who have been wicked and slothful in the Masters business will find His return to the earth the occasion of their distress; and it will result in their being cast into outer darkness, to weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Oh, that I could properly impress the object of this probation period! Oh, that I could burn into the hearts of men the importance of making the right use of it! Oh, that the parables of the talents, the pounds, the wise and foolish virgins, might compel us to attend upon the injunction, Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.
Henry Van Dyke says, This world is not the place of judgment, but the place of probation, in which the good and the evil are working side by side, not only in the same community, but in the same character; and not to be finally separated until they have produced their fixed and final results. And he goes on to show that while men are wrestling with the question of whether they shall do right or wrong, the trial period continues, the days of life are vouchsafed, the sun still shines and the rain still falls. Man may be deeply sunk in evil and have hope, for God is still saying, I do not judge thee yet. How solemn the sweet assurance; but how clearly the fact that God does not now judge, reveals the certainty that God will judge hereafter. If this world be only the place of probation, then beyond it there must be a place of judgment. The sun will not shine forever, and the rain will not always fall upon evil-doers. How precious then, how costly and invaluable is every day and hour of this immortal life, in which the welcome sunlight, the gentle rain, assure us that the upward way is still open to us. But how long for you and me; how long shall this time of hope endure? Who can tell when the night cometh?
The eleventh chapter is given to the testimony of the two witnesses and to the beginning of the Millennium reign.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE TWO WITNESSES
Three questions I want to raise with reference to these witnesses and let the Scriptures answer them; three statements I want to make with reference to the Millennium reign; then we shall leave these four chapters with you, trusting that God may instruct you out of them, and if any one be without Christ, make them the means of his conversion.
My first question is, Who are these witnesses? Various and conflicting answers have been given to that question, and upon careful consideration of these, I am compelled to select that one put forward by Dr. Seiss, namely, that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses who shall return to the earth and prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. I maintain this substantially for the same reason which he assigns. First of all Enoch and Elijah are the only ascended saints whose bodies are subject to the first death, they having escaped that by translation. In the next place Enoch and Elijah were both famed when they were here in the world, for the word of their testimony to an unbelieving generation. But far above and beyond all these considerations is the fact that the Scriptures promise the return of Elijah, while the Apocryphal Books and the ancient fathers always associated with his coming, a similar ministry for Enoch. After John the Baptist was dead, Christ still affirmed, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. And even in the time of the Acts, Peter referred to this restoration or restitution, as associated with the Second Coming of the Lord (Act 3:19). It is also significant that when Elijah was in the world he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months, and here it is prophesied that when he shall come again he shall have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecythree years and six months.
Dr. Dowie declared himself to be Elias, but he didnt shut the heavens for the space of three years and six months!
What is the object of these two witnesses? is my next question. The text answers that. The very fact that they were witnesses shows their object; and the additional fact that they are spoken of as the two olive trees and two candlesticks, reminding one of the vision of Zachariah, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. The Prophet asked, you remember, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? and again, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And the answer was, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. And how much that antediluvian world needed the burning and shining light of Enochs life; and how much degenerate Israel, and drunken Ahab and his hosts, had the same need. And how truly it might have been said of these men of the olden times, as of John the Baptist, They were burning and shining lights. And how wonderful the mercy of God that will bring them back again to witness with greater fervor; to speak forth more luminous truth when we shall be coming into the end of the age.
My third question is, Why were they slain? I believe the Scriptures clearly indicate the reason: the beast that cometh up out of the abyss cannot endure to have faithful men live. There are those who think the time of persecution is over; but if so, only because the time of faithful preaching is so far passed. You bring back an Enoch to the world and nothing but a new translation would save him from crucifixion. You bring back to the world an Elijah, and an Ahab will be found in some new potentate.
I have just ridiculed Dr. Dowies pretentions of being Elias, but I am profoundly convinced that the hate of the world against him was not because of his assertions; not because of the pompous pride which he put on; nor because any man proved him to be dishonest in his business methods, but more largely because he uncovered sin.
If any man imagine that civilization has brought us to the point where the witness of a new Elijah and a new Enoch would be acceptable, he does not understand his own mind, nor has he ever seen the pictures that the Scriptures present of the times to come. He that would live godly in Christ Jess must suffer persecution.
The verses that remain touch the subject of
THE MILLENNIAL REIGN
What comfort! After hearing this judgment; after witnessing the writhings of the earth; after looking upon the smitten sea; after having beheld the very luminaries of heaven partially blotted out; after having heard the moans of men who sought death without being able to find it, and desire death, only to see their decease flee from them, what blessing to turn from it all, and look full into the face of Him who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and who shall reign forever and ever. No wonder the four and twenty elders which sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces and worshiped God saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast; and mark you that they did not say, and which is to come as heretofore, for lo, He is present already, and has taken the great power and is reigning. With that reign is associated resurrection and rewards for Gods own. He will not forget them. When He comes it will be the day of victory for them everyone; and all their rewards, their joys, all the glorious prospects of Millennium here, and ages on ages beyond, spent in the rapture of His presence, and in the benediction of His praises, in the sweetness of His service, in the salvation of His everlasting power, shall be in exact accordance with the promise of His Word, for lo, the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the ark of His testament. Blessed Vision! That ark contained the will and testament of God toward His own. Happy is the child who has laid up in some place of safe keeping the will of a wealthy father, reminding him every time he turns toward it that it is to him a pledge of all the property mentioned therein, and that the justice courts of the earth will grant his claim, in accordance with the provisions thereof.
With faltering footsteps, I will journey on, Watching the stars that roll the hours away, Till the faint light that guides me now is gone, And, like another life, the glorious dayShall open oer me from the empyrean height, With warmth, and certainty, and boundless light.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE FIFTH AND SIXTH WOE-TRUMPETS
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Rev. 9:1. Fall.Better, fallen; that had fallen. A star would seem to represent a false teacher. Some think Mahomet is referred to. He claimed to have received instructions from Gabriel. And he let loose a flood of evils on the earth. But it is doubtful whether any personal identifications are permissible. The typical and symbolical character should be preserved. Bottomless pit.Better, pit of the abyss; inner prison; lowest deep (Luk. 8:31). The word deep describes the abode of the evil spirits. This verse suggests a vast depth, approached by a pit or shaft, whose top, or mouth, is covered. Dantes Inferno, with its narrowing circles winding down to the central shaft, is somewhat similar. The abyss is the lowest spring of evil, whence the worst dangers arise.Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
Rev. 9:2. Darkened by reason of the smoke.The enemy is at work (in the conflict of the Church with evil), seeking to obscure the Churchs light by the diffusion of dark and low-born thoughts.
Rev. 9:3. Locusts.Not the insect, but evil spirits, whose influence and work can be represented by locusts. Godets note marks every point of this figure: From out the bottomless pit, the dwelling-place of devils, issue a cloud of evil spirits, represented under the image of locusts, of brilliant and attractive colours, but armed with the sting of a scorpion, and who for five months (the time during which, in the East, the plague of locusts lastsMay to December) throw into a kind of deliriumnot of joy, but of deep sadnessmankind, crushed under the weight of its struggle with the Almighty. It is as if the inhabitants of the earth were subjected to possession on a great scale, after the likeness of the single instances of the kind which we find in the gospel history. These times of delusion, and possessionof fanatics and fanaticismbear very seriously on the Christian Church, carrying even its members away.
Rev. 9:4. Not hurt the grass.As they were not to do the mischievous work of actual locusts, we are to understand that actual locusts are not meant.
Rev. 9:5. Not kill them.They were to produce a living misery. The poison of scorpions is so acid that it causes great agony. This is the figure here.
Rev. 9:6. Seek death.As an end to their misery.
Rev. 9:7. Like unto horses.There is an imagined likeness between the head of the locust and the mailed head of a horse. Crowns.With possible allusion to decorations on warhorses heads.
Rev. 9:8. Hair of women.It is said that, in Arabic poetry, the same comparison is used of the antenn of the natural locust. Teeth as lions.Joe. 1:6. Alford sees in this vision a great symbolical army, multitudinous as locusts, malicious as scorpions, ruling as kings, intelligent as men, wily as womanhood, bold and fierce as lions, resistless as those clad in iron armour. The locust-like army has characteristics partly human, partly diabolical, partly civilised, partly barbarous, It may be best to see in this description the various delusions, infatuations, fanaticisms, which have afflicted humanity, and put Christs Church in peril, idealised. This explains the mixture of metaphor.
Rev. 9:11. Abaddon, Apollyon.The destroyer. Not an historical person, but the representative of the destructive spirit. The genius of destructionbodily and spiritual.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 9:1-12
The Locust Symbols.The interpretation of these visions is most difficult, but we must bear in mind that they are descriptive of that great war which the Church is waging with the world, which good is waging with evil, but the end of which, we are assured, is the victory of the good. The kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Lord, and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15), but during the progress of the war the issue will often appear doubtfulnay, even the triumph may seem to be in the hand of the enemy; but faith disregards the back-flowing waves, for she knows the tide is coming in. We have seen that the advance of Christianity is marked by the manifestation of evils as well as the establishment of good. Christianity does not create evils, but the very intense honesty of her principles reveals the hidden force of unsuspected corruption. Thus the faith of Christ is come to give light unto the world, but in her progress many lights fallthe false lights of world-power, world-wisdom, false religionism, heresies. The enemy, too, is at work, and seeks to obscure her light by the diffusion of low and earth-born thoughts. The smoke of the pit blackens the light, and confuses the atmosphere. Now, this obscuration is surely the diffusion on earth of evil thoughts and ideas, the spirit of falsehood and hate, hostility to truth, and emnity against God and man. The bright, clear air, made gladsome by the sun, is darkened; all forms, that once appeared beautiful, become hideous. In the history of advancing truth there will come times when confused ideas will darken simple truth and right, and out of the darkness will emerge strange and mongrel teachings, with a certain enforced unity, but without moral harmonya medley of fair and hideous, reasonable and barbarous, dignified and debased, which enslave and torment mankind. The outcome of these teachings is often war and tyrannous oppression, but the sacred seer teaches us distinctly that those who hold fast by the seal of God are those who cannot be injured, for he would have us remember that the true sting of false conceptions is not in the havoc of open war, but in the wounded soul and conscience.Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 9
Rev. 9:7. Horses in Battle.The Mamalukes, wearing their beards long and rough, with graue and sterne countenance, having strong and able bodies, vsed such cunning in all their fights and battels that, after they had giuen the first charge with their launces, they would by and bye, with wonderful actiuitie, vse their bows and arrows, casting their targuets behind them; and forthwith the horsemans mace, or crooked scimitar, as the manner of the battel or place required. Their horses were strong and couragious, in making and swiftnesse much like unto the Spanish jennets; and that which is of many hardly beleeued, so docile, that at certaine signes or speeches of the rider they would with their teeth reach him up from the ground a launce, an arrow, or such like thing; and as if they had known the enemie, run upon him with open mouth, and lash at him with their heeles, and had by nature and custom learned, not to be afraid of anything. These couragious horses were commonly furnished with siluer bridles, guilt trappings, rich saddles, their necks and brests armed with plates of yron; the horseman himselfe was commonly content with a coat of maile or a brest plate of yron. The chiefe and wealthiest of them used head pieces: the rest a linnen covering of the head, curiously folded into manie wreathes, wherewith they thought themselves safe ynough against any handle strokes; the common souldiers vsed thrumbd caps, but so thicke that no sword could pierce them.Knolles.
Rev. 9:7-10. Locusts.These great grass-hopper-looking insects have been sad scourges to mankind, and the Egyptian plague of them has happened more than once since that early date. Africa, especially that part near to Egypt, has been at different times infested by myriads of these creatures, which have consumed nearly every green thing. The effects of the havoc committed by them may be estimated by the famine they occasioned. St. Augustine mentions a plague of this kind in Africa, which destroyed no less than eight hundred thousand men in the kingdom of Masinissa alone, and many more in the lands near the sea. It is also related that in the year 591 great hosts of locusts migrated from Africa into Italy, and after grievously ravaging the country, were cast into the sea, and there arose a pestilence from their stench, which killed nearly a million men and beasts. In the territory of Venice, in 1478, more than thirty thousand persons are said to have perished in a famine occasioned by the devastation of the locusts, and instances of their dreadful numbers have been recorded in France, Spain, and Germany. In different parts of Russia, Hungary, Poland, Arabia, India, and other countries, the locusts have come at regular intervals. In the accounts of the invasions of locusts, the statements, which appear most marvellous, relate to the prodigious mass of matter which encumbers the sea wherever they are blown into it, and the pestilence arising from its putrefaction. Their dead bodies are said to have been, in some places, heaped one upon the other to the depth of four feet, in Russia, Poland, and Lithuania; and when, in South Africa, they were driven into the sea by a north-west wind, they formed, says Barrow, a bank three or four feet high along the shore. When we consider the forests that are stripped of their foliage, and the earth of its green garment for thousands of square miles, it may well be supposed that the volume of animal matter produced may equal that of herds of large animals accidentally falling into the sea. Nevertheless, unless Augustine had been a saint, the death of so many men would have been doubted.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 30
Text Rev. 9:1-12
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man. 6 And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them. 7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as mens faces. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war. 10 And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months. 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
12 The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.
Initial Question Rev. 9:1-12
1.
How intensive is the torture to be which is coming upon men who do not have the seal of God?
2.
How severe does pain become before one seriously wishes that he were dead?
3.
How are the locusts described in Rev. 9:7-10?
4.
Is the power of the locusts limited?
5.
Who is the angel of the abyss?
6.
What does the names of the angel of the abyss mean? (In Hebrew it is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.)
The Fifth Trumpet Blast, or First Woe
Chapter Rev. 9:1-12
Rev. 9:1
The fifth trumpet sounded. John saw a star having fallen (peptokta perf. part the star is already down, it is not in the process of falling) onto the earth, and was given to it the key of the shaft (phreatos a long shaft leading to an abyss; (Joh. 4:6 Christ at the well uses the term pg or foundation, and at Joh. 4:11 the term phrear is used), of the abyss. Often these well-shafts were not locked in first century Palestine, but Johns readers would have understood the imagery when he spoke of a covered and locked shaft leading to the well or deep hole proper. There is no Greek word here that could be translated as the bottomless pit as we find in the K.J. (See Charles, Eschatology, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, p. 198, for discussion of the imagery of the abyss in the Book of Enoch.)
We must be clear that God is still sovereign over the universe, and that the key to release further destruction was given (edoth 1st Aor. Passive, ind. the passive voice means that someone (God) gave the key to the star, probably Satan) to Satan. God is permitting the coming events to occur!
Rev. 9:2
And he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up out of the shaft as smoke of a great furnace. . . . This smoke was so dense that he darkened the whole atmosphere (Gen. 19:28; Exo. 19:19).
Rev. 9:3
Out of the smoke came forth locusts to the earth. . . . The imagery comes from the eighth Egyptian plague (Exo. 10:14 f) Joe. 2:1 ff). The fifth trumpet brings a scourge that does extensive harm, but the sixth trumpet brings actual destruction. The locust (Rev. 9:1-12) and the horsemen (Rev. 9:13-21) signify a worsening situation which is coming upon the earth.
God permitted them to have authority as the scorpions of the earth. The torment of these scorpions came from- their sting. Their sting was not lethal as is apparent from Rev. 9:5-6. (Probably power here in both places. The Greek word means both authority and power, but the authority is grounded in the power.)
Rev. 9:4
And it was said to them in order that (hina clause for the purpose that) they shall not harm the grass of the earth, nor every (any) greenstuff, nor every tree, except (ei m but only) the men who have not the seal (sphragida mark of distinction) of God on the foreheads. The personification of the scorpions is clear. They were told not to kill, but to torment men.
Rev. 9:5
God gave them permission to torment men. John said in order that they shall be tormented (basanisthsontai future indicative passive voice) give months; . . . the suffering was to be limited. The nature of the suffering is now defined. The torment is as the torment of a scorpion, whenever it stings a man.
Rev. 9:6
The suffering will be so intense, that men will seek death and by no means will they find it, and they will long to die (epithumsousin fut. act. this is a form of epithume, the word for lust or intense desire.) Men shall desire death more than any thing else, but there is no release from their suffering because even death flees (pheuesei present, ind. continuously flees from them) as though men are chasing it, but cannot catch it.
Physical death cannot bring them relief from their suffering, because it is spiritual suffering caused by their not having Gods mark on the foreheads.
Note: See the present authors Death Be Not Proud! in the Christian Standard, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 6, 13, and 20, 1963. Contemporary man is preoccupied with two things: (1) The problem of death; (2) Rejecting the biblical view of man and death. In the above popular statement an attempt was made to direct the attention of every N.T. Christian to consider the insight into Death the areas of Anthropology, Archaeology, Literature, Philosophy, Psycho-Sociological, False Doctrines, and the Biblical view of man and the phenomenon of death can provide. The brief section on The Biblical Doctrine of Man and Death are included as an appendix in this present volume.
Rev. 9:7
John describes the locusts as like horses having been prepared for war, and on their heads as (hs as or like John does not say that they actually had crowns) crowns like gold, and their faces as (hs same as above) faces of men. We have here imagery of war horses. (See Joe. 2:4 ff). The imagery of crowns probably signifies war helmets, because Johns language makes it very plain that they did not wear actual crowns.
Rev. 9:8
The appearance of the locusts is further described. They had hairs as (hs as or like) hairs of women. . . . This imagery probably represents the antennae of the locusts. And their teeth were as of lions (See Joe. 1:6).
Rev. 9:9
The locusts were so large that they resembled horses wearing battle armor. There were so many of them that Johns imagery comes from the sound of many horsed chariots. This was a large chariot carrying many men or a very fast charger chariot pulled by many horses. The rustling wings of the locusts sound like the shuffle of the feet of the infantry charging in battle.
Rev. 9:10
The tails like scorpions were to sting men and the sting is to harm men five months. In Palestine certain species of locusts are born in the spring and die in late summer or early fall. This is a period of about five months. The imagery would have been immediately recognized by Johns readers.
Rev. 9:11
At this point the realism of the imagery breaks down. Real locusts have no leader, but these have a king, who is the angel of the abyss. (Not bottomless pit as the King James translates.) His name in Hebrew (Hebraisti used only in Johannine literature Joh. 5:2; Joh. 19:13; Joh. 19:17; Joh. 19:20; Rev. 19:16) Abaddon (means Destruction, see Job. 26:6, Psa. 88:1) and in the Greek his name is Apollyon destroyer. (The Septuagint regularly translates the above Hebrew term by Apoleia one form of destruction.) It is impossible to settle the question of whether Johns personification is Death or Satan. But the general picture is clear.
Rev. 9:12
This hideous imagery tells only of the first woe. There are two more to follow, and they will be progressively worse!
Note: The Principalities and Powers. Ours is an age when men deny the existence of Satan and his angels of darkness. Baudelaire describes Satan extremely well in these weighty words. The Devils cleverest vile is to convince us that he does not exist. Paul says he turns into an angel of light.
The evil which has come upon the earth is inexplicable apart from the power of darkness! Thanks be to God light shall prevail! (See Merrill F. Unger, Biblical Demonology, Van Kampen Press, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois, 1952).
Note: John Bunyans Apollyon. Bunyans great work, Pilgrims Progress reveals what baptized imagination can do in portraying great biblical themes. When Christian leaves the Palace Beautiful he descends into the Valley of Humiliation. There Bunyans Christian does battle with Apollyon. Bunyans imagery departs somewhat from the biblical data, but he brilliantly points Christians encounter. (Read Pilgrims. Progress, and for an excellent interpretative work see Henri Talon, John Bunyan, The Man and His Work, Rockliff, London, 1951.
Review Questions for Chapter 9
See Rev. 9:13-21.
Tomlinsons Comments
CHAPTER IX
THE SEVEN TRUMPETS
Text (Rev. 9:1-12)
The Division of the Trumpet Series
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man. 6 And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them. 7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as mens faces. 8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war. 10 And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months. 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
12 The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.
However, before we begin the actual unfolding of the symbolism of the seven trumpets, it is well that we take a long view of this division of the trumpet series, in order to get a proper perspective.
As with the vision of the seals, which were divided into two parts, so in the trumpet series, likewise is divided into two groupings; first, a group of four, followed by a group of three.
This is evidenced by the fact that after the sounding of the fourth trumpet (Rev. 8:12), the action is interrupted and John sees an angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying, with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. (Rev. 8:13).
We shall find, also, there is a further interruption after the sixth trumpet, where another parenthesis, the second in Revelation, is introduced, and the vision of the mighty angel with the little book is described.
Shall we recall that, in our previous study, Constantine in 330 A.D., moved the capital to Byzantium on the Bosporus and renamed the city after himself, calling it the city of Constantine, or Constantinople.
This resulted in the Empire being divided into two divisions, with Rome the most important city of the Western part of the Empire and Constantinople capital of the whole empire, and the most important city of the eastern section of the Empire.
It was upon the western half of the Empire we shall find that forces of invasion struck and brought that portion to desolation. These forces are symbolized by the four trumpets, the blowing of each, marking a new invading army overrunning the Western Empire.
In the east, however, there remained, after the desolution of the west, the Eastern Empire. Two of the last three trumpets, we shall find have to do with the invasion of the eastern division of the Empire. These last three trumpets are called the woe trumpets, because of the severity of their judgments. They stand out all to themselves, being preceded by a special threefold announcement of woe; therefore designated as the three woe trumpets.
Significance of the Trumpets
The trumpet was used to give a signal. With the peal of trumpets, God descended upon Mt. Sinai. At the blast of trumpets the camp of Israel rose up to continue the journey to the promised land. At the sounding of the trumpets of rams horns, the walls of Jericho fell. Trumpets announced the inauguration of Solomons reign. The seventh month, the month of atonement was ushered in by trumpets. Trumpets heralded the dawn of the year of Jubilee.
Many times it implied the march of armies. The sounding of trumpets summoned men to battle. A passage will suffice to substantiate this last use of the trumpet:
Again the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of Man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, set him for their watchman. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword come, and take any person from among themhis blood will I require at the watchmans hand. (Eze. 33:1-6)
That the sounding of these trumpets severally mark distinct events or eras of time in the history of the world, is indicated by the seventh angel, in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished. (Rev. 10:7).
The First Trumpet (Rev. 8:7)
Rev. 9:7 The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood.
The symbols of destruction are here enumerated as hail, fire and blood. These form a combination of destructive forces entirely outside the realm of nature. We find in another instance that hail and fire were co-mingled in the seventh of the ten plagues visited upon Egypt.
And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground, and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. And the hail smote throughtout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. (Exo. 9:23; Exo. 9:25).
But in this trumpet scene we have another element added, that of blood. Therefore, fire and hail are symbols most suitable to represent destructive agencies, and the third symbol, blood, fittingly represents the terrible loss of life. John has presented a mingling of blood with the symbols of fire and hail, that he might point out great destruction and slaughter.
Remembering we are still walking in the realm of symbolism. A third part of the trees was burnt up.
Trees, are a familiar figure in Scripture for human greatness.
In Jer. 17:8, the man that trusts in God is likened to a tree. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters.
In Eze. 31:3, we read, Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and his tip was among the thick boughs. There follows a lengthy description and the continued comparison to him as a tree. See Ezekiel (Eze. 31:4-9).
In Dan. 4:20-22, Daniel in interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, likened him to a tree:
The tree which thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth . . . it is thou, O King, that thou art grown and become strong . . . and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.
The burning up of a third part of the trees, would, therefore, indicate that portion of the leading men of the earth (the Roman Empire) being consumed. Later, we will describe more fully concerning the expression, the third part.
The expression and all the green grass was burnt up, would point to the destruction of national and earthly property.
And how the history of the Roman Empire, at this exact time fulfills this symbolism! It would seem that Gibbon in his, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, had the words of this first trumpet symbolism before him, as he wrote. This infidel historian actually uses the very language of Revelation to describe the events of this first trumpet period. As this period opens with the sound of a trumpet, in his 31st chapter, Volume 3, page 282, he describes the invasion of Rome, as follows:
At the hour of midnight, the Salarian Gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet.
Again he says, at the first sound of the trumpet, the Goths left their farms and rushed to the invasion.
Again he says, The Goths conflagration consumed the Empire. He, here is describing the pillaging of the Western Empire and the sacking of Rome.
On page 271, same volume and chapter, in describing the attitude of the rulers of Rome at Alarics attack of the city, he records, they said, If Alaric refused them a fair and honorable capitulation, he might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give battle to an innumerable people, exercised in arms and animated by despair.
In this same chapter, page 249, he describes the wealth of the Roman nobles and then proceeds, from page 249 to 268, to give in much detail the glory of the public and private buildings of the city and the indescribable wealth contained in the city, summing up at the end as follows: Such was the state of Rome under the reign of Honorius, at the time when the Gothic army forced the siege, or rather the blockade of the city. Page 268, Vol. 3. His summation of this siege reads as follows:
Eleven hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial City, which had subdued and civilized so considerable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia. Vol. 3, Page 282.
So great was the pillaging of the incredulous wealth of Rome, that he says, the clergy, were sometimes tempted to confound the destruction of the capital and the destruction of the globe. Vol. 3, page 289.
He uses the next eight pages in an attempt to describe the six day stripping of the wealth of the city.
How many pages would be required to describe the pillaging of the whole of the Western Empire!
Thousands of leading citizens were taken captive or killed. Thus, a third of the trees were destroyed and the wealth, as symbolized in the words, green grass was burnt up.
Myers describes the sack of Rome by Alaric, in these words:
Alaric turned upon the city, resolved upon its sack and plunder. The barbarians broke into the city by night and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of Gothic trumpet. Precisely eight hundred years had passed since its sack by the Gauls. During that time the Imperial City had carried its victorious standards over three continents and had gathered within the temples of its Gods and the palaces of its nobles, the plunder of the world. Now it was given over for a spoil to the fierce tribes from beyond the Danube.
For six days and nights the rough barbarians trooped through the streets of the city on their mission of pillage. Their wagons were heaped with costly furniture, the rich plate, and the silken garments stripped from the palaces of the Caesars and wealthy patricians. Amidst the license of the sack, the barbarian instincts of the robbers broke loose from all restraint, and the streets of the city were wet with blood, while the nights were lighted by burning buildings.Myers Ancient History, page 540.
The Third Part
No less than twelve times do we find in Revelation the expression, the third part. Under the first trumpet, we read, One third part of the trees were burned up. As we have already discovered that the earth meant the Roman Empire, then this would indicate that one third of that empire was burned. The third part of the sea became blood when the second trumpet was sounded. At the blast of the third trumpet, a burning star fell upon a third part of the rivers, and a third part of the waters became wormwood. Under the fourth trumpet, a third part of the sun, moon and stars was smitten.
After a careful reading and consideration of these occurrences, it appears that these four third parts refer to the same third part of the Roman Empire. The first occurrence refers to the scourging of one third of the land; the second, to one third of the sea; the third, to one third of the rivers, and the fourth, to one third of the heavens.
All combined, would indicate the devastation of one third part of the earth, or the Roman Empire. The first four trumpets announce the scourging, by land, sea, rivers and air, of one third of the earth. This is understandable when we recall that the Roman Empire, or earth of Johns day, was divided into three divisions.
Said Gibbon, Vol. 5, page 364:
From the age of Charlemagne to that of the Crusades, the world (for I overlook the remote monarchy of China) was occupied and disputed by three great nations of the Greeks, the Saracens, and the Franks.
The Greeks and Arabians called the nations of the west, Franks. The Franks were the Latins.
Harris, in his Philological Inquiries, Part 3, Chapter 1, speaks of the world being divided into three parts or divisions from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries.
Three classes of men during that interval are conspicuous, the Saracens or Arabians, the Latins or Franks, inhabitants of Western Europe, and Byzantine Greeks.
It then becomes a fact that during a period of a millenniumthe time period of Johns vision of the trumpetsthe Empire, or earth was divided into three parts. And history records the destruction by three separate forces, the three divisions of the earth.
The four invasions from the north destroyed the Latin, or western portion of the earth, or Empire. The fifth angel looses the Saracen invasion on the Arabian third of the Empire, and under the sixth trumpet, the four angels which were bound in the great river Euphrates, pour forth their teeming multitudes to over run and devastate the Greek third of the Empire.
The Second Trumpet (Rev. 8:8-9)
Rev. 8:8-9 And the second trumpet sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast in to the sea: and a third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
The Apostle sees a great burning mountain cast into the sea and there follows a destruction of one third of the ships and inhabitants of the sea. The trumpet, the blood and the destruction of one third of the ships, all speak of war and the arena of activity is the sea, Since this is against the Latin or Western third of the Empire, the warfare will be naval and on the Western half of the Mediterranean.
An outstanding feature of this second trumpet is the prominence given the symbol of a burning mountain cast into the sea.
A mountain is a Biblical synonym for a nation. In Jer. 5:25, Babylon is called a mountain:
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
In Zec. 4:7, we read:
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain.
This great mountain before Zerubbabel was the Persian Kingdom which had set itself against the building of the temple.
This mountain burning with fire, indicates a great nation or power. It symbolizes a raging volcanic mountain of fire smiting the sea. History corroborates this.
Shall we catch up the thread of history. After the sack of Rome, Alaric, the leader of the Gothic invasion, led his soldiers to the extreme southern end of Italy. Hear Myers:
Alaric led his soldiers to the extreme southern point of Italy, intending to cross the straits of Messina, into Sicily, and then to carry his conquests into the Provinces of Africa. His designs were frustrated by his death which occurred A.D. 410.Myers Ancient History, page 541.
Let Gibbon take up the account at this point:
The ferocious character of the Barbarians was displayed in the funeral of a hero whose valor and fortune they celebrated with mournful applause. By the labor of a captive multitude, they forcibly diverted the course of the Busentinus, a small river that washes the walls of Consentia. The royal sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils and trophies of Rome, was constructed in the vacant bed; the waters were then restored to their natural channel; and the secret spot, where the remains of Alaric had been deposited, was forever concealed by the inhuman massacre of the prisoners, who had been employed to execute the work.
His followers recrossed the Alps and settled in the south of Gaul and the north part of Spain and came to be known as the Kingdom of the Visigoths or West Goths.
While these Goths were thus setting up their Kingdom, about A.D. 422, another mighty horde poured down from the north and were so destructive, they gave a new word to our vocabulary. The principle tribe of this vast horde was known as the Vandals. From their ruthlessness, we get our word, Vandalism. Moving from their seat in Pannonia, they crossed the Pyrenees, where they occupied a large section of the present country of Spain. This region is now known by the name of Andalusia, preserving the memory of these barbarians.
From here, about A.D. 439, they crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and overthrew the Roman Empire in all northern Africa, making Carthage the seat of a short-lived, but dreaded Corsair empire. Hear Myers on this:
The Kings of the Vandal Empire in Northern Africa had acquired as perfect a supremacy in the Western Mediterranean, as Carthage ever enjoyed in the days of her commercial pride. Vandal Corsairs swept the seas and harassed the coasts of Sicily and Italy, and even plundered the maritime towns of the provinces of the Roman Empire in the East. In the year 455 A.D., a Vandal fleet led by the dread Geiseric (Genseric) sailed up the Tiber.
Leo, (the bishop of Rome) went forth to intercede in the name of Christ, for the Imperial city. Geiseric granted the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said the movable property of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen days and nights the city was given over to the ruthless barbarians. The ships of the Vandals, which almost hid with their number, the waters of the Tiber, were piled, as had been the wagons of the Goths before them, with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. From the Capitoline sanctuary were borne off the golden candlestick and other sacred articles that Titus had stolen from the temple in Jerusalem.
The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Carthage, bearing, besides the plunder of the city, more than thirty thousand of the inhabitants as slaves.Myers Ancient History, page 545.
Thus we see how, by building ships, they crossed the Mediterranean and struggled with the Roman Empire for the mastery of that sea. For six hundred years Rome had ruled the waves of this almost land locked sea. But the fleet of the Vandals drove the Roman ships from the seas, destroying them and reddening the sea with the blood of the slain. After thirty years, since the sea battles began, the Vandals invaded Italy and beseiged and sacked the city of Rome. Thus we see the second of the four winds, which were held back until the sealing of the saints in the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals, has been released in the blowing of the second trumpet.
Rome is hurt upon the sea, but not totally conquered. In a few months Genseric, the Vandal King is dead and Rome is freed from the tramp of the second invaders.
A feature to be noted here, is that this great disaster Rome suffers, comes from the sea and the seas of a third part of the Roman Empire are conquered.
The Third Trumpet (Rev. 8:10-11)
Rev. 9:10-11 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountain of waters; and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
A different angel each time sounds the trumpetthe signal for new conquests. In our study thus far, we have found that the sounding of each of the first two trumpets opened a new phase of the gradual overthrow of the Roman Empire of the west, by some new invasion lead by some great leader.
We have found in the explanation of symbols, under the sixth seal, that a star is used in the Scriptures to represent earthly potentates and leaders. A star, we have discovered, is a notable person. In this third trumpet period, he is likened to a burning star, burning as a lamp or torch and that it fell upon a third part of the rivers.
Where it falls upon the rivers and fountains of waters, they become bitter as wormwood. This manifestly points our attention to a time when great calamities should fall upon the Rivers of the Roman Empire. This Star or mighty chieftan would center his activities upon the headwaters and river systems of the Western Roman Empire. Again shall we turn to history for corroboration. Surely, since John was to write of the things which are and the things which must be hereafter, we must constantly hold this Book of symbolism in one hand and a history book in the other. Myers gives a vivid description of the third invasion of Western Rome. While they do, at times, overlap a little, nevertheless, they were distinct invasions of the Empire of the West. He dates the beginning of this new thrust in A.D. 451:
The barbarians (Goths and Vandals), that were thus overrunning and parceling out the inheritance of the dying empire were now in turn, pressed upon and terrified by a foe more hideous and dreadful in their eyes than were they in the sight of the peoples among whom they had thrust themselves. These were the non-Aryan Huns, of whom we have already caught a glimpse as they drove the panic-stricken Goths across the Danube.
At this time, their leader was Attila, whom the affrighted inhabitants of Europe called the Scourge of God. It was Attilas boast that the grass never grew again where once the hoof of his horse had trod . . .
Finally he turned westward, and, at the head of a host numbering, it is asserted, seven hundred thousand warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing first to ravage that province and then traverse Italy, with fire and sword, in order to destroy the last of the Roman power.
The Romans and their German conquerors united to make common cause against the common enemy. The Visigoths were rallied by their King, Theodoric; the Italians, the Franks, the Burgundians, flocked to the standard of the able Roman general, Aetius.
Attila drew up his mighty hosts upon the plain of Chalons, in the north of Gaul. The conflict was long and terrible. Theodoric was slain; but at last fortune turned against the barbarians. The loss of the Huns is variously estimated at from one hundred thousand, to three thousand warriors. Attila succeeded in escaping from the field and retreated with his shattered hosts across the Rhine. Myers Ancient History, pages 543, 544.
But Attila was not one to give up. We again quote from Myers:
The year after his defeat at Chalons, Attila crossed the Alps and burned and plundered all the important cities of Northern Italy.
How minutely this fulfills Johns symbolic prophesy of this falling star, falling upon the fountains of waters. An examination of a map of Italy will show how the rivers have their fountain heads in the northern section of the country.
And here a notable thing happened which emphasized the fact that the theater of this third invasion was to be upon the rivers and, particularly their head-waters.
Hear Myers again:
The barbarians threatened Rome, but Leo the Great, bishop of the capital, went with an embassy to the camp of Attila and pleaded for the city. He recalled to the mind of Attila how death had overtaken the impious Alaric, soon after he had given the Imperial city as a spoil to his warriors, and warned him not to call down upon himself the like judgment of heaven. To the admonitions of the Christian bishop was added the persuasion of a bribe from the Emperor, Valentinian; and Attila was induced to spare southern Italy and to lead his warriors back beyond the Alps. Shortly after he had crossed the Danube, he died suddenly in his camp, and like Alaric was buried secretly.Myers Ancient History, page 544.
Gibbon says:
Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation, of Attila were impared by the failure of the Gallic expedition. In the ensuing spring, he repeated his demand of the Princess Hororia and her patrimonial treasures. The demand was rejected . . . and immediately the indignant loser took to the field, passed the Alps, invaded Italy and besieged Aquileia . . . the seige was prosecuted with fresh vigor . . . the Huns mounted the assault with irrestible fury; and the succeeding generation could scarcely discover the ruins of Aquileia.
After this dreadful chastisement, Attila pursued his march, and as he passed, the cities of Attinum, Concordia, and Padau were reduced into heaps of stones and ashes. The inland towns; Vicenza, Verona, and Bergamo, were exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the Huns . . . Attila spread his ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy; which are divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Apennine. Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol 3, pages 443, 444, 445.
Thus, we see how Attilas campaigns were carried on upon the headwaters of the rivers, and along the rivers of Northern Italy.
Then, Gibbon proceeds to relate how Leo interceded successfully with Attila to spare Rome itself. His description of Attilas death is too lengthy to give here, but this will suffice:
The remains of Attila were enclosed within three coffins, of gold, of silver and of iron, and privately buried at night; the spoils of a nation were thrown into his grave; the captives who had opened the ground, were inhumanely massacred. Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3, page 452.
The exact place of burial is unknown, but it is believed they lie under the waters of the Danube and there they remainthe bones of the star called, Wormwood, that fell upon the rivers.
Recapitulation
The Roman Empire of the west weakened, and ready to topple to ruin has suffered the blasts of three trumpets and now, awaits the blast of the fourth trumpet.
The first trumpet heralded the invasion of Alaric, the Goth who sacked Rome in 410 A.D. The Second trumpet sounded the Vandal conquest of the Mediterranean, and the second sack of Rome by the Vandals, under Genseric. The third trumpet introduced the rush of Attila, the Scourge of God, and his Huns, upon the rivers of the Rhine, Marne of Gaul, and the river system of Northern Italy. No wonder Attila, called the scourge of God, in history and wormwood, in Scriptures, was likened to a burning star, when we recall that in just three short years from his first appearance on the borders of the Roman Empire, he had run his brilliant, but bitter course, and was dead!
Now, only one of the hurtful forces of the four, which had been withheld until the sealing of the saints of the sixth seal, remains to blast the Western Empire.
Rome, now weakened and toppling to her fall reminds us of Daniels vision of that very empire. The feet of iron as seen in Nebuchadnezzars vision, are now become weak as miry clay. (Dan. 2:42). Now, there was needed only the rush of the fourth wind to blast the empire into helpless ruin.
The Fourth Trumpet (Rev. 8:12)
Rev. 9:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so the third part of them were darkened, and the day shone not for the third part of it.
As the fourth angel sounds, the fourth wind, which had been restrained until the sealing of the saints, was loosed. The result is darkness. A third part of the sun, moon and stars were smitten.
We have already deciphered the symbolism of the sun, moon and stars, and found they are symbols of kings, dignitaries, princes and great men of the earth.
The creative work of the fourth day of the first chapter of Genesis was the appointing of the sun, moon, and stars to their respective duties in respect to the earth. The sun was to rule the day, and the moon to rule the night, and the stars also.
Thus we see the fourth day is, definitely, associated with the function of government, and the sun, moon and stars have ever been symbols of governmental authority, powers and functions.
Therefore, these symbols, collectively, represent the whole governmental system of the earth, or the Roman Empire, as John understood it.
Paul said, the powers that be are ordained of God. (Rom. 13:1). So, just as in the physical heavens, God has set the sun, moon and stars with their authorities and power, he has set in the political heavens; some rulers with the power and authority of the sun; some with that of the moon, which gives a reflected light of the sun, or represents delegated authority and power; and some with the function of a star.
The blowing of the fourth trumpet, then, heralds a new war of invasion on the tottering Roman Empire of the west. And in this war, one of the rulers was to become subservient to other authority, or, in other words, be darkened.
This is just what we find to have happened in the closing events of the history of the western division of the Empire.
Hear Myers again:
Only the shadow of the Empire in the west remained. All the provinces, Illyricum, Gaul, Britian, Spain and Africa, were in the hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and Various other intruding tribes . . . Myers Ancient History, page 546.
Says Gibbon, Vol. 3, Page 513.
In the space of twenty years since the death of Valentinian, nine emperors had successively disappeared; and the son of Orestes, a youth recommended only by his beauty, would be the least entitled to the notice of posterity, if his reign, which was marked by the extinction of the Roman Empire in the west, did not leave a memorable era in the history of mankind.
During the years from A.D. 456 to 472, the real ruler in Italy was a Sueve, named Count Ricimer.Myers Ancient History, page 546.
Says Gibbon:
During that period, the government was in the hands of Ricimer alone, and, although the modest barbarian disclaimed the name of king, he accumulated treasures, formed a separate army, negotiated private alliances, and ruled Italy with the same independent and despotic authority, which was afterwards exercised by Odoacer and Theodoric.Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 3, page 484.
Continuing from Myers:
He, (Count Ricimer) set up four emperors. Upon his death, a Pannonian, by the name of Orestes deposed the emperor then on the throne and placed the emperial crown upon the head of his own son, a child of six years.
By what has been called a freak of fortune, this boy-sovereign bore the name of Romulus Augustus, thus uniting, in the name of the last Roman emperor of the west, the names of the founder of Rome and the establisher of the empire. He reigned only one year, when Odoacer, the leader of the Heruli, a small, but formidable German tribe, having demanded one third of the lands of Italy to divide among his followers, for their services rendered the empire, and having been refused, put Orestes to death and dethroned the child emperor.
The Roman senate now sent to Constantinople an embassy to represent to the Eastern Emperor, Zeno, that the West was willing to give up its claim to an emperor of its own, and to request the German chief, with the title of patrician, might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted; and Italy now became in effect, a province of the Emperor of the East.Myers Ancient History, page 546.
Thus Romulus Augustus, who became known as Augustulus, the little Augustus, was dethroned by Odoacer, the Roman senate that had sat for twelve hundred and twenty-eight years, was driven from the senate chambers and the mighty fabric of the empire fell to pieces. Great men were humbled. Thus, the sun, moon and stars lost their authority and power and ceased to give light.
Odoacer, in 476 A.D. assumed authority in the west and was the first barbarian, says Gibbon, Vol. 3, Page 615, who reigned in Italy, over a people who had asserted their just superiority above the rest of mankind.
Gibbon continues on Page 518, Vol. 3. One third of those ample estates, to which the ruin of Italy is originally imputed, was extorted for the use of the conquerors.
The emperors, with less dignataries and landed owners of great estates,one third of the sun, moon and stars were darkened!
Thus, in the overthrow of the Empire of the West, ends the work of the four hurtful angels, held back for a season, but released under the blast of the first four trumpets.
There now remain three angels, the woe angels, to blow their trumpets.
The Fifth Trumpet
Turning back to the seventh chapter and the last verse, we observe a pause before the sixth angel sounded his trumpet.
We have already seen how the trumpet series of seven angels sounding their trumpets is divided into two groups. Like the seven church periods, and the seven seals, so the trumpets are divided into two groups, one of four and the second of three periods. We have considered the first group of four trumpets; there remain three trumpets termed the other three voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. (Rev. 8:13).
Thus we see there is a pause after the sounding of the trumpet of the fourth angel. The action is interrupted at that point by the vision of an angel, flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound. (Rev. 8:13).
It is clear that the destructive work of the first four angels has been finished and that the remaining three angels perform another and distinctively different work of devastation. This is to cause great woe upon the inhabiters of the earth. Remembering that the earth to John meant the Roman Empire, and, also, the fact that the destructive work of the first four angels was done in the western half of the empire; the last three woe angels operate in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire.
Though Rome itself had fallen, the eastern half of the empire still remained. How natural, then, that the further history of the Roman Empire, now centered in the east, with Constantinople as its capital, should be the burden of revelations symbolized in the last three woe trumpets.
It is quite clear that the scene has been transferred from the west to the east, and all the symbolism points with unerring precision and definiteness to one country, which so far has not, before this uncovering of the things that shall be hereafter, appeared in divine history. We shall find that country to be Arabia.
Recalling, too, that the last of the four invasions was under Odoacer, in 476 A.D., then the events of the fifth trumpet must, of necessity, be after that date.
The Era of Justinian
It seems altogether fitting that we should give here a brief sketch of events which transpired in the Eastern Empire during the interval between the fourth and fifth trumpets. Said Myers:
During the half century immediately following the fall of Rome, the Eastern emperors struggled hard and sometimes doubtfully to withstand the waves of barbarious inundation which constantly threatened Constantinople with the same awful calamities that had befallen the Imperial City of the west . . .
Fortunately, in the year 527, there ascended the Eastern throne, a prince of unusual ability, to whom fortune gave a general of such rare genius that his name has been allotted a place in the short list of great commanders of the world. Justinian was the name of the prince, and Belisarius, that of the soldier. The sovereign has given name to the period, which is called after him, the Era of Justinian.Myers Ancient History. page 592.
His reign was marked by two outstanding accomplishments. First, he restored to the Empire, Africa, from the Vandals. Italy was next recovered from the Goths. But the second, and most outstanding achievement of his era, was the collection and publication by him, of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Body of the Roman Law. By this publication, Justinian earned the title of the Lawgiver of Civilization.
His reign was followed by a half century of unimportance until we come to the reign of Heraclius. For many years he struggled heroically to maintain the integrity of the empire.
This brings us up to the time of the fifth trumpet and the Saracen invasion of the empire.
This period covered by the fifth trumpet is manifestly of great importance, because of the space given it. It is also quite evident that this epoch, referred to as those days is one of considerable length; because it is described as a period of suffering and woe which would last five months, or one-hundred and fifty days. A day in prophetic history is equivalent to one year in actual history. Shall we pause in our present train of thought to consider this.
Back in the book of Ezekiel, that prophet received a command to graphically demonstrate how the city of Jerusalem should be besieged, of which demonstration it was said, This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. So like the Book of Revelation, we are moving in the realm of signs or symbols. With this understanding shall we read:
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of days, three hundred and ninety days, so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; I have appointed thee each day for a year. (Eze. 4:4-6).
That a day in prophetic history denotes a year is further revealed to us in the prophesy of the time interval between the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem and the coming of Christ, the Messiah. In Dan. 9:25.
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
It was 483 years from the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem until Christ came to the Jordan and was immersed of John and there became the Anointed One, in that he was anointed with the descent of the Holy Spirit like a dove upon him.
So here again a day stands for a year in prophetic parlance. At the mouth of two witnesses, the Scripture declares, a matter is established.
Thus we see that this epoch was one of great length.
Shall we now hear the blast of the fifth angel: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven into the earth.
The first action that follows the blast of the trumpet is the fall of a star from heaven to earth. We have already discovered in earlier studies of symbolism, that a star represents a leader. Attila, the scourge of God, you will remember was symbolized by a burning star. That a man, and not a literal star is referred to, is made clear by the next words, and to him, definitely a person, was given the Key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit.
The fact that the star had fallen would indicate that at the time the Key was given to him, he did not possess the pre-eminence he once enjoyed. We shall find this to be true, historically, when we uncover the identity of this great leader.
When this great fallen star, or leader was given the Key, he opened the bottomless pit and out of it poured a dense smoke, as the smoke of a great furnace.
Clearly this smoke that arose is a symbol of some spiritual force, for it affects the sun, or power of government we have found the sun represents great dignitaries over a government, and the air, or spiritual realm. Paul said:
Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. (Eph. 2:2).
This proves that the air represents the spiritual realm. So this leader was to influence both earthly government and spiritual affairs. Shall we keep this important fact in mind.
And there came out of the smoke, (this spiritual activity) locusts upon the earth.
But they are not such locusts as men know. They do not feed upon vegetation; they attack men, but only those men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads. They do not killthey torment with a torment as scorpions, so that men would desire death rather than endure such suffering. These, then, are a symbol and a chilling one at that.
Since we are ever in the realm of symbols, our next task is to unravel the meaning of the symbol of a locust.
Turning to the Scriptures as our unerring and infallible guide, in the interpretation of symbolism, we find in the Book of Joel, that the armies of Assyria which were to overthrow the land of Palestine, were likened to locusts, as in the passage before us in Revelation. Shall we note the similarities:
1.
First, both were likened to locusts.
And that which the palmerworm (a different stage of development of the locust) hath left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten. (Joe. 1:4)
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. (Rev. 9:3)
2.
Both had teeth of a lion.
For a nation is come up (like Revelations locusts arising out of the bottomless pit) upon the land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. (Joe. 1:6). Their teeth were as the teeth of lions. (Rev. 9:8)
3.
A trumpet is sounded before each army of locusts invade.
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. (Joe. 2:1).
And the fifth trumpet angel sounded. (Rev. 9:1)
4.
Both of them had the appearance of horsemen.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. (Joe. 2:4).
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle. (Rev. 9:7)
5.
Both represented a nation.
For a nation is come upon my land strong and without number. (Joe. 1:6)
The locusts of Revelation are said to have a King over them, And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit. (Rev. 9:11)
Thus again the Bible clearly interprets the symbolism for us. It is plain that the locusts are conquering armies, sweeping over the earth (the Roman Empire) in great numbers. The locusts were not insects, because they hurt no green thing, but were men because they were to hurt only men, who had not the seal of God in their foreheads. (Rev. 9:4)
But this conquering people was to be unlike the Assyrians, the locusts of Joels vision, in that the locusts of Revelation were to be a people that had spiritual power as well as physical power. In fact, it is quite evident that their spiritual power was to far exceed their physical force, although their physical power was to be very great.
The repeated reference to scorpions in Rev. 9:3; Rev. 9:5; Rev. 9:10, emphasizes the predominance of the spiritual over the physical, especially when we consider Rev. 9:10. And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.
Shall we read in connection with this passage one from Isa. 9:15 : And the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.
The tail is used symbolically to represent the deadly power of false prophesy. Shall we keep this fact in mind for future illumination.
This fatal sting in this spiritual power, likened to scorpions, be cause of its deadly poison, was in their tails. Since a false prophet who teaches lies is likened to a tail, then this deadly sting lay in the spiritual poison which was to be spread over the earth by some false propheta fallen starand his hosts of armed false religionists.
Again we wish to call attention to the statement that these armies of locusts had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Rev. 9:11)
1.
First, he is a King, and a King of spiritual forces, as well as of physical. Jesus spoke of the devil as being the prince of this world (Joh. 14:30), and Paul considered the realm of satan as a kingdom, for he declared, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear son. (Col. 1:13).
2.
Second, he is called an angel. In Dan. 10:13; Dan. 10:20, we read; But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the Kings of Persia. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the Prince of Grecia shall come.
From these verses, it appears that the great empires of earth have each a presiding or ruling angel over them. This vision in the apocalypse, then, reveals to us a mighty nation, having a supernatural origin, rising from some obscure region, spreading its forces, both physical and spiritual over the earth, (or Roman Empire). These armies were to be largely horsemen and the head of this nation was to come out of the bottomless pit and be called Abaddon and Apollyon.
This is quite revealing since in Rev. 20:1-2, we discover that the bottomless pit is the home of the devil:
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the Key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and satan and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit.
By this we learn that these locusts, or armies carrying on a conquest, both physical and spiritual, were led by a leader motivated by the devil himself. No wonder he is called Abaddon, which in the Hebrew tongue means, destruction; and Apollyon, which in the Hebrew tongue means, one who exterminates.
Of the devil, said Jesus:
Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. (Mat. 10:28)
So this Abaddon was able to destroy the body and this Apollyon could exterminate the very soul, the body, by conquest of war, the soul, by false teaching.
It would seem that both Hebrew and Greek names were used to warn both the Hebrew Christians and the Greek, or Gentile Christians, of his destructive and exterminating power.
Having interpreted the symbolism in the ninth chapter, we now turn to history to identify the leader, the locust army, and the physical and spiritual warriors.
The locust, the ground work of all this symbolism, is peculiarly Arabic. It was an east wind that swept from Arabia, that brought the plague of locusts at the time of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt. Syria was often invaded by locusts which came from Arabia.
These locusts had the shape of horses. Arabia is famous as the home of the horse. From time immemorial, Arabia has produced the most famous horses of the world. The Arabian horse is sought by men of all nations. Says Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5, pages 78, 79:
Arabia, in the opinion of the naturalist, is the genuine and original country of the horse; the climate most propitious, not indeed to the size, but to the spirit and swiftness, of that generous animal . . . these horses are educated in tents, among the children of the Arabs, with a tender familiarity, which trains them in the habits of gentleness and attachment . . . their powers are reserved for the moments of flight and pursuit; but no sooner do they feel the touch of the hand or the stirrup, than they dart away with the swiftness of the wind.
Truly, the zoology of the symbolism points, beyond the least doubt, to the land of Arabia.
Again, the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. The Arabians unlike the four invaders of the Western, or Latin portion of the Empire, namely Goths, Vandals, Huns and Heruli, were horsemen, and moved over the landscape with the swiftness of the locust. There was not a foot soldier among them, whereas the invaders of the Western Roman Empire were pre-eminently foot soldiers.
The vision of the flying angel in (Rev. 8:13), not only serves to set off the first four trumpets in a distinct group from the remaining three woe trumpets, but also to show that the events in the first group are separated by a substantial interval of time, possibly quite a long one from the events pictured in the voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.
This we find to be manifestly true, The armies which invaded the Greek, or eastern half of the Roman Empire in 622 A.D., a century and a half after Odoacer conquered Rome in 476 A.D., were from Arabia, and horsemen that wore turbans which would give the impression of crowns being worn. The historians of that period often speak of these people as the turbaned Arabs.
The Sabeans, were a tribe of the Arabians and in the Old Testament we read of them as follows:
The Sabeans of the wilderness who wore bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads. (Eze. 23:42).
We can readily see how yellow turbaned horsemen would resemble men wearing crowns of gold as John beheld them in the vision of the fifth trumpet.
We found that the locusts had faces of men, but to this description was added the female adornment of long hair.
The Arabs of this date, the sixth century, wore long hair. Pliny, (Nat. History 7:28), speaks of the turbaned Arabs with their uncut hair. Ammianus Marcellinus, in the fourth century speaks of the long haired Arabs, as also did Jerome, in the fifth century.
In this vision John sees the riders flash by with long hair streaming backward in their swift flight.
These horsemen also had breastplates of iron. The chroniclers of the Arabian wars often speak of the iron coats of mail worn by them. I have before me Gibbons History, Vol. 5, page 132, and there he says, in part:
The resentment of the public and private loss stimulated Abu Saphian to collect a body of three thousand men, seven hundred of whom were armed with cuirasses.
I have the Koran before me and in it I read, God hath given you coats of mail to defend you in your wars.
By these quotations, and an array of evidence, we know this invasion comes from Arabia. Before six hundreds A.D., the Arabs were little known as they lived in the trackless sands of the desert, safe from outside nations by virtue of the nature of their habitat. But in the first part of the seventh century, they poured out of their desert wilderness and spilled out upon the Roman Empire, with a fury unparalled in the annals of warfare.
Said Myers: We have seen the German barbarians of the north descend upon and wrest from the Roman Empire, all its provinces in the west. We are now to watch a similar attack made upon the empire, by the Arabs of the south, and to see wrested from the Emperors of the East, a large part of the lands still remaining under their rule. Myers Ancient History, page 595.
This startling invasion was inspired by a fanatical religious leader, by the name of Mohammed. Hear a brief history of this man by Myers;
Mohammed, the great Prophet of the Arabs, was born in the Holy City of Mecca probably in the year 570 A.D. He sprang from the distinguished tribe of the Koreish, the custodians of the sacred shrine of the Koaba, (so named from its having the shape of a cube). In his early years, he was a shepherd and a watcher of flocks by night, as the great religious teachers Moses and David had been before him. Later, he became a merchant and a camel driver.
He declared that he had visions, in which the angel Gabriel appeared to him and made to him revelations which he was commanded to make known to his fellow men. The essence of the new faith which he was to teach was this: There is but one God, and Mohammed is his Prophet.
The teachings of Mohammed at last aroused the anger of a powerful party among the Koreiah, who feared that they, as the guardians of the national idols of the Koaba, would be compromised in the eyes of the other tribes, by allowing such heresy to be openly taught by one of their number, and accordingly they began to persecute Mohammed and his followers.
To escape these persecutions, Mohammed fled to the neighboring city of Medina. This Hegira or flight, as the word signifies, occurred 622 A.D. and was considered by the Moslems as such an important event, in the history of their religion, that they adopted it as the beginning of a new era, and from it still continue to reckon historical dates.
Myers Continues:
His cause being warmly espoused by the inhabitants of Medina, Mohammed, now, assumed along with the character of a lawgiver, and moral teacher, that of a warrior.Myers Ancient History, pages 596, 597.
The year following the Hegira, he and his followers began to attack and plunder the adjacent cities. The flame of sacred war was soon kindled. Their recklessness was intensified by his teaching that death met in fighting the infidels (as all non-Mohammedians were termed) guaranteed the martyr instant entrance into the joys of paradise.
Mohammed died ten years after the beginning of a religious war that was destined to conquer Persia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Spain and France. Hear Myers again:
In the year 732 A.D., just one hundred years after the death of the Prophet, the Franks, under their leader, Charles Martel, and their allies, met the Moslems upon the plains of Tours, in the center of Gaul. The Arabs suffered an over whelming defeat and soon withdrew behind the Pyrenees.Myers Ancient History, Page 600.
Here we have read the brief history of a movement that began like a whirlwind out of the desert and conducted a war that was both carnal and religious, in which Mohammedthe fallen starand a religious prophet, scorched much of the empire, and particularly the eastern section. To extend his religion, he resorted to the sword. They went forth like scorpions with sting in their tails, to poison the earth with their lies of the false prophetMohammed. A like period of conquest is unknown in the annals of history.
This had all the fatalism, fanaticism and fierceness of a holy war, whose motivation sprang from the bottomless pit.
The term translated Pit is used in (Eze. 31:17), and (Luk. 8:31) and (Rev. 20:1), with the thought of Hell, or abode of that prince of darkness. That is evidently the meaning here, indicating that the fallen star would employ hellish means to further his work of Abaddon, or destruction. This could only be fulfilled by such a system of imposture and false religion. Out of the smoke of the new fanatical faith they rushed upon the earth to torment, to sting and to darken the minds of men.
