Revelation Study

Revelation Study - Chapter 9

Revelation 9:1-2: "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."

Here we read, once again, about a star falling from heaven. From all of the descriptive phrases and results from such a one, we conclude that, evidently, this is the personification of Satan himself. Most of the translations render "fall" as past tense "fallen" or "had fallen." We hear Jesus in Luke 10:18: "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." This is not the angel of Revelation 20 that sealed Satan in the bottomless pit (the abyss) because this one brings forth destruction. However, it is the same abyss--the source of all bad things. The angel of Revelation takes over the power of the abyss and seals Satan in. More about that when we study that chapter.

Verses 1 through 12 seems to depict the wars between the various groups of rebellious or seditious Jews who were determined to repel the Romans that were left by Vespasian and take over Jerusalem for themselves. According to Josephus, they were vile and vicious, murdering, robbing and raping even their fellow Jews who would not join them. Understand that, primarily, this is action that is described as civil war among the Jews.

Vss 3-6 "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."

There would come forth some who are described as locusts with the power of scorpions. They were restrained from hurting those who had the seal of God in their foreheads, that is, Christians. Five months is the ordinary life span of locusts. This carnage would last until the cessation of the life of the locust.

Josephus lived during those times and I think it is fitting to quote from his writings the conditions of that time of these smoke darkened days:

"Along all the roads also vast numbers of dead bodies lay in heaps, and even many of those that were so zealous in deserting at length chose rater to perish within the city; for the hopes of burial made death in their own city appear of the two less terrible to them ..... the terror was so very great, that he who survived called them that were first dead happy, as being at rest already; as did those that were under torture in the prisons declare, that, upon this comparison, those that lay unburied were the happiest." "The aged men and women were in such distress by their internal calamities, that they wished for the Romans, and earnestly hoped for an external war, in order to their delivery from their domestic miseries."

Josephus continues with several paragraphs describing the horrors of the Jewish civil wars that were raging. Can anyone doubt that the words of John readily describe this situation. It sounds like the Lord's statement in Matthew 24:6 "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." He wasn't talking about our present times; he was telling of the situation prevailing in that generation.

Vs 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."

These were the locusts of verse 3. They had already been described as having the sting of scorpions. Now we have a further description likening them to horses prepared for battle. The crowns were crowns of victory in battle and these locusts had the intellect of men. One called Simon by Josephus led a rebel group of Jews against Idumea in those days and overcame the Idumeans and left the land in a completely devastated condition. They now come back to Jerusalem and indulge themselves with all the atrocities mentioned by Josephus.

Vss 8-10 "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."

These verses continue to describe the groups of seditious Jews who were vying with one another for control of Jerusalem and the rights to any of the spoils of these wars. "Teeth of lions;" devouring people. "Breastplates of iron" was their garments rather than "breastplates of righteousness." The sounds of swift warriors and chariots and horses doing battle. The sting of scorpions indicate the weapons that were used against one another that had been taken when the Romans under Cestius retreated from Jerusalem after Vespasian had returned to Rome. Josephus gives a vivid description of these rebels garbing themselves as women, going on with their debauchery while appearing as effeminate. Whether this is what John is discussing or not, it is worthy of mention.

It is said that these assaults continued about five months which is the normal life span of locusts.

Vs 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."

Their king was Satan. Abaddon in Hebrew is "destroyer" and is the equivalent of Apollon in the Greek.

Vs 12 "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter."

This woe was introduced by the blowing of the fifth trumpet. Now it is past yet there are still two more. This woe was the miseries of war, but not the war with the Romans. This was Jew against Jew. When the Romans returned, their miseries multiplied inasmuch as they had the terrors of the rebellious Jews inside the city and the Romans outside carrying on the siege.

Vss 13-14 "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates."

The four angels holding back the four winds were now to be loosed. The Roman army under Titus had returned to finish the work that Vespasian had left. The Eastern boundary of Roman rule was the Euphrates.

Vs 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 four angels, the four winds, the four seals. The powers which would accomplishment of God's punishment of Israel. The hour, day, month and a year indicate that they were prepared to finish the task no matter how long it might take and these forces would be responsible for the deaths of the third part of men -- specifically the nation of Israel.

Vs 16 "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."

Not a literal number but indicative of the great power of the Roman army with its conscripts from conquered countries. More than enough to get the job done -- the destruction of Jerusalem which would symbolize the desolation and end of the nation of Israel.

Vs 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."

This is a vision of the great power of Rome as the agents of destruction. In Luke's record of the destruction of Jerusalem he uses a part of this very figure. (Luke 17:29-30) "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."

Vs 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."

Josephus relates that 1,100,000 men died in this siege of Jerusalem. We are not sure where he got his figures, but John reveals that the third part were killed by these efforts.

Vss 19-21 "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."

The fire and brimstone issued out of their mouths and destroyed and the scorpions stung with all the implements of war that the Romans commanded and the destruction went on. Josephus had been taken captive and was with Titus and they tried to get the rebellious and seditious Jews to repent and save what was left but they would not. So Josephus reports that "They would not repent that they might be spared, though according to Titus, after Galilee was taken, they were granted opportunity to repent. Even when the city of Jerusalem was surrounded, Titus once again gave them opportunity to repent, but they mocked him." Josephus in describing these wicked men said, "But these men, and these only, were incapable of repenting of the wickedness they had been guilty of." What about the idols? Were the Jews worshipping these idols? These are symbolic of the covetousness of these outlaw Jews who stole from the temple, the merchants and from the people themselves. But they would not repent.

God, through the agency of the Roman empire, poured out his wrath upon them. Some were not of this wicked disposition but generally they were wicked people so the innocent in the end suffered with the guilty.