At the start of chapter nine, the world is going to
look a lot different, than it does right now. Let’s step into the future and
take a look.
Imagine opening your front door and hearing a voice from
heaven.
“Woe, woe, woe…”
You step out and look up and see an eagle—a talking
eagle.
Woe to the
inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet… Revelation
8:13.
Surprisingly, you’re not even surprised to see and hear
a talking eagle. What surprises you, is that he implies things are going to get
worse.
You look around at the smoldering earth, smell the
stench of death from rotting flesh; feel the, ever present, pangs of hunger,
and wonder; how could things get worse?
It all started when those Bible thumping Christians
disappeared. The whole world went mad. At first the rioting and shooting and
looting was just for stuff the Christians left behind; but almost overnight it devolved
into a scavenger hunt for food, just to survive. Some have gone insane, the rotting,
stinking, flesh, to them, it smells like a BBQ. They’ve become vultures—worse, cannibals.
You lunge back inside, slam and lock the door; just
barely beating a pack of hungry, drooling wolves, now growling, and clawing and
gnashing and gnawing, at your door—or, are they people? It’s hard to tell the
difference these days.
The whole world is broke, everyone’s on welfare, except,
of course, the government, they seem to be doing okay, they’re smart, they have
the answers, they’ll find a way to save us. They’re working on a new vaccine…
God? Oh, now we know there’s a God, that’s for sure. We
know all about Him. He’s made Himself perfectly clear. Earthquakes, sun black,
moon red, stars falling, flaming hail, fish killing mountain size meteor
in the ocean, poisonous fresh water destroying comet…yeah, we get it. He’s
mean.
That will be the condition
of the planet at this point in HIStory. And, sadly, the mind of most will be, deceived.
Pray that reading this, will be as close as you ever
get, to experiencing it.
It may sound like a sci-fi horror flick, but it’s not.
It’s prophecy. It’s going to happen. Sooner than you think. Whether you believe
it or not. You can’t change it. The only thing you can change, is where you’ll
be when it happens.
Make no mistake, these things are
written, not to scare us, but to prepare us. Jesus makes it perfectly clear;
what He said would happen, is happening, and will continue to happen, more and
more until all is fulfilled, exactly as He says it will.
Now, don’t be confused. Many of the
things that will happen are not part of His plan or purpose or will. It’s
not His will that any perish. He wants all to be saved. (2 Peter 3:9).
He tells us what’s going to happen,
not because He wants it to happen, but because He knows it will happen,
and wants us to avoid it.
Fifth Trumpet: Locusts From the
Bottomless Pit
Revelation 9:1-2. 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.
Trumpet sounds and something falls. This starts off
sounding like the others; but then, something changes.
This star is personified with words like “him” and “he.” Furthermore, this star isn’t burning like the others.
Remember, Jesus depicts the pastors of the seven
Churches, as stars. The seven stars are the angels (pastors)
of the seven churches, Revelation 1:20.
We do the same thing; movie stars, football stars, rock
stars…and of course, we all know, you, are Bible study stars.
This star isn’t just
another falling, flaming hunk of rock; it’s an individual.
But who?
Remember, the best commentary on the Bible, is the
Bible. So, are there any other verses that talk about an individual falling from heaven?
Well, as a matter of fact, yes.
Isaiah
14:12 states: How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, (lucifer) son
of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.
Jesus says in Luke 10:18: I saw satan fall
like lightning from heaven
Revelation
12:4, 9 connects the dots: And
his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
…9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called
the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.
Just in case we’re not quite sure, in that last
verse, Jesus spells it out in quadruplet; the dragon…serpent…devil…satan.
Not everyone agrees; but it appears, the preponderance
of scripture reveals, this fallen star, is satan.
Where were we?
Oh, that’s right.
You’re hiding inside. Wolves are at the door. Now it
gets dark. Even though it’s in the middle of the day. The putrid stench of
death, gets worse; it burns your eyes. It’s hard to breathe. You gasp for air. It makes you choke. You know that smell, it’s sulfur; the Bible
calls it brimstone.
You don’t know, that it’s coming from the bottomless
pit because satan just opened the door, and out spewed a cloud of soot and smoke.
But that’s not the worst part.
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. 5 And 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. Revelation 9:3-5.
Something has changed. You’re not quite sure. It isn’t the
snarling outside the door, or the sudden darkness or the hard to breathe,
putrid air. Not even the nonstop cosmic catastrophes of late.
It’s more. It’s worse. You can feel it—the atmosphere
of the entire planet has changed. Suddenly the earth is exposed to a physical
manifestation of evil, the magnitude of which hasn’t been felt since, perhaps, sometime
before the flood, when God locked up the worst of the worst, in chains of
darkness until the great day of judgement.
God
spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered
them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. 2 Peter 2:4.
And the angels
who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—
these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that
great day. Jude 6.
You shiver, paralyzed with fear. You’re about at the
halfway point of the tribulation, you’ve seen some downright terrifying things,
but nothing, nothing, like this.
From out of the smoke flies a demonic horde of tormenters,
with only one goal, one mission, to inflict as much pain on as many people as
possible. Their sting is like a scorpion; it won’t kill, but so severe, it’ll
make you want to die.
They’ve come from the bottomless pit—the abyss (abyssou). Thus, they’re
demonic and have no need to eat or sleep or rest.
The abyss, is some sort of maximum-security prison,
where even demons are afraid to go. We see this in, Luke
8:26-39, where Jesus met a man possessed with a legion of demons. He was
about to cast them out and they begged Him not to throw them into the abyss,
but rather, into a herd of pigs. So, Jesus said, “Go.” They went. The pigs didn’t
want to have anything to do with the demons; so, they ran off a cliff and
committed sooey-cide. And became…deviled ham.
That may sound funny, but if you’re here when these tormentors
are released, it won’t be. The pain will make you want to do like the pigs, but…
In those
days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die,
and death will flee from them. Revelation 9:6.
This seems to imply that the hand of death will be
stayed, for a period of five months, while the tormenting, demonic, locust,
have free reign to all who dwell on the earth, except for those who have the
seal of God on their foreheads.
Now, back to the future. You’re still hiding, barely
breathing, petrified. But suddenly the growling, is replaced by a series of yelps,
and then a hum that grows into a house shaking roar. You inch to the door and
peak out the peep hole.
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. 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.
Revelation 9:7-11
By this description some claim the locusts are actually
helicopters. If you use your imagination, you might be able to see what they’re
saying. But, the major problem with that idea is that these “helicopters” came
from the abyss, not a helicopter factory. Furthermore, they follow the boss of
the bottomless pit; not the Top Gun at Apache Helicopter Base. His name is Abaddon
and Apollyon; meaning destroyer. Remember, Isaiah 14:12 calls lucifer, the destroyer
of nations. I’m not convinced this is lucifer, but there’s no doubt, they both
have the same goal: to kill, steal and destroy.
Well, the wolves are gone, but the locusts have come. For
five months. What will you do? Shelter in place? For five months? How will you
get food to survive? All that'll have to wait, because right now, you can't even breathe.
And the worst is still to come.
One woe is past.
Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Revelation 9:12.
Lord, we don’t want anyone to be here for any of this. Please
use us to reach everyone we can to escape the wrath which is to come.
Next: We'll discover the place where four real live angels are likely to be located,
right now, on earth, at this very moment.
PS: You forgot to remind me to discuss why, one third, is mentioned so many times.
1 comment:
I guess I could google why 1/3
Post a Comment