These locusts did not destroy any green thing of the earth. They destroyed the bodies and souls of men. Said Abubeker, the successor to the prophet, after Mohammeds death:
When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men . . . destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn, cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat.Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5, P. 189.
Thus, we see that the policy of the Saracens was in sharp contrast to that of the Goths. The Goths destroyed the trees of one third of the earth, and every green thing. The Arabs coming out of the treeless deserts of Arabia, looked upon the tree almost with veneration. How remarkable that the Book of Revelation should emphasize the diverse actions of the armies of the first and fifth trumpets! How exactly did history corroborate the difference noted by John!
Another amazing feature of this vision is not only the command not to hurt any green thing, but they were to hurt, only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them but that they should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. (Rev. 9:4-5)
While atrocities did occur and it was a war of the sword, yet it is remarkable that they went forth not so much to slay. They went forth as missionaries of the false prophet. They fought the enemy on the battlefield, but upon cessation of hostilities, they converted the vanquished. This is just the opposite of the western spectacle. There the invaders conquered, but were converted by the vanquished. A part of the marching orders given by Abubeker, successor to Mohammed, were as follows:
As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: Let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries. (See note at bottom of page)
And you will find another sort of people, that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns, be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mohametans or pay tribute.Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5, Pages 189, 190.
Note how Gibbon refers to those of the synagogue of Satan! In our study of the seven churches, the false teachers of the Smyrnan period were referred to as the synagogue of Satan. This finally developed into the depths of Satan, in the Thyratira periodthe Roman Catholic period. The invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire by the Saracens, or Arabs, met with the monks who represented the synagogue of Satan, which reached its full fruition in the depths of Satan, before the Thyratira period, roughly 400 A.D. to 1500 A.D., came to its fulness of fulfillment.
These fanatical missionaries of Mohammed were to torment the earth (those who did not have the seal of God), for five months. This period we have already found to be one-hundred and fifty yearsfive months being one hundred and fifty days, or one hundred and fifty yearsa day in prophetic history being one year.
And was this period of torment fulfilled?
(Note: M. Pauu (Recherches sur les Egyptiens, Tom. 11, P. 192, Edition Lausame) represents the Bedoweens as the implacable enemies of the Christian monks.
In 632 A.D., the Arabs broke forth in their religious war upon the nations. In 722 A.D., exactly a century after they emerged from their desert fortresses, they were defeated by Martel in the Battle of Tours, in Gaul, and driven back over the Pyrenees. In 750, the vast dominion of the Caliphs, was rent with dissention. Hear Myers:
At the close of the first century of the Hegira, the Caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe.
But in a short time the extended empire, through the quarrels of sectaries and the ambitions of rival aspirants for the honors of the Caliphate, was broken in fragments, and from three capitalsfrom Bagdad, upon the Tigris, from Cairo, upon the Nile, and from Cordova, upon the Guadalquiverwere issued the commands of three rival Caliphs, each of whom was regarded by his adherents as the sole rightful spiritual and civil successor of Mohammed. All however, held the great Prophet in the same reverence, all maintained, with equal zeal the sacred character of the Koran, and all prayed with their faces turned toward the holy city of Mecca.Myers Ancient History, Page 600.
After this division, the Saracens gradually gave up their designs of universal conquest and began to seek the ways of peace.
By the last quarter of the eighth century, they reached what has been called the golden age of Saracen power. Bagdad was called the City of Peace. This was the age of the Arabian Nights.
In the second year of Haroun Al Rashids reign (782 A.D.), we find him engaged in friendly correspondence with the Christian rulers of the empire. From that time forward, the Saracens ceased their efforts to force Mohammedanism upon the earth. They had fulfilled their mission as portrayed in the days of the fifth trumpet. And how long it had been since the beginning of this torment? It is now A.D. 782. The holy war of the false prophet began in 632. That is one hundred and fifty years, or five months! And John said, And to them it was given that they should not kill them,those sealed of God, but that they should be tormented five months!
So, we close the exposition of this fifth trumpet period with secular history substantiating and corroborating inspired symbolic predictions of that period. Verily, the Word of God is yea and amen!
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) And the fifth angel . . .Translate, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen (not fall, as in English version; the seer saw not a falling, but a fallen, star) upon the earth. The emblem of a fallen star is used elsewhere in the Bible. Isaiah (Isa. 14:12) speaks of Lucifer fallen from heaven. Christ described Satan as lightning falling from heaven. Some great power or ruler is represented, then, by this fallen star. He is, moreover, said to have fallen from heaven, and he is represented as having been given the key of the abyss. Does not this lead us to expect the working of some evil spirit and diabolical agency? The 11th verse confirms our expectation. We may compare Rev. 12:8-12, where Satan is described as defeated, cast down to the earth, and filled with wrath. To understand this fallen star as the representative of a good angel seems hardly possible.
And to him was given . . .Literally, and there was given to him (i.e., to the being represented as a fallen star) the key of (not the bottomless pit) the pit of the abyss. The abyss is the same word rendered the deep, in Luk. 8:31, where the demons besought our Lord not to send them into the abyss, or deep. It is the word which describes the abode of the evil spirits. The verse before us suggests the picture of a vast depth approached by a pit or shaft, whose top, or mouth, is covered. Dantes Inferno, with its narrowing circles winding down to the central shaft, is somewhat similar. The abyss is the lowest spring of evil, whence the worst dangers arise. (Comp. Rev. 11:7; Rev. 17:8; Rev. 20:1-3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 9
THE UNLOCKING OF THE ABYSS ( Rev 9:1-2 ) 9:1,2 The fifth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet, and I saw a star failing from heaven on the earth, and to him there was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss; and he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up from the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss.
The picture of terror mounts in its awful intensity. Now the terrors coming upon the earth are beyond nature; they are demonic; the abyss is being opened and superhuman terrors are being despatched upon the world.
The picture will become clearer if we remember that John thinks of the stars as living beings. This is common in Enoch where, for instance, we read of wandering and disobedient stars being bound hand and foot and cast into the abyss (Enoch 86:1; 88:1). To the Jewish mind the stars were divine beings, who by disobedience could become demonic and evil.
In the Revelation we read fairly often of the abyss or the bottomless pit. The abyss is the intermediate place of punishment of the fallen angels, the demons, the beast, the false prophet and of Satan ( Rev 9:1-2; Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3). Their final place of punishment is the lake of burning fire and brimstone ( Rev 20:10; Rev 20:14-15). To complete the picture of these terrors we may add that Gehenna–which is not mentioned in the Revelation–is the place of punishment for evil men.
This idea of the abyss underwent a development. In the beginning it was the place of the imprisoned waters. In the creation story the primaeval waters surround the earth and God separates them by creating the firmament ( Gen 1:6-7). In its first idea the abyss was the place where the flood of the waters was confined by God beneath the earth, a kind of great subterranean sea, where the waters were imprisoned to make way for the dry land. The second step was that the abyss became the abode of the enemies of God, although even there they were not beyond his power and control ( Amo 9:3; Isa 51:9; Psa 74:13).
Next the abyss came to be thought of as a great chasm in the earth. We see this idea in Isa 24:21-22, where the disobedient hosts of heaven and the kings of the earth are gathered together as prisoners in the pit.
This is the kind of picture in which inevitably horror mounts upon horror. The most detailed descriptions of the abyss are in Enoch, which was so influential between the Testaments. There it is the prison abode of the angels who fell, the angels who came to earth and seduced mortal women, the angels who taught men to worship demons instead of the true God ( Gen 6:1-4). There are grim descriptions of it. It has no firmament above and no firm earth beneath; it has no water; it has no birds; it is a waste and horrible place, the end of heaven and earth (Enoch 18:12-16). It is chaotic. There is a fire which blazes and a cleft into the abyss whose magnitude passes all conjecture (Enoch 21:1-10).
These things are not to be taken literally. The point is that in this terrible time of devastation which the seer sees coming upon the earth, the terrors are not natural but demonic; the powers of evil are being given their last chance to work their dreadful work.
THE LOCUSTS FROM THE ABYSS ( Rev 9:3-12 )
9:3-12 From the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth, and they were given power like the power of the scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only such men as had not the seal of God upon their forehead. They were not permitted to kill them, but to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a man; and in those days men will seek for death and not be able to find it; and they will long to die but death flees from them.
In likeness the locusts were like horses prepared for battle; on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces and they had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had scales like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses running to battle. They have tails like scorpions with stings, and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. As king over them they have the angel of the bottomless abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek Appolyon. The first woe has passed. Behold, there are still two woes to follow it.
From the smoke which emerged from the shaft of the abyss came a terrible invasion of locusts. The devastation locusts can inflict and the terror they can cause is well-nigh incredible. All through the Old Testament the locust is the symbol of destruction; and the most vivid and terrible description of them and of their destructiveness is in Joe 1:1-20; Joe 2:1-32 which are a description of an invasion of locusts; and it is from these two chapters that John takes much of his material. They laid the vine waste and stripped the bark from the trees; the field is wasted and the corn is destroyed; every tree of the field is wasted and withered; and the flocks and herds starve because there is no pasture ( Joe 1:7-18). They are like a great strong people who darken the very sky; they are as destructive as a flame of fire and nothing escapes them; they are like horses and they run like chariots, with a noise like flame devouring the stubble; they march in their ranks like mighty men of war; they scale the mountains, climb into houses and enter in at the windows, until the very earth shudders at them ( Joe 2:1-11). The two chapters of Joel should be read in full and set beside the description in the Revelation.
G. R. Driver in his commentary on Joel in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges has collected the facts about locusts in his notes and in a special appendix; and he has shown that the words of Joel and of the Revelation are no exaggeration.
The locusts breed in desert places and invade the cultivated lands for food. They may be about two inches in length, with a wing span of four to five inches. They belong to the same family as the household cricket and the grasshopper. They will travel in a column a hundred feet deep and as much as four miles long. When such a cloud of locusts appears, it is as if there had been an eclipse of the sun and even great buildings less than two hundred feet away cannot be seen.
The destruction they cause is beyond belief. When they have left an area, not a blade of grass is to be seen; the trees are stripped of their bark. Land where the locusts have settled looks as if it had been scorched with a bush fire; not one single living thing is left. Their destructiveness can best be appreciated from the fact that it is recorded that in 1866 a plague of locusts invaded Algiers and so total was the destruction which they caused that 200,000 people perished of famine in the days which followed.
The noise of the millions of their wings is variously described as like the dashing of waters in a mill-wheel or the sound of a great cataract. When the millions of them settle on the ground the sound of their eating has been described as like the crackling of a prairie fire. The sound of them on the march is like heavy rain falling on a distant forest.
It has always been noticed that the head of the locust is like the miniature head of a horse. For that reason the Italian word for locust is cavaletta and the German Heupferd.
When they move, they move inexorably on like an army with leaders. People have dug trenches, lit fires, and even fired cannon in an attempt to stop them but without success; they come on in a steady column which climbs hills, enters houses and leaves scorched earth behind.
There is no more destructive visitation in the world than a visitation of locusts, and this is the terrible devastation which John sees, although the demonic locusts from the pit are different from any earthly insect.
THE DEMONIC LOCUSTS ( Rev 9:3-12 continued) Hebrew has a number of different names for the locust which reveal its destructive power. It is called gazam ( H1501) , the lopper or the shearer, which describes how it shears all living vegetation from the earth; it is called ‘arbeh ( H697) , the swarmer, which describes the immensity of its numbers; it is called hasil, the finisher, which describes the devastation it causes; it is called caal’am ( H5556) , the swallower or the annihilator; it is called hargol (compare H7270) , the galloper, which describes its rapid progress over the land; it is called tslatsal ( H6767) , the creaker, which describes the sound it makes.
It is not the vegetation of the earth which they are to attack; in fact they are forbidden to do that ( Rev 9:4); their attack is to be launched against the men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads.
The ordinary locust is devastating to vegetation but not harmful to human beings; but the demonic locust is to have the sting of a scorpion, one of the scourges of Palestine. In shape the scorpion is like a small lobster, with lobster-like claws to clutch its prey. It has a long tail, which curves up over its back and over its head; at the end of the tail there is a curved claw; with this claw the scorpion strikes and it secretes poison as the blow is delivered. The scorpion can be up to six inches in length; it swarms in crannies in walls and literally under almost every stone. Campers tell us that every stone must be lifted when a tent is pitched lest a scorpion be beneath it. Its sting is worse than the sting of a hornet; it is not necessarily fatal, but it can kill. The demonic locusts have the power of scorpions added to them.
Their attack is to last for five months. The explanation of the five months is almost probably that the life-span of a locust from birth, through the larva stage, to death is five months. It is as if we might say that one generation of locusts is being launched upon the earth.
Such will be the suffering caused by the locusts that men will long for death but will not be able to die. Job speaks of the supreme misery of those who long for death and it comes not ( Job 3:21); and Jeremiah speaks of the day when men will choose death rather than life ( Jer 8:3). A Latin writer, Cornelius Gallus, says: “Worse than any wound is to wish to die and yet not be able to do so.”
The king of the locusts is called in Hebrew Abaddon ( H11; G3) and in Greek Apollyon ( G623) . Abaddon ( H11) is the Hebrew for destruction; it occurs oftenest in the phrases “death and destruction,” and “hell and destruction” ( Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Job 31:12; Psa 88:11; Pro 15:11; Pro 27:20). Apollyon ( G623) is the present participle of the Greek verb to destroy and itself means The Destroyer. It is fitting that the king of the demonic locusts should be called Destruction and The Destroyer.
THE HORSEMEN OF VENGEANCE ( Rev 9:13-21 )
9:13-21 The sixth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet and I heard a voice from the four horns of the altar saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So there came the four angels who were prepared for that hour and day and month and year, to kill a third part of the human race. The number of the armed forces of cavalry was twenty thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number, and this was how I saw in appearance the horses and those who were seated on them. They had breastplates of fiery red, and smoky blue, and sulphurous yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths there issued fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three plagues they killed a third part of the human race, with the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which were issuing from their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like snakes with heads, and with them they inflict their hurt.
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, even in spite of this did not repent of the deeds of their hands, so as to cease to worship demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which can neither hear nor see nor move; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts.
The horror of the picture mounts. The demonic locusts were allowed to injure but not kill; but now come the squadrons of demonic cavalry to annihilate a third part of the human race.
This is a passage whose imagery is mysterious and whose details no one has ever been able fully to explain.
No one really knows who were the four angels bound at the river Euphrates. We can only set down what we know and what we can guess. The Euphrates was the ideal boundary of the territory of Israel. It was God’s promise to Abraham: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates” ( Gen 15:18). The angels, therefore, came from the distant lands, from the alien and hostile places from which the Assyrians and the Babylonians had in time past descended with destruction upon Israel.
Further, in the Book of Enoch we frequently meet angels who are described as the Angels of Punishment. Their task was at the right time to unleash the avenging wrath of God upon the people. Undoubtedly these four angels were included among the Angels of Punishment.
We have to add another fact to all this. We have frequently seen how the pictures of John are coloured by actual historical circumstances. The most dreaded warriors in the world were the Parthian cavalry; and the Parthians dwelt beyond the Euphrates. It may well be that John was visualizing a terrible descent of the Parthian cavalry on mankind.
The seer adds horror to horror. The number of the hosts of this terrible cavalry is 200,000,000, which simply means that they were beyond all numbering, like the chariots of God ( Psa 68:17). They seem to be armoured in flame, for their breastplates are fiery red like the glow of a blazing furnace, smoky blue like the smoke rising from a fire and sulphurous yellow like the brimstone from the pit of hell. The horses have heads like lions and tails like serpents; they breathe out destructive fire and smoke and brimstone, and their serpent-tails deal out hurt and harm. The consequence of all this is that one-third of the human race is destroyed.
It would have been only natural to think that the remainder of mankind would take warning from this dreadful fate; but they did not and continued to worship their idols and demons and in the evil of their ways. It is the conviction of the biblical writers that the worship of idols was nothing less than devil worship and that it was bound to issue in evil and immorality.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
The three Spiritual (or Woe) Trumpets, Rev 9:1 – Rev 22:6.
THE FIFTH ( first Woe) TRUMPET
Abysmal locust-demons emblems of infernal influences on earth, Rev 9:1-11.
Rising from the curse-scarred surface of the earth into the sphere of spiritual woes, we now behold a vivid picture of diabolical influences issuing from hades, headed by Abaddon, and filling the moral atmosphere of our earth. They are presented as hellish locust swarms, in which the qualities of that insect being made the basis, all demoniac traits are added. This picture informed the early believers that the dominating influences of hell on earth were still to continue for awhile, even during the Messianic dispensation, making life a pessimism and death a desire to the profane world. These infernal locusts are an image of the infernal swarm of errors and vices issuing from hell and Satan, and filling men’s lives with misery.
Hengstenberg interprets the whole as a picture of human war, and justifies his interpretation by several Old Testament passages in which locusts are symbolical of armies, as Jer 46:23; Jer 51:27. Yet as these locusts come from the pit and are led by Apollyon, we may believe the image to be elevated from the idea of war between man and man to a moral war of the infernal upon the terrestrial. This is sustained by the prohibition to kill, Rev 9:5, and the still stronger fact that death is sought in vain, Rev 9:6.
It is a strange symbol of physical war which prohibits killing!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. Star fall from heaven Rather star fallen from heaven. Note Rev 4:11. The seer did not see the fall, for that had taken place ages ago. Jesus in spirit saw Satan falling as lightning from heaven. Luk 10:18. He beholds the fallen star on the earth, as king of the infernal locusts, and his name is Abaddon. Rev 9:11.
Was given Originally by the Supreme.
Key As keeper and sovereign.
Bottomless pit In the Greek the , or abyss, etymologically signifying, a depth without a bottom. Note Rev 13:1. But the Greek phrase here is very peculiar , the well of the abyss. The abyss is the under world, consisting largely of waters, yet the abode of evil spirits and wicked souls. It is entered from the earth through a narrow descending passage or well; and this well has a key to it held by Abaddon, the fallen star.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
IV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Rev 7:1 to Rev 20:10.
Of the trumpets, the first four are mundane, or earthly; each of the four blasts draws down a judgment upon some creational point, as earth, sea, fountains and rivers; firmamental luminaries. It is the sins of men that draw down these bolts of wrath, rendering every point of creation hostile to our peace. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” (Gen 3:17,) is the key-note. This sad status of humanity has existed through all past ages; but it is here represented to form a base from which the history of the renovation commences.
The first four the earthly trumpets are each brief as well as terrible; the spiritual, the fifth and sixth, expand into wider dimensions and rise to more spiritual interests; while the seventh trumpet rolls forth its series of events, through all the future scenes of retribution and redemption to the judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven, fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke from the pit went upwards like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened as a result of the smoke from the pit.’
We are now specifically in the realm of the supernatural. The four winds of earth are doing their work and now the further elements of the spiritual world will also be called on to intervene. What follows is not to be seen visually by mankind, who will only know of it by its effects, although it is seen by John because he is in vision. It is often assumed that such dreadful events have not yet occurred, but such an idea is without foundation. The invisible activity of the powers of evil have occurred right from the beginning (compare Daniel 10). Within limits placed by God Satan has constantly attacked both the world and the church. These descriptions put his attacks in vivid and pictorial terms. Because we are cushioned from them we should not think that they have not happened. And the first began around the time of John and has continued through the centuries.
‘The abyss’ is another term for the place of the dead, for Jesus Himself descended to the abyss (Rom 10:7). It includes the abode of evil spirits, a place which they seek to avoid at all costs (Luk 8:31). It is therefore a general term for the world of the dead and of spirits, both good and bad. We are not told that John saw ‘the star’ fall. He describes it as already fallen. This may suggest that he has in mind the words of our Lord, ‘I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven’ (Luk 10:18). It would indicate that the fallen star may be Satan himself. What John sees as happening at this point in time is the consequent giving of the key.
That this is our first introduction to Satan in Revelation, apart from in the letters to the churches, is suggested by the fact that this angel is king over the abyss (Rev 9:11). Furthermore the key of the abyss would only be given to someone very important, just as, in contrast, the keys of death and Hades were given to Jesus. During this age Satan is bound (Mar 3:27 and parallels) but he is given a certain amount of licence by God to carry out his evil intent on the world.
The smoke going upwards like the smoke of a furnace parallels Gen 19:28 where the same description is given of the smoke going up from Sodom and Gomorrah after God’s judgment has come upon them, and we are justified in seeing in it an impending warning. (It is also paralleled in Exo 19:18 of God’s appearance in fire on Mount Sinai, warning the people of Israel not to enter the Mount). But its primary reference here is to what follows. The rising of a great cloud of locusts was often seen and described in such fashion. (It therefore does not tell us anything about what the abyss consists of e.g. fire). Vast amounts of smoke are seen to rise and are then discerned to be a huge cloud of locust like creatures. Often in the Middle East people have thought there was a great fire as a result of seeing thick smoke in the distance, only for it to turn out to be a vast cloud of locusts. Such a sight struck terror in men’s hearts as they considered the effects.
If not Satan ‘the angel’ may have in mind the one described under the third trumpet in the previous chapter as having fallen from heaven, but in our view this is less likely. Either way the end result is the same. Such angels are servants of Satan. For the idea of the angels as stars see Job 38:7. They are also called ‘the host of heaven’ (1Ki 22:19; 2Ch 18:18; see also Psa 148:2; Jos 5:14), a name given to the heavenly bodies as well (Isa 34:4; Jer 33:22; see also Isa 40:26; Isa 45:12). They are further called stars in other non-canonical apocalyptic literature, including Enoch (Enoch is quoted by Jude demonstrating that the early church utilised apocalyptic literature, while not on the whole accepting it as part of ‘the word of God’).
This angel, whom we consider is probably ‘the angel of the abyss’ (Rev 9:11), is permitted by God (‘was given the key’) to release evil spirits on the world, although the people of God will have special protection from them (Rev 9:4). So God tells John that soon (from his point of view) there is to be a release of powers of evil on the world. The binding of Satan is to be relaxed a little. Compare Rev 12:12 (‘the ‘short time’ is essentially from God’s viewpoint. Satan does not know how long he has, but like man assumes it to be a short time). In all that happens it is made quite clear that God is over all. Paul has a similar idea in mind in Eph 6:10-18 where he describes the armour provided for God’s people, armour that can protect the mind and heart, armour that can divert the fiery darts of the Evil One, which is found in salvation and in the effective use of the word of God and prayer. So Paul there sees a multitude of evil spirits at work which aim to make things difficult for God’s people. ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the spiritual realm’ (Eph 6:12). Paul describes the human side of the situation in order to encourage the putting on of the armour of God. Here in Revelation the divine side of God’ protection of His people is found in the seal which is put upon them marking them as His.
‘The sun and the air were darkened as a result of the smoke of the pit’. The darkness is clearly ominous, warning of the dreadful things about to happen. The rulers of the darkness of this world are emerging. Huge clouds of locusts which blotted out the sun regularly brought fear into the hearts of men. In vision John recognises here a greater threat.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Fifth Trumpet The sounding of the fifth trumpet describes a great smoke and mankind being judged with stinging locusts.
The Fifth Trumpet Interpreted as the Gulf War – Irvin Baxter suggests this prophecy refers to the 1991 Gulf War. When the Iraqi armies fled Kuwait, they set on fire around seven hundred oil wells. The smoke from these oil wells burned for over three months, so that the sun nor the moon were seen in this region for that period of time. He believes the locusts with breastplate of iron may be a description of a helicopter in battle from the eyes of a first-century writer. He also quotes two articles that explain the meaning of Saddam’s name as “the destroyer.” [78]
[78] Irvin Baxter, Jr., Understanding the End Time: Lesson 12 The Seven Trumpets (Richmond, Indiana: Endtime, Inc., 1986) [on-line]; accessed 1 October 2008; available from http://www.endtime.com/Audio.aspx; Internet.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Opening of the Seven Seals and the Sounding of the Seven Trumpets Rev 6:1 to Rev 11:19 records the opening of the seven seals and the sounding of the seventh trumpet that accompanied the seventh seal.
The Purpose of the Seven Seals and the Seven Trumpets – The opening of the seven seals by the Lamb of God and the sounding of the seven trumpets by the angels serve as the testimony of Jesus Christ to the world that He is the Son of God. Just as Jesus Christ has testified to John the apostle in chapter one, and to the seven churches in chapters 2-3, He now speaks to the rest of the world in the only language that corrupt and wicked world will listen, which is through calamities and tribulation. This is why it is called the Tribulation Period. We see God’s effort to bring people to salvation through these events because there are a number of verses in this section that say, “yet they repented not of their evil works” (Rev 9:20-21, Rev 16:9-11). However, the bright side of this Tribulation Period reveals that a multitude of people will be saved during this difficult seven-year on earth.
The Message of the Book The book that was in the right hand of God and taken by the Lamb contains a story. The opening of the book’s seven seals reveals this story as a series of events that are coming upon the earth to judge mankind for its depravity, which depravity was most clearly revealed by the crucifixion of the Son of God, who is thus described here as the Lamb that was slain. In other words, God will use these events to judge the earth, which events are consummated by the Second Coming of Christ described in the opening of the sixth seal. Therefore, the opening of the first seal ushers in these judgments
1. View of the Sevens Seals Representing the Entire Church Age – One popular view is to interpret the seven seals as the sequence of events that will take place during the Church age leading to its consummation, which would begin during the time of the early church. For example, Michael Wilcox compares the order of events described in this passage of Scripture to the Eschatological Discourse of Mat 24:1-31 by suggesting that Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 are the same discourse, with Matthew’s Gospel giving an earthly perspective, while the book of Revelation describes the same sequences of events from a heavenly perspective. [65] This view could be interpreted as such:
[65] Michael Wilcox, The Message of Revelation: I Saw Heaven Opened, in The Bible Speaks Today, eds. J. A. Motyer and John R. W. Stott (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, c1975, 1986), 74-77.
a) The First Seal ( Rev 6:1-2 ) – The first seal reveals the first church age in which the Roman Empire, and the Catholic Church that emerged out of this empire, were the primary persecutors of the saints of God (Rev 6:1-2). It is symbolized by the crown, showing its intent to conquer and rule over all peoples and places. Unlike the sword carried by the second horseman, the bow symbolizes its purpose to conquer, but not kill, those whom it dominates. The white symbolizes the color of the papacy.
b) The Second Seal ( Rev 6:3-4 ) – The second age of the Church saw the rise of Islam during the seventh century, with its symbol of the sword, showing its purpose was to kill men rather than to rule over them (Rev 6:3-4). This great persecutor of the Church initially targeted all Jews and Christians, as well as other peoples, but it has continuously killed its fellow Muslims throughout the ages. The red may symbolize the blood it sheds in behalf of its religion.
c) The Third Seal ( Rev 6:5-6 ) – The third age of the Church is capitalism, with its purpose of controlling the world’s economy by a few wealthy individuals (Rev 6:5-6). The scale represents its system of buying and selling to control men and nations. The black color is seen in the traditional black suit worn today by the leaders of businesses within this capitalistic system. This system arose with the rise of industrialization of western nations. All three of these systems, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Capitalism, carry the spirit of anti-christ.
d) The Fourth Seal ( Rev 6:7-8 ) – The pale horse, with its riders Death and Hell (Rev 6:7-8) represent the fourth age, which immediately precedes the Great Tribulation Period. This is the period in which the earth enters into travail as birth pangs, which Jesus called the “beginning of sorrows” (Mat 24:8). This period takes place about one hundred years before the world enters into the Great Seven-year Tribulation Period. Perhaps this period began with World War I. It is a time when the three world systems of Catholicism, Islam and Capitalism are working in full force, and in conflict with one another, but all having the common mindset of hating the Jews and the Christians.
e) The Fifth Seal ( Rev 6:9-11 ) – The fifth seal reveals all of the saints slain during the Church age until its culmination, crying out for God’s vengeance (Rev 6:9-11). Their role in this series of events is to intercede in behalf of one another to move God to avenge them and bring judgment upon the earth.
f) The Sixth Seal ( Rev 6:12 to Rev 7:17 ) – The sixth seal clearly describes the seven-year Tribulation Period upon this earth, which culminates with Christ Jesus returning to earth to conquer and to rule and reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years (Rev 6:12 to Rev 7:17). It is during this period of Church history that many of the Jews will turn to Jesus Christ as their Messiah. God will seal them along with His saints to keep them during the Tribulation Period, described in Rev 6:17 as “the great day of his wrath” and in Rev 7:14 as “the great tribulation.”
g) The Seventh Seal ( Rev 8:1 to Rev 11:19 ) The seventh seal serves as a prelude to introduce the seven trumpets. At this time the prayers of the saints rises up before the throne of God and the angel casts fire from the golden altar down upon the earth in order to bring about judgment upon those who have resisted God and persecuted the saints.
2. View of the Seven Seals Representing the Events of the Last Days Another view of the seven seals is to interpret them to symbolic the particular events that will take place during the period of time immediately preceding and including the Tribulation Period, rather spanning over a period of two thousand years. For example, John Ogwyn takes the sequence of events as a description of last days in Matthew 24 and makes them parallel to the sequence of events in Revelation. [66] This view could be interpreted as such:
[66] John H. Ogwyn, Revelation: The Mystery Unveiled (Charlotte, NC: Living Church of God, 2003) [on-line]; accessed 19 September 2010; available from http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/media/booklets/ru.pdf; Internet, 19-25.
a) The First Seal ( Rev 6:1-2 ) The opening of the first seal reveals a white horse and its rider that go forth with a bow to conquer. This event would parallel Mat 24:5, which refers to the many false prophets that will go forth during the period before Christ’s Second Coming to deceive the Church.
b) The Second Seal ( Rev 6:3-4 ) The opening of the second seal reveals a red horse and its rider that go forth to kill. This event would parallel Mat 24:6-7 a, which refers to the many wars that will take place immediately before the Tribulation Period.
c) The Third Seal ( Rev 6:5-6 ) The opening of the third seal reveals a black horse and its rider that go forth with a pair of scales. This event would parallel Mat 24:7 b, which refers to famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places across the world.
d) The Fourth Seal ( Rev 6:7-8 )
e) The Fifth Seal ( Rev 6:9-11 f) The Sixth Seal ( Rev 6:12 g) The Seventh Seal ( Rev 8:1
The Opening of the First Six Seals Rev 6:1-17 tells us of the Lamb opening six of the seven seals in the book of Revelation. The seventh seal will not be opened until Rev 8:1. It is important to note that Jesus Christ is identified as a Lamb that has been slain. Within these seals are going to be released four spirits that will go across the earth and slay the saints of God. This is why the fifth seal reveals these martyrs under the altar of God.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The first four seals that are opened in Rev 6:1-8 describe the release four horses with their riders. These four horsemen are commonly referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The number four signifies the work of man. Thus, these four horsemen represent four aspects of the antichrist to persecute the Church and bring destruction upon mankind.
We find a similar account of this same scene in Zec 6:1-8 in the Vision of the Four Chariots. In the account in Revelation there is a white, horse, a red horse, a black horse and a pale horse. In Zechariah there are red horses, black horses, white horses and grisled and bay horses. Zec 6:5 tells us that these horses represent “the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.” Thus, we can assume that the four horses in Revelation also represent these same four spirits that have been sent forth.
I discuss the views of several scholars below. Some scholars suggest that these four horsemen are to be sent forth upon the earth immediately after the Rapture of the Church. Others suggest that they have been sent out at different periods of Church history. My suggestion is to agree with this second view that these four horsemen represent four spirits that have been sent forth upon the earth during the last two thousand years of Church history. The white horse would represent the spirit of Catholicism, which began during the Christianization of the Roman Empire under Constantine. The red horse could represent the spirit of Islam, which began in the seventh century. The black horse would represent capitalism, which began after the Reformation when nations began to develop industry and strong economies; or the black horse could represent Communism, which had its roots in the teachings of Karl Marx and was instituted in Russia during the early twentieth century. The pale horse could represent the distress and travail that the earth will enter into prior to the Tribulation Period. All of these spirits have led to the persecution of the Church across the world. This is why the fifth seal reveals the martyrs who have been slain over this period of time. Note that the martyrs are crying out, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” This suggests that they have not been slain since the start of the Great Tribulation, but perhaps during the last two thousand years of Church history.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Sounding of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets.
The falling of the star:
v. 1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
v. 2. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
v. 3. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.
v. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Here is a picture which presents extraordinary convulsions in nature in order to teach the coming of great upheavals in the Church: And the fifth angel sounded his trumpet; and I saw a star fallen out of heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss. John saw this star, not in the course of falling, but as having fallen, as ready to begin his fearful work of destruction. He was given the key to a fearsome cavity, to the pit of the abyss, the abode of the devil and his angels; he received the power to bring men into this abode of darkness and damnation.
John now relates that the fallen angel made use of his power: And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darkened, and the air, from the smoke of the pit. The pernicious activity of the wicked fallen star is here shown, by which dark and poisonous vapors from the abyss of hell were unloosed. It was not a small and temporary phenomenon, but one which brought forth such a dense cloud of hellish smoke as to obscure the sun himself and to render the entire air murky. This evil was afterward made still worse: And out of the smoke there came forth locusts upon the earth, and to them was granted power as the power which the scorpions of the earth wield; and it was told them that they must not injure the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only those men that do not bear the seal of God upon their foreheads. So the dense and poisonous vapor resolved itself into a swarm of infernal spirits in the form of locusts, which were rendered more dangerous by the additional power of stinging like scorpions. The enemies of the believers, of the Church of Christ, are often compared to locusts, both on account of their great number and because of their destructiveness, Jer 46:23; Amo 7:1-17; Joe 1:1-20. However, their power was not unlimited, since they were expressly told that they must not injure the vegetation which the Lord had still permitted to stand, and since they were not allowed to harm the elect of the Lord, who bear the seal of the heavenly Father and of the Lamb on their foreheads, Rev 7:3.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Rev 9:1
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; a star from heaven fallen unto the earth (Revised Version); not saw a star fall. (For the distinctive character of the last three judgments, see on Rev 8:2.) “A star” sometimes signifies one high in position. Thus Num 24:17, “There shall come a star out of Jacob;” Dan 8:10, “And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground.” In Rev 1:20 “the stars” are “the angels of the seven Churches;” in Job 38:7 the angels are called “stars;” in Isa 14:12 we have Satan referred to thus: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” It seems, therefore, that Satan himself is here referred to under this symbol. The trumpet visions hitherto have portrayed troubles affecting the outer man; now begin to be set forth these yet more terrible visitations which, affecting his spiritual nature, are seen more directly to emanate from the devil. He has fallen “from heaven unto the earth;” that is, whereas formerly heaven was his abode, the sphere of his work while yet obedient to God, he now has no office or power, or entrance there, but is permitted to exercise what influence he possesses on the earth (cf. Luk 10:18, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”). This is the view of Tertullian, Aretbas, Bede, Vitriuga, Alford, believe an evil angel is meant; Wordsworth thinks an apostate Christian teacher is signified; Andreas, Bengel, and De Wette believe a good angel is intended; others see particular emperors, etc.; while Hengstenberg thinks the figure represents not one, but a number of persons, including Napoleon. And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit; of the pit of the abyss (Revised Version). That is, as Wordsworth explains, of the aperture by which there is no egress from or ingress into the abyss. Christ holds the key (Rev 1:18), but for a season Satan is permitted to exercise power. The abyss is the abode of the devil and his angels; the present abode, not the lake of fire, into which they are subsequently cast (Rev 20:10).
Rev 9:2
And he opened the bottomless pit; pit of the abyss, as above. This phrase is omitted by , B, Coptic, AEthiopic, and others. It is inserted by A, B, many cursives, Vulgate, Syriac, Andreas. And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. The smoke of the incense (Rev 8:4) purified the prayers of the saints, making them acceptable before God; the smoke which ascends from the abyss clouds men’s minds and darkens their understandings. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. The air, becoming filled with the smoke, obscured the light of the sun, so that both appeared dark. This darkening of the atmosphere may have been suggested by the description of the locust plague (Exo 10:15), or by the account in Joe 2:1-32. But it is the smoke, not the locusts, which is here said to cause the obscurity; the locusts issue forth out of the smoke. It is doubtful whether we ought to seek any particular interpretation of the smoke; it is probably only accessory to the general picture. If we may press the meaning so far, it is perhaps best to regard the smoke as the evil influence of the devil, which darkens men’s understandings, and from which issue the troubles which are the result of heresy and infidelity, portrayed by the locusts (cf. 2Co 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving,” etc.).
Rev 9:3
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. The locust is constantly referred to in the Bible, and various illustrations are drawn from their characteristic features. In the East they appear in great numbers and men are helpless against their devastating power. Sometimes an attempt is made to check their progress by lighting fires, and this practice may have suggested the above description of the locusts proceeding from the smoke. The irresistible destruction which they cause is alluded to in Deu 28:38; Joe 2:25; 2Ch 7:13; their number in Psa 105:34; Nah 3:15. The air is sometimes tainted with their dead bodies (Joe 2:20). The natural features of the locust are fully dwelt upon in Nah 3:7-10. As an illustration, we may quote Niebuhr, who gives an Arab’s description of the locust: “In head like the horse, in breast like the lion, in feet like the camel, in body like the serpent, in tail like the scorpion, in antennae like a virgin’s hair.” Three out of these five points of resemblance are mentioned in Nah 3:7-10. The locusts here symbolize heretics and infidels. Some writers (e.g. Wordsworth) apply the symbol to the Mohammedans (see Wordsworth, in loc., where the parallel is very fully worked out). But though this may be, and probably is, a fulfilment of the vision, it would be wrong to thus restrict our interpretation. Scarcely any one cause has contributed more to the trouble and destruction of men than the violence which is the result of religious hatred. Whether it be the heathen idolater, the warlike Mohammedan, or the Christian bigot, who is the agent, the effect is the same. It may be said, too, that if the minds of Christians also had not been darkened by the prejudicial influence of Satan, who is the cause of their unhappy divisions, heresies, and apostasies, these troubles could scarcely have fallen upon mankind. The innumerable occasions of such violence may be well illustrated by the countless number of the locusts; and the effect lives after the death of the authors, tainting the moral atmosphere. It is true that the true Christian sometimes suffers also; but tidal is an aspect which is set forth in the visions of the seals. Here another view is set forth, namely, that the ungodly are themselves punished, and punished severely, by means of this evil influence of the devil. Many other interpretations have been suggested:
(1) evil spirits (Andrea,);
(2) Roman wars in Judaea (Grotius);
(3) the Gothic invasion (Vitringa);
(4) De Wette and Alford believe that the interpretation is unknown.
And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. That is to say, just as the natural scorpions of the earth have power to cause suffering, so these allegorical locusts of the vision appeared to possess the means wherewith to plague mankind. The scorpion is “generally found in dry and in dark places, under stones and in ruins, chiefly in warm climates. The sting, which is situated at the extremity of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes a poisonous fluid, which is discharged into the wound … In hot climates the sting often occasions much suffering and sometimes alarming symptoms” (Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible ‘).
Rev 9:4
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree. The force of this plague is to fall directly upon mankind, not, as in the former judgments, upon the earth, and then indirectly upon men. This appears to be stated with the greater plainness, because it might readily be inferred, from the nature of locusts, that the immediate object of their destructiveness would be the vegetation of the world. But only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads; but only such men as have not, etc. (Revised Version; cf. Rev 7:3, to which this is an allusion). Here, by proleipsis, the servants of God are described as “those that have the seal of God in their foreheads.” It is not stated, nor is it necessarily implied, that the seal is visible to man at the time of the infliction of this judgment upon the ungodly. In a similar way our Lord speaks of the elect (Mat 24:22), not thereby implying that there is any visible manifestation by which the elect may be known to men, though known to God. Thus also it is said in 2Ti 2:19, “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” The frequent use of the term to denote those who were sealed by baptism may have led to the employment of the expression in this place, as being equivalent to “the servants of God” (cf. Eph 1:13; Eph 4:30; 2Co 1:22). The locusts may not hurt God’s servants (see on 2Ti 2:3). Thus we are taught that God in reality preserves his own, though it may sometimes appear to man as though the innocent suffer with the guilty.
Rev 9:5
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and it was given them [i.e. the locusts] that they [the locusts] should not kill them [the unsealed], but that they [the unsealed] should be tormented five months. The devil and his agents have not unlimited power committed to them; they are restrained within limits by the will of God. The evils which follow in the train of heresy and infidelity are not as yet permitted to kill (cf. Job 1:12), for this judgment extends only to the natural life of man. God reserves the final killing to himself at the great judgment day. This is shown in the limitation, “five months.” This apparently meaningless period becomes explicable, when we remember that the usual duration of a locust plague is five months, viz. from April to September. The visitation is for the natural period of such occurrences; the torment is to extend to the natural period of man’s sojourn on the earth. It does not extend into the next life; other and special means are adopted for man’s punishment then, as set forth under the seventh trumpet. Various other explanations have been given of the five months.
(1) Five years of Gothic rule (Vitringa).
(2) Five months = 5 x 30 days; each day represents one year; therefore 150 years are signified, viz.
(a) of the Saracens, A.D. 830A.D. 980 (Mede);
(b) Mohammed’s conquests, A.D. 612A.D. 762 (Elliott).
(3) Hengstenberg believes 5 to signify a part of the complete number 10, and thus to symbolize an incomplete period, as compared with the period of the seventh trumpet.
(4) Bengel, following the principles assumed by him, makes the five months to equal 79 natural years, and assigns the period to A.D. 510A.D. 589.
(5) Others take the expression to mean “a short time” merely.
(6) Wordsworth interprets it as meaning a limited time permitted by God, and thinks the Mohammedan period is signified, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. “Their torment,” that is, the torment of the unsealed, according to Alford; the torment of the locusts (viz. that which they inflict), according to others. In either ease the meaning is the same. The last clause, “when he striketh a man,” is perhaps added in contradistinction to the injury naturally inflicted by locusts, whose efforts are directed against the vegetation.
Rev 9:6
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them; shall in no wise find it and death fleeth from them (Revised Version); , “the men;” that is, the unsealed, who suffer this judgment. This is a characteristic biblical method of expressing great anguish. Thus Job 3:20, Job 3:21, “The bitter in soul; which long for death, but it cometh not” (cf. also Jer 8:3; Job 7:15; Luk 23:30; and Rev 6:16). The description portrays great anguish of mind, and should not be pressed to a literal interpretation, though many have illustrated the passage by pointing to actual occurrences of the kind.
Rev 9:7
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; rather, the likenesses of the locusts; that is to say, the general appearance. This similarity is brought out in Joe 2:1-32, and is alluded to in Job 39:20. The parallel is worked out at some length in Tristram’s ‘Natural History of the Bible,’ p. 314. In what way they appeared “prepared unto battle,” is shown in Job 39:9. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold; crowns like unto gold. The language is carefully guarded so as to make it understood that this feature is altogether supernatural. The crowns of gold probably denote the conquering nature of the locusts, and thus they add to the power with which the locusts have already been invested. They may also signify the exalted temporal position of those symbolized by the locusts. Some writers believe the helmets of soldiers are typified, and others the turbans of the Mohammedans. And their faces were as the faces of men. Notwithstanding the general resemblance of the locusts to horses, which resemblance is most clearly shadowed forth in the structure of the head, yet their faces gave the seer the idea of the human countenance. How this was brought about we are not told. Probably St. John himself in his vision received the impression without knowing by what means. The circumstance seems to point decidedly to the fact that human agents are denoted by the locusts..
Rev 9:8
And they had hair as the hair of women. This (like the succeeding clause) seems merely the enumeration of an additional feature, in which these creatures resembled locusts, and which helped to establish their claim to the name. The antennae of the insect are probably referred to. Wordsworth sees here an allusion to the flowing hair of Mohammed and the Saracens. And their teeth were as the teeth of lions. The powerful nature of the teeth of the locust is a remarkable feature of the insect; and it is here more fully referred to in order to enhance the general terror of their aspect (cf. Joe 1:6).
Rev 9:9
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron. Again, a natural feature of the locust is specifically alluded to, in order to portray the terrible nature of their appearance. The horny substance which appears behind the face of the locust is not unlike the plates of iron with which the breast and shoulders of war horses were protected. And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war (Revised Version). The sound of the two things together, viz. that of rushing horses, and that of the chariots which they draw. The same simile is used in Joe 2:5.
Rev 9:10
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings (Revised Version). The next words are included in the following clause. Not that their tails possessed the appearance of scorpions (as Bengel, Hengstenberg, and others), but that their tails were like the tails of scorpions in respect of having stings in them. Cf. 2Sa 22:34; Psa 18:33, “He maketh my feet like hands” (omit “feet”); also Rev 13:11, “Two horns like a lamb” (see the description of the scorpion quoted above, under Rev 13:3). And their power was to hurt men five months; and in their tails is their power to hurt, etc. (Revised Version) (see the preceding clause). As no Greek manuscript gives the reading of the Textus Receptus followed by the Authorized Version, the probability is that this is an example of a passage in which the Greek of his edition was supplied by Erasmus, by the simple process of retranslating into Greek the Vulgate Version. By the possession of the noxious sting, the locusts here described are represented as being yet more terrible than the natural locusts. (See the description of the locusts given under Rev 13:3. For the signification of the “five months,” see on Rev 13:5.) They limit the period of this judgment to the time of man’s existence on this earth.
Rev 9:11
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit; they have over them as king the angel of the abyss (Revised Version). Most commentators contrast with the condition of the natural locusts, who have no king (Pro 30:7). “The angel” evidently, points to the star of verse l, who is Satan himself. Some think a particular angel, not Satan, is intended. Alford unnecessarily hesitates to decide that Satan is meant, owing to Rev 12:3, Rev 12:9. Whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. Abaddon is the Hebrew , a noun representing the abstract idea “destruction” (Job 31:12), but more frequently employed to designate the netherworld (Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Pro 15:11; Psa 88:12). Apollyon (, present participle) is the Greek (by which the LXX. renders ) personified. It is in conformity with St. John’s usual practice to give the two forms of the name (cf. Joh 1:38,Joh 1:42; Joh 4:25; Joh 9:7; Joh 11:16; Joh 19:13, Joh 19:17). In the name we have summed up the character of him who bears it. He is the “destroyer,” the one who causes “perdition” to mankind. Cf. the words of our Lord given by St. John (Joh 8:44), “He was a murderer from the beginning.” Bengel and others contrast with “Jesus” the “Saviour.” Perhaps the height of absurdity is reached by those writers (Bleek, Volkmar) who see in the name Apollyon a reference to (N)apoleon.
Rev 9:12
One woe is past; the one woe, or the first woe. “Woe” ( ) is feminine; perhaps because expressing the idea of tribulation, such words being generally feminine in the Greek. Some have thought that these words are a further announcement by the eagle of Rev 8:13; but there is nothing to lead us to suppose that they are not the words of the writer. And, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. Omit “and:” behold, there cometh yet two woes hereafter. The verb is singular in , A, and others; the plural is found in , B, P, and others. Alford says, “singular, the verb applying simply to that which is future, without reference as yet to its plurality.” But probably , although written as a feminine in the preceding clause, being really indeclinable, is treated as a neuter; and thus the singular verb is made to agree with the neuter plural, in conformity with the rules of Greek grammar. The second woe extends from this place to Rev 11:14, and the third woe is contained in Rev 11:14-19, especially in Rev 11:18.
Rev 9:13
And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice; I heard one voice, perhaps in contradistinction to the four horns next mentioned. From the four horns of the golden altar which is before God; the golden altar before God. The balance of authority seems in favour of retaining , “four,” although the Revisers omit it. It is inserted in B, P, Andreas, Arethas, Primasius, etc., but emitted in A, Syriac, Coptic, Bede, etc. Many commentators (eg. Vitringa, Hengstenberg) lay special stress upon it; and some represent the horns as the four Gospels, which speak with one voice. The voice issues from the altar, as in Rev 6:10; Rev 16:7. The voice, issuing from the resting place of the souls of the martyrs, denounces the impending woe. The altar is the golden altar of incense (Rev 8:3) which is before (the throne of) God, and which, in the earthly temple, stood before the veil (Exo 40:26). This altar had four “horns” projecting at the corners (Exo 30:2; see also Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ art. “Altar”).
Rev 9:14
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet. Tregelles reads, “Saying to the sixth angel, Thou that hast the trumpet,” etc.; but the common rendering is much more probable. Here the angel is represented as directly causing the incidents which follow; in the other cases, we are only told that each angel “sounded.” Loose the four angels which are hound in the great river Euphrates. This vision has led to a great variety of interpretations. Some are obviously absurd; in all these is considerable doubt and difficulty. The following is offered as a possible solution to some extent, though it is not pretended that every difficulty is satisfactorily disposed of. In making this suggestion, the following circumstances have been borne in mind:
(1) The trumpet visions seem constructed upon a systematic plan, and therefore it seems likely that this judgment, like the fifth and the seventh, is a spiritual one (vide supra).
(2) The objects of this punishment are those who commit the sins described in Rev 9:20, Rev 9:21.
(3) The vision must have borne some meaning for these to whom it was first delivered. It seems unlikely, therefore, that events are here portrayed which could not possibly have been foreseen and understood by the early Christians. This seems to exclude (except possibly in a secondary sense) all reference to the papacy, etc. (as Wordsworth).
(4) Whether the angels here described are good angels or bad angels makes no material difference to the main part of the vision, which is to set forth punishment for the ungodly, sanctioned or originated by God.
(5) The object of the punishment is to bring men to repentance, but it largely fails to do so (Rev 9:21). We therefore conclude that the whole judgment portrays the spiritual evils which afflict the ungodly in this life, and which give them, as it were, a foretaste of their doom in the life to come. Sin frequently brings unrest and trouble immediately in its train; seldom, if ever, peace and satisfaction. The stings of sin are, perhaps, none the less potent because their effect is frequently unseen by the general public. The terror of the murderer, the shame of the thief, the abasement and physical suffering of the impure, the delirium tremens of the drunkard, are very real torments. The number of such inflictions is, indeed, great enough to be described as “two myriads of myriads” (Rev 9:16): they destroy a part, but not the greater part (Rev 9:15, “the third part”) of men; and yet how largely they fail to bring men to repentance! Such punishment is a foretaste of hell, as seems to be foreshadowed in the “fire and smoke and brimstone” of Rev 9:17, Rev 9:18. Wordsworth and others contend that the “four angels” are good angels, who have been hitherto restrained. As remarked above, the point is not a material one, but it seems more probable that evil angels are intended. Their loosing does not necessarily mean that they are loosed at a time subsequent to this vision, but only that they are under the control of God, Who allows them freedom to carry out this mission. Thus also, in the case of the other judgments, it has been pointed out that the period of their operation may extend throughout all ages, from the beginning to the end of the world. They arise from the Euphrates. Many writers point out that this river was looked upon by the Israelites as the natural source from which sprang their enemies (see Isa 7:20; Isa 8:7; Jer 46:10). Indeed, the Euphrates was looked upon as the boundary of the Jewish kingdom (Gen 15:18; Deu 1:7; Deu 11:24; Jos 1:4; 2Sa 8:3; 1Ch 5:9); hence those coming from out of the Euphrates were frequently enemies. The expression may be merely accessory to the general filling up of the picture, or it may teach us that the punishments which follow flow from their natural source, viz. men’s sins (of. Rev 16:12, where the Euphrates is certainly alluded to as the source from whence arise hostile hosts).
Rev 9:15
And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. The alterations in the Revised Version make the meaning much plainer: which had been prepared for the bout, and day, and month, and year, that they should kill, etc. That is to say those “which had” in God’s foreknowledge “been prepared” in order to operate at the exact period requiredthe exact year, month, day, and even hour. Each knew his appointed time. Four is the number used to denote universality in things of this world (see on Rev 4:6). The number, therefore, seems to imply that the power of the angels is of universal extent. The third part are destroyed; that is, a great part, though not the larger (cf. Rev 8:7, et seq.).
Rev 9:16
And the number of the army of the horsemen; and the number of the armies of the cavalry. No horsemen have hitherto been Minded to; but they are apparently the destroying host under the direction of the four angels. The symbol is, no doubt, chosen to signify power, of which horsemen or cavalry are an emblem. Were two hundred thousand thousand; or, twice myriads of myriads (cf. Jud Rev 1:14-16, which is a quotation from Enoch; also Dan 7:10). The number is, of course, not to be taken literally, but as signifying an exceeding great multitude. And I heard the number of them. Omit “and.” St. John “heard the number” possibly from one of the elders, who had before instructed him (cf. Rev 7:13). He states this, since so vast a multitude would be innumerable.
Rev 9:17
And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them. That is, according to the description following, not “thus, in such numbers as I have described.” Having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. , “having,” probably refers to both horses and riders, though it may refer to the riders only. The Revised Version renders jacinth more exactly as hyacinth. Alford translates, “breastplates, fiery red, fuliginous, and sulphureous.” It seems to be rightly concluded that the hyacinhine hue answers to the “smoke” further on in the verse. “The expression, ‘of jacinth,’ applied to the breastplate, is descriptive simply of a hyacinthine, i.e. dark-purple colour” (Smith’s ‘Dictionary of the Bible’). The description intensifies the terrible nature of the vision, and it is doubtful whether these details should be pressed to a particular interpretation. If they bear any meaning at all, they seem to point to the doom in wait for the wicked, whose portion is fire and brimstone (cf. Psa 11:6). And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone; proceedeth fire, etc. (Revised Version). Here, as in the preceding clause, the intention is evidently to enhance the terrible appearance of the vision. The “smoke” corresponds to the hyacinth hue, mentioned in the previous part of the verse (vide supra). The horses, in accordance with a well-known poetic figure, are said to breathe out “fire and smoke.” Brimstone is mentioned in addition, in order to set forth plainly the fact that their acts are directed against the wicked (cf. Gen 19:24; Job 18:15; Psa 11:6; Eze 38:23; Isa 30:33; Luk 17:29). Lions’ teeth are mentioned in the description of tire locusts, with the same purpose (Rev 9:9). It is difficult to see why Alford should imagine that the fire, smoke, and brimstone proceed separately from different divisions of the host: it was not so in the case of the breastplates.
Rev 9:18
By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths; by these three plagues (as in Revised Version)… the brimstone, which proceeded. Although the last clause technically is attached to “brimstone” only, yet the description applies to all three of the things mentioned. “The third part” again a large, but not the largest, part of mankind (see on Rev 8:7). The locusts were forbidden to kill (Rev 9:5); these horsemen are permitted to do so. Each judgment of the trumpet visions appears t) increase in severity. We may here see portrayed the terrible and destructive character of the results of sin. Such results are experienced to the full by the third part of men, the large class who” repent not of their murders, nor of their sorceries,” etc. (Rev 9:21).
Rev 9:19
For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for the power ,f the horses is, etc. Another example of disagreement between Erasmus and all the Greek manuscripts (see on Rev 9:10). For their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. “Are like,” and “have heads,” in the present tense. Here (unlike Rev 9:10) the tails are like serpents themselves. The image is not uncommon among the ancients. We may paraphrase the passage thus: “Their power is for the most part in their mouth; but also, to some extent, in their tails; for their tails are like serpents,” etc. An endless variety of interpretations have been given to these details, which are probably not intended to bear any distinct signification. Bengel refers to a species of serpent in which the head and tail were so alike as to be with difficulty distinguished; which he thinks may have suggested the image. Many apply it (though in different ways) to the Turkish horse, who fight as they retreat, etc.
Rev 9:20
And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues; the rest of mankind (Revised Version). That is, the two thirds (Rev 9:18). Some understand “these plagues” to refer to the first six trumpets. It may be so, but it seems more correct to limit it to the sixth, as the same phrase, which occurs in Rev 9:18, must be so limited. Mankind must be taken to mean the worldly only. Of the ungodly, some are killed (the third part), the rest yet do not repent. The vision is not concerned with the fate of the righteous. Yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. “The works of their hands” refers to idolatry, as shown by the succeeding words. This verse begins to prepare us for the seventh judgment. Men will not repent; therefore the last final judgment becomes necessary. The absurdity of idolatrous worship is frequently thus set forth by Old Testament writers (cf. Psa 115:4; Psa 135:15; Isa 2:8; Eze 22:1, Eze 22:4; Hos 13:2). See also the description in Dan 5:23 which seems to have suggested the wording of this part of the vision. It has been well remarked that in this verse mention is made of sins against God; in the following verse man’s sins against his neighbours are detailed.
Rev 9:21
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Sorceries; magic, witchcraft, and enchantments; e.g. the magic of the Egyptian magicians (Exo 7:22). Sorcery is mentioned in Gal 5:20 (where it is described as “witchcraft”) in connection with idolatry. Fornication (cf. Bengel, “Other crimes are perpetrated by men at intervals; there is one continual fornication within those who are wanting in purity of heart “).
HOMILETICS
See homiletic section, Rev 8:1-13.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 9:20
Man’s stubborn will.
“And the rest yet repented not.” The fatal obstinacy of wicked men, the dreadful hardness of the human heart, sin’s searing of the susceptibilities of the soul,such is the mournful fact that the text, repeated again in the next verse, as if to summon our special attention, vividly reveals. Implied or stated in it are such truths as these
I. ALL MEN NEED REPENTANCE. The judgment fell only on some, but all deserved it; all had sinned, and all should have repented. When we see God’s judgment falling on any one, our reflection should be not, “How evil he must have been!” but “How merciful of God to spare me!”
II. GOD PLEADS WITH MEN TO BRING THEM TO REPENTANCE. These judgments of which we read are not God’s primary dealings with men. He does not begin in this manner. There has been much that has preceded this. God has pleaded with men by his Spirit in their consciences. By his goodness, giving them all manner of providential mercies. Then, more especially by his Word, delivered by revelation, through his messengers, etc. And in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, in the message of the gospel. Men always knew that their deeds were evil; the sense of sin was everywhere; and they knew that God would have them repent. And there were some who did, and therefore held aloof from the abominations of the rest. And since Christ has come the Divine pleadings have been more than ever heard.
