Revelation Chapter 9 – Trumpet Judgment Five and Six
The First Two Woes
“ . . . and they were given power . . . to attack all the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads..”
Rev 9:3-4
Exodus 8:22: And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms [of flies] shall be there; to the end thou may know that I [am] the LORD in the midst of the earth.
Remember that God knows how to differentiate between his people and those who reject Him.
The previous judgments, the 1/3rd Judgments were extensive but still regional – impacting 1/3rd of the land, seas, earth, etc. The Three Woes, however, are global in scope and nature.
The Fifth Trumpet , the First Woe
V. 1-2: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
– A star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and the star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
Isa 14:12: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! NAS Version.
This verse from Isaiah refers to Lucifer as the star of the morning; this star is a person or angel or an object moved by an angel, because he is given the key to the bottomless pit, and he uses it to open the abyss.
Rev 12:3-4: And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Here we see the fallen angels referred to as stars swept from heaven. The word star can mean either a real star, an asteroid, or can refer to an angel. In the Case of Rev 9:1-2, I believe it means BOTH.
Isa 13:13 For I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move from its place. I, the LORD Almighty, will show my fury and fierce anger."
The Lord declares in Isaiah 13:13 that He will move the earth out of its orbit. [Note the double 13.] This prophecy has not been fulfilled, but will be when a planet-killer asteroid impacts the crust of the earth with enough impact to pierce the mantle of the earth and reach the earth’s core, as revealed in Rev 9:1-2. Isaiah 13:6 and 9 specifically identifies that the Day of the Lord is at hand [is coming]. As we see in Isaiah 13, southern Iraq [and elsewhere Saudi Arabia] will be made into a complete desolation, habitat of demons, for the entire 1,000 years of the Millennium, so I believe this is where the asteroid will impact, and where the abyss is. Islamic prophecies also foretell the destruction of Saudi Arabia, despite their supposed ‘righteousness’, and the anger and frustration of the demonic messenger carrying this message [he must have gone back and read the prophecies when asked]. The result is that the earth is first knocked from it’s current orbit into a different orbit – it does not escape from the sun. The core of the earth is opened [didn’t they make a movie like this?] and from it will pour debris and smoke, similar to the much smaller impact we experienced at Mt. St. Helens, only much worse. This smoke and debris will cover the entire earth, resulting in darkness and gloom like the earth has never seen before in its history. This event will occur within about six months of the Battle of Armageddon, as we will see in the next few verses. This is only the beginning of this Woe. Note that the impact is on the other side of the earth, so if we are prepared, we can survive it for the remainder of the time on earth.
Will Israel be hit or hurt by the meteor impact? NO!
Psalm 125: 1,2: Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains
surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. –
Note here, that even though the rest of the mountains are leveled, Mount Zion will not be leveled. In fact it will rise above all other mountains on earth.
Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, [that] the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
Isa 37:32 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Oba 1:17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Mic 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, [that] the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
The Plague of Locusts
V. 3-12: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads [were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [was] to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, [which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [his] name Apollyon. One woe is past; [and], behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
– Once the earth’s core has been opened, the abyss is opened, from which pour horrors to afflict those on the earth who are unsealed. Note that the scripture is specific that this plague affects only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. This appears to be a demonic plague because they have as their king, Abaddon or Apollyon, – this is The Destroyer himself, Satan, and the plague is selective to those who are pledged against God.
Locusts normally attack green things, but these do not. This is another clue that these are demons, or demon possessed. The parallel OT verses are Joel 2:1-11, which describe a trumpet blast followed by the attack of an army that march in rank, crawl all over the houses, and enter in at the windows. They are awesomely large, although the NIV says they look like tiny horses, the word tiny is not in the original Hebrew. This is the same trumpet judgment, the 5th Trumpet.
Some teachers think this is a description of helicopters, but I beg to differ, from an engineer’s perspective. No helicopter could fly in the debris floating in the atmosphere, especially right over the abyss, or down in the abyss. The particulate matter would cause the engines to stall and crash every time. In addition, no helicopter has guns in its tail – this design would also cause it to spin out of control and crash upon the firing of the guns. The tail is used to stabilize the flight of the machine, and using it as a fulcrum from which to fire would destroy the craft’s equilibrium – it couldn’t fly while it was firing!
However, upon reviewing the aspects of the locust plague, and considering the possibility that these are demon possessed or demons in ugly bodies, – they sting people instead of chewing on green things, they have stingers like scorpions, faces like people, breastplates and crowns, [as far as John could describe], There is a cross between breeds – locusts and scorpions. They are clearly animals or insects, but just like the herd of swine that the demons infested and ran over the cliff, they can be possessed by demons and used. The fact that the locusts will not sting those who are sealed further indicates that if they are not demons, they are possessed and ruled by them. Or, as we have learned by what we have seen at the throne, these could be the ranks of demons imprisoned by God ages ago, released on earth to inflict pain on the unsaved. I currently believe this is the most likely. We will see these demons all around, but we will be protected from them because we have the seal of God through the Holy Spirit.
