Reflections on Revelation 9

Revelation 09 (Contemporary English Version)
1. When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star fall from the sky to earth. It was given the key to the tunnel that leads down to the deep pit.
   
2. As it opened the tunnel, smoke poured out like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air turned dark because of the smoke.
   
3. Locusts came out of the smoke and covered the earth. They were given the same power that scorpions have.
   
4. The locusts were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or any tree. They were to punish only those people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads.
   
5. The locusts were allowed to make them suffer for five months, but not to kill them. The suffering they caused was like the sting of a scorpion.
   
6. In those days people will want to die, but they will not be able to. They will hope for death, but it will escape from them.
   
7. These locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like gold crowns, and they had human faces.
   
8. Their hair was like a woman's long hair, and their teeth were like those of a lion.
   
9. On their chests they wore armor made of iron. Their wings roared like an army of horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle.
   
10. Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months.
    
11. Their king was the angel in charge of the deep pit. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek it was Apollyon.
    
12. The first horrible thing has now happened! But wait. Two more horrible things will happen soon.
    
13. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice speak from the four corners of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.
    
14. The voice spoke to this angel and said, "Release the four angels who are tied up beside the great Euphrates River."
    
15. The four angels had been prepared for this very hour and day and month and year. Now they were set free to kill a third of all people.
    
16. By listening, I could tell there were more than two hundred million of these war horses.
    
17. In my vision their riders wore fiery-red, dark-blue, and yellow armor on their chests. The heads of the horses looked like lions, with fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
    
18. One-third of all people were killed by the three terrible troubles caused by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur.
    
19. The horses had powerful mouths, and their tails were like poisonous snakes that bite and hurt.
    
20. The people who lived through these terrible troubles did not turn away from the idols they had made, and they did not stop worshiping demons. They kept on worshiping idols that were made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. Not one of these idols could see, hear, or walk.
    
21. No one stopped murdering or practicing witchcraft or being immoral or stealing.

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Chapter 9 gives the blowing of the fifth and sixth trumpets. Let's place them in context. John was given a vision of heaven in which he saw a scroll in God's hand on which were seven seals. Only the Lamb (Christ) was found worthy in all God's creation to open the scroll and break its seals. Each seal was then opened individually:

• The opening of the first seal revealed a white horse whose rider had a bow and was given a crown and he was sent out as a victor to conquer. 
  
• The second seal brought forth another horse whose rider was empowered to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another.
  
• Opening of the third seal brought a third horse whose rider had a balance scale in his hand. John heard a voice announce high prices for food, indicating a famine. 
  
• The fourth seal revealed yet another horse whose rider was given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill using the sword, famine, plague, and wild animals. 
  
• When the fifth seal was opened John saw the souls of those who had been martyrd because of their testimony. They were assured their deaths would be avenged once the number of those who were to be martyred was completed. 

To this point the destruction brought to mankind from the opening of the seals was brought on by rather natural causes - primarily war and famine.  What follows is of a cosmic and demonic nature. 

• The opening of the sixth seal brought an earthquake followed by the sun turning black, the moon becoming like blood, and stars falling from heaven. Then the sky separated like a scroll and every mountain and island was moved from its place. 
  
• Finally came the opening of the seventh seal which unveiled seven angels, each with a trumpet.

Rather than ending the judgment, the opening of the seventh seal moved God's judgment to another level as seven more judgments were initiated with the blowing of the seven trumpets.  Yesterday's Reflections outlined the activities brought on by the blowing of the first four trumpets. Here they are again:

• The first trumpet: "hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth," resulting in the burning up of a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and a third of the green grass. 
  
• The second trumpet: A huge object, "like a great mountain," that was ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea became blood from a third of the sea creatures being killed and a third of the ships being destroyed. 
  
• The third trumpet: The judgment coming from the third trumpet is similar to that of the second trumpet. In this instance, though, the object falling to earth is a star and the waters into which it falls are the waters of earth other than the oceans - the rivers and springs of water. It is not the falling of the star into these waters that causes destruction but the poisoning of the waters from the star so that people who drink from the water are killed.
  
• The fourth trumpet: A darkening of the heavenly lights is the result of this seventh judgment. We are told a third of the sun, moon, and stars was struck causing a third of them to be darkened. The effect is not a third less light, but a third less time of the day and night that have light. This would seem that the damage to the heavenly bodies changed their rotational course.

We see the cosmic nature of the judgment continuing as the trumpets are blown. The blowing of the fifth and sixth trumpets, outlined in this chapter, are described as woes:

• When the fifth trumpet was blown a star fell from heaven to earth. To this star, who is thought to be Satan, a key was given to the abyss. With the opening of the abyss came creatures called locusts that had deadly stingers like that of scorpions. They were sent, for a period of five months, to torment those who were unbelievers - those who did not have God's seal. The torment will be such that they will wish they were dead, but death will not come. 
  
• The blowing of the sixth trumpet released "four angels bound at the river Euphrates." (9:14)  These are thought to be demonic angels since holy angels are not bound. The release of these angels will be timed to a particular hour, day, month, and year, and they will kill a third of the earth's population. Along with the destruction that has preceded this, a half of the world's population will have been destroyed. This destruction will be caused by an army of 200 million. As with several of these judgments, the descriptions of the thing causing destruction may or may not be literal, but the destruction is. Unfortunately, though there can be no doubt that all that has transpired has come from God, the people do not repent. They continue to worship their idols and demons and to murder and do other ungodly things.