Revelation 9

The fifth angel blows his trumpet (vs. 1-12)—And unleashes a massive locust plague. When the trumpet sounds, John sees a star falling from heaven to earth. To this star “was given the key to the bottomless pit” (v. 1). The “star” almost certainly represents an angel bathed in light. When he opened the bottomless pit, a great amount of smoke ascended, so great that “the sun and the air were darkened” (v. 2). Then followed locusts, and they were “given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power” (v. 3). This was different from an actual locust plague because here, in chapter 9, the insects could not harm anything but “those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (v. 4)—non-believers; God’s people would be protected. Thus, the locusts were a plague against men, not the earth. They didn’t kill, but only tormented, and this they did for five months (the normal length of a locust plague, v. 5). Their sting was like that of a scorpion (v. 6), and was so dreadful that men sought death to escape, but did not find it; “they will desire to die, and death will flee from them” (v. 6). John describes the locusts in verses 7-10, and they don’t look like any locust that man has ever seen. Yet again, we are dealing here with apocalyptic language, so even though these creatures looked like horses, had crowns “something like gold” on their heads, had the faces of men, hair like women, teeth like a lion’s, breastplates of iron, tails like scorpions, and wings that sounded like chariots…John still saw them as locusts. They had a king, whose name was “Destroyer” (v. 11). This was a horrible plague, but there were still two more trumpets to be sounded (v. 12).

The sixth trumpet sounds (vs. 13-21)—At the sounding of the next trumpet John heard a voice which came from “the four horns of the golden altar which is before God” (v. 13). This voice told the sixth angel to “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates" (v. 14). Bad news. These four angels, “who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year” (God will act at the appropriate time), were given the authority to kill a third of mankind (v 15). They had an army of 200,000,000 (v. 16), an utterly fantastic number in John’s day (and today, for that matter). This number indicates the complete dominance of the Lord and His cause; none of His enemies could stand against such a force. And they were let loose to punish those who persecuted His people. This again, would be of great comfort to John’s beleaguered readers to know that God has resources at His command that none, even the Roman emperor and his legions, could withstand. The various horses are described (v. 17), and they are awesome creatures indeed, with the heads of lions and breath of fire, smoke, and brimstone. What would any army do if it saw horses like that coming at them—especially if there were 200,000,000 of them? A third of mankind were killed via these horsemen (v. 18; they even had tails like serpents, v. 19). But regardless of this awesome display of power and destruction by God, “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk” (v. 20). Well, it isn’t God’s fault. He gave them fair warning of what happens to those who do ”not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (v. 21), and if men are too obtuse and stubborn to humble themselves before Him, they will have to suffer the consequences.

So in chapters 8 and 9, we have six of the seven trumpets sounding (there will be an interlude before the seventh trumpet blows). At the sounding of these horns, God sends hail and fire mingled with blood, thunderings, lightenings, and earthquakes, and even the angel of death. Wormwood, gall, and an horrendous locust plague to soften the hearts of men (torment, not kill, 9:5). Like the Egyptian plagues were designed to soften Pharaoh’s heart so that he would no longer brutalize God’s people, even so these plagues are sent for the same reason. Yet, like Pharaoh, those whom John sees do not repent, so since they refuse to quit persecuting the Lord’s elect, justice will be served. John to his readers: Those who trouble you will face the wrath of God.