Revelation 9:1-12
Four trumpets are revealed in Revelation chapter 8. As you may remember, these four judgments will release terrible times upon the earth. But as horrible as these judgments will be, the remaining plagues will be even worse for humanity.
How could they be worse? A massive earthquake, lightning, thunder, hail and fire will destroy a third of the trees on earth, and all that grass that will be green in that season. Another catastrophe will bloody the seas with the death of a third of the sea creatures. Some sort of meteor or perhaps a comet will come crashing to earth, poisoning a third of the water supply. In the midst of all this, a third of the heavens will be eclipsed.
But as bad as all these horrors will be Revelation 8:13 makes it clear that the remaining 3 trumpet judgments will be even worse for the human beings on the earth.
Revelation chapter 9 begins with the sounding of the fifth trumpet. It immediately becomes clear why the 5th trumpet judgment will be far worse for humanity than the previous four. Turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
The Opening of Hell Will Be Horrible. 1-2
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall[en] from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. (Revelation 9:1).
As the fifth angel sounds the fifth trumpet, John saw a person fallen[i] from heaven to the earth. His fall will resemble the look of a meteor.[ii] The key to the bottomless pit will be given to this personal being. Some writers believe that this star is an angel; others think that this is a demon, or even Satan himself.
But remember to ask an important question: At present, who has the key to hell? In the first vision of Jesus Christ, He said, “I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18). But why would the Lamb (the Lord Jesus) give the key to hell to anyone else?
Why Will Hell Be Opened?
Why would He allow anyone or anything to open the doors of hell? Throughout the Scriptures, the Lord God used a standard procedure. When people rebelled, the Lord placed them within the power of a merciless, rebel king. You can see this in the books of Exodus and Judges. When God’s people rebelled, He would allow them to be captured by a pagan king. Then, when His people would humble themselves and cry out to Him, the Lord would send a deliverer to lead His people out of captivity.
But the Lord employed this same approach with pagan nations. After He had used Assyria and Babylon to chasten His chosen people, the Lord allowed merciless invaders to take them captive. In the New Testament, you can see this same pattern. Judas rebelled and betrayed the Lord, and Satan entered into Judas.[iii] In the process of what is commonly called “church discipline” a congregation is supposed to follow the Lord’s command in the same manner. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:5, “To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Hebrews 3 and 4 (quoting Psalm 95:8) repeatedly appeal to all to turn away from the hardness of heart. Those who hardened their hearts (in the books of Exodus and Numbers) perished in the wilderness. (See the message, “10 Windows on the Human Heart”).[iv]
In Revelation 9, will these horrible torments bring about repentance among humanity, turning from sin to the Savior? No, according to Revelation 9, “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” (Revelation 9:21-22). You see, turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
The Smoke of the Pit
The description of the opening of hell continues, “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” (Revelation 9:2). The sky, already darkened, will be further polluted by the horrible smoke of hell. The words “bottomless pit” refer to an unfathomable abyss.[v] Every time we see a fire, a burn barrel, or a house fire, this picture should come to mind. Like the smoldering of a great furnace, this smoke of hell will darken the skies of this world. But this is not the worst of this judgment.
The Occupants of Hell Will Be Horrifying. 3-12
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. 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. (Revelation 9:3-4)
We presently know of nothing in creation that corresponds to these horrifying beasts. And to the best of our knowledge nothing like this has ever happened in the whole history of the world. Yet verse 3 tells us that locusts come on to the earth from out of the smoke of the abyss. As the denizens of hell, it is probable that these are demons. They will be given power (or authority) like the scorpions of the earth; this means that they will be given the power to inflict excruciating pain on human beings. (Note that verse 10 makes this quite literal, and even specifies a particular period of time.) But instead of crawling on the ground, these locust creatures will fly from place to place.
They will be unlike locusts in that they will not eat plants such as grass or trees. They will attack human beings who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. This is a reference back to Revelation chapter 7 as we studied in a recent message, “The Seal of the Living God.”[vi] 144,000 people will be sealed and therefore protected from the attacks of these horrible creatures. These 144,00 demonstrate that turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
Many attempts have been made to identify these monsters; some attempts have been ridiculous; though they are depicted as living creatures, some writers have speculated that they are helicopters!
