The Original Scorpion Kings. Rev. 9:1-12

What we see numerous times as we go through the book of Revelation is that angels have a specific role from the Supreme Court of heaven. They surround the throne of heaven but they are sent out on these missions on the earth to carry out God’s judgments upon the earth. Chapter nine is going to be another example of one of those missions. This is the first time we see these angels as the overseers and executors of judgment. Up to this point each of the seal judgments began when the Lamb opened a seal, but when the Lamb opens the seventh seal we now have these seven angels who execute the seven trumpet judgments. We will see that the seven bowl judgments also are executed by angels as well. The first four of these trumpet judgments focus on the earth. It is typical of God in His historic judgments of this kind to judge that which is worshipped by the human race. God multitasks so that His judgments are designed to destroy the false belief systems of the human race as well. We see this shift toward the worship of the earth, nature, the cosmos itself in the end time. We see that already today. Once we take God out of the picture and are left with a naturalistic explanation of the universe, and we are left with some form of Darwinism or evolution, then essentially what we have done is deified creation, nature, the universe. And it is only logical that from there that we must start to worship nature and make all of our plans and policies on the basis of the fact that man in his arrogance thinks that he can control nature, control the environment, climate, and all of these kinds of things that we hear so often today. So God judges the creation during this period because that becomes the focus of the naturalistic worldview that there is nothing supernatural. Then in the last three judgments we have judgments against the human race, against fallen man who has rejected God.

We have this class who are called the earth dwellers. They are called the earth dwellers not because they live on the earth but because their thinking is restricted to that which is physical and finite and limited. It is earth bound; it is not oriented to heaven, it is oriented to the earth. Their thinking is such that they have rejected the existence of anything that is beyond the physical or the temporal. So it is finite and they refuse to accept the fact that God exists even though by the time of the sixth seal judgment they know that God is the one judging them, that all of this is happening from the throne of God, and yet they continue to shake their fist at Him in anger and rejection. Their rejection of God is based on their own volition and as the judgments increase their hostility, resentment and bitterness toward God is going to continue to increase. That is the dynamics of negative volition. We see patterns and trends like that today. People who reject the truth of God’s Word seem to get more and more entrenched into their hostility and rejection of God. We see in Revelation chapter eleven that these earth dwellers will rejoice over the execution of the two prophets. Revelation 13:8, 10, 14 tell us that the earth dwellers are those who will worship the Antichrist. Then we are told that the mentality of the earth dwellers is that they are drunk with human viewpoint anti-God paganism. They are so absorbed in their own thinking that the Scriptures picture them as being drunk with the wine of their own thought. So they are completely divorced from reality just as when one drinks too much wine.

Revelation 9:1 ^NASB “Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.” This presents a shift in these judgments from a physical type of judgment, or a judgment upon the physical earth, to a supernatural method of bringing judgment. The fifth angel that sounds the trumpet is announcing that it is time to go for this one particular angel. John is writing from his perspective and he says: “I saw a star from heaven which had fallen.” This is a perfect tense of the verb to fall, indicating it had already fallen. He doesn’t watch it fall, he sees it already had fallen. But that is from his perspective. It is like walking into a movie just after the credits. You see it has already started but that doesn’t mean anything other than from your perspective. This is often thought by people that because it had already fallen that it is a reference to Satan’s fall. This angel is not to be understood as either a fallen angel or Satan because this is an angel who functions as the jailer. This angel who falls from heaven is simply sent on this mission and his rapid descent from heaven to the earth is pictured as falling because that is an image that we understand as when someone falls off a building they drop like a rock. So that imagery of fallen is to depict the speed at which he has descended to the earth in order to execute his mission. But he is given the key to the bottomless pit, and so he functions as a jailer.

This star is an angel and not a star per se. We know this from several lines of evidence. First, from just what is there in the passage is that this seems to be an intelligent being. He receives the key, has been given the key, and he holds the key and is able to use the key to unlock the jail cell which holds this particular demonic army. Angels are also referred to as stars many times in the Scriptures. The term “star” is used three ways in the Scripture. The first is to refer to the physical object in the heavens—an asteroid, a comet, or what we would refer to today as an actual star. The second way in which it is used is to describe the twelve tribes of Israel—Genesis chapter 37 when Joseph is relating his dream that the sun and the moon and the eleven stars will bow down to him, representing his mother, father and brothers. That same imagery is picked up in Revelation chapter twelve. So it is used to refer to Israel. But in terms of symbolism it is primarily used throughout the Scriptures to refer to angels. Job 38:4-7; Isaiah 14:13, where Satan wants to rule over the angels.

This angel is going to release this demonic army that has been imprisoned in a place called the abyss. “Abyss” is based on a Greek word that means a place without a bottom. Who gave the angel the key? The one who has the key to the abyss, to Hades, is the Lord Jesus Christ—Revelation 1:18. Hades and the abyss are related to one another in Romans 10:7 ^NASB “or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” Hades is the place of the dead and so we must understand that Hades had several compartments. In the Old Testament it had a