III. BUT THESE MILDER METHODS OFTEN FAIL. All history shows this, as well as the Bible, and our own experience confirms it. See our Saviour weeping over Jerusalem. That sorrow had been known before, and has been since.
IV. STERNER METHODS ARE THEN TRIED. In these Apocalyptic visions we have portrayed over and over again these more awful means which God employs to bring men to repentance. In Israel’s history how often they were tried! and they often succeeded, as, blessed be God, they often succeed now. This is their purpose.
V. BUT EVEN THESE, AT TIMES, AND FOR LONG TIME, FAIL. This is the declaration of our text (cf. also Jer 5:3; Jer 8:6; Rom 2:4, Rom 2:5). So was it with Pharaoh, when the plagues one after another, which in many respects resembled these trumpet plagues, came upon him. The invariable effects of the Divine law, which ordains that sin persisted in becomes fixed habit which cannot be shaken off, and of which, therefore, the writer of the Book of Exodus says, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart; “this Divine law was illustrated in him. So again and again in Israel’s history, “until the wrath of the Lord arose against them, and there was no remedy.” In men, too, like that wicked King Amon, of whom it is said, “But Amon sinned more and more.” True, the psalmist says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy Word.” But though it might have been true of him, it is as often as not, if not more often, true that men go astray after affliction just as they did before. “Though thou bray a fool in a mortar, yet will not his folly depart from him.” So, with equal, if not greater truth, does the proverb assert that opposite and most melancholy fact of which the Bible, all life, and our text here say so much. “God’s visitations pass lightly over souls asleep in sin. Which of us has not lived through a thousand of them, and never seen, never noticed, never given heed to, one? Death, sudden death, coming into our street, or into our home,which of us has not hardened his heart again, after a very brief pause, against lessons which this ought to teach, and sinned on as before? Oh the desperate hardness of the human heart! What can melt it save omnipotent grace?”
VI. WHAT IS THE REASON OF THIS? The answer is manifold, as, for example:
1. Those that are spared argue from that fact that they need not repent. The Jews thought that those on whom the tower of Siloam fell must indeed have been sinners. Our Lord told them that was not the case, and, said he, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” And no doubt “the rest of mankind” told of in our text congratulated themselves, not only that they were spared, but that they did not deserve what had befallen the others. There was, therefore, no need for them to repentso would they argue, as do and have done their successors ever since.
2. Sin deadens belief in God. It makes men practical atheists. God, therefore, is not recognized in aught that occurs.
3. God’s judgments are put down to secondary causes. Everything can be explained; they know how and why things fell out as they did. They look not beyond or above those causes which are close at hand and can be readily understood. Hence their own sin and God’s displeasure thereat, being far too abstract and remote factors, are not even considered.
4. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” This is true in a sense the apostle never meant. Let the heart love sin, as it is so prone to do, and that love will utterly cast out the fear of God. And some sins, especially, will do this; those that are named in these verses will. Idolatry, which lulls the conscience whilst it gives free licence to sin. Gain gotten in ungodly ways”thefts,” as they are here called. Who does not know how the petty pilferer develops into the practised thief, embezzler, robber, and forger, until he has graduated in all such villainy? Lust“fornications,” as it is here termed. Let those who have known its hell and have told its dark dread secrets be believed, when they affirm that, indulged, it becomes ungovernable. Against it the fear of God has no chance. Cruelty“murders” is the name given it here; that, too, grows with deadly speed and three. The Herods, Neros, and Henry the Eighths, Duke Alvas, and the entire spawn of the Inquisition,they were once tender, humane, gentle hearted. But, like the tiger that has tasted blood, it will have blood whenever it can. And:
5. The law of habit. We spoke of this just now. Character ever tends to become permanent. “He that is holy” to be “holy still”blessed be God for this!but “he that is unrighteous, he that is filthy,” to be “unrighteous,” to be “filthy still.” You may bend the sapling, but not the tree.
VII. HOW INTENSELY SERIOUS ARE THE TEACHINGS OF THIS FACT! Is it true that, though God sends judgment after judgment upon men, they will yet not repent? Then:
1. More judgments and worse will come. Assuredly it will be so. We cannot imagine God allowing himself to be for ever baffled by the unruly wills and affections of sinful men. “Our God is a consuming fire;” and until the dross be separated the fire will burn on. How awful, therefore, is the prospect for ungodly and impenitent men!
2. How we need to watch and pray lest we be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin! Ah, what fools they are, “who make a mock at sin;” who dally with it, count it a trifle! Better play with vipers and scorpions.
3. What imperative need there is of the power of the Holy Spirit! The disciples were in despair about their work. However should such as they persuade and convert men? The Lord promises to send the Holy Spirit, and “when he is come he shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.” The baptism of the Holy Ghostthat is the need of the Church if she is ever to win the world for Christ.
4. Surrender to Christ, prompt, complete, abiding, that he, according to his Name, may save us from our sins,this assuredly is our bounden duty, our true wisdom, because our sure safeguard, and our only one.S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Rev 9:1-6
The evil effect of degeneracy: the fallen star.
Homiletic expositions aim to avoid as tar as possible the topics of controversy. Yet must they be definite in their view of the interpretation of the words of Holy Scripture. Their own sphere is the moral and practical. They speak with no authority in the department of exposition. The view taken of this figure does not confine its reference to any individual person; although some individuals have gained a special notoriety. Many who have occupied the place of “stars,” which are “the angels of the Churches,” have fallen from their place and ceased to be illuminating powers, and their degeneracy has been the occasion of a temporary triumph of evil in one form or other. These have let loose the spawn of hell. Here the sad picture is presented of the ill effects of such degeneracy. It may be moral or intellectual descent; although the alliance with evil would seem rather to confine it to a departure from goodness and righteousness. A mere mental aberration not equally destructive. The great power of evil is found in that unfaithfulness to truth which issues in degeneracy of manners and life. The evil of such degeneracy is
I. WIDESPREAD. From the position and influence of him who has been as a leader and guide of others. His life known, his influence great, his example contagious. Men follow leaders; and the welfare of the world is now advanced, now retarded, by the fidelity or unfaithfulness of them who are charged with high trust and responsibility.
II. DESTRUCTIVELY INJURIOUS. In proportion to the influence which any one wields is his power for good or evil. If one falls from a high position, he drags down others. The angel of light, become an agent of evil, opens the bottomless pit. He brings the utmost evil upon men such “as have not the seal of God upon their foreheads.”
III. BITTERLY AFFLICTIVE. The injury caused is great in the social degeneracy, in the weakening of moral principle. A pillar of the house trembles, all becomes less secure. But the painfulness is great:
1. To him who falls.
2. To them whom he drags down with him.
3. To them whose sympathies being only with goodness are afflicted by anything that tends to degeneracy of manners, to feebleness of faith, or to the lowering of the tone and felicity of human life.
4. To the widespread, outlying multitudes, amongst whom the spread of goodness is retarded by every act of unfaithfulness and every instance of degeneracy and defection.R.G.
Rev 9:7-11
The triumph of evil through unfaithfulness.
Satanic power is encouraged by human unfaithfulness. The utmost power of evil is let loose, and with destructive energy works only evil, and the direst evil, amongst the children of men. The evil character of the effects of unfaithfulness is represented by figures which suggest the greatest painfulness, and which are repulsive in the extreme. The sun and the air are darkened by “smoke” issuing from the opened “pit of the abyss”the smoke “as of a great furnace.” The power of “locusts” and “scorpions of the earth” reveals the most painful and repulsive effects, for “their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man.” So great is this that men “seek death,” though unavailingly. They are as “horses prepared for war,” crowned with kingly power, having faces as of men, and hair as of women, and teeth “as the teeth of lions,” covered are they with “breastplates of iron,” and the sound of their wings as “the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to war;” they have “tails like unto scorpions, and stings,” and in these is “their power to hurt men.” The whole are leagued together under the leadership of “the angel of the abyss,” whose name “in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, i.e. Destroyer.” Thus is set forth the evil, repulsive, and deadly power of those forces which are called into play by unfaithfulness and degeneracy. One falls, but he lets loose many forces of evil, which he, once having called into activity, cannot arrest. It is a bitter woe to the earth, such as it has suffered many, many times in the great history. The lesson is for all times; for in many times the sad scene has been enacted. This section of the “revelation” declares to us
I. THAT IN THE DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH AND GOODNESS ERROR AND EVIL BECOME PREVALENT. Every false doctrine is a cloud of darkness upon the path of the human life.
II. IN THE DIMINUTION OF THE HEAVENLY THE HELLISH POWERS PREVAIL. Finally, darkness shall be held back as in chains. But here it is let loose, and in the loss of the heavenly power the earthly, rather the hellish, gains ascendancy.
III. IN A DEPARTURE FROM THE PEACEFUL OBEDIENCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS THE DESTRUCTIVE AND PAINFUL EFFECTS OF SIN ARE PROVED. The ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace forsaken, there are only the hard ways of the transgressor to walk in.
IV. THE BROKEN ALLEGIANCE TO GOD ISSUES IN THE TRIUMPH OF THE DESTROYER. The authority of the Prince of peace being rejected, another king, even Apollyon, usurps his throne. So men carelessly exchange good for evil, and sell life for an empty world.R.G.
Rev 9:12-21
The inefficiency of judgments to lead all to repentance.
The voice of suffering innocence does not pass unheeded. The Lord of sabaoth is long-suffering and very merciful, even towards the disobedient and towards the enemies of the truth; but the angels of judgment and punishment, bound and restrained, must at length be loosed. Though the Lord suffereth long and is kind, yet he will avenge his own elect which cry to him day and night. We learn
I. THAT THE END OF JUDGMENT IS REPENTANCE. This is the object always kept in view by him who judgeth right. All his judgments are therefore blessings in disguise. “He doth not willingly afflict.” The cry from them who suffer wrongfully is not immediately answered in judgment upon their oppressors. He can requite his own in other ways. Yet, though judgment be stayed against an evil work, it is finally “loosed,” lest the hearts of men be set in them wholly to do evil.
II. THAT THEY WHO PLACE THEMSELVES IN OPPOSITION TO THE SERVANTS OF TRUTH EXPOSE THEMSELVES TO THE JUST AND TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS OF GOD. Even the prayers of the righteous, which are accepted before the throne, cry for vengeance. The evil workers who place themselves in antagonism to the struggling Church are met, not only by the feeble arm of “the little flock,” but by the might of him who, as a good Shepherd, defends even with his life them who are his own sheep.
III. THAT EVEN THE SEVERITIES OF JUDGMENT ARE INSUFFICIENT TO LEAD ALL TO REPENTANCE. That many are saved through the judgment is obvious to all observers. Yet is there a hardness of heart that seems to increase by the pressure of outward calamity. All do not see the Divine hand in the meted judgment; and many rise in greater rebellion by how much the strokes of that hand are severe. “The rest of mankind, which were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands.”
IV. We further learn that IT IS THROUGH DEVOTION TO EVIL THAT MEN ARE PREVENTED FROM REPENTANCE. Men harden their hearts even in the midst of Heaven’s fiery judgments. Many happily learn righteousness, and repent of their evil ways, but of some”the rest”alas! always a remnantit is to be said, “They repented not.” They are devoted to evil. They are the willing slaves of lust and vice. They are greedy to do iniquity. The fiendish spirit finds its embodiment in them, and men are as though possessed with devils. If these are to be saved, other means must be devised.R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 9:1-3
Moral evil in the universe.
“And the fifth angel sounded,” etc. We take these verses to illustrate moral evil in the universe. Moral evil is a “pit.” A pit is a scene of confinement and darkness. Moral evil, or sin, wherever it exists in the spirit, imprisons the faculties and blinds the vision. Socrates has well said, “No man is a free man who has a vice for his master.” All corrupt souls are reserved in chains of darkness. Sin is slavery, sin is midnight. In relation to moral evil as a “pit,” four things are suggested.
I. IT IS EXPOSABLE. “The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” Moral evil, in its incipient state, so stupefies the faculties and blinds the conscience that the subject only becomes aware of it by the advent of a messenger from heaven; an angel from heaven uncovers it, makes it bare to the soul. How do the savages, how do the millions whose souls are buried in sensuality, become conscious of sin? Only by a special message from heaven. What says Paul? “I was alive without the Law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” That is, Paul fancied he was alivethat is, all rightuntil the Divine message came. Every genuine gospel minister may be said to be a star from heaven with the “key of the bottomless pit,” that key with which he opens it and exposes it to the consciences of his hearers. Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, was such an angel; he uncovered the pit of moral evil within his hearers, and they exclaimed, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
II. IT IS FATHOMLESS. “Bottomless pit.” It is an abyss without a bottom. Moral evil is fathomless.
1. Who can fathom its origin? We can account for sin in this world on two principles.
(1) On the principle of internal tendencies. The human being, from the very commencement of its existence, seems to have a disposition to go wrong.
(2) On the ground of external influences. He comes into a world where all human beings are more or less minted with sin; the moral atmosphere which he breathes is more or less corrupt. But in the case of the first sinner neither of these conditions existed; all his propensities were toward the right, and all external influences tended toward the right.
2. Who can fathom its issues? What are its bearings, ramifications, ultimate results? Problems these which the highest created intellect could, perhaps, never solve. Moral evil is, indeed, a “bottomless pit.”
III. IT IS BURNING. “A great furnace.” Sin, or moral evil, is fire; like all fire it exists in two states, latent and active. Where it becomes active it is consuming and transmuting; it consumes the good and transmutes its embers into evil, and in all it inflicts agony on the soulthe agony of moral regrets for the past, and terrible forebodings for the future. Every sinner has a “furnace” within him, a furnace that must break forth into awful activity sooner or later.
IV. IT IS OBSCURING. “A smoke and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” How great the obscuration of moral evil! It clouds all the moral stars of truth in the soul, and mantles the moral heavens in gloom.
1. How benighted men are on the eternal question of right! The foundations and laws of moral obligation are, in the daily course of human action, buried in darkness.
2. How blinded men are to the eternal conditions of well being! Men look for happiness without instead of within; in the senses, not in the soul; in matter, not in mind; in the creature, not in the Creator. Thus, in truth, our moral heavens are starless and our path is a wilderness. We walk in darkness and have no light.
V. IT IS ALARMING. “And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power.” It is here represented that from the fathomless abyss, burning and smoking, there issued a host of scorpion-locusts resembling war horses, with crowns like gold, with the face of men, the hair of women, the teeth of lions, having breastplates as of iron, and the sound of their wings like the sound of chariots and of horses charging to battle. In Oriental lands and distant ages nothing was regarded with greater horror than an army of locusts; their numbers darkened the heavens, their wings rattled as thunder, and their mission was to devour What hellish squadrons, to terrify and destroy the soul, issue from the fathomless abyss of moral evil! Terrible armies come in the memories of the past and. in the apprehensions of the mysterious future.
CONCLUSION. Do not askWhere is hell? Place it not in some underground region, or in some burning planets far away; the fathomless, burning, and tormenting pit is in the soul of every morally unrenewed man. Thank God, there are remedial means on this earth for the quenching of its fires, and the annihilation of all the squadrons of tormentors it sends forth.D.T.
Rev 9:6
The extremity of anguish.
“And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” We take these words as a picture of the extremest anguish. Here we have
I. A STATE OF MISERY IN WHICH DEATH IS SOUGHT.
1. Death, is universally regarded amongst men as the greatest evil. It is the “king of terrors.” It gives terror to everything terrible in the world. The ravenous beast, the furious storm, the destructive pestilence, the engulfing earthquake, are only terrible because death is terrible.
2. The relief which men generally seek in this world in their sufferings is from death. The mariner will forsake his ship with valuable cargo, the king will resign his kingdom, the wounded will suffer the amputation of every limb, if thought needful, to avoid death. Yet here we have a state of being where death is sought as a relief.
II. A STATE OF MISERY IN WHICH DEATH IS SOUGHT AS A RELIEF IN VAIN, “And death shall flee from them.” It is miserable to seek relief in the most deeply felt evil, but to seek it in such an evil in vain adds wondrously to the misery of the case. Fatigue, disappointment, the consciousness of lost energy, add to the anguish. Earth runs from death, hell runs after it and runs in vain. In conclusion, I infer:
1. That the fact that men are exposed to such a state of being implies that some sad catastrophe has befallen our nature. Could Infinite Goodness have created beings designed and fitted by their nature for such a state? Nay; deep within us has the Great One planted the love of life, and to seek death is to go against our nature. Sin explains it.
2. That there is something in the universe to be dreaded by man more than death, and this is sin. Death, though an evil, is not to be compared to sin. Sin, though robed in beauty and adorned with a thousand attractions, is the evil of evils.
3. That Christianity should be hailed as the only means to deliver us from this extremity of anguish. It destroys sin, it “condemns sin in the flesh.” – D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 9:1. I saw a star fall from heaven Stars, in the language of prophesy, signify angels; see ch. Rev 1:20. The angels of the heavenly host, as well as the angels or bishops of the churches, seem to be called stars in scripture; as when at the creation, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, Job 38:7 . In like manner, when the abyss or bottomless pit is shut up, it is represented in this prophesy, as done by an angel coming from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit. These expressions are so nearly the same, as well as upon the same subject, that they may be well taken in the same sense, and so used to explain each other. The expression, then, a star is fallen from heaven, or an angel come down from heaven, with a key to open the bottomless pit, seems naturally to mean the permission of the divine Providence for these evil and calamitous events, which are described to follow from opening the bottomless pit, which could not have happened but by the permission of the divine Providence, and according to the wise and holy orders of the divine government. For the providence of God could as surely have prevented the temptations of Satan, and the powers of darkness, as if Satan and his angels had been fast locked up and secured in a safe prison; so that he sends an angel, his messenger, with the key of the bottomless pit, to open the prison, and permit them to go out;to teach, that they can only act so far as they have leave and permission, and can always be restrained and shut up again at the good pleasure of the supreme Governor of the world. The abyss, or bottomless pit, is explained in this prophesy itself to be that place where the devil and Satan are shut up, that they should not deceive the nations: ch. Rev 20:1-3. The abyss seems also to be used in the same sense, when the devils besought Christ that he would not command them to go out into the deep; : and Grotius observes, that this abyss is the same with what St. Peter calls hell, or Tartarus, 2Pe 2:4 . Now this prison of Satan and of his angels bya righteous judgment of God is permitted to be opened for the just punishment of apostate churches, who would not repent of their evil works. We may therefore say, with the Bishop of Meaux, “Behold, something more terrible than we have hitherto seen; hell opens, and the devil appears, followed by an army of a stranger figure than St. John has any where else described:” And we may observe from others, that this great temptation of the faithful was to be with the united force of false doctrine and persecution. Hell, in this sense, does not open of itself; it is always some false teacher that opens it; by which means Satan is loosed, and deceives the nations. Instead of the bottomless pit, some render it the well of the abyss, or bottomless gulph. Mahomet is the star, and the Saracens the locusts.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 9:1 . . . . . Eichh. is incorrect in explaining the part. pf. as in form and meaning equivalent to . The star had already fallen from heaven to earth, and had become just as John saw it; the falling, also, is in no way a spontaneous descent, possibly at God’s command for a definite purpose, [2519] but the expression presupposes that the star was thrown down. [2520] But the “star” is neither to be regarded as changed into a human form, [2521] nor to be understood as a purely figurative designation of an angel, [2522] but the idea of a star mingles with that of an angel, as in the O. T. view of the [2523] . The star fallen from heaven appears, consequently, not as a good, [2524] but as a bad, angel, [2525] who must serve only to bring a plague of an infernal character upon the godless: , . . . This would, of course, have its justification if the star were a heavenly servant; but in connection with the , the idea is significant that this infernal angel was expressly appointed a place in order to bring in the plagues inflicted by God otherwise than in Rev 20:1 , where the angel “coming down” from heaven has in his hand the key of the abyss. [2526]
. The (viz., ), i.e., bottomless, the abyss, designates like the Heb. , which the LXX. often render by [2527] the depths of the earth in the natural sense, [2528] then Sheol, Hades , i.e., the place of abode of the departed in those depths, [2529] but in the Apoc., [2530] and Luk 8:31 , the present [2531] abode of the Devil and his angels. From this , a (LXX. for , “well,” Gen 21:30 ; Gen 26:15 ; cf. Joh 4:11 ), regarded as proceeding and discharging over the surface of the earth, appears like a shaft [2532] of some kind, possibly after the manner of wells or cisterns, to be closed; and hence the angel receives a key, in order, by descending into the deep, to open the shaft of the well, and thus to let out the smoke proceeding from the (Rev 9:2 ). [See Note LVI., p. 292.]
[2519] Cf. Rev 20:1 .
[2520] Rev 6:13 . Cf. Luk 10:18 ; Isa 14:12 .
[2521] Vitr. Cf. Hengstenb.
[2522] “An angel imitating a star in bright light and splendor.”
[2523] Cf. Psa 103:21 ; Jer 33:22 ; Job 38:7 . Ewald, who compares Rev 18:16 , Rev 21:1-6 , in addition to Enoch, 84 sqq., 139:32.
[2524] Beng., De Wette.
[2525] Beda, who, however, like many of the old interpreters, understands it directly of the Devil; Volkm.
[2526] Against Ew., etc.
[2527] Also in the plural; Psa 71:21 ; Psa 107:26 .
[2528] Gen 1:2 ; Gen 7:11 ; Deu 8:7 .
[2529] Psa 71:21 ; Psa 107:26 ; Rom 10:7 .
[2530] Rev 9:11 ; Rev 20:1 ; Rev 20:3 . Cf. Rev 11:7 ; Rev 17:8 .
[2531] Cf., on the other hand, Rev 20:10 .
[2532] The idea is otherwise in Psa 55:23 , according to the Heb., as well as the LXX.
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
LVI. Rev 9:1 .
Cf. Gebhardt: “These expressions are based upon rabbinical representations, originating from such O. T. statements as Psa 81:10 ; Psa 107:26 ; Isa 14:15 (cf. Isa 5:14 ; Isa 30:33 ), according to which there is under the earth an abyss or bottomless pit, with a lake or sea in which brimstone and fire seethe together. From this abyss goes a channel with a mouth, after the manner of a cistern, a narrow passage, as from a scarcely visible spring, to the surface of the earth. This pit, like an ordinary cistern, can be opened and closed, or sealed. The abyss in its signification is a perfect antithesis to heaven. The latter is an invisible, but real, ideal world, which one day with the new heavens and the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, will become a visible reality. So also the former is the invisible, but real, world of the anti-ideal and the ungodly, which will also become a visible (cf. ch. Rev 14:10 ) reality in the lake of fire and brimstone, with its torment and its smoke which ascends for ever and ever; just as the new Jerusalem is now in heaven, so the lake of fire and brimstone is now in the abyss.” Cremer: “It is just this antithesis to heaven that makes a synonym for , wherein that remoteness from heaven which is distinctive of Hades finds full expression. In Rev 9:1-2 , (Rev 20:1 ) appears as the receptacle and prison of destructive powers, over which reigns (Rev 9:11 ); cf. the petition of the demons (Luk 8:31 ). In Rev 17:8 ; Rev 11:7 , is said of the beast (Rev 13:18 ).”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rev 9:1-12 . The trumpet of the fifth angel brings the first woe, [2518] viz., locusts from hell as a plague upon men not sealed (Rev 9:4 ; cf. Rev 7:1 sqq.).
[2518] Cf. Rev 8:13 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rev 9:1
FIFTH TRUMPET, OR THE FIRST WOE1
Rev 9:1. I saw a star fallen from the Heaven to the Earth.Its fall is done; it has fallen hither from Heaven to judgment, Luk 10:18; Isa 14:12. A startherefore not an Angel (Eichhorn); either good (Bengel) or bad (Dsterdieck); certainly not the devil (Bede, against which view Rev 12:9 militates). According to Dsterdieck, the ideas of star and Angel are confluent (Psa 103:21; Jer 33:22). Here, however, where distinct symbols or conceptions are treated of, the two forms must be kept separate. If we suppose the locusts to be phantasies originating in psychical gloom, we may take the star, which has fallen from Heaven, to be repentance without faith, or the sorrow of this worldso-called Cain or Judas repentanceor the remorse and penance of religious self-torment, whether clothed in a more ancient and mediaeval or a more modern form. Comp. Joh 13:30; 1Jn 3:21.
To him was given, etc.It is the key of the pit of the Abyss, and is given him only after his fall. Repentance was in Heaven at first, but, through want of submission, fell to Earth, a fallen star, receiving now the melancholy ability to open the pit of the Abyss, the demonic domain of the lower realm of the dead. On the Abyss, comp. the Lexicons. The pit, , denotes the mouth of the Abyss; the mouth being significant of the close connection and readily opened communication between human psychical life and the demonic domain.
Different interpretations of the star see in De Wette, p. 102:(Lyra): Valens; (Grotius): Eleazar; (Herder): Menahem, the son of Judas. The Abyss: the fortress Masada. Abaddon: Simon, the son of Gorion. A singular interpretation is given by Alcasar: the Mosaic Law.
According to Hengstenberg, the star is an ideal person, a line of rulers, the last and grandest form being Napoleon. Sander: Mohammed and his Islam. Grtner: Arius. The Kreuzritter: The hierarch; he regards the ascending smoke as enthusiasm and fanaticism.
[Barnes (on Rev 8:10): A star is a natural emblem of a prince, of a ruler, of one distinguished by rank or by talent. See Num 24:17 and Isa 14:12. A star falling from Heaven would be a natural symbol of one who had left a higher station, or of one whose character and course would be like a meteor shooting through the sky. And in loc.: This denotes a leader, a military chieftain, a warrior. In the fulfillment of this, we look for the appearance of some mighty prince and warrior, to whom is given power, as it were, to open the bottomless pit, and to summon forth its legions.
[Alford: The reader will at once think on Isa 14:12 : How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! And on Luk 10:18 : I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven. And doubtless as the personal import of the star is made clear in the following words, such is the reference here. We may also notice that this expression forms a connecting link to another place, Rev 12:9, in this Book, where Satan is represented as cast out of Heaven to the Earth. It is hardly possible, with Andr. Ribera, Bengel and De W., to understand a good Angel by this fallen star. Elliott agrees with Alford in regarding him as Satan, whom he looks upon as the inspirer of Mohammed. (For other views see on pp. 201 sq.)E. R. C.]
Rev 9:2. And he opened the pit of the abyss.The smoke. The region of the evil conscience in the realm of the dead is a region of self-burning, like Gehenna, whence the smoke of torment ascends. The Seer knows of a retroaction of the gloomy feelings of this region on the Earth, the more since this region is even to be found in the back-ground of an unfree human soul-life in this world. Hence there results a great darkening of the sun and air.
Rev 9:3. Locusts.Old Testament types, Exo 10:12-15; Joel 1, 2. In antithesis to natural locusts, which desolate vegetation, these locusts leave unharmed all green things, attacking solely those men who have not the seal of God.
The scorpions of the earth.(Of the earth; De Wette: in antithesis to the abyss.) See the article Scorpion in Winer, particularly the distinction between the Oriental and the Italian species.
Interpretation of the locusts: Longobards, Vandals, Goths, Persians, Mohammedans, Jewish zealots. Bede and others: The raging of heretics. The Pope and the monks; or, Luther and the Protestants (ancient Protestant expositionin opposition to Bellarmin and others), etc. Hengstenberg: Martial hosts, see Dsterdieck, p. 328. He who, like Hebert (Die zweite sichtbare Zukunft Christi, Erlangen, 1850), looks for the literal fulfillment of all these visions, expecting, for instance, the actual appearance of the locusts described in Rev 9:1 sqq.,2 certainly does more justice to the text than any allegorist; by reason of a mechanical conception of inspiration and prophecy, however, he fails to recognize the distinction betwixt real prophetic matter and poetic forms (Dsterdieck). Remarkable words, if we consider that by allegorists are understood such as regard the Apocalypse as a Book of allegoric figurative forms.
Rev 9:5. Not kill them, but that they shall be tormented [Lange: torment them].This trait is characteristic; it runs through Rev 9:6 : They shall seek death and not find it. In itself, this torment is not spiritual death as yet; it is, however, so great as to make men weary of life.
Five months.The reference of the five months to the popular idea that locusts are wont to appear during the five months from May onward (Dsterdieck, p. 323 [Alford]), does not preclude the symbolical significancy of the number. Here, too, manifold guesses have been hazarded. See De Wette, p. 102; Dsterdieck, p. 321; Ebrard, p. 294; Sander, p. 70. Vitringa thought he had found the key to the mystery in the following formula: Each day of each month=one year. Bengel defined the month as 15 5/6 5/3 years. Hengstenberg saw in the number 5, as the number of incompleteness, the sign of half. Thus: A long time, but not the longest.
Rev 9:6. Seek death.A terrible counterpart to the of the Apostle, springing from the holiest hope (Dsterd.).
Rev 9:7-10. Like horses.The likening of the locusts to horses see likewise in Joel 1, 2
As crowns.Ewald: The antenn. Dsterdieck and others: A jagged elevation in the middle of the thorax (?). Hengstenberg: The sovereign people. We must not overlook the fact, that the figures are modelled from the idea, as is often the case in the Gospel parables.
Their faces as the faces of men.Hengstenberg cuts the knot: Virtually they really were the faces of men. Undoubtedly if they were troops of cavalry!
Rev 9:8. Hair as the hair of women.Hengstenberg: Suffering their hair to grow at will, uncut and untended. Ebrard: Mild and gentle womanly faces. By this he understands, not inaptly, those women whom, as history shows us, the spirits of the abyss employ as tools to decoy many fools. Yet the text does not speak of womens faces.
As the teeth of lions.To terrifynot to bite with. Hence the interpretation of Calov. and others is wrong: The false doctrines and blasphemies with which heretics have rent the orthodox Church. Dsterdieck thinks their desolating voracity is symbolized; this quality, however, should not be portrayed here.
Rev 9:9. As iron breastplates.Their thoraxes.
The sound of their wings.Comp. Joe 2:5.
Rev 9:10. Tails like scorpions.Does this mean that their tails themselves are like scorpions (Bengel and others); or that they, like scorpions, have tails (Dsterdieck)? The analogy of Rev 9:19 seems to favor the former supposition. But as we must adhere to the general idea of the locusts, the latter view is the more probable.
Rev 9:11. And they have a king over them.According to Hengstenberg, this king is identical with the fallen star. And certainly it is impossible not to perceive a close affinity between them. If, however, we regard the fallen star, a faithless remorse and penitential self-torment, as the beginning of the plague of locusts, their king surely must be regarded as its consummationthe genius of absolute self-torment. This symbolical king must likewise be distinguished from Satan, for whom Grotius and others take him. The comment: An angel who is, in a peculiar manner, the head of the Abyss (Bengel and others) throws no light on the subject.
Abaddon.See the Lexicons, article . It occupies in the Old Testament the same relation to Sheol as in the writings of the Rabbins to Hell. [See Excursus on Hades, p. 364.E. R. C.]
Apollyon.With reference to . John had himself beheld the truest type of the whole locust plague in the development of Judas, in reference to whom it must be said that even suicide is a seeking of death and not finding it. [See Excursus on Hades.E. R. C.]
Rev 9:12. Behold, there come.On the singular, , see Dsterdieck. De Wette reads , with Cod. B. and others. The following two woes are, according to the arrangement of the Seer, intensively as well as extensively greater. The climax, intensively viewed, may be stated as follows: Penitential self-torment; the spiritual death of heresy; consummate apostasy. Extensively defined: An infliction of torment upon such men as have not the seal of God; an infliction of death upon the third part of men; and, moreover, double hurtfulness; an apparent general fall into destruction by the reception of the mark of the Beast. See Rev 14:9-11.
Rev 9:13 sqq.
SIXTH TRUMPET, OR THE SECOND WOE3
In consequence of the omission of the utterances of the seven Thunders, Revelation 10, the esoteric sketch of the cycle in question is incorporated in the sixth Trumpet. And this makes it possible to regard the sixth Trumpet as a double Trumpet. It is half the Trumpet of heresies; half the Trumpet of beginning apostasy. Hence the second woe is continued through Revelation 10 to Rev 11:14. Hence, also, it results that the second woe is in two stages. At the end of the first stage, men do not repent of the works of their hands, Rev 9:20; at the end of the second stage, there is at least a repentance of fear, ch, Rev 11:13. Still it must be observed that the section consisting of chs. 10 and 11 to Rev 9:14 is representative of an entirely new cyclea cycle connected with the preceding section only from Rev 11:7. The connection between the two consists in the fact, that in Revelation 9 we have to do with the spiritual end of the course of the world; in Rev 11:7 sqq., with the spiritual beginning of the end of the world. Thus at the revelation of the consummate offence, the precursory offences form themselves into a unit. See 2Th 2:7-8.
Rev 9:13. A voice from the four horns.Not from God, behind the altar. The four horns of the altar denote the complete, all-sided protective power of the altar. From the same altar on which the prayers of the saints were perfected (Rev 8:3-5), the signal that they have been heard goes forth. The earth is now, in its sealed ones, prepared by voices and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake of the spiritual life; the greatest temptations may, therefore, now be let loose. The distinction between these new and great temptations and the foregoing ones is at the same time expressed. That which the voice from the horns of the altar says, is, of course, to be traced back to Divine decision. According to Dsterdieck, the misapplication of the horns to the four Gospels (Zeger and others) may have even occasioned the readingfour horns. Nevertheless, four, as the number of completeness, is not devoid of significance in a correct apprehension of the passage. Other interpretations of the four horns see in Dsterdieck, p. 332. How important it is that the trials should not break out before their set time, appears from the fact, that the Angel of the sixth Trumpet may loose the four bound Angels only upon a higher order. The same truth is demonstrated by the cooperation of the sixth Angel. Offences must come.
[The following, abridged from Elliott (Vol. I., pp. 481 sqq.), is worthy of consideration: When a voice of command issued from the Throne, or some divinely commissioned Angel, it was an intimation that it originated from God; but when proceeding from some other local source, it was indicated that the locality whence the voice proceeded was one associated with sin to be punished (comp. Gen 4:10; Gen 31:38; Isa 66:6; Hab 2:11; Jam 5:4). So here, a cry commissioning judgment from the mystic incense Altar indicates that that Altar had been a scene of special sin. But this explanation is only partial. It would seem as if guilt had been contracted in respect of some ritual in which the horns of the Altar were concerned. There were three such services in the Mosaic ritual. The first two were the occasional atoning services for sins of ignorance; the third that of the Annual Atonement. In all these cases, some of the blood of the sacrifice was put on the horns of the Altar (comp. Exo 30:10; Lev 4:3-7; Lev 4:13-18; Lev 16:1-18). It was thus that Hezekiah made atonement for Israel after its apostasy under Ahaz (see 2Ch 29:20-24). This rite of Atonement having been performed, the promised reconciliation with God followed. From the Temple, and Altar, and each blood bedewed horn of the altar, a voice, as it were, went forth, not of judgment, but of mercy; instead of summoning destroying armies against Judah from the Euphrates, it staid them (comp. 2Ch 32:21; Isa 37:33-34). Thus direct was the contrast between Israels case under Hezekiah, and that of Christendom as here figured. And now when, after the judgments of successive Trumpets, the Seer heard a voice denouncing judgment yet afresh from the four horns of the golden Altar, what could he infer but this, that in spite of the previous fearful rebukes of their apostasy, neither the priesthood nor the collective people, at least of this third of Christendom, would have repented. More particularly, as the rite had special reference to the sins connected with the incense Altar itself, it was to be inferred that those sins would be persisted in: to wit the abandonment of Christ in His character (1) of the one great propitiatory Atonement, and (2) of the one great Intercessor; and thus the sin would be graven even on the four horns of the golden Altar, and their one and common voice, or that of the intercessorial High Priest from the midst of them, would pronounce the fresh decree of judgment: Loose the four Angels to slay the third part of men.E. R. C.]
Rev 9:14. Loose the four angels.The number four being the number of the world, the four symbolical angels represent the collective spirit of the world, collective heathenism, in its infection of Christianity and transformation of Christian truths into powerful lies, 2 Thessalonians 2 These angels are, therefore, neither bad angels (Bede, Dsterdieck and others), nor good ones (Bossuet), nor destroying ones (De Wette, Ebrard), if, by such, personal beings are understood. As symbolic forms they are, beyond question, evil spiritsyet in angelic shape; as it were in the angelic shape of the one Satanic mask of an Angel of light (2Co 11:14) in four world-forms. Different interpretations of the quaternary see in Dsterdieck, p. 333.
At the great river.We doubt not that the hither bank of the great river Euphrates has an import similar to that of Babylon, yet without coinciding with Babylon. Babylon is a peculiar configuration of the spiritual river Euphrates; that river, the general basis and condition of Babylonspiritual Babylon as the sphere of historical Babylon.
Different interpretations: Parthian armies against the Romans; Roman armies against Jerusalem; Tartars, Turks (the Angels being their commanders). The Euphrates, the Tiber; Babylon, Rome (Wetstein). The Euphrates, the border of Abrahams land, or of the Roman empire.
According to Dsterdieck, the mention of the Euphrates is merely schematical [schematisch], as the region whence plagues usually came in the Old Testamentthe Assyrians, for instance. Insignificant enough!
Ebrard: Almost all ancient Protestant exegetes discover in this passage a prediction of Mohammedanism. Grotius, Wetstein, Herder, Eichhorn and others think it prophetic of the army of Titus, which destroyed Jerusalem. De Wette, with Zllig and Ewald, occupies the ground of fancy.
In opposition to these historical conceptions, a just reference has been made to the supernaturalness of the martial hosts portrayed. Dsterdieck will not listen to any allegorical apprehension of this supernaturalness, and so, according to him, these armies are still more incomprehensible than those of the locusts. According to Grtner (p. 465), the two hundred millions of horses are two hundred millions of devilshosts of Satan, amongst whom the fanatical faith of Islam, symbolized, as he contends, by the Euphrates, originates. The horsemen are such men as are borne away by the horses.
Rev 9:15. The four angels were loosed.The resistance hitherto made by the power of truth is withdrawn.
Prepared for the hour, etc.Beautifully expressive of the certainty that these trials, like all hateful things in the world, have their appointed time, and that time only, Luk 22:53.
To slay the third part of men.Only spiritual slaying can be meant here, as is further indicated by the third part, three being the number of spirit, Rev 8:7-12.
Rev 9:16. And the number.Two hundred millions [two myriads of myriads]. He did not himself count the hosts, but heard the number through the voice of prophecy; this fact makes the number more than ever significant. It being impossible to conceive of an army of this size, Bengel has added together all the Turkish armies of more than two centuries; Hengstenberg sees an allegorical collective designation of all armies in the number; whilst Dsterdieck takes it as schematioal [schematisch]that is to say, denoting, like the army, nothing definite. But, manifestly, the number itself is allegorical. The myriad is indicative of an enormous number; the formula, myriad times myriad, denotes the infinite productivity of the figures; and, finally, the binary is significant of an antithesis, either of positive and negative offences, or of dogmatical and ethical heresies.
Rev 9:17. And thus I saw the horses,In the vision, he adds, probably because the monstrosity of their appearance necessitates a slight reminder of the fact that we have here to do with allegorical forms; an assumption which Dsterdieck, in his horror of allegory, endeavors to refute.
And those who sat on them.The horses are of prime importance (see above); their riders, however, are first described. In this place the riders bear the colors of the horses, as the horses the colors of the riders in Revelation 6.
Having breastplates.According to Bengel and others, the riders are here referred to; according to Dsterdieck and others, the words, having breastplates, refer to both horses and riders. This view is contradicted, in the first place, by the impossibility of putting the idea into execution; and, furthermore, by the antithesis between the colors of the breastplates and the destructive stuff issuing from the mouths of the horses. Many hypotheses have been founded on the colors of the breastplates, see Dsterdieck, p. 337. On see Ebrard. He conjectures that this color was dark brown; it cannot but be seen, however, that it must correspond with the color of smoke. Dsterdieck would have it that dark red is the corresponding color.
As the heads of lions.Not actual lions heads. A cruel and terrific aspect cannot be meant by this, according to Dsterdieck, because it would undoubtedly correspond better with the allegorical exposition.
It is likewise denied that there is an allegorical meaning to fire, smoke, and brimstone. The combination is, most certainly, found in volcanos in natura. The significance of these forms, however, appears from the following other passages: Rev 14:10-11; Rev 19:20; Rev 21:10. For different interpretations, see Dsterdieck. The view of Calov., who finds the three substances associated in the Koran, is particularly striking. Other singular exegeses are those of Grotius (burning torches), Hengstenberg and Bengel (the murderous spirit and wanton destructiveness of soldiers). It is worthy of note that the same materials which compose the erring spirit of this world, create the hellish torment of the next: the fire of fanaticism; self-dissolution in ambition and self-seeking; demonic irritabilityinflammability.
Rev 9:19. For the power of the horses.They are hurtful in a two-fold manner; with their mouths and with their snake-like tails. Their principal power, however, is in their mouths. On the futile application of this double figure to the fable of two-headed serpents or amphisbn (Wetstein, Beng., Herder), see Dsterd.
Other interpretations: Bengel: Reference is had to the turning of the Turkish cavalry, to the sudden detriment of their pursuers.
Hengstenberg interprets the hurtful power in the tails as significant of the insidious malignity of martial hosts; for fiery wrath, warlike terrors, and the like, pervade the visions of the fifth and sixth Trumpets particularly, according to him.
Grotius: The tails are indicative of foot soldiers [on the backs of the horses, behind the horsemen].
Sander: They dragged the teachings of their false prophet behind them.
Volkmar has even applied this passage to the kicking out of the horse behind.
The after-effects of all heresies consist in the fact that they poison morals and manners, introducing a destructive element into Christian social life especially, and thus issuing in psychical and physical evils.
Rev 9:20. And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues.The Seer distinguishes between the specific destruction of a third of mankind by the fatal horses and the general corrupt condition of the human race.
Repented not.Comp. Rev 16:11. Their conversion should show itself in a specific abstinence from religious and moral transgressions. The works of their hands, therefore, do not directly denote their whole conversation and walk, but those characteristic sins in which, of a truth, their whole walk was reflected. It has been maintained that idols are thereby indicated, as their own manufacture (Hengstenberg, Dsterdieck); but the first object stands in the way of this view. This first object is, indeed, of prime importance to the Seer. The meaning is as follows: subtile demon-worship, symbolized by subtile idol-worship offered to images of the most diverse materials; see 1Co 10:20.
Which neither see, etc.Compare the analogous passages in the Old Testament [Psa 115:4-7; Psa 135:15-17; Isa 46:7; Jer 10:5; Dan 5:23].
Rev 9:21. Of their sorceries.The poison-mingling, as the word might likewise be understood, is already contained in the preceding murders.
Ebrard: Sorcery is to be understood as seductive enchantments. The reason alleged in support of this view, viz., that true sorcery is a sin against God, whilst the present passage treats of injuries inflicted by man upon his brother man, is, however, of insufficient weight. All gross (poison-mingling) and all refined sorcery is conjoined with injury to ones neighbor. The terms are, doubtless, symbolical throughout; Gal 5:20.
It is clear that the author is thinking of heathen. De Wette (similarly Dsterdieck). Truly, the author regards all the things mentioned, even in respect of their most subtile conception, their most subtile manifestation in Christendom, as heathenish.
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE SEVENTH SEAL AND THE TRUMPETS]
By the American Editor
[The very position of the Seventh Seal, separated as it is from the others by the visions of chap. 7, should lead us to suppose that it is sui generis; and a careful consideration of its development supports and enforces this supposition. The most rational hypothesis, as it seems to the Am. Ed., is that it includes the Trumpets and the Vials; there is no strong disjunctive at the beginning of either Rev 9:2 or 6, such as would certainly have been employed had the Seal closed with Rev 9:1 or 5, and no such disjunctive occurs until Rev 18:1. This hypothesis is not only in accordance with the manifest indications of the phraseology, but it avoids the supposition that a Seal was opened without any thing being revealed under it, and it also gives unity to all that follows, and to the whole complex vision.
In the view of the writer, the opening of the first five Seals discloses the general course of history to the time of the second Adventfalse Christs, war, dearth, aggravated mortality, together with the persecutions of the saints; the opening of the sixth reveals the events immediately preceding the Advent (see pp. 178 sq.); the seventh is the Seal of Judgment (also terminating in the Advent), in which, under the Symbol of Seven Trumpets (indicating the going forth of Jehovah against the enemies of His people, comp. Num 10:9; Num 31:6; Jos 6:4-5; 2Ch 13:14; Jer 51:27, etc.), are revealed the woes to be visited upon the sinful and persecuting world-power;4 the last Trumpet develops into the seven Vials.5
That the opening of the Seal was to be delayed, is consistent with Gods dealings in judgmentsentence against an evil work, ordinarily, is not executed speedily (Ecc 8:11); and not only so, but it is intimated, (Rev 6:10-11), that there should be delay until a certain period (or number of martyrs) should be completed.
The length of this period of delay being unrevealed, the time of the beginning of the Trumpet-blasts can be determined only by the occurrence. It becomes a most interesting and important question: Have any of these blasts been given, or are they all still future ? The writer must acknowledge that, after a careful consideration of the principal views that have been presented, he has been constrained to the conclusion that the scheme of interpretation advocated by Elliott and Barnes is substantially correct (see foot-notes on pp. 205 sqq.). The points of resemblance between the symbols and the events of history, especially as portrayed by the infidel Gibbon, are too many, too striking, and too exact, to allow the thought that they are merely fortuitous. It would seem as though God had raised up the great historian just mentioned to perform a work for the Bible and the Church, which could not have been so effectually performed by a friendat times it seems as though he were writing history, purposely for the elucidation of prophecy. The language of Barnes in reference to the correspondence between the events of the sixth Seal and the history of the Turkish invasion, as described by him, may be equally applied to the correspondence between the entire series of symbols and his descriptions of all the invasions which historical interpreters have adduced as fulfilling these symbols: If Mr. Gibbon had designed to describe the conquests of the Turks as a fulfillment of the prediction, could he have done it in a style more clear and graphic than that which he has employed? If this had occurred in a Christian writer, would it not have been charged on him that he had shaped his facts to meet his notions of the meaning of the prophecy?
It must be acknowledged that there are difficulties connected with this interpretation; that there are some points where the symbol and the event adduced as realizing it, do not seem exactly to harmonize. It may be remarked that, in view of the imperfection of our records of history, and the partial ignorance of individual interpreters, even of that which is imperfectly recorded, such discrepancies are to be expectedindeed, it is matter of surprise that they are not more numerous and important. In fact, one of the influences that led the writer to adopt, in the main, the scheme of Elliott, was the exhibit of objections by Alford. Thoughts, such as the following, arose in his mind: If these are the only objections that can be adduced by an acute and learned opponent, they are tantamount to an acknowledgment that in the far more numerous and important matters presented in the scheme, there is complete resemblance between the Symbol and the event; and if this be so, either these discrepancies will disappear on a more thorough investigation of our historical records, or else they will serve to show that on the points at issue our records are themselves imperfect. The first of Alfords objections is to Elliotts interpretation of the third part (see p. 201). He remarks, It is fatal to this whole class of interpretations that it is not said: the hail, etc., were cast on a third part, but that the destruction occasioned by them extended to a third part of the earth on which they were cast. And this is most expressly declared to be so in this first case by all green grass being destroyed, not a third part of it (Rev 8:7). Now, Elliotts hypothesis concerning the third part is deduced from a most careful comparison of Rev 8:7-12 with the acknowledged facts of history. It is notorious that four successive hordes of enemies did, in the Fourth and Fifth centuries, burst upon the Roman Empire, their ravages being almost entirely confined to a third, or the Western division, thereof; and it is manifest, also, that these ravages did, as to their general features, most strikingly fulfill the requirements of the symbolizationthe first invasion being on the inland provinces, the second on the maritime portions, the third on the rivers and fountains, the fourth affecting the governors, the luminaries of that third part (see pp. 205 sq.). In view of the general agreement, which is like that of the mountain shadows on the bosom of the Lake of Geneva and the mountains themselves, it seems legitimate to conclude that the symbol shadowed forth the fact, and that the third part of the former was designed to indicate (when the event should occur) the third part of the smitten empire. If this be so, then, when it is said that hail fell upon the earth, we may understand the prophecy as meaning that it fell upon that third part; and, be it observed, there is no undue straining of language in such an interpretation, for certainly there is no disagreement between a prophecy that Great Britain shall be smitten, and the fact that Scotland receives the blow. And still further, by the third part of the trees and all the grass, we may understand the trees and the grass of that smitten third part.
Another objection is that Elliotts scheme fails to give any satisfactory explanation of the exemption of the sealed from the torment of the fifth plague (Rev 9:4). So far as Elliott is concerned, the objection is well taken. This does not imply, however, that an explanation cannot be given consistent with the scheme. Whilst historical records do give us the general information that the citizens of those countries which had been the seat of the old Roman Empire did suffer fearfully from the Saracenic invasions, they are almost totally silent as to the fate of individuals; from historical investigation it is impossible to determine who were the sealed, and what was their condition during the ravages of the Saracens. Alford writes: In the very midst of this corrupt Christianity, were at that time Gods elect scattered up and down; and it is surely too much to say every such person escaped scathless from the Turkish (Saracenic) sword. If from, other points of resemblance between the Symbol and the Saracenic woe (and there are many such which cannot be challenged, see pp. 207 sq.), the identity between the object of prophecy and that woe can be established, then it is not too much to say, especially in view of the absence of all proof to the contrary, that God did, according to His promise, preserve His sealed ones from the torment which was visited upon the unsealed.
Another objection is brought against Elliotts interpretation of the crowns like unto gold (Rev 9:7). Elliott tries to apply it to the turban; but granting some latitude to the , the , will hardly bear this. The appearance of a turban, even when ornamented with gold, is hardly golden. True; but a yellow turban (Barnes) might be described as like to gold. Certainly Alford, who interprets fiery and sulphureous (Rev 9:17) as meaning red and light-yellow, should have no objection to this explanation.
Alford again writes: I cannot forbear noticing, as we pass, the caprice of historical interpreters. On the command not to kill the men, etc., in Rev 9:5, Elliott says: i. e., not to annihilate them as a political Christian body. If then the same rule of interpretation is to hold, the present verse (6) must mean that ‘the political Christian body’ will be so sorely beset by these Mohammedan locusts, that it will desire to be annihilated, and not find any way. For surely it cannot be allowed that the killing of men should be said of their annihilation as a political body in one verse, and their desiring to die in the next, should be said of some thing totally different, and applicable to their individual misery. The propriety of the criticism of the distinguished commentator may be allowed, and yet it be shown to have no force against the historical scheme. In chs. l.lii. of the immortal history of Gibbon, we have described the rise, the conquests, and the decline of the Saracens. In the grand features of history as therein set forth, we perceive the similarity to the complex symbol of Rev 9:1-11. Prominent amongst these features is the fact that though the Mohammedan conquerors tormented, they never totally destroyed the political combinations of Christendom. In Europe they were as an invading army encampedthey were never able to take Constantinople; although they ravaged the country around Rome, they were restrained from the capture of the Imperial City; in their advance upon Christendom from the Pyrenees, they were driven back by Charles Martel. Even in Spain, where for centuries they held dominion, they never completely extinguished either the Spanish nationality or the organized Church. In Syria, where their first conquests in Christendom were made, although their sceptre has passed away to the Turks, we still find nominally Christian communities substantially as they were organized in the days of the Saracens. After the revolution of eleven centuries, the Jews and Christians of the Turkish Empire enjoy the liberty of conscience which was granted by the Arabian Caliphs All the oriental sects were included in the common benefits of toleration; the rank, the immunities, the domestic jurisdiction of the patriarchs, the bishops, and the clergy, were protected by the civil magistrate The captive churches of the East have been afflicted in every age by the avarice or bigotry of their rulers; and the ordinary and legal restraints must be offensive to the pride or the zeal of the Christians [Gibbon, Rev 51.). From the beginning, these communities have been tormented, but not destroyed. And not only so, but from the days of the Caliphs their preservation as organized communities, having a peculiar dress, has been in accordance with the policy of their rulersthey are thus more easily kept in subjection, and are separated from Moslems as inferior and tributary. The very preservation of these communities has in all time subjected them to torment, to official exaction and popular contumely and persecution. Is it not most natural to suppose that as political communities they have desired annihilation?
The last objection urged by Alford is against Elliotts interpretation of Rev 9:19. Well may Mr. Barker say (Friendly Strictures): An interpretation so wild, if it refutes not itself, seems scarcely capable of refutation. Happily, it does refute itself. For it is convicted, by altogether leaving out of view the power in the mouths, which is the principal feature in the original vision; by making no reference to the serpent-like character of these tails, but being wholly inconsistent with it; by distorting the canon of symmetrical interpretation in making the heads attached to the tails to mean that the tails are symbols of authority, etc. The force of the criticism is admitted, and yet, like the preceding, it bears not against the historical scheme. The following is suggested as possibly the true explanation of the verse alluded to. On opening Websters Dictionary we find the following as the second definition of Basilisk: In military affairs, a large piece of ordnance, so called from its supposed resemblance to the serpent of that name, or from its size. This cannon carried an iron ball of 200 pounds weight, but is not now used. Such were the cannon with which the Turks moved to the assault of Constantinople. These long, serpent-like instruments of destruction, dragged breach foremost in the rear of the companies that served them, might well have been described in symbol as tails, like unto serpents having heads; and the power by which the Turkish armies breached the walls of Constantinople, and thus subjugated the Eastern third of the old Roman Empire (Rev 9:18), was in these tails and the mouths of these heads.
It should be remarked, in conclusion, that the resemblance contemplated in this Note is not merely between the individual symbols and the events which have been adduced as fulfilling them respectively, but it is a resemblance between the entire series regarded as a whole, and the entire course of historyit extends to the relations of the symbols to each other, their succession and mutual proportions.E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1] [Elliott and Barnes, in accordance with Bishop Newton and many other historical interpreters, understand by this Trumpet the woes under the Saracenic invasions. They support this view by considerations such as the following: 1. The admixture of the human with the bestial (Rev 9:7-8) seems to imply, that the agents in this woe were men. 2. It is implied, that they were actuated by a false religion by Rev 9:1-3; Rev 11:3. That they were symbolized by locusts (Rev 9:3) indicates (1), that they were from the Orient, Arabia especially (see an exceedingly able article by Elliott [Hor. Apoc., Vol. I., pp. 420 sqq.] on The Local Appropriateness of Scripture Symbol); (2) that they ravaged in numerous and immense armies as succeeding swarms; (3) their destructiveness. 4. The peculiarities of appearance presented Rev 9:7-10 are strikingly significant of the Saracens: (1) like unto horses, they were principally horsemen; (2) crowns like unto gold, their peculiar head-dressturbans adorned with gold (Elliott) or yellow (Barnes); (3) faces like men, bearded; (4) hair like women, they wore their hair (unlike other military nations) long. (In that most characteristic of Arab poems, Antara poem composed at the time I speak ofwe find the mustache and the beard, the long hair flowing on the shoulders, and the turban also, are specified: i. 340; He adjusted himself properly, twirled his whiskers, and folded up his hair under his turban, drawing it from off his shoulders: i. 169; His hair flowed down his shoulders: iii. 117; Antar cut off Maadis hair in revenge: iv. 325; We will hang him up by his hair: ii. 4; Thou foul-mustachioed wretch! Elliott); (5) teeth like lions, their ferocity; (6) breastplates as of iron, Sales Koran ii. 104, God hath given you coats of mail to defend you in your wars (Elliott). 5. The addition of the scorpion (also pointing to the Orient) sting, Rev 9:10, indicates (1) that their agency was to be on men, and not as the simple locust figure would have indicated, on vegetation, Rev 9:4. (It was the command of the Caliph Aboubeker, the father-in-law and successor of Mohammed, in accordance with the spirit of the Koran, issued to the Saracens on the invasion of Syria, Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn; cut down no fruit trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. Gibbon, Rev 51); (2) that it was to be a tormenting, not an utterly destructive, agency, Rev 9:5 (the sting of the scorpion is exceedingly painful, but not ordinarily fatal, see Books of Travel generally. In reference to the nature of this woe, as thus appropriately symbolized, the following is extracted from Barnes):
[As applicable to the conflicts of the Saracens with Christians (Christendom, the external Church), the meaning here would seem to be, that the power conceded to those who are represented by the locusts was not to cut off and to destroy the Church; but it was to bring upon it various calamities to continue for a definite period. In respect to this, some remarkable facts have occurred in history. The followers of the False Prophet contemplated the subjugation of Europe and the destruction of Christianity from two quartersthe East and the Westexpecting to make a junction of the two armies in the North of Italy, and to march down to Rome. Twice did they attack the vital part of Christendom by besieging Constantinople; first, in the seven years siege, which lasted from A. D. 668 to A. D. 675, and secondly, in the years 716718, when Leo the Isaurian was on the imperial throne. But, on both occasions, they were obliged to retire defeated and disgraced. Gibbon, 3:461 seq. Again, they renewed their attack on the West. Having conquered Northern Africa, they passed over into Spain, subdued that country and Portugal, and extended their conquests as far as the Loire. At that time they designed to subdue France, and having united with the forces which they expected from the East, they intended to make a descent on Italy, and complete the conquest of Europe. This purpose was defeated by the valor of Charles Martel, and Europe and the Christian world were saved from subjugation. Gibbon Rev 3:4 seq. A victorious line of march, pays Mr. Gibbon, had been prolonged above a thousand miles, from the rock of Gibraltar to the mouth of the Loire; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the highlands of Scotland. The Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or the Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelations of Mahomet. The arrest of the Saracen hosts before Europe was subdued, was what there was no reason to anticipate, and it even yet perplexes historians to be able to account for it. The calm historian, says Mr. Gibbon, who strives to follow the rapid course of the Saracens, must study to explain by what means the church and state were saved from this impending, and, as it should seem, inevitable danger. These conquests, says Mr. Hallam, which astonish the careless and superficial, are less perplexing to a calm inquirer than their cessationthe loss of half the Roman empire than the preservation of the rest (Middle Ages ii. 3, 169). These illustrations may serve to explain the meaning of the symbolthat their grand commission was not to annihilate or root out, but to annoy and afflict. Indeed, they did not go forth with a primary design to destroy. The announcement of the Mussulman always was, the Koran, the tribute, or the sword, and when there was submission, either by embracing his religion or by tribute, life was always spared. The fair option of friendship, or submission, or battle, says Mr. Gibbon (3:387), was proposed to the enemies of Mahomet. Comp. also vol. iii. 453, 456.
