THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 9 – The 5th & 6th Trumpets – Episode 11

THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 9 – The 5^th & 6th Trumpets

Episode 11

(These Episodes are meant to not only ask and answer the questions, “When, Why, How and What?”, but also the question, “SO WHAT?”)

Chapter nine of the Book of The Revelation is another intensification of the pressures of God judgements of God on the earth. It gives us three indicators or woes that the end is drawing nearer.

This chapter gives us strange and difficult imagery. One might wonder if the images are actually creatures, animals and objects as they are depicted or if they are descriptions of modern things, things of these last days, as would be seen and described by an ancient people.

The Fifth Trumpet and the Bottomless Pit

Revelation 9:1, Then the fifth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I saw a star (angelic being) that had fallen from heaven to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit (abyss) was given to him (the star-angel). Verse 2. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke like the smoke of a great furnace flowed out of the pit; and the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the pit. Verse 3. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power [to hurt] was given to them, like the power which the earth’s scorpions have. From this pit comes smoke like a great furnace.

(Commentary break: Verses one through three describe a star, as ‘him’. And, ‘he’ it is assumed, was an angel or a heavenly being emitting a brilliance.  And, he was given a key to the bottomless pit. The Bible does not tell us whether this is a volcanic chasm or the pit of hell. But it is further described as a great furnace, it is likely the pit of hell. An ominous precursor of what is to come. (End commentary break).

Verse 4. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but [to hurt] only the people who do not have the seal (mark of ownership, protection) of God on their foreheads. Verse 5. They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment and cause them extreme pain for five months; and their torment was like the torment from a scorpion when it stings a man. Verse 6. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die [to escape the pain], but [will discover that] death evades them.

(Commentary break: There is only one mention of the Seal of God of those who enter the Great Tribulation (after the breaking of the 6^th Tribulation Seal), and that is the sealing of the one hundred forty-four thousand from the twelve tribes of Israel. No one else has been sealed with God’s protection. Everyone else in the Great and Terrible Day of The Lord, is suffering greatly, and although they may long for the relief of death, they are not granted that longing, but must continue to suffer unthinkable horrors of pain and suffering. They still have a short time to repent and be saved. But time is running short. (End Commentary Break).

Verse 7. The locusts resembled horses prepared and equipped for battle; and on their heads appeared to be [something like] golden crowns, and their faces resembled human faces. Verse 8. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. Verse 9, They had breastplates (scales) like breastplates made of iron; and the [whirring] noise of their wings was like the [thunderous] noise of countless horse-drawn chariots charging [at full speed] into battle. Verse 10. They have tails like scorpions, and stingers; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months. Verse 11. They have, as king over them, the angel of the abyss (the bottomless pit); in Hebrew his name is Abaddon (destruction), and in Greek he is called Apollyon (destroyer-king).

Verse 12. The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.

(Commentary break: Some Bible teachers and commentators will suggest the descriptions of the locusts to be literal, but they are similes as evidenced by such wording as, “their heads appeared to be golden crowns”, “their faces resembled human faces”, “they had hair like women”, “their wings were like”, “they have tails like scorpions”, etc. We can only use conjecture when trying to determine what the ancients were seeing and describing, but the scene of the horrors comes through, loud and clear. (End Commentary Break).

The Sixth Trumpet & The Army from the East

Verse 13. Then the sixth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I heard a solitary voice from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God, verse 14, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” Verse 15. So the four angels, who had been prepared for the [appointed] hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Verse 16. The number of the troops of cavalry was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (two hundred million); I heard the number of them. Verse 17. And this is how I saw the horses and their riders in my vision: the riders had breastplates [the color] of fire and of hyacinth (sapphire blue) and of brimstone (yellow); and the heads of the horses looked like the heads of lions; and from out of their mouths came fire and smoke and brimstone (burning sulfur). Verse 18. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came from the mouths of the horses. Verse 19. For the power of the horses [to do harm] is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and it is with them that they do harm.

(Commentary Break: The sounding of the 6^th Trumpet signals the release of the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates, which represents an army. The number of the troops of cavalry is “twice ten thousand times ten thousand”, or two hundred million. Most commentators suggest this is an army of China based on the size of the army.

However, the Euphrates river is in southwestern Asia, and winds through regions of the Middle East, through northern Syria and Iraq to the head of the Persian Gulf.

It is also useful to note that the 10 Nation Confederation named in Ezekiel 38, in Daniel chapter 7 and 9 and again in Revelation chapter 17, as the armies of Armageddon are from the nations of:

1. 1. 1. Gog, also known as Rosh, (Russia) and,
      2. Rosh, (Russia),
      3. Magog, also known as (Russia),
      4. Gomer, also known as (Eastern Europe-Southern Russia),
      5. Put, also known as (Libya),
      6. Cush, also known as (Ethiopia),
      7. Persia, also known as (Iran),
      8. Meshech, also known as (Modern Day Turkey),
      9. Tubal, also known as (an area in central Turkey),
      10. Beth-Togarmah, also known as (Georgia, Chechnya, Turkey -Armenia)

The combined armies described in the Book of Ezekiel, from the East. They are Russia, with an army of one million one-hundred thousand; Turkey, with an army of three hundred fifty-five thousand; Iran, with an army of five hundred twenty-three thousand, (including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard); Ethiopia’s army of one hundred thirty-eight thousand; Chechnya’s army is approximately ten thousand; the army of Georgia is approximately twenty-one thousand; Even with this abbreviated list we can count only two million, one hundred forty-two thousand fighting troops, far short of the prophesied “two hundred million troop” end-times military invasion of Israel. 

(Interestingly, however, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has since transformed geopolitics, uniting the West against Russia and reigniting talk of a new Cold War or even World War 3. But Russia, it is now clear, is not as isolated as the initial global outcry suggested. It benefits from a robust network of partners, allies, and fellow travelers that includes countries such as Belarus, China, India, Iran, and North Korea.

Since the invasion, China and India have dramatically increased imports of discounted Russian oil, providing Moscow with a record current account surplus in 2022. Iran has provided Russia with vital arms, including Shahed kamikaze drones to swarm Ukraine’s air defenses. Last year, North Korea began shipments of artillery and missiles to Russia. And many countries in the Global South, including South Africa, continue to maintain military and strategic ties with Russia.

And, they will be released to kill a third of mankind. (End Commentary Break).

They Would Not Repent

Verse 20. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, [footnote ‘a’], did not repent even then of the works of their hands, so as to cease worshiping and paying homage to the demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; verse 21, and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries (drugs, intoxications) nor of their [sexual] immorality nor of their thefts.

The sounding of the Sixth Trumpet marks the time when no one else will be saved from God’s Judgements. Now comes the Wrath of the Lamb and the final seven Bowl Judgements.

 NEXT:  THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 10 – The Angel & The Little Scroll – Episode 12.

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

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