What will it take for repentance? Revelation 9

Revelation 9:

The Fifth and Sixth Woeful Trumpets

Revelation 9:1-21

Timothy McKeown

The purpose of the Great Tribulation is for God’s righteous judgment to fall on the earth, bringing many to repentance, but amazingly many do not, as seen in chapter 9.

Yet God is merciful, not bringing complete judgment, but allowing for one fourth of the earth to die in the fourth seal judgment and for another third to die in the sixth trumpet judgment. With half of earth’s humanity killed by the end of the sixth trumpet, so many of the rest of the world’s population still will not repent. 

¹ 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. ² 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.

The fallen star. The King James Version says “I saw a star fall from heaven,” but the word “fall” is actually better translated as “having fallen.” In other words, the “star” had already fallen, but when that star fell is not known. Because the following sentence says, “to him” was given the key to the abyss, it is likely a fallen angel, likely even the devil, to whom is given a key to release the locusts. Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightening from the sky (Luke 10:18). Later in Revelation, it is recalled that the dragon, Satan, was cast to earth with his angels, which were a third of the stars or one third of the angels (Rev. 12:1-13). Isa. 14:12 says that Lucifer had fallen from heaven, but Job 1:6 says that he was still able to appear before God in heaven. This fallen star then opens the pit, and the spiritual realm is so thick that it affects the physical realm of the sun and the air.

God will wait for his total judgment for at least another 42 months (Rev. 11:2-3, 12:6, 13:5). As the fifth seal dealt with the souls under the altar in heaven, the fifth trumpet deals with the demons confined to the “bottomless pit” (Greek: abusso abusso; NASB, NIV: “abyss” ), a term mentioned seven times in Revelation and also in Rom. 10:7 and Luke 8:31, where the demons did not want to be sent.

 ³ Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. ⁴ 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. ⁵And 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. ⁶ In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. ⁷ 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.

The locusts. If these locusts are the worst of the fallen angels which God has bound since their fall, Satan will loose these very hideous demons to spread the worst havoc yet upon the earth, both physically and spiritually. The devil, though fallen, is not currently bound in the abyss, sometimes seen as Hades or hell. Some have speculated that these locusts are John’s feeble description of military helicopters, using first century terminology and identifications. While Satan will use and take control of man’s military in the Tribulation, this description is much more foreboding and menacing.

John was able to see with spiritual eyes what fallen angels would become after thousands of years trapped in a tortuous bottomless pit. They swarm and destroy as locusts. They are powerful and painful as scorpions. Shaped like horses prepared for battle indicates their organized power. That they have things like crowns of gold and faces like men may mean that they will possess the rulers of the land.

 ⁸ They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. ⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. ¹¹ And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. ¹² One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.  

The hair of women may also indicate their seductive power as seen in verse 21. Aggressively, their lion-like teeth are vicious and unstoppable but their pain comes from their stinging, lightening-quick tails.

Defensively, their iron breastplates give indication that they are impenetrable to attack.  Nevertheless, they are still limited and commanded to not harm the plants or those with the seal of God on their foreheads and are limited from killing those who do not have God’s seal. They torment without killing for five months, presumably to allow for repentance. The fact that those having the seal of God would not be tormented will be a great incentive to get saved! Still, many do not.

King of the Abyss. Among those loosed will be the beast which will ascend out of the abyss (Rev. 11:7, 17:8), who is likely the king and the (fallen) angel of or in charge of the abyss. The name “Abaddon” means “destruction” and “Apollyon” means “destroyer.” Although the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire alive at the beginning of the millennium, Satan is cast into the abyss for the 1,000 years (Rev. 20:1). Still, there are two more woes left.

¹³ Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ 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.

   An interval of perhaps five months occurs between the fifth and sixth trumpets, as now angels (likely fallen) are released to kill a third of mankind. The result of this will mean that more than one half of the world’s population has died since the beginning of the Tribulation. The four angels empower the army of the 200 hundred million horsemen.

If some of the previous trumpets and seals have been thermonuclear explosions, it is possible that all modern devices using computers would be rendered obsolete. This is a result of the electromagnetic pulse which occurs with any nuclear explosion. The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) does not hurt the human body, but will fry all unprotected computer chips which are virtually all automobiles, airplanes, trains, etc. In the 1950s, relatively low level nuclear explosions resulted with EMP effects as far away as 800 miles in all directions. It is not unrealistic to see how battles will return to literally hand-to-hand combat and third world and primitive societies would clearly have the upper hand.

¹⁶ Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

It has been reported since the 1960s that China has stated that it could immediately raise an army of 200 million. Yet others believe this army is spiritual and demonic rather than physical. Unlike in other places, here John does not say it is “like” an army of horsemen, but rather that it is literally 200 million men on horseback. He didn’t have to guess, someone, likely his angel guide, told him of the number. Such a literal interpretation in John’s day would have been impossible but now is very likely to be a literal fulfillment.

¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ 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.

John resumes in using similes by saying “like” or “as” in describing the heads of the horses as being like lions. Whether these are literal horses or if they are instruments of modern-day warfare is not really relevant. What is relevant is the destruction which comes with this sixth woe and the lack of repentance.

²⁰ 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. ²¹ And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Worship of demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood can simply mean materialistic people or can mean literal idolatry. Also, the word for “sorceries” is the Greek word from which we get pharmaceuticals. Murders, drug use, illicit sexual acts, and thefts are sins, but they will keep in rebellion against God.

 Takeaways from Revelation 9:1-21

1)  God is ever patient for repentance, but He is not forever patient. God will bring justice to the earth. 

2) There will be "aliens" in the last days, but not from other planets, but from the spiritual dimension and realm. UFOs are consistently seen as lights and exercising remarkable movements which are impossible in our current technology. Therefore, the demons released from the abyss may not be UFOs, but ISBs: Identified Spiritual Beings.

3)  As the demons torture but do not kill, we should remember there are things worse than death for the believers. Whether we live or die, do all for the glory of Christ. "so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." Philippians 1:20

4) Sin is sin, no matter the size, big or small. God wants repentance, not for the sake of merely stopping from sinning, but to return to Him in holiness.