[6. The length of the woe, five, months, i. e. (in the prophetic calendar) one hundred and fifty yearsthe precise length of the Saracenic invasion (see abstract of Elliott on p. 201; and also the Note on Prophetic Days, p. 260.E. R. C.]
[2]The fact that such creatures have never yet been seen should not make as conclude, that they never can or never will come. In the last times many things, till then unheard of, shall come to passmuch thitherto unseen shall greet mortal vision. Thus Hebert. This mode of apprehension, however, has nothing to do with inspiration, as Dsterdieck thinks, but with literal exegesis.
[3][Elliott and Barnes, in accordance with Bishop Newton and many other distinguished historical interpreters, understand by the events under this Trumpet the Woe of the Turkish invasions (see pp. 201 sq.). The following is an abstract of the alleged parallelism between the prophecy and history, in view of which this view has been adopted and supported. (In the arrangement of the points, the plan of Barnes has been, in great measure, followed.) 1. The place, of departure: Rev 9:14 declares this to be the Euphrates; it is a well known fact, that the Turks went forth from this river on their career of conquest. 2. The four Angels, Rev 9:14 : Barnes explains this by referring to the fourfold division of the old Turkish Empire, previous to the outpouring on the remains of the Roman Empire, into four KingdomsPersia, Kerman, Syria and Roum (Gibbon, Rev 57); Elliott discards this and all similar divisions, and suggests that the number four was chosen either (a) in accordance with the propriety of the figure as indicating that there would be a general outpouring, in correspondence with the four winds which are the proverbial representatives of all winds, or else (b) as indicating that the tempest Angels (Rev 7:1) loosed in the Saracenic woe were subsequently bound at the Euphrates. 3. The preparation, Rev 9:15 : the Turkish Empire, having its seat about and to the East of the Euphrates, had long been growing in power and fitness to subdue the Eastern Roman Empire; long before their attack upon the latter, they had become the most powerful nation on the earth (see Gibbon, Rev 57). 4. Bound and loosed, Rev 9:14-15 : it is a matter of surprise that the powerful Empire which had subdued the East should so long have refrained from moving westward; it would seem as though they had been restrained by some superior power. 5. The material of their armies: Rev 9:16 implies that this was cavalry, the well known principal element of the Turkish hosts. 6. Their numbers: Rev 9:16, two myriads of myriads; the Turkish armies were immense. Gibbon says (Rev 57): The myriads of Turkish horse overspread a frontier of six hundred miles, etc. (It is probable, if this hypothesis be correct, that the number relates to the entire number engaged throughout the period of the invasions.) 7.The numeration: by myriads, Rev 9:16 : it is one of the peculiarities of the Turks to speak of numbers, not as we do, by thousands, but by tomans (myriads), so that it is not without his usual propriety of language that Gibbon speaks (as in the quotation in the preceding division) of the myriads of Turkish horse (Elliott). 8. Their personal appearance: Rev 9:17, breastplates fiery, hyacinthine and sulphureous; Daubuz remarks: From their first appearance, the Ottomans have affected to wear warlike apparel of scarlet, blue and yellow. 9. The heads of the horses as the heads of lions, Rev 9:17; indicative (1) of their strength and fiercenessthese were well-known characteristics of the Turkish cavalry; (2) not only of the characteristics, but of the titles of the heads or leaders; Gibbon writes (Rev 57.): The name of Alp Arslan, the Valiant Lion, is expressive of the popular idea of the perfection of man; and the successor of Togrul Bey displayed the fierceness and generosity of the royal animal. He passed the Euphrates, and entered Csarea, etc. Elliott remarks (vol. i., p. 498): This kind of title, which reminds one of those of the American Indians, seems to have been common among the Turkmans. So Kizil-Arslan, the Red lion, a chief contemporary with Togrul Bey; and again kilidge Arslan (Noble Lion) etc.; and again he writes (p. 510): So Rycaut on the Turks, Revelation 21 : The Turks compare the Grand Seignor to the lion, and other kings to little dogs. 10. Out of their mouths, etc., Rev 9:17. Barnes remarks: This is just such a description as would be given of an army to which the use of gunpowder was known. Looking now upon a body of cavalry in the heat of an engagement, it would seem, if the cause were not known, that the horses belched forth smoke and sulphureous flame; the use of fire-arms by the Turks in their invasion of the Eastern Empire is one of the established facts of history. 11. The destructive agency, Rev 9:18 : Not only did the Turks use fire-arms, but to this agency, more than to aught else, was their success due, as appears from the following remarks of Gibbon in reference to the siege of Constantinople, Rev 68: Among the implements of destruction, he (the Turkish Sultan) studied with peculiar care the recent and tremendous discovery of the Latins; and his artillery surpassed whatever had yet appeared in the world. A founder of cannon, a Dane or Hungarian, who had almost starved in the Greek service, deserted to the Moslems, and was liberally entertained by the Turkish Sultan. Mohammed was satisfied with the answer to his first question, which he eagerly pressed on the artist: Am I able to cast a cannon capable of throwing a ball or stone of sufficient size to batter the walls of Constantinople? I am not ignorant of their strength; but were they more solid than those of Babylon, I could oppose an engine of superior power: the position and management of that engine must be left to your engineers. On this assurance, a foundry was established at Adrianople, the metal was prepared, and at the end of three months Urban produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupendous and almost incredible magnitude; a measure of twelve palms is assigned to the bore; and the stone bullet weighed above six hundred pounds. A vacant place before the new palace was chosen for the first experiment; but to prevent the sudden and mischievous effects of astonishment and fear, a proclamation was issued that the cannon would be discharged the ensuing day. The explosion was felt or heard in a circuit of a hundred furlongs; the ball, by the force of gunpowder, was driven about a mile; and on the spot where it fell, it buried itself a fathom deep in the ground. . The same destructive secret had been revealed to the Moslems, by whom it was employed with the superior energy of zeal, riches and despotism. The great cannon of Mohammed has been separately noticedan important and visible object in the history of the times. But that enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude; the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls; fourteen batteries thundered at once on the most accessible places; and of one of these it was ambiguously expressed that it was mounted with one hundred and thirty guns, and that it discharged one hundred and thirty bullets. From the lines, the galleys, and the bridge, the Ottoman artillery thundered on all sides; and the camp and city, the Greeks and the Turks, were involved in a cloud of smoke which could only be dispelled by the final deliverance or destruction of the Roman empire. In view of such historical facts, Elliott remarks: It was to the fire and the smoke and the sulphur, to the artillery and firearms of Mahomet, that the killing of the third part of men, i. e., the capture of Constantinople, and by consequence the destruction of the Greek empire, was owing. 12. Power in their tails, Rev 9:19 : on this Elliott remarks: A horse-tail to denote a ruler! Strange association! Unlikely symbol! Instead of symbolizing authority and rule, the tail is in other Scriptures put in direct contrast with the head, and made the representative rather of the subjected and the low. Besides which, it is not here the lordly lions tail, but that of the horse. Who could ever, priori, have conceived of such an application of it? And yet among the Turks that very association had existence, and still exists to the present day. It is the ensign of one, two or three horse-tails that marks distinctively the dignity and power of the Turkish Pasha. Barnes remarks: The image before the mind of John would seem to have been that he saw horses belching out fire and smoke, andwhat was equally strangehe saw that their power of spreading desolation was connected with the tails of the horses. 13. The number, the third part of the men, Rev 9:18 : this Elliott explains as indicating the overthrow of the Eastern, or one-third of the entire, Empire. Barnes writes: No one in reading the accounts of the wars of the Turks, and of the ravages which they have committed, would be likely to feel that this is an exaggeration; it is not necessary to suppose that it is literally accurate. 14. The time of continuancea day, hour, month and year, Rev 9:15 : this period in the prophetic calendar, on the ordinary hypothesis of regarding the prophetic year as consisting of three hundred and sixty days, would equal three hundred and ninety-one years and thirty days. Elliott, however, calls attention to the fact, that the term employed is not the prophetic , but ; he therefore hypothesizes that the Julian year was intended, and thence deduces as the period contemplated, reckoning twelve hours to the prophetic day (comp. Joh 11:9), three hundred and ninety-six years, one hundred and eighteen days. The Turks, according to Abulfeda, went forth from Bagdad on their career of Western conquest on the 10th of Dzoulcaad A. H. 448, which corresponds with January 18th, A.D. 1057; from this to May 29th, 1453 the date of the fall of Constantinople, is three hundred and ninety-six years, one hundred and thirty days; or counting to May 16th, the day on which the investment was completed, the fortieth day of the siege, we have the exact prophetic period. Concerning the fortieth day, we have the unintended expository words (of Gibbon): After a siege of forty days, the fate of Constantinople could be no longer averted. 13. The effect, Rev 9:20-21 : it is notorious that, previous to the Turkish woe, nominal Christendom was sunk in a condition of (1) demon worship (the invocation of saints), (2) idolatry (image worship), (3) murders (bloody persecutions), (4) sorceries (incantations and pretended miracles), (5) fornications (abounding impurities), (6) thefts (indulgences, masses, etc.); and it is equally notorious that this woe was not followed by general repentance.E. R. C.]
[4][These judgments, in the opinion of the Am. Ed., commenced after the Woman had become the Harlotafter the unholy alliance between the Church and State. See on Revelation 17.E. R. C.]
[5][There were to be seven Trumpets sounded, and under the seventh Trumpet seven Vials poured out. The numeral resemblance of these to the seven trumpet blasts sounded on seven successive days against the ancient Jericho, and which were followed on the seventh day by seven compassings of its walls, till on the last the wall fell down, and entrance was given to Israel into that first city of the promised Canaan (Jos 6:3-16)this interesting resemblance, I say, has been noticed by Ambrose Ansbert in old times, and in more modern times by Vitringa, and other Apocalyptic interpreters after him. It almost seemed as if some power were marked out hereby as the New Testament Jericho; whose domination opposed, and whose overthrow would introduce the saints enjoyment of the Heavenly Canaan. Elliott, Vol. I, p. 349.E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The fifth Angel sounds his Trumpet. Great and fearful Signs follow. The first Woe is past. The sixth Angel succeeds, and soundeth his Trumpet, and very awful Events take place in the Earth.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. (2) And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. (3) And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (4) And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. (5) And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. (6) And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. (7) And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. (8) And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. (9) And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. (10) And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. (11) And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (12) One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
The first thing to be noted in this account, by way of ascertaining the sense and meaning of it, is what is said, that to this star was given the of the bottomless pit, which clearly defines a person. For a star, literally considered, could not receive a key. So that here we gain one point towards our discovery. The next light thrown upon the passage is, that he is said to fall from heaven unto, the earth, that is, from the Church, frequently called Heaven, Heb 12:22 ; Rev 21:2 . Hence, the person alluded to must have been, by profession at least, of the Church, (that is, one who in words acknowledged Christ,) before his fall from it. No w, there is no character in all the history of mankind, to whom it can be applied with such propriety as Mahomet, the false prophet. This impostor, as appears by his history, for a time professed Christianity. And what he hath said of Christ in his Alcoran, though most sadly perverted, shows what information he had acquired in head knowledge, concerning the Lord Jesus. Some, however, have thought, that the Pope of Rome is here meant. And some have thought, that both Mahomet and the Pope are alike intended. Certain it is, that both arose much about the same time, at the opening of the seventh century, about the year of our Lord God 600. But I think, that Mahomet is principally, if not altogether intended; because the transactions under the fifth and sixth trumpets, are chiefly, if not altogether, concerning the East; whereas the Pope’s heresy is in the West. I confess, indeed, that the power here said to be exercised by him over the bottomless pit, best corresponds with the Pope, since by his, claims respecting purgatory, it should seem to be the most suited to him. But as the imposture of the false prophet, as well as the Pope both sprung from hell, it suits either, or both of them.
There is somewhat very striking in the account here given of opening the bottomless pit, and a smoke arising like the smoke of a furnace, to darken the sun and air. Whether Mahomet, or the Pope, their counsel is from hell. And the temptations of Satan, do not un-frequently darken the bright rays of Christ, the sun of righteousness, to his people’s view. Not that Christ is himself obscured, for He shines forever the same. But his people, by reason of the clouds, do not always alike see him; just as the clouds in nature, which make sometimes a dark day. Angels above the clouds, in the clear atmosphere of the heavens, look down upon them, and they are not dark. It is only to us, who inhabit the regions below, which live under their influence, that are sensible of their quality.
I beg the Reader to make the same observation respecting these locusts as was before made of the key of the bottomless pit, that they, mean the persons of men: called locusts because of their number, and swarming as do those pernicious insects of the earth, and because of their deadly quality in poisoning. But that men are meant by then is evident, inasmuch as they were prohibited from hurting the grass, or herbage, or trees. It is men they were to hurt, and them only that were unsealed. There is somewhat very blessed in this information, for several reasons, and I pray the Reader not to overlook either.
First. It forms one of the sweetest thoughts, that the Lord had many then, and hath many now, of his hidden ones, in this Eastern part of the world, where the Impostor set up his standard, to oppose Christ; for otherwise, this precept, amounting to a prohibition, that they should only hurt those men which had not the seal of God in their foreheads, would have been unnecessary. I beg the Reader not to lose sight of this.
And, secondly. Let him take another precious thought from this passage, and observe, that God had sealed his people, though he permitted them, for wise purposes we cannot explain, to live under such governments.
And thirdly. Let him consider, that though now at this time, the awful delusion of this imposture hath continued for more than twelve hundred years, and is as great in its horrible tyranny over the consciences and bodies of men as ever; yet they of the Lord’s people who are there still, are known to Christ, and known by Christ; and from time to time, are gathered out, and gathered home to Christ, to whom the gathering of his people must be, Gen 49:10 .
Some have thought, and I see no reason to reject the observation, that by the grass which these locusts were prohibited from hurting, is meant, the humble followers of the Lord, who are low in the earth. And by the trees are meant the higher of the Lord’s people, who are like the cedars of Lebanon. It may be so. But the most blessed thought is, that both, and every other, their safety is in being sealed, secured, and everlastingly blessed, in Christ. Come not near any on whom is the mark! Eze 9:6 .
I do not mean to speak decidedly, when I say, I humbly presume, of what is said, that it was given to those locusts not to kill them, (that is, the Lord’s people,) but that they should be tormented five months, is meant, not in relation to their bodies; for, certain it is, the false prophet slaughtered many who refused to abjure Christ; neither to their souls, for their power reached not to this spiritual part; but to the electing grace of God in Christ, on which account they were sealed. And this view of the subject, if I am right, becomes a sweet and precious subject indeed! Was it not this (I ask the question,) wherein Satan was prohibited, in the instance of Job? Behold! said God to the enemy, he is in thine hand, but save his life; that is, his person, according to the margin in Isaiah. Election is personal. Compare Job 2:6 with Isa 43:4 .
What is said of the figure of the locusts, their shape, and head, and crowns, together with their having a king over them, becomes only a confirmation that men are all along intended, and not reptiles. And here again, this authority is so much in resemblance both to Mahomet and the Pope, that it may be truly said, it is impossible to ascertain which it suits most. They are both properly called Abaddon, or Apollyon, which signifies a destroyer. Which hath destroyed most, is beyond all human knowledge to say; the Impostor of the East, or the son of perdition, as the Pope is elsewhere called, of the West, 2Th 2:3 . But both, we are told, shall be finally cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone, Rev 19:20 .
Reader let us pause for a moment, over the solemn subject! What awful events did the fifth trumpet dispensation bring, in the permission of two such dreadful heresies to arise, one in the East, and the other in the West. Who would have thought, when the empire became Christian, though only in the name, and profession of it; that such events would follow? And what a mystery it is, even now, that those antichristian powers should remain down to the present era, through a period of more than twelve hundred years!
One word more, while we are in a world of mysteries. What a time Satan hath had, from Adam’s Call, to the present hour, over the whole earth, yea, God’s children also, while uncalled by grace; and what ten thousand sighs, and groans, hath he called forth by his cruelty, from every heart of our nature, from the first of creation, to the end of the time-state, for to that time his empire is to extend?
And doth the Reader ponder thee things with amazement, and do they appear to him perfectly unfathomable? Let him then turn his thoughts within, and for a moment study that world of iniquity; I mean his own heart. And, if so be that the Lord hath called my Reader, by his regenerating grace, to a new, and spiritual life in Christ Jesus; he will learn more at home, by way of explaining things abroad, than all the books upon earth (excepting the Book of God) can teach him on the subject, to all eternity.
In false prophets, and lying deceivers, we behold the word of God fulfilled. They were of old ordained to this condemnation: Jud 1:4 . In Satan and his devices, we discover the cause of his malice; the devil is come down upon the earth having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time, Rev 12:12 . In all these, we discover from God’s word, both cause and effect. But, when God chooseth the heart of a sinner for his temple, and He who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, prefers to abide there, which before was occupied by unclean devils; and instead of taking delight in making the heaven for his throne, and the earth for his footstool, sets up his throne in the broken and contrite heart, saying, here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein? here is a subject, enough to set all the world a wondering, and can only be explained by the words of God himself: my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord! Isa 55:8 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 9:2
Milton alludes to this passage in the great apostrophe towards the close of his Reformation in England, where he invites the Triune God on behalf of England’s peace and purity. ‘Look upon this, Thy poor and almost spent and expiring Church, leave her not thus a prey to these importunate wolves, that wait and think long till they devour Thy tender flock; these wild boars that have broke into Thy vineyard, and left the print of their polluting hoofs upon the souls of Thy servants. O let them not bring about their damned designs, that stand now at the entrance of the bottomless pit, expecting the watchword to open, and let out those dreadful locusts and scorpions, to reinvolve us in that pitchy cloud of infernal darkness, where we shall never more see the sun of Thy truth again, never hope for the cheerful dawn, never more hear the bird of morning sing. Be moved with pity at the afflicted state of this our shaken monarchy, that now lies labouring under her throes, and struggling against the grudges of more dreaded enemies.’
If God permit the lid of evil to be lifted as a test or as a punishment, the key remains in His hand to secure that lid again when He will. But if I lift any lid of evil, I have no power to shut off the dire escape from myself or from others: death and defilement I may let loose, but I cannot recapture.
C. G. ROSSETTI.
Rev 9:3 f
Coleridge, in his second Lay Sermon, sees political empirics, demagogues, and ‘noisy and calumnious zealots’ in the figures which ‘St. John beheld in the apocalyptic vision as a compound of locust and scorpion. They are not,’ he continues, ‘of one place or of one season. They are the perennials of history; and though they may disappear for a time, they exist always in the egg, and need only a distempered atmosphere and an accidental ferment to start up into life and activity.’ In a subsequent note he toys with the fancy that no other images ‘could form more appropriate and significant exponents of a seditious and riotous multitude, with the mob-orators, their heads or leaders, than the thousands of pack-horses with heads resembling those of a roaring wild beast, with smoke, fire, and brimstone (that is, empty, unintelligible, incendiary, calumnious, and offensively foul language) issuing from their mouth’.
The Fictions of Sin
Rev 9:7
These mystical locusts have been very differently construed by various scholars, but it will be better and safer for us to agree that they personify the lusts and passions which destroy the soul, and which therefore destroy all things. The text suggests that sin effects great things, that it promises great things, and yet fails to give what it promises. The crown it boasts is not real, solid, golden, but a mere figure of speech ‘as it were’. There is a terrible irony in sin.
I. There is no reality in the greatness that men seek in the spirit of selfishness and lust. Take a selfish conqueror, of whom Napoleon is the type. Take a selfish poet, and let Byron be our typical instance. Whatever is built on egotism, violence, covetousness, or any other form and quality of unrighteousness, inherits only an apparitional crown.
II. There is no reality in the wealth that is obtained unrighteously or used selfishly. (1) Look at illegitimate wealth wealth gotten by immoral means. (2) And there is much the same deception and disappointment in all unspiritual wealth. Balzac built himself a splendid mansion, but when it was finished he had no money left wherewith to furnish it, and so he proceeded to furnish it in imagination: here, according to a ticket, hung a great picture, there stood a rich cabinet, yonder a superb table the place fluttered with labels, but the realities were missing. It is much the same with the selfish, unspiritual rich. They have certificates, title deeds, receipts, parchments, bank books declaring the soundness of their investments, the reality of their estate, but their wealth is no fact in their deepest life, there is no corresponding sentiment in their brain and heart. Have no unrighteous wealth; it will only deceive and curse you.
III. There is no reality in the pleasure that sin promises. Seek genuine, solid satisfactions. During his last days Verlaine, the brilliant French poet, was occupied in covering the squalid furniture of his squalid rooms with gold paint. The reason of the poor fellow was gone, and it pleased his wild eye and disordered fancy to reckon the worthless furniture of his miserable lodging as the golden furniture of palaces. So the distempered soul drugged with the opium of vanity and passion looks upon base, vulgar, ugly, and ruinous things and habits as altogether beautiful and precious. But Verlaine’s yellow furniture did not sell for gold, and the day inevitably comes when those who have lived a worldly and godless life awake to the vanity of the things and pursuits for which they gave and suffered so much. It is in the truth and grace and power of God in Christ that we realise all the rich and enduring satisfactions of the heart. There is no ‘as it were’ in Him. No mimic crown, no ghostly garland, no mocking prize.
W. L. Watkinson, The Blind Spot, p. 267.
The Craft and Cruelty of Sin
Rev 9:8
Conspicuous in the Apocalypse are many strange creatures locusts like horses, great dragons having seven heads and ten horns, a beast rising out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, ‘and the beast was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion’. The grotesque imagery of the Apocalypse has a moral significance which, above all things, must be fully understood and applied. These mixed, bizarre, inconceivable creatures exaggerated scorpions, red dragons, huge locusts, and serpents represent the various forms and powers of evil, and they must be so interpreted. Let us therefore expound the text In this special light, and broadly consider its teachings on the craft and cruelty of sin.
I. The Craft of Sin. ‘They had hair as the hair of women.’ The soft, silken, shiny hair stands for the speciousness and persuasiveness of temptation. Evil circumvents us with deep and delicate snares, until even those who walk warily hardly walk surely. (1) Sometimes it affects the guise of love. (2) Sin often identifies itself with beauty. (3) Evil often assumes the festal aspect. (4) Sin often glides in as fashion. (5) Sin is sometimes incarnated as glory. (6) Finally, sin appeals to us in the guise of virtue and religion. The master-stroke of evil is to play itself off as holiness and devotion. Yet let us not forget that the secret of sin’s fascination is in the distempered soul itself.
II. The Cruelty of Sin. ‘Their teeth were as the teeth of lions.’ How sharp and startling is the contrast presented in the text woman’s hair, lion’s teeth! Yes; and how sharp and startling is the contrast between the beginnings and the endings of transgression! There is no cruelty like the cruelty of sin, and no suffering like that which it occasions. (1) Let us believe in the reality and seriousness of spiritual peril. We need to get the sobering thought into our heart, and we shall get it into our heart if we live much with Christ. (2) Let us seek salvation in the Spirit and grace of God, made manifest in Jesus Christ. Such is the power of evil in” the world, and such the guile of our own heart, that we can never successfully deal with temptation by mere knowledge and natural firmness. We must be illuminated, inspired, and fortified by the spirit of God freely acting through our whole being.
W. L. Watkinson, The Bane and the Antidote, p. 149.
References. IX. 12. Expositor (6th Series), vol. ix. p. 462. IX. 14. Ibid. p. 316. IX. 20. Ibid. (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 276. X. 5, 6. J. C. M. Bellew, Sermons, vol. i. p. 283. Expositor (5th Series), vol. iv. p. 156.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
IX
THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS
Rev 8:2-10:1
We now take up that section of the book of Revelation that relates to the sounding of the seven trumpets, which commences at Rev 8:2 , and extends to the end of chapter II. But I shall not be able to expound the entire section in one chapter; I will try, however, to cover so much of it as extends to Rev 10:8 , leaving for the next study the most of Rev 10 and the whole of II. You will observe that, as in the seals, here there are two groups, four and three. There was quite a distinction between the first group of seals and the three that followed; and so there will be quite a distinction between the group of four trumpets and the three that follow.
The general meaning of the sounding of the trumpets is the gospel as prayed from John’s time to the second coming of Christ. The seals, you will remember, were the gospel as preached from John’s time to the second advent. Every sounding of a trumpet comes as a response, not to a sermon, but to a prayer. We make a great mistake when we limit the power of the gospel to its preaching, for a very large part of its power is dependent upon its praying. The preaching is more conspicuous, and oftentimes a preacher takes credit to himself for the power of his sermons, when perhaps the power came from some obscure member of the church who prayed while he preached. Realizing this, I made it a habit of my pastoral life to engage a number of the most spiritually minded members of my church to enter into a covenant to pray for me every Sunday while I preached. Even the apostle Paul felt his great dependence upon the prayers of his brethren and sisters, and earnestly solicited their prayers. Just so I would count the friends of the seminary who prayed for its endowment as upon the agents who worked for its endowment. It is an old saying that “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”
The key passage of this section is as follows (Rev 8:3-5 ) : “And another angel came and stood over the altar” that means not the brazen altar of sacrifice, but the golden altar of incense “having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel taketh censer and he filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it upon the earth: and there followed thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.”
A Bible student should understand the relative positions and distinctive purposes of the brazen altar and the golden altar. The first was in the outer court and for sacrifices. The other was in the holy place, and was for prayer based on the preceding sacrifice. Hence, the prayer “for Christ’s sake” that is because he died for us. Prayer without expiation has no foundation.
It is evident from this key passage that what the trumpets will tell us about comes as a response to prayers offered to God, and when that censer is emptied upon the earth, then the trumpets begin to sound, each trumpet a response to prayers.
Let the reader note that this angel standing over the golden altar with the golden censer, which holds the incense, representing prayers on earth coming up before God in heaven, is the great high priest Jesus Christ himself, the angel of the covenant. Throughout the Old Testament the offering of incense before the mercy seat symbolizes prayers offered in the outer court. David says: “Let the lifting up of my hands be as the incense.” And when the high priest entered into the holy of holies he carried that golden censer filled with frankincense, and kindled it with a coal from the brazen altar, and as it kindled the smoke went up in a fragrant cloud; it represented the prayers ascending to God. You are to understand that the prayers are uttered on earth, but this is a picture of their presentation in heaven the reception accorded these petitions and the responses given, and you must distinguish between the martyr cry of the last lesson and these prayers here. That martyr cry was for a single thing it came from martyrs only. These are the prayers of all God’s people continually going up.
Now, seven angels stood, each with a trumpet, prepared to sound just as the high priest, having offered these prayers poured out on the earth coals of fire from the altar. The first angel sounded (Rev 8:7 ): “And there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth, and a third part of the earth was burned up, and a third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” In telling you what I conceive to be the meaning of these seven trumpets I speak with great diffidence I will not be as dogmatic about it as I am about some of my interpretations. The wisest men and the greatest scholars on the earth may well differ in interpreting some of the imagery of this wonderful book. I am satisfied in my own mind, however, that I am giving you the true meaning.
In order, then, to get at the meaning of this first trumpet you are to ask: What, or who, was the great enemy in John’s time oppressing the church? It was pagan Rome that fourth great world empire that Daniel saw, and that was terrible. At this particular time, Rome had commenced a worldwide persecution of the Christians; John himself was in exile on account of it, and not a church in the empire was safe from its cruel hands. Now, of course, the Christians prayed about that; they could not help it. And the first trumpet sounded. I understand that first trumpet to mean the judgment upon the Roman Empire the pagan Roman Empire that caused its decline. And thus judgment means the invasion of nations from the North; Scandinavia, Germany, and beyond the Danube even from the shores of the Baltic out of their forests came the untamed Germans and Goths, and across the Danube came the Vandals and Huns. Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , shows how the invasion of these hordes from the German forests and across the Danube broke over all the boundaries of the Roman power, and carried their wasting influence with fire and sword into Italy itself. That is the meaning of the first trumpet.
Rev 8:8 : “And the second angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood, and there died a third part of the creatures that were in the sea, even them that had life, and a third part of the ships were destroyed.” Now, a mountain in Revelation means a city, and near to the city of Rome was that great volcano, Vesuvius, whose eruptions, when they poured into the sea have attracted the attention of the world. Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cities, were buried under one of these eruptions (A.D. 79). So this second trumpet signifies the downfall of the state of Rome itself. The first trumpet prepared for it; the second trumpet strikes at the Roman Empire in its heart and center. Dr. Lyman Beecher says it took Rome 300 years to die, and Gibbon, as he writes about the decline, writes also about the fall the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire . I shall not attempt here to give the number or order of the irruptions of Northern barbarians that first shattered and then completely wrecked imperial Rome. That empire, according to the prophecy of Daniel, divided into ten kingdoms. But, anyhow, this great civilization that built roads that are good today, and walls that stand today, and whose iron organization held the whole civilized world in its sway, went down at last because poor women and children and fathers, Christians, prayed.
The third angel sounded, “and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon a third part of the rivers and of the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood; a third part of the waters became wormwood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.” That word “torch” really means a lamp “There fell from heaven a great star, burning as a lamp.” A lamp in this book stands for a church, and hence the meaning of this passage is that one of the luminaries that God intended for enlightening the world became apostate, this is the symbol of the paganized church, which succeeded pagan Rome, and hence after that it was called the “Holy Roman Empire.” In a later revelation we will find similar reference (Rev 13:3 ) where, when the pagan head of the empire was wounded unto death, it was healed by an ecclesiastical head.
You will notice its effect upon the fountains and the rivers, that this apostasy poisoned the sources of life the very sources of thought and reason and life among the people. The imagery of casting wormwood into water which all must drink is very striking. It reverses the miracle of Moses, who cast a tree into the bitter waters and made them sweet (Exo 15:23-25 ). There was great glorification when Constantine, the Roman emperor, united the church and state, and gradually the state became subordinate to the church. And when the state perished, the church survived, claiming that it held both ecclesiastical and civil swords. The Pope today demands that nations send their ambassadors to him, because of his claim to be a civil as well as ecclesiastical ruler. For quite a while there were many papal states that is, states under the Pope, who was as much their ruler as the English king is the ruler over England; Lombardy, Venice, Tuscany, and quite a number of others, and that civil power was exercised more or less until Garibaldi arose, and until Victor Emmanuel established a free church in a free state that is, he separated the civil from the ecclesiastical power.
The fourth angel sounded, “and a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, and that a third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like manner.” What does that mean? That following the establishment of the apostasy of the Romish church, the sources of light were eclipsed and the dark ages followed. Our book commences with luminaries sun, stars, lamps, appointed to lighten the world. But apostate churches and preachers lose their shining power. Here he is not referring to the material sun, moon, and stars, they are symbols. The dark ages, so thoroughly known in history, followed the establishment of the papacy as a Holy Roman Empire. There were hundreds and thousands of nominal churches and nominal preachers, but the preachers did not preach the gospel, and these socalled churches did not shine; the light that was in them was darkness. The virgin Mary supplanted Christ, and so the sun of chapter I was darkened. Ordinances were fearfully perverted and sacraments added. The saddest volumes of the annals of time that I read today are the volumes that tell about the dark ages following this assumption of power by the papacy.
I read Rev 8:13 : “And I saw and heard an eagle” or as some versions, and better ones, have it, an “angel” flying in mid-heaven, saying with a great voice: Woe, Woe, Woe” that is, three woes “for them that dwell on the earth by reason of the voice of the trumpet of the three angels that are yet to sound.” This is a prelude to the second group a group of three, distinguished by a “woe” for each trumpet. It means that when a perverted ecclesiasticism, such as the papacy was, dominates the world, woes of incalculable horror are sure to follow. So we note the next (Rev 9:1 ): “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto earth”, now, don’t read that: “I saw a star falling unto the earth,” that is not what it says; that star used to belong to heaven, but it was already fallen when seen here. Satan was once called Lucifer that means brightness of the morning, and he is so styled in the Old Testament before his downfall. He is the fallen star here, and as the church lights are eclipsed through apostasy, so this apostate angel. He will get in a subtle, malicious piece of work here, as we will see, “And there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss” you might say the key to hell itself “and he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke of the pit came forth locusts upon the earth, and power was given them as scorpions of the earth have power, and it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only [notice whom they are to hurt] but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads; and it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months.” Any one who has studied the history of the locusts knows that the locust period is five months. But if we follow the numbers of Revelation we will find that every day represents a year. The five months, therefore, would represent about 150 years, though the five months are put in here because they correspond to the locust period. “And their torment was as the torment of scorpions when it striketh a man. And in these days men would seek death but should in no wise find it, and they shall desire to die and death fleeth from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto a horse prepared for war, and upon their heads crowns like unto gold; their faces were as man’s face; they had hair as the hair of a woman; their teeth were as the teeth of lions; and they had breastplates, as it were, of iron, and the sound of their wings was as of the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to war, and they had tails like unto the scorpion and stung, and in their tails was their power to hurt men five months. They had over them as a king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek Apollyon, which means destroyer” which also means the devil.
The special points to note here are:
1. This hell smoke darkened the sun and the air. That is, by darkening the atmosphere, the medium through which sunlight shines on the earth, the sun could not be seen. See account in Genesis I, where the heavenly luminaries, though existing, do not appear until the atmosphere is created. As in this book, the spiritual lights are Christ, the churches, and the pastors. Any smoke the devil may send will prevent the earth from being illumined by them.
2. That the haze of this smoke generates tormentors, compared to locusts.
3. That those tormented are not the children of light, but the children of darkness. They hurt not Christians, but torment infidels and atheists.
4. The connection between a corrupt ecclesiasticism and atheism. The latter follows the former as a natural result.
5. The meaning of the locusts. When we were in the Old Testament, in the prophecy of Joel, under the imagery of locusts a great evil was symbolically presented. And in this symbolic language you should not look for real locusts, but what they symbolize. The devil is their king; they come out of hell itself. It is not their purpose to kill men, but to torment them. They are not allowed to torment a Christian, for he has light; but only those who by the smoke are hindered from seeing the light; those that have not the seal of God on their foreheads. Whatever these tormentors are, they trouble only infidels and atheists.
Some interpreters very foolishly construed these locusts to represent the Saracens or Mohammedans, but when the Saracens struck they killed and the chief objects of their vengeance were the Christian nations. They did not seek so much to torment as to kill, and so that interpretation fails to fit the case. What, then, is the thought symbolically presented in this cloud of locusts that torment men who were not Christians? My answer is, a corrupt ecclesiasticism, especially when united with the state, breeds atheism and theism breeds restlessness and torment. It looses the tiger. The Jews have a proverb: When the tale of brick is doubled then comes Moses. It is also a proverb: Given the ecclesiastical corruption in France then comes Voltaire. Given Voltaire and then the tiger is loosed. The testimony is abundant that the Romanist hierarchy became corrupt from Pope to priest. Monasteries and nunneries were as cages of unclean birds. In the interest of morality nations suppressed them. See the history of them in England. The priests had no gospel. The churches and cathedrals were full of idolatry. When men go to church to find Christ and see only the virgin Mary; when preachers are substituted by priests; the gospel exchanged for ritualism; there comes in a revulsion of public sentiment from the Christian religion, embodied in the only form they see it. Infidelity in France, voiced by Voltaire; rationalism in Germany, or in England led by Bolingbroke, Hume, and Taylor, in America by Paine and Ingersoll all of it is a rebound from corrupt ecclesiasticism. All sacred things become profane; they are without God and hope in the world.
Now we are coming to the locusts. Take God away from man power away from prayer, no church to visit, no sermons to hear, turned away from all supernaturalism, the ship of life hails from no port and is bound to none, drifts on uncharted seas without helm or compass, at the mercy of winds and tides and sunken reefs; when all standards of authority are lost, when no solution of life’s problems can be found in the conflicting vagaries of philosophy the mind preys on itself. Restlessness and discontent pervade the masses. Then swarm those tormenting locusts of atheism. There were certainly in dark ages, and even later, periods of awful horror. Maniacs filled the forests. All law was gone. Freebooters, banditti, free companies, roved at their own will and nowhere were peace and safety. It was a time of torment. The devil delighted to torment the very people he had beguiled. He agreed with them that their church was bad, and suggested that they follow him. Such was the first woe.
The author adds: “Behold, there come yet two woes hereafter,” but it gives only one of them, as the woe of the seventh trumpet is reserved for the latter part of the book. Rev 9:13 : “And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, and one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet: Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month and the year, that they should kill the third part of men. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them [that means two hundred million]. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and they that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceeded fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues was the third part of man killed, by the fire, and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses was in their mouths, and in their tails, for their tails are like unto serpents and have heads, and with them they hurt. And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they repented not of their murders and their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
Now, I have twice in my life changed my own mind as to what is symbolized by that great army of horsemen, coming from the Euphrates, from over the east. I once thought that it symbolized the European wars commencing with Napoleon Bonaparte and lasting to the present time. But I do not now think that is right. There was a power in history that did come from the East, and it was an army of cavalry of uncounted numbers, and they did sweep over the fairest part of the earth, and particularly did they strike hard against apostate churches, both the Roman and the Greek Catholics. They were the Saracens. Mohammed, who was the founder of their religion, arose in the sixth century. As it grew in power it swept over all Asia from the Euphrates to Constantinople, captured the Holy Land, all Asia Minor, including the territory of these seven churches, crossed the Bosphorus and the Balkan mountains to thunder at the gate of Vienna. They captured Greece and the eastern Mediterranean islands, captured North Africa, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and founded a kingdom in Spain, entered France and would have swept all Europe but for the disastrous defeat at Tours by Charles Martel. Against their strongholds in the Holy Land the Crusades of confederated Europe were broken. It is yet a great power, kindling today its fires of war in the Balkans. God used the Mohammedans to strike the apostate Greek Catholic and Roman Catholic churches. These, as I think, were the horses of the sixth trumpet, the second great woe.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the general meaning of the trumpets? And what is the key passage disclosing this meaning?
2. Where in tabernacle and Temple was the golden altar and what its relation to the brazen altar of sacrifice, and what did incense symbolize?
3. Who was the angel with the censer?
4. What great enemy at this time, by cruel and worldwide persecution, was driving Christians to prayer?
5. What, then, probably, the meaning of the first trumpet?
6. In this book what does a mountain symbolize?
7. What natural prodigy in Italy probably suggested the imagery of a volcano overturned in the sea?
8. What is, probably, the meaning of the second trumpet?
9. What is the meaning of a torch in Rev 8:10 ?
10. When, a fallen luminary like a burning lamp, poisons the fountains and rivers, sources of life, making the waters bitter, and causing the death of many what probably is meant by the third trumpet?
11. What miracle of Moses reversed the thought here?
12. What probably is the meaning of the fourth trumpet?
13. What is the meaning of the prelude to the second group of trumpets (Rev 8:13 )?
14. Who is the fallen star of Rev 9:1 ? Cite his Old Testament name and two names here.
15. What effect on the luminaries by this hell smoke? And how brought about?
16. What then, probably, the locusts?
17. What is probably the meaning of the sixth trumpet and second woe?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Ver. 1. A star fall from heaven ] Gr. , that had fallen from heaven, viz. when the third angel sounded,Rev 8:10Rev 8:10 , then the bishop of Rome began to fall; but here, in Boniface III and his successors, “He is fallen, he is fallen” from his primitive integrity into the deepest gulf of impiety, The Jesuits (to blind the matter) tell us that by this star is meant Luther, whom Satan sent out to disturb the Church, and God sent them to withstand him. (Scultet. Annal.) Bugenbagius also, a Dutch divine, when he first read Luther’s book of the Babylonish Captivity, rashly pronounced him the most pestilent heretic that ever the Church was pestered with. But a few days after, having thoroughly read and weighed the contents of that book, he recanted, and affirmed that all the world was deceived, and Luther only was in right; and so not only himself became a Lutheran, but many others also persuaded by him.
The key of the bottomless pit ] Whereinto he lets souls innumerable; so that in the days of Hildebrand letters were set forth as sent from hell, wherein the devil and his angels give the Popish clergy many thanks for sending them in so many souls as they never had in any age before. (Mat. Paris, A. D. 1072.) This key of the bottomless pit is (saith Whitaker) facultas expromendi et docendi dlabolicas doctrinae, his faculty of broaching and teaching doctrines of devils.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 12 .] The fifth, or first Woe trumpet . And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen (not, as E. V. fall , which gives an entirely wrong view of the transactions of the vision. The star had fallen before, and is first seen as thus fallen) out of heaven to the earth (the reader will at once think on Isa 14:12 , “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” And on Luk 10:18 , “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” And, doubtless, as the personal import of this star is made clear in the following words, such is the reference here. We may also notice that this expression forms a connecting link to another place, ch. Rev 12:9 , in this book, where Satan is represented as cast out of heaven to the earth: see notes there. It is hardly possible with Andr [104] , Ribera, Bengel, and De W., to understand a good angel by this fallen star. His description, as well as his work, corresponds only to an agent of evil. Andreas is obliged to distort words to bring in this view: , , is enough to condemn any interpretation), and there was given to him ( , as usual, for the purpose of the part which he is to bear in the vision) the key of the pit of the abyss (viz. of hell, which in the vision is a vast profundity opening by a pit or shaft upon the surface of the earth, imagined as shut down by a cover, and locked. This abyss is in the Apocalypse the habitation of the devil and his angels: cf. Rev 9:11 , ch. Rev 20:1 ; Rev 20:3 ; see also ch. Rev 11:7 , Rev 17:8 ), and he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up smoke from the pit as smoke of a great furnace (see ref. Gen.), and the sun was darkened and the air (not, as Bengel, a hendiadys, “aer, quatenus per solem illuminatur:” for the sun may be obscured, as by a cloud, without the air being darkened ) by reason of the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke (which therefore was their vehicle or envelope) came forth locusts into (towards, over, so as to spread over: gives more the sense of distribution than would) the earth, and there was given to them power as the scorpions of the earth ( , not as noting any distinction between land-scorpions and water-scorpions, as Ewald, but because the scorpions are natural and of the earth, whereas these locusts are infernal and not of nature) have power (viz. to sting, as below explained): and it was commanded them that they shall not hurt (for construction, see reff.) the grass of the earth, nor yet every (i. e. any) green thing, nor yet every (any) tree (the usual objects on which locusts prey: cf. Exo 10:13 ; Exo 10:15 ), but only (lit. except : the former sentence being regarded as if it had run, “that they should hurt nothing,” and then “ except ” follows naturally) the men, the which ( designates the class or kind: see reff.) have not the seal of God upon their foreheads (this, as before noticed, fixes this fifth trumpet to the time following the sealing in ch. 7. It denotes a plague which falls on the unbelieving inhabitants of the earth after the servants of God have been marked out among them, and of which the saints are not partakers. Either then it denotes something purely spiritual, some misery from which those are exempt who have peace with God, which can hardly be, consistently with Rev 9:5-6 , or it takes place in a state totally different from this present one, in which the wheat and tares are mingled together. One or other of these considerations will at once dismiss by far the greater number of interpretations.
[104] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . VI.
That of Elliott, the fact of Mahomet’s mission being avowedly against corrupt Christianity as idolatry, does not in the remotest degree answer the conditions. In the very midst of this corrupt Christianity were at that time God’s elect scattered up and down: and it is surely too much to say that every such person escaped scathless from the Turkish sword). And it was given to them (allotted to them by God as the limit of their appointed work and office: here the expresses rather the limitation than the extension of the grant) that they should not kill them (the unsealed), but that they (the unsealed: the subject is changed) shall be (fut. aft. , see above, Rev 9:4 ) tormented five months (the reason seems to be correct, which several Commentators have given for this number being chosen: viz., that five months is the ordinary time in the year during which locusts commit their ravages: so Calov., Vitr., Eich., Ewald, De W., Dsterd., al. At all events we are thus in some measure delivered from the endless perplexities of capricious fancy in which the historical interpreters involve us): and their torment (i. e. that of the sufferers: against Dsterd.) is as the torment of (arising from: notice the same construction in two senses) a scorpion, when it has smitten ( , the regular futurus exactus: “whenever it shall have ” and (Jon 4:7 . Achill. Tat. ii. 7, ), as in the Latin ictus (Pliny, H. N. vi. 28), are used of the bite or sting of an animal) a man. And in those days men shall seek death (observe the transition of the style from the descriptive to the prophetic. For the first time the Apostle ceases to be the exponent of what he saw, and becomes the direct organ of the Spirit), and shall not (the , with a subjunctive (its ordinary construction), is a more certain and definite negation than even the future itself. The latter expresses fact; whereas the former states that the fact cannot be otherwise: with the future, as in text, seems to be a later and lax way of expressing the same) find it: and they shall vehemently desire ( desire alone is not strong enough: , – , express the direction of the (itself from , ferveo , Plato, Cratyl. 419 E) upon an object. As desire is too strong for , so is it too weak for ) to die (notice what Dsterd. well calls “ ein schreckliches Gegenstuck ,” to the Apostle’s saying in Phi 1:23 , ), and death fleeth (the pres., of the habitual avoidance in those days) from them (the longing to die arises from the excruciating pain of the sting. Cf. Jer 8:3 .
I cannot forbear noticing as we pass, the caprice of historical interpreters. On the command not to kill the men, &c., in Rev 9:5 , Elliott says, “i. e. not to annihilate them as a political Christian body.” If then the same rule of interpretation is to hold, the present verse must mean that the “political Christian body” will be so sorely beset by these Mahometan locusts, that it will vehemently desire to be annihilated, and not find any way. For it surely cannot be allowed that the killing of men should be said of their annihilation as a political body in one verse, and their desiring to die in the next should be said of something totally different, and applicable to their individual misery. Is it in consequence f foreseeing this difficulty, that Mr. Elliott has, as in the case of many important details in other places, omitted all consideration of this verse?).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 9:1-12 : The fifth trumpet .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Rev 9:1 . Stars (as ) drop from heaven in the form of beasts (Enoch lxxxvi. 1 f.) and men ( ibid. lxxxviii.) throughout Jewish apocalyptic ( cf. ibid , xviii. 16, xxi. 1, 6, xl. 21, 24); even earlier (Jdg 5:20 , Job 38:7 ) they had been personified. On falling stars, associated as evil portents with death or divine displeasure, see Frazer’s Golden Bough (2nd ed.), Rev 2:18 f. From what follows, it is possible that this angelic being who had fallen is conceived as an evil agent (reff.), permitted ( ) to exercise malicious power on earth in furtherance of divine judgment. “The pit of the abyss” is the abode of the devil and daemons (reff. cf. Aen. vii. 583 f., viii. 243 f.), a subterranean chasm or waste underworld, located sometimes in the middle of the earth (Slav. En. xxviii. 3), and represented here ( cf.Rev 20:1Rev 20:1 ) as covered by a lid or great stone. To judge from Rev 13:1 , this abyss seems to contain, as in O.T., the flow of waters formerly upon the earth, and now confined (according to Jewish folk-lore) by God’s decree and the magical potency of His name ( cf. on Rev 20:4 and Rev 2:17 also Prayer of Manasseh , “O Lord Almighty Who hast shut up the deep, and sealed it by thy terrible and glorious name”.) A fearsome cavity (“ditis spiraculum”) emitting poisonous exhalations once existed near Hierapolis (Pliny, H. N. ii. 95). Such chasms (throughout Italy, Greece and Asia) seemed, to the superstitious, local inlets into Hades and outlets for infernal air in the shape of mephitic vapours. In Phrygia itself springs of hot vapour and smoke are a feature of the Lycos valley ( C. B. P. i. 2, 3), and the volcanic cone in the harbour of Thera was believed to be such an aperture of hell. Fire belching from this subterranean furnace was a sure portent of the final catastrophe (4 Ezr 5:8 ); cf. Renan, 330 f., 396, R. S. 127, and Jeremias, 116 f.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation Chapter 9
In chapter 9 the two next or fifth and sixth Trumpets are described with minute care, as indeed these are two of the Woe-trumpets. There remains the third Woe-trumpet, the last of the seven, which is set forth at the end of Rev 11 , and brings us the closing scene in a general way to the end.
The first of the Woe-trumpets consists of the symbolic locusts led by the ominous Apollyon, to whom was given, as its angel, the key of the abyss. For that they are not to be understood of the literal insects is clear, if only for this reason, that these are expressly said not to feed on that which is the natural food of locusts. The well-known creature, with most portentous qualities and powers added, becomes the descriptive sign of these marauders from the abyss. They were to injure not the vegetable realm, but man expressly, and from a source not human but diabolical. It is a darkening and tormenting evil let loose from the pit on the unsealed (those of Israel who had no such favour from God), not on what they valued merely but on themselves, by instruments boasting a righteous commission from God (for they had upon their heads as crowns like gold), yet not even men in their true place, but weakly subject. For they had the hair of women, if the faces of men. They were given such power as the scorpions have; and their object for a torment of five months was the men who lacked the seal of God on their foreheads. And the envenomed sting produced such anguish that men preferred death but found it not. How graphic the picture of this scourge from the abyss! Like horses were they prepared for war, their teeth as those of lions, their breastplates as of iron, and the sound of their wings as of chariots of many horses running unto war. Thus were combined a darkening influence from beneath to shut out heavenly light and healthful means with aggressive force of imposing character and a tormenting power as of a false prophet; “for the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail”; and these have tails like scorpions, and their power is in their tail. As their breasts were steeled against all force to pierce them, so were they led by a king who tells the tale of the enemy behind all.
“And the fifth angel sounded trumpet: and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen unto the earth, and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened and the air from the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts unto the earth, and to them was given power [or, authority] as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they should not injure the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but the men which [] have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment [was] as a scorpion’s torment when it striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall in no way find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them. And the likenesses of the locusts [were] like horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as crowns of gold, and their faces as men’s faces; and they had hair as women’s hair; and their teeth were as of lions. And they kind breastplates as iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running unto war. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and their power was in their tails to injure men five months. They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name Apollyon [destroyer].
“One woe is past; behold, there come two woes more after these things.” Here too is a revealed “pause of judgment.”
To another remark your attention is called, that the first Woe-trumpet answers in the way of contrast to the hundred and forty-four thousand that were sealed out of Israel; as the second Woe-trumpet (namely, that of the Euphratean horsemen) answers by a similar contrast to the countless multitude out of the Gentiles. As some perhaps may consider this contrast vague and indefinite, let us endeavour to make the meaning plainer. It is expressly said that the locusts of the vision were to carry on their tormenting, scorpion-like devastations, except on those that were sealed. Here then is an allusion clearly to those whom God set apart from Israel in Rev 7 ; and this is at issue with the hypothesis of parallel series of judgments; for it is under the fifth Trumpet we are told of the unsealed, whereas it is in the parenthesis of the sixth Seal that the sealing was effected.
On the other hand, in the Euphratean horsemen we see far more of aggressive and destructive power, though there is also serpent-like torment. But torment is the main characteristic of the locust Woe; the horsemen Woe is more distinctively the onward progress of aggressive power portrayed in energetic colours. They fall on men and destroy them; and here “the third” reappears. According to the force given already, this would imply that the Woe falls on the Gentiles indeed, more particularly on the western empire, from the east Their “mouth” is characteristically prominent, and not their tails only as in the locust judgment. “And out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone.” Even the tails are not compared to scorpions but to serpents having heads, not so much a tormenting stroke as deliberate Satanic purpose. Their breastplates are not as iron but of fire and jacinth and brimstone, savouring of the very lake of fire.
“And the sixth angel sounded trumpet; and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that [is] before God, saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed that were prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they might kill the third of men. And the number of the armies of the cavalry [was] twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat upon them, having breastplates of fire and jacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses [were] as lions’ heads, and out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three strokes were the third of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails [are] like serpents, having heads, and with them they injure. And the rest of the men who were not killed with these strokes repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not 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. And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries [or, drugs], nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
Here a voice from the four horns of the golden altar (and how significant that it should come from thence!) summons a swift and overwhelming and destructive host from the east to slay men of the western empire. For it is not “torment” now but death, though not without Satan’s power of deceit as in the preceding Woe. In their inflictions a time limit appears, first a short term followed next by a longer one. There was also a term in the preceding Woe, as indeed they are evidently allied, though with notable points of difference. Here too, as the summons came from the four horns of the altar of intercession, so it was to the four angels that were bound at the great river, which was the boundary of the eastern powers. It was sweeping indeed.
It seems that these two Woes represent what will be verified in the early doings of the Antichrist in Judea, and of the Assyrian or eastern leader. The first or the locust raid consists of a tormenting infliction. Here accordingly we have Abaddon, the destroyer, their king, who is set forth in a peculiar fashion as angel of the abyss. It is not of course the issue yet fairly formed; but we can quite comprehend that there is to be an early manifestation of evil; just as grace will effect the beginning of that which is good in the remnant.
Here then we have these Woe-trumpets. First of all a tormenting Woe falls on the land, but not on those sealed out of the twelve tribes of Israel. Next the Euphratean horsemen are let loose on the western powers, overwhelming all Christendom, and in particular that west as the special object of the judgment of God. The former is emphatically torment from Satan on the reprobate Jews; as the latter is a most scathing infliction of man’s aggressive energy, though not this only, from the east on the corrupt and idolatrous western world. The killing of the third of men represents, not the merely physical end, but the destruction even of all confession of relationship with the only true God. What an awful sketch of what had once received the gospel, professedly at least, and stood forth as God’s church on earth! “And the rest of the men who were not killed by these strokes repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not 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. And they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” Think of such a description divinely furnished of those who were not ostensibly apostate but still keeping up the name of Christianity, before the falling away was complete, as the book has yet to tell us! For “thou shalt see greater abominations than these”; not only the unclean spirit returned to the house empty, swept, and garnished, but taking to himself seven different spirits more wicked than himself, so that the last state is worse than the first. Then shall the vilest of men be worshipped as God in the temple of God, the west no less committed to this blasphemy than the mass of the Jews. But who believes the divine report?
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 9:1-6
1Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2He opened the bottomless pit, 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. 3Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green tree, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5And 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 1:6 And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
Rev 9:1 “and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth” There have been several theories as to the identity of this personified star who is called an angel.
1. because the verb is perfect tense, it could refer to Satan having fallen in the past and continues to be fallen from heaven (cf. Isa 14:12; Eze 28:16; Luk 10:18; Rev 12:9)
2. because of the context it could be just another servant angel involved in God’s judgment (cf. Rev 20:1)
Angels as falling stars are often found in the intertestamental Jewish apocalyptic literature.
“the key of the bottomless pit was given to him” A “key” is mentioned in Rev 1:18; Rev 20:1. It symbolizes authority. God exercises authority over the demonic hordes of judgment.
The abyss is a Greek term that meant “depth” negated by an alpha privative.
1. It is used in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT) in Gen 1:2; Gen 7:11; Psa 42:7; Psa 107:26 for the depths of the waters of creation.
2. In Psa 71:20 it refers to the holding place of the dead.
3. This is also true of I Enoch 18:12-16; 21:7-10; 108:3-6, where it is both a temporary and final prison of fallen angels.
4. It seems to be synonymous with the term “tartarus” (cf. 2Pe 2:4 and I Enoch 21:7), a place where evil angels are held in prison (cf. Luk 8:31; Jud 1:6; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1-3; and I Enoch 10:4; 86:1; 88:1; Jubilees 5:6-11).
5. Paul used this term (abyss) in Rom 10:7 for the place of the dead (cf. Isa 24:21-22).
6. Later the rabbis said it was the name of the unrighteous part of Sheol/Hades (see Special Topic at Rev 1:18).
“was given” There is a series of passive verbs in both chapters 8 and 9, which emphasizes God’s control of both history and the demonic (cf. Rev 8:3; Rev 8:7-8; Rev 8:11-12; Rev 9:1; Rev 9:3-5). Often Jewish writers used passive voice as a circumlocution for deity’s actions.
Rev 9:2 “smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace” This terminology is used in several senses in the OT:
1.it accompanied the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (cf. Gen 19:28)
2. it accompanied the judgment of God on the nations (cf. Isa 34:10)
3. it accompanied the presence of God on Mt. Sinai (cf. Exo 19:18)
Rev 9:3 “locusts” These are often used as symbols of God’s wrath (cf. Exo 10:12-15; Joe 1:4; Joe 2:1 ff) because they symbolized an invading army (cf. Rev 9:7; Joe 2:4-5; Joe 2:7-9).
Rev 9:4 “They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree” These demonic forces are limited in their punishment. They must not destroy any plant life and they can only torment, but not kill, the unbelievers (cf. Rev 9:5; Rev 7:4); the believers are protected by God (as they were in the Egyptian plagues).
“the seal of God on their foreheads” See full note at Rev 7:2. It is an allusion from Eze 9:4.
Rev 9:5 “five months” Some interpret this time span as the life expectancy of a locust. However, it is possibly one-half the number ten, which would be another metaphor for a limited judgment (cf. Rev 6:6; Rev 6:8; Rev 8:7-12).
“the torment of a scorpion” The sting of a scorpion is another OT metaphor (cf. 2Ch 10:11; 2Ch 10:14).
