THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 12
Sanctions of the Covenant Treaty Lawsuit
Chapter 9
The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets
Yahweh: Divine Judge and Eternal Father,
There are times when we need
to be reminded that You are not a permissive parent but a loving Father who
expects righteous and loving children and will not hesitate to discipline us
when we need it. You know the good we are capable of and the role we are
expected to play in Your divine plan for the salvation of the members of our
human family. We should be thankful for Your discipline, the purpose of which
is to call us to humble repentance and the renewal of our fellowship with You.
Help us, Lord, to learn from the examples of Your divine judgments in salvation
history and to be responsive to Your corrective hand on our lives, the intent
of which is to place us back on the narrow road to salvation. We pray in the
name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+ + +
Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle, disaster
is swooping on Yahweh's home! Because they have violated my covenant and been
unfaithful to my Law, in vain will they cry, "My God!"
Hosea 8:1
(Yahweh speaking to the prophet Ezekiel): "Son of man,
take a sharp sword, use it like a barber's razor and run it over your head and
beard. Then take scales and divide the hair you have cut off. Burn one-third
inside the city, while the days of the siege are working themselves out. Then
take another third and chop it up with the sword all round the city. The last
third you are to scatter to the wind, while I unsheathe the sword behind them.
Also take a few hairs and tie them up in the folds of your cloak, and of these
again take a few and throw them on the fire and burn them. From the fire will
come on the whole house of Israel [...]. A third of your citizens will die of
plague or starve to death inside you; a third will fall by the sword round you;
and a third I shall scatter to the winds, unsheathing the sword behind them."
Ezekiel 5:1-4, 12
Now Gessius Flores, who was sent as successor to
Albinus by Nero, filled Judea with abundance of miseries ... And what need I say
any more upon this since it was Flores who necessitated us to take up arms against
the Romans, while we thought it better to be destroyed at once, than by little
and little. Now this war began in the second year of the government of Flores,
and the twelfth year of the reign of Nero.
Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 20.11.1 [252, 257]
In the opening of the Seven Seals (beginning in Chapter 6 and completed in Chapter 8), we saw the prophecy of God's wrath being poured out on Jerusalem and Israel/Judea. The first four horsemen sent out in the opening of the first four seals recalled the seven-fold covenant curse-judgments pronounced four times in Leviticus 26:18-34 that God promised to call down upon the people if they broke His sacred covenant. The covenant curse-judgments become intensified in the opening of the Seventh Seal, which results in the blowing of seven trumpets by seven angels. But instead of destruction coming in fours (as they did in the seals), we have the imagery of covenant judgments coming in thirds, which recalls God's message to Ezekiel before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 587/6 BC (see the quote from Ezekiel Chapter 5 above).
At the end of Chapter 8, John heard an eagle calling out, "Disaster, disaster, disaster [Ouai, ouai, ouai] on all the people on earth [the land]." The Hebrew word owy and the Greek word ouai is often translated "woe" in the Old and New Testaments (i.e., see Is 3:9, 11; Jer 4:13 and Mt 11:21; 18:7). The phrase, "all the people on earth (the land)" appears ten times in the Book of Revelation and always negatively. It is a phrase that refers to people who:
The eagle in 8:13 is the angel of Revelation 4:7; the Living Creature that John saw standing by the Throne of God who looked like a flying eagle. His cry in 8:13 heralds a three-fold disaster on all the people on earth [the land] at the sound of the other three trumpets which the three angles have yet to blow! The cry of the eagle angel is a repetition of Hosea's prophetic statements concerning the destruction of the covenant breakers of the tribes of Northern Israel in 722 BC and the scattering of the ten Northern tribes in the first great Diaspora: Put the trumpet to your lips! Like an eagle, disaster is swooping on Yahweh's home! Because they have violated my covenant and been unfaithful to my Law, in vain will they cry, "My God!" (Hos 8:1), and continuing in verse 8, Israel has himself been swallowed; now they are lost among the nations like something no one wants. This historical event, the scattering of the ten northern Israelite tribes into the Gentile world, was repeated at the end of the Jewish Revolt against Rome in AD 70 when the surviving Jews were rounded up and sold into slavery across the Roman empire that stretched from England to Egypt and from the Iberian Peninsula to the border with Parthia. Revelation Chapters 8-11 are visions fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.
A review of the Old Testament references and symbolic imagery in the first four Trumpet Judgments:
Question: What does God's judgment the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
Egypt, Canaanite Jericho, the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Babylon all have
in common with God's 1st century AD judgment on Judea (Israel) and
Jerusalem?
