God Speaks
Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw one who had fallen to earth from heaven, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from some huge furnace, and the sun and air were darkened by the smoke.
3 Then locusts came from the smoke and descended onto the earth and were given power to sting like scorpions. 4 They were told not to hurt the grass or plants or trees, but to attack those people who did not have the mark of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not to kill them, but to torture them for five months with agony like the pain of scorpion stings. 6 In those days men will try to kill themselves but won’t be able to—death will not come. They will long to die—but death will flee away!
7 The locusts looked like horses armored for battle. They had what looked like golden crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like men’s. 8 Their hair was long like women’s, and their teeth were those of lions. 9 They wore breastplates that seemed to be of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had stinging tails like scorpions, and their power to hurt, given to them for five months, was in their tails. 11 Their king is the Prince of the bottomless pit whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (and in English, the Destroyer).
12 One terror now ends, but there are two more coming!
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the golden altar that stands before the throne of God, 14 saying to the sixth angel, “Release the four mighty demons held bound at the great River Euphrates.” 15 They had been kept in readiness for that year and month and day and hour, and now they were turned loose to kill a third of all mankind. 16 They led an army of 200,000,000 warriors—I heard an announcement of how many there were.
17-18 I saw their horses spread out before me in my vision; their riders wore fiery-red breastplates, though some were sky-blue and others yellow. The horses’ heads looked much like lions’, and smoke and fire and flaming sulphur billowed from their mouths, killing one-third of all mankind. 19 Their power of death was not only in their mouths, but in their tails as well, for their tails were similar to serpents’ heads that struck and bit with fatal wounds.
20 But the men left alive after these plagues still refused to worship God! They would not renounce their demon-worship, nor their idols made of gold and silver, brass, stone, and wood—which neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 Neither did they change their mind and attitude about all their murders and witchcraft, their immorality and theft.
Source: The Living Bible: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: [The author of this blog thinks of Revelation chapters 8 and 9 as a unit. Some of the same comments may appear in both PrayThrutheBible.com entries. This author must also note that The Wiersbe Bible Commentary also had a major influence on the reflections on the book of Revelation.]
After the sounding of the fifth trumpet, a leader was given the keys to the Abyss. He released an army of demonic creatures. They acted like devouring locusts with scorpion tails but resembled horses ready for battle. For five months these demons were allowed to torment those who do not belong to the Lord. This torment was in the form of stings so excruciating that people longed to die but weren’t allowed to do so. Their leader was called Abaddon, Apollyon, or the Destroyer depending on the language group. Then, the sixth trumpet sounded, and four mighty demons were released from their chains to lead an army (from the east of Israel) 200 million strong. The assigned task of this army was to kill one third of the earth’s population. These warriors rode horses with cruel biting mouths that belched out burning sulfur and had snake-like tails. They were able to kill from the front or the back. Despite all this torment and death, people still refused to repent and turn from their wicked ways of demon-worship, idolatry (making gold, silver, brass, stone or wood, or objects made from them, their gods), murder, drug-abuse, witchcraft, immorality, and theft.
Prayer: Dear Father God, You deal with the human beings You created with both loving discipline and judgment. Over the years You have dealt with me in a remedial manner meant to get me to repent and correct my behavior and/or attitude. I see in this chapter that there will come a time when You will deal out retribution and punishment to those who have harmed Your people. They will eventually pay for their continual rebellion against You and the laws You have established. Please keep me repentant and loving toward You and other people. Please soften hearts and draw those who have been rebellious back to You. I don’t want anyone to have to go through the torment mentioned here. Thank You for Jesus dying for our sins so that no one has to do so. Please demonstrate the vastness of Your love by turning many people to faith in Christ. Use me as You wish. For Your glory, Lord. AMEN
Action: (Ask the Holy Spirit, which one of these He wants you to work on or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will check my own heart before God and make sure that because my faith is in Christ alone, I won’t have to face these kinds of torment.
- I will read and discuss this chapter with at least one friend, family member, neighbor, co-worker, or stranger.
- I will be more earnest in praying for friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers, or even strangers who will suffer these torments unless they turn in faith to Christ.
- I will ask the Holy Spirit to help me turn to God from idols or any of the sinful activities mentioned at the end of this chapter.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.