Rev 9:6 This is a direct parallel to Rev 6:15-16, which may be additional evidence for the recapitulation theory among the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls. This may be an allusion to the judgment of the faithless idolatrous Jews of Jerusalem in Jer 8:2-3.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
saw. App-133.
star. The symbol of him who had already become “fallen” before John “saw”. Compare Luk 10:18. Isa 14:12.
fall = fallen.
from. App-104.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
unto. App-104.
earth. App-129.
the . . . pit = the pit (Greek. phrear. Here, Rev 9:2. Luk 14:5. Joh 4:11, Joh 4:12, “well”) of the abyss (Greek. abussos. Here, verses: Rev 2:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1, Rev 20:3. Luk 8:31. Rom 10:7). See App-197.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-12.] The fifth, or first Woe trumpet. And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen (not, as E. V. fall, which gives an entirely wrong view of the transactions of the vision. The star had fallen before, and is first seen as thus fallen) out of heaven to the earth (the reader will at once think on Isa 14:12, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! And on Luk 10:18, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. And, doubtless, as the personal import of this star is made clear in the following words, such is the reference here. We may also notice that this expression forms a connecting link to another place, ch. Rev 12:9, in this book, where Satan is represented as cast out of heaven to the earth: see notes there. It is hardly possible with Andr[104], Ribera, Bengel, and De W., to understand a good angel by this fallen star. His description, as well as his work, corresponds only to an agent of evil. Andreas is obliged to distort words to bring in this view: , , is enough to condemn any interpretation), and there was given to him (, as usual, for the purpose of the part which he is to bear in the vision) the key of the pit of the abyss (viz. of hell, which in the vision is a vast profundity opening by a pit or shaft upon the surface of the earth, imagined as shut down by a cover, and locked. This abyss is in the Apocalypse the habitation of the devil and his angels: cf. Rev 9:11, ch. Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3; see also ch. Rev 11:7, Rev 17:8), and he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up smoke from the pit as smoke of a great furnace (see ref. Gen.), and the sun was darkened and the air (not, as Bengel, a hendiadys, aer, quatenus per solem illuminatur: for the sun may be obscured, as by a cloud, without the air being darkened) by reason of the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke (which therefore was their vehicle or envelope) came forth locusts into (towards, over, so as to spread over: gives more the sense of distribution than would) the earth, and there was given to them power as the scorpions of the earth ( , not as noting any distinction between land-scorpions and water-scorpions, as Ewald, but because the scorpions are natural and of the earth, whereas these locusts are infernal and not of nature) have power (viz. to sting, as below explained): and it was commanded them that they shall not hurt (for construction, see reff.) the grass of the earth, nor yet every (i. e. any) green thing, nor yet every (any) tree (the usual objects on which locusts prey: cf. Exo 10:13; Exo 10:15), but only (lit. except: the former sentence being regarded as if it had run, that they should hurt nothing,-and then except follows naturally) the men, the which ( designates the class or kind: see reff.) have not the seal of God upon their foreheads (this, as before noticed, fixes this fifth trumpet to the time following the sealing in ch. 7. It denotes a plague which falls on the unbelieving inhabitants of the earth after the servants of God have been marked out among them, and of which the saints are not partakers. Either then it denotes something purely spiritual, some misery from which those are exempt who have peace with God,-which can hardly be, consistently with Rev 9:5-6,-or it takes place in a state totally different from this present one, in which the wheat and tares are mingled together. One or other of these considerations will at once dismiss by far the greater number of interpretations.
[104] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. VI.
That of Elliott, the fact of Mahomets mission being avowedly against corrupt Christianity as idolatry, does not in the remotest degree answer the conditions. In the very midst of this corrupt Christianity were at that time Gods elect scattered up and down: and it is surely too much to say that every such person escaped scathless from the Turkish sword). And it was given to them (allotted to them by God as the limit of their appointed work and office: here the expresses rather the limitation than the extension of the grant) that they should not kill them (the unsealed), but that they (the unsealed: the subject is changed) shall be (fut. aft. , see above, Rev 9:4) tormented five months (the reason seems to be correct, which several Commentators have given for this number being chosen: viz., that five months is the ordinary time in the year during which locusts commit their ravages: so Calov., Vitr., Eich., Ewald, De W., Dsterd., al. At all events we are thus in some measure delivered from the endless perplexities of capricious fancy in which the historical interpreters involve us): and their torment (i. e. that of the sufferers: against Dsterd.) is as the torment of (arising from: notice the same construction in two senses) a scorpion, when it has smitten (, the regular futurus exactus: whenever it shall have and (Jon 4:7. Achill. Tat. ii. 7, ), as in the Latin ictus (Pliny, H. N. vi. 28), are used of the bite or sting of an animal) a man. And in those days men shall seek death (observe the transition of the style from the descriptive to the prophetic. For the first time the Apostle ceases to be the exponent of what he saw, and becomes the direct organ of the Spirit), and shall not (the , with a subjunctive (its ordinary construction), is a more certain and definite negation than even the future itself. The latter expresses fact; whereas the former states that the fact cannot be otherwise: with the future, as in text, seems to be a later and lax way of expressing the same) find it: and they shall vehemently desire (desire alone is not strong enough: , -, express the direction of the (itself from , ferveo- , Plato, Cratyl. 419 E) upon an object. As desire is too strong for , so is it too weak for ) to die (notice what Dsterd. well calls ein schreckliches Gegenstuck, to the Apostles saying in Php 1:23, ), and death fleeth (the pres., of the habitual avoidance in those days) from them (the longing to die arises from the excruciating pain of the sting. Cf. Jer 8:3.
I cannot forbear noticing as we pass, the caprice of historical interpreters. On the command not to kill the men, &c., in Rev 9:5, Elliott says, i. e. not to annihilate them as a political Christian body. If then the same rule of interpretation is to hold, the present verse must mean that the political Christian body will be so sorely beset by these Mahometan locusts, that it will vehemently desire to be annihilated, and not find any way. For it surely cannot be allowed that the killing of men should be said of their annihilation as a political body in one verse, and their desiring to die in the next should be said of something totally different, and applicable to their individual misery. Is it in consequence f foreseeing this difficulty, that Mr. Elliott has, as in the case of many important details in other places, omitted all consideration of this verse?).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 9
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the eaRuth ( Rev 9:1 ):
And it is interesting how that a great mountain of fire burning, a star falling, a star falling, these are like fallen stars. That is why I relate them to perhaps asteroids or meteorites. I could be completely wrong. In other words, there are a lot of people who would like to sort of speculate, and in observed and knowable phenomena, these are not unreasonable. We know of phenomena that could create such things, such as impacting with asteroids or meteorites or whatever.
So the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven unto the earth or a fallen star,
and to him was given the key of the abyss ( Rev 9:1 ).
That is the abyss, or abussos in Greek, which is translated bottomless pit. The translation bottomless pit is a correct translation of this word abussos. And it is probably right in the heart or the center of the earth, because right in the center of the earth you would be constantly falling. There would be no end to your fall, because as the earth is rotating you would be constantly in a state of falling, a bottomless pit then. Because you would never get to the bottom of the thing, you would be in the middle. If it is always turning around, you are continually falling but you are right there in the heart of it.
We do know that Hades is in the heart of the earth, so this is probably one of the compartments of Hades. This particular compartment is where God incarcerates demonic spirits. It is where the antichrist has been incarcerated. It is where Satan shall be incarcerated for one thousand years. It is where demons are presently incarcerated, but are going to be released upon the earth during this period of time. It is a place where the demons will later on be incarcerated.
When Jesus came to Gadara and there was that man who was filled with devils, demons and Jesus said, “What is your name?” And they said, “Legion,” because there was many. And they said, don’t send us to the Abussos, to the pit, before our time. Let us be free for awhile longer. Now, they knew that there time was coming when they would be confined to the abussos, a compartment in Hades. As there is another compartment called Tartarus, a compartment in Hades, this one for fallen angels or demonic spirits where as Hades itself is for the rebellious man.
So, he sees the fallen star from heaven, who no doubt is Satan. He has the key to the abussos.
And he opened the [abussos] bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit ( Rev 9:2 ).
So, somewhere upon the earth there is probably a fissure of some kind that goes down to the heart of the earth that shall be open, and as it is like a furnace, this smoke is going to ascend from the heart of the earth darkening the skies. As the skies were darken after the eruption of Kartoa and after the eruption of Mount St. Helens.
And there came out of the smoke creatures [demonic creatures] ( Rev 9:3 ):
As John sees them, because they swarm in great clouds, they are like locust, in that they cover the skies and the skies become dark. And of course, in a part of the world they have plagues of locust that there are so many millions of them that it turns the skies dark as they invade an area. So, these are like a locust plague.
and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the eaRuth ( Rev 9:3-4 ),
And of course that is the natural food of the locust.
neither any green thing, neither any tree [the general diet of the locust]; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads ( Rev 9:4 ).
So, at this point God is going to start separating those that have His seal in their foreheads from those who do not, even as God made a separation in the plagues in Egypt. And, there was darkness in Egypt, but in Israel there was not darkness. Frogs in Egypt, but among the camp of the Israelites there were no frogs, frogs in their beds, frogs in their kneading troughs and so forth. They would knead their dough and just frogs everywhere, except in the area of Israel. God made a separation, a difference, and so He will again.
And to them it was given that they should not kill the people, but that they should be tormented for five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man ( Rev 9:5 ).
Over there in the Middle East, of course upon the earth there are several varieties of scorpion, but there in the Middle East the scorpion there has a sting which is reported to be the worst pain of any sting possible. And these locusts have power to inflict this kind of a stinging torment like scorpions for a period of five months.
And in those days shall men seek death [the torment being so fierce men will seek death], and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them ( Rev 9:6 ).
So, it is an interesting period when death takes a holiday for five months.
Now, death is an interesting phenomenon. It is something that we don’t fully understand, the mechanics of it. What does happen when the spirit of man leaves his body? Well, we say it is death. They have the EEG probes connected and they watch the little monitor and they watch the brain wave activity as it flutters there on the monitor and shows across the screen, but then when the line goes flat they will monitor it usually for twenty-four hours and then pull the plug. And when the oxygen is no longer being provided, if there is any life at all, the brain will start searching for oxygen and you will see a little flutter on the screen again and they will plug it back in, but if there is no flutter, the line stays flat, they say, “Well, he is dead.” The spirit is gone. The soul is gone. The conscience is gone. He is dead.
What releases the consciousness? What releases the spirit of man from his body? We see people who can live for years in commas. The spirit doesn’t leave. Yet, their body is there, but they haven’t the capacity of doing anything. They are just in a comatose state. Why hasn’t the spirit left? What keeps the spirit there? We don’t really know for sure.
Jesus on the cross dismissed His Spirit. He said, “No man takes My life from Me. I give My life. I have the power to give it and I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. No man takes My life from Me.” And on the cross it said He bowed His head and dismissed His Spirit. He gave up His spirit. He bowed His head and said, “Okay, you can go”. Now, He had the power to do that.
There will come a time when your spirit will refuse to leave your body. And this could be one of the most awesome horrible periods of history. Imagine a person taking a .45 and putting it to his skull and pulling the trigger and blowing the back side of his head off and his brain is all over the room and yet he does not die, the spirit not leaving. And he goes around with this hole in his head, but he keeps on living. The spirit won’t leave. That could be horrible.
You see the real me is spirit. The body is the instrument that God has given to me whereby I can express myself. But the body is the medium of expression for me, but the real me is spirit. The real me is not the body. The real me is spirit. Through the body my spirit can express itself. And that is what God has designed. He has designed the body as the medium by which I can express myself to others and I can relate to others and they can relate to me. It is the medium by which we come to know each other, we come to appreciate and love each other, this medium of our bodies by which our spirits express themselves to each other.
Now, generally when through age, accident, illness, disease, or whatever, generally when the body can no longer fulfill the functions for which God purposed, when the body can no longer really express me, when the body gives me more pain and suffering than joy and pleasure, or when the body is so weakened that it can’t really express me anymore, then God releases my spirit from this body. And my spirit then moves into my new body, the building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
But there is going to come a time when God is not going to release spirits for five months and people will actually seek to die, perhaps mutilate their bodies and under normal circumstances their spirit would have left, but God is going to let them go on in that condition for five months. As I said, that will probably be one of the most horrible periods in the history of the world, when for five months people can’t die.
Death is a blessing to the child of God. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Hey, it is a blessing for the child of God. I don’t want to go on living in this body after it can no longer fulfill the functions for which God purposed and designed. I don’t want to just lie in a bed just staring at the ceiling with needles and intravenous into me and oxygen and people come in to look at me and I’m just dah. And have to be there month after month and year after year for fifty, hundred, two hundred years you just lie there and just staring at the sky and can’t say anything or do anything. That would be horrible. That would be hell. Death is a blessing.
When this old body gets to the place that it can’t function anymore, then God is going to release my spirit from it and that is going to be a blessing, not a curse. It would only be a curse if I weren’t a child of God, because then of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, he to be thought worthy, who had counted the blood of his covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and have done despite to the Spirit of grace. For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So death takes a holiday. People are tormented.
Now, John is taken by the spirit to a day to the future in which he sees things he does not understand. He can only describe them in the language that he knows. Imagine a prophet being taken, say, into the midst of a battle in World War II, a prophet say in John’s day, taken by the spirit out into the future and dropped into the middle of a battle in World War II. He sees tanks and artillery. And he sees the planes, jets coming in and dropping bombs and all. How would you describe that when you don’t know what a plane, tank, ammunition or explosions are? How would you describe what you are seeing? You would be limited to your vocabulary and the language of your day in the things that you saw.
So, John now does his best to describe what he has seen, but if you are looking at demonic beings again, you are going to have to use language that is representative, but it falls short of a full and complete description. So, he tries to describe them somewhat.
And the shapes of the locust were like horses that are prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women [Sounds like some hippies, doesn’t it?] and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle ( Rev 9:7-9 ).
You are doing pretty good John, if you were trying to describe a dive-bomber coming in, the roar from the wings and all, like many chariots running into battle. Who knows what he is actually seeing. He describes as he can with the language that is available to him.
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and they had power to hurt men for five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit [or this fallen star], and his name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek it is Apollyon ( Rev 9:10-11 ).
And the words mean destroyer. So, another name for Satan, the destroyer, and oh what a destroyer he is. Look at this world. Look at men who have been destroyed by the power of Satan. “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.”
One now has past; but, there are two more to come. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God ( Rev 9:12-13 ).
This altar of which the Mercy seat was a model.
Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men ( Rev 9:14-15 ).
These fallen creatures, Satanic angels, so awesomely fierce that God has kept them incarcerated during these six millennia of man’s history, but in one hour he is going to release them. They have been held back for this one hour in which they enter the world to accomplish their mission. They are prepared for one hour of this particular day, of this month, of this year to slay a third part of men.
Now, in the first four horses of the apocalypse, the first four seals, one quarter of the earth’s population is destroyed. And now by these fierce angels loosed out of the river Euphrates another third of the earth’s population to be destroyed.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: [or two hundred million] and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that were sitting on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. And their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts ( Rev 9:16-21 ).
And so the judgments of God do not really bring men to repentance. Man hardens his heart against the judgments of God. Paul said, “Don’t you realize it is the goodness of God that brings a man to repentance.” That is why I seek in my messages to preach of the goodness of God and emphasize the grace of God. It is the goodness of God that brings man to repentance. I do talk about the judgments of God that are going to come, because I would be derelict in my responsibilities if I did not, because that is a fact that must be faced.
However, I do not like to make that an emphasis of my ministry. And I don’t, because the judgments of God are only going to harden the hearts of men and they fail to repent of all of their evil in which they do, even in the midst of this horrible period of judgment. They continue their worship of Satan and the representations and the idols.
Next week we’ll take the next three chapters. Two woes are past. The third woe is yet to happen, the seventh trumpet from which will come the seven vials, the last final plagues. But in the meantime we are going to have a little interesting digression. In chapter ten, we are going to have a little digression into the glorious return of Jesus Christ. In chapter eleven, we are going to be introduced to the two witnesses and to their ministries. In chapter twelve, we will be introduced to several different personages, the woman representing Israel, Satan the great dragon, and the war between the woman and Satan. So that is our menu for next Sunday night.
May the Lord be with you and watch over and keep you in His love. May you experience the touch of God upon your life, His strength, His help, His guidance, His wisdom. Give the week over to Lord, acknowledge Him in all things that He might direct your path in His way of righteousness as you live a life that is pleasing and accepting unto Him. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 9:1. ) , as it were the orifice of the abyss.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 9:1-12
SECTION FIVE
SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH
AND SIXTH TRUMPETS
Rev 8:13 to Rev 9:21
1. THE WOE TRUMPETS ANNOUNCED
Rev 8:13
13 And I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice,–The King James Version has “angel” instead of “eagle.” This is a question of textual criticism which it is unnecessary to give here. The true facts may be derived from either one. Angels have been the usual agents through whom announcements have been made in the visions; but an eagle in the symbol may be the appropriate emblem to proclaim the coming woes. Its cry may have been especially significant for the purpose. The word “woe” sets the last three trumpets off in a separate class from the four preceding.
Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.–Doubtless the “earth” as John understood it was the Roman Empire. The woes promised then would affect those who dwelt in some part of that empire. Of course all classes, saints and sinners, would be affected more or less. The general results can be seen, though we may not always be able to find definitely what particular thing may be designated by every feature of the vision. Of course the preceding trumpets signified “woes” too, but these three indicated some that were distinctly different.
2. THE SOUNDING OF THE FIFTH TRUMPET
Rev 9:1-12
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.–The language of 8:13 shows an evident division between the first four trumpets and the last three. How long a period intervened between the fourth and fifth is not indicated in the text. Only historical facts can give any light on that. We have already found that a star indicates a person of rank or distinction. The star had already fallen (had been cast down) when John saw it. “From heaven” would indicate that the person represented probably claimed divine honors. The pronoun “him” shows that a person is meant. The “abyss” means the abode of Satan and evil spirits. (20:1-3.) The “key” given him indicates his power to turn loose the multitude of evil workers described in the following verses.
2 And he opened the pit of the abyss and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.–There poured out of the open pit smoke as if coming from a furnace. Such a smoke would darken the sun in the section where it spread. This emblem indicated some evil influence coming directly or indirectly from Satan. Probably referred to false teaching which would darken the minds of men.
3 And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth ; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.–There is nothing in verses 1 and 2 to indicate either time or place for the fulfillment of the vision. The word “locusts” is the first significant term. John saw them upon the earth; hence, they must represent a host of men bent on some evil work. The description of the locusts (verses 7-11) will not allow them to be understood literally. In the eighth plague of Egypt the locusts came from the east–that is, from Arabia. (Exo 10:12-15.) This, doubtless, indicates that the hosts they represent would come from that part of the world, and would strike its blow against the Eastern Empire, the capital of which was Constantinople. If so, the fallen star was Mahomet, and the vision was fulfilled in the rise and spread of Mahometanism. This is the view of several expositors, and is accepted here as the view that best accords with all the facts. Since the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern, the fall of the Western in 476 left the Eastern standing. Against this the Mahometans came in the first part of the seventh century. The history, then, if the facts fit the vision, will justify the application to them. The sting of the scorpion is extremely painful, indicating the terrible damage and distress to be accomplished by the powers they represent.
4 And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads.–Real locusts would destroy grass, vegetation, and leaves. Those John saw were forbidden to damage vegetation; hence, they were symbolical of something else. Regarding the invasion of Syria (A.D. 632), Abubeker, the successor of Mahomet, said: “Destroy no palm trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit trees.” (Decline and Fall, Vol. 5, p. 189.) This is another significant item in helping to identify the Mahometan scourge as the fulfillment of this emblem. Hurting men on earth is a feature that must be taken literally, as there is no other apparent way to understand it. Another proof that in symbolical passages some things may be understood literally. Seal on forehead indicates a convert–one who receives a doctrine in the mind. The command not to hurt such shows that the vision refers to a religious conflict. The text does not say who gave the command to hurt only those not sealed. If from Satan, then it could mean those who would not accept Mahomet as a prophet of God, which he claimed to be. His converts would be considered as having God’s seal on their foreheads. It seems improbable that the leader of such a host would have respected the true people of God.
5 And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man.–This does not mean that no individuals would be killed; wars of invasion do not usually result that way. But the purpose was not to kill, but to convert men to the so-called prophet. Killing would have defeated that purpose with those destroyed. They were to be tormented with ills comparable to the stings of scorpions. This was clearly the nature of the Mahometan scourge. It is not credible that such a torment as here described would last only five literal months—–150 days. Hence, the prophetic day, according to Eze 4:6, is probably meant. That means a day stands for a year, and the torment would last 150 years. Expositors are not agreed on the date when this period of time began, but this is an immaterial point since we know that about this time (seventh century) the followers of Mahomet started out to make the world submit to the Koran.
6 And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it; and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.–This language indicates that the torment was to be so terrible that men would desire death as a release, but would not find it.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as men’s faces.–This is how the locusts appeared to John–what he saw in the vision. Horses prepared for war would indicate warfare, and probably cavalry in the main. Such seems to have been the Mahometan method of war. The words “as it were” show that what they wore on their heads were neither crowns nor gold, but only what looked like crowns made of gold. If the Mahometans are represented by this symbol, their yellow turbans would fill the demand for this part of the picture. Faces like men must be in contrast with the faces of women. The essential difference is that men’s faces grow beards. As the Arabians wore beards, this feature of the symbol would also fit them.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.–The women wore long hair. (1Co 11:15.) As a fulfillment of this some refer to the Arabian poem, “Antar,” from which Elliott (Vol. I, p. 438) quotes as follows: “lie adjusted himself properly, twirled his whiskers, and folded up his hair under his turban, drawing it from off his shoulders.”
Teeth like those of lions indicate the fierceness with which they would prosecute their operations. That the Arabians were fierce and unmerciful in forcing submission to Mahometan teaching is perfectly evident from their history. This characteristic is manifested in their actions more than any other feature of the Mahometan soldier. It would be nothing against this interpretation if some feature in the symbol found no likeness in the thing represented; for in all figurative language only similarity is necessary to justify the comparison, not likeness in everything. This is true of parables, metaphors, or other figures. Hence, it could be true in these symbols as well.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war.–The locusts had breastplates that looked like iron. This would indicate the strong protection they would have against their enemies. Mahomet said to his soldiers: “God hath given you coats of mail to defend you in your wars.” The sound of the wings of the locusts seemed to John as the onrushing of war chariots. Doubtless this was a fair representation of the way that the Arabian cavalry made their charges. To say the least, there are too many similaritiesbetween the locusts and the Arabian soldiers to deny that they may be the ones indicated by the symbol.
10 And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.–See notes on verse 3. As the sting of the scorpion’s tail would be intensely painful, so the torment inflicted by the Mahometan army would be fearful torture. On the five months see notes on verse 5. It does not mean that this false religious system would last only 150 years, but that the torment would continue that long. The history of the Mahometan scourge harmonizes with that fact.
11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and n the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.–The king over the locusts is said to have been the angel (messenger) of the abyss. If the application to the Mahometan scourge is correct, the king or leader was first Mahomet and then his successors, the Caliphs. But the real leader was Satan himself who inspires and influences men in all evil. These Hebrew and Greek words both mean destroyer, a term which accurately describes the work of Satan. On the word “abyss” see notes on verse 1.
12 The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.–This verse simply announces the interval between the first and second woes, but gives no hint as to the time limit –the beginning or ending of either.
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS
Some further facts should be observed here, if the symbol is correctly applied to the Mahometan uprising. Note the following:
1. As collected from various sources these items give the general history of the movement. Mahomet was born about A.D. 570, and in due time became one of the most effective false teachers known to the world. He began his preaching privately in A.D. 609, and his public work in 612. In 632 the Saracens left Arabia to begin their work in forcing the world to accept the Koran; in 634 the city of Damascus was taken Jerusalem fell to them in 637, and Alexandria in Egypt in 640. Elliott (Vol. I, p. 449) says that in ten years, 634 to 644, the Caliph had reduced 36,000 cities or castles to obedience, destroying 4,000 churches, and built 1,400 mosques for the worship of Mahomet. Twice, 675 and 716, they besieged Constantinople, but were repulsed each time; in 762 their capital was moved from Damascus to Bagdad on the Tigris River, and was called “the city of peace.” From this time, says Gibbon (Vol. V, p. 300), “War was no longer the passion of the Saracens.”
A.D. 609, 612, and 632 are all suggested dates to begin the 150-year period. If 612, the time that Mahomet began public preaching, be taken, the period ended with the founding of Bagdad, when war ceased as their passion. This is as probable as any, and fits this feature of the symbol.
2. If it be contended that Mahometanism fails as an unquestionable fulfillment of the symbol, the fact remains that something in that general period of the world must be its fulfillment. To say the least, the Mahometan effort to subvert the whole world to the worship of the prophet may be the thing represented. This false religion came into existence at the right time, swept the nations like a raging forest fire, and forced hundreds of thousands into submission. It would be remarkably strange if it were not included in a book of prophetic symbols touching the welfare of the church.
Commentary on Rev 9:1-12 by Foy E. Wallace
The smoke of the pit–(the fifth trumpet)-Rev 9:1-12.
1. A fallen star: I saw a star fall from heaven-Rev 9:1.
The star, as in previous instances where the symbol is used, denoted a ruler; and heaven in this connection, as also previously shown, denoted the dominion of these powers. When Jesus said in Luk 10:18, I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven, he meant the complete defeat of all the personified agents of Satan. By his fall from heaven, Jesus meant that Satan would be dethroned from his exalted dominion; and his downfall would come swiftly as lightning in the shaping conflict.
When the prophet said of a Babylonian ruler, in Isa 14:12 –“How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer (brilliant star), son of the morning; how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations–it referred to the downfall of the ruler, personified as Lucifer. The name Lucifer in the Septuagint, is translated Star, which was represented as falling from heaven–the wicked kings exalted place of dominion.
The figure is no different in this Revelation vision. The star is personified in the persecuting ruler. He was designated a star fallen from heaven for the wicked character that he exemplified in the descension from his exalted place of rulership to the satanic plane of a perfidious leader of impious forces. The star falling from heaven unto the earth merely denoted the descent of the ruler from an exalted dominion to a degenerate place of activity among the powers of men.
2. The key to the bottomless pit: And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit-Rev 9:1.
The bottomless pit is the abyss, the infernal region, the diabolical domain of the devil. This fallen star being an agent of Satan personified, he was given the key to the abyss of Satan, that he might unloose the woes announced by the flying angel of Rev 8:13.
The smoke of the pit: And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened –Rev 9:2.
The pit is the infernal underworld, the dark abode of demons (Luk 8:31). Here the angel has the key to open it–unloose it–hence, an evil angel, in contrast with the angel with the chain in chapter 20, to bind. The smoke of the pit as a furnace, similar to destruction that came upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:28), the smoke of a pit sending forth effects of pollution and contamination.
Darkening the sun and the air: This was not the eclipse of the sun as in previous symbols, but the veiling of the sun by reason of the smoke of the pit. Here also instead of the sun and the moon being darkened, as before, it is the sun and the air.
As noted under the classification of symbols in the preview, the air is the symbol denoting the sphere of life and influence. As the blackout of the sun symbolized the dark distress that hovered over the land, the blackened air, by reason of the smoke of the pit, signifies with the same vividity the corruption of the whole sphere of life by this figure of the complete pollution of the air by the smoke of the infernal pit.
Locusts upon the earth: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power”-Rev 9:3.
In Bible times the word locust was applied as widely and as loosely, it seems, as the word worm in our various uses. But in scripture apocalypses, both Old and New, the reference is to a large and vile insect of such multiplicity and voracity as to be a dreaded source of scourge. These insects borne by the wind in swift swarms hundreds of miles were known to the people of Palestine as burners of the land, a phrase derived from the literal meaning of locust. It was their nature to be together, flying in vast numbers, spoiling the grain, infecting the part they did not eat, and poisoning the very air through which they swarmed. A scourge of locusts ended with the decomposition of several millions of the vile things, and resulted in pestilence that afflicted the land, with heavy death toll. (Joe 2:20) One historical example is on record as occurring 125 B.C., when the swarms were driven by strong winds into the sea, and washed back by the tide in such vast numbers as to cause a stench and a plague from which several thousand people died in the countries of Libya, Cyrene and Egypt.
From the time of Moses they were the instruments of divine judgment as in Exo 10:4-15; Deu 28:38-42; 1Ki 8:37. The prophet Joel makes this locust the figurative instrument of fearful visitation in his vivid description of the devastating march of the Assyrian armies through the land. (Joe 2:9-11.)
It is this symbolic locust, swarming from the smoke of the abyss as a scourge upon the earth,loch that is employed in the vision here, to signify the woe being pronounced by the angel of the fifth trumpet upon Jerusalem and the land of the Jews. By the same symbol Joel described the invading armies of Israel’s Old Testament history (Joe 1:4-6)–a striking parallel.
Unto them was given power as the scorpions of earth: The scorpion is described as a small venomous reptile (Deu 8:15) having a bladder full of poison. Its anatomical description gives it two eyes in its mid-head, and another two eyes toward its extremity; with two arms like claws, eight legs with six talons each; a long tail like a string of beads, with two stingers full of poison, which it squirts into the object of its sting. This creature is used in the scripture figuratively to denote the wicked who torment the good. (Eze 2:6) Jesus used it as a figure in promising his disciples power over every evil thing or agent that Satan could employ to their hurt (Luk 10:19). In the present vision of chapter 9 the locusts from the abyss were given the power of the scorpions of the earth–signifying the affiliation of all the evil forces of the infernal underworld to be personified in the characters of wicked rulers.
Hurt not grass, green thing, tree: And it commanded them not to hurt the grass, or the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads-Rev 9:4.
In Rev 8:7 the signal of the first trumpet was in the judgment against the land, symbolized by that which was in nature of it. But this first woe of chapter 9 does not have the destruction of the physical powers as its object, but the spiritual.
But only those who have not the seal: The sealed of God were the true disciples whom the scorpion power was commanded not to hurt; and it corresponds with Luk 21:25-28, Look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. Matthew describes in Msy 24:15- 30, the escape of the disciples; and so does Luke in Luk 21:18.
Should not kill: And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a Prayer of Manasseh-Rev 9:5.
The victims were not put to death–the descriptions of the siege of Jerusalem.
But tormented five months: This referred to the literal period of time for the season of locusts, from spring to autumn (May to September), but here it figuratively denoted the full time, the whole period for the effects described, designating figuratively the period of the siege.
Torment as of a scorpion when he strikes man: The baneful effects of the siege on its victims had figuratively all of the sting of the scorpions tail-sorrow, suffering, famine, pestilence, carnage, stench and putrefaction, indescribable. Vivid description of these deadly carriers of the scourge of pestilence and putrefaction are narrated in dictionaries of antiquities and historical works, such as Josephus and Pliny.
Seeking death–In those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it”-Rev 9:6.
For comparison read Luk 21:26, Mat 24:22, and Mar 13:12; Mar 13:20 -the Lords own predictions concerning these events. There could be no fitter application of these symbols than the tragic conditions attending the siege of Jerusalem, as described in the graphic language of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
The horse-like locusts.And the shapes of the locusts were like the shapes of horses prepared for battle”-Rev 9:7.
Shapes like horses: The composite appearance of the locusts-shape of horses for battle, heads as gold crowns, faces of men–shows this symbolism to be that of the rulers with their armies of destruction. The locusts were seen as horses prepared for battle, as the horses in cavalry battalions.
Heads as crowns: The heads of the locusts were seen as crowns like gold signifying that they were the armies of the Roman generals Vespasian and Titus, both of whom were given imperial crowns, in connection with their invasions of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem.
Faces as faces of men: The faces of the locusts, as men, identifies the symbolism with the imperial armies invading the holy land as swarms of locusts. It is not a new form of apocalypse at all. The prophetic vision in Joe 1:1-6; Joe 2:1-4 was the description of the invasion of the land of Judea by the armies of the north (Joe 1:6; Joe 2:20), as a baneful swarm of locusts, having both animal-like and humanlike forms-The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so shall they run. These visions of Joel, and of other pre-exile prophets, foretold the fall of Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar, having besieged the city, shut its inhabitants within the walls, inflicting upon them all the horrors of famine, pestilence and war, eventually burning the temple and its buildings, razing the walls, and reducing the city to rubbish and ruin–all the dreadful horrors of which were depicted by both Jeremiah and Joel.
As the prophet Joels apocalypse of the invasion of locusts concerned the Jerusalem of about B. C. 600, this vision of Johns apocalypse concerned the Jerusalem of A. D. 70, when Vespasian and Titus executed the imperial orders of Nero to besiege and destroy the city, the miseries of which exceeded all of its calamitous history before and after.
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that desolation is near . . . for these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Luk 21:20; Luk 21:22.
For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Mat 24:22.
For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation, which God created unto this time, neither shall be. Mar 13:19.
The cumulative evidence is preponderant that Johns visions encompass the invasion of Judea and the fall of Jerusalem described by Jesus in the records of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
The locust features: And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth as the teeth of lions”-Rev 9:8.
The hair of women: The kind of insect forming this vision was that of the hairy species referred to in Jer 51:27 as rough caterpillars, or the cankerworm of the Revised Version, but is admittedly the variety of the devouring locust with a sort of bristling long hair. The comparison with the hair of women is because of the feature that draws attention, as the waving hair, the abundance of which is the womans natural glory– Joh 11:2; Joh 12:3; 1Co 11:14-15. It is used as a figure to impress the personality of the locust creatures of this vision.
The teeth of lions: The same figure is used in Joels vision of the army of locusts, which signified that a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. (Joe 1:6) It is a symbol of strength, as the frequent expression to put teeth in legislation, and is designed to personify the locusts of this vision.
The locusts of war: And they had breast plates as it were of iron-Rev 9:9
Breastplates of iron: The breastplate is the armor of war. Its figurative use here is sufficiently obvious, showing the symbolic locusts to be men of war, and the whole scene descriptive of the Vespasian march on Jerusalem. The locusts were seen as haberdashed with breastplates of iron, as if shielded by the Roman soldiers impenetrable coat of mail, encompassing the vital portions of the body. The figure of iron connected with breastplate denotes the irresistible force of the armies of invasion.
Sound of wings as chariots: The whirling of myriad wings of the locusts were in sound as the wheels of bustling chariots and hustling horses racing to battle. Here again John joins Joel in the imagery of war in their respective visions of the locusts. Describing the Chaldean armies as swarms of locusts in their march on Jerusalem B.C. 584, Joel said: The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains shall they leap . . . as a strong people set in battle array. The locust visions of Joel and John are parallel–the former describing the Old Testament war of Nebuchadnezzar on the Jews, the latter the Neroan war of A. D. 70 on Judea and Jerusalem. Joel referred to the locusts as people set in battle array, or battle formation. John referred to the locusts as chariots running to battle. The parallels and the applications are unmistakable.
The Power to hurt: And they had tails like scorpions, and their power was to hurt men five months. -Rev 9:10.
Tails like scorpions: This is a reemphasis of Rev 9:5 with extended detail. These were unusual locusts, showing that they were figurative, not literal. The locusts had tails like scorpions–unlike the serpent that coils and strikes with the head, the scorpion strikes with its tail. The usual length of the scorpion was about two inches, but large scorpions of the deadly species exceeded six inches. Its sting produced violent convulsions, excruciating pain and death. In this vision it symbolizes the deadly striking power of the invading army.
Power to hurt five months: In Rev 9:5 the expression is tormented five months; here it is power to hurt men five months. The season of the locust was from late spring to early fall of the year, May to September in our calendar. The expression five months, being the whole season of the locust, figuratively denotes the activity of the persecuting powers through the period of tribulation without surcease.
The king of the pit: They had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit-Rev 9:11.
A king, angel of bottomless pit: The king over them –over this ferocious locust army, was the angel-king of the abyss; he was Satan personified in the persecutor. As in later chapters (Rev 12:9-12; Rev 20:2) the dragon-beast, the old serpent, was called the Devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world, the king of this army of the abyss was Satan himself, represented in the persecuting power. Undoubtedly, Paul has reference to the persecutor when in Rom 16:20 he said, The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
In early chapters reference was made to the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9); Satans seat (Rev 2:13); and the depths of Satan (Rev 2:24). The epithet itself means adversary, enemy, accuser. It comports fully with the symbolism of these visions that Satan, angel-king of the abyss, should be personified by the persecutors in this vision.
Abaddon, Apollyon: The Hebrew word Abaddon means destroyer. The Greek word Apollyon means the same. The word Satan means adversary, but in this vision the adversary was given power todestroy. Verse 9 above says the power was given. Jesus said to Pilate: Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above. (Joh 20:11) By reason of this power of destruction personified, the angel-king Destroyer (Abaddon-Apollyon) was so designated. It was most apropos to so entitle the impious leader of such a monstrous army of horrid creatures of the abyss, to thus liken the literal emperor of the Roman world to the figurative king of the underworld.
The depths of Satan is the boldest delineation, the personification of whom code language alone could allow, as in a later chapter it was again done in the name and number of the beast. And to so label this monarch of oppression a despot; the destroyer in both of the two spoken languages– Abaddon and Apollyon, the Hebrew and Greek–was a challenge to boldness which must have excited courage and inspired fortitude in all the suffering saints.
The woes: One woe is past, behold there come two woes more hereafter-Rev 9:12.
In 8:13 the flying angel announced three woes to enhance solemnity. Now, it was John speaking, not the angel, not the eagle, not one of the elders, nor one of the creatures, but John. As if to mark by count the three woes announced by the angel in Rev 8:13, in recording tones John said: One woe is past: and, behold there come two woes more hereafter.
A retrospective comment is in order here on the meaning of the expression third part in the beginning of fifth trumpet-Rev 9:7-8; Rev 9:10; Rev 9:12 –finds explanation in the three woes, each announcement of the angel representing a third part of the whole realm of the woes.
Commentary on Rev 9:1-12 by Walter Scott
TWO FALLEN STARS.
Rev 9:1 – A star out of the Heaven fallen to the earth. The Authorized Version reads, I saw a star fall from Heaven, whereas what the Seer beheld was the star when fallen, not in the act of falling.
Under the third and fifth Trumpets (Rev 8:10; Rev 9:1) apostate personages of high position and of commanding influence figure in the prophetic scene. The great star of Rev 8:10 and the star of Rev 9:1 do not set forth systems of civil or ecclesiastical power singly or combined, nor a succession of eminent persons, but point to those once set in the moral Heaven, i.e., recognized authorities of a religious character now fallen and degraded and acting under satanic influence. In the earlier reference (Rev 8:10) the degraded ruler fills the western part of the Roman world (the guiltiest) with misery and death. In the later scene he is about to let loose the malignant and darkening power of Satan on the apostate part of Judah. (Judah, in the coming crisis, in her closing hour of sorrow and unbelief, and previous to the public intervention of Christ on her behalf, seems to be completely under the power and influence of Satan. The last state of Israel is worse than the first. Idolatry rampant in the land (Mat 12:45), and her chiefs and guides in league with death and hell (Isa 28:15-18), make an awful picture of combined satanic and human wickedness.) Apostate Gentiles are the subjects of judgment under the third Trumpet; apostate Jews are the sufferers under the fifth Trumpet. The state of things under the first Woe, or fifth Trumpet, surpasses anything we have hitherto witnessed. Direct satanic influence and power energize the agents and instruments of evil.
HISTORICAL RESEMBLANCE AND SEQUENCE.
Under the successive judgments and events revealed in the Apocalypse a certain historical correspondence and sequence may be traced. But by no means a partial, much less an exhaustive, fulfilment is to be sought for in the annals of the historian.
The Revelation, from chapter 4 to 22: 5, is not history, but prophecy. The shadows only of the future are thrown on the masterly pages of Gibbon and others. But inasmuch as the principles which govern men and nations are ever the same, for there is nothing new under the sun, an historical resemblance to the prophecies under the Seals, Trumpets, and Vials is fully allowed. We are satisfied, however, that the historical application of the Apocalypse, especially the central part, as set forth in most of the literature on the subject today, is a serious mistake. The course of prophecy is resumed in connection with the last of Daniels 70 weeks or 490 years (Dan 9:27), and after the translation of the heavenly saints (1Th 4:17). Paul witnesses to the translation. John in the Apocalypse views the translated in Heaven (Rev 4:1-11). The whole of this Church period, the history of Christianity itself, is a great and intensely interesting episode, and has its place between the close of the sixty-ninth and the opening of the seventieth week of Daniel, and yet forming no part of either. The Church is not the subject of prophecy but of Revelation. It was a mystery hidden from men and angels till revealed to and by Paul to us (Eph 3:1-21). The Jew, and subordinately the Gentile, is the subject of prophecy. The supreme importance of the Jew is the key to unlock prophecy. The prophetic periods are all in relation to the Jews and Jerusalem (Dan 9:24) (Seventy weeks (490 years) are determined upon thy people (the Jews), and upon thy holy city (Jerusalem).); those contained in the central part of the Apocalypse equally so. But, as we have said, history presents a resemblance (not fulfilment) to the prophetic portions of the Apocalypse; a resemblance not devoid of interest. According to the ablest of the historical school – and in this there is substantial agreement amongst his confreres – the first four Seals represent four successive periods of pagan Rome. Then on the downfall of paganism and the historical triumph of Christianity large numbers, both of Jews and Gentiles, were converted to God, and of this it is supposed Rev 7:1-17 speaks. Then the first four Trumpets are said to pertain still to pagan Rome, but in its decline, downfall, and extinction in the west. The northern irruptions of Gothic, Lombard, and Hungarian into the fertile fields and rich and prosperous towns of Italy soon culminated in the destruction of the empire of the Caesars. The rule of the uncivilised barbarian in Rome itself, once the proud and haughty mistress of the world, was a sorrowful but instructive spectacle. Rome fell A.D. 476.
Again, the fallen star of Rev 9:1-21 is generally supposed to point to the great Arabian impostor Mohammed, and certainly he may well be regarded as the prototype of the coming false prophet, the man of sin, and the Antichrist – titles referring to one and the same person. Mohammed (Mohammed (lit. The Praised One) was born in Arabia, at the famous city of Mecca, A.D. 570. The Koran (lit. The Reading) is the Bible of the Mohammedan world, and was cleverly compiled by Mohammed, partly from materials supplied by a renegade Jew and an apostate Christian, and added to by the impostor himself as occasion required. Whatever is really good in it is from Judaism and Christianity. But there is much that is disgusting and filthy in the book. Mohammedanism as a system is the greatest curse on the face of the earth, and has effected the spiritual ruin today of fully 150 millions of the earths teeming population, and what of the countless millions in the past who lived and died in the faith of the hellish creed of the Arabian prophet? The professing Church has broken up into fragments, and by far the largest and worst of these fragments is Roman Catholicism. But bad as it is, with its mixture of paganism and Christianity, Mohammedanism is infinitely worse. Its founder was, without doubt, devil inspired. Mohammed, the fallen star, opened the pit and let loose the darkening power of Satan, and flooded the east, and partially the west, with doctrines which can justly be termed hellish in their nature and effects. For information on this system of deadly error, see Studies in Mohammedanism, by J. J. Pool.) founded the most satanic system the world has ever known. The Antichrist yet to come will head up under Satan the most awful combination of soul-destroying and blasphemous doctrines conceivable. Pursuing the historical application, the locust army would be the Saracens, whose military achievements, equalled by their spiritual conquests, are a wonder to this day. The east was conquered. The Crescent displaced the Cross. The ruin of the east may be well likened to a locust devastation. Only the glorious victory of Charles the Hammer (so termed because of his military prowess) at Tours, in France, checked the career of the Saracenic host and preserved the west as a whole from Mohammedan apostasy, with its awful consequences for time and eternity. The five months of torment (Rev 9:10) are supposed to refer to the 150 years of unchecked conquest by the Moslem hordes on the year-day theory. Then the sixth Trumpet, or second Woe, is applied to the revival of Mohammedanism under the Turks, and the extinction of the Greek-Roman empire in the ever memorable siege and capture of Constantinople. For nearly eight hundred years repeated efforts had been made to establish Islamism in the eastern half of the empire, but beautiful Constantinople, standing on the borders of Europe and Asia – the Bosphorus dividing the two continents – defied capture. Its hour, however, had come. The decree had gone forth. Mohammed the Second entered Constantinople on the morning of the 29th May, 1453. The great Greek Church was purified and then transformed into a mosque, and the Crescent floated over the walls of the city of the Caesars.
But the corrupt Turkish power is waning, and the predicted drying up of the Euphrates (Rev 16:12), that famous river, is claimed by historicalists to point to that cruel Mohammedan power now and for many years past almost tottering to its fall. Its complete destruction is certain. Such, then, in brief, are a few of the leading points in which, in the interpretation of the prophetic parts of the Apocalypse, the historical school feel on firm ground. In our judgment the position is untenable. It is an impossibility to square these prophetic visions with the facts of history. There is at the most but a general resemblance, and fulfilment in the past of the visions and prophecies there is not. God will Amen them to the full in that brief and solemn crisis for Israel and Christendom, after the translation of the heavenly saints, in the coming reign of Antichrist and his political chief and confederate, the Beast or revived empire, with its great personal head, the little horn of the west (Dan 7:7-8).
THE FALLEN STAR; OR, THE PERSONAL ANTICHRIST
The rise of a personal Antichrist in the last dark days of Gentile and Jewish apostasy was an undoubted article of belief in apostolic and succeeding Christian times. There have been many Antichrists and antichristian systems of deadly error, but there is yet a blacker outlook. The Antichrist to come, an apostate of Jewish extraction, will be the incarnation of satanic wickedness and the greatest soul-destroyer who has ever trod the earth; moreover, he will sum up in himself every form and phase of sin, and head the most awful system of corrupt and damnable evil ever known – a combination of Jewish and Christian profession, and natural religion too – in open daring rebellion against God. He assumes Christs place, titles, and functions on earth. He works miracles. Supernatural signs accredit his mission, and by these he deceives guilty Christendom, and thus lures it on to hopeless destruction.
It is during the last phase of the revived power of Rome when distributed into ten kingdoms that the personal Antichrist arises. (The rise of the Antichrist – after the subversion of the one undivided empire of the Caesars, and during its prophetic revival when portioned into ten kingdoms with a great central and controlling chief – was taught and expounded with confidence, definiteness, and unanimity by the whole body of patristic writers. – The Antichrist Legend, Englished from the German W. Bousset. There may be much in this remarkable work to condemn, but it contains a vast amount of able research and valuable information as to what the early Christians taught and held on the doctrine of a personal Antichrist.) This final character of Rome was therefore dreaded by the early Christians. In their minds the future revival of the civil power of Rome and the presence of the Antichrist were coeval and connected events. They were wont to pray for the continuance of the empire in its imperial form, and even for the rule of the cruellest of the Caesars, as the last bulwark against the coming sway of the Antichrist. The subject of the Antichrist was a common one to the fathers of the Church. Some held that he was the devil incarnate; others spoke of him as the devils son. The relation of Satan and the Antichrist in the traditional lore of the first four Christian centuries may be resolved into two distinct thoughts: first, that the coming Antichrist (as delineated by John), or the man of sin (as described by Paul), is a real man of earthly Jewish parentage, controlled directly by Satan; second, that he is Satan incarnate, and thus in his conception simulating the miraculous birth of our blessed Lord. The former notion is undoubtedly the scriptural one, and it is an interesting fact that Jerome in the west, and Chrysostom in the east, distinctly taught that the Antichrist is a man energised by Satan, in direct opposition to those who maintained that he was the devil in human form. Henceforth the assumption that the Antichrist is the devil himself practically dies out of ecclesiastical tradition. The early Christians regarded Nero (It was during the reign of Nero, that Christianity and paganism first came into open conflict. The history of these thirteen years, in which for the first time persecution of the Christian, was legalized by imperial edict, has never yet been fully written. The unchronicled events of that reign await full disclosure at the judgment seat of Christ.) and Claudius, especially the former, as precursors of the Antichrist. The almost superhuman wickedness of Nero marks him out in the page of history as the most apt and fitting historical type of the coming man of sin and blood.
The mass of Protestant expositors apply the term Antichrist to the papal system. But this we conceive is a blunder. The term Antichrist, whether employed in the singular or plural, denotes a person or persons, never a system. The Roman Catholic interpreters have written much and learnedly on this theme, and, we are compelled to add, more correctly than many of their Protestant opponents. The former look on to the end for the rise of a personal Antichrist, (To the Protestant the Pope is an Antichrist. To the Papist Luther is an Antichrist. Both are wrong, for both miss the scriptural characteristics of Antichrist, and these, as described by John and Paul, do not apply to the Pope, much less to the illustrious reformer.) and in this they are right. He is yet to come. Dr. Manning, one of the most distinguished of Roman Catholics, held that the Antichrist, or the man of sin, is one individual, and neither a succession of persons nor a system. He says: To deny the personality of Antichrist is therefore to deny the plain testimony of Holy Scripture. (The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ.) The learned Cardinal adds: He (the Antichrist) may indeed embody a spirit, and represent a system, but is not less therefore a person. (Dr. Manning further shows that the rise of the papacy in the west and its hindrance in the east is accounted for in the fact that the throne of the Caesars removed from Rome paved the way for the establishment of Roman Catholicism in Italy; whereas the political imperial power in Constantinople hindered and checked the claims of the papacy in the east. This witness is true.) Bellarmine, second to none as a Roman Catholic writer, tersely sums up papal belief on the subject of the Antichrist, saying, All Catholics hold that Antichrist will be one individual person. One special person, a man, a Jew, an apostate, is the Antichrist of the prophetic Scriptures.
Some modern expositors regard the Antichrist as the civil head of the Roman empire, but this is not so. He is the false messiah, the minister of Satan amongst the Jews in Jerusalem, working signs and displaying wonders through direct satanic power. He sits in the temple of God then set up in Jerusalem, and claims divine worship. The Beast (Rome), the false prophet or the Antichrist, and the dragon (Satan) are deified and worshipped, counterfeiting the worship of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The apostate nation accepts the Antichrist as king. In no sense is he a great political power. True, he influences Christendom, but religiously, not politically. The government of the world, civil and political, is then in the hands of a great Gentile chief. It is he whose throne is in Rome who rules politically under Satan. The Antichrist has his seat in Jerusalem. The head of Gentile dominion in Rome. The two men are ministers of Satan, confederates in wickedness; the one a Jew, the other a Gentile. Both exist at the Coming of the Lord in judgment, and both are then consigned alive to the lake of fire – an eternal doom.
The term Antichrist is used only by the writer of the Apocalypse, and by him four times (1Jn 2:18; 1Jn 2:22; 1Jn 4:3; 2Jn 1:7), and once in the plural (1Jn 2:18). From these texts we gather several important points. The rise of Antichrists is a definite mark of the last time; they are apostates. The Antichrist sets himself in direct opposition to what is vital in Christianity – the revelation of the Father and of the Son – and also to the distinguishing truth of Judaism – Jesus the Christ (1Jn 2:22). The holy Person of the Lord is also the object of satanic attack by Antichrists (2Jn 1:7). Evil of this character is found fully developed in the coming Antichrist, in whom every form of religious evil culminates.
Paul, in one of his earliest and briefest epistles (2 Thess.), sketches a personage characterized by impiety, lawlessness, and assumption towering far beyond all the world has ever seen, a character clearly identical with the Antichrist of John. They are one and the same person, and on this, in all ages, there has been an almost complete concensus of opinion.
It is evident that Paul had personally instructed the Thessalonian Christians on the solemn subjects of the coming apostasy or public abandonment of Christianity, and, consequent thereon, the revelation of the man of sin (2Th 2:5). He now adds to former verbal instruction. There are three descriptive epithets here used of the Antichrist: The lawless one (R.V.), the man of sin, and the son of perdition. The first intimates that he sets himself in direct opposition to all divine and human authority. The second, that he is the living and active embodiment of every form and character of evil – sin personified. The third, that he is the full-blown development of the power of Satan, and as such perdition is his proper doom and portion. This frightful character usurps Gods place on earth, and sits in the temple then set up in Jerusalem, claiming divine worship and honour (Rev 9:4). His religious influence, for he is not a political person of any account, dominates the mass of professing Christians and Jews. They are caught in Satans snare. They had already given God up, had publicly renounced the Christian faith and the essential truth of Judaism, and now in retributive justice He gives them up to the awful delusion of receiving the man of sin whilst believing him to be the true messiah (Rev 9:11). What a lie! The Antichrist received and believed on instead of the Christ of God! If verse 9 is compared with Act 2:22 a remarkable correspondence is shown. The very same terms are found in both texts, namely, power, signs, and wonders. By these God would accredit the mission and service of Jesus of Nazareth (Act 2:22), and by the same credentials Satan presents the Antichrist to an apostate world (2Th 2:9). In the latter case, however, lying and deceit significantly characterise the more than human signs of that day (2Th 2:9-10).
The Lord Himself refers to the Antichrist and to his acceptance by the Jews as their messiah and prophet (Joh 5:43). In the book of Psalms he is prophetically written of in his character as the man of the earth (Psa 10:18), as also the bloody and deceitful man (Psa 5:6), whilst these descriptive epithets are in themselves characteristic of the wicked in general in the coming crisis, yet there is one person, and but one, to whom they can in the fullest sense refer. It is the character of the Antichrist, and not his person, that is before us in these and other Psalms.
Daniel in chapter 11 of his prophecy refers to three kings: The king of the north (Syria); the king of the south (Egypt); and the king in Palestine (the Antichrist). The wars, family alliances, and intrigue so minutely detailed in the first thirty-five verses of this interesting chapter have had an exact historical fulfilment in the history of the Syrian and Egyptian kingdoms formed after the break up of the mighty Grecian empire. It was this prophecy in its literal and detailed fulfilment which so roused the ire of that bitter pagan and opponent of divine truth, Porphyry, in the third century. His Treatise against Christians is the armory which from the seventeenth century has supplied material for attacks upon Christianity. Think of Christian (?) teachers eagerly availing themselves of the help of a pagan philosopher in their wicked campaign against the truth!
In verse 36 the king is abruptly introduced into the history. This king is the Antichrist whose reign in Palestine precedes that of the true Messiah, even as King Saul preceded King David, the former pointing to the anti-Christian king, and the latter to Christ, the true King of Israel. This portion of the chapter (Dan 11:36-45) is yet future, carrying us on to the time of the end (Dan 11:40). The king exalts himself, and magnifies himself above man and every god. The pride of the devil is embodied in this terrible Jewish character. Gods place alone will satisfy his ambition. What a contrast to the true Messiah, to Jesus Who humbled Himself as none other ever did. He Who was God humbled Himself, even to the death of the cross (Php 2:5-8).
That the Antichrist is of Jewish descent seems evident from Dan 11:37, as also from the consideration that otherwise he could have no claim even with apostate Jews to the throne of Israel. The king, or the Antichrist, is attacked from the north and south, his land, Palestine, lying between the two. He is unable, even with the help of his ally, the powerful chief of the west, to ward off the repeated attacks of his northern and southern enemies. The former is the more bitter and determined of the two. Palestine is overrun by the conquering forces of the north; but its king, the Antichrist, escapes the vengeance of the great northern oppressor, of whom Antiochus Epiphanes of infamous memory is the prototype. The Antichrist is the subject of the Lords judgment at His Return from Heaven (Rev 19:20).
In the Apocalypse, chapter 13, two Beasts are seen in vision. The first is the Roman power and its blasphemous head under the direct control of Satan (Rev 13:1-10). The second Beast is the personal Antichrist (Rev 13:11-17). The first is characterized by brute force. It is the political power of earth in those days, and the one to whom Satan gave his power, and his throne, and great authority (Rev 13:2). The second Beast is clearly subordinate to the power of the first (Rev 13:12). It is religious, not political, ends he has in view. Religious pretension is supported by the might and strength of apostate Rome; thus the two Beasts act together under their great chief, Satan. The three are jointly worshipped.
The second Beast, or Antichrist, is identical with the false prophet, named three times (Rev 16:13; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10). The respective heads of the rebellion against Christ in His royal and prophetic rights are two men directly controlled and energised by Satan – a trinity of evil. The dragon has given his external power to the first Beast (Rev 13:8); to the second he gives his spirit, so that having this spirit it speaks as a dragon (v. 11).(Daniel and the Revelation. p. 309. – Auberlen.)
Finally, Zechariah refers to the Antichrist as the idol shepherd, utterly regardless of the flock (Israel) over whom he assumes royal, priestly, and prophetic power. But his boasted authority (his arm) and vaunted intelligence (his right eye) by which his pretensions in the land are supported are utterly blasted, while personally he is cast alive into the eternal abode of misery, the lake of fire (Zec 11:15-17; Rev 19:20).
In our judgment, therefore, the fallen star under the first Woe unmistakably designates the Antichrist. To whom other of the apocalyptic personages could the description apply? The spiritual aims and religious pretensions of Satan are supported and enforced by the Antichrist, whilst his temporal sovereignty on earth is established in the kingdom and person of the Roman prince. (The blessed Lord peremptorily refused to accept from Satan universal lordship and glory (Mat 4:8-9). But the coming prince will gladly receive both at the hands of Satan; the awful compact is ratified, the Beast worships the dragon, and Satan then endows his political minister with the worlds sovereignty.)
Now the agony here depicted is that of soul and conscience; not bodily anguish. The Antichrist seems the devils chosen instrument in the infliction of the former, whereas in the latter kind of torment the brute force of the Beast is let loose, indulging itself in scenes of cruelty and bloodshed, tormenting the bodies of men.
After this long but needful digression we return to our chapter.
THE FALLEN STAR.
