Daniel’s 70th Week Realized

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We’ve traveled some dark days in the Tribulation, but the worst is now upon us.

The eagle’s announcement, “Woe, woe, woe—a great wrath is coming to those who live on the earth,” signal three angels to blow three trumpets. This covers the last three and one-half years of what the prophet Daniel called “the Seventieth Week,” the Great Tribulation.

Fifth Trumpet—Fallen star and plague of locusts (vv. 1-12)

The fifth angel sounds a trumpet and a curious star falls from heaven. This falling star is Satan (see Isaiah 14:12; Luke 10:18; 2 Corinthians 11:14; Revelation 12:7-9). When he is thrown out of heaven, Satan goes to earth with the key to the abyss (a literal place).

God allows Satan a freedom he never has had before, the authority and power to open this long shaft of the abyss. Then out of the shaft, like a great erupting volcano, pours vicious smoke that covers the earth, darkens the sun, and fills the atmosphere.

Out from the smoke come surreal locusts. But unlike locusts, they don’t eat grass but attack people with scorpion-like stingers. They aren’t allowed to kill anyone, just torture them with unspeakable agony for five months. Things get so awful that people want to kill themselves, but they can’t die. They long for death rather than repenting.

These locusts have other unusual characteristics—human faces, antennae like the glory of a girl’s hair, their bodies look like war horses with iron breastplates, and on their heads are golden crowns. Just the sound of their activity is terrifying, like the sound of a battle.

These locusts have a leader called “the angel of the abyss” (v. 11). Likely one of Satan’s chief henchmen, this king’s name is Apollyon—literally, “the destroyer.” Apollyon leads the locusts in a terrifying invasion of earth that lasts five months. The next two trumpets warn that worse things will follow.

Sixth Trumpet—Evil angels loosed at the river Euphrates (vv. 13-21)

When the sixth angel blew the trumpet, a command came from Jesus Christ Himself at the horns of the golden altar in heaven to loosen the four angels bound at the river Euphrates. They must be fallen evil angels since no good angels are bound.

Why were they bound here at the Euphrates River? This region has a strange prominence. The Garden of Eden was here somewhere. Man first sinned here. The first murder was committed here. The first war was fought here. Here was where the Flood began and spread over the earth. The Tower of Babel was erected here. The Israelites were brought into the Babylonian captivity here. Zechariah 5 identifies Babylon as the last stand of false religion and where Satan’s last stand will take place.

These evil angels were ready for a specific assignment at a specific hour in history—to kill one-third of mankind who are in rebellion against God. In these seven years of tribulation, over 50% of the population of the earth will be killed. No wonder the Lord Jesus said that if those days of tribulation had not been cut short, no human life would be saved.

The four angels lead a world war—the first, literal war to include every nation on earth—with a stunning army of 200 million. This is the wholesale invasion of the earth by the demonic world.

These creatures from the underworld are frightening and bizarre. The horsemen are striking in their brilliant, toxic colors—fiery red, bright blue, and light yellow. Their war horses have lion heads and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. These unnatural horses bite and kill with their mouths, and instead of horses’ hair for tails, they have serpents.

Hellish forces are at work. Yet ironically, the people left alive refuse to stop worshipping demons who are responsible for their misery under this sixth trumpet judgment. These unresponsive, unrepentant, hard-hearted people will continue in their moral sins. Many will turn to drugs when they are stung or bitten by these weird creatures. Although people won’t die from their injuries, they’ll want to, and as a result, they will take drugs to overcome the pain and help them endure. Of course, these drugs also make them susceptible to sin.

The moment you reject the gospel and shut your heart to God, you are wide open for the big lie when it comes. This is the reason so many today fall for everything that comes along. If you’re not standing for the Word of God, you’re easy prey for any false teaching, cult, or error that puts you in their bullseye.

Next: What did the angel tell John to eat?

1. How can a God who is loving also be wrathful like we see in Revelation 9?

2. Frequently in Revelation, God uses absolute evil to accomplish His purposes. Does that make sense to you, and what does it teach us about Him?

3. Does it surprise you to see people refusing to turn to God, even when the very things they pursue destroy them instead?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teaching on Revelation 9:1-6 and Revelation 9:7-20.