Four angels have sounded four trumpets. Differing kinds of disasters happened on the earth after each blast. These plagues are similar to the ones that God placed on Egypt in answer to the cries of their slaves, whom they abused. Those in cahoots with the devil refuse to repent of their evil ways. So, three more angels are about to sound their trumpets. “Woe, woe, woe!” The woes are intensifying. A third of the earth’s population will die after the last three angels sound their trumpets.
When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, a star falls from heaven. An angel opens the bottomless pit and out of it comes locusts that bite like scorpions.
“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. 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. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 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.” [2]
Praise God for placing His seal on those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ. They are spared from the plagues that others suffer.
God’s seal is His Spirit. “Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” The seal of the Holy Spirit assures us that we belong to God. “The Lord knows those who are His.” “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The angels of God know whom God has sealed. [3]
The Holy Spirit assures us that the blood of Jesus that was offered up to God for our redemption cancels all Satan’s claims against us. “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb...” We claim the blood of Jesus over us even as the Israelites placed the blood of lambs on their doorposts before the angel of death passed through Egypt. The angel of death was prevented from slaying those who acknowledged and acted on their need of God’s prescribed method of salvation. [4]
In the last days, the 144,000 followers of the Lamb are mentioned as having God’s seal on their forehead. [5] In the ancient world, a king or a property owner used a seal to show ownership. I believe the Name of the Father on their heads is invisible to the physical eye, but visible to those with spiritual eyes, namely, the angels of God.
The fallen star from heaven refers to Lucifer. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (Day Star), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Satan and his accomplices, other fallen angels, are like serpents who poison hearts and minds of people against God. Peter and Jude speak of fallen angels being kept in chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day. [6]
“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. 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. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 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. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon [Destroyer], but in Greek he has the name Apollyon [Destroyer].” [7]
The locusts from the bottomless pit with scorpion power probably refer to demons. The demons in the man named Legion asked Jesus not to send them to the pit. These demons “blind the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” These locusts don’t eat plant life as normal locusts do. They attack, hurt and torment people for five months. The king over them has a name. His name means destroyer. Jesus said that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy. [8]
Their sting is like the sting of a scorpion. An allusion to being poisoned. The demons aim to poison people against God. Their bite is quick and accurate. These demons hit the earth like a swarm of destructive locusts. Their woman-like hair may represent a seductive nature. They have teeth like a lion. It is hard to free one’s self from the jaws of a lion. Cults are seductive, thus easy to join, but difficult to escape. Jesus said to beware of false prophets in the last days.
Their iron breastplates symbolize their cold-blooded nature towards their victims. For example, sex traffickers use the bodies of their captives until they are of no more use. People will want to die but not be able to. The Lord sets two limits on these locusts. They do not have authority to kill people, and their freedom to torment people ends after five months.
Locusts are agents of God’s judgment. Plagues of locusts are portrayed as consequences of sin in many Bible passages. [9]
Locusts in the physical realm reflect what is happening in the spiritual realm. Spiritually speaking, people in the last days have abandoned God and opened themselves up to demons.
“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” [10] Ungodly individuals and governments suppress truth. They persecute and kill those who speak it.
When people reject God, He gives them over to a debased mind. “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” [11]
God’s judgments, like pain, are designed to alert people to the fact that something is wrong. They need to recognize something is wrong. Something is hurting them. What is it? It is sin. It is lies. They need a cure lest they perish. Faith in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Savior, is the cure.
“One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.” [12]
Do you really want trumpets six and seven to sound after what happened during the previous five trumpet blasts? The people of Jericho did not repent after six days of trumpet sounds. They should have! All of them except Rahab the harlot gambled that the God who destroyed Egypt would not destroy them. They were wrong. On the seventh day, the trumpets sounded again and all of the people perished except for Rahab. [13]
Rahab had tied a scarlet cord in the window of her home signifying to God and God’s people that she and her family believed in God. Rahab even ended up in the Hebrews Eleven Hall of Fame, and in the genealogy of Jesus. [14]
After the sixth trumpet is sounded, four angels are released from the Euphrates River in Iraq.
They gather an army 200 million people strong. These four angels have the authority to kill on a massive scale. They have a specific sphere of activity, namely over a third of humanity.
“Then the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million; I heard the number of them. 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. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 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.” [15]
The Euphrates River is a landmark of ancient Babylon. It was also the boundary of the old Roman Empire. The Euphrates is associated with the first sin, the first murder, the first organized revolt against God, the first war confederation, and the first dictatorship. [16]
When God removes restraints, battles break out. The 200 million people army is destructive.
Is this an army of men or an army of demons? A human army this size has never been seen. The total size of all armies at the height of World War Two was 70 million. It is likely both. This is an army inspired by Satan to come against God’s people in Israel. They have fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow breastplates. The heads of their horses are fierce like the heads of lions. Out of their mouths comes fire, smoke, and brimstone alluding to the evil spirits within them.
God can stop the plagues, but the people refuse to repent and turn to Him.
“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. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” [17]
When Jesus was brought to trial before the people of Jerusalem, they chose free the insurrectionist Barabbas from execution rather than Jesus. In the last days, many people, deceived by Satan, will make the same fatal mistake.
The Greek word for sorcery is pharmakos from which we get the word pharmacy. Some drugs are medicines that are helpful to the human body. Others are not! Some drugs reduce people’s minds and bodies to rubble.
The Greek word for sexual immorality is porneias from which we get the word pornography. The enemy of our soul knows what arouses are flesh’s pleasure senses. He wants to lead us astray from worshipping and serving God just as he did with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Just he tried unsuccessfully with Jesus in the wilderness! Think of that! Adam and Eve were in a paradise, and still opted for something other than what God provided for them. Jesus was a wilderness. He had not ate for forty days but would not turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger when the devil tempted Him. It is important to keep our souls satisfied by abiding in Jesus to avoid biting on the devil’s bait to sin against God.
“Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” “Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come.” [18]
We need wisdom from God during these last days... “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray.” “When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.” “The hope of the righteous will be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.” [19]
[1] Revelation 8:13
[2] Revelation 9:1-4
[3] 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; 2 Timothy 2:19
[4] Revelation 12:11; Exodus 12:13-28
[5] Revelation 7:4; 14:1
[6] Isaiah 14:12; Revelation 12:9; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6
[7] Revelation 9:5-11
[8] Luke 8:30-31; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 10:10
[9] Exodus 10:4-14; Deuteronomy 28:38; 1 Kings 8:37; 2 Chronicles 7:13, Joel 1:4; Amos 4:9
[10] Romans 1:18
[11] Romans 1:28
[12] Revelation 9:12
[13] Joshua 6:1-25
[14] Joshua 2:18; Hebrews 11:31; Matthew 1:5
[15] Revelation 9:13-19
[16] Genesis 2:10-14; 4:16; 10:8-10; 11:1-9; 14:1
[17] Revelation 9:20-21
[18] 1 John 5:5; 1Thessalonians 1:10
[19] Proverbs 10:17, 25, 28
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