SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation  9:1-21

GOLDEN TEXT:  Revelation 9:21

1. The seventh seal of the book of Revelation is composed of 7 trumpet plagues and the last three of the trumpet plagues are called woes. What did John see as the fifth angel sounded? (Revelation 9:1.) Was a key given to the star that fell? (Same verse.) Who was this star that fell? (Luke 10:18.) Was Satan cast out of heaven after a second war in heaven? (Revelation 12:7-9.)

Note: Stars are a Bible symbol for angels (Rev. 1:20) and this star was Satan the Devil who was cast down to the earth and he was given a key to the bottomless pit. A better translation for the words ‘bottomless pit’ would be ‘abyss’ or a ‘deep pit or crevice’.

2. What happened when Satan opened the pit? (Revelation 9:2.) Were the sun and the air darkened from the smoke of the pit? (Same verse.) What came upon the earth out of the smoke? (Revelation 9:3.) Did they have the power of scorpions? (Same verse.) Was one of the ten plagues of Egypt a locust plague? (Exodus 10:4-15.)

Note: Locust plagues are legendary and when they hit they are devastating to the vegetation and crops. The locust of Revelation 9 are poisonous like scorpions. Scorpions have incredible power in causing pain, unless a small child, a scorpion rarely kills anyone.

3. Are these locusts commanded not to harm the vegetation? (Revelation 9:4.) Are the locusts allowed to harm men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads? (Same verse.)

Note: By this time the grass has grown back. All of the grass was destroyed in the first trumpet plague. They can’t attack the crops because they are to valuable - they are needed for food

4. How long were locust with the scorpion pain allowed to torment the men who didn’t have the seal of God in their foreheads? (Revelation 9:5.)

Note: Five months of pain and suffering but no one died.

5. Will men seek death but not be able to find it? (Revelation 9:6.)

6. What did the locusts look like? (Revelation 9:7-10.) Did they look like horses prepared for battle? Did they have crowns of something like gold on their heads? Did their faces look like men? Was their hair like a woman’s hair? Were their teeth like lion’s teeth? Did they have breastplates like iron? Did they make the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle? Did they have stings in their tails?

Note: John lived at a time when he saw Roman horses prepared for battle. They were draped with a certain amount of armor, so the horse could not be speared or shot out from under the rider. John was in vision and was trying to describe modern day warfare and doing the best that he could do. Let’s speculate a little as to what John saw. The crowns of gold might be helicopter blades going around reflecting sunlight. The hair as a woman could be a contrail like what you would see behind a jet helicopter. The stings in their tails could be machine guns or missiles. John had seen locusts attack plants but these locusts had great teeth and the fire power from these helicopters could ravish the landscape and make it look like a desert or wilderness. These helicopters could be the method that the ‘Beast’ military power uses to inflict pain and suffering from perhaps some kind of biological or chemical warfare. There are now biologicals that have been formed through research and these toxins can localize and attack the eyes and can blind soldiers and civilians.

7. Who is the king that is over the locusts? (Revelation 9:11-12.)

Note: The name Abaddon means destruction and the name Apollyon means destoyer, both names are a reference to Satan the Devil, the angel of the abyss.

8. What did John hear as the sixth angel sounded? (Revelation 9:13-14.) Did the voices say to the angel with the sixth trumpet to release the four angels that had been bound at the Euphrates River? (Verse 14.) How long had the four angels been waiting and what were they going to do? (Verse 15.) How large was this army? (Verse 16.)

Note: These four angels were there to stop any advance of a great army down into the Middle East. The Euphrates River separates Iran and Iraq. John tells us more in Revelation 11 that the Beast is headquartered at Jerusalem at this time. That is why they are invading at the Euphrates River because they are ready to come into the Middle East and attack the Beast in Jerusalem. Until the time is right, God puts angels there to stop the advance. Sometimes God has to send the archangels to stop Satan from going farther than he has been permitted to go (Daniel 10).

9. Did John see horses in his vision with fire, smoke, and brimstone coming out of their mouths (Revelation 9:17.) Was a third of mankind killed by the fire, smoke, and brimstone? (Verse 18-19.)

Note: This is undoubtedly referring to nuclear missiles with multiple warheads. How many missiles can be launched in one hour? Two billion people could be incinerated in one hour.

10. After all of this calamity of death, destruction and nuclear war, how many people cried out to God and repented of their murders, sorceries, sexual immorality and their thefts? (Revelation 9:20-21.)

Note: After all of this calamity, what would it take to bring about repentance? They probably didn’t see the hand of God in anything that was going on around them. When a man doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t think that God exists, it would be hard for him to see the hand of God in his life. For a man to say, perhaps I should turn my life around and look to God and say, "God forgive me, I haven’t understood your ways" will be extremely difficult because when you have started down the road of sin and rebellion it is hard to make the turn.

It is time for you to REPENT now and keep all of God’s Ten Commandments while there is time so that you can be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass (Luke 21:36.)

1.) (Revelation 9:1 NKJV) 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.

(Luke 10:18 NKJV) And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

(Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV) And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, {8} but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. {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.

2.) (Revelation 9:2-3 NKJV) 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. {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.(Exodus 10:4-6 NKJV) 'Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. {5} 'And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. {6} 'They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.' " And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.

(Exodus 10:12-15 NKJV) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land; all that the hail has left." {13} So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. {14} And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. {15} For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

3.)(Revelation 9:4 NKJV) 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.

4.) (Revelation 9:5 NKJV) 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.

5.) (Revelation 9:6 NKJV) In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

6.) (Revelation 9:7-10 NKJV) 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.

7.) (Revelation 9:11-12 NKJV) 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.

8.) (Revelation 9:13-16 NKJV) Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, {14} saying 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. {16} Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

9.) (Revelation 9:17-19 NKJV) And 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.

10.) (Revelation 9:20-21 NKJV) 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.

(Luke 21:36 NKJV) "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."