Revelation 9
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.
This is the beginning of the 3 ‘woes’. Some say that this star is an angel; even Satan (Rev 12:7-9). The ‘him’ in verse 1 most likely has its antecedent as ‘the fifth angel’…not ‘a star’. First assume that ‘star’ means a real star, and then entertain other possibilities. Nonetheless, an angel is given this key to the bottomless pit.
Where is this ‘bottomless pit’? Probably connected in some fashion with ‘Hell’ in the center of the Earth. It is like a ‘pit’ and it is ‘bottomless’. It has to be near or in the earth because of its smoke darkening the earth’s atmosphere. Some have said that it may be like a circular tube and is located right at the center of the globe and as the globe spins, one would never come to a bottom. Others say that it is the same as the ‘deep’ and the ‘abyss’ spoken of in the Bible as a holding place for devils. The smoke comes from a ‘great furnace’ beneath, which most likely is from Hell itself. Is there an opening to it somewhere on the earth’s surface?!….
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.
Were these real ‘locusts’ or devils appearing as locusts? I assume that these ‘locusts’ were housed in this locked prison, the pit, for thousands of years (can real locusts live that long?). I take this literally as a locust…with a special ability to sting man…and several other odd features. Many believe them to be actual devils, since they came from this pit. But, devils don’t normally eat grass, locusts do. Though, verses 7-11 seem to support the devil option; especially verse 11. Maybe these are a special type of locust creature, created by God for this very time and purpose. These go after all the lost, but the 144,000 are protected (similar to the plagues of Egypt). Some believe it to be describing ‘helicopters’.
The scorpion is a tormenting arthropod: It “has a flattened elongated body and can easily hide in cracks. It has 4 pairs of legs, a pair of claws, and a segmented tail that has a poisonous spike at the end. Out of 1500 scorpion species, 50 are dangerous to humans. Scorpions use their pincers to grasp their prey; then, they arch their tail over their body to drive their stinger into the prey to inject their venom, sometimes more than once. The scorpion can voluntarily regulate how much venom to inject with each sting. Their sting is responsible for causing cell impairment in nerves, muscles, and the heart by altering ion channel permeability. A person who has been stung by a scorpion usually has 4 signs, with the most common being mydriasis, nystagmus, hypersalivation, dysphagia, and restlessness. The mode of death is usually via respiratory failure secondary to anaphylaxis, bronchoconstriction, bronchorrhea, pharyngeal secretions, and/or diaphragmatic paralysis.” (E-Medicine website)
The sting from these ‘locusts’ will be intolerable, but men will not die; they will be tormented from the venom of a sting, and maybe almost daily stings from these menacing critters!
These mutant locusts’ actual shapes resemble horses full of armour; a horse is a very large animal, thus these locusts were not small little grasshoppers. Can an insect be the size of an horse and have a face like a man’s?! Yes, if God created them that way. Though these may be devils. Their hair was very long and full; much like modern day rock stars! Their teeth were all fangs; they resembled what is typically drawn by those trying to depict devils/demons, like with Heavy Metal pictures.
These ‘locust’ creatures were very well protected from men’s weaponry. Their wings were extremely loud, thunderous, and not the sound that a tiny little locust would make. Some believe that these locusts are really simply helicopters.
This is summarizing what was said before. Picture a flying locust, the size of a horse, with long hair, lion-like teeth, golden crowns, a face like a man’s, and a very long strong tail that arches up over their body whose stinger can strike you in an instant! There are potentially millions of these flying all over the place with their only goal being to hurt you over and over again!!!
These huge, scary, scorpion-like locusts were under the authority of a king who is an angel. This angel surely is not an holy angel, for why would God appoint one to rule over evil and have his abode in the bottomless pit?! This is a high, very high, ranking devil. His name literally means ‘destroyer’, and ‘to destroy’. Interestingly, Saddam (Hussein) in Arabic means ‘destroyer’. Amazingly, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that this angel is Jesus Christ.
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 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. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat 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. 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. 19 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. 20 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: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Since these 4 angels are bound and needed to be loosed, I would gather that they are devils and not holy angels of God. This river is on the east side of Palestine (promised land). It is first found in the Bible as one of the 4 tributaries off of the river that watered the Garden of Eden (Gn 2:10). Apparently the devils are currently ‘in’ this great river, as we speak!
Why were these bound? They were probably extremely evil and if not bound would have reeked who knows what type of havoc on the world these past 6000 years.
God runs a very accurate timetable with prophetic events…right to the very hour, and probably the very minute.
We have already had over ¼ of mankind killed, and now another 1/3 ! Maybe another billion people!
