Read with Me
Revelation 9:1-12 (NET)
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. 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. Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 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. 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. 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.
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. They had women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the abyss; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon.
The first woe has passed, but two woes are coming after these things.
Listen with Me
The blowing of the first four trumpets had started to unfold God’s wrath against those who were persecuting His people. But it is important to realize that God’s wrath did not only affect those who are the leaders and were directly responsible for the persecution, in John’s day, the Roman Emperor and Senate. As the leadership is impacted and punished, the punishment directly affected the common people who looked to them for direction and protection.
Now the fifth angel blew his trumpet, unleashing a foreign invasion. Even though these invaders are described in spiritual, demonic, even horror-movie-like terms, it is most likely that John’s readers understood this in more concrete terms.
The Roman Empire was large and sprawling, and was kept under control, especially in the frontier areas where the barbarians lived, with widespread troops. In order to inspire fear and thus compliance, any hint of rebellion was dealt with quickly and brutally. Only Roman citizens could take advantage of the fair system of Roman justice. Those who were not citizens were given much harsher treatment and much harsher and very public punishment, beatings, and even crucifixions, all in an effort to tamp down rebellion before it could start.
The great fear of the leadership was rebellion in the frontiers, or an invasion in those outlying areas that could ultimately take territory away, and even reach the capital itself. The troops of the Roman army were too spread out over the wide area to resist a swift and focused invasion. The leaders had wide, paved roads built throughout the Empire in an effort to make troop movements easier. But they still lived in fear.
What the trumpet of the fifth angel revealed was the realization of these worst fears. It unleashed a large hoard of invaders so powerful and cruel that it was as if they had been spewed from the very pits of the Abyss itself. They would pour into the land so thickly that it would be like one of the invasions of locusts that periodically blotted out the sky as they descended on the crop, devouring every green thing, leaving no food for the people.
These invaders would not be focused on simple warfare, but on conquest and occupation, expansion of their own territory. That meant that they would not engage in destruction of the land, burning the crops as they came. Instead, they would preserve the crops for their own use, but would enslave and persecute the people – not killing them, although many preferred death to the harshness of their slavery to these invaders.
John gives a detailed description of these invaders that has been variously interpreted over the centuries. But what he saw was a vast army, well-armed and well-armored, riding horses. It was an army so vast that when they charged, the noise of the horses and chariots was deafening. The riders had long hair, unlike the close-cropped hair of the Roman legions and leaders, and they were fierce faced, hard and unyielding. Their leader was so hardened, so uncompromising, so set on conquest, that John heard his name spoken as Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek): the destroyer.
Pray with Me
Father, this vision would have stricken terror in the hearts of John’s readers, just as its fulfillment would have stricken terror in the hearts of the Roman leaders. But great assurance is given in verse 4, where You promised to protect those who are sealed by You, Your New Covenant people who were living faithful to Your word. Though times would be hard, You would keep your promise to never leave or forsake Your people, no matter what. Father, it is terrible a terrible thing to see Your judgment coming, especially a judgment so fierce that it can take down the mightiest empire in the world. But as You showed Daniel (Daniel 2:33-35, 7:11-14), the fourth kingdom, Rome, would fall, and Your kingdom would be left standing, and would then grow to fill the whole earth. Despite the hardness of the times, despite the fear of defeat, Your victory was foretold for long ages past, and it was assured. Thank you, Lord, that You are not merely the Lord of the past, that you are Lord of the present and the future as well. So, even when it feels like the whole world is falling apart, we can rest secure in the knowledge that You are and ever will be in complete control, and we are secured in You (Psalm 46). Amen