Answer: Their people all stood in opposition to God's plan for
His Covenant people and their role in salvation history.
Roman Judea rejected God's divine plan for humanity when they rejected the Messiah in AD 30. Sending of the Seven Letters prepared the way for judgment, and now God's wrath would be poured out on Judea and Jerusalem in the opening of the Seven Seals, in the Blowing of the Seven Trumpets, and finally in the pouring out of the Seven Chalices. Judea and Jerusalem would suffer the same fate as those idol worshipers and covenant breakers of the past: The Day of Yahweh was coming!
Revelation 9:1-12 ~ The Fifth Trumpet and the Army of Locusts
1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a
star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the
key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. 2 When he
unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke from
a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from the
Abyss, 3 and out of the smoke dropped locusts onto the earth:
they were given the powers that scorpions have on the earth: 4 they
were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or trees, and told to attack only
those people who were without God seal on their foreheads. 5 They
were not to kill them, but to give them anguish for five months, and the
anguish was to be the anguish of a scorpion's sting. 6 When
this happens, people will long for death and not find it anywhere; they will
want to die, and death will evade them. 7 These locusts looked like
horses armored for battle; they had what looked like gold crowns on their
heads, and their faces looked human, 8
and their hair was like women's
hair and teeth like lion's teeth. 9
They had body-armor like iron
breast-plates, and the noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots
with many horses charging. 10 Their tails were like scorpions' tails, with stings,
and with their tails, they were able to torture people for five months. 11 As
their leader, they had their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in
Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon. 12 That was
the first of the disasters; there are still two more to come.
Revelation Chapter 9 contains some of the most bizarre visions in Sacred Scripture. There are two points to remember in attempting to interpret this Chapter:
1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a
star that had fallen from heaven onto the earth, and the angel was given the
key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. 2 When he
unlocked the shaft of the Abyss, smoke rose out of the Abyss like the smoke
from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by the smoke from
the Abyss.
The "star that had fallen
from heaven" is in the past perfect tense. John did not see a star falling
from heaven to earth, but a star had already fallen. It is probably a reference
to the fall of Satan from his place as an angel in Paradise in Isaiah 14:12-15:
How did you come to fall from the heavens, Daystar, son of Dawn? How did you
come to be thrown to the ground, conqueror of nations? You who used to think
to yourself: "I shall scale the heavens; higher than the stars of God I shall
set my throne. I shall sit on the Mount of Assembly far away to the north. I
shall climb high above the clouds, I shall rival the Most High." Now you have
been flung down to Sheol, into the depths of the Abyss! And in Revelation 12:9,
John sees and is told about: The great dragon, the primeval serpent known as
the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the
earth and his angels were hurled down with him.
Jewish tradition and the Church Fathers identified the fall of the "Dawnstar" (Lucifer in the Latin Vulgate) with the fall of the prince of demons, Satan. They also taught that Jesus' five wounds on the Cross were answers to the five "I shall" or "I will" of Satan in Isaiah 14:13-15. Jesus also spoke of Satan's fall from heaven in Luke 10:18 when He said: "I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Revelation 9:11 will also identify this fallen star as Satan: As their leader, they had their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon. So we don't miss the identity of the personage from the Abyss, John gives us both his Hebrew and Greek names. "Abaddon" in Hebrew means "destruction" and "Apollyon" in Greek means, "destroyer" (Rev 9:11).
In the Isaiah 14:13-15 passage, Satan will be confined in the depths of the Abyss, the same Abyss mentioned in Revelation 9:2. The Abyss (in Greek abussou or abussos = unfathomably deep), according to Hebrew tradition, is the shaft that leads to the bottomless pit where Satan and his fallen angels are imprisoned until their final punishment. It is not "hell" in the same sense as the Hebrew Sheol or the Greek Hades (that mean the grave or abode of the dead), but it is the "bottomless pit" and "lake of fire," created as the abode of Satan and his demons that will become the "Hell" of the damned who reject Jesus' gift of eternal salvation. The Old Testament word in Hebrew for Abyss is Tehom, and in the New Testament, Jesus uses the word Gehenna for the Hell of the damned seven times in Matthew, three times in Mark, and once in Luke, and St. James will use the same term for Hell. It is the pit of unquenchable eternal fire into which Satan, his demons (Mt 25:41) and the wicked are cast ( Mt 3:10, 12; 5:22, 29; 7:19; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; 18:3; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 3:9, 17; 12:5; Rev 19:20; 20:9-15; 21:8).
