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Revelation 9 "God's Enemies Released"
We have been studying God's carefully measured justice falling upon the unrepentant earth. The Apostle John saw what will happen in the last days. At first God will remove His protection from the earth and we will see man’s own evil run wild. A fourth of the world will be reduced to the level of animals while the rest takes advantage of their misfortune. Not only will God no longer restrain evil on the earth, but He will also no longer shield the earth from cosmic disturbances, removing the upper atmosphere that protects us from asteroids and meteors. The only ones who will have any protection whatsoever are those who are sealed by God as His special servants. These will be Jewish Christians who believe in Christ after the rapture. It is very clear that Christians who believe in Jesus as their living Lord now will not go through this, but will be caught up to heaven before it begins. After removing His protection from the earth, God reverses His creation striking the oceans and the forests, the streams and even the light of the sun, moon and stars. All these things God had given to us freely so that we might know how great and loving He is. But at the time of the end, when all reject God, God will take His gifts away. The next part of God’s wrath, involves the releasing of God’s enemies to torment the earth.
Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lion’s teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. (Revelation 9:1-12)
1. The Bottomless Pit: The Abyss
Perhaps you were thinking after God’s protection is removed and God’s creation is reversed that it would be like hell on earth. But actually that is what is yet to come. Because the key to Hades is given to an angel. Back in Revelation 1:18 Jesus said that He has the keys of Death and Hades. Now these keys are used to open up Hell and release its demons onto the earth. Before we can talk about hell released on earth, we need to know what the Bible teaches us about Hell in the first place. Here it is called the "Bottomless Pit" and throughout the Old Testament it is often referred to as the "deep", below the earth. It would seem that it is a physical place as Revelation talks about smoke rising out of it after it is opened. But at the same time it is a spiritual place as well. Jesus told His disciples not to fear those who can simply destroy your physical body, but to fear Him who can destroy both the body and the soul in hell. So we see that hell is place where the soul goes to after death. Actually hell is a kind of prison, complete with a lock and key. It is a prison with two kinds of inmates. The first are those angels that sinned and disobeyed God. We commonly call these fallen angels, demons. 2 Peter 2:4 tells us that these angels are in chains of darkness waiting for the time of judgement described in the book of Revelation. The other prisoners of hell are the souls of wicked human beings.
I think that the most amazing thing about hell is that
our Lord Jesus Christ actually went there. After Jesus died a sinner’s
death on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, utterly rejected
by both God and man, he spent those three days in hell for us. Jesus
not only died on the cross for us, but He also went to hell for us.
But instead of being a prisoner, the chains of darkness could not hold
Him. And Jesus preached to the souls in hell. The good news of salvation
to those who were longing for His coming and the bad news of defeat
to Satan and his demons.
When the bottomless pit is opened at the judgement, these demons will
be released onto the earth to give it a taste of what hell is really
like.
2. The Locusts
The locusts described in John's vision are not the normal
locusts which are bad enough but demons from the pit of hell. The description
of them is terrifying, picturing them as a vast army of destruction.
I am not going to try to give each detail of their appearance a meaning
other than to say the combined effect is of monsters that are fierce,
powerful and unstoppable. However John does tell us three things about
them that we need to know. These demons released from the pit are equipped
with physical bodies but in other respects they are no different than
other demons and the same rules apply.
First, unlike real locusts, they are commanded not to hurt the vegetation
on the earth but only those men who do not have the seal of God. Remember
back in chapter seven God sealed His end-time servants with a mark on
their foreheads. These demons will only be allowed to torment those
who don’t have the seal. What about now? 2 Corinthians 1:22 tells
us that God has "sealed" us and given us the Spirit in our
hearts as a guarantee. Demons have no power to torment or oppress those
who are sealed, who have the Spirit of God. This is great news! As Christians
we have God’s spiritual mark on us that when demons see, they
know that they had better leave us alone.
Second these demons are not given the authority to kill, but only to torment. Satan does not have power over death. Jesus Christ has all authority over death and the grave. Often those who are tormented by demons say that they threaten to kill them if they try to go to church or talk to Christians. But these are lies. Only God decides when a person will die. A demon is powerless to stop anyone from taking a step closer to God.
Third these demons are not just mindless destroyers but have a king over them called Abaddon, which means destruction. These are the enemies of God that have been released on the earth. The plagues that came before were not so much evil, as simply God taking back the protection and gifts that He has so graciously given to us for so long. But we find out that God has also been protecting us from spiritual forces of wickedness. As we go through the rest of Revelation we will see this spiritual opposition to God more clearly. Right now, this opposition is present in the world but in a much weaker form. Satan is not given very much freedom by God to do what he wants to do. Jesus has defeated Satan already on the cross and the church is sealed with the Spirit. Satan is limited to tempting the saints, the only thing that he was able to do with Jesus. Because Jesus has told us, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents (the devil) and scorpions (the demons) and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19
As Christians we are able to stand up to the enemy, in fact we should be walking all over the enemy by the power of Jesus Christ. Every time we pray, the enemy is confounded. Every time we praise, the enemy is driven away. Every time we shine the love of Jesus Christ into this dark world the enemy has to flee. But in that last day when the church has been raptured out of the world the enemy will finally be given power to do what he wants.
Then 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 who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. But 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. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:13-21)
1. The Four Angels Bound at the Euphrates
If anything could be worse than the demons let out of
the pit of hell, this is it. The 200 million horsemen described by John
led by the four angels bound at the Euphrates are given authority by
God to kill a third of all mankind. It is very hard to tell exactly
what these horsemen are. It is very possible that they are some kind
of human weapon system, equipped with flame throwers and poison gas.
It is totally possible that this is a weapon system in existence today,
but if the Lord in His mercy should wait longer before coming again
just think what devices of destruction we will have come up with. One
of the most popular animated series themes (and toys) in Japan has been
the mechanized suit of armor that can transform itself into different
shapes. Just like Jules Verne’s vivid imagination inspired scientists
a generation later to actually send a rocket to the moon and submarines
to the ocean floor, who knows when the soldiers of the world will be
outfitted in super armor/weapon/vehicles. Actually the day might come
when instead of human armies there are vast legions of robots like the
ones depicted in Star Wars’ Episode One. Whatever these 200 million
horsemen turn out to be, what is sure is that there will be an evil
intelligence behind them. The four angels that were bound at the Euphrates
are most likely four demons who are "princes" or high level
demons over an area. The book of Daniel talks about warfare between
good and evil angels and the angel Michael battling with the "Prince
of Persia". When the 6th trumpet blows four countries that have
not been able to obtain world greatness since ancient times will have
their demonic princes unchained. The ancient civilizations that controlled
the Euphrates river valley were the Babylonians (modern day Iraq), the
Persians (modern day Iran), the Assyrians (modern day Syria) and the
Hittites (modern day Turkey). These demonic princes have been waiting
a long time, in fact they have been prepared for the hour and day and
month and year.
And yet the most incredible thing about this chapter is that even after
5 months of demonic torture, and a third of mankind wiped out in chemical
warfare, "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. And they did not repent of their murders
or their sorceries (which is a Greek work meaning "drugs"),
or their sexual immorality or their thefts. No wonder God has given
up on them! Can't you see why God's wrath is just.
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