<< Previous | Index | Next >>"THE BOOK OF REVELATION" The Fifth & Six Trumpets (9:1-21) INTRODUCTION 1. In chapter eight, the seventh seal was opened, followed by... a. Silence in heaven for a half hour - Re 8:1 b. The preparation for the sounding of seven trumpets - Re 8:2-6 c. The sounding of the first four trumpets, with depictions of natural calamities - Re 8:7-12 d. A three-fold ominous announcement of woe regarding the three remaining trumpets - Re 8:13 2. As with the seven seals, I believe the seven trumpets relate to the events leading to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., as foretold by Jesus prior to His crucifixion - cf. Mt 23:34-39; 24:1-34; Lk 21:20-36; 23:27-31 a. Just as the first four seals revealed military conquest, civil war, famine, death, as instruments of judgment against unfaithful Jerusalem for persecuting the people of God b. So the first four trumpets revealed environmental devastation that would accompany the instruments of judgment against unfaithful Israel leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem [As we read what happens in chapter nine when the fifth & sixth trumpets are sounded, we can appreciate why the three-fold ominous announcement was given at the end of chapter eight (Re 8:13)...] I. THE FIFTH TRUMPET: LOCUSTS FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT (1-12) A. AS DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT... 1. The "star" fallen from heaven - Re 9:1-2 a. With the sounding of the fifth trumpet... 1) John saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth 2) To whom was given the key to the bottomless pit b. When the bottomless pit was opened... 1) Smoke like that of a great furnace arose out of the pit 2) The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke 2. The "locusts" and their power - Re 9:3-10 a. Out of the smoke locusts with great power came upon the earth 1) Power like scorpions 2) Commanded not to harm the grass, any green thing, or any tree b. The extent and nature of their power 1) Could harm only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads - cf. Re 7:3-4 2) Could not kill, but only torment for five months 3) Men will seek death, but death will flee from them c. The locusts described 1) Their shape like horses prepared for battle 2) On their heads were crowns of something like gold 3) Their faces were like those of men 4) Their hair was like women's hair 5) Their teeth was like lions' teeth 6) With breastplates like those of iron 7) The sound of their wings like chariots with many running horses 8) With tails like scorpions, and stings in their tail (though limited in power) 3. The "king" over them - Re 9:11 a. The angel of the bottomless pit b. Whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon -- The first of three woes is past; two more to come - Re 9:12 B. OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION... 1. First, consider the following: a. This vision is clearly intended to be figurative, not literal b. For a literal star falling to the earth would annihilate it completely, end of story c. With the first trumpet, 1/3 of the trees and green grass were burned up d. With the fifth trumpet, the scorpions were not to hurt the grass, trees, any green thing e. The scorpions could not harm those with the seal of God on their foreheads - cf. Re 7:2-3 f. The scorpions' power was limited: they could not kill, only torment five months g. The scorpions were shaped like horses prepared for battle h. Their king was the angel from the bottomless pit i. Whose names were: Abaddon (Heb., lit., Destruction), Apollyon (Grk., lit., Destroyer) 2. Together with the first four trumpets, I suggest the fifth and sixth trumpets signify tools at God's disposal to bring wrath upon the persecutors of His people a. I concur with others that the vision of locusts from the bottomless pit symbolizes the hellish rottenness and internal decadence that would weaken the enemies of God's people from within b. Though allowed to go only so far, Satan's influence can have the effect of weakening a nation from within c. David Chilton describes the evidence from history that Jews in the Last Days (A.D. 66–70) had literally become demonized (as quoted by Steve Gregg, Revelation, Four Views): "The entire generation became increasingly demon-possessed; their progressive national insanity is apparent as one reads through the New Testament, and its horrifying final stages in the pages of Josephus' The Jewish War: the loss of all ability to reason, the frenzied mobs attacking one another, the deluded multitudes following the most transparently false prophets, the crazed and desperate chase after food, the mass murders, executions and suicides, the fathers slaughtering their own families and the mothers eating their own children. Satan and the host of hell simply swarmed through the land of Israel and consumed the apostates." -- When mankind forsakes God, one way He judges them is to simply "give them up" to moral uncleanness, vile passions, debased minds, resulting in the fall of civilization - cf. Ro 1:18-32 [With one "woe" described through the sounding of the fifth trumpet, we now move on to the second "woe"...] II. THE SIXTH TRUMPET: THE TWO HUNDRED MILLION ARMY (13-21) A. AS DESCRIBED IN THE TEXT... 1. The four angels bound at the Euphrates - Re 9:13-15 a. With the sounding of the sixth trumpet... 1) John heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God 2) Speaking to the sixth angel who had the trumpet 3) Telling him to release the four angels bound at the river Euphrates b. The four angels released... 1) Who had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year 2) Who were to kill a third of mankind 2. The army of two hundred million horsemen - Re 9:16-19 a. John heard the number of them b. What he saw in the vision... 1) Those on the horses had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, sulfur yellow 2) The horses had heads like those of lions 3) Out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone c. The power of this great army... 1) A third of mankind killed by the fire, smoke, and brimstone 2) The power to harm is in their mouth and tails like serpents' heads 3. The failure of the survivors to repent - Re 9:20-21 a. Those not killed did not repent of their idolatry b. Nor did they repent of their murders, sorceries, sexual immoralities, or thefts -- This is not the end of the second woe; it continues in chapter eleven - Re 11:14 B. OBSERVATION AND INTERPRETATION... 1. As with the vision of the scorpions, the vision of the 200 million horsemen is figurative a. One that would have fearful impact upon the Jews of the first century b. It was across the Euphrates that Israel's conquerors had previously come—Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia - Jay Adams, The Time Is At Hand c. Moreover, there were places at this very time where Roman armies were stationed along the Euphrates. Cf. Josephus, Wars 7:1:3. The 10th legion, which participated in the destruction, had been located there. - ibid. 2. Thus it is likely that the 200 million horsemen symbolize external invasion as another instrument God would use upon unfaithful Jerusalem a. Together with natural calamities (the first four trumpets), the internal decadence and external invasion (the fifth & sixth trumpets) combined to bring judgment upon apostate Israel b. Even as Jesus foretold would happen to the Jews of His generation - cf. Mt 12:43-45; Lk 21:20-24 -- That these visions of the seven trumpets are directed toward unfaithful Jerusalem becomes more apparent as we consider chapters ten and eleven CONCLUSION 1. The judgment described in the visions of Revelation can be very unsettling, especially those depicted when the first six trumpets are sounded... 2. But keep these thoughts in mind... a. With the first four trumpets, the environmental catastrophes impacted only a third b. With the fifth trumpet... 1) The scorpions could not harm the grass, trees, or those with the seal of God on their forehead 2) The scorpions were only permitted to torment (not kill) for five months c. With the sixth trumpet... 1) The horsemen were permitted to kill only a third 2) Those not killed refused to repent of their idolatry, murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and thefts 3. In other words, the visions of the trumpets thus far appeared designed to encourage people in Israel... a. To repent before the judgments depicted by them were to begin b. To take comfort in knowing if they have the seal of God on their forehead (cf. the 144,000 of Israel in chapter seven) they would be able to stand in the day of the Lamb's wrath 4. And the Jewish Christians did...! a. For when Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman armies in 70 A.D. b. They fled the city when given the opportunity to do so during the siege Sadly, most Jews did not heed Jesus' warnings. We should ask ourselves, are we heeding His warnings and those of His apostles in the New Testament concerning the day in which Jesus will judge the world? - cf. Ac 17:30-31<< Previous | Index | Next >>
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