According to tradition, the entrance to the Tehom or Abyss is a hole in the great rock that was under the Temple in Jerusalem and is now under the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock. Tradition (both Hebrew and Muslim) says that as long as the Temple (or the Dome of the Rock according to the Muslims) is on top of the Abyss, Satan, and his demons remained imprisoned. The hole in the rock is just large enough for an adult to squeeze into, and it leads down into the passages under the Dome of the Rock. The Muslim shrine stands where the Holy of Holies of the Temple probably once stood before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the summer of AD 70.
Question: In the Old Testament, there are more than twenty
references to the Tehom, usually translated as "the Deep." Do you know what
Biblical passage has the first reference to the Tehom/Abyss? Hint: it is in
Genesis chapter 1.
Answer: Genesis 1:1-2, there was darkness over the deep [Tehom],
with a divine wind sweeping over the waters.
Old Testament passages using the word Tehom are: Genesis 1:2; 7:11; 8:2; 49:25; Deuteronomy 33:13; Job 38:30; 41:32; Psalms 36:6; 42:7 [2 times]; 104:6; 135:6; Proverbs 8:28; Isaiah 51:10; 63:13; Ezekiel 26:19; 31:4, 15; Amos 7:4; Habakkuk 3:10. In the New Testament and in the Septuagint Greek Old Testament, passages refer to the Tehom with the Greek word Abussos for the Abyss. In the New Testament, this word appears in: Romans 10:7; Luke 8:31; in Revelation 7 times: 9:1-2, 1; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1-3. Whereas the word Hades, meaning "the abode of the dead" or Sheol in Hebrew appears in Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14.
Scripture tells us the Abyss is the furthest extreme from heaven. As mentioned, the Hebrew Old Testament and the Septuagint Greek translation of the Old Testament first uses the term in Genesis 1:2, there was darkness over the Abussos, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. In the description of the original "deep" = Tehom/Abyss and its darkness, the Spirit (ruah in Hebrew also translated "wind") overshadowed and metaphorically overcame the darkness: Through him, all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men, and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it (Jn 1:2-5). What defines this realm is its remoteness from Heaven (Gen 49:25 and Dt 33:13), and from the high mountains (Ps 36:6, the "mountain" is symbolic language for the holy mountain(s) of God like Sinai, Moriah, Eden, the heavenly Jerusalem, etc.). The Abyss is the only place in creation where God's divine Presence is absent. See a comprehensive list in the chart Holy Mountains of God.
In Scripture, the Abyss also refers to the deepest parts of the sea (Job 28:14; 38:16; Ps 33:7), and to subterranean rivers and vaults of the deep (Dt 8:7 and Job 38:16) from which the waters of the flood came (see Gen 7:11; 8:2; Prov 3:20; 8:24). Psalms 77:16; 106:9; Isaiah 44:27; 51:10 and 63:13 compare the ordeal of the Israelites' escape through the waters of the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) to a passage through the Abyss. Ezekiel threatened the city of Tyre with the Abyss in Ezekiel 26:19-21, and Jonah used the imagery of the Abyss in terms of the separation from God's Presence in being excommunicated from worship at the Temple (Jon 2:2-6). The Abyss is the realm of the great dragon, the serpent who is the devil or Satan (Job 41:31; Ps 148:7; Rev 11:7; 17:8), and it is the prison of the demons (Lk 8:31; Rev 20:1-3; 2 Pt 2:4; and Jude 6).
However, in Romans 10:7, Paul does speak of the Abyss in association with the dead in which he writes, starting in verse 6, But the saving justice of faith says this: Do not think in your heart, "Who will go up to heaven?," that is to bring Christ down; or "Who will go down to the depths, Abyss," that is to bring Christ back from the dead. If, however, we interpret this passage to mean that Paul is equating the Abyss with Sheol, it does not agree with all the other passages in Scripture concerning the Abyss being the abode of Satan and his demons and with Sheol as the abode of both the righteous and the purification of the wicked before the death of Christ. Perhaps Paul was instead telling us not to demand heroic works or signs from Christ in order to have faith and, therefore, he is making the extreme contrast between Heaven and the furthest place from Heaven that is the Abyss which is now, in the New Covenant age of eternal blessings and eternal punishments, the abode not only of Satan and his demons but also of the unrighteous who die in mortal sin.
