Locusts from the Bottomless Pit
October 22, 2021
Commentary
As we read this, we must remember that the Christians have been raptured out of the world before this time. These are the things that will happen during the great tribulation period. The last three trumpet judgments are generally associated with the last three and one-half years of the seventieth week of Daniel. These will be the blackest, darkest days in human history.
5. The fifth trumpet and first woe judgment is directed from Satan against the ungodly in Israel. A star is said to fall from heaven (v. 1). Based on Isaiah 14:12, some Bible scholars say this fallen star or angel seems to be Satan himself. The bottomless pit appears to be the place where evil spirits and demons are kept (v. 2). These locust-like demons, from this deep pit will be sent to inflict unbearable punishment upon the ungodly (vv. 3-6). These locusts are not the kind that were able to eat up all the green vegetation but had the power to torment people for five months. Their demonic control over people was such that even when the victims tried to commit suicide, they could not do so. Eight descriptions are given:
1. They are like horses prepared for battle (v. 7).
2. They are eager to destroy (v. 7).
3. They will have heads crowned with gold (v. 7).
4. They will appear to have faces like men (intelligent beings?) (v. 7).
5. They will have hair like the hair of women which emphasis deceitfulness (v. 8).
6. They will have breastplates made of iron which is indestructible (v.9).
7. They will have wings that sound like many chariots (v. 9).
8. They will have stinging tails like scorpions to torture (v. 10).
Application
I am no match for Satan so should never try to take him on in my own strength or I will lose.
Revelation 9:1– 12 (NET)
1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 2 He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. 5 The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. 6 In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces. 8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. 10 They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things!