The New Testament with Commentary Revelation 9

1 So the fifth angel trumpeted, and I saw a ‘star’* that had fallen out of the sky to the earth. And to him was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.† 2 So he opened the shaft of the Abyss and smoke went up out of the shaft, like the smoke of a burning furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the shaft. 3 And ‘locusts’ exited from the smoke into the earth. And to them was given a capability just like the scorpions of the earth have capability. 4 And they were told not to harm the grass of the earth, nor any green plant, nor any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And it was designated to them [locusts], not to kill them [men] but, to torment them five months. And their torment is like the torment of a scorpion whenever it strikes a person. 6 And in those days the people will seek death but not find it; they will want to die but death will run away from them.‡

7 Now the appearance of the ‘locusts’§ was like horses prepared for battle, and something like a golden crown was on their heads, and their faces were like human faces. 8 They had hair like a woman's and their teeth were like a lion's. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 And, they have tails like scorpions and stingers precisely in those tails! They have the capability to hurt the populace five months, 11 having as king over them the angel of the Abyss—his name in Hebrew is Abbaddon, while in Greek he has the name Apollyon.*

12 The first woe is past, but, two woes are still coming, after these things.

The sixth trumpet

13 So the sixth angel trumpeted, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar† that is before God 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels were released—they had been prepared for the hour and the day and month and year—so that they might kill a third of mankind. 16 And the number of the mounted troops was a hundred million‡ (I heard their number). 17 And in the vision I saw the horses like this: those who rode them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow; the heads of the horses were like lions' heads; out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths.§ 19 For the capability of the horses is in their mouths—and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads, and with them they do harm.

20 Yet the rest of the people, those who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as to stop worshiping the demons, even the idols* of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.†

*9:1 Presumably an angel, and of considerable rank.

†9:1 The Greek word appears to be composed of two morphemes, “no-depth”. Since it is a shaft or pit we presumably should understand no known or measured depth, hence ‘bottomless’. Literally, “the shaft of the no-bottom”; the familiar ‘bottomless pit’ is not a bad rendering. Since the word “abyss” occurs elsewhere without the “shaft/pit” (see verse 11, also Luke 8:31) I prefer to take it as a proper name.

‡9:6 It will not be a good time to be on the earth!

§9:7 Evidently these are not the literal insect, but the insect came in clouds (millions of them) and was a terrible plague. Since they are lead by a high-ranking demon (as I suppose), they are probably demons. I associate Luke 8:31 with this passage—although the Lord evidently did not send those demons to the Abyss, that they kept begging Him not to shows that it was a very real possibility in their ‘minds’; they knew something that we do not. I take it that the Lord did not send them to the Abyss at that point because He had not won the victory yet—Satan was still the god of this world and the demons were doing their thing under Satan's authority. But now we are to act on the basis of that victory, on the basis of our position and authority in Christ (Ephesians 2:6). So how did all those demons get into the Abyss to be available for the fifth trumpet? They got there because we sent them there! I would say that sending demons to the Abyss is one of the ‘greater’ things that the Lord Jesus said we would do (John 14:12).

*9:11 And in English, Destroyer. “Angel” covers both good and bad—this one sounds like a boss demon.

†9:13 I find it to be curious that this voice comes from the altar [and why did the altars have horns?], which is usually associated with obtaining God's mercy. But in this case the altar participates in the judgment.

‡9:16 Some ¾ of the Greek manuscripts, including the best group, do not have ‘two’. John was given the number.

§9:18 Dear me! And I thought the ‘locusts’ were bad! Notice that it is the “horses” that do the killing, not the riders. I understand that China has over one hundred million armed militia, right now, but presumably not these ‘horses’. Just as in the case of the ‘locusts’, I take it that we are looking at supernatural activity here. The population of the world is reduced by one third.

*9:20 Notice that the idols are linked to demons. Even though an image of wood presumably has no power in itself, a demon associated with it can do all sorts of damage.

†9:21 They were totally self-centered, and therefore totally evil, malignant, under demonic control; carbon copies of the devil. They are prepared to kill, steal and use witchcraft to gain their ends, with a total disregard for others. They want sexual gratification without responsibility. No matter what God does they will not repent; they are beyond fixing. I am glad I will not be there. Oops, wait a minute! Don't an awful lot of people in the world today (especially in Europe and North America) already answer to this description? They have been brought up on evolutionistic, relativistic humanism; they have been taught that they are gods, to ‘do your own thing’. Hey, if we are not already there I reckon we are well on the way! A recent study found that most young people in America today are narcissists.