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus says He witnessed Satan falling from the heavens from the force of His Gospel preached by the disciples (Lk 10:18). Satan had fallen to the earth like "a star from heaven" (see Rev 12:4, 9, 12 on Satan's fall to earth), and he received the key of the well of the Abyss that he opened. According to Jewish and Christian tradition, when men and women apostatize (separate themselves) from God, there is a release of Satan's demons from the Abyss. When there is restoration through repentance and communion with God, the evil spirits cannot hold on to their place on earth and are sent back into the Abyss (Lk 8:26-33).
There is confusion over the English word "Hell." Most people assume it is the place of the damned, the abode of Satan. It is not. When in the Apostles' Creed says, He [Jesus] descended into Hell, it does not mean that Jesus went to the abode of Satan, but He descended into the grave which is known as Sheol in Hebrew, Hades in Greek and Hell in English (CCC 633). The abode of Satan is the fiery pit, also called in Hebrew ge-hinnom, and in English Gehenna from the Greek geenna.
In Revelation Chapter 9, St John is warning his readers that all hell is about to break loose; that is "hell" not in terms of Sheol/Hades (the grave) but the frightening and terrible "Hell" in terms of Gehenna, the fiery pit of the prince of demons!
There are very few references to the Hell of the damned in the Old Testament because no human beings were consigned to eternal punishment after physical death under the old covenants where all blessings and judgments were temporal; all the dead went to Sheol/Hades to await the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah. However, Jesus refers several times to the Hell of the damned as Gehenna in the Gospels (Mt 5:21, 29; 10:38; Mk 9:43, 45, 47; Lk 12:15) and by St. James in James 3:6. Nine New Testament verses refer to the Abyss. Once each in Luke and Romans and seven verses in Revelations that mention the Abyss nine times; in Scripture nine is the number of judgment:
Question: What is the most terrifying statement in the passage
concerning Satan and the Abyss in Revelation Chapter 9?
Answer: The fifth angel/messenger has unlocked the Abyss, which
will result in the release of Satan and his demons.
When the Abyss was unlocked, smoke rose up from the depths 3 and out of the smoke dropped locusts onto the earth: they were given the powers that scorpions have on the earth; 4 they were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or trees and told to attack only those people who were without God's seal on their foreheads. 5 They were told not to kill them but to give them anguish for five months, and the anguish was to be the anguish of a scorpion's sting. 6 When this happens, people will long for death and (will) not find it anywhere; they will want to die, and death will evade them (underlining added).
There are four verbs in the future tense in verse 6. A scorpion sting usually doesn't kill, but the poison causes severe suffering.
Question: What is the connection between the locusts from the
Abyss and incidents involving locusts in the Old Testament? See Ex 10:12-20
and Joel Chapters 1-2. In the passages from Joel, four names appear for the
insect in Hebrew, including arbeh, which in Hebrew means "destroyer."
Answer: The eighth Egyptian plague was a plague of locusts.
The prophet Joel also mentions a plague of locusts in Joel in Chapters 1-2. In
the passages from Joel, arbeh, which means "destroyer" in Hebrew, is the
meaning of the names for Satan in Revelation 9:11, Abaddon and Apollyon.
According to St. Jerome, the Jews interpreted the four armies of locusts as historic, successive invading Gentile armies. Joel 2:1 particularly recalls Revelation Chapters 8 and 9. After the prophecy of the invading armies of locusts in Chapter 1, Yahweh tells Joel to gives the warning: Blow the ram's-horn in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain: Let everybody in the country tremble, for the Day of Yahweh is coming, yes, it is near." And then in verses 4-5: They (the locusts) look like horses, like chargers they gallop on with a racket like that of chariots they spring over the mountain tops, with a crackling like a blazing fire devouring the stubble, a mighty army in battle array.
Question: Christians call Joel "the prophet of Pentecost." Why?
See Acts 2:17-20 and Joel 3:1-5. Joel's mission was to call the covenant
people to public repentance to prepare for the coming "Day of Yahweh," the day
of Divine Judgment.
Answer: Christians call Joel "the prophet of Pentecost," because
in his first homily after the Holy Spirit took possession of the New Covenant
Church at the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, Peter quoted
Joel 3:1-5
(see Acts 2:17-20) and announced that the event in the Upper Room in the coming of the
Holy Spirit upon the New Covenant Church heralded the final age of humanity which
was destined to end in the Final Judgment of the Lord.