There is a jump here from the previous verse. It almost seems that there is information left out. But we see that these
200 million are used in this 2nd woe (verse 18). There are 2 general interpretations of who make up these 200 million:
1) a supernatural army of devils; or 2) an army of an allied military of human beings.
These horsemen very well could be supernatural creatures, i.e. devils most likely, that are commanded by these 4 extremely evil devils. This is Satan’s ‘infernal calvalry’ of 200 million devils! Just how many fallen angels are there? Well, there are 10,000 times 10,000 holy angels (100’s of millions), and we know that potential 1/3 of all the originally created angels rebelled and followed Lucifer; so, that could equal 400 million holy angels with 200 million evil angels (200 thousand thousand) (at least), for a total of at least 600 million angelic beings.
Many say that this 200 million man army comes from China; China’s Premiere boasted in the 1960’s of being able to raise 200 million men to fight. But, what about these bizarre horses that they are riding? Are there 200 million horses on the planet right now? These horses apparently are not the same as the locusts in the 1st woe. Just think of the carnage that 200 million crazed devils riding these bizaar horse-like creatures who have lion like mouths and are fire breathing, with serpant tails… can do! These are not the same creatures as the locust/scorpion mutant creatures (or devils)…
It’s reasonable to assume that all the judgements in this Great Tribulation come directly from God and angels (whether holy or fallen). To all of a sudden start having mankind as part of the tools for judgement is very improbable.
How many have been killed so far (1/4 and then another 1/3)? [¼ x 6 billion = 1.5 billion] + [6 B. – 1.5B. = 4.5 B.; 4.5 B. x 1/3 = 1.5 B.] = 3 Billion people! Half of those left after the Rapture have been killed at this point! And, this may still very well be in the first half of the Tribulation!
Most of mankind’s religions at this time are based on worshipping inanimate objects, like Hindus, Budhists, Muslims, and Catholics (images, shrines, temples, etc). These people are not generally ‘good’ people for they are unrepentive of some pretty horrible sins. This paints a pretty bleak picture for mankind, in general. It appears that very few get saved during this timeframe. No-one so far has been mentioned as getting saved, except, possibly, the 144,000. 3 Billion apparently go to Hell in these months of judgements! The other 3 Billion apparently won’t repent and get saved. How utterly sad!
REVELATION 10
1 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: 2 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, 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 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. 5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 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: 7 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.
The trumpet judgements are interrupted until Rv 11:14; just about finished the 6th trumpet, with one more ‘woe’ to pass.
Mighty: yet another angel; this one classified as mighty, thus others can be less mighty (there are different strengths of holy angels). Very similar to the ‘strong angel’ of Rv 5:2. Some say that this is the Lord Jesus Christ: Rv 4:3 and 1:15,16 resemble this. However, nowhere in the discourse here is any reference made to this angel being anyone other than a mighty angel. Also, it uses the reference word “another” that refers back to the previous angel mentioned. Maybe the more mighty an angel, the more he resembles the glory of the Lord?
There are lots of different books kept in Heaven; this is a “little” one; it apparently just contains the explanation on the “7 thunder judgements”. Bigger books, volumes upon volumes, are kept to keep track of our works. Aren’t there computers, etc, in Heaven? Probably not.
Seven thunders: in previous judgements, the prelude was a cry or loud voice. Also, loud voices were mentioned as likened unto thunder. I assume at the release of each of these judgments, there is a huge thundering across the planet.
Write them not: Very interesting; why not write them? Too horrible? For mystery effect? They are real, but we won’t know what they are until they are released. I assume they are ‘worse’ than these other judgments, on average… otherwise, why would God purposefully avoid explaining them?… (Compare with Dn 12:4,9.)
Time no longer: Take out the almost parenthetical statement from just after ‘sware by him’ to ‘therein’; This mighty angel is making an emphatic, trustworthy statement. This ‘time’ may be the prophetic clock ticking down to the end of the Tribulation and the expectant 7th trumpet, the third woe, which opens up the last set of judgements, which will proceed quickly. Maybe this is referring to after the Millenium where the measuring of time does indeed end. The words “should be” may be referring to a much future event.
Mystery of God: Commentators vary greatly on this. The church is already gone. But, the mystery of iniquity has not been fully revealed as of yet; this is the AntiChrist, who will set himself up as God in the temple. He won’t be allowed much time after this.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
Go and take: John had the distinct priviledge of being in charge of what was written in this book; the seven thunders. Verse 11 probably explains this more. Did he explain some of it later? Ezekiel was told to do the same thing in Ez 2:9-3:3.
It may be that John is the “administrator”, the “pronouncer”, of these 7 thunder judgements. He had already prophesied to the 7 churches of Asia. It appears he will be back in the later portion of the Tribulation for a very special appearance and proclamation.