The First Two Terrors
REVELATION 9:1-21
(December 18)
John is getting a real eye full as he continues to receive this vision of what is to come. After watching four of the angels blow their trumpets in yesterday's reading, he saw the ramifications of those instruments being sounded. Now we see the vision play out at the sounding of the next two angels.
When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, John saw "a star that had fallen to the earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit." This bottomless pit is the place of the demons and their king, Satan. When this pit was opened it was filled with smoke and darkness.
Out of the smoke came the swarm of locusts. They covered the earth and stung like scorpions. They didn't do harm to the grass, plants, or trees. They only went after the people without the seal of God on their foreheads. They tortured these people with painful stings for five months, making them wish for death instead of the pain they were enduring.
Now, these weren't your ordinary locusts. These locusts were ready for battle. They appeared to have gold crowns on their heads and their faces resembled humans. They had hair like a woman and teeth like a lion, and they wore armor made of iron. Their king was the leader of the pit. For five months, they terrorized the earth.
This plague of locusts is seen as a foreshadowing of "the day of the Lord", in which God's judgement comes upon the earth. Locusts are symbols of destruction because they always destroy vegetation. Here, they symbolize an invasion of demons sent to torture people who don't believe in God. They are not created by Satan, because God is the Creator of all things. They are fallen angels who joined Satan, with the goal of preventing, distorting, or destroying peoples' relationship with God.
After these five long months of torture, the sixth angel blew his trumpet. A voice spoke from the gold alter, demanding that this angel "release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River." So, the angel did.
These angels had been prepared for massacre. They killed one-third of the people on earth with an army of about 200 million. The riders in this army wore colorful armor of red, blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions and blew fire, smoke and sulfur from their mouths. Their tails had heads like snakes and could do injury.
There were actually people who survived, but they still refused to repent of their sins and follow God. They continued worshiping their demons and idols, murdering people, practicing witchcraft and sexual immorality, and stealing.
As if these first two terrors weren't enough, there was sure to be more to come for those who refused God. They keep getting opportunities to repent, and they stubbornly refuse. Despite the horror that they witness, they still won't submit to the authority of God.
When I look around at our world today, there is much horror and devastation. There are plagues happening, disasters striking, and war happening. People are witness to terrible events. Yet none of that is enough to make them turn to God. They keep being given opportunities for change, but they refuse to seek it.
What will become of them? We will read more in the days to come, and I promise you, it is not a pretty story. Following God isn't always "pretty". It is often difficult, painful, and isolating. But it is not for our time on this earth that we follow him. It is for our time of eternity. We have a choice to make, and that choice determines whether we spend our eternal days praising the king on the throne or agonizing with the king of the pit. To me, the choice is easy.