Keeping in mind that Joel wrote: They look like horses, like chargers they gallop on with a racket like that of chariots ... a mighty army in battle array (Joel 2:4-5); now read Revelation 9:7-9, These locusts looked like horses armored for battle; they had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked human, and their hair was like women's hair, and teeth like lion's teeth. They had body-armor like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots with many horses charging. The Greek word for horses (hippos) may mean either "horse" or "cavalry" (mounted horsemen). Perhaps John sees Roman soldiers on horseback coming down on Judea like a swarm of locusts. They are human soldiers who are driven onward or influenced by the demons of Satan so that in John's vision their human form, and the form of their horses, appear distorted by this unearthly, evil, influence. One of the clues to this demonic influence is the "sound of their wings." It is the same description of the sound made by the wings of the angels in the Glory-Cloud (see Ez 1:24; 3:13; 2 Kng 7:5-7). The difference is that the sound John hears comes from the wings of fallen angels from the Abyss!
The description of this invading heathen army also bears many similarities to the invading Gentiles mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27, Leviticus 17:7, and 2 Chronicles 11:15, where the Hebrew word for demon is "hairy one" like John vision of these locust/soldiers with women's hair. Another possible suggestion for the mention of the long hair could be that:
The "gold crowns on their heads" may be the bronze helmets burnished with gold worn by elite Roman legionnaires
9 Their
tails were like scorpions; tails, with stings, and with their tails they were
able to torture people for five months. As their leader, they had their
emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek
Apollyon. That was the first of the disasters; there are still two more to
come.
The reference to five months
is interesting. It could refer to a limited amount of time. However, number five
in Scripture is often a reference to power or God's grace; therefore, it could refer
to a short period of grace that allows the righteous to escape before the great
destruction. Abaddon appears in the Old Testament for the realm of
destruction
(see Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12;
Ps 88:11;
Prov 15:11; 27:20). This
passage presents Satan as the very personification of death (see 1 Cor 10:10 and
Heb 2:14).
Question: Why does John give the meaning of the name of the
angel of the Abyss in both Hebrew and Greek?
Answer: Those Christians who will read his prophecy in his
lifetime are both Jewish and Greek culture Gentile Christians, and he wants
there to be no confusion concerning the identity of this fallen angel.
The purpose plague of "locusts," like the Egyptian plague that was meant to convince the Pharaoh to release the children of Israel and the judgment in the Book of Joel, was to urge the people of Judea to repent of their unfaithfulness to God (see Ex 10:3-4, 16-17; Joel 2:12-16 and Rev 9:20-21). Here the five months refer to a limited time of torment; however, the typical lifespan of locusts was five months. These voracious insects were known to attack the land of Judah from May to September/October. However, the locusts in Revelation Chapter 9 are not ordinary insects that eat plants since these demon locusts inflict torment like a scorpion sting. Jesus referred to demons as "serpents and scorpions" in Luke 10:19, and that is the same symbolism intended here since they come from the Abyss (9:11).
There is also a historical connection. In May of AD 66, Roman Governor Gessius Florus succeeded in inciting a revolt by allowing the massacre of Jews by Gentile citizens of Caesarea Maritima and later killing 3,600 Jews, including the crucifixion of 2000, some of whom were Jews of the equestrian order and Roman citizens who protested the massacre. Under Roman Law, it was a crime to crucify a Roman citizen (Josephus, The Jewish Wars, 2.14.9 [305-308]. For five months, Florus set his soldiers on the population, and Gentile controlled towns like Caesarea massacred much of its Jewish community. The Roman governor of Syria amassed Roman legions in northern Syria and crossed the Euphrates River to smash the revolt (see Rev 9:14 and Josephus The Jewish Wars, 2.18.9-2.19.7). In October, the Jews managed to form a defensive army; it was five months into the revolt when they finally put a stop to the persecution and were able to drive the Roman legions out of Judea.
It was an incredible feat and should have been the end of their troubles when, in fact, it was the beginning of their time of sorrows because Rome had to make an example of these rebellious people. The problem is the Jews were not able to maintain a cohesive force. The Jewish historian Josephus says it is as though demons controlled the Judeans because the Jews immediately broke into three different factions and began to fight and kill each other. Most of the other great invasions of Israel/Judah had come across the Euphrates River: The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and now the Romans (see verse 14).
Question: What were the "locusts" forbidden to harm? See verse 4.
Answer: they were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or
trees and told to attack only those people who were without God's seal
on their foreheads.