Rev 9:1. – I saw a star out of the Heaven fallen to the earth; and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss. This symbolic fallen star, once set in the moral Heaven to reflect and uphold Gods authority in government, is neither a religious nor a political system, but an actual person, a degraded ruler. The reference is not to the fall of Satan, as prophetically beheld and announced by the Lord to the Seventy (Luk 10:18), but to the king of Babylon. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, (Lucifer signifies day star, and is so rendered in the Revised Version of Isa 14:12.) son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations! (Isa 14:12-15). The haughty, great, and proud king of Babylon is here alluded to in his awful fall from a height never before attained by any earthly potentate, down to the lowest depths of infamy. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell (sheol), to the uttermost parts of the pit. Some regard the day star of the prophet (Isa 14:12), and fallen star of the Apocalypse (Rev 9:1-21. l), as both pointing to the fall of Satan from Heaven, but we are satisfied that the king of Babylon (The first and fourth of the universal imperial powers (Dan 2:1-49; Dan 7:1-28), to whom Judah was enslaved, were Babylon and Rome. The former is doomed to everlasting desolation. Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her (Jer 51:64). It is a mistake to suppose that either Babylon as a city, or the ancient Chaldean empire will again flourish. The last holder of the imperial power on earth. the Beast, takes up and completes the story of Babylon. The historical Nebuchadnezzar is a type of the great coming Gentile chief who will combine, with features peculiar to himself, the main characteristics of the three preceding empires. The king of Babylon (Isa 14:1-32) is a type of the king in the last days of Gentile supremacy prior to the Lords Return.) is signified by the former and the Antichrist by the latter. The context of both Scriptures confirms the prophetic application to the secular and religious chiefs of the last days – the Beast and the False Prophet.
This fallen dignitary has committed to him the key of the pit of the abyss. The key symbolizes competent authority (see Mat 16:19; Rev 1:18; Rev 3:7; Rev 20:1). The pit of the abyss is a singular expression, only used in connection with the judgment recorded in verses one and two of our chapter. The bottomless pit, or abyss, occurs seven times in the Apocalypse. The deep, or abyss, (Luk 8:31) seems the prison house of demons, in which Satan is to be confined for one thousand years (Rev 20:3) – the duration of the kingdom reign. The lake of fire, not the abyss, is the eternal abode of the devil and of the lost. Says the Rev. W. B. Carpenter in his commentary on the Apocalypse: The verse before us suggests the picture of a vast depth approached by a pit or shaft, whose top, or mouth, is covered. Dantes Inferno, with its narrowing circles winding down to the central shaft, is somewhat similar. The abyss is the lowest spring of evil, whence the worst dangers arise (cp. Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1-3). Here, then, the abyss is regarded as locked up, but commission is given to unlock it. It has been contended that, as a result of this vast prison house being opened, swarms of evil spirits issue therefrom and overrun the earth. But smoke, not spirits, rose up out of the pit, and out of the smoke emerged a devastating swarm of symbolic locusts.
SATANIC DELUSION AND ITS DARKENING EFFECT.
Rev 9:2. – And there went up smoke out of the pit as (the) smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit. A satanic delusion bred in the abyss, and characterised by its moral blinding and withering effect is here intimated. Probably the same delusion to which Christendom will be given over referred to by Paul (2Th 2:11-12). The effect of the smoke or darkening influence and power of Satan will be to blight the supreme government (the sun), and darken and corrupt the whole social life and principles of men (the air). The air denoting moral influence occurs twice in the Apocalypse, under the fifth Trumpet (Rev 9:2) and in the pouring out of the seventh Vial (Rev 16:17).
THE LOCUST ARMY.
Rev 9:3-10. – Neither the smoke nor the locusts are literal. The smoke gives birth to the locusts. Out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth. Satanic agencies are let loose upon the prophetic scene. The intense anguish caused by these hordes of satanic instruments and agents is likened to the torment caused by the poisonous sting of the scorpion, a creature which shuns the light, and is justly dreaded by the native races of Africa and the various Arab tribes of Asia. It is not often that the sting proves fatal, but the suffering is dreadful. The scorpion is constantly shaking his tail to strike, and the torment caused by his sting is very grievous. In Luk 10:19 the Lord connects serpents, scorpions, and the power of the enemy with the fall of Satan, as here scorpions with the fallen star. But these hellish instruments of vengeance let loose upon guilty Israel are powerless, save as authority is given them to act: And power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power (Rev 9:3).
That the locust army is a symbolical representation of judgment of a superhuman kind is evident from the whole description, as also from the prohibition to injure the grass and trees (v. 4), their natural food. There is a further reason why the vegetable world was to be spared. A general condition of prosperity in the temporal circumstances and position of men is intimated by the grass, any green thing, and trees. Now the locusts were commissioned to invade Palestine, the country above all others of grasses, and injure alone the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev 9:4). The Gentile multitude is not sealed; the 144,000 of Israel are (Rev 7:3-4). Here, then, the unsealed part of the nation is given up to drink the cup of the Lords vengeance, yea, to the dregs thereof. Death would be a welcome release from the torment, the anguish of soul inflicted by these myrmidons of Satan, but that last refuge of despair is denied them, death flees from them (Rev 9:6). The gnawing anguish and horrible torment of a guilty and sin-defiled conscience is beyond all telling; it can only be weighed and balanced by those enduring it.
The duration of the satanic scourge is limited to five months (Rev 9:5), the time of natural locust life. (From May to September.) The time specified points to a brief and determinate period of woe, not necessarily one of five literal months.
Next follows a detailed description of the locust army, each item in the delineation being significant and full of meaning.
(1) They are seen fully prepared and eager in warlike energy to execute their commission, like to horses prepared for war. (In Italy and in some other countries locusts are termed little horses, because of the resemblance of the head to that of the horse (see Joe 2:4). Hostile armies, especially cavalry, are in the Sacred Writings symbolised by locust invasion (Joe 2:1-32; Jer 51:27). For the desolation caused by a locust plague see Exo 10:12-15.)
(2) They lay claim to royal dignity. The crown of gold adorns the head of the Son of Man (Rev 14:14), and also those of the triumphant elders or redeemed (Rev 4:4). But these satanic invaders from the smoke of the pit are not really crowned, nor is real gold in question. They lay claim to a dignity not divinely conferred. Upon their heads as crowns like gold. Their pretension to royal authority is spurious.
(3) They profess to be guided in their movements by human intelligence, but in appearance only, their faces as faces of men. Their assumed dignity and intelligence are as worthless as their claim to royal authority.
(4) Their effeminacy and subjection, not to God, but to Satan their leader, are next intimated: They had hair as women’s hair.
(5) They are savage, rapacious, cruel: Their teeth were as of lions (Joe 1:6).
(6) They know no pity. Neither force nor entreaty is of any avail in turning them from their purpose. Their hearts are hardened, their consciences steeled, they had breastplates as breastplates of iron.
(7) In resistless energy the satanic host swept on, causing fear and terror to their victims. Their approach is heralded thus: The sound of their wings (was) as the sound of chariots of many horses running to war (Joe 2:5).
(8) In the next part of this extraordinary description the past tense is departed from and the present tense employed. Surely this is intentional, and marks off the worst and most characteristic feature from what has preceded, they have tails like scorpions, and stings; again, and their power was in their tails to hurt men five months, referring back to Rev 9:3; Rev 9:5.
These scorpion locusts overrun the once Holy Land, and prey upon the unsealed and ungodly part of Israel. The venom of falsehood, born in the pit – doctrines, teachings, and principles conceived in the abyss are received by the apostate part of the nation, and create in their souls and consciences intolerable anguish. Without God, yea, given up judicially by Him to receive Satans lies and delusions, little wonder that they, his dupes and disciples, share, as far as men on earth can, the full tale of misery. The scorpion-like tails of the locusts contain the moral poison which so awfully torments those who receive it. There lie the venomous stings, and there the power to torment (Isa 9:15).
IDENTICAL PERSONAGES.
Rev 9:11. – They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew Abaddon, and in Greek he has (for) name Apollyon. The king of the symbolic locusts (The locusts have no king, so said Solomon the monarch, that keen observer of nature (Pro 30:27.) and the angel of the abyss are identical, as the singular pronouns his and he show. Both terms directly refer to Satan. Now the judgment we have been considering is a judgment executed on earth. It is not eternal judgment. The human leader in this awful woe is the fallen star, or the Antichrist, while the unseen chief of all is the devil himself. But the Antichrist is the personification of Satan in malignant influence, representing him religiously amongst men, hence certain expressions are employed in this locust vision which seem to regard them as one. They are in a sense, for the devil gives his character to his human subordinate, but, on the other hand, they are distinct. Satan is a spirit, and the leader of the hosts of evil; while the Antichrist is a man, an apostate Jew, and has as his sphere of operation corrupt and semi-infidel Judaism and apostate Christendom.
We regard, therefore, the fallen star as signifying the Antichrist; and the king of the locust army and the angel of the abyss as designating Satan.
The two descriptive epithets, Abaddon and Apollyon, while practically meaning the same, and both applied to the same awful personage, yet present in their exactness of signification a difference worth noting. Abaddon is Hebrew, and literally means destruction. Apollyon is Greek, and signifies the destroyer. Why this seemingly unimportant distinction in these suggestive titles? And why does the Hebrew precede the Greek one? Inasmuch as the Jew is more guilty than the Gentile, the Hebrew title Abaddon, destruction, emphatically asserts judgment on apostate Judah, its certainty and finality. And as the first Woe has its direct application to the mass of Judah, Abaddon is first named. The second Woe directly concerns the inhabitants of the Roman empire, hence, fittingly, the order of the names: first, Abaddon; second, Apollyon. The order in grace as in judgment is the Jew first, then the Gentile. The Greek name Apollyon, the destroyer, intimates Satans character in relation to Christendom, as his former title his connection with Judaism. Both systems in the last days will be fully represented in the person and doings of the Antichrist, who will head up the revolt against the priestly and prophetic rights of Christ, denying the essential truths of Judaism (Dan 11:36-39; 1Jn 2:22), and of Christianity (1Jn 2:18-22). The Beast out of the abyss will head the civil and political rebellion against Christ in His royal rights, His kingly authority. Hence the two names in Hebrew and Greek used of Satan have their counterpart on earth in the double connection of the Antichrist with the corrupt systems of Judaism and Christendom. The denial of the Christ, i.e., the Messiah, is the characteristic feature of the former; the denial of the Father and of the Son is as truly the distinguishing character of the latter system.
If further proof were needed that the fallen star is a personage subordinate to the angel of the abyss it is to hand in the fact that the former exercises delegated authority. To it, the star, or him, the personage intended, was given the key of the pit of the abyss. The insertion of the definite article, the angel of the abyss, marks him off as an independent personage in authority. Further, it will be noted that the pit of the abyss is spoken of in connection with the star, whereas the abyss simply is referred to as under the control of the angel. This latter term by itself gives the full expression of satanic power. Out of it the Beast emerges (Rev 11:7), and into it Satan himself is cast, and it becomes his prison for one thousand years (1,000 being a symbolic number, not literal). The fallen star (v. 1) is the Antichrist; the king and the angel (v. 11) both designate Satan.
Rev 9:12 – No commentary on this verse.
Commentary on Rev 9:1-12 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 9:1. It is fair to my readers to state that a number of commentators connect this chapter with Mohammed. In reasoning upon the subject some of them will mention certain things that could not have been true of any persons but the soldiers of Mohammed. But in their reasoning I note that the chief basis of their argumant is the idea that the literal characteristics of locusts and horses and soldiers. etc.. will not agree with any interpretation except to apply the predictions to Mohammed. But we are in a book of symbols where it does not count for a conclusion to rely on the literal nature of things. On the principle of “giving others the benefit of the doubt,” I am sure there were many facts and truths about Mohammedanism that correspond with the language of the several verses. Yet that could truly be said of some other noted impostors who have come into the world to poison the minds of men. The scope of history is so wide that one might find incidents to correspond with various characters he would select for the comparison. Against all of the above considerations I am keeping in mind that the Lord was concerned principally with the experiences of His people in connection with the Roman Empire, and the great apostasy that was formed by the corruption of His system with its union of church and state. In view of the aforesaid remarks I shall devote my comments to the items that were and are being fulfilled by the doings of the institution of Rome. Star fall from heaven is rendered “out of heaven fallen” by The Englishman’s Greek New Testament. It denotes that John saw a star (symbol for a leader among men) that was in fallen condition, not that he saw it fall. That would be true of the head of Rome; he had fallen from the spiritual purity that exists in heavenly things. Bottomless pit is from ABUS-SOS, which is explained at Luk 8:31 in the first volume of New Testament Commentary.
Rev 9:2. We have learned that the bottomless pit is the abode of demons (usually translated “devils” in the King James Version). These demons were suffered to come into the world at one time and afflict mankind. After that period was gone it was easy to refer to such a performance as a symbol of other activities in the politico-religious world, namely, the institution in which the church and state were united. Since this great apostate organization served the interests of Satan so much, it was appropriate to represent the Roman bishop as having a joint interest with him in opposing the true servants of God. Paul verifies this conclusion in 2Th 2:9 where he says: “Even him, whose corning is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.” Literally we would think of smoke coining out of a place where there is a flame of fire (Luke 1 G:24), but it is used symbolically which will be developed as the chapter proceeds.
Rev 9:3. We still have symbols but they are more definite. The smoke proves to have been a “smoke screen” that enclosed a swarm of locusts. That explained why the sun was darkened by the “smoke” in the preceding verse. It has been known many times that this insect comes in such great numbers as to have the effect of a cloud that obscures the sun. In selecting a symbol the Lord would call attention to some literal fact that would truly represent some other fact or truth that is not literal. This swarm of locusts was the clergy of Rome acting on behalf of the apostate church, otherwise called Babylon the Great. As the swarm of locusts obscured the sun so the clergy of Rome would prevent the people from having the full benefit of the “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal 4:2). Scorpions is described by Thayer as follows: “The name of a little animal, somewhat resembling a lobster, which in warm regions [such as Hades, E.M.Z.] lurks especially in stone walls; it has a poisonous sting in its tail.”
Rev 9:4. Here we have another instance where the Lord uses a literal object to symbolize a fact that is not literal, except that He uses the symbol contrary to its usual behavior. This is not the only instance where a performance in nature is used “contrary” to its usual manner. (See Rom 11:24.) The natural thing is for the locusts to eat the very things this verse says they did not hurt. They were to hurt men only and not all of them even. Their destructive work was to be against the men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Such men were true servants of God and no kind of oppression could actually hurt them. But on the principle that. “evil sometimes works its own rebuke,” the Lord suffers the workers of iniquity to be scourged by their own leaders. It is a historical fact that the dupes of Rome often suffer many hardships at the hands of the clergy. The writer of this paragraph knew a familyin which a small son was compelled to earn money, half of which was taken from him by the clergy though his widowed mother was much in need of it.
Rev 9:5. Not kill them. The clergy needed to retain their dupes that they might further exploit them for their own selfish interests. Five months is a definite period of time if taken literally, but in actual history we do not find such processes as have been described being so exact in their beginning and ending. The figure refers to some particular period in the history of the apostate church when the oppression by the clergy was active to an extraordinary degree.
Rev 9:6. Seek death and shall not find it. There are some things worse than death (Jer 8:3). I once heard a lecture by a woman who had escaped from the clutches of Rome. In that lecture the speaker related the experiences of a woman who was being tortured as a result of self-inflicted wounds induced by the heresies of Rome. This victim moaned and sighed as if death at once would have been a relief.
Rev 9:7. It was fitting that these locusts were in the form resembling war horses, for the apostate institution has not hesitated at using carnal warfare for its defense whenever it was thought necessary. Crown of gold indicates both authority and wealth, and the clergy of Rome have ever been equipped with both, in order to carry out the schemes of the headquarters of the corrupt organization. Faces of men is an important identification also, because while the use of war horses is necessary in the program of Rome, it also requires the scheming trickery of human intelligence.
Rev 9:8. Hair of women . . . teeth of lions; this is a very interesting combination. In 1Co 11:15 it is shown that women are expected to have long hair (that being the only distinction between the hair of women and that of men as far as the appearance is concerned.) Women are supposed to be milder and less harmful in their natural disposition. Hence when these creatures first appear they are regarded as women and thus would not be suspected as being such as needed to be avoided. But they had teeth like those of lions which indicates that they were in reality a dangerous group of creatures. That is a true picture of the clergy of Rome, including all from the pope down to the humblest priest.
Rev 9:9. A breastplate is a piece for the protection of the vital parts of the body. The apostate church stood behind its clergy and gave them all the protection necessary. Sound of their wings. The locusts have wings literally and since the symbolism is still drawn from those insects it is appropriate to mention that part of their anatomy. Yet we know it is not to be taken literally, for the rest of the verse represents them sounding like war chariots drawn by horses going into battle.
Rev 9:10. This is the same as Rev 9:3-4.
Rev 9:11. See the remarks at verse 1 for the meaning of bottomless pit. The angel of this place would mean some outstanding character who was in partnership with the influences of that domain. The capitalized words of this verse are used by John as proper nouns, but in Bible times most names of persons had special meaning. That of the ones in this verse means “destroyer,” and it is certainly an appropriate name in view of the destructive work and tendencies of the leaders of Rome. This king or angel would be either the pope or some special member of the clergy who had unusual success in controlling the others. It is noteworthy that John connects this evil arrangement with the bottomless pit which is the abode of fallen angels called demons.
Rev 9:12. Two woes more is a reference to the statement of the angel in Rev 8:13, who announced that three woes more were to be pronounced against the inhabitants of the earth. One of them has been announced and two more are waiting to be sounded.
Commentary on Rev 9:1-12 by Burton Coffman
Rev 9:1
The seven seals were divided into two groups (4,3); and the same is true with the trumpets, the division being marked by the insertion of Rev 8:13″[1] where the last three trumpets are designated as “woes.” These last three “woes” contrast with the first four trumpets in that their judgments fall directly upon man; whereas, in the four, the judgments fell upon the environment, with their effect being felt indirectly by man. Both here and there, however, the heavenly limitation is clearly visible. The torment of the locusts is for “five months” only (Rev 9:5; Rev 9:10); only the “third part” of man may be killed under the sixth trumpet (Rev 9:15); the fallen angel (Rev 9:1) could not open the abyss until “there was given him” the key; the four angels bound at the Euphrates could not act independently, but only upon orders from God himself (Rev 9:13-14); and in the fifth trumpet (first woe), the tormentors could only inflict punishment, but could not kill.
This chapter relates the fifth trumpet (Rev 9:1-12) and the sixth trumpet (Rev 9:13-21), which are the first two woes; and here there is a dramatic progression beyond the environmental judgments of the first four trumpets recorded in Revelation 8.
The picture of terror mounts in its awful intensity. Here the terrors coming upon the earth are beyond nature; they are demonic. The abyss is opened, and the superhuman terrors are being dispatched upon the world.[2]
This fundamental change in the character of the visions from environmental dislocations to the type of terrors in the woes forbids the interpretation that makes the successive trumpets prophecies of sequential historical events; and exactly the same change is seen in the first two woes. For example, Barnes’ view that the fifth trumpet represents Muslim conquests, and that the sixth refers to the rise of the Turkish power, takes no account whatever of the fact that the fifth trumpet was not fatal, and that the sixth resulted in the slaughter of a third of the human race. This is a distinction that cannot pertain to the successive conquests of the Muslims and the Turks.
In fact, it is likely that the fifth trumpet does not symbolize military operations at all. Taken together, and there is an obvious connection, the two woes represent such things as wicked philosophies, false theories, satanic delusions, vain imaginations, humanistic assumptions, perverted religious systems, evil patterns of human thought, etc., which turn people’s thoughts away from God and betray the whole world into the hands of Satan, with a result, of course, that plunges the whole world repeatedly into destructive wars and revolutions, producing a lifestyle radically contrary to the will of God.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen upon the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss. (Rev 9:1)
This heralds the appearance of the first woe.
A star from heaven fallen upon the earth …
The fallen star must be Satan himself[3] The fallen star is apparently Satan, his power to open and close being exercised by divine permission.[4] The star fallen represents the devil’s present condition. Having rebelled against God, he has lost his position in heaven … When we read that Satan had power to open the abyss, it means that he receives power to incite men to evil.[5] Isaiah said of Satan, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning” (Isa 14:12). It seems therefore that Satan himself is here referred to under this symbol.[6] The star is Satan[7] The pit is opened by one who is a fallen star – no doubt Satan.[8]
The only “fallen star” in the sense of this passage in the entire Bible is Satan. Jesus said, “I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven” (Luk 10:18). Lenski objected to this interpretation on the basis that Satan fell “like lightning,” but not “out of heaven to the earth.”[9] However, Lenski failed to show any difference in falling “from” heaven and “out of’ heaven. Compare this verse with Luk 10:18. Others also have shown great reluctance to accept this fallen star as Satan:
He is obviously an angel of God carrying out the divine will.[10] (Would such an angel be called “fallen”?) He depicts the corporate life of men in its opposition to God..[11] “Fallen” is used because that is the way stars come down out of the sky. It represents some angelic figure, not Satan.[12]
Such objections are arbitrary and unsupported by any solid logic. It appears that much of the reluctance to admit what appears to this writer as a certainty derives from an erroneous identification of this being with the angel with the key in Rev 20:1 who bound Satan and locked him up; but that angel was the true possessor of the key. Here the fallen angel used it only by permission. As Caird observed:
There is all the difference in the world between this fallen angel who was given the key, and the angel of Rev 20:1 whom John saw descending from heaven with the key. The difference is not just that one releases and the other locks up. One is an evil agent acting with divine permission, and the other is a good agent carrying out God’s will.[13]
We do not hesitate to identify what takes place under these trumpet woes with the “loosing of Satan,” detailed later in the prophecy.
And there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss … Jesus’ encounter with the demons of Gadara (Luk 8:31) revealed the “abyss” as “the abode of the devil and demons.”[14] When people serve Satan rather than Christ, the Lord permits Satan to torment them (the fifth trumpet) and to slay them (the sixth trumpet). Fallen in this verse therefore refers to what took place long before this vision; “the proper translation is star which had fallen.”[15] Having the key of the abyss, with limitations, shows that Satan is free to deceive and even to cause the death of the wicked, and has special reference here to his inciting them to rebel]ion against God. Beckwith objected that, “Satan nowhere appears as a divine agent of God to carry out a divine ordering, such as the sending of these plagues upon the world”;[16] but the Scriptures teach that Satan blinds the ungodly (2Co 4:4), and practically all of Rom 1:18-32 is a vivid description of God’s use of Satan in just such a capacity. It is clearly satanic activity which is in view in these verses.
[1] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919),p. 555.
[2] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), pp. 46,47.
[3] Frank L. Cox, According to John (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing House, 1948), p. 64.
[4] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 57.
[5] William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 145.
[6] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950, p. 262.
[7] Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of Revelation (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951), p. 104.
[8] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1975), p. 97.
[9] R. C. H Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943). p. 288.
[10] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York-Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 431.
[11] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: The R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 78.
[12] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 129.
[13] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), pp. 117,118.
[14] James A. Moffatt, Expositor’s Greek New Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 406.
[15] Leon Morris, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Vol. 20, The Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 127.
[16] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 561.
Rev 9:2
And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
The smoke here, and the locusts, are the hellish teachings, influences, thought styles, intellectual delusions, etc., that darken the true light of Christ in the world. The perverted minds of sinful men mislead the whole world, promising happiness, but giving instead wretched and miserable torment.
This obscuration (by the smoke) is surely the diffusion on earth of evil thoughts and ideas, the spirit of falsehood and hate, hostility to truth, and enmity against God and man.[17]
The very air men breathe in their education, managing, governing, etc., is black murk. Hell spreads its pall over them. The light of truth shines, but men live in this hellish atmosphere.[18]
Now it is evident that this is a description of the way it is now, in this present dispensation of God’s grace; and this awful blindness and debauchery of people is not natural. “It is demonically inspired.”[19] “The picture taken as a whole symbolizes a very grievous moral and spiritual darkening by the forces of evil.”[20] “The smoke is the evil influence of Satan which darkens men’s minds.”[21] The “sun” which is darkened thus is Jesus Christ, the only true light of our world. God uses even the work of the devil as warning and punishment for the wicked; but the blame for the torments which people suffer is not upon God; rather, it is upon the wicked themselves and upon Satan whom they follow.
[17] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 574.
[18] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 289.
[19] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 48.
[20] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 271.
[21] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 263.
Rev 9:3
And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Out of the smoke came forth locusts … The evil influence of Satan has results, and the locusts are that result. The locust is an organized entity of evil, supported, induced, and held together by the satanic influence which produced it. Some scholars are very busy here with descriptions of plagues of locusts mentioned in the Old Testament, but the language here is figurative. No swarm of locusts ever had a king over them, or the power to inflict a sting lasting for five months. Furthermore these locusts did not even touch earth’s vegetation such as the grass (Rev 9:4). It is a spiritual plague which is depicted here. “Such a spiritual malignity is, in truth, the source of the forces that are chewing up our world.”[22] “The locusts are symbols of wild ideas and false doctrines, which becloud men’s mental faculties.”[23]
Barclay described a literal plague of locusts in Algiers in 1886, which was so destructive that, “Over 200,000 people died of the famine that followed.”[24] This only shows the aptitude of the metaphor here employed by the Holy Spirit. Such damage as that in Algiers, however, is nothing compared to that of 1939-1945, when the Germans lost their minds through accepting the “locust” doctrine of Aryan supremacy, or that they were a “master race.” Ten million Jews alone were destroyed, to say nothing of forty million others. Such a “locust” doctrine, like the locusts of this fifth trumpet, at first only tormented the people who received it. Early observants of it merely smiled at it, not realizing what the second phase of the swarm of locusts would be. Just as, in these fifth and sixth trumpets, the locusts of the fifth changed into the hellish horsemen of the sixth, in exactly the same manner, Hitler’s “locust” doctrines of Nazi nonsense, in a later phase, became a roaring tornado of worldwide destruction. The locust metaphor is peculiarly applicable here; for, in the great destructive plagues of locusts, the physical appearance of these creatures actually changes, the insects taking on a different coloring, becoming far stronger, and manifesting an incredibly greater destructive power. Of course, we are using the Nazis here merely as an example. There have been many such examples in history. The destructive horsemen always follow the locusts. In Germany, the whole dreadful experience developed when men burned the Bibles at Nuremberg, denied the Scriptural truth of the brotherhood of all races (Act 17:26), renounced the Biblical doctrine of the supreme value of the individual, and drowned a third of mankind in blood. There are a million other “locusts” pouring out of the pit of the abyss continually, and the wicked are easily deceived by them.
Plummer pointed out that “some scholars apply the symbol (the locusts) to the Muslims”;[25] and the prophecy surely fits that part of history; however, it misses the true identity of the “locust.” That was the hell-born idea that Mohammed was a prophet of God! They even had to get a new Bible to go with such a falsehood. As Lenski said, “All that is presented here is only one hellish curse to let loose on the earth.”[27] Every generation has its own variety of “locust.” It will be seen from these observations that the apparent mildness of the fifth trumpet locusts, in that they were not to “kill” people, but could merely torment them, is applicable only to their first phase. These two trumpets deal with exactly the same phenomenon in successive periods of its development. Note the resemblance of the hellish horsemen to the locusts; they are the “locusts” come of age!
Such locust-lies continually dominate the minds of the wicked. As these lines are being written (December, 1978), the news media are relating the saga of Jim Jones (recommended by the Vice President of the United States), who passed himself off as a Messiah, ending in the suicide-murder massacre of over 900 of his followers in Guyana, South America. The dupes who fell for Jones’ lie were indeed deceived by Satan; but before they could swallow his “locust,” they had to renounce and deny their Bibles.
“Various kinds of “locusts” are today tormenting people all over the world. Think of Communism, the words of Mao Tse-tung, the emperor cult in Japan, etc. In America, we have our own “locust,” which is the falsehood that Uncle Sam can take care of everybody from the cradle to the grave, and that he is also the godfather, benefactor, and policeman of the whole world!
It will be noted that in this interpretation, death follows the locusts, even though they did not have the power to kill, but only to hurt. This truth is inherent in the close proximity of these woes which follow each other: first the locusts, then the death.
[22] Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 110.
[23] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 64.
[24] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 50.
[25] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 263.
[27] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 290.
Rev 9:4
And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads.
Should not hurt the grass … Locusts which do not eat grass and other green vegetation cannot possibly be literal locusts; a figurative meaning is demanded.
But only such men as have not the seal of God … Our studies in Revelation 7 revealed this “seal” as the blessed Holy Spirit in the lives of God’s people. If the German nation had been following their New Testament, they would have found it impossible to buy the locust of “Aryan supremacy”; and if Jim Jones’ congregation had possessed the slightest knowledge of the Bible, they would have recognized him from the first as a fraud and a deceiver. The locusts of this fifth trumpet are presented as being able to hurt “only such men” as those who are walking without God and contrary to the truth. All evil, unscriptural “locusts” have the power to hurt. The “locust” doctrine of the transmigration of souls made it a sin to kill rats; and a bubonic plague wiped out half of Europe; the “locust” doctrine that land, air, water, and fire are “sacred” blocked Hans Victor Reisser’s efforts to wipe out malaria in the Orient. He was prohibited from treating the ponds and water courses with kerosene to kill the larvae of mosquitoes. One of the great seductive elements in all “locust” lies is that people imagine that they are safe in believing anything!
Ladd’s deduction in this verse that “the plague falls only upon the wicked, and that Christians exempt from it,”[28] is only partly true. Christians are indeed exempt from accepting ideas and slogans contrary to the word of God; but, when some monstrous error has worked itself into a massive world upheaval, as in the Nazi terror, Christians are in no sense physically exempt from the debacle that follows, even though they are spiritually exempt in the sense of Luk 21:16-19. “A plague from which those whose way is through tribulation are exempt can hardly be a physical one.”[29] Thus the plague of locusts is a plague of lies, false theories, evil philosophies, selfish proverbs elevated to the status of law, etc. Both of the woes in this chapter are primarily against the world; “but it is true that the church also suffers, but not in judgment.”[30]
[28] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 132.
[29] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 575.
[30] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 63.
Rev 9:5
And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man.
The “torment” of people who have swallowed some false idea is as amazing as it is pitiful. This writer was living in Washington, D.C., when the atom bomb spies who delivered nuclear weapons to the Russians were executed. People who had swallowed the locust-lie of Communism traveled long distances to march in front of the White House in protest; and it was pathetic to see old ladies, some of them in their 70’s, marching in a freezing rain in 16 degree weather, hobbling along, shouting until they were hoarse, and dragging placards and banners with them. They were people clearly tormented by an idea. One sees similar dupes screaming, protesting, demonstrating, and snarling in almost every presentation of news media coverage of world events. There are a lot of “tormented” people today; and it should be kept in mind that this is only Phase I of the locust saga.
They should be tormented for five months … There is a limitation here; but the more it is studied, the less comforting it is. What happens after the “five months”? Instead of disappearing, the hurt enters Phase II in the sixth trumpet (See under Rev 9:13). The repetition of this “five months” in Rev 9:10 “makes it doubly significant.”[31] “The very fact that these monsters are not to kill indicates that this torment is only half of what is to occur.”[32] The other half will appear in the next woe (Rev 9:13 f). Just as in the first four trumpets, the destruction was limited to “one third,” here the restriction of “five months” is imposed. False ideas run their course and are discredited. No one today effectively preaches the doctrine of Aryan supremacy; but there are swarms of locusts, and as soon as one dies, a hundred others take its place. Satan has plenty of them!
Of course, some seek a specific, dated, historical fulfillment of these “five months.” They have been viewed as: (1) five years of Gothic rule; (2) 150 years of Saracen control; (3) 79 1/2 natural years (A.D. 510-589); (4) Muslim conquests (A.D. 612-672); and (5) merely a short time, etc.[33] Lenski’s suggesting that the ten plagues of Egypt are in mind, with the meaning that, “This is only half of what’s going to happen,”[34] seems reasonable and fits the interpretation advocated here. The locusts of the fifth trumpet are just half of these two woe judgments in Revelation 9, there being a very definite connection between them.
Torment as the torment of a scorpion … All of us have known people who were “stung” by some ridiculous false philosophy! See first paragraph under this verse. The mention of “scorpion” was explained thus by Roberson:
The scorpion takes its place with the snake, and other creatures hostile to man, and with them symbolizes the forces of spiritual evil which are active in the world.[35]
[31] R. C. H. Lenski. op. cit., p. 291.
[32] Ibid.
[33] A. Plummer, op. cit.. p. 264.
[34] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 292.
[35] Charles H. Roberson. op. cit., p. 58.
Rev 9:6
And in those days men shall seek death, and shall in no wise find it: and they shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them.
Men shall seek death and shall in no wise find it …
How often is the life of a man rendered intolerable because of his sins; and he has recourse to the razor, the rope, or the poison.[36]
The vast multitudes who commit suicide every year are but a small remnant of the millions whose lives have been made wretched through sin, either of themselves or others, and who vainly long for a death that does not come!
When the illusions, fantasies and lies are exposed to the light of reality, men often cry for death rather than face their failure and respond to the grace of God.[37]
The true Christian cannot be deceived by the lies of Satan, and always retains in his heart that peace of God which passes understanding.
[36] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 65.
[37] Douglas Ezell, Revelations on Revelation (Waco: Word Books, 1977), p. 51.
Rev 9:7
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as men’s faces.
This description of the locusts seems designed to make them appear as disgusting as possible; but there are significant revelations in these details.
Horses prepared for war … Here is the true prophecy of what the locusts will soon become. For all the prohibitions against their killing anyone, the wicked ideas, doctrines, and philosophies of the devil are embryonic war horses; and, given a little time, the holocaust will arrive! These “horses” point the direction in which the locusts travel. Their thundering wings carry the echo of a cavalry charge.
Crowns like unto gold … These are not genuine, but false. The wicked ideas are always advocated from premises of virtue and benevolence; false ideas promise all kinds of victories and utopias; but, alas, the crowns are not really gold at all, but tinsel.
Faces … as men’s faces … Ah! These locusts are not symbols of invisible demons, but of very evil, visible, and destructive men advocating the delusions of hell itself. Back of every evil on earth, in the last analysis, there looms the face of an evil man. Thus, “Under the symbolism of a locust plague, John describes the power and influence of hell operating in the hearts and lives of wicked men.”[38] “Human agents are denoted by these locusts.”[39]
Fanciful Arabian poets compared locusts: in head to the horse, in breast to the lion, in feet to the camel, in body to the snake, and in antennae to a girl’s long, waving hair.[40]
[38] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 146.
[39] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 265.
[40] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 407.
Rev 9:8
And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Hair as of women … The so-called resemblance between the locust antennae and a woman’s hair is non-existent, regardless of Arabian poets! What is meant by this is that letting the hair grow long will mark certain “locusts” who will plague the earth. Whether this is exactly what is prophesied here or not, that is certainly the way it is. We think instantly of Fidel Castro and a host of long-haired agitators and revolutionaries who have appeared in our own times. Any TV broadcast of social uprisings on any part of the earth will also show the predominance of this very characteristic. Despite this long-hair fad being unrecognized for what it is by many thoughtless and relatively innocent persons, it is essentially the marking of the locusts. The vandals and Huns of antiquity exhibited this characteristic exactly in the manner of Fidel Castro and his dirty, long-haired rapists of Cuba.
Teeth as the teeth of lions … Despite the feminine appearance, the true nature of this horde is seen in the teeth, namely, that of utter destructiveness.
Some will object to the view expressed here, and we respect their right of doing so. Mounce noted that, “The fact that both Samson (Jdg 16:13; Jdg 16:19) and Absalom (2Sa 14:25-26) wore their hair long should show that long hair may be a symbol of vitality rather than femininity”;[41] and while this is true enough, it is also in order to note that Absalom was a traitor and Samson a profligate!
ENDNOTE:
[41] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 197.
Rev 9:9
And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war.
Breastplates . .. chariots . .. horses rushing to war … What is the projected outcome of false teachings, destructive philosophies, etc.? What shall be the ultimate result of these locusts that do not kill, but only hurt? Well, here it is. The battle lines are inevitably drawn, and the whole world is drowned in blood and violence.
Rev 9:10
And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
In their tails is their power … The scorpion has a relatively long tail; and the fact of these war-horse like things having power in their tails would appear to symbolize the “final impact” or “the end result” of their influence. The evil of a false theory, like Communism, for example, is seen, not at first, when it glamorized, idealized, and advocated as a cure of all social ills, but later, when the mask is off, and repression, tyranny, death, and destruction are nakedly enthroned above the unhappy peoples who have been deceived. Certainly this view must be accounted as reasonable as that which finds here a reference to Turkish horsemen who fired their arrows over the tails of their horses after turning around to retreat from a cavalry charge!
The scholars who see this fifth trumpet as a “symbol of the forces of decay and corruption which God used to undermine the Roman Empire,”[42] are not wrong, except in their limitation of the phenomenon described here to a particular period. For example, homosexuality was one of the lifestyles deriving from sensuality and wickedness which figured prominently in the downfall of Rome, as pointed out by many; but the same gross evil has surfaced again and again in several periods of social decline and overthrow of established order. “The motif in these judgments is reflected many times throughout history, but the primary focus is the ultimate conflict between God and Satan which brings history to a close.”[43] That conflict is going on now; and the old locust game is doing a flourishing business on every street in the world.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Ibid.,
Rev 9:11
They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
A king, the angel of the abyss … Who is this, if not Satan? Bruce identified this character, somewhat reluctantly, with “the fallen star of Rev 9:1.”[44] Caird also did the same thing,[45] but neither of them recognized him as Satan. Here he is given two names, “both of which mean the Destroyer;[46] and can this be some other than the devil? We do not think so.
Apollyon … “Both Caligula and Nero aped the pagan God Apollo,[47] and Beckwith thought the use of this name was “a direct allusion to such a pretending Roman emperor.”[48] If so, it is the same as saying that this Roman emperor Apollo was one and the same as the devil. Plummer identified this king over the locusts as “Satan,” adding that, “the height of absurdity is reached by those writers who see in the name Apollyon a reference to Napoleon!”[49]
[44] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 648.
[45] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 120.
[46] Ibid.
[47] James Moffatt, op. cit., p. 408.
[48] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 563.
[49] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 265.
Rev 9:12
The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.
The second woe begins here and runs through the end of the chapter. “This sixth trumpet is the climax beyond which lies the final judgment.”[50] “It is a companion to and the complement of the first woe (the fifth trumpet)just described.”[51] The great feature of this woe is the 200,000,000 hellish horsemen; but the first woe has already made us see in the locusts there the beginnings of these horsemen here. We regard it as a mistake to identify these with events of specific dates in history, of which there are doubtless many valid examples of what is prophesied here. We believe that the locusts are still swarming, and that the evil horsemen are still doing their thing on the earth. Again, we wish to call attention to a quotation from Albertus Pieters under Rev 8:6.
It should always be remembered that Revelation was written to help Christians of John’s day face the rigors of the actual, evil world in which they lived; and the same truth that helped them can help the Christians of all ages, including our own. These two woes depict a world that is largely controlled by a wicked and malignant ruler of the abyss, who darkens the light of truth itself with the terrible smoke of the infernal world. Conditions will not become progressively better and better, but steadily worse and worse. Evil teachings will set off the rampaging destruction of 200,000,000 diabolical horsemen. Even then, people will not repent. No matter what awful judgments of God fall upon rebellious and wicked men, they will not renounce their wickedness.
But the Christians must not delude themselves. The world that John depicts with wicked men resisting God to the limit, no matter how they hurt themselves in the process, is the world believers must live in. There is no other.[52]
[50] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 299.
[51] Ibid.
[52] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 132.
Commentary on Rev 9:1-12 by Manly Luscombe
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. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet, a star falls from heaven to earth. Who, or what, is this star? Jesus speaks of Satan as falling like lightening from heaven. (Luk 10:18) See also Rev 12:12. This verse refers to Satan, the devil and his forces that are on the earth. The bottomless pit (abyss) seems to be the abode of Satan. It may represent hell itself. Smoke comes out of it. Where there is smoke, there is fire. Also in chapter 20, Satan is bound and cast into a bottomless pit. In all ages, including today, the forces of Satan are present and active in our world. God is warning us of the consequences of following the devil.
NOTE: We must be careful about making the bottomless pit in chapter 20 and here the same. Here Satan has the key and is able to unlock and open the pit. In chapter 20 the angel of God has the key and binds Satan and throws him into the 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. The smoke must represent the pain and anguish which is located there. It is called the smoke of their torment in Rev 14:11. The smoke is so thick that the sun is darkened and the walking outside is like walking into a burning building.
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. Out of the smoke come locusts. Common in the summer time, great swarms of locust would literally march across acres, destroying all plants in their path. Their power was like the power of a scorpion. The sting of the scorpion would do great harm and cause a lot of pain, but was seldom fatal. When man follows Satan, painful consequences will result.
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. The power of these locusts was limited. 1. They were not after plants and grass. 2. They were after men. 3. Only men who were not sealed by God – non-Christians. Any green thing is symbolic of the Christians who have the seal of God on their foreheads. Here is a parallel with the plague of locust in Exodus. The locusts hurt the Egyptians, but not the people of Israel. Here, the locust hurt men who are not marked as Gods. But, Gods people are spared any harm. The clear message – Remain faithful and the locust will do you no harm. Abandon your faith and loyalty to Christ, and harm great pain can result.
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. The locusts were forbidden from killing men. They were allowed to torment them. The period of torment is described as 5 months. The number 5 is half of 10. Since 10 represents completeness. The number 5 is used to describe incomplete or short of perfection. This should not be understood as a literal period of five months. This means that the domination of the locusts is not total or complete. Their powers are limited and there is a means of escape from this harm and pain. The locusts represent all kinds of evil and wickedness. Today, we have problems with alcohol, drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, and adultery. The locusts are still around.
6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The pain will be so severe that some will seek death as a relief from the intense pain. Some have tried to make this say suicide. However, the next phrase shows that death is not available. They are wishing for death, but it does not come.
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. Now we will focus on the shape of the locusts. They are like horses ready for war. Satan is ready for war. Satan is alive and active on the earth. Satan is prepared for battle but we are not always alert to his attacks. On their heads are crowns, which appear to be gold. NOTE: They are not gold. They are pseudo-gold. They are fakes. The intent is to deceive and leave the impression that they have power and authority. But, they do not. Their faces are like the faces of men. These locusts are actually people we meet and deal with in our lives. They are following Satan and seeking to get others to do the same.
8 They had hair like womens hair, and their teeth were like lions teeth. The symbolism here is not clear. Some have suggested that the long hair like a woman represents the practice of all kinds of sexual sins. Others have suggested that this picture is a man – looking in some ways like a woman. Is this a picture of a cross-dresser, a transvestite or a homosexual? I do not believe it is. Rather, my view is that Satans locusts can look like men or women, young or old, rich or poor. Satans locusts are humans on the earth, living for Satan, and trying to get others to follow Satan. The teeth like a lion are much easier to understand. They have the ability to devour. If you listen to their teachings, and follow their examples, you will be devoured. Remember, Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. (1Pe 5:8)
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. The breastplates of iron show that they have strong protection and defense. The sound of their wings was like an army of horses heading into battle. This tells us that the number of locusts is great. Satan has a vast army. This loud roaring sound also alerts us to the fact that Satan is always on the attack. He is aggressive in his war with mankind.
10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. Similar to verse 5, we are reminded again of a couple of points. They are locusts, but they sting like a scorpion. This is repeated in Rev 19:19. Their power is limited in duration. It is limited to five months. The five-month limitation represents that the destruction will not be total. The sting is in the tail. It is not as the temptation approaches, but as it leaves. Many sins seem to bring pleasure when we start them. It is later – after the sin has taken its toll on our life, health, safety and relationships, and we are trying to quit – the sting is felt. Ask any smoker, alcoholic, or drug addict. Ask a practicing homosexual who has contracted AIDS.
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. Now the focus turns to the leader of this army, Satan himself. Their king, leader, and captain of the army, is identified. Abaddon is the Hebrew name. Abaddon means destruction. Apollyon is the Greek name. Apollyon means destroyer. NOTE: He is introduced as the angel of the bottomless pit. Then he is identified by the Hebrew term (representing the Old Testament period) and is called destruction. Next, he is recognized by the Greek term (New Testament era) and named destroyer. Christ offers eternal life. Satan offers destruction. Do not follow Satan. This fifth trumpet is sounding a warning that the devil is active and his followers are on the earth seeking to make converts.
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. These last three trumpets are also called The Three Woes because woes are pronounced before they begin and between each one. One is past. Two more to go. Things are bad and they will get worse.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
At the sounding of the fifth trumpet the procedure of judgment takes a new form, passing from the material to the spiritual. The loosing of Satan is suggestive of the manifestation of satanic agency under the permission of God. Demons come forth, a terrible army, and scatter among the sons of men. It is noticeable that their power and time are limited by the government of God. The most terrible aspect of this visitation is that stricken men seek for death and are not able to find it.
The sounding of the sixth trumpet introduces a period of judgment in more terrible forms. Immense hosts of hitherto restrained powers of darkness sweep over the earth. The worship of demons is clearly mentioned in this connection as one of the manifestations of evil. The unholy traffic with the spirit world will issue in the devastation of men by these very spiritual agencies.
The closing declaration here is indeed terrible. Notwithstanding the awful dispensation of death, men unsmitten will not repent, but will continue in the same demon worship, with its consequent sins of murder, sorcery, and fornication.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Out of the Smoke of the Pit
Rev 9:1-11
This chapter reminds us of the prophet Joel who, under the imagery of a swarm of locusts, depicted the coming invasion of hostile nations. Whether these warriors are intended for barbarian hordes which swept over the Roman Empire previous to its fall, or whether they represent the Saracens, between whose appearance and the details of this vision there is much in common, is not within our province to determine. The point which specially concerns us is that only those escaped who had received the imprint of Gods seal. Of old the destroying angel passed over the houses, on the lintels of which the blood was visible.
But there are spiritual foes, against whose invasion we must seek the sealing of Gods Spirit. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption, Eph 4:30. What is impressed with the royal seal is under special protection; and when temptation assails you, you may assuredly claim that divine protection, which shall surround you as an impenetrable shield. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them, Psa 34:7. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits in heavenly places, and only the spiritual can secure for us immunity against the spiritual.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Nine The First And Second Trumpets Of Woe
This chapter will examine the fifth and sixth trumpets, known respectively as the first and second woes. The added designation of these trumpets implies a solemnity and a fearfulness beyond anything we have previously considered.
The Delusions of the First Woe (Rev 9:1-12)
Instead of I saw a star fall from heaven, a better translation would be, I saw a star fallen from heaven. The reference is undoubtedly to that star, symbolizing an apostate leader, referred to under the third trumpet (8:10-11). There we read of a great star that fell from Heaven burning like a lamp. It fell on the third part of the rivers and fountains of waters, poisoning them so that men drinking of them died because the waters were made bitter. Under this fifth trumpet we have the development of the apostasy, of which this leader is evidently the head. He opens the bottomless pit, using a key. In the Gospels, we see the thought of the key when Christ commits to Peter the keys of the kingdom of Heaven; and you will remember our Lords words to the lawyers, Ye have taken away the key of knowledge (Luk 11:52). From these Scriptures it is clear that a key implies a system of teaching and possibly ritual observances connected with it. With this hint we can readily understand what follows.
This arch-apostate, by a system of erroneous teaching and damnable heresies that deny the Lord, opens up the bottomless pit from whence issues a blinding smoke as the smoke of a great furnace. The smoke of the pit is so intense that the sun and air become darkened. It is the strong delusion to which we have previously referred. While it is said in 2 Thessalonians that God shall send them strong delusion, we here learn that He sends it by permitting this Satanic envoy to delude the nations. Darkening of the sun by means of these Stygian fumes implies that the supreme source of light was blotted out from before mens eyes or minds. Their whole spiritual sky will be made dark by the false system with which they will be deluded. The air is particularly Satans realm. He is called the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). The darkening of the air implies the control of this realm by Satanic agencies.
I do not think we will be far wrong if we identify this coming delusion with the occult systems of gnostic origin, so largely prevailing and so rapidly spreading at the present time. These systems, as we have noticed before deny (in any true sense) the personality of God and assert the divinity of humanity. They reproduce, in some form or other, the primeval lie, Ye shall be as Elohim. This is the very essence of New Thought, Christian Science, Spiritism, Theosophy, and other offshoots of these evil systems. After the restraining power of the Holy Spirit has been removed, they will spread like locusts over all the earth, having tremendous power over the minds of men. This is what the third verse indicates: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Anyone familiar with the locust plagues of the East will understand at once the figure here used. Travelers have told us how the locusts appear in swarms so vast that they seem like great clouds, actually shutting out the sun and filling the whole air. They devour everything before them. Attacking a green field, within a few minutes they leave it as bare as though no vegetation had been there at all. They are the dread of eastern farmers, who are utterly powerless to combat them. They aptly typify or symbolize the spiritual plague of the last days. The symbol of the locusts is coupled with that of the scorpion, because of the torment these evil teachings eventually bring to those who accept them.
It is evident that we do not have any merely literal plague of locusts in view (4-5). Literal locusts would do the very thing which these are commanded not to do. The grass of the earth, green things, trees of all descriptions, are here distinctly protected from their power. Verses 4-5 seem to be an explanation rather than a continuation of the symbol; otherwise we might think of the grass and trees as representing mankind. But it would appear that the apostle here expounds rather than continues the description of his vision, in order that we may not be misled by a literal application. The locusts power is expended on those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. These are tormented by them for five months, a torment like that of a scorpion when he strikes a man. We have already seen that those bearing the seal of God are the remnant of Israel (7:3-8). These alone in Christendom and Judaism will be preserved from the strong delusion of that day. Our Lord Himself limits Satans power in the same way; referring to this very period and the plague of false teaching, He says, If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Mat 24:24). Thank God, it is not possible. The seal of the living God in the present dispensation is the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to guide into all truth. In that coming dispensation of judgment the same Holy Spirit will illumine the minds of those who repent in Israel and thus preserve them from this Satanic delusion.
For the rest, so great will be the distress caused by these evil teachings when men fully give themselves up to them, that, In those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them (verse 6).
Anyone who has ever sought to give spiritual help to persons awakening in measure from the delusions of any Satanic system will understand at once the condition of mind here depicted. I will never forget the almost insane glare of the eye and the hopeless wail in the voice of one poor woman. After having been under spiritualistic influences for a number of years, she at last began dimly to apprehend the dreadful character of the system that had been enslaving her. It was only through much prayer and earnest holding on to God on her behalf that she was delivered. But she told me on one occasion that she had suffered all the torments of the damned during the year and a half when she was seeking deliverance from demon control.
A few years ago I was laboring among the Mormons in Utah. There I learned of a most pitiable case. A family who had accepted the Mormon delusion and emigrated from Great Britain to Utah had practiced the rites of Joseph Smiths abominable system for thirty years. They were at last awakened to the untrustworthiness of it all by the perfidious conduct of certain eminent church leaders. As a result they renounced the entire system and were left without religious convictions of any kind. A few months later the wife and mother was dying. She tossed on her bed in the greatest agony of mind, moaning in her distress and despair, afraid to meet God in her sins. A minister of the gospel was urged by some friends to call and see her, though much against the will of the family. Finally he gained admittance to the dying womans room. He sought faithfully to present the precious truth of the gospel from Gods holy Word and for a time she seemed to listen eagerly. But she turned from him in the end, crying out, Oh! sir, after one has been fooled by one religion all her life, it is too late to trust another in the hour of death. And so in great agony she passed away, so far as he could tell, into a hopeless eternity.
Oh! I wish that I had the power to impress on men and women everywhere the dreadful responsibility they assume when they tamper with these unholy teachings that already have escaped from the bottomless pit and have darkened the air and blotted out the light of the sun for many souls. No torture can be compared to spiritual torment. The only remedy is that perfect love, displayed in Calvarys cross, which casts out all fear. In the days to which our chapter refers, those who have rejected the grace of God will never again hear that precious gospel. So they are left to cry out in their anguish, seeking death and not finding it.
In verses 7-12 we have a highly symbolic description of this delusion. The shapes of the locusts, we are told, are like horses prepared for battle. This symbolizes their rapid progress and apparently providential irresistibility in obtaining sway over those unprepared to do battle with them. On their heads were as it were crowns like gold (9:7)-for apostasy, during that time of delusion, will seem to carry all before it triumphantly, driving from Christendom the last vestige of orthodoxy. Our Lord Jesus asked the solemn question in view of His second advent, When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luk 18:8) The coming of the Son of man refers not to the rapture, but to the appearing in glory. At that time it will, for the moment, seem as though all true faith has been driven from the prophetic earth. Nevertheless by the power of Gods Word, a vast company will arise from the distant parts of the world, as we have seen, who will not have bowed the knee to this latter day Baal.
Next we are told their faces were as the faces of men, And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions (7-8). Three symbols here intermingle, all of which are very evidently found in the cult systems to which we have referred. Faces as of men would seem to imply intelligence, and these evil teachers make a great appeal to human reason. They ridicule the truth of God as a system of cunningly devised fables, while actually they themselves follow clever but illogical theories. Their appeal is to human intelligence-to the mind rather than to the heart and conscience, as Scripture does. Moreover they are characterized by intense seductiveness and attractive fancies, typified by the hair of women. A womans hair, we are told in Scripture, is her glory (1Co 11:15). In the Song of Solomon 7:5 we read, Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries [tresses]. How many have been turned aside from the path of duty by natural attractions, grossly misused for the purpose of accomplishing unholy ends.
But seductive and apparently rational as these systems are when first presented, they prove at last to have teeth like the teeth of lions, tearing to pieces those who put their trust in them. In the ninth verse we read: And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. These iron breastplates destroy all conscience or make them impervious to the shafts of truth, so that the conscience is never reached. The wings, whose sound is as that of many chariots rushing to battle, would symbolize the swiftness with which they conquer those who have turned from the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The tenth verse again emphasizes the scorpion-like torment they produce. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. What a mercy that their power is thus limited. I see no reason why we should not understand the five months literally. For a very limited time this apostate leader and his emissaries will be permitted to dominate those who would not have Christ the Lord to reign over them. In His place, Satan himself is worshiped as Abaddon and Apollyon. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon (11). Satan alone is the angel of the bottomless pit. So it is made evident at last that the God within, to which men are turning today, is no other than Satan, the great arch-enemy, who has been plotting mans destruction from the very beginning. Self-worshipers are devil-worshipers, and in some instances already this has been avowed by the followers of present day apostasy. This then is the first woe. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter (12).
The Conflict of the Second Woe (Rev 9:13-21)
As the sixth angel blew his trumpet a very different sorrow was loosed on the earth. It seems to be the result, however, of the previous affliction. That is, it shows us what the effect on the world will be when Satan-worship becomes prevalent everywhere in what was once called Christendom. It will bring about a tremendous conflict, setting nation against nation and man against man, until the third part of men will be destroyed.
I think we have had a remarkable illustration of this in the great conflict from which we have so lately emerged (World War I). Who can deny that it was the direct result of rationalistic Kultur, and the denial of the authority of the Word of God? If education without Christ could save, Germany should have been the most blest nation on the face of the earth. In that country education seemed to have reached its highest point-but with what dire results, not only to that nation but to a large part of the human race! German philosophy had poisoned the world. The colleges and universities of almost every civilized land drank greedily from the poisoned streams of Teutonic philosophies and infidel hypotheses, and it is only now that we are beginning to awaken to the baleful effects of such folly. I have no doubt that Satan himself would have restrained men from rushing into such bloody conflict had it been possible. What I mean is this: He was seeking to entrap men with his specious theories and unholy philosophies, and World War I was an almost unforeseen result of this. The nations were thrown into confusion by the teachings they had imbibed. The war was like a great explosion which could no longer be prevented.
These considerations will help us, I think, to understand the second woe. In chapter 7 we saw the four angels restrained from letting loose the four winds of the earth on the great sea of the nations. In 9:14 a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, in response undoubtedly to the angel-priests intercession in 8:3, cries out to the angel which had the sixth trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. These angels are evidently at the present time restraining the great Asiatic hordes from pouring themselves on the land of Palestine and Europe. The Euphrates formed the eastern limit of the Roman Empire, and thus was the barrier, as it were, between the East and the West.
We are told that the four angels were prepared, not exactly-as the King James version reads-for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, but for the hour, day, month, and year. That is, there is a definite moment in the mind of God at which this awful power is to be let loose. Until that hour strikes, not all the evil machinations of men, not all the ambitions of nations, can bring about the conflict here predicted. But when that hour does strike, no astute statesmans policy, no treaties, no world federation movements can prevent the dire catastrophe predicted. Two hundred thousand horsemen are hurled on the west of Asia and on Europe. They seem like unearthly warriors, with breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. The horses heads appear as the heads of lions, because of the unspeakable ferocity of these Asiatic hordes. Fire, and smoke, and brimstone seem to issue from their mouths, telling of the Satanic character of this terrible invasion. The result will be a third part of men killed by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone, which issue from their mouths. When we recall the millions who have perished as the direct or indirect result of wars and pestilence, we can see how a greater war in the future may well tend to almost depopulate the earth, destroying one-third of the prophetic earth, which is identical with the limits of the old Roman empire.
In verse 19 we read: For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. Isa 9:15 says The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. This passage helps us to understand both Rev 9:10 and 19. Whether it be the occult woe of the fifth trumpet or the carnage woe of the sixth trumpet, in each case lying prophets are the leaders in each movement and are responsible for the mental, spiritual, and physical harm accomplished.
It is a solemn thing to realize that even judgments such as these will have no effect in leading men back to God and to repentance. Punishment does not of itself lead men to repentance, so we are told in verses 20-21: The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. This is in accordance with the general testimony of Scripture, which nowhere intimates that punishment produces penitence. The Universalist teachers deny this and insist that all punishment, whether in time or eternity, will result in the final salvation of the delinquent. They teach that eventually all men will learn by judgment if they refused to learn by grace, and will turn to God for salvation. But both here and later in this same book of Revelation we find that the heaviest judgments of God, falling on guilty men, do not soften stony, rebellious hearts. Rather men become hardened in their sins and are more blasphemous and God-defiant when judgment is poured out on them.
In eternity, God will not permit open defiance of His will. Our Lord Jesus tells us that in Hell there will be not only weeping because of suffering, but gnashing of teeth. This phrase expresses not open opposition but the angry defiance of the heart of man, which will be filled with hatred to God but be powerless to openly oppose His government. If the cross of Christ with its marvelous exhibition of holy love will not reconcile men to God, punishment will never avail to win their hearts.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Rev 9:12
The Great Voice from Heaven.