The 144,000 Israelites are clearly sealed and protected from this demonic plague. After reviewing the word study [as far as I can] of the words seal or sealed, it appears that the same word is used to describe the sealing we receive of the Holy Spirit after we have believed. It is your decision as to whether filling by the Spirit occurs at salvation or afterward by an act of submission and a request to be filled. The result of the filling of the Holy Spirit is spiritual gifts.
Therefore I believe any Christians who have yielded themselves to the filling of the Holy Spirit, [perhaps as demonstrated by any Gift of the Spirit]. As also indicated by the word study on sealing, [“for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.” Esther 8:8] once a Christian is sealed, the Lord will not change His mind.
Timing of the 5th Trumpet
Rev. Monte Judah, Messianic Jewish minister, [http://www.lionlamb.net] asks us to think about this: go to the Book of Daniel to see another prophecy of this Woe, the 5th Trumpet:
Dan 8:3-27: Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had [two] horns: and the [two] horns [were] high; but one [was] higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither [was there any] that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. 5And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat [had] a notable horn between his eyes. 6And he came to the ram that had [two] horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. 7And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. 9And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant [land]. 10And it waxed great, [even] to the host of heaven; and it cast down [some] of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. 11Yea, he magnified [himself] even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily [sacrifice] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12And an host was given [him] against the daily [sacrifice] by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. 13Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain [saint] which spake, How long [shall be] the vision [concerning] the daily [sacrifice], and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? 14And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 15And it came to pass, when I, [even] I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. 16And I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this [man] to understand the vision. 17So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end [shall be] the vision. 18Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright. 19And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end [shall be]. 20The ram which thou sawest having [two] horns [are] the kings of Media and Persia. 21And the rough goat [is] the king of Grecia: and the great horn that [is] between his eyes [is] the first king. 22Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. 23And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify [himself] in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 26And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told [is] true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it [shall be] for many days. And I Daniel fainted, and was sick [certain] days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood [it].
What does verse 26 tell us? That the vision of the evenings and mornings is true, but it will not be understood for a very long time from then. So looking backwards at what scholars in the past have said about this verse won’t help: it won’t be understood until the end of days, just as the 12th chapter of Daniel tells us too.
Dan 8:13-14 is highlighted above. The NASB translates this as: Dan 8:14 He said to me, "For 2,300 evenings {and} mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored." The actual Hebrew words are “erev” and “boker” – these words mean ‘evenings’ and ‘mornings’, not YOM, which means day, as in Yom Kippur. Strong’s lexicon translates the word erev, as follows: AV translates as “even” 72 times, “evening” 47 times, “night” four times, “mingled” twice, “people” twice, “eventide” twice, “days” once . . . plus a few more miscellaneous translations. So there are 127 translations of this word as ‘evening’ or night, and only one as ‘days’. In Hebrew, ‘Erev tov’ means ‘good evening’.
The word ‘boker’ is translated this way by Strong’s: AV translates as “morning” 190 times, “morrow” seven times, “day” three times, so there are 197 translations as ‘morning’, and 3 as ‘days’. In Hebrew, ‘boker tov’ is the common greeting meaning ‘good morning’.
In Dan 12:11, Daniel tells us how long it is from the Abomination of Desolation [to which Yeshua referred] until the end: "And from the time [that] the daily [sacrifice] shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, [there shall be] a thousand two hundred and ninety days." Yet in Dan 8:14, he says that from the abomination of desolation until the time ends that the sanctuary and the host are trodden underfoot, he says 2300 evenings and mornings. If the term ‘evenings and mornings’ means days, then we have a conflict within Daniel’s prophecies.
What if evenings and mornings means just that, as the NASB translates? What if
it means ‘sunrises and sunsets’? Does this change the meaning of the verse for
you? How many sunrises and sunsets does it take to make one day? One of each,
or two. So 2,300 sunrises and sunsets is 1,150 days. So now we have Daniel
saying that the Temple will be trampled underfoot 1,290 days [see also
Rev 11:2
‘they shall trample it [the court outside the
Temple] underfoot for forty-two months].
But there will only be 1,150 sunrises and sunsets. Is this a contradiction?
Not if the last 140 days have no sunrises or sunsets, because the
sky is so clouded that nothing but gloom can be seen! The locusts torment for
five months – perhaps they stop only because the Lord comes back to stop them.
Rev. Judah does not explain the ten-day difference [Between the five months the
locusts plague mankind and the 140 days remaining, which is ten days less than
five months]. But I will try, so consider: the asteroid opens the pit to the
core of the earth, the locusts emerge and plague mankind for 150 days. What
would stop them? Jesus’ return! And if a meteor hits the planet, will the sky
be instantaneously so cloudy that the sun or moon can never be seen again? No,
but ten days would allow enough time for so much dust and debris to pour out of
a hole in the earth’s crust [along with the locusts], that the luminaries are
totally obscured – there is nothing but gloom during the day, and at night,
there is no hope of seeing anything at all. Darkness will truly cover the land
night and day for the last 140 days, until the Lord’s return.