In this study we are using the New Jerusalem translation, but in the case of Revelation 9:4, the New American translation is more faithful to the Greek text and reads: The locusts were commanded to do no harm to the grass of the earth [land] or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads (bold added for emphasis). Grass in Scripture usually symbolizes humanity while trees refer to God's elect; see Isaiah 40:6-7, All humanity is grass and all its beauty like the wild flower's. The grass withers the flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows on them. (the grass is surely the people)." In Psalms 104:16, the psalmist writes: The trees of Yahweh drink their fill (referring to God's elect). The New Jerusalem scholars adjusted their translation because "grass" in this passage cannot apply to the human population in general because, as the verse continues, the "locusts" are commanded to attack only those people who were without God's seal on their foreheads. Then too, the Greek word used for grass (chortos) can also mean "hay." The command not to harm the crops or God's elect seemed to the NJB translators a more reasonable interpretation. However, the essence of the command is, "do not totally destroy yet." They were to refrain from harming God's righteous elect symbolized by the "trees." God's elect must have the chance to escape. In that sense, the five months could also have been a period of grace for the elect to flee from Judea, which is what the Christian communities did.
It was at this time, in AD 66, that the Christian communities fled eastward across the Jordan River away from the conflict. If that is the historical fulfillment of this passage, the "demon locusts" of Roman invaders have to be the army of General Gallus, which withdrew after being defeated by the Jewish forces.1 The five months gave Christians enough time to recognize that this was the period of destruction Jesus had prophesied, and even though they suffered persecution, they were able to escape with their lives.
Another connection to the number five is that Cestius Gallus withdrew his forces from the siege of Jerusalem after five days in the month of Tishri, the month that began with the Feast of Trumpets. The Jewish forces continued to attack the Romans as they retreated into Syria, but why did Gallus' retreat? His army was composed of battle-hardened Roman soldiers who had successfully fought the fierce Parthian armies for the past several years. Historians have no explanation as to what caused this experienced Roman general to flee the battlefield. Then too, this period from May to September/October was the season of locust infestation, and yet verse 4 states the crops are not to be damaged, so these locusts are not the insects that regularly plagued the growing season. The command to "harm no crops" also has a historical fulfillment. In the harvests leading up to the spring of AD 70, Judea experienced especially abundant harvests.
The mention of body armor in verses 7 and 9 are also historically accurate. The Roman soldiers wore a type of protective breastplate. The scorpions' tails may represent the Roman gladius (short sword) with which they intimidated and brutalized or killed. The noise of their wings sounded like the racket of chariots with many horses charging in verse 9 probably refers to actual chariots and horses. Even though a human, Roman general commanded the army, it was Satan who inspired the lust for inflicting suffering and war.
Question: The diabolical army of "locusts" represents the first
woe-disaster. How many more will follow? See verse 12.
Answer: Two more
Revelation 9:13-21 ~ The Sixth Trumpet
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single
voice issuing from the four horns of the golden altar in God's presence. 14 It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet and
said, "Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates." 15 These four angels
had been ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year, and ready
to destroy a third of the human race [men[. 16 I learned how many there were in their arm: twice
ten thousand times ten thousand mounted men. 17 In my vision, I saw the horses and the riders with
their breastplates of flame color, hyacinth-blue and sulfur-yellow, the horses
had lions' heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur were coming from their mouths. 18 It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke,
and the sulfur coming from their mouths that one-third of the human race was
killed. 19 All the horses' power was in their mouths and their
tails: their tails were like snakes and had heads which inflicted wounds. 20 But the rest of the human race, [men] who escaped death by
these plagues, refused either to abandon their own handiwork or to stop
worshipping devils, the idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood
that can neither see nor hear nor move. 21 Nor
did they give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing.
[...] = Interlinear Bible
Greek-English, vol. IV, pages 673-74.
13 The
sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice issuing from the four
horns of the golden altar in God's presence.
"Horn" in Scripture represents strength. Both the bronze Sacrificial
Altar and the golden Altar of Incense in the Temple had four projections at the
four corners, referred to as "horns" (i.e., Ex 29:12; Lev 4:7), which
represented God's power and mercy. Those fleeing civil justice could seek God's
mercy by taking hold of the horns of the bronze Altar of Sacrifice in the
courtyard of the priests (1 Kng 1:50-51; 2:28), and when swearing a solemn oath
in Yahweh's name, one could also take hold of an altar horn, expressing the
belief of placing oneself under God's judgment if one failed in the oath
obligation.
