FIVE MONTHS OF TORTURE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

Revelation 8:12-13

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

This was the cry from an eagle that soared above the earth following the chaos caused after the sounding of the fourth trumpet and its judgment associated with the breaking of the scroll’s seventh seal by Jesus. This proclamation, often referred to as “The Three Woes”, served as a stern warning that the worst was yet to come with the final three trumpet blasts. As Revelation, chapter 9 opens, we find this as the fifth trumpet was blown:

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. Vv. 1-12

Now it’s believed the “star”, falling “from the sky” and “given the key to the shaft of the Abyss”, will be a fallen angel who will open the Abyss to unleash a blanket of smoke like from “a gigantic furnace”. This smoke will rise to darken the “sun and sky” while temporarily concealing the horde of demonic locusts within it. These weren’t like any locusts that the world had ever seen and the scriptures tell us that they “were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth”. This was a hint as to what these evil, judgment assigned locusts would be like for those on earth.

For while the biggest threat for the world from locusts today (and in biblical times as we read in the scriptures) is the insects insatiable appetite for agricultural products, able to easily wipe out farmlands in a matter of days when a big enough swarm is spreading from place to place. The result is widespread famine and often starvation.

These weren’t those kinds of locusts and the passage for today tells us that they were actually forbidden to “harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree” as they followed the guidance of the angel of the Abyss who ruled over them. Instead, they were to attack and torture anyone who didn’t have “the seal of God on their foreheads”.

What will these torturing locusts look like?

The scriptures go into quite a bit detail answering that question. Here’s a summation of their characteristics:

1. A look “like horses prepared for battle”.  

2. Donning “something like crowns of gold” on their heads.

3. Human faces.

4. Women’s hair.

5. Lion’s teeth.

6. Iron breastplates.

7. Powerful wings that will sound like “the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle”.

8. Tails equipped with “stingers like scorpions”.

This last feature is what the locusts will use to assail their victims, bringing the agony similar to “the sting of a scorpion” when they strike.

Can you imagine being a person who suffered through daily assault by these locusts for five full months?

The scriptures tell us that those “people will seek death but will not find it”, perhaps a prelude to what Hell will be like for anyone who chooses to not believe in Jesus as Savior.

Before I close this message for today, I want to make sure I underscore that there will be 144,000 people on earth who won’t be impacted by this. These are those we read about back in the first four verses of Revelation, chapter 7. There, we found 12,000 people related to each of the twelve tribes of Israel having their “foreheads marked” and in today’s passage, we see one of the reasons why that happened. Similar to the Passover observance in Israel, here we find a different variation as these relatives of the ancient Israelites were spared the five months of torture brought on by the scorpion-like locusts.  

After the five months, this woe released by the blowing of the fifth trumpet was over and I’m sure those who had been under attack were somewhat relieved for the moment but as we know, there were still two trumpets remaining.

What havoc would they release on the earth and the people there?

We’ll see as we continue this study of the Great Tribulation and the outcomes from the seventh scroll seal being broken.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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