Over and over, the day of the Lord is prophesied to be a day of unprecedented gloom. So if there are 140 days just like it before, why is it unprecedented? Remember that the earth was knocked out of it’s orbit. The reason we won’t see this coming is because the asteroid comes in a tight circle around the sun, and since it is coming right at us from out of the sun, we cannot see it coming. So when it hits, it knocks us further away from the sun. The earth is moving away from the sun, so each day is progressively worse than the day before. By the time the five months are past, everyone on earth knows we are doomed without God’s help. Another prophecy says that the sun will stand still [Isa 28:21]. If the earth is hit hard enough, the rotation of the earth could be stopped altogether. This would also prevent sunrises and sunsets, spelling doom for the dark side, and eventually doom for the light side. Without the rotation of the earth, the tides would fail, the oceans would stagnate or storm, but it would kill them one way or the other.
The Sixth Trumpet –
V. 13-19: Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. And the voice spoke to the sixth angel who held the trumpet: “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River." And the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. They led an army of 200 million mounted troops--I heard an announcement of how many there were. And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and sky blue and yellow. The horses' heads were like the heads of lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues--by the fire and the smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. Their power was in their mouths, but also in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.” Another interpretation of the colors of the army’s breastplates are fire, purple/blue, brimstone [gray/black]. The results of their attacks are the cumulative deaths of one third of mankind; the death of so much of the population still does not induce mankind to repent before God.
Who or what is this plague????
This again appears to be a demonic host, in that it is led by four angels, who are bound at the River Euphrates. [for how long?] Good angels are never bound. John could again be describing something he has never seen before, such as tanks and tank warfare. Tanks kill with smoke, fire and brimstone, or would appear so to someone of the first century in this way. The only standing army of this magnitude however is the Chinese army, so this is possibly the kings of the East, also mentioned in the 5th Bowl of wrath in Chapter 16. Could this be Islam? It may be possible if all Islamic nations joined together that they could make war on the earth and have that many troops. The four angels are bound at the River Euphrates, in Iraq, the source [Babylon] of harlot religions such as Islam. Mecca their holiest city is to the south in Saudi Arabia, but clearly the current leaders are in Iraq and Iran. The word "Islam" is an Arabic word that is etymologically related to the Hebrew word "Shalom," which is translated as "peace." In the Western world, our understanding of "peace" differs to a great extent from that of the Arab Middle Easterner. To the Middle Easterner, "peace" connotes the idea of "having your foot on your enemies' necks" i.e.; "surrender" or "submission." To the Muslim, peace can only come when there is a surrender and submission to allah. Therefore there can never be peace until every Jew, Christian, Buddhist etc. is eliminated from the planet, and allah [satan] is supreme. The very "root" of Islam is in military conquest, and the "fruit" we observe today springs forth from this root. from its very beginning Islam was spread by the edge of a sword. The history of Islam is replete with violence and warfare, from its birth to the present day. When the Muslims invaded Spain, it took over seven centuries to drive them out. The Muslim Ottoman Turks slaughtered a million Armenians in 1915-16 (a fact still ignored by much of the Western world). Today, in the Sudan over two million Christians have been slaughtered, and many more sold into slavery, all under the direction of the Islamic General Umar Bashir. In Indonesia, Muslims have killed over 300,000 East Timorese Catholics since 1975.
The doctrine of jihad ("holy war") divided the world into two realms, the abode of peace and the abode of war, and made it incumbent upon the Islamic believer to keep on pushing the wall between the two until the whole world is Islamized - reminiscent of the modern communist theory. He who fell on the battlefield was promised immediate entry into Paradise.
From the Qu’ran: O believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Let them find firmness in you. (Sura:9, Ayat:123)
Fight those who believe not… even if they be People of the Book until they have willing agreed to pay the tribute in recognition of their submissive state. (Sura:9, Ayat:29)
You will be called to fight a mighty nation; fight them until they embrace Islam. (Sura:48, Ayat:16)
Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them. And seize them, beleaguer them and lie in wait for them, in every stratagem (of war). (Sura:9, Ayat:5)
Estimates of the total number of Muslims range from 0.7 to 1.2 billion worldwide and 1.1 to 7 million in the U.S. 2 About 21% of all people on earth follow Islam. The religion is in a period of rapid growth. If Islam is called to the mother of all jihads, they could easily raise a standing army of 200 million.
Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed [nominally] by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained stable for decades. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century. It is interesting to note that 1/3rd of the world is considered Christian, and these four angels have been released to kill 1/3rd of the people of the earth.
V. 20-21: The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts.
How much will it take to make the world repent? Is the picture becoming clear? The world will not repent – they would rather die in their sins. God in His mercy has recognized this, and is proving it to us, so that we would see that He did nothing that was not required.