Like the Altar of Incense in the Jerusalem Temple, God's heavenly Altar of Incense also had four horns (Ex 30:1-2; the incense altar in the Temple was a copy of the incense altar in Heaven). It is important to note that the command to the sixth angel came from a voice from the four horns of the golden altar (of Incense), which is before God. The point is that God's actions in human history proceed from His heavenly altar, where He has received the prayers of the Saints.
John states that the voice just doesn't come from the altar, but from the four horns which makes a connection to the Old Covenant liturgy purification offering (Lev 4:13-21) that dealt with contamination caused by sin. The seriousness of the pollution depended on the gravity of the transgression and the status of the sinner. If an ordinary citizen transgressed the Law, his sin polluted the sanctuary only to a limited extent. In that case, the priest smeared the blood of the animal the sinner brought to atone for his wrongs on the horns of the Bronze Sacrificial Altar. If, however, a high priest, or a king, or the whole nation sinned, the blood had to be taken inside the Holy Place and sprinkled on the golden Incense Altar and on the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. The ritual was the only way to purify the altar so the priest could offer the incense with the assurance that God would hear their prayers.2 God's voice issuing from the "horns" is a message to the saints that Christ's blood has taken away their sins, and nothing stands in the way of the Church's access to Him.
Another critical point in this regard is that the prayers of polluted and defiled Judea/Israel are not heard in Heaven (Leviticus 18:24-30) because they have rejected the one atonement for sin: Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of sacrifice. The unclean land of Judea will, therefore, receive the terms of the covenant curses of Leviticus Chapter 26 and the four seven-fold judgments (like the four horns of the altar). John's seven churches would understand that they now have the confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19), and God will answer their prayers.
If the fifth trumpet was the invasion of Cestius Gallus (Roman legate of Syria), then the sixth trumpet vision must be looking forward in time to General Vespasian and his son Titus coming with their Roman legions to suppress the Jewish revolt. God had held them back until the time was completed for the New Covenant believers to escape. Now it was time for Vespasian to bring his legions across the Euphrates River and end the revolt. And this time, the army of locust/Romans is much bigger!
There is another interesting historical note that may be a connection to the seven trumpets of Revelation, and that is the use of trumpets by the Romans. Biblical scholar, Israeli general, and archaeologist, Yagel Yadin, offers, in the conclusion of his discussion of trumpets in the Roman army in his book The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (pages 111-113), this statement: It must be noted that the number of trumpets and horns at the disposal of the "central command" of the legion did not exceed of each type.
15 These four angels had
been ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year, and ready to
destroy a third of the human race.
Question: How is the "completeness" of the time set for
destruction expressed?
Answer: as the hour of this day of this month of this
year indicates that this was a prearranged or predestined time in God's
divine plan.
Forty years after Christ's ascension, in the same month and the same day that the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon on the 9th of Ab in 586/7 BC, the Romans, as God's instrument of judgment destroyed the Jerusalem Temple on the 9th of Ab, AD 70. Notice the reference to "a third," which recalls Ezekiel's vision of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586/6BC as "a third" (Ezekiel 5:1-4, 12).
16 I learned how many there were in their army: twice ten
thousand times ten thousand mounted men. 17 In my vision, I saw the
horses and the riders with their breastplates of flame color, hyacinth-blue and
sulfur-yellow; the horses had lion's heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur were
coming from their mouths.
Twice ten thousand
times ten thousand is a symbolic
number indicating an uncountable amount and recalls Psalms 68:17 ~ The
chariots of God are twice ten thousand times then thousand. The "smoke and
fire from the horses' mouths" are visions of the Hell of the damned (see Rev 19:20; 21:8 and "the Abyss" of Rev 9:2 as well as Job's fire breathing
Leviathan in Job 41:18-21.
That the horses had lion's heads could be a reference to a type of plate armor that the Roman cavalry had on the faces of their horses to protect them from arrows or sword blows. The horses of Roman chariots also sometimes had plumbs adorning the bridles if the chariots belonged to ranking officers, which may have resembled the manes of a lion. The "lion's heads" reference also recalls the 6th century BC prophet Joel's description of the invading "locust" of a Gentile army in Chapters 1-2, which in 1:6c Joel describes them with teeth like a lion's teeth.
18 It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke,
and the sulfur coming from their mouths that the one-third of the human race
was killed. 19 All the horses' power was in their mouths and their
tails: their tails were like snakes, and had heads which inflicted wounds.
Did you notice the symbolism of threes again?
Question: What are the three plagues?
Answer: They are fire, smoke, and sulfur resulting
in the death of a third of the people.
