Revelation 9
9
The Fifth Trumpet
1Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that fell from heaven to earth, and he was handed the key to the shaft leading down to the pit of the deep. # 9:1 Or “the well of the abyss.” This is the same Greek word found throughout the Septuagint for “the deep.” (See Gen. 1:2; 8:2; Deut. 8:7; 33:13; Pss. 104:2–6; 107:23–26.) Jesus is the one who holds the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:18), for he unlocked both and walked out triumphantly in resurrection power. Many things are opened in Revelation (heaven, doors, books) with the purpose of releasing a new understanding or revelation. There is a deep place in the human heart, like a pit, that Jesus opens so that we can see what has been there inside us. 2He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and a blanket of smoke began to rise out of it, like the smoke of a giant furnace. The sun and the atmosphere were darkened with the smoke rising from the shaft.
3And out of the smoke appeared locusts # 9:3 Locusts emerged from the smoke. The smoke of the abyss is a picture of deception. The lies of the enemy are a “smoke screen.” The locusts are a picture of the words, actions, and lies of the religious system that dominates and intimidates others (Nah. 3:17). It causes others to feel inferior, like “grasshoppers” (or “locusts”). See Num. 13:33; Joel 2:1–10; Matt. 3:4. swarming onto the earth, and they were given authority like that of scorpions to inflict pain. 4They were told not to harm the grass, or any green growth or any tree, but only to afflict those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. # 9:4 The forehead is a metaphor for our thoughts, our minds. We must have the seal of sonship on our thoughts, the seal of God as our Father, or we will be tormented in our minds over our true identity in Christ. 5The locusts were given authority to torment them for five months, but not to kill them. Their painful torment # 9:5 The Greek word used for “torment” (basanizo) is derived from the word touchstone, or “to examine and test” (the purity of gold and silver). Our thoughts must be examined and made pure in the truth of our sonship and identity before God, which gives us power over the “locusts” that sting like scorpions (demonic power). is like the scorpion’s sting, 6and during that time people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die but death will elude them. # 9:6 As believers, we don’t seek to die, for we have already been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). This is difficult to interpret literally. How strange it would be if those with mangled bodies still lived after trying to kill themselves. This is a picture of believers who try to put themselves to death, not recognizing that God has done so already through our co-crucifixion with Christ. Many today still suffer the sting of a scorpion (erroneous concepts of God and tormenting thoughts of self-hatred) until they see the glory of Christ’s empty tomb and the resurrection life that is available to us.
7The locusts had the appearance of horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what seemed like golden crowns. And their faces were like human faces. # 9:7 These are not literal horses wearing literal crowns. The words like, as, and appearing as are found nine times in the Greek text in vv. 7–8. They come appearing as battle horses to intimidate with counterfeit crowns, looking like they are on a mission from God, but they are not genuine. They have what appears to be human faces, pointing to the fact that they are false teachers and false apostles with their fake crowns of gold. With hair like that of women and teeth like those of a lion, they will seduce and tear apart those who come into their religious bondage. 8Their hair was long, like women’s hair, and their teeth like lion’s teeth. 9They wore breastplates that seemed like iron, and their wings made a sound like the noise of horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails # 9:10 See Isa. 9:14–15. The tail is a symbol of false teaching, the lies of the enemy. and stingers like scorpions, with power to injure people for five months. # 9:10 The life span of a locust in the region of Israel is about five months. And there are five months from the last day of Passover to the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Noah’s ark floated upon the floodwaters for five months. 11The angel of the bottomless pit was king over them, and his name in Hebrew is Destruction # 9:11 Or “Abaddon,” which means “destruction.” and in Greek Destroyer. # 9:11 Or “Apollyon,” which means “destroyer.” The Aramaic has “in Hebrew, ‘Servant,’ and in Aramaic, ‘Prince.’ ” The devil holds no keys, for Christ has destroyed the works of the devil and holds the keys of every realm, including death and hell. Christ is the “angel” referred to in this passage. Notice the work of Christ to “destroy” in the following Scriptures: 1 Cor. 1:18–19; 15:25–26; 2 Thess. 2:3–8; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 11:18; 20:1–3. 12This is but the first woe; there are still two more to come.
The Sixth Trumpet
13Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14responding to the sixth angel, who blew his trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are confined at the great river Euphrates.” # 9:14 “The great river Euphrates” is referred to over and over in Scripture as the boundary of Israel’s inheritance (Gen. 15:18; Josh. 1:4; 1 Kings 4:21). It becomes a symbol for us of the boundary of our spiritual inheritance, that which separates our “promised land” and religious “Babylon.” Many believers are “bound” at the boundary and living in less than what they are called to, but they will be loosed in the last days to enter their full inheritance (Eph. 1:10–11).
15So the four angels were released, who had been prepared for the right hour, day, month, and year, to kill a third of humanity.
16I heard the number of soldiers on horseback—it was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. # 9:16 Or “two myriads of myriads,” a symbolic number, an incalculable number of enormous proportions. The Aramaic and some Greek manuscripts have “twice ten thousand” or “twenty thousand.” It is clear by reading vv. 14–16 that the four messengers become the myriad of horsemen. They are the overcoming ones who are ready to wage war for the Lamb. The locust army and the army of horsemen are two armies facing each other and both are prepared for battle. See Joel 1:4; 2:1–3, 11. 17And in my vision I saw the horses with riders wearing breastplates of fire and of sapphire # 9:17 Or “hyacinth.” and of sulfur. # 9:17 The Greek word for “sulfur,” theiōdēs, comes from the word theios, which means “divine in character” or “godlike.” The verb form of this word is theioo and means “to hallow,” “to make divine,” or “to dedicate to a god.” The horses had lions’ heads breathing out fire and smoke and sulfur. 18They killed a third of humanity by these three plagues—the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. # 9:18 That is, their burning words carried great power and authority. 19For the lethal power of the horses was in their mouths and their tails, and their tails had snakes’ heads that inflict injuries.
20Those not killed by these plagues did not repent of their deeds so that they would stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—blind and mute idols that have to be carried around. # 9:20 Or “cannot walk about.” 21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries # 9:21 The Greek word for “sorceries” is pharmakeia and implies drug usage. or their thefts or their immorality.
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Revelation 9: TPT
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