The Fallen Star (vs. 1, 11)

The fifth angel blows his trumpet and John sees a star. Notice the star had already fallen, describing the action in the past tense. A fallen star symbolizes authority falling from power. Notice Isaiah 14:12, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!” Many believe Lucifer is a reference to Satan, but that is not what the scriptures say. Notice Isaiah 14:4, “that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say….” These words were against the king of Babylon to show him that he and his nation were to fall. Jesus used the same imagery in Luke 10:17-18, “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Satan had lost his power on the earth and thus the seventy were even able to cast out demons. In Revelation 9:1 we are reading about the fall of a power. Notice verse 2 that this star has the key to the abyss.

Many believe this star is a reference to Satan. I admit to you that I used to think so as well. However, it would not make any sense for God to be giving a key to Satan to go out and destroy. We cannot accept an interpretation where we describe God and Satan working together to a common goal. Rather, we ought to see this as a reference to the Roman Empire which would be the tool used to bring judgment against the Jews and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. under Emperor Vespasian and a few decades later under Emperor Hadrian. The Roman Empire was going to be given a limited time of power to bring judgment.

The Image of Locusts (9:2-10)

The abyss is opened and smoke comes up from the abyss. Out of the smoke comes locusts, which come to the earth and are given power that scorpions have. The locusts were told not to harm the grass of the earth or vegetation, but only to harm the people that do not have the seal of God. Therefore, only those who are not servants of God would be harmed. These locusts are not given the power to kill, but they will torment for a short, definite time. The description of these locusts is certainly terrifying, which is the point of the image, to strike fear into the hearts of those who read these words and are not sealed. The locusts have the appearance of horses equipped for battle, with something like gold crowns on their heads. They have faces like a man, hair like a woman, and teeth like a lion. They have iron breastplates and have sound of many chariots. All of these images are used a symbols of terrifying judgment. The premillennialist has tremendous difficulty interpreting these images literally, since such an animal does not exist.

However, the use of locusts in judgment is not foreign to the scriptures. In fact, God used locusts in Joel’s day to try to get the people of Judah to repent. Notice the description of the locusts in Joel and see how similar their description is to the description given in Revelation. They have teeth like a lion (Joel 1:6). They are a mighty army, great and strong (Joel 2:2). They have the appearance of horses (Joel 2:4). The locusts make the noise of chariots (Joel 2:5). The locusts were mighty men, like warriors (Joel 2:7). These images were pictures of an army that was going to rise up against Judah if the people did not repent. This is the same imagery of judgment that God is trying to convey to Jerusalem. A mighty nation is being raised up to attack you, but it is for the purpose of repentance just like in the book of Joel. This will be more clearly seen at the end of the chapter. The Romans will rise up against Jerusalem but their power is only short-lived. But this is not all. Verse 12 tells us that this woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come.

The Jews had been in battle with the Roman Empire from the early days of the rise of the empire. The Jews hated the empire. The Messiah they were looking for was someone who would overthrow the empire. Because of this view, the Jews rejected Jesus for that was not his mission. Many of the Jews were zealots trying to gather armies to fight against Rome. In Luke 13:1 we read about Pilate, the governor from Rome, slaughtering some Galileans. Historically we know that Emperor Caligula was going to set up a statue in worship of himself in the temple of Jerusalem. Only because of Caligula sudden death was this command not carried out. What I want you to see is the clashing that existed between Rome and Jerusalem. A cursory reading of history reveals that the Jews had troubles with many of the kings, rulers, and authorities. These conflicts continued to escalate until the Romans invade. This conflict is more clearly seen in the next trumpet which sounds.

The Sixth Trumpet (Revelation 9:13-21)

The four angel unleashed (9:13-16)

The sixth angel blows his trumpet and a voice from the four horns of the gold altar that is before God says, “Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.” Here the voice says to not withhold the judgment any longer. The angels that were pictured back in Revelation 7 restraining their judgment until everyone is sealed are now allowed to release judgment. God’s people had been sealed and it was time to allow God’s wrath to unfold. We see that this judgment had been prepared for a specific time designated by God (9:15). But notice again that the partial judgments continue as only a third of the human race is killed. What we have seen is a progression of judgment and the patience of God looking for repentance. We just saw judgment upon the people to only be tortured, not killed. But that did not cause repentance. We have seen in the first four trumpets a partial judgment of the land, sea, and waters, but that does not bring about repentance. The people are not heeding the warnings of God. Therefore punishment must increase. The full force of an army is coming (vs. 16). This is not a literal number, just as the other numbers like the 144,000 are not literal. The large number is to represent great strength, power, and completeness in the work they are to accomplish.

Description of Great Power (9:17-19)

The horsemen come in with colored breastplates with heads that were like lions. Here we see the great power that this army is given. We saw them as powerful locusts, but there were restraints put upon those locusts. But now the army has the power to kill humans, and the picture is ferocious. The lion has been a symbol of divine judgment in the Old Testament (Amos 3:1-8; Hosea 11:9-10). Out of their mouths come fire, smoke and brimstone. These again are symbols of divine judgment, most notably remembered through the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus used the same words to describe his coming judgment in Luke 17:26-31 where Jesus refers to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah being similar to the judgment that would be revealed by the Son of Man. All of this depicts the coming wrath of God. This power would be seen from all fronts as Jerusalem would be surrounded and destroyed (Revelation 9:19).

Lack of Repentance (9:20-21)

The reason for God’s judgment is revealed. The people were worshipping things other than God. They were full of murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, and thefts. They were wicked people. But the people who were not killed did not repent, and would continue with their evil acts. In the siege against Jerusalem, it is interesting to note that about one third of the Jews perished in the attack. About 1 million of the 3 million Jews that were in Jerusalem died when Rome came against Jerusalem. This may be the exact event that is being referred to. The Roman Empire did not want to destroy the Jews, but the Jews gave Rome no choice. The Jews were leading revolts against Rome and Rome came in put down the revolts. Because the people would not repent, the wrath of God will come in full measure.