Once again, this perhaps indicates not a literal third but not complete annihilation. It can also be a reference to the third part of oil and wine offered in the sacrificial offerings since these dead are also a sacrificial offering to Yahweh as well as to Ezekiel Chapter 5 and its one-third dead. Josephus will record that a third of the population died in the revolt, the Romans enslaved the second third, and the last one-third remained in the land. The rest of the imagery suggests demon forces at work.
20 But the rest of the human race, who escaped death by these plagues, refused either to abandon their own handiwork, or to stop worshipping devils, the idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood that can neither see nor hear nor move. Nor did they give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing. A better translation is "the rest of the humans (anthropos) who escaped death by these plagues..."
Question: How many classifications of sin
violations are in this passage?
Answer: 1. worshiping devils = man-made idols, 2. murdering,
3. witchcraft, 4. fornication (sex between unmarried persons), 5. theft/stealing.
Neither the warnings of the Messiah and His Apostles (Mt 23:33-36 "look I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes...In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation"), or the disciplinary wrath of God in the first year of the revolt could turn 1st century Judea and Jerusalem to repentance. They had so completely given themselves over to apostasy that neither God's goodness nor His wrath could turn them from error. The Jewish historian Josephus recorded that even to the very end, after the famine brought on destroying of their own crops, after the mass murders, and the cannibalism, the crucifixion of Jewish men at the rate of 500 a day, the Jews still preferred to turn to the insane ravings of false messiahs and prophets who promised them victory. Josephus wrote: "Thus were the miserable people beguiled by these charlatans and false messengers of God, while they disregarded and disbelieved the unmistakable portents that foreshadowed the coming desolation; but, as though thunderstruck, blind, senseless, paid no heed to the clear warnings of God" (The Jewish Wars, Book 6.5.3).
In Luke 21:10-11, Jesus warned that preceding the Fall of Jerusalem, God would send miraculous signs and wonders to testify of the coming judgment. Jesus said, "Nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes and plagues and famines in various places; there will be terrifying events and great signs from heaven." The 1st century AD historian, Flavius Josephus, reported that there were five signs that God gave as a warning for the destruction of the Temple:
The Roman historian, Tacitus, records some of the same events concerning the fall of Jerusalem: "In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armor. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure" (Histories, v.13).
The fifth sign recalls Ezekiel 10:18-11:23 when the glory of God left the Temple and Jerusalem just before the Babylonians entered the city: The glory of Yahweh then came out over the Temple threshold and paused over the winged creatures. These raised their wings and rose from the ground as I watched, and the wheels were beside them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of the Temple of Yahweh, with the glory of the God of Israel over them above (Ez 10:18-19). And also verse 23: And the glory of Yahweh rose from the center of the city and halted on the mountain to the east of the city.
In Ezekiel 12:28, Yahweh tells Ezekiel: "There will be no further delay in the fulfilling of any of my words. What I have said shall be done now," declares the Lord Yahweh. It was the same message for Jerusalem in the summer of AD 70. When God fought for Israel against the Canaanite city of Jericho, it was the first step in giving His covenant people the inheritance He promised to their ancestor, Abraham (Gen 15:18-21. By His command, seven priestly representatives blew seven trumpets on seven consecutive days (Josh 6:1-20). Now, as God prepares to give His New Covenant people their eternal inheritance, He has His seven angel representatives complete the blowing of the seventh trumpet in next week's lesson.
Endnotes:
1. Josephus wrote: "Fear
we had in no small measure, when we saw the populace in arms, and we were at an
impasse as to what to do, having no power to stop the revolutionaries. Being in clear and present
danger, we claimed to share their convictions. We did so hoping it would not be
long before Cestius would come up with a great force to stop the revolution. But,
coming and engaging in battle, he was defeated, and a great many of those that
were with him fell. This failure of Cestius was a calamity for our whole
nation; for those who loved war were so excited by it that they had hopes in
the end of conquering the Romans" (Josephus, Life, 5-6 22-24).
2. Also on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the High Priest smeared the blood of the sacrificial victim on the horns of the Altar of Incense (see Lev. 16:1-34, especially v. 18).
3. The Jewish Talmud also records the same event in AD 30 (the year of Jesus' crucifixion) that the gates of the Temple opened by themselves apparently due to the collapse of the overhead lintel, a stone that weighed about 30 tons.
Catechism
references for this lesson (*indicated Scripture is quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Rev 9:4 (CCC 1296*)
Rev 9:1 (CCC 391-392 CCC 1034)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.