This is a world in which there is no standing still. Ceaseless progress is the law of nature. Everything is going on, and in our lives we feel it often, and sometimes we feel it sadly; there is no pause nor cease. Here in truth we have no continuing city; our feet are not set upon solid land; from birth to death we are carried on by a rapid current against which there is no striving. Now there are just two ways by which men can advance: the one leads upward, and its end is heaven; the other leads downward, and its end is perdition.
I. The voice of God comes to us from heaven and says to us, “Come up hither.” The new voice of God speaks not to the ear, but to the heart. The whole Bible is a great voice from heaven. Revelation furnishes us with a continuous proof that it is the upward path which God would have us choose from the two that are before us.
II. A second voice that invites us up to heaven is that of our blessed Saviour. What was the Redeemer’s whole appearance on earth but one earnest, unceasing, lifelong entreaty that men would turn to God? And the Saviour even yet appears to remind us of His earthly travail and sorrow, and to whisper to us, “As ye would not that all that should prove in vain, come up hither.”
III. The blessed Spirit, too, adds His voice to that which invites us towards heaven. The whole scope and object of His working is to make us fit for heaven, is an indication of His design and His wish that we should go up thither. The Spirit, the Purifier, as He makes us holier and better, thus fitting us for a clearer atmosphere and a nobler company, is ever whispering within us that it must be a higher life in which virtue will be perfect, and another world in which hearts will be pure.
IV. The voice of our dear friends who have fallen asleep in Jesus invites us to “come up hither.” Let us plant our feet on the rock, and take not one step further in the evil way, for tomorrow may end our path, and today is the accepted time.
A. K. H. B., Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson, p. 283.
Reference: Rev 11:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 488; W. Gledden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 136.
Rev 9:15
The Triumph of Christianity.
This book of the Apocalypse is confessedly one of those Scriptures that Scripture itself speaks of as “hard to be understood.” Yet it must not on that account be neglected. Nay, perhaps, on that very account it is deserving of the most painstaking study.
I. Note well the topography, or, as I might truly say, the geography, of the text. The event concerning which this seventh angel is sounding, and which occasions these great voices of jubilation in heaven, is not an event which is happening in the region of heaven; but it is an event which is to occur on this earth. They are rejoicing over this event which is thus foreshadowed: that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” Through the whole of Scripture, it is this earth, which was the scene of the usurper’s conquest, and the scene of the Redeemer’s conflict with him, and the scene of the Redeemer’s travail, and toil, and agony, and shame, and death, and the scene of all His Church’s conflicts and sufferings, that is yet to be the theatre of His triumphs. He is not to win in some ghostly region far away, and leave this world to the devil or to ashes. But here, in this tangible world, is He yet to triumph, and over the field of His sufferings is He yet to wield His sceptre. The prayer that has been going up from the Church for two millenniums shall yet receive its glorious answer, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
II. Let me next observe that, as an earnest of the final triumph, there has already been a partial fulfilment of this prophecy. Has nothing been done yet to make “the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ”? Take a map of Europe and see; take the page of history and see. All along the line there has been victory. Though the enemy has vastly outnumbered the Church’s little armies, and though there has been hard fighting, and though it has suffered reverses and repulses, and though its sufferings have been great and its martyrs many, yet defeat it has never known up till now. And though the battle is still prolonged, and its final victory not actually grasped, yet all is tending that way, and the issue cannot be doubtful. The Church’s
“Battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, is ever won.”
R. Glover, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 371.
Rev 9:15
(with 1Co 15:24, 1Co 15:28)
The Coming of the Kingdom the Sure Hope of the Church.
When we read these passages, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever,” and again, “Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and God shall be all and in all,” we are transported in thought to the utmost verge of future history. The end stands in contrast to the beginning. Sin began in man putting God off the throne of his heart and will; redemption ends in “God being all and in all.” Again, we have seen how Israel was trained to the idea of an invisible King, and how all the national institutions of law, temple, monarchy, priesthood, were to be witnesses for Him, being pictures of an ideal state. In the shattering of the earthly symbolism and the advent of Christ, the training passed from the narrow limits of a nation to the whole world, and from external domain to inward and spiritual obedience. The true theocracy is reached when “the end comes,” and “the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of the Lord.” The advance of that kingdom of God is by the increasing recognition of the truth, the truth of God and the truth of humanity as in Christ, sin and evil passing away as the mind of Christ possesses the spirit of man. But in what sense can the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ?
I. The kingdoms of the world are something more than the various political states-empire, monarchy, or republic-into which nationalities are divided. The true kingdoms of the world are the moral forces and interests which bear sway over human life. There are the kingdom of commerce, with its penetrating influences, the kingdom of science, with its vast interests, the kingdom of literature, of art, of public opinion, all of which govern in that inner sphere which gives shape to history and character to movements. When we weigh what these kingdoms are we can perceive the possibility of their becoming the kingdoms of the Lord without any arrestment of movement or any shock to the methods in which they now control society. Life need not be of the world, but “the pride of life” constitutes it worldly. If we take away “the lust” and “the pride,” then “the eye,” and “the flesh,” and “life” remain, but purified and true parts of the kingdom of God.
II. From these hints we can imagine the kind of victory secured by the coming of the kingdom of God. Already we can see how the aspect of civilisation has been changed by the inward influence of the Christian spirit, as in the case of marriage, slavery, and a thousand cruelties that have passed away as the mist vanishes when the sun arises in its strength. Let us imagine the diffusive power of the heavenly leaven to have penetrated the entire “lump” of human interest. To believe in the possibility of such an end is itself ennobling. It is good for us even to hope that Christ will yet reign, not by the forceful putting down of all authority, but by winning the willing homage of every heart.
D. Macleod, Christ and Society, p. 107.
References: Rev 11:15.-J. Halsey, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxiii., p. 264. Rev 11:19.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1621. Rev 12:7.-Ibid., Evening by Evening, p: 337. Rev 12:7-9.-H. S. Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxvi., p. 209. Rev 12:10.-Expositor, 1st series, vol. ii., p. 405. Rev 12:11.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1237; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 77. Rev 12:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1502.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 9
Rev 9:1-12.
The remaining three trumpets have a woe attached to each. This is announced in the last verse of the preceding chapter, where the word angel should be eagle. An eagle, the bird of prey, proclaims the threefold woe. He acts thus as a herald of great judgments (Mat 24:28, Rev 19:17-18). The fifth trumpet is a special judgment upon apostate Israel: because those who suffer are they which have not the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev 9:4). The great tribulation in the second half of the week, comes now into prominence. If we turn to Rev 12:12 we read something similar to the eagles message of woe. Woe unto the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Preceding the sounding of the fifth trumpet the eagle proclaimed the woe upon the inhabiters of the earth. The star which is seen fallen from heaven with the key of the pit of the abyss is Satan himself cast out of heaven. The details of this event we learn in the twelfth chapter. He has the key to the pit of the abyss, the same word deep, used in Luk 8:31. And they (the demons) besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep (abyss). He unlocks the prison house of the fallen angels and the most awful satanic agencies come forth to begin their dread work of torment. The smoke first, symbolical of darkening; the locusts next, symbolical of these demon powers. Awful darkness prevails and the most diabolical delusions, producing fearful torments among apostate Israel and the inhabiters of the earth. It is the time of the strong delusion (2Th 2:4-11) which has come. And over them is a king. His name is given in Greek and Hebrew, showing that it is both Jew and Gentile that come under His power. Both names mean destruction.
Rev 9:13-21.
The sixth angel is commanded by a voice from the horns of the golden altar to loose the four angels who are found at Euphrates, and as a result an innumerable company of horsemen is released. (Greek: twice ten thousand times ten thousand, that is, 200 million. The number would indicate the immense, uncountable hordes.) They are prepared for a specific time to do their work. Euphrates is once more mentioned under the pouring out of the sixth vial. We believe the sixth vial judgment gives the key to these horsemen here. Euphrates does not mean the Turkish Empire, as we shall more fully show when we come to the sixth vial. This river was both the boundary line of the old Roman Empire and the land of Israel. Restraining influences held back the tide of nations on the other side of the river, this restraint is now removed and therefore a great invasion takes place. As the land of Israel is nearest it will suffer first, but the revived Roman empire will be the objective of these invading hordes. The third part stands for the Roman Empire, the coming European confederacy. This invasion is under the king of the north. It is seen in its beginning here and is consummated under the sixth vial. There the kings of the sunrise are included. And under the sixth vial they are more specifically gathered for the great day of God Almighty.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 23
Christ brings judgment
And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them
Rev 9:1-21
The Lord God declares, I make peace, and create evil (Isa 45:7). In this chapter, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, as he continues opening the seventh seal, bringing the evils of providential judgment upon the earth. Because of his mediatoral obedience as our Savior, the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son (Joh 5:22), and has given him power over all flesh to execute judgment in the earth for the saving of his elect (Joh 17:2). John is describing the seven trumpet judgments which he saw with the opening of the seventh seal (Rev 8:1). These are divine, providential acts by which the Lord God both vindicates himself and avenges his own elect. Four of the angels blew their trumpets in chapter 8. Then, John writes, I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (Rev 8:13). The voice was loud and clear. Its message was unmistakable. The three trumpet judgments that were yet to be revealed would be far worse than the four described in chapter eight. Two of the remaining three woes are described in chapter nine. In this chapter, we are clearly taught four important lessons.
We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22)
Without question, Revelation 9 speaks of a time of great tribulation in this world. As long as time shall stand God’s people in this world must endure great tribulation. Sometimes the tribulation is greater and more evident than at other times. But in this world, tribulation is our lot (Joh 16:33). And, frequently, the tribulations through which we pass are the direct result of God’s judgments upon the wicked. Yet, the message of Revelation 9 is not one of gloom and doom. Tribulation must come; but God’s elect shall not be hurt. That is the meaning of Rev 9:4. Those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ have the seal of God upon them. Being chosen of God the Father, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, the saints of God are always safe and secure. They shall endure to the end. Even these times of great tribulation shall prove to be for their spiritual and eternal good (Rom 8:28). Even in his acts of judgment, God is for us; and he will do us good (Psa 23:6).
There will be seasons of great apostasy in the world until Christ comes again (Rev 9:1-12)
This first woe is, perhaps, the greatest of all woes in this world, though few realize it. Because they receive not the love of the truth, because they will not believe the gospel, God leaves impenitent sinners to themselves, under the power of satanic delusion! Apostasy, falling away from the truth of God, has been the curse of multitudes throughout the history of the church, both in the Old Testament and in the New. Yet, as the end of the age approaches, the Scriptures warn of a general, universal apostasy. It shall be a deception so great that, were it possible, even God’s elect would be deceived by it (Mat 24:22-24; 2Th 2:1-12; 1Ti 4:1-2; 2Ti 3:1-5; 2Pe 2:1-3; 1Jn 4:1-6; Jud 1:4; Jud 1:12-19). In these verses, John shows us how and why these times of great apostasy come.
John saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth (Rev 9:1-2). This star is satan (Luk 10:18). This is the devil’s present condition. Having rebelled against God, he lost his original position of holiness and splendor (Isa 14:12-14). The key to the bottomless pit symbolizes authority and power over hell. But notice that satan had this key given to him. Satan has great power. But he has absolutely no power except that which has been given to him by Christ, who bound him with the mighty chain of omnipotent sovereignty at Calvary (Joh 12:31; Rev 20:1-3). It is satan who opens the pit of hell and fills the world with demonic influence (Rev 9:2). John sees hell belching forth the filthy, black smoke of a great furnace, polluting the earth. That black smoke represents the deception and delusion of heresy. Freewill, works religion is the religion of hell. It so blinds men with ignorance, superstition, and moral degradation that it blots out the light of the gospel (2Co 4:3-4). Let none be mistaken. These times of satanic delusion are acts of divine judgment by which God warns men of his wrath and calls them to repentance (Pro 1:23-33).
The locusts coming up out of the pit represent all false prophets, the messengers of satan, who promote the religion of antichrist (Rev 9:3-6). A plague more terrible than the plague of locusts is hard to imagine (Exo 10:4-15; Joe 1:7-12). Locusts leave destruction and desolation in their path. But these hellish locusts do not feed upon vegetation, but upon the souls of men! (See 2Co 11:1-4; 2Co 11:13-15). They are given power by God (Revelation 9:30). Notice again that their power is given to them. Like scorpions, they poison the men and women of the earth with heresy. But they have no power to hurt God’s elect (Rev 9:4). Christ, who has absolute dominion even over false prophets (2Pe 2:1), commands them not to hurt God’s sealed ones. God’s elect cannot be hurt (deceived) by the heresies of men, because the seal of God is in their foreheads (1Co 11:19; 1Jn 2:20). Rev 9:5 tells us that these distressing times of prevailing heresy are limited by divine decree to specific periods of time. As God raised up men like Luther and Calvin to break the arms of papacy, so he will raise up chosen men to break the back of Arminianism at his appointed time. Though the power of the locusts is limited, they do great harm to the souls of men (Rev 9:6). False religion never gives real freedom and peace. It thrives on, controls, and motivates by guilt. Those who have a religion of works, constantly reminding them of their guilt, are poisoned in their souls. Having no true sense of pardon, they soon grow weary of life. Their religion is a constant source of torment to them. Nothing but the truth, salvation by grace alone through the merits of Christ’s blood and righteousness, makes sinners free and takes away their guilt (Joh 8:32; Heb 9:14; Jer 6:16).
In Rev 9:7-11, John gives us the characteristics of these hellish locusts. God’s servants preach one thing – Christ crucified (1Co 1:23; 1Co 2:2; 2Co 4:5). The messengers of Satan preach many things. But their message always makes salvation to be ultimately dependent upon and determined by the will, works, and worth of man. False prophets always have certain identifying characteristics too. They march through the world like horses prepared for battle (Rev 9:7), presenting themselves as valiant warriors for truth and righteousness. They love the honor of men (Rev 9:7), wearing crowns like gold, loving the praises of men. They are flatterers of human flesh (Rev 9:7). Having the faces of men, they have a show of compassion. Having hair as the hair of women (Rev 9:8), they are alluring, charming, and impressive. Like harlots in gaudy clothes (Proverbs 7), these religious hucksters attract simple souls by the gaudy ornaments of religious ritualism, emotionalism, and sentimentalism, pretending to love them. They are spineless, effeminate men, soft and luxurious. But they are cruel, devouring beasts with teeth as the teeth of lions (Rev 9:8). False prophets have breastplates of iron (Rev 9:9). They carefully defend and protect themselves; and their hearts are as hard as steel. Like locusts beating the air, they make tremendous noise (Rev 9:9). When John says, they have tails like scorpions with the sting of death (Rev 9:10), he is telling us that their doctrines, the doctrines of freewill, works religion, are damning. In Rev 9:11, we are told that the king of this hellish squadron is Satan, the Destroyer (Apollyon). With that statement, he tells us plainly that he is describing men, not a literal swarm of locusts, because locusts have no king (Prov. 30:37). This first woe has to do with spiritual matters, false religion and false prophets. There will be seasons of apostasy in the world until Christ comes again. The second woe speaks of physical judgments and earthly trials.
The apostle shows us that times of sorrow, destruction, and death are divine judgments by which God warns us of wrath to come (Rev 9:13-19)
The sixth trumpet describes war, not one particular war, but all wars, past, present, and future. Like all other things, the ravages of war are under the direct rule of our exalted God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the picture, not in isolated parts, but as a whole and learn four things. (1.) The powers of evil in this world are graciously restrained until God turns them loose to accomplish his purpose (Rev 9:13-14; Psa 76:10). (2.) When sinners are ripe for punishment, the instruments of God’s wrath will be turned loose upon them (Rev 9:14). These angels of destruction are bound until the time of judgment comes. Then they are turned loose, but only to do God’s bidding. (3.) The duration of wars and the damage inflicted by them is determined, not by men, but by God (Rev 9:15-19). The horsemen and the horses, equipped with all the machinery of war (guns, cannons, bombs, etc.), belching fire, smoke, and brimstone, have but one purpose – to kill and to destroy. (4.) The purpose of God in wars, as in all temporal, providential judgments, is to warn men and women of wrath and judgment to come (Jer 5:3-4; Psa 78:22-33; Amo 4:6-13).
Fourthly, Rev 9:20-21 show us that all men are so obstinately sinful and rebellious that judgment alone will never bring them to repentance. It is the goodness of God that leadeth thee to repentance (Rom 2:4). Neither the threats of the law nor the terrors of wrath will produce true repentance, but the goodness of God revealed in the crucified Christ will (Zec 12:10).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
angel
(See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the fifth: Rev 9:12, Rev 9:13, Rev 8:6-8, Rev 8:10, Rev 8:12, Rev 11:14, Rev 11:15
a star: Rev 1:20, Rev 8:10, Isa 14:12, Luk 10:18, 2Th 2:3-8, 2Ti 3:1-5
to him: Rev 1:18, Rev 20:1
the bottomless: Rev 9:2, Rev 9:11, Rev 17:8, Rev 20:10, Luk 8:31, Rom 10:7,*Gr.
Reciprocal: Isa 27:13 – the great Mat 16:19 – the keys Rev 6:13 – the stars Rev 8:2 – trumpets Rev 8:13 – Woe Rev 12:9 – he was Rev 14:2 – of a
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FIFTH AND sixth trumpets follow in chapter 9; both of them are termed a woe, so severe is the judgment they inflict. In general there is a resemblance between them, but the fifth brings torment so fierce that men will desire death and yet death will elude them. The sixth does bring death. In reading this chapter we need hardly remind ourselves that the descriptions are couched in symbolic language. If taken literally we should have to picture something very grotesque.
Under the fifth trumpet infernal influences are let loose upon the earth. The star that falls from heaven to earth indicates some person of eminence that apostasizes, and to him the key of the abyss was given. The personal pronoun, him, certainly infers that a person is meant. In the light of what follows later in the book, this may well be the Antichrist himself. The immense cloud of smoke that arises from the opened pit, darkening the air, graphically figures the sending forth of dark and even demonic influences, which shut out from men the light of heaven. In our times we have witnessed something like a preliminary essay of Satan in this direction. About the middle of the nineteenth century a puff of smoke from the pit arose and shaped itself into the mystic word, evolution. Think of the darkening influence that puff of smoke has thrown over the minds of millions! The light of God has been obscured in their minds by an imaginary ape-man, or even a mere speck of protoplasm. It is the god of this age who blinds the minds of them that believe not.
Out of this darkening influence comes the swarm of locusts. Here is another graphic figure. The locust is an insignificant insect in itself, but terrifying when it arrives in countless hordes. These had the poison of scorpions, and unlike the natural locust that preys upon every green thing, these were only to afflict the unsealed of men. This refers us back to the opening verses of Rev 7:1-17, where we find that those sealed were the servants of God out of the tribes of Israel. We presume, therefore, that those of Israel who were not sealed are particularly in question here. If this inference is correct it would strengthen the thought that the fallen star is the Antichrist, for the darkening influence of his apostasy would specially affect the mass of Israel who are still in unbelief. The effect produced is described as the torment of a scorpions sting, which is very acute but does not usually kill. There is a limit to the period of this infliction-5 months; that is, while the torment is so acute that men would prefer death, it is not prolonged.
The details given in verses Rev 9:7-10 have a meaning which is not really obscure. Battle horses surely signify aggressive might. The crowns they wear are not the diadems of royalty but the wreaths of victory, which they have assumed. To the eye they looked like gold, but they were not really what they appeared to be, but only, as it were. The face of a man speaks of intelligence: the hair of women of subjection: the teeth of lions of ferocious power. Breast plates of iron would indicate complete imperviousness to attack. Their sting being in their tails is reminiscent of Isa 9:15, where we read, The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. Another reference this, which directs our minds to the Antichrist.
Finally, these symbolic locusts were under the direction of a king, whose name means The Destroyer. He is described as the angel of the bottomless pit. This indicates that these locusts are an organized force, and under the direction of a controlling destructive power, just as in nature the locust swarms of countless millions act like a well-directed army. Though under the direction of the destroyer, this woe falls upon man not unto death-for death flees from them-but into the destruction of all that makes life on earth worth living. Darkness and torment of a spiritual sort is what is indicated.
At the sounding of the sixth trumpet the golden altar is again mentioned. Not now the priestly offering of incense with the prayers of saints, but forth from it a voice of Divine authority, commanding the loosing of the four angels that had been bound in the Euphrates, who were prepared to bring death upon men-not torment now but death. Four speaks of universality, and the Euphrates was the great river that divided the lands of the east from the land of Israel. In chapter Rev 16:12, we find this great river mentioned again in connection with the sixth vial. It may well be that what happens here has a bearing upon the happening indicated then. This woe is strictly limited, not merely to the day but even to the hour of its execution.
The loosing of the four angels of death precipitates upon men the immense army of 200,000,000 horsemen, who were their instruments in this dreadful task. Verses Rev 9:17-19, give us details of these horses and their riders, which are again symbolic and figurative. The third part of men appears again here, so we gather this woe from the east falls especially on what we have called the Roman earth. It is indeed a woe, for even the breastplates-normally a piece of armour wholly defensive are of fire and jacinth and brimstone, and therefore bear an offensive character. This time too the power is in the mouth as well as in the tail; but the tails were like serpents with heads dealing out hurt, while the mouths cast forth fire and smoke and brimstone. All this is indicative surely of something that is very satanic on the one hand, and what is suffocating and death-dealing and full of judgment and pain on the other. If the earlier woe was more applicable to the unsealed apostates of Israel, this falls rather on the Gentile nations and the proud Roman Empire, which in its revived form will be the dominant political power in the earth in the last days.
The death spoken of here we understand to signify utter and irremediable apostasy which sinks a man into final alienation from God. Those smitten with this death would be past all feeling or judgment as to what is right and what is wrong. We have recently had some striking examples of this kind of thing in those who fell under the Nazi delusion and became the instruments of its appalling cruelties. It may well be, of course, that literal death of the body follows in many cases, but it is not, we believe, the primary thought.
Verse Rev 9:20 speaks of the rest of the men who were not smitten by death. They did feel the weight of the plagues but they did not repent. Here for the first time in Revelation we get this word, plague. It at once turns our minds to the plagues in Egypt, recorded in the early chapters of Exodus; and this, we think, not without reason. Gods judgments run a course which is consistent with Himself. Judgment is His strange work; He does not delight in it, and therefore He does not strike the final overwhelming blow without giving ample warning by preliminary blows of a lesser sort. He may well know that these lesser judgments will not produce repentance and so avert the final intervention, nevertheless He justifies His ways in judgment in the sight of all heavenly intelligences, and permits them to see how right He is when at last He strikes overwhelmingly. So in the case before us: men did not repent. We are permitted to see the depths to which men will have sunk in those days; worshipping demons on the one hand, and the insensible works of their own hands on the other.
Is it possible that men, who live in lands where the light of the Gospel once has shone, can sink to such a level? It certainly is. Millions of men and women were recently worshipping Hitler, who apparently was in touch with a demon by means of clair-audience-hearing voices from the unseen world. He would have been next to nothing without his familiar spirit, and in worshipping him men were really worshipping the demon that inspired him. The worship too of the material grows apace, as more and more men are obsessed with their great discoveries, and the works of their own hands by which these discoveries are made available, whether for good or for ill. In worshipping these works of their hands, man really is worshipping himself. In those days then, men will worship themselves and demons. They are not very far away from it today.
The last verse of our chapter shows that along with this will go complete moral breakdown. Sorceries or witchcraft indicate traffic with demonic powers, in all its various forms; the other three things specified we are all acquainted with. When life is held cheaply, when personal purity is quite disregarded, when the rights of property are ignored, a state of things must be produced reminiscent of the state of the earth before the flood, or the degradation that prevailed in Sodom and Gomorrah at a later date.
Such is to be the state of things on earth when these woe judgments are unleashed. But we have heard the Lords own words, As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man… Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot… Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed (Luk 17:26-30). So we are not surprised.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Rev 9:1. It is fair to my readers to state that a number of commentators connect this chapter with Mohammed. In reasoning upon the subject some of them will mention certain things that could not have been true of any persons but the soldiers of Mohammed. But in their reasoning I note that the chief basis of their argumant is the idea that the literal characteristics of locusts and horses and soldiers. etc.. will not agree with any interpretation except to apply the predictions to Mohammed. But we are in a book of symbols where it does not count for a conclusion to rely on the literal nature of things. On the principle of “giving others the benefit of the doubt,” I am sure there were many facts and truths about Mohammedanism that correspond with the language of the several verses. Yet that could truly be said of some other noted impostors who have come into the world to poison the minds of men. The scope of history is so wide that one might find incidents to correspond with various characters he would select for the comparison. Against all of the above considerations I am keeping in mind that the Lord was concerned principally with the experiences of His people in connection with the Roman Empire, and the great apostasy that was formed by the corruption of His system with its union of church and state. In view of the aforesaid remarks I shall devote my comments to the items that were and are being fulfilled by the doings of the institution of Rome. Star fall from heaven is rendered “out of heaven fallen” by The Englishman’s Greek New Testament. It denotes that John saw a star (symbol for a leader among men) that was in fallen condition, not that he saw it fall. That would be true of the head of Rome; he had fallen from the spiritual purity that exists in heavenly things. Bottomless pit is from ABUS-SOS, which is explained at Luk 8:31 in the first volume of New Testament Commentary.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 1.
The smoke of the pit–(the fifth trumpet)–Rev 9:1-12.
1. A fallen star: I saw a star fall from heaven”–Rev 9:1.
The star, as in previous instances where the symbol is used, denoted a ruler; and heaven in this connection, as also previously shown, denoted the dominion of these powers. When Jesus said in Luk 10:18, “I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven,” he meant the complete defeat of all the personified agents of Satan. By his fall from heaven, Jesus meant that Satan would be dethroned from his exalted dominion; and his downfall would come swiftly as lightning in the shaping conflict.
When the prophet said of a Babylonian ruler, in Isa 14:12 –“How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer (brilliant star), son of the morning; how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the nations”–it referred to the downfall of the ruler, personified as Lucifer. The name Lucifer in the Septuagint, is translated “Star,” which was represented as falling from heaven–the wicked king’s exalted place of dominion.
The figure is no different in this Revelation vision. The star is personified in the persecuting ruler. He was designated “a star fallen from heaven” for the wicked character that he exemplified in the descension from his exalted place of rulership to the satanic plane of a perfidious leader of impious forces. The star falling “from heaven unto the earth” merely denoted the descent of the ruler from an exalted dominion to a degenerate place of activity among the powers of men.
2. The key to the bottomless pit: “And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit”–Rev 9:1.
The “bottomless” pit is the abyss, the infernal region, the diabolical domain of the devil. This fallen star being an agent of Satan personified, he was given the “key” to the abyss of Satan, that he might unloose the woes announced by the flying angel of chapter 8:13.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 9:1. What the Seer beheld was not a star fall out of heaven, but a star fallen (as in the Authorised Version). The difference is important, for we are thus led to think not of any punishment which befell the star, but of its moral and religious condition at the time when it was permitted to inflict the plague to be immediately described. The mention of a star leads to the thought of a potentate or power; and, as what is said of it can hardly be separated from the statement of chap. Rev 12:7-9, there is little doubt that the star represents Satan,there his expulsion from heaven, here his condition after he is expelled. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that it is everywhere the manner of St. John to present evil as the direct counterpart of good. Christ is the Morning Star (chap. Rev 22:16); Satan is a star fallen. The words used suggest also the important consideration that, in the view of the apostle, Satan was not originally evil. He is a spirit fallen out of heaven, not merely from heaven, as if to describe the greatness of his fall, but out of heaven, that abode of purity and bliss to which he had formerly belonged. Once he was like other happy spirits there: he is now fallen into the earth, the abode of sin and trouble.
That which was given him was the key of the well of the abyss. The word pit in both the Authorised and Revised Versions fails to convey the proper meaning of the original. It is a well that is spoken of: and, though the expression may seem strange, it is proper to retain it, both because what men lock is not a pit but the long shaft of a well, which to this day in the East is often covered at the mouth and locked, and because we seem to have here one of the remarkable contrasts so characteristic of St. John,that between a fountain and a well. Truth emanates from a fountain. Jesus Himself is the true fountain of Jacob (Joh 4:6; Joh 4:14). Only to the eye which does not yet see is that fountain a well (Joh 4:12).The shaft of the well goes down into the abyss, the abode of Satan (chaps. Rev 11:7, Rev 17:8, Rev 20:1; Rev 20:3).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Section 2. (Rev 9:1-21; Rev 10:1-11; Rev 11:1-18.)
Alliance with the enemy.
In evil we may always expect a constant development. It is a kingdom, and the head of it is the great apostate, Satan himself. Thus if God only permit things to have their way, as He is doing now in that which is before us in the prophecy, we must expect that the picture will grow ever darker until the great consummation when the lightning of divine wrath will at last enlighten the whole and disperse it, and the day will at last come. What distinguishes the last three woes from what has gone before is the introduction, manifestly, of Satan himself into the scene. Christianity is that which, as light, holds in check the darkness as long as its power continues. We see, indeed, its manifest waning in the present day; but when the Church is removed, and, with the Church, the Spirit of God as dwelling in it is gone out of the scene, then the apostasy from Christianity will link itself more and more openly with the enemy of God and man. We have seen in the history of the churches themselves, as given in the seven epistles, a similar progress, although necessarily not as open; but now we come to the days in which the lawless one shall exalt himself against “all that is called God or that is worshiped,” and his “coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders;” God allowing to be taken with a strong delusion those who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
1. Accordingly, when the fifth angel sounds, we see a star fallen from heaven to the earth, to whom is given the key of the pit of the abyss, and the pit of the abyss is opened. The star is not seen to fall, as under the third trumpet. It has already fallen; and we are necessarily referred back to the third trumpet for its previous history. It is the history of an apostate. To him is given the key of the abyss, and by his means there is opened upon the earth from the pit of the abyss a Satanic influence pictured as a smoke of a great furnace, so that the sun is darkened and the air, by the smoke of the pit. The abyss, or bottomless pit, is not hell itself; nor, according to Scripture, is Satan yet there. Yet the abyss is a “pit,” often in the Old Testament the synonym for a dungeon, and everything shows it to have this meaning here; for it is a key by which alone it can be opened. The “pit of the abyss” is the “dungeon of the abyss,” -the dungeon which is that; an infinite deep from which nothing can recover itself, except by divine permission. So the demons pray that they may not be sent into “the deep,” or “abyss” (Luk 8:31); and Satan is, in the twentieth chapter, shut up there: but the distinction between that abyss and hell itself, which is the lake of fire, is manifest in what is said in that connection. In the Old Testament, parallel to this in Revelation, it is said: “They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison” (Isa 24:22). Here the pit and the prison are synonymous. That it is not hell proper is seen again from the use of the word with regard to the Lord Himself (Rom 10:7): “Who shall descend into the deep (abyss); that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead?” The connection of the pit with the state of the dead in the Old Testament is similar to that of the abyss here in the New; and the beast in its last phase is said to come up out of the abyss. Here, too, the death-state is indicated. It naturally refers to the wounding to death and revival of the beast, or of the seventh head (Rev 13:3; Rev 13:12; Rev 13:14). Some have even contended, seeing the identification of the beast, or empire, with its last head (Rev 17:11), for the literal resurrection of a person in this case. But literal resurrection could only be from God, and the beast in its last form is filled and energized by Satan (Rev 13:1-2). The coming out of the abyss, therefore, is figurative, as the beast itself is; and indeed the use of the word seems figurative throughout. Christ has “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev 1:18), and it is not to be imagined that He should give up into the hand of an apostate, whether man or spirit, any portion of His own authority. We must not think, therefore, as has been done, of a literal opening of Hades, and an eruption of the spirits of the lost upon the earth. The demons, it is urged, were, in heathen account, but “the spirits of mortals when separated from their earthly bodies;” and Josephus is cited for the orthodox Jewish opinion that “demons are none other than the spirits of the wicked dead. With very few exceptions, the Christian fathers were of like opinion, . . . and the burden of evidence and authority is to the effect that demons are the souls of dead men, particularly the spirits of those who bore a bad character in this life. There is no such thing known in the Bible as a good demon.” This does not suit, however, with that which the Lord gives us from the mouth of the rich man in Hades, who is assured by Abraham of a great gulf fixed between the two classes there (Luk 16:26), “so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.” This naturally intimates that, at least without distinct permission, the spirits of the dead would not be found upon earth. God might, of course, give permission, and it is said here that to the fallen star the key of the pit is “given;” this, no doubt, from God; for if Christ be the Master of the prison-house, none plainly could break bounds without His permission. The dead are by their death removed from the sphere of earth, and those shut up to await judgment can scarcely be thought of as at the same time taking active part in that which is done upon the earth. The thought of Satan being in hell and yet taking such part as it is confessed he does, naturally leads to the thought that with regard to the spirits of the dead there may be the same thing. But Satan is not in hell, as we have seen; nor, as yet, even in the abyss. And the days of men upon earth are ended when the earthly life is. Thus we read that it is for “deeds done in the body,” and not out of it, that men are to give account in the day of judgment.
But we have to remember here, surely, that the whole language is symbolic. We are not called upon to believe that Christ literally puts the key of the prison-house into the hands of an apostate. The symbolism of the language here sets aside the whole moral question as to such a thing. Man certainly has the terrible power of yielding himself to the power of evil so as to open, not merely for himself, but for others also, the access to himself and others of that which lies otherwise under the restraint of God’s judgment. At the time to which we are brought here this will be done, as we have seen, in a way such as has never been known as yet; but it is the abandonment to a lie of those that love a lie; and thus fittingly that which is said to rise out of the pit is but a smoke of darkness, by which everything, to the very sun itself, is darkened. Out of this smoke come locusts upon the earth, the evil bringing its own torment with it. It is not said that the locusts come directly out of the pit. It may be natural indeed to think that after all they cannot be bred of the smoke merely, but must have come out of the pit with this. But where the spiritual sense is the whole matter, naturalistic interpretations may easily deceive us. Recognizing that these are symbols, there is no difficulty. The smoke is not the smoke of torment, but the fumes of malign influences darkening men’s minds. Out of this darkness we can easily understand such locusts as we have here to be bred. The symbolism, one would think, is manifest, and we can scarcely escape from it by saying that these are “supernatural, infernal, not earthly, locusts.” It is quite in accordance with their origin that their power should be represented as that of the scorpions of the earth, that is, in their poisonous sting, the sting of malignant error; and their distinction from natural locusts is seen in this, that they do not touch the food of such, but are a plague only upon men, and these the unsealed men. Remembering that it is in Israel that this sealing has taken place, it seems to be clear that the unsealed ones too are Israelites, and that the sphere of this plague is in the East. They do not kill, as in general the scorpion does not, but inflict a torment to which death is preferable; and their power lasts five months. The death here is plainly not spiritual, but simple, natural death. Men long to die as their escape from torment, but death flees from them.
Next we find them pictured as warriors, a military power subordinated to what is their grand interest and aim, the propagation of poisonous falsehood. Thus the shapes of the locusts are like horses prepared to battle, and, as in the certainty of triumph beforehand, “upon their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold.” Little matter of real triumph had they, as the limiting words here show. Their faces are as the faces of men. They have the dignity and apparent independence belonging to such. Nevertheless, their hair is as the hair of women, for they are in fullest subjection to the dark and dreadful power that rules over them. Their teeth as the teeth of lions shows the savage, tenacious grip with which they can hold their prey; their breastplates of iron, probably the fence of a hardened conscience. The sound of their wings like that of the locust-hosts they resemble, conveys the hopeless terror which they inspire.
Finally, as most important, we are again reminded of their scorpion stings and their power to hurt men five months. From this it has been urged that we have, in fact, to double the five months and make it ten; but the words themselves prohibit such a thought. The repetition is plainly for the sake of emphasis.
They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss, whose name is given (exactly the same in meaning) in Hebrew and in Greek. The use of the Hebrew joins with what we have seen before, to assure us that it is upon Israel that this woe comes; while the Greek no less plainly indicates that the angel here has also to do with the Gentiles. According to both, he is the “destroyer.” It is natural to think of Satan in such connections; and Satan, we are reminded, is the inspirer of antichrist. The historical application in this case is one in which there is great unanimity among interpreters. They are applied to Mohammed and the Saracens, whose astonishing successes were manifestly gained under the inspiration of a false religion. They came in swarms from the very country of the locusts, and their turbaned heads with men’s beards and women’s hair, and their cuirasses, the sparing of the trees and corn, and even of life where there was submission, with their time of prevalence according to the year-day reckoning, 150 years -all these things have been pointed out as fulfilment of the vision. It has been objected, on the other hand, that such points as these are below the dignity of Scripture, and that the terms are moral. While this is surely true if we think of the full intention, it is to be considered, on the other hand, whether God does not allow and intend oftentimes a correspondence between such outward things and what is deeper, just as the face of a man may be a real index to his spirit; and because they are external they are well fitted to strike the imagination. The parable is, as we know, a very common method of instruction everywhere in Scripture. Thus God would open our eyes to what is indeed all around us; and to stop at what is external, or to ignore it, is alike an error. But in any case, and for reasons already considered, we cannot take this Saracenic scourge as any complete fulfilment of the locust vision; nor can we, on the other hand, connect it in full certainty with other prophecy, as would be necessary for very clear interpretation. What seems indicated, however, with regard to its final fulfilment in the time yet to come, is the rise and propagation of that desolation to which we know both the masses of mere Christian profession and of the unbelieving Jews will in the end surrender themselves. The antichrist of that time will be, there is little doubt, both an apostate from Christianity (2Th 2:1-17) and from the faith of his Jewish fathers (Dan 11:37); and his apostasy will remove, under divine permission, the present restraint upon the power of evil. It will be as if the abyss had opened its mouth to darken the light of heaven. A mist of confusion will roll in upon men’s minds which, under Satanic influence, will soon find definite expression both in forms of blasphemy and a host of armed adherents ready to force upon others the doctrines of the pit. As has been said, it is apparently with Israel that this trumpet has to do; but to have the Greek name of the leader seems to speak also of the connection with Gentiles. If the application here made be the true one, then we know that the wicked one will not be a Jewish false Christian merely, but will also head the apostasy of Christendom. In this sense also it may be that the beast under its last head, the revived Roman empire, is said to come up out of the abyss, its actual revival being due to the dark and dreadful power which is presented to us here, so exceeding in malignity all that has preceded it that its advent is called, in the language of inspiration, “the first woe.”*
{*As to the duration of this woe, five months, little may be said beyond what is given in the text in connection with the historical interpretation. Five, however, is the number of human capacity and the limit of human responsibility; ten being but the twofold witness of this, manward and Godward, as seen in the Ten Commandments. The time of this intense persecution, then, will not be beyond the limits of human endurance, or, at least, beyond the measure of human responsibility. The fact, too, that men were not slain but only tormented would also indicate this. May we not also see a measure of mercy in this limitation of the time of this infliction? “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” It would almost seem as though God were yet calling upon men in this sore judgment to turn to Him. We see, indeed, that this is implied in the next plague (ver. 20), where men still refuse to repent. -S.R.}
2. The sounding of the sixth trumpet is followed by a voice out of the horns of the golden altar which is before God. We recognize it at once as that which has furnished the incense added to the prayers of the saints by the Angel-Priest, and that we have here what is distinctly judgment upon the persecutors of the people of God. We have only to remember, also, that the idolatry in Israel in the last days is spoken of as “the abomination of desolation” (that is, the abomination which brings the desolator) to see an intimation of the connection between what has taken place under the fifth trumpet and what is here. In Dan 9:27 it is said literally, “And because of the wing of abominations there shall be a desolator.” The wing of abominations is in contrast with that sheltering wing of the God of Israel under which the true remnant amongst them have learned to trust. The voice from the altar may remind us of one who has caused sacrifice and oblations to cease from the place whence it went up to God. The altar here is indeed the golden altar, not the altar of sacrifice itself; but the blood of the sacrifice had to be applied to the horns of the golden altar in order that incense might go up from it. It is more emphatic as read now: “one voice out of the four horns” -their united cry against the blasphemous invader. The cry is for judgment, to loose the four angels that are bound by the great river Euphrates.
The Euphrates was the boundary of the old Roman empire, and there the four angels are said to be bound -restrained, it may be, by the power of the empire itself, until, having risen up against God, their own hands throw down the barrier, and the hordes from without enter upon their mission to slay the third part of men: a term which we have seen as probably indicating the revived Roman empire. Here is the seat of the beast’s supremacy, with which the power of Antichrist is found allied. When we turn to the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth chapters of Ezekiel to find the desolator of the last days (Eze 38:17), we find, in fact, the full array of nations from the other side of the Euphrates pouring in upon the land of Israel, while the connection of that land with Antichrist and with the Roman empire is plainly shown us in Daniel and in Revelation alike. If the Euphrates be the boundary of the empire, as it once really was, it is also Israel’s as declared by God; and the two are already thus far identified. Their connection, spiritually and politically, we shall have fully before us in the more detailed prophecy to come.
But why four angels? and what do they symbolize? The restraint under which they were marks them sufficiently as opposing powers, and would exclude the thought of holy angels; nor is it probable that they are literal angels at all. They would seem representative powers, and in the historical application have been taken to refer to the fourfold division of the old Turkish empire into four kingdoms prior to the attack upon the empire of the East. If such an interpretation is to be made in reference to the final fulfilment, then it is noteworthy that “Gog of the land of Magog, Prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” -as the R.V., with most commentators, reads it now, gives (under one head indeed) four separate powers as principal associates in this latter-day irruption. Others there are, but coming behind and apart, as in their train. This is at least a possible application, and therefore not unworthy of serious consideration; while it does not exclude a deeper and more penetrative meaning.
The angels are prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they might slay the third part of men. The immense host, 200,000,000 in number, are perfectly in the hand of a Master -time, work and limit carefully apportioned by eternal Wisdom, the evil in its fullest development servant to the good. The number is particularly emphasized: “I heard the number of them;” and yet it seems impossible to be literal except we take it, as some would do, as applying to angelic hosts, where, of course, all our reasoning is lost. The horses seem to be of chief importance, and are most dwelt upon, though their riders are first described, but only with regard to their “breastplates of fire and jacinth and brimstone.” These answer to the “fire and smoke and brimstone” out of the horses’ mouths; divine judgment, of which they are the instruments, making them thus invincible while their work is being done. The horses have heads like lions; destruction comes with an open front -the judgment of God: so that the human hands that direct it are of the less consequence; divine wrath is sure to find its executioners.
God’s judgment is foremost in this infliction, but there is also Satan’s power in it. In this there is no possible contradiction, as we know. The horses’ tails are like serpents, and have heads and with these they do hurt. Poisonous falsehood characterizes this time, when men are given up to believe a lie. Death, physical and spiritual, are in league together, and the destruction is terrible: but those that escape are not delivered from their sins, which, as we see, are in the main idolatrous worship, with things that naturally issue out of this. The genealogy of evil is as recorded in the first of Romans. The forsaking of God leads to all other wickedness, but here it is where His full truth has been rejected, and the consequences are so much the more terrible and disastrous.
3. It has been already noticed that the difficulty of interpretation with regard to the trumpets hitherto is the result of their lying so much outside the field of vision of Old Testament prophecy. We are now coming, however, to what is completely within that field, and in this way the little book in the angel’s hand speaks: a book which is opened, not needing to be opened, comparatively small in its scope, as Old Testament prophecy, compared with the larger range of the book of Revelation itself, necessarily is. The visions that follow here are all the filling up of Old Testament outlines. This we shall see as we take them up in detail.
(1) We have already seen that in the trumpets, as in the seals, there is a gap filled up with a vision between the sixth and seventh, so as to make the seventh structurally an eighth section. This corresponds, moreover, to the meaning; for the seventh trumpet introduces the kingdom of Christ on earth, which, although the third and final woe on the dwellers on the earth, is, on the other hand, the beginning of a new condition, and an eternal one. With this octave a chord is struck which vibrates through the universe. The interposed vision is in both series, therefore a seventh, with a meaning corresponding to the number of perfection. At least so it is in the series in connection with the seals, and we may be sure that we shall find no failure in this case: failure in the book of God, even in the minutest point, -our Lord’s “jot or tittle,” -is an impossibility. Nothing is more beautiful of its kind than the way in which all this prophetic history yields itself to the hand that works in all and controls all; and this is what the numbers speak of. Thank God, we know whose hand it is. But the vision of the trumpet-series is very unlike that of the seals, and its burden of sorrow differs indeed from that sweet inlet into beatific rest. We shall find, however, that it vindicates its position none the less. As in the work, so in the word of God, with a substantial unity there is yet a wonderful variety; never a mere repetition, which would imply that God had exhausted Himself. As you cannot find two leaves in a forest alike, so you cannot find two passages of Scripture that are just alike, when they are carefully and intelligently considered. The right use of parallel passages must take in the consideration of the diversity and unity alike.
In the vision before us there is first of all seen the descent of a strong angel from heaven. As yet no descent of this kind has been seen. In the corresponding vision in the seal series, an angel ascends from the east; but here he descends, and from heaven. A more positive, direct action of heaven upon the earth is implied, power acting, though not yet the great power under the seventh trumpet, when the kingdom of Christ is come. This being, apparently angelic, is yet “clothed with a cloud” -a veil about him, which would seem to indicate a mystery, either as to his person or his ways. It does not say “the cloud,” -what Israel saw as a sign of the presence of the Lord, -otherwise there could be no doubt as to who was here: yet in his actions presently he is revealed to faith as truly what the cloud intimates. It is Christ acting as Jehovah, though yet personally hidden, and in behalf of Israel, among whom the angel of Jehovah walked thus appareled. It is only the cloud; the brightness which is yet there has not shone forth. Faith has to penetrate the cloud to enter the Presence-chamber. Yet is He there, and in a form that intimates His remembrance of the covenant of old, and on His own part some correspondent action.
So also the rainbow, which we last saw around the throne of God, encircles His head. Joy is coming after sorrow; refreshing after storm; the display of God’s blessed attributes at last; though in that which passes, a glory which endureth. And this is coming nearer now in Him who descends to earth. But His face is as the sun; there indeed we see Him: who else has such a face? In our sky there are not two suns: our orbit is a circle, not an ellipse.
His face is above the cloud with which He is encircled. Heaven knows Him for what He is; the earth not yet, though on the earth may be those who are in heaven’s secret. But His feet are like pillars of fire, and these are what are first in contact with the earth, the indication of ways which are in divine holiness; necessarily, therefore, in judgment; while the earth mutters and grows dark with rebellion.
Now we have what reveals to us whereto we have arrived: “And he had in his hand a little book opened.” The seventh seal opens a book which had been seen in heaven; the seventh section here shows us another book now open, but, as noticed before, a little book. It has not the scope and fulness of the other. We hear nothing of how the writing fills up, and overflows the page. It is a little book which is open, until now shut up, but which is no longer shut up; a book, too, whose contents (evidently connected with the action of the angel here) have to do with the earth simply, not with heaven also, as the seven-sealed book has. We have in this what should surely lead us to what the book is; for the characteristic of Old Testament prophecy is just this, that it opens to us the earthly, not the heavenly things. Its promises are Israel’s, the earthly people (Rom 9:4) and it deals fully with the millennial kingdom, and the convulsions which are its birth-throes. Beyond the Millennium, except in that brief reference of Peter’s to the new heavens and earth, it does not go; and the new heavens are not the subject here, but the earth-heavens, the heavens of the second day, as Peter very distinctly shows. There is no heavenly city in prospect here. There is no rule over the earth on the part of Christ’s co-heirs such as we have found in the song of Revelation. All this the Christian revelation adds to the Old Testament, while in the present book the Millennium is passed over with the briefest notice. Here, for the first time indeed, we get its limits set, and see how short it is, while the main thing dwelt upon as to it is, those with whom shall be filled the thrones which Daniel sees “placed,” but sees not the occupants (Dan 7:9, R.V.). Thus it is plain how the book of Old Testament prophecy is, comparatively with the New, a little book. It is fully owned and maintained that, when we look with the aid of the New Testament beyond the letter, we can find more than this. Types there are, and shadows (and that everywhere in prophecy as well as history) of greater things. Earth itself and earthly things may be and are symbols of heaven and the heavenly. The summer reviving out of winter speaks of resurrection. The very food we feed on preaches life through death, and so more evidently the Old Testament: for Revelation, completing the cycle of the divine testimony, brings us back to paradise, as type of a better one; and the latest unfolding of what had been for ages hidden, shows us in Adam and his Eve, Christ and the Church.
But this manifestly leaves untouched the sense in which Old Testament prophecy may be styled a “little book.” The application here is also easy. For in fact the Old Testament prophecy as to the earth has been for long a thing waiting for that fulfilment which shall manifest and illumine it. Israel, outcast from her land, upon whom the blessing of the earth waits, all connected with this waits. We may see now, indeed, as in some measure we see their faces set once more toward their land, that other things also are ranging themselves preparatory to the final accomplishment. But yet the proper fulfilment of them is not really begun.
In the meanwhile, though the Lord is fulfilling His purposes of grace, and taking out from among the Gentiles a people for His name, as to the earth it is man’s day” (1Co 4:3, marg.). When He shall have completed this, and gathered the heavenly saints to heaven, He shall put forth His hand in order to bring in the blessing for the earth; then the day of the Lord will begin in necessary judgment, that the inhabitants of the world may learn righteousness. This day of the Lord begins, therefore, before the appearing of the Lord for which it prepares the way. The dawn of day is before the sunrise.
The apostle, in warning the Thessalonians against the error of supposing that the day of the Lord was come (2Th 2:2), gives them what would be a sign immediately preceding it. “For that day,” he says, “shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” The manifestation of the man of sin is therefore the bell that tolls in solemnly the day of the Lord. This would seem to be the opening, then, of the little book. Thenceforth the prophecies of the latter day become clear and intelligible. Now the apostasy has been shown, as it would seem, in its beginning, under the fifth trumpet, and the man of sin may well be the one spoken of there. Thus the little book may be fittingly now seen as opened; and in the continuation of the vision here we find for the first time the beast,” Daniel’s “wild beast,” in full activity (Dan 11:7). All, therefore, seems connected and harmonious, and we are emerging out of the obscure border-land of prophecy into the place where the concentrated rays of its lamp are found.
We see, too, how rapidly the end draws near: “And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth; and he cried with a great voice, as when a lion roareth.” It is the preparatory voice of Judah’s Lion as “suddenly His anger kindles;” and the seven thunders -the full, divine voice -the whole government of God in action -answers it; but what they utter has to find its interpretation at a later time.
Meanwhile the attitude of the angel is explained: “And the angel which I saw standing upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by Him that liveth to the ages of ages, who created the heavens and the things that are therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things that are therein, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound,” -when he shall sound as he is about to do, -then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which He hath declared by His servants the prophets.”
All is of a piece here: the prophetic testimony (the testimony of the little open book) is now to be suddenly consummated, which ends only with the glories of Christ’s reign over the earth. Amid all the confusion and evil of days so full of tribulation that except they were mercifully shortened no flesh should be saved, yet faith will be allowed to reckon the very days of its continuance, which in both Daniel and Revelation are exactly numbered. How great the relief in that day of distress, and how sweet the compassion of God that has provided it after this manner! “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved” -shall find deliverance speedy and effectual, and find it in the coming of that Son of man whose very title is a gospel of peace, and whose hand will accomplish the deliverance. There has been an apparent long delay. “There shall be delay no longer.” Man’s day has run to its end; and though in cloud and tempest, the day of the Lord at last is dawning. Then the mystery of God is finished -the mystery of the first prophecy of the woman’s Seed, and in which the whole conflict between good and evil is summarized and foretold. What a mystery it has been, and how unbelief even in believers has stumbled over the delay! The heel of the Deliverer bruised: a victory of patient suffering to precede and insure the final victory of power! Meantime the persistence and apparent triumph of evil, by which are disciplined the heirs of glory! Now all is indeed at last cleared up; the mystery of God (needful to be a mystery while patience wrought its perfect work) is forever finished: the glory of God shines like the sun: faith is completely justified, the murmur of doubt forever silenced.
(2) Thus the sea and the land already, even while the days of trouble last, know the step of the divine angel, claiming earth and sea for Christ. And now faith (as in the prophet) is to devour the book of these wondrous communications, sweet in the mouth, yet at present bitter in digestion, for the last throes of the earth’s travail are upon her. By and by this trouble will be no more remembered for the joy that the birth of a new day is come, a day prophesied of by so many voices without God, but a day which can only come when God shall wipe away the tears from off all faces. And it comes; it comes quickly now: the voice heard by the true Philadelphian is, “I come quickly.”
The prophet begins here, therefore, what is a repetition in part of what has been already communicated by the prophets of old. He has to “prophesy again of peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.” He is giving us thus, with additions certainly, what is contained in the Old Testament prophets. He is giving us the little open book.
(3) We are coming now, therefore, to the contents of the little book; and, as the numerical structure would show us here, we see how the sanctuary-worshipers are set apart to God. It is Israel’s sanctuary, of course, that is contemplated -one which has been long lying empty, and which in the days before its re-anointing becomes the sign of the most open defiance of God that has ever been witnessed upon the earth, and that can be witnessed but once. The enemy is in the sanctuary, and idolatry there rears its head in the place of the name of the God of Israel. Through this distress it is, nevertheless, that God forms and educates a people for Himself: and these pains are the throes of travail by which at length (and, as it might seem, “in a day) a nation is born.” Israel’s new nation, new in spirit, has never as yet been seen. We have here God’s witness among them, by which the separation of the remnant is accomplished, which remnant, through the purgation of the judgment coming on, becomes the nation.
(a) The remembrance that we have before us now, that which carries us back to those prophecies of Daniel with which we should now be sufficiently familiar, guides at once as to the interpretation of what is before us. The mention of the “beast,” and of the precise period of forty-two months or 1260 days, that is the half-week of his last or seventieth week previous to the coming in of blessing for Israel to the earth, is by itself conclusive. This week we have seen to be, in fact, divided by the taking away of the daily sacrifice in the midst of it (Dan 9:27). It is by the direct opposition to God involved in this that the man of sin is revealed. Hence it would seem clear that it is with the last half-week that we have here to do.
A reed like a staff is now given to the prophet that he may measure with it the temple of God. In a sense, no doubt, this is symbolical; that is, that the “temple” stands for its worshipers. We are not to think literally of the temple; and yet a purely symbolical interpretation, which would make us understand, for instance, the Church as the temple of God, would lead us, as is evident, far away from the truth. God measures the temple in token of His care of it. A reed like a staff is given to the prophet, that he may do this. If a reed suggests weakness (as all that is of God lies, at the time contemplated, under such a reproach), the words “like a staff” suggest the opposite of it. God’s care for His people implied in this measurement is to unbelief indeed a mystery, for they seem exposed to the vicissitudes of other men; yet is it a staff upon which one may lean with fullest confidence. His measurement of things abides, perfect righteousness and absolute truth abiding necessarily as such. The temple is therefore, of course, the Jewish temple; not literal, but standing for Jewish worship and not Christian. Christian worship is over upon earth, and God is owning a people worshiping once more in connection with a temple, as of old. The altar as distinct from the temple proper would seem to be the altar of burnt-offering, upon which indeed for Israel all depended. It was there, too, God met with the people (Exo 29:43), although, as we contemplate things here, the mass of the nation is in rejection, the court given up to the Gentiles, the holy city to be trodden under foot by them, only a remnant of true worshipers acknowledged for whom the altar still avails. A literal rendering of things here would seem only to create the most perfect confusion. While God is owning the remnant of His people at this time, their sanctuary is yet being trodden under foot along with the holy city. Temple and altar can only thus represent the true worshipers connected with these, whom God preserves. “The holy city” can speak of but one city on earth; nor can there be justifiable doubts as to the place in prophecy of this half-week of desolation. The mixture of literal and figurative language will be no cause of stumbling to any one who has carefully considered the style of all these apocalyptic visions, which are evidently not intended to carry their significance upon their faces. All must be fully weighed, must be self-consistent, and fitting in its place, in connection with the whole prophetic plan. Thus alone can we have clearness and certainty as to interpretation.
As a man, then, who has been sunk in a long dream of sorrow, but to whom is now brought inspiriting news of a joy in which he is called to have an active part, the prophet is here bidden to rise and measure the temple of God. How speedy and thorough a relief when God is brought into the scene -and from what scene is He really absent? How animating, how courageous a thing, then, is the faith that recognizes Him!
(b) But where God is, there must be a testimony to Him. We find it, therefore, immediately in this case. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand, two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks which stand before the Lord of the whole earth.”
