OTY: The Revelation (10) - Jack Kelley
Revelation 9
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. (Rev. 9:1-2) This star had fallen some time previous to the 5th angel's trumpet, and by using a personal pronoun, John identifies him as a living being. In Luke 10:18 Jesus said that He had seen Satan fall like lightning from Heaven, so it can be assumed that the star is Satan and he's been told to open the shaft of the Abyss to release a swarm of "locusts."
And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. (Rev 9:3-11) They're unlike any locusts ever seen on Earth before. Normal locusts are vegetarian, but these are prevented from eating the grass, plants, or trees. Instead they attack people, but only unbelievers, and when they do they sting them like a scorpion would, causing pain so intense that their victims will pray for death. And their leader is the angel of the Abyss, whose name means "Destroyer" in both languages. (In one of those precious little tidbits of wisdom that God's word is noted for, Proverbs 30:27 informs us that normal locusts have no king lending credence to the idea that these "locusts" are something else.)
John had certainly never seen such a thing before, and in describing them he exceeded even the limits of his imagination. You've got to appreciate the nature of his challenge here. He was a first century man called upon to describe twenty first century warfare. But he had to do it in such a way that all the generations in between could interpret it as well. Even today we can't relate these so-called locusts to anything in our world. They're clearly a demonic manifestation of some sort.
So why are they only attacking unbelievers? Good question. Certainly it's a God ordained judgment, but did Satan willingly turn these little monsters loose on his own people? Was he ordered to, or is it some diabolical scheme to further inflame the hatred of the people of Earth toward God? After all, His followers aren't suffering. Did Satan deliberately do this so he could blame God for it, advancing his strategy of turning Darkness into Light and the Lie into the Truth? A little later John will inform us that none of these torments turned the people of Earth from their rebellious ways.
The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. (Rev. 8:12-19) Traditionally, the Euphrates River has been the territorial, cultural and religious boundary between East and West. Rarely have customs, traditions or philosophies crossed from either direction. As a result the Eastern world is far different in almost every respect from its Western counterpart. This passage helps to explain why that's so. There's been a boundary in the spiritual world as well. But with this command from the very throne of God the boundary comes down and the effect is deadly beyond comparison.
The combatants released by the lowering of this barrier wind up killing 1/3 of the remaining population of Earth. Remember 1/4 of mankind met their end in the seal judgments. With this additional third that means that over 3 billion people will have died by the time this is over, and the Great Tribulation hasn't even begun yet.
The cause of this destruction is the release of angels at the Euphrates River, but the River hasn't been dried up yet allowing the Kings of the East to cross. That comes later in Rev. 16:12. I think this passage is describing warfare that takes place in the Far East where over 40% of the world's population lives (many in crowded conditions increasing the potential for mass casualties) where religious and ethnic tensions are traditionally high, and where several countries can mount huge armies. I think it's the coalition formed by the winners of this war that storms across the dried up Euphrates while the anti-Christ is distracted by other uprisings. (Daniel 11:40-44)
The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Rev. 9:20-21)
You'd think that with those demonic locusts attacking only non-believers and 3 billion people dying from wars and other disasters, people would be flocking to the Lord in search of comfort and security. But this just doesn't happen, and I'll tell you why.
There is a belief floating around that's as old as mankind but in the last days will become a religion that deceives almost everybody. It's called the Luciferian Doctrine and understanding it helps explain why the world won't turn to its Creator in this, the worst time in human history. The Luciferian doctrine is named of course after Lucifer, a Latin name meaning, "light bearer." It holds that Lucifer is the good guy trying to enlighten the people of the world in preparation for the spiritual evolution necessary to bring peace to all mankind. According to Luciferian Doctrine our physical evolution is finished and all we need to do now is throw off the bonds of Judeo-Christian thinking to complete our spiritual evolution and enter into our long awaited Utopian Era.
But Lucifer's being hindered in all this by the evil Adonai (Hebrew for Lord) Who, along with His followers, is working to thwart Lucifer's grand plan by requiring everyone to adhere to His reactionary religion, effectively preventing our spiritual evolution. In order for humanity to achieve Utopia those who insist on clinging to their obsolete Judeo- Christian faith have to be eliminated. The Great Tribulation is characterized in Luciferian Doctrine as the evil Adonai's last great effort to destroy mankind's "light bearer" and prevent our ascension into Utopia, keeping us in bondage to Him.
Following the church's disappearance the Truth will become pretty scarce on Earth and the whole world will be deceived into believing the Luciferian Doctrine just as Paul warned would happen (2 Thes. 2:9-12). So naturally, thinking the Lord is the bad guy, they became even more intense in their worship of Lucifer, hoping that he'll prevail and bring an end to their suffering. (There is a way that seems right to man, but the end thereof is death ... Prov. 14:12) Lucifer, of course, is also widely known as Satan or The Devil.
Next time we'll learn about the two witnesses, discover where the New Temple will be built, and witness the event in heaven that signals the beginning of the Great Tribulation. See you then.
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