It is important to note where the language is specific and where it is meant to be a general comparison, we find words such as these: ”like/as the scorpions of the earth,” “as the torment of a scorpion” (v. 5), “the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses” (v.7), “on their heads as it were crowns like gold” (v. 7), etc. Just as Satan is later referred to as “the dragon, that old serpent” (Revelation 20:2; 12:9), so these monstrous creatures are referred to as locusts, albeit very strange ones.
These will have heads that look like horses, preparing for battle. These heads will look as if they were wearing crowns. They will have faces like men, hair like women and teeth like the teeth of lions (vs. 7-8). These monstrosities will have breastplates and the sound of their wings will be like the sound of chariots and horses going into battle (v.9). They will have tails like scorpions and they will torture the inhabitants of the earth for 5 months (v.10). Perhaps most terrifying of all, these monsters have a king over them, whose name is Apollyon – a reference to Satan himself (v.11). Since Satan is presently not bound in hell, many commentators believe that he is the star that falls from heaven in verse 1.
The Oppression of these “Hellions” Will Be Horrible. 4-6, 10
“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. 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 strikes a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them … “And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.“ (Revelation 9:4-6,10)
These horrible hellions will torment people with the sting of a scorpion for 5 months, v.5. They will injure people, not plants, v.4. They will torment people, but not kill them, v.5. This torment will make people suicidal, but they will not die during this time, v.6
Why not? Is God so merciless that He will not allow people to die during these days? No, God is so merciful that He will not allow people to die during these days! How can that be an act of mercy? It is because there is a fate far worse than death. As bad as this horrible time on earth will be, it is still only a pale comparison to eternity in the lake of fire. That is “the second death” (Revelation 21:8). Turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
The Lessons of a Prison
During this coming time on the earth, it will be as if the entire world is a prison, full of tormentors. But God is merciful to give us such pictures. Think of it this way: so many things in this physical life are pictures of spiritual realities. The Lord uses physical light to teach us about spiritual light. We know what bread is, and so we have some idea of what it means to say that Jesus is the Bread of Life. If you follow that train of thought, what is a prison a picture of? Every prison is a picture of hell. The worse a prison gets, the better picture it is of the lake of fire. I have used this illustration many times in jail and prison ministries. If any prisoner will learn the true lesson of any prison, he will repent and turn to the only One who can deliver him from eternal prison. God is merciful to give us these pictures. But don’t forget about the prisons of resentment, bitterness, greed and lust. These chains, these doors can be stronger than any physical lock. Turn and cry out to the Lord to be delivered from such prisons. Learn these lessons. Let us lay it to heart and flee from the wrath to come. Turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
Applications of this message:
– Flee from the wrath to come! How can one escape from this coming, horrible time and these demonic beasts? Here is the way the Apostle Paul put it in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10: turn “… to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” Instead of serving the Living and True God the rebels in Revelation 9 “ … 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” (Revelation 9:20). So the lesson for all of us today is clear: flee from the wrath to come. Turn to the True and Living God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. This is Jesus Christ who delivers us from the wrath come.
– Remember how our King deals with rebellion. He puts rebels under the dominion of a rebel king. From our recent Sunday school study in Jeremiah 28, we learned a powerful lesson: God always has bigger, heavier yokes. When the people tried to throw off the wooden yoke (of captivity in Babylon), the Lord promised to give them a heavier, wooden yoke.
– Remember the lessons of the prison. Learn the lesson of the physical prison to escape from the prison that lasts forever. Turning to the Lord is the only hope for humanity to escape from the horrors of hell.
Pastor Gordon Dickson, Calvary Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio, 45840 https://www.cbcfindlay.org/when-hell-breaks-loose/
[i] This verb is in the perfect tense.
[ii] As we noted in the last message, the word “star” (Greek [astera]) can refer to a meteor. See Henry George Liddell et al., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 261, citing Homer’s Iliad, Il.4.75
[iii] See, “Who Kissed the Door of Heaven?” accessed at https://www.cbcfindlay.org/who-kissed-the-door-of-heaven/
[iv] 10 Windows on the Human Heart, accessed at https://www.cbcfindlay.org/10-windows-on-the-human-heart/
[v] “Abyss” is a transliteration of the Greek word [abussos], meaning unfathomable or boundless
[vi] The Seal of the Living God, accessed at https://www.cbcfindlay.org/the-seal-of-the-living-god/