The reference here is plainly to Zec 4:1-14; but there are also differences which are as plain. There the thing itself is accomplished to which here there is but testimony; and in humiliation, though there is power to maintain it, spite of all opposition, till the time appointed. The witnesses are identified with their testimony, that to which they bear witness. Hence the resemblance. They stand before the Lord of the earth, the One to whom the earth belongs, to maintain His claim upon it; in sackcloth, because this claim is resisted; a sufficient testimony in the power of the Spirit, a spiritual light amidst the darkness, which does not banish the darkness. “And if any man desire to hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man shall desire to hurt them, in this manner must he be killed. These have power to shut the heaven that it rain not during the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will.” Here is certainly not the grace of Christianity, but the ministry of power after the manner of Elijah and of Moses, judgment which must come because grace has been ineffectual, and of which the issue shall be in blessing for more than Israel themselves. The association of Elijah with Moses, which is evident here, of necessity reminds us of their association also on the mount of transfiguration, wherein, as a picture, was presented “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Pe 1:16-18). They are here in the same place of attendance upon their coming Lord. It does not follow, however, that they are personally present, as some have thought, and that the one has had preserved to him, while the other has had restored to him, his mortal body for that purpose! The preservation to Elijah of a mortal body in heaven seems a thought weird and unscriptural enough, with all its necessary suggestions also; but the closing prophecy of the Old Testament does announce the sending of Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. That is the day that is before us here; and is not this proof that Elijah himself must come? Naturally one would say so, but our Lord’s words as to John the Baptist, on the other hand, “If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come,” raise question. It has been answered that his own words deny that he was really Elias, and that Israel did not receive him; and so John could not be Elias to them. Both things are true, and yet do not seem satisfactory as argument. That he was not Elias literally only shows, or seems to show, that one who was not Elias could, under certain conditions, have fulfilled the prediction; while other words of the Lord, “I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed,” show even more strongly that, for that day and generation, he was Elias. Why, then, could not another come, and in his spirit and power fulfil the prophecy in the future day? This, Revelation seems to confirm, inasmuch as it speaks of two witnesses who are both marked as possessing the spirit and power of Elias, and who stand on an equal footing as witnesses for God. Had it been one figure before the eyes here, it would have been more natural to say that it was Elias himself who was here, but there are two doing his work; nor can we think of a possible third behind and unnoticed, and yet the real instrument of God in this crisis. The two form this Elias ministry, which is to recall the hearts of the fathers to the children, and of the children to the fathers, and who both lay down their lives as the seal of their testimony. Put all this together, and does it not seem as if Elias appeared in others raised up of God and endued with his spirit to complete the work for which he was raised up in Israel? Much more would all this hinder the thought of any personal appearance of Moses, while there is no prediction at all of any such thing. Jude’s words (which have been adduced) as to the contention of Michael with Satan as to the body of the lawgiver, may well refer to the fact that the Lord had buried him and no man knew of his sepulchre. Satan may well for his own purposes have desired to make known his grave, just as God in His wisdom chose to hide it. Yet the appearance of Moses and Elias in connection with the appearing of the Lord as seen on the mount of transfiguration, seems none the less to connect itself with these two witnesses and their work -both caught away in like manner into “the cloud,” as verse twelve really reads. And Malachi, just before the declaration of the mission of Elijah, bids them on God’s part “remember the law of Moses My servant.” Moses must do his work as well as Elias, for it is upon their turning in heart to the law of Moses that their blessing in the last days depends; and thus we find the power of God acting in their behalf in the likeness of what He wrought upon Egypt. The witnesses “have power over waters to turn them to blood.” It is not that Moses is personally among them, but that Moses is in this way witnessing for them; and so the vials after this emphatically declare.*
{*Doubtless this, as we have already seen in the second trumpet, is to be interpreted symbolically. -S.R.}
(c) God thus during the whole time of trouble and apostasy preserves a testimony for Himself, until at the close that final outrage is permitted which brings down speedy judgment; for “when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them and overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall be upon the street of the great city which spiritually is called ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt;’ where also their Lord was crucified.” If the 1260 days of prophetic testimony agree with the last half of the closing week of Daniel, they coincide with the time of the beast’s permitted power, and the death of the witnesses is his last political act. That a certain interval of time should follow before his judgment, which takes place under the third and not the second woe, does not seem to conflict with Rev 13:5, where it should read, “Power was given to him to practise” -not “continue” -“forty and two months.” The last act of tyranny may have been perpetrated in the slaying of the witnesses and indeed it seems a thing fitted to be the close of power of this kind permitted him. With this the storm-cloud of judgment arises which smites him down shortly after.
If the duration of the testimony were supposed to be for the first half of the week, then the power of the beast would begin with the slaughter of the witnesses, and the three and a half years’ tribulation follow; which does not seem to consist with the judgment and its effects, three and a half days afterwards.
Then, too, “the second woe is past” (ver. 14), and the third announces the kingdom of Christ as having come. It seems plain, therefore, that divine power maintains the testimony of the witnesses in spite of the reign of terror during the beast’s usurpation, and that only at the end is it permitted to be, according to appearance, extinguished utterly. It is the time of the apparently perfect triumph of evil, and thus the dwellers upon the earth rejoice over them and make merry, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt upon the earth. Here, then, for the first time, the beast out of the abyss comes plainly into the scene. In Daniel and in Rev 13:1-18 he does not come out of the abyss, but out of the sea; but in the seventeenth chapter he is spoken of as “about to come up out of the abyss;” showing undeniably that it is the same “beast” as Daniel’s fourth one -the Roman empire. In the first case, as coming out of the sea, it has a common origin with the other three empires, -the Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian, -out of the heaving deep of Gentile nations. Then we find in Revelation what from Daniel we should never have expected, but what, in fact, has certainly taken place -that the empire which is to meet its judgment at the coming of the Lord does not continue uninterruptedly in power till then. There is a time in which it ceases to be, (and we can measure this time of non-existence already by centuries) after which it comes back in a peculiar form, as from the dead: “the beast that was, and is not, and shall be present” (Rev 17:8). This rising again into existence we would naturally take as its coming up out of the abyss, out of the death-state, and think that we were at the bottom of the whole matter. The truth seems to be not quite so simple, but here is not the place to go into it further. For the present it is enough to say that the coming up out of the abyss is, in fact, a revival out of the death-state, but, as a comparison with the fifth trumpet may suggest, revival by the dark and demon-influences which are there represented as in attendance upon the angel of the abyss. It is the one in whom is vested the power of the revived empire who concentrates the energy of his hatred against God in the slaying of the witnesses.
The place of their death is clearly Jerusalem: “Their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called ‘Sodom’ and ‘Egypt,’ where also their Lord was crucified.” Certainly no other place could be so defined: and thus defined and characterized for its lusts as Sodom, for its cruelty to the people of God as Egypt, it is not now called the “holy,” but the “great” city -great even in its crimes. In its street their bodies lie, exposed by the malice of their foes which denies them burial, but allowed by God as the open indictment of those who have thus definitively rejected His righteous rule. The race of the prophets is at an end, which has tormented them with their claim of the world for God, and the men of the earth rejoice and send gifts to one another. Little do they understand that, when His testimony is at an end, there is nothing left but for God Himself to come in, and to manifest a power before which man’s power will be extinguished as flax before the flame.
And the presage of this quickly follows. “After the three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which beheld them, and they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they went up into heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”*
{*”The triumphing of the wicked is short.” This seems suggested by the brief period of dishonor permitted to these witnesses. The correspondence with the three years and a half of the great tribulation is suggestive. Evil has but that brief period to assert itself, but in reality its real triumph shrivels up into days. -S.R.}
If this is the time of the addition of the saints martyred under the beast’s persecution to the first resurrection, of which the vision in the twentieth chapter speaks, then it is plain that we are arrived at the end of the beast’s power against the saints, and of the last week of Daniel. Two is the number of valid testimony, and these two witnesses may, in a vision like that before us, stand for many more, nay, for the whole martyred remnant in Israel. We cannot say it is so, but we can as little say it is not so; but even the suggestion has its interest: for this appendix to the sixth trumpet seems designed to put in place the various features of Daniel’s last week, the details of which are opened out to us in the seven chapters following, with many additions. And this we might expect in the connected chain of prophecy which stretches on to the end: for under the seventh trumpet the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ, and “the time of the dead to be judged” is at least contemplated.
The resurrection of the witnesses is not all: a great earthquake follows, and the tenth part of the city fell; and there were killed in the earthquake 7,000 persons -“names of men,” as it is put here (significantly enough in a history of doom for those who are asserting their greatness upon the earth); “and the rest were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
Thus the sixth trumpet ends in a convulsion in which judgment takes, as it were, the refused tithes from a rebellious people. There is a marked similarity here between the trumpets and the vials, which end also in an earthquake and judgment of the great city, as to which we may see further in its place. The rest that are not slain give glory to the God of heaven. It is the unacceptable product of mere human fear, which has no practical result; for God is claiming the earth, not simply heaven, and for the affirmation of this claim His witnesses have died. They can allow Him heaven who deny Him earth. And judgment takes its course. The second woe ends with this, and the third comes quickly afterward.
4. The third woe is the coming of the kingdom! Yes; that to greet which the earth breaks out in gladness, the morning without clouds, the day which has no night, and the fulfilment of the first promise which fell upon man’s ears when he stood a naked sinner before God to hear his doom, the constant theme of prophecy -now swelling into song and now sighed out in prayer -that kingdom is yet, to the “dwellers upon earth,” the last and deepest woe!
The rod of iron is now to smite, and Omnipotence it is that wields it. The seventh angel sounds, and there follow great voices in heaven, saying, “The world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ has come, and He shall reign to the ages of ages.”
Few words and concise, but how pregnant with blessed meaning! The earth that has rolled from its orbit is reclaimed. Judgment has returned to righteousness. He who has learnt for Himself the path of obedience in a suffering which was the fruit of tender interest in man, has now Himself the sceptre; nor is there any power that can take it out of His hand.
There are no details yet; simply the announcement, which the elders in heaven answer with adoration, prostrate upon their faces, saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God the Almighty, who art and who wast, that Thou hast taken Thy great power, and hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and those that fear Thy name, small and great; and to destroy those that destroy the earth.”
There is nothing difficult here in the way of interpretation, except that “the time of the dead to be judged” seems to connect with the period of earthly judgments which introduce millennial blessing. It does not take place just then, as the twentieth chapter gives full proof. The explanation is that we have here the setting up of the kingdom in its full results, and that the order is one of thought, and not of time. The judgments of the quick (or living) and of the dead are both implied in the reign of our Lord and His Christ, though they are not executed together. God’s wrath is mentioned first because it is, for the earth, the pre-requisite of blessing, and because judgment is not what He rests in, but in His love. It is therefore put first, that the realization of the blessing may come after, and not give place to it. But this wrath of God which meets and quells the nations’ wrath, goes on and necessitates the judgment of the dead also. Death is no escape from it. The coming One has the keys of death and hades.
With this the holiness of God is satisfied, and the love in which He rests is free to show itself in the reward of prophets and saints and those who fear His name, little as well as great. This seems as general in its aspect as the judgment of the dead, on the other side, unquestionably is. The foremost mention of the prophets as those who have stood in testimony for God on earth is in perfect keeping with the character of the whole book before us, and the destruction of those who destroy the earth is not noticed here apparently as judgment, so much as to assure us of the reparation of the injury to that which came out of His hands at first, and in which He has never ceased to have tender interest, despite the permitted evil of man’s day.
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Observe here, 1. That those who understand this woe denounced by the fifth angel to denote a temporal judgment, apply it to the Jewish seducer, who headed the turbulent Zealots; he was a ringleader of most hellish villains, and the Zealots under him did all the mischiefs imaginable, marched up to Jerusalem, plundering the city, seizing the temple, and killing the high-priest, with the rest of the priests; but by God’s providence it so happened, that this judgment of the Zealots fell not upon the Christians, signified by the trees and green things, but upon the Jews themselves only, because they were not of the faction of Zealots.
Observe, 2. That those who understand this woe to intimate a spiritual judgment, apply it, some to the first rising of the of the Turks and Mahometans, others to the Papacy and Papal clergy: Mr. Mede applies it to the former, king James to the latter. “By locusts and grasshoppers (says he) understand Monks and Friars, who seem to fly a little from the earth, but indeed are gorbellied devourers; in locusts you see little but a mouth and a belly; in Monks you see a mouth to mumble over masses, and a belly to consume; they seized when time was, upon the meadows, the fat and pleasant parts of the land, and like grasshoppers consumed every green, that is, every good thing.”
Yet observe, 3. The commission and command given to them not to hurt the trees; such as are fruit-bearing and fruitful bearing Christians are preserved, and the storm falls upon drossy hypocrites: whence we may remark, that in times of error and seduction, as well as in times of judgment and calamity, God takes a special care of his faithful ones for their preservation; and has a special regard to the fruit of the trees of righteousness: It was commanded them that they should not hurt any tree.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Earlier ( Rev 1:20 ), we were informed that the seven stars were the angels of the seven churches. The star here has fallen (ASV) and we believe this to be Satan. ( Luk 10:18 ; Isa 14:12-14 ; Eze 28:1-19 ) Isaiah’s prophecy is first concerning the king of Babylon, and Ezekiel’s concerns the king of Tyre, but in both instances much is said about them which could not have been true of men. Such must suggest they are personifications of Satan. The bottomless pit, or abyss, is the abode of demons ( Luk 8:31 ), a place of temporary punishment for the beast and Satan himself. ( Rev 17:8 ; Rev 20:2-3 ) Satan is given the key to the abyss, which shows us that God limits Satan’s authority. ( Job 1:12 ; Job 2:6 ; Luk 22:31-32 )
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 9:1. The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth Stars, in the language of prophecy, says Lowman, signify angels. The angels of the heavenly host, as well as the angels or bishops of the churches, (see Rev 1:20; Rev 8:10,) seem to be called stars in Scripture: as when, at the creation, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, Job 38:7. In like manner, when the abyss or bottomless pit is shut up, it is represented in this prophecy to be done by an angel coming down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pit. These expressions are so nearly the same, as well as upon the same subject, that they may be well taken in the same sense, and so used to explain each other. The expression then, a star fallen from heaven, or an angel come down from heaven, with a key to open the bottomless pit, seems naturally to mean the permission of the Divine Providence for those evil and calamitous events, which are described to follow from opening the bottomless pit, which could not have happened but by the permission of the Divine Providence, and according to the wise and holy orders of the divine government; for the providence of God could as surely have prevented the temptations of Satan, and the powers of darkness, as if Satan and his angels had been fast locked up, and secured in safe prison; so that he sends an angel, his messenger, with the key of the bottomless pit, to open the prison and permit them to go out, to teach that they can only act so far as they have permission, and can always be restrained and shut up again, at the good pleasure of the supreme Governor of the world. The abyss, or bottomless pit, is explained in the prophecy itself to be the place where the devil and Satan are shut up, that they should not deceive the nations, Rev 20:1-3. The abyss seems also to be used in the same sense when the devils besought Christ that he would not command them to go out into the deep, Greek, , into the abyss, or bottomless pit. Grotius observes on Luk 8:31, that this abyss is the same with what St. Peter calls hell, or tartarus, 2Pe 2:4; where see the note. Now this prison of Satan and of his angels, by the righteous judgment of God, is permitted to be opened for the just punishment of apostate churches, who would not repent of their evil works. We may then say with the bishop of Meaux, Behold something more terrible than what we have hitherto seen! Hell opens, and the devil appears, followed by an army, of a stranger figure than any St. John has anywhere described. And we may observe from others, that this great temptation of the faithful was to be with the united force of false doctrine and persecution. Hell does not open itself, (as the bishop observes,) it is always some false teacher that opens it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 9
The fifth angel sounds; and one who should have been by position the instrument of light and governmental order over the earth was seen as having lost his place; and the power to let loose the full darkening influence of Satan was given him. He opened the bottomless pit-the place where evil is shut up and chained; not where it is punished, that is, the lake of fire. Supreme authority, and all heavenly light over the earth, and healthful influence of order, were darkened and made to cease by the evil Satanic influence which was let loose. Nor was this all: direct instruments of Satanic power came out of this evil influence in numbers; crowds of moral locusts with the sting of false doctrine in their tail. But it was not to destroy temporal prosperity on the earth, but to torment the ungodly Jews; not to kill, but to harass and vex them. This was to continue five months; for it is not the final judgment. The torment was worse than death-pain and anguish of heart. But they had the semblance of military imperial power, crowned, and with masculine energy, to those that met them; but they were, if seen behind and the secret disclosed, subject and weak: their faces were as the faces of men, their hair as the hair of women. But they were armed in a steeled conscience. They were the direct instruments of the power of Satan, and under his orders. The angel of the bottomless pit-he who rules the depths of Satans wiles, as the ruler of the power of darkness-led them. We are too unbelieving as to the direct influence of Satan in darkening mens minds when permitted, when men are given up to his darkening influence. Cruel harassing torments, worse than death, with darkening of their minds, become the portion of the once beloved people. One woe was past.
The sixth angel sounds. The woe which follows is much more human and providential. It is directed against the inhabitants of the Latin Empire. The instruments of it are let loose from beyond Euphrates -a countless crowd of horsemen. But they were not simply such. Their consciences and their words, both were in the power of Satan, but in judgment from God. But it now killed men. Their mouths belched forth the power of Satan, and their influence in doctrine was Satanic: with both they did hurt. I do not believe this death here is mere temporal death (there may be such), but, I suspect, making apostates. The rest, who did not thus fall, did not repent of their idolatry and misdeeds.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
MOHAMMEDANISM
This chapter is a thrilling description of the rise and progress of the Mohammedan wars. A most wonderful Providence circumvents and overrules all the works of the devil. Satan never could have come on the earth without Divine permission; and he can only stay through the period of that permission. We live in a most auspicious era, when Satan is fast approaching the end of his earthly peregrinations. The day is dawning when we will have a world without a devil in it. Glory to God forever!
At the rise of Mahomet, in the seventh century, the visible Church, both Greek and Latin, had degenerated into formality, hypocrisy, and gross idolatry, being filled with image-worship. Mahomet proclaimed to the world that God had sent him on a universal mission of iconoclasm; i.e., to destroy idolatry out of the world and establish a pure Monotheism; i.e., the worship of God alone among all the nations of the world. Notwithstanding the transparent plausibility of his proclamation, it was the climacteric institution of the devil. Despite his translucent pretensions to establish the worship of God only, purify the nations from idolatry, and unify the religions of the world, while he demolished all systems of idolatry, he established a cruel, bloody, murderous, tyrannical superstition, infinitely worse than the most barbaric idolatry that has ever cursed the world.
As this chapter is all on Mohammedanism, we now invite the reader to accompany us, for a time, into Daniels prophecies, where we have the same vision lucidly revealed in the eighth chapter, six hundred years before John saw it. After we shall have expounded Daniels vision (D.V.), as recorded in Daniel 8 th, we will return to the wonderful Apocalypse of John.
Now remember this vision begins with the ram, which represents the Persian Empire; which, under the leadership of Cyrus the Great, reached universal dominion.
5-8. The he goat is the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great, who himself is the solitary horn between the eyes. In his precipitate conquest of the whole world, he rushes furiously against Media and Persia, the horns of the ram, and breaks them to pieces.
The four horns which came up are the four kingdoms-i.e., Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Central Asia into which the universal empire was divided by his four surviving generals, when he died of dissipation; i.e., the great horn was broken only one year after he had reached the pinnacle of universal empire.
9. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great towards the South, and towards the East, and towards the Pleasant Land. Horn, throughout these prophecies, means political power, because human government is nothing but brute force, in the Bible symbolized by a wild beast. The nations themselves recognized this cruel fact. Great Britain is symbolized by the lion, Russia by the bear, and the United States by the eagle, all of which are ferocious, blood-thirsty animals. Why is Mahomet called a little horn? Because Arabia was at that time, and always has been, very weak politically, consisting mainly of arid mountains and sandy deserts, roamed over by the predatory Bedouins. Hence Mahomet, the false prophet, and the wonderful head of the great Eastern hemisphere of anti-Christendom, is called a little horn. For the same reason, the pope of Rome, whose political dominions were quite small, is called a little horn, though he is the great head of the Western hemisphere of anti-Christendom. Mahomet and the pope are the right and left supporters of his Satanic majesty, while Diabolus sits upon his ebon throne in the Pandemonium and rules the world. It says this little horn waxed great towards the South, the East, and the Pleasant Land. Africa means South, Asia means East, and Pleasant Land means the Holy Land. It is a patent historic fact that Mahomet, in his early conquest, overran the fairest portions of Asia and Africa, and in A.D. 637 Omar, the leader of the Moslem armies, overran all Palestine, consummating the conquest and the capture of Jerusalem and the occupancy of the temple. While the Moslem armies pushed their conquest throughout these countries, all Asia and Africa, where the apostles had preached the gospel, they not only took possession of the people, the spoils, and the government as they went, but they gave the people the solitary alternative of the Koran or the sword, thus exterminating Christianity as they went, and everywhere establishing the religion of the false prophet.
10. And it waxed great to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and stars to the ground and stamped upon them. Heaven is in the singular number, and means the firmament; stars means the rulers of the world; these everywhere Mahomet subdued, cast down, and stamped upon them.
11, 12. He magnified even to the prince of host; i.e., Mahomet became the leader of this military movement, which proposed to conquer the world and establish the Moslem faith in every nation. By him the daily sacrifice was taken away. Sacrifice is not in the Hebrew, which only says daily. It does not mean sacrifice, for this had not been offered in the temple since the Romans destroyed it, A.D. 73. It simply means that the daily worship was taken away. At that time the Greek Christians were in all that country, and Sophrosus, the venerable Greek patriarch, presided over the temple. When the Moslems captured it, A.D. 637, he fled away, exclaiming, Alas alas! the abomination of desolation is now set up in the holy place! And an host was given unto him against the daily worship by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered.
When Satan succeeded in the postponement of Gods millennium and the inauguration of his own, in its worldwide dominion, he climaxes the hellish enterprise by raising up Mahomet to rule the East, and the pope the West, as his faithful subordinates in the wholesale damnation of the world. You must remember that the very ingress of Satan into this world is by Divine permission, and in due time God will take him out. Neither Mahomet nor the pope, though raised up by Satan, could ever have encumbered a throne or rendezvoused an army without Gods permission. We see here, in Dan 8:12, that Mohammed was permitted to take the Holy Land and destroy the temple because of transgression. The Christian Church, East and West, had not only degenerated into formality and hypocrisy, but had actually gone off into idolatry, so that image worship everywhere abounded. Why did God ever permit Mahomet, the pope, and the devil, and other innumerable diabolical agencies, thus for ages to inundate the world with sin, misery, violence, bloodshed, and every species of diabolism which earth and hell could invent? The solution of this problem goes deep down into the hidden mysteries of human probation.
Rom 8:28 : God worketh together for good all things to them that love God. You could not have all things and leave out Mahomet, the pope, and the devil, for they are the biggest things in the world. Hence it follows as a legitimate deduction from the Divine ipse dixit that they are a blessing to Gods true people. It seems that all the powers of hell are turned loose to tempt the bride of Christ. In the glorious scheme of divine administration, Christ proposes to evangelize and rule this and many other worlds through the instrumentality of His true, faithful, and loyal bride. Hence, it is pertinent that all the candidates for the heavenly bridehood be subjected to every conceivable temptation, lest they might deflect and fall amid the momentous responsibilities incumbent on them in their responsible participation of the divine administration amid the bright immortal worlds which shall constitute the celestial empire in the ages of coming eternity. For reasons by us, amid the joys and storms of this fleeting probation, utterly incomprehensible, it is imperatively requisite that we pass through all the flint-mills earth and hell can invent. If we do not come out with a shout, it is demonstrative proof that we still need another flint-mill. I doubt not but the transcendent grace of God in Christ actually makes the devil himself one of the most prolific media of blessing to His true people. So let us shout over Mahomet, the pope, and the devil, and live in glowing anticipation of our descending Lord, who will forever take them all, with the countless myrmidons, out of the world.
13, 14. Here Daniel specifies the period during which the temple will be polluted by idolatry twenty three hundred years. Remember, this vision opens with the Persian Empire, which was founded by Cyrus the Great, and succeeded the Chaldean. Cyrus, with money out of the royal treasury, carried the Jews back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple, B.C. 440. As the temple was built by a heathen monarch, with heathen money, and ruled by the same heathen king, the theocracy desolate in oblivion, it was much contaminated with idolatry. B.C. 444 plus A.D. 1896 equals 2340. The temple was forty nine years in building. Hence 2340 minus 49 leaves 2291 years elapsed since the temple under Nehemiah was finished. Daniels time for the cleansing of the temple is 2300 years. Now 2300 minus 2291 leaves 9 years yet to come till the temple at Jerusalem will be cleansed from idolatry.
The Moslem army under Omar captured Jerusalem A.D. 637. Dan 12:7 says they shall hold it a time, times, and half-time. A time is a year in lunar chronology 354 days; in calendar chronology, 360 days; and in solar chronology, 365 days. We can only understand prophetical fulfillments proximately, because we have no definite system of chronology, and do not know which one obtains in any given prophecy. Really we do not know that any one of the three is precisely correct. However, they are all near enough to the true and exact chronology for all practical purposes. Hence, no one knows the day of these wonderful prophetic fulfillments, and the appointing of the day is fanatical. But Dan 12:4 assures us that the time of the end shall be known, for many shall run to and fro, and spread the knowledge of the thrilling fact that we are living in the time of the end. Let us take the middle chronology 360 days in a year and calculate Daniels time, times, and a half-time. A time is 360. Times are 360 plus 360 720. Half-time is 360 divided by 2 180. Now these items 360 plus 720 plus 180 equal 1260 days; i.e., 1260 calendar years. Moslem rule began A.D. 637. Now, 1896 minus 637 leaves 1259. Hence you see, by this calculation, the Moslem power will fall at Jerusalem in 1897. When I was there last summer (1895), all nationalities were on the constant lookout for the fall of the Turkish government in Palestine. Turkey is already a political corpse, served by the Christian Powers as pallbearers. The government will fall whenever they see proper to bury the corpse. All nations are in daily expectation of the Turkish collapse. There is no possible alternative, upon the fall of the Turkish power at Jerusalem, but Palestine must come into Christendom. Then, of course, the temple will be cleansed. Rev 12:6 gives the period 1260 days. The 14th verse, same chapter, gives the statement times, times, and a half-time. Upon examination, you find these two statements synonymous. Hence, you may rely on 1260 years as the solution of time, times, and a halftime. Dan 12:11 gives the period 1290. This is readily explained on the hypothesis of lunar chronology, in which 1290 would just about equal 1260 years calendar chronology. You see all these numbers, which God in His mercy has hung out over the dark night of Satans reign to illume the pilgrims dreary journey till the Sun of righteousness rises with healing in His wings, beautifully and reciprocally corroborate and confirm the conclusion that we are living in the time of the end of the Gentile Dispensation, when these wonderful latter-day prophecies hasten to their fulfillment. They tally and harmonize sufficiently for all practical purposes. Let us not be croaking critics, but sit meek and lowly, like little children, at the feet of Jesus, and be taught by the Holy Ghost the deep things of God.
17-27. These wonderful prophetic visions so wrought on Daniels nerves that he fainted, and was sick several days; yet this wonderful vision of the end was not revealed to him. He was too far from the time of fulfillment to receive knowledge of the vision. These prophecies cover the intervening centuries down to the end. The Holy Ghost, in His mercy, has given His saints in every age the needed light on contemporary fulfillments. Daniel, with bygone generations, did not need a revelation of the fulfillments reserved for our day; but we have the profoundest interest in the fulfillment of the prophecies, which literally moved in panorama all around us and shaped the destiny of the world. Daniel was thrilled with the most eager enthusiasm to understand the wonders of the latterday prophecies, but God said to him (12:9):
Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end.
This not only means that the revelation of this prophecy was postponed till the time of the end, but that it is to be revealed in the time of the end. I find a thousand corroboratives that we are living in the time of the end, and this prophecy is now fast being revealed to the saints of God.
Dan 12:10 :
Many shall be purified, made white, and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
This verse is now everywhere being fulfilled in the Holiness movement, which belts the globe and moves like a race-horse through every nation. It is really wonderful how God is now, by His blessed Holy Spirit, revealing these prophecies to His saints. Yet the dead, popular Churches and wicked world are utterly blind and deaf to these stirring realities. Preachers and people are asleep to the mighty issues which rush on us like an avalanche.
Dan 12:7 :
When He shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
God, at the present day, is using myriads of agencies, directly and indirectly, to scatter the power of His holy people throughout the whole earth. Mighty armies of evangelists, male and female, are everywhere rising up and hastening to the ends of the earth, scattering broadcast the power of the holy people. When bishops and presiding elders have the true light of God, they will unite their counsels to send the sanctifying fire to the ends of the earth. In countless instances, ecclesiastical magnates lay all their wits under contribution to kill out the Holiness movement. In that case, they diligently take up every sanctified preacher and send him to the North Pole. The fire already kindled spreads and intensifies after he is gone, and the new preacher gets sanctified. Whither he goes heavenly fire comes down, melts and floods the icebergy Churches, spreads all over the surrounding country, catches the presiding elder, raises up a regiment of fire baptized workers, who take the district for God, while many missionaries go into regions beyond. Oh, how blind, how blind, the enemies of Gods holy people! They are doing their utmost to scatter the power and expedite the Lords coming, as profoundly ignorant that they are fulfilling prophecies as the high priest of Jerusalem when he signed the death warrant of our Savior.
23. A king of fierce countenance shall stand up. That king is Mahomet, the Arabian impostor. The Koran, by whose falsifications he has substituted the Bible, is full of dark sentences, expounded only by the muttering Moslem priest. The temple ground on Mt. Moriah contains ten acres, surrounded by great stone edifices occupied by the Mohammedan priests.
24. His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power. While the Mahometan religion, from the beginning, was propagated by the sword, he was not a military leader. He was only a prophet, while the princes of the earth, loyal to the Koran, led his armies.
25. Through his policy also shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. He shall stand up against the Prince of princes, but he shall be broken without hand. All the Moslems are wizards and witches. While on the summit of the largest Egyptian pyramid. five hundred and fifty feet high, and covering thirteen acres of ground, they did their utmost to get me to give them money to work miracles. They did the same when I was in the interior of the pyramid and elsewhere in my peregrinations with the tricky children of Esau. The Prince of princes is Christ, whom Mahomet avowedly rivals, supplants, supersedes, and eclipses, everywhere destroying the Bible and substituting the Koran. He shall be broken without hand. This is profoundly significant. All the kings of the earth have fought against the Moslem power in vain. During the Crusades, all Christendom united to drive the Mohammedans out of the Holy Land. They fought two hundred years, lost two millions of lives, and were driven out of Asia in utter despair. But while the combined powers of earth have been forced to submit to this cruel monster twelve hundred years (and even now they connive at his merciless Armenian murders), in due time God is going to kill this monster. All nations cant kill him, but God can. For the last two hundred years, the hand of the Almighty has been heavy on the Turkish Government. Life is almost extinct; he is almost dead. No human being has killed him; in fulfillment of prophecy, he is dying without human hand. The hand of the Almighty is killing him. Good Lord, in condescending mercy to a suffering world, cut the work short in righteousness!
We now return to Revelation 9 th.
1. It should read: I saw a star having fallen from heaven. Satan is that star; his archangelic name was Lucifer. Isa 14:12 :
How thou art fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning.
John has a retrospective vision of Lucifers apostasy and fall from heaven. Doubtless Satan, before he fell, was one of the brightest of all the heavenly host, as his name, Lucifer, is a Latin compound, and means light-bearer. John tells us (Revelation 12) that one third of the stars i.e., the angels followed his evil influence and were cast down. Doubtless all created intelligences were originally probationers. Unfortunately, Lucifer, with many others, forfeited his probation and was cast out. Presumptively the probation in these celestial worlds has already expired, while we are still on probation. From this fatal apostasy originated all the evil spirits in earth and hell. They not only throng the dark pandemonium, but for wise purposes connected with our probation are permitted to interpenetrate the atmosphere enveloping this earth, coming in contact with human spirits, tempting and trying them in every conceivable way. Millions of souls fall under their mighty assaults and plunge into endless woe, while the heroic and true-hearted gloriously triumph through the blood of Christ. This verse tells us that the key of hell was given to Satan six thousand years ago. During all these centuries the devil has held the key and turned it against multiplied millions.
Rev 20:1 : We find the key in the hands of the angel, who arrests the devil and locks him up in hell. Doubtless, during the terrible Armageddon wars, the tide will turn against the devil and he will suffer signal reverses. The Ancient of Days (Dan 7:13) i.e., that is, God the Father will be here in person sitting in judgment against a wicked world and fallen Church. Amid Satans signal and awful defeats, even the key of hell will be wrested from him and turned over to the Apocalyptic Angel, who will arrest the devil like a common criminal and lock him up in hell.
We have now reached the seventh century in the prophetical panorama. Satans millennium, thoroughly inaugurated, is getting under full headway. The devil now raises up Mahomet to run the Eastern hemisphere, and the pope the Western.
2-12. We see here that Mohammedanism actually came from hell, sweeping out of the open vortex like vast swarms of locusts. The Holy Spirit compares them to scorpions, whose fiery fangs wither and blight everything with which they come in contact. In their desolating marches, the authorities protected the trees, which are rare and valuable in the Old World. The people who had the seal of God in their foreheads i.e., the sanctified, who are few and unknown were providentially rescued from this bloodthirsty monster. Mahomet constantly declared himself a purifier of religions, sent by the Almighty to destroy idolatry from the face of the earth, establish a universal Monotheism, and exterminate polytheism from the globe. At that time, nominal Christianity was confined to the Greek and Latin Churches, which had not only retrogressed into formality and hypocrisy, but they had filled their temples with idol-worship.
For wise purposes, God permits the devil to be in this world. Doubtless, for a similar reason, inscrutably connected with our probation, he permitted Mahomet to rise. He is the scourge of God for the castigation of fallen religion. The five months during which this awful havoc against humanity deluged the world with blood and bleached it with bones are one hundred and fifty prophetic years, and measure the first great period of the Moslem wars.
Meanwhile the Saracens overran Syria, Palestine, all Asia Minor, Egypt, the Barbary States of Africa; crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, subjugated all Spain, scaled the Apennines, poured their motley myriads of Oriental barbarians into France, sanguine with the hope speedily to overrun all Europe, exterminate Christianity from the globe, and unfurl the Crescent beneath every sky.
A.D. 733, precisely one hundred years after the death of Mahomet, Charles Martel, the French hero, immortalized his name by the signal defeat of the Moslem armies at Tours. Martel is a French word, and means hammer. This name was given to Charles, the heroic leader of the Christian armies, because he indefatigably hammered the Moslems till he signally defeated them at Tours. The Mussulmen had met no such defeat in a hundred years. Christendom knows not how much she is indebted to Charles Martel for the defeat of the Mohammedans at Tours. At that time they had driven Christianity out of Asia, Africa, and Spain. The trembling devotees of the lowly Nazarene had taken refuge in Europe, which, at that time, was the wild West. Meanwhile, the Crescent floated over the time- honored capitals of the world.
7. The golden crowns here spoken of are the yellow turbans worn by the Mussulmen.
8. The Saracen warriors wore long hair, like women, and were ferocious as lions.
10. The scorpion-stings and snake-heads, here described in the tails of their horses, emblematize the fatal destructiveness of their retreats. Such was their wonderful equestrian agility that their retreats were, if possible, more fatal than their attacks. Riding at sweeping gallop, they were accustomed to shoot backward with unerring precision, thus mowing down their pursuers in piles.
11. Abaddon is a Hebrew word, and means destroyer; Apolyon is a Greek word, precisely synonymous with Abaddon. This forever settles all questions as to the Satanic origin and authorship of the Mahometan religion.
12. We now wind up the fifth trumpet and the first woe. When the seventh seal was opened, in the eighth chapter, the volume of this wonderful prophetical book was reached. So momentous were the contents that seven trumpet-bearing angels were called out to proclaim successively the wonderful mysteries revealed in the book. Revelation moves in a geometrical progression. The first trumpet proclaims the ingress of that moral and spiritual corruption which derailed the Apostolic Church, propagated the dogmata of a sinning religion, prepared the way for the rise of the papacy, sapped the foundation of ancient civilization, undermined civil government, and brought on the Dark Ages. In the second trumpet, the infection reaches all classes of society, everywhere infusing an insurrectionary spirit. In the third trumpet, it reaches the subordinate departments of the governments, stirring up revolution. During that trumpet, Satan invents alcohol, called wormwood (8:11) Greek, absinthe which is the intoxicating element in whisky. During the fourth trumpet, all the thrones of earths time-honored empires totter and fall. By this time the Roman Empire, the upholder of ancient civilization, has been overturned by the Goths, Huns, and Vandals, and a barbarian encumbers the palace of the Caesars. The Dark Ages, memorialized by sin, ignorance, superstition, violence, rapine, and bloodshed, envelop all nations. Satans millennium is now in full blast. So he raises up Mahomet and the pope to run the machinery of the world.
So fearfully momentous are the proclamations of the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets, that they are denominated woes by the Holy Ghost. Remember. the geometrical ratio which obtains in the first, second, third, and fourth trumpets continues through the fifth, sixth, and seventh, which the Holy Ghost denominates woes. Doubtless, the last trumpet, which proclaims the last woe, will contain more than the preceding six.
Herewith (9:12) we wind up the fifth trumpet and the first woe. It lasts five months; i.e., one hundred and fifty prophetic years. The signal defeat of the Mussulmen at Tours, France, by Charles Martel, is the salient epoch in the first woe. For three generations the Moslem conquest had rolled its bloody tide over Christendom, driving it out of Asia, where it began, and Africa, where it was first propagated, till, panic-stricken for its doom, it trembles amid the wilds of Europe. Thus one woe is past, and, behold, two others come quickly!
SECOND WOE Rev 9:9-13; Rev 9:11-14
Loose the four angels bound in the great river Euphrates (14, 15). The four angels are the four greatest Turkish Sultanies in the world, which bordered on the river Euphrates. This is the second great outbreak of Mohammedan wars, which lasted, without intermission, four hundred years, as we have a year (i.e., 365 days), a month (i.e., 30 days), an a day 396 days; or, in round numbers, four hundred years. The Crusades, which are described in the tenth chapter, come in before this period, and are somewhat parenthetical in the Moslem conquests.
16. Two myriads of myriads, as the Greek says, are two hundred millions. That is certainly a wonderful host, marshaled and fighting for the extermination of Christianity four hundred years. No doubt but that inconceivable host were engaged during the four hundred years.
17-20. You see, from the description, they are the same people you saw in the first woe. Their attack is like lions, and their retreats like serpents coiling around their pursuers.
20, 21. Here we find a sad statement. All these horrific calamities, with wholesale murders, thefts, robberies, and every conceivable woe, till men sought death in preference to life, still did not bring them to repentance.
Dan 8:12 says Mahomet was permitted to rise and chastise the fallen Church because of transgression. People claiming to be Christians were gross idolaters, and worshipped devils. Yet they would not repent. No wonder the last woe is hastening to come on the fallen Churches of the present day. All who believe and preach a sinning religion worship devils. Gods religion saves you from sin, while Satans religion lies you out of your soul by offering you salvation in sin. Doubtless similar results will characterize the great tribulation, when the last woe will flood the earth with calamities such as the ages have never known. Millions on the earth are now worshipping devils, thinking they are worshipping God. Reader, will you not wake up before the awful storms of divine wrath wrap the world in cataracts of woe?
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 9:1-2. The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star, the vile impostor Mahomed, fall from heaven unto the earth. And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit: it should read, the keys of the abyss. This is the tartarus, as in the Greek of 2Pe 2:4. The Waldenses understood this of papal darkness, and the overflowing of cruel persecution; but more sober wisdom confines it to the Saracen and the Turkish armies and conquests. And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as of a volcano before a dreadful eruption, denoting the loss of learning, the loss of wisdom, and of true religion.
Rev 9:3. There came out of the smoke locusts, countless in number; and as the east wind brings the locusts, so the Saracens came from the east. Locusts eat up all the verdure, and make the fields resemble deserts; but these locusts, being maraudering armies, were commanded not to hurt the fruitful fields, nor the trees, but only the men, the apostate Arians, who had not the seal of the living God.
Rev 9:5. Tormented five months, or as in Rev 9:15, for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year. Reckoning a day for a year, this would be three hundred and ninety six years, and one hundred and six days, as in Mr. Whiston. This period is thought to commence in the year of Christ 1300, or the seven hundredth year of the Hegira, when the Ottoman power began to invade Europe. That power began confessedly in the course of that year, making 1301. To this we add the three hundred and ninety six years, amounting in all to 1697 years, the very time when prince Eugene gave the Ottomans a total defeat, which was followed by the peace of Carlowitz. Here their power to torment the christians of the western empire ceased.
Rev 9:8. They had hair as the hair of women, fine tresses of which they were proud.
Rev 9:11. They had a king over them whose name is Abaddon, the destroyer. Such indeed is the character of Satan in the spiritual world, and such also was the character of the Ottoman conquests.
Rev 9:13-15. And the sixth angel sounded Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. In bishop Burnetts history of his own times, is found the following ingenious note. Dr. Lloyd, bishop of Worcester, has been studying the book of revelation for twenty years with great exactness, and amazing diligence; and has said, long before the present year, that peace between the Turks and Papal christians was certainly to be made in the year 1698, which he illustrates thus.
The four angels bound in the river Euphrates he expounds of four Turkish captains of forces, who till then were subject to the sultan of Babylon, [or Bagdad] were to be loosed, freed from the yoke, and to set up for themselves. And these were prepared to slay the third part of men, for an hour, a day, a month, and a year. He reckons the year in St. John as the Julian year of three hundred and sixty five days, a month is thirty of those days, and a day makes one; which when added to the former number, make three hundred and ninety six. Now, he proves from historians, that Ottoman came and began his conquests at Prouss, in the year 1302, to which the former number being added, in which they were to slay the third part of men, it must end in 1698! And though the historians do not mark the hour or the twelfth part of the day, yet the bishop is confident, if that ever is known, the prophecy will be found in that to be accomplished.
After this [the year 1698] he thinks their time of hurting the papal christians will be at an end. They may indeed hurt the Muscovite (or Russian) christians, or persecute their own christian subjects, but they can do no more hurt to the Roman catholic communion.
Certainly, these are calculations of admirable accuracy. The Ottoman power, since 1698, has certainly been enfeebled; and being less able to move its enormous limbs, it has made no advances on christian kingdoms.
REFLECTIONS.
The four barbarian trumpets or irruptions of the northern nations over all Europe, were sore calamities, but the three remaining woes were still greater. The fifth trumpet opens the bottomless pit of Mahomedan errors, impiety, and carnage; for that religion, designed to remove the christian candlestick out of its place, was fabricated in hell. The great smoke betokens the destruction of literature, and the awful darkness of the Mahomedan imposture. The sixth trumpet respects the Turkish empire in Asia. Mr. Mede gives us a list of the kings who established themselves, one at Bagdad, another at Iconium in Cappadocia, another at Aleppo, and another at Damascus. These four angels were bound about the Euphrates till the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, so as not to make any great conquests. The crusades of the christian powers checked and kept them in awe for a long time. They are the horsemen, or the Gog and Magog, of Ezekiel: Eze 38:4. Now, the loosings of these kings is a permission of providence to push their conquests into Europe.
This may refer to the commencement of the Ottoman empire, under the high title of Sultan. The object of loosing these four angels was to slay the third part of men; and who can doubt but they did this wherever they came. We have only to read their history to recognise the fact. Besides, this trumpet reaches down to the use of gunpowder in war, plainly indicated by fire, smoke, and brimstone coming out of their mouths. The Turks at the siege of Constantinople bombarded the city, and made it the seat of their empire in 1453, when Mahomed the second took it by storm. DVigne places this in 1454. They took Egypt also in the year 1517, as Daniel had foretold: Dan 11:42. It is true also, that the rest of the men, the church of Rome more especially than the Greeks, repented not of their worship of demons, whose idols were the work of their own hands. Neither was there any reformation of manners in regard to robbery, wickedness, and war. Mr. Mede refers the seventh trumpet to the battle of Armageddon, or the final fall of antichrist.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 9:1-12. The Fifth Trumpet or the First Woe.The seer sees a star fallen on the earth. The star seems to represent a person, possibly Satan (cf. Luk 10:18).abyss: the word properly means bottomless, and is used in OT of the abode of the dead, e.g. Psa 71:20. The abyss is approached by a shaft or well, here translated pit, which is closed and kept under lock and key.
Rev 9:3. out of the smoke came . . . locusts: cf. Exo 10:13 and Drivers quotation of the observations of a modern traveller: we observed large dark clouds resembling smoke moving to and fro . . . One morning these clouds came down and proved to be locusts. (CB, Joel, p. 90).power was given to them: these locusts were specially endowed with the scorpion-like power of tormenting men.
Rev 9:4. not hurt the grass: this conflicts with Rev 8:7, where, as the result of the first trumpet, all green grass was burnt up.seal of God: Rev 7:3 ff*.
Rev 9:5. five months: this is supposed to represent the ordinary duration of a plague of locusts. The object of the plague is not to kill, but to torture and torment.
Rev 9:7. like unto horses: this description is taken from Joe 2:4.crowns . . . mens faces: these two features seem to be peculiar to the locusts of the abyss; there is nothing about the ordinary locust to account for this description.
Rev 9:11. They have . . . as king: In Pro 30:27 it is stated that locusts have no king, but these locusts belong to the abyss.Abaddon: the word only occurs in what is known as the Wisdom Literature (Job 26:6; Job 28:22, Psa 88:11, Pro 15:11*, etc.), where it means ruin or destruction, either on earth or in Sheol. Here Destruction is personified.Apollyon is the Greek equivalent for Abaddon.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Fifth Trumpet: A Demon Infestation
(vv. 1-12)
The sounding of the fifth trumpet discloses “a star fallen from heaven:” it is already fallen (v. 1). This is the same star that fell under the third trumpet (Rev 8:10). Thus the false prophet, the Antichrist, is given the key to the pit of the abyss. His opening it (v. 2) releases a smoke that darkens the sun and the air. This is the darkening and polluting of the very atmosphere of people’s existence by satanic doctrine that will also pollute their minds.
Out of this smoke comes a plague of locusts which are given power such as that of scorpions (v. 3). Locusts eat vegetation, and their huge number makes them virtually irresistible as they devastate a land, while the scorpion leaves a tormenting sting. These locusts do not touch the vegetation, but only those persons who don’t have God’s seal in their foreheads. This indicates the character of this scourge as being that of evil spirits. When the Antichrist brazenly proclaims his polluting doctrine of the denial of the Father and the Son, and with it makes an image to the Roman Beast and requires Israel to give the Beast divine honors, this obnoxious smoke opens the way for Satan’s evil spirits to take possession of great numbers of people. This appears to be an infliction specially centered in Israel, though the whole kingdom of the beast also will be affected since most of the population will accept the lie of the Antichrist (Rev 16:13-14).
This torment continues for five months (v. 5) which number speaks of human responsibility, for the victims have themselves invited it. The horror of such demon possession makes people wish for death (v. 6), but God does not allow them to die: they must learn the results of their folly.
The shape of the locusts being like horses prepared for battle (v. 7) speaks of their strength in conquest: they subdue men. “Crowns like gold” speaks of an assumed dignity that deceives people, while faces similar to men’s adds to this deception with a boastful, humanistic approach. The women’s hair, speaking of subjection, reminds us of their total subjection to infernal, satanic authority. Teeth as those of lions, however, exposes their actual character of rapacity and tenacity: they catch a person and do not let go.
They have breastplates simulating iron (v. 9). In contrast to the believer’s “breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14), this speaks of a hardened conscience with no proper feeling remaining. The sound of their wings inspired terror, as an army of war-horses on the run. When people have defiantly rejected God, this leaves room for a great and awesome infestation of demons who will make their power felt.
These demons are as scorpions with stings in their tails, which shows that people finally will feel the results of their evil work (v. 10). Just as with alcohol and drugs, the people think it exhilarating at first, but the vicious sting comes later. The king over them is the angel of the pit of the abyss. His name is Abaddon or Apollyon, another of Satan’s designations, meaning “a destroyer.” This unparalleled plague of demons is the culmination of the doctrine of the Antichrist in his implanting of gross idolatry in the holy place (the temple area of Jerusalem) in defiance of the living God. This woe will be dreadful, but two more will follow.
The Sixth Trumpet: A Great Invading Army
(vv. 13-21)
The sixth angel sounds his trumpet and a voice speaks from the horns of the golden altar which is before God (v. 13). It is God Himself whose glory has been outraged, who calls for judgment. Four angels bound in the Euphrates River are loosed (vv. 14-15). The golden altar reminds us that it is God’s glory that is to be upheld. The Euphrates River was the former boundary of the Roman Empire and is to be Israel’s future border. The four angels bound are Satan’s angels who have power in connection with the King of the North, the Assyrian, who will head a strong alliance in bitter animosity against Israel. This man is spoken of a great deal in Old Testament prophecy. The Assyrian Empire was at one time of great importance, its capital being Ninevah (in present-day Iraq). It included Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, part of Iran and part of Turkey. At one time it took the ten tribes of Israel captive. Russia is not the King of the North: the Assyrian is. In Eze 38:15 and Eze 39:2 “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal” is seen coming from “the far north,” or “the uttermost north,” which must be Russia, while the King of the North is close to Israel, as a map of the time of the Assyrian Empire will show.
Dan 8:21-22 shows that the kingdom of Alexander the Great would be broken apart into four kingdoms. One of these would be the forerunner of the future King of the North, who is spoken of in verse 23 as “a king-having fierce features who understands sinister schemes.” Verse 24 says, “His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power,” indicating that another power is backing him up, which may be Russia.
Isa 10:5-6 is most important in this connection. There God speaks of the Assyrian as the rod of His anger, saying that He would send him against a godless nation (Israel). Then in verse 12 of that chapter He tells us, “when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his haughty looks.'” Dan 9:27 gives us further instruction as to why God sends the Assyrian against Israel: “Because of the protection of abominations there shall be a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (or desolator) (J.N.D. translation). Because Israel will be guilty of protecting idolatry in the temple area, God will send the King of the North to punish her, though afterward judgment will be poured upon him also. Isa 28:14-18 speaks of the Assyrian as “the overflowing scourge” to punish Israel when they have made “a covenant with death” and an “agreement with Sheol,” speaking of their idolatrous alliance with the Roman Beast.
Until this time God has restrained the King of the North from attacking Israel, but following the demon infestation brought on by the idolatry of the Antichrist He gives the command to loose the four angels bound in the Euphrates River, opening the way for the great invasion by the King of the North. This is spoken of also in Dan 11:40. The King of the South (Egypt) would “attack” the Antichrist “and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.”
This is a most significant event in prophecy, referred to in many Old Testament scriptures, for it is here that God Himself begins to take a definite, public hand in dealing directly with the idolatrous pride of man that has risen to its boldest height of defiance against His authority as seen in the man of sin sitting as God in the temple in Jerusalem (2Th 2:4). These loosed angels “are prepared for the hour and day and month and year” (v. 15), which seems to infer the time gradually increasing, as though God were willing at any time to intervene in mercy if Israel would repent. The antagonism of this enemy is against “a third of mankind,” the Roman earth, though Israel is the direct point of attack.
Their number (200 million) (v. 16) must include not only the actual army engaged in literal fighting, but the peoples of these mid-eastern lands who will be stirred in hostile antagonism toward the West, as in fact is seen developing strongly in their character today.
The horses (v. 17) are not literal, but speak of whatever influences it may be that carry the riders into war. The breastplates of the riders are not like iron (as in verse 9) which speaks of hardened consciences, but of fire which rather implies consciences deceived by false religious doctrine and consumed by religious fanaticism. All of this is consistent with the character of their leader at the time, “a king-having fierce features and understanding sinister schemes” (Dan 8:23), that is, ruthless and conversant with evil spirits.
The heads of lions speak of the fierceness of this attack. Fire and smoke and brimstone from their mouths is comparable to the threats, subterfuge and blasphemy of Rabshakeh, the general of the Assyrian army as he besieged Jerusalem (Isa 36:1-22) after his conquest of other nations. This attack of the King of the North is similar to the character of the infestation of locusts in verses1 to 11, but while the locusts hurt people without killing them, the horses “kill” by the fire, smoke and brimstone from their mouths. This is not physical killing, but driving people to a a state of dead infidelity. The religious fanaticism of the Assyrian in his spiteful treatment of Israel and the West will serve to turn the West more strongly against religion and against any recognition of God. The attack also will be physical and violent, as well as attended by a multitude of words. The horses seem to be the whole religious system that upholds the attack, for they have power in their mouths as well as in their tails (v. 19)-not only in their tails as was true of the locusts. Their words are fierce and the end result is harmful.
However, verses 20 and 21 show us that those not killed by these plagues remained coldly unrepentant in reference to their corrupt religion of idol worship. People will not of themselves turn to God in spite of every solemn warning and shaking experience. Their idolatry seems to them a sufficient cover-up of their murders, sorceries, fornications and thefts.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 1
Fall; descend. The star represents an angel of God, as is evident from the language which follows.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
8 The Woes (Revelation 9)
(Vv. 1-11) We have already learned that, in the times of these judgments, God will seal as His own a great number from Israel, who will be preserved for the reign of Christ. We may surely conclude from the fact that the fifth trumpet judgment, or first woe, falls on “those men which have not the seal of God on their foreheads,” that this judgment falls especially on the apostate, or unsealed portion of the nation of Israel.
This fearful judgment appears to be some Satanic delusion that darkens the minds of men. It is presented as being brought about under the symbol of a star fallen to the earth. May this not set forth some intellectual leader in a subordinate position who is permitted to delude men’s minds with some Satanic teaching?
This evil teaching is set forth under the symbol of a swarm of locusts that, with irresistible power, sweep all before them leaving misery in their trail. The natural locusts would destroy the grass and every green thing, and strip the trees. But the evil influence set forth by these symbolic locusts will not affect the circumstances of life, or even the bodies of men, but poisons the minds of men even as a scorpion poisons the body. To such mental misery will men be brought that they will seek death but not find it. Death is probably used in the passage in a moral sense, as an expression of separation from God. The very people that were once called to be a witness to the true God will, through falling under this Satanic delusion, seek to find relief to their minds by attempting to throw off all knowledge of God.
Striking figures are used to set forth this terrible delusion. “Horses prepared unto battle” would surely infer that it will come with irresistible power; the “crowns like gold” suggest that this delusion will appear to have supreme authority; “the faces of men” would symbolise that it will have a highly intellectual character; “the hair of women” may suggest that it will commend itself as having the appearance of meekness and subjection to others. But whatever its outward attraction to the minds of men, “the teeth of lions” would imply that it will lay hold of men with fanatic ferocity, while “the breastplates of iron” may indicate that it will harden the affections, and seize upon the minds of men with incredible swiftness as set forth by “the sound of their wings” likened to “the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” This strong delusion will leave a trail of terrible misery symbolised by the “stings in their tails.” This evil influence will affect men for a limited period for the power to hurt will only last for five months. The leader in this terrible delusion will be Satan, the angel of the bottomless pit.
It has been suggested that the star that falls from heaven sets forth the false prophet, or Antichrist, described in greater detail in Rev 13:11-18. We know that he will be an apostate (Dan 11:37) and will be energised by Satan, for he speaks as a dragon, to deceive those that dwell on the earth. May we not conclude that the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments set forth the strong delusion of which the apostle Paul speaks in 2Th 2:8-12?
(Vv. 12-19) A voice from the golden altar before God calls forth the sixth angel, or second woe judgment. This again reminds us that all these judgments are directed from heaven, and that evil in its fulness is restrained until the moment for judgment is come.
This judgment is very similar to the last; but whereas the first woe fell upon the unsealed of Israel this second woe is said to fall upon “the third part of men,” an expression which is used in Rev 12:4 to set forth the sphere of the Roman Empire, which would embrace professing Christendom.
The mention of the Euphrates would indicate that this judgment comes from the East, for this river is the natural barrier between the East and the West. It would seem then that when the time of this judgment is come this barrier will be removed and some evil influence from the East will sweep over the sphere of professing Christendom. The symbol of a mighty army of horsemen would indicate some irresistible delusion of the devil. “Their power in their mouth” may indicate that this delusion will be presented with all the persuasive eloquence of speech. But behind the delusion is the power of Satan, symbolised by their tails being like unto serpents. In result the third part of men are killed, setting forth, probably not physical death but that men are led into all the misery of apostasy, or moral death to God. Have we not had foreshadowings of such a delusion sweeping over Christendom from the East in the history of the invasion of Mahomet?
(Vv. 20, 21) Apparently there will be some that escape this terrible delusion, but even so they do not repent, for it is evident from the closing verse that as in the days before the flood the world will be given over to violence and corruption.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
9:1 {1} And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a {2} star fall from heaven unto the earth: {3} and to him was given the key of the {a} bottomless pit.
(1) The first execution on the wicked men inhabiting the earth
(as the angel said before) wrought by the infernal powers is declared from here to Rev 9:2-11 and after the sixth execution to Rev 9:12-19 and lastly is shown the common event that followed the former execution in the world, in the two last verses Rev 9:20-21 .
(2) That is, that the angel of God glittering with glory, as a star fallen from heaven. He may be Christ, who has the keys of hell by himself and by princely authority, Rev 1:18 or some inferior angel who has the same key entrusted to him and holds it ministerially, or by office of his ministry, here and Rev 20:10 so the word “falling” is taken; Gen 14:10; Gen 24:46, Heb 6:6 .
(3) The key was given to this star. For those powers of wickedness are sent to hell, bound with chains of darkness and kept there until damnation, unless God lets them loose for a time; 2Pe 2:4, Jud 1:6, Rev 20:7 the history of these agrees with this chapter.
(a) By the bottomless pit, he means the deepest darkness of hell.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The fifth trumpet (first woe) 9:1-11
"Already introduced by the eagle’s proclamation in Rev 8:13, the fifth trumpet sets the tone for the last three trumpets through its specificity and independence of the two to follow. This feature marks the last three seals too. The seventh trumpet also resembles the seventh seal in the way it solemnly concludes the whole and contains the next series within in its scope. As with the seals also, two episodes intervene between the sixth and seventh members. In so doing, the episodes set the stage for the seventh trumpet." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 26.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The impact of the locusts 9:1-6
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Again John saw a "star" (cf. Rev 6:13; Rev 8:10), but this time the "star" was an intelligent being. If "fallen" (Gr. peptokota) has theological connotations, the "star" may refer to Satan (Rev 9:2; Rev 9:11; cf. Rev 1:20; Job 38:7; Luk 10:18) or some other fallen angel. If, on the other hand, "fallen" simply describes his condition as having come to earth from heaven, an unfallen angel is probably in view. Since this angelic being simply carries out God’s instructions faithfully, I tend to think he is an unfallen angel. The "bottomless pit" (lit. shaft of the abyss) is the abode of Satan (Rev 9:11; Rev 20:1-3), some demons (cf. Luk 8:31; 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6), and the beast (Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8). It is evidently a preliminary prison, not their final abode, which is the lake of fire (i.e., hell, Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10; cf. Mat 25:41), from which this angel is about to release some of them temporarily. The angel received the key to the door of this pit from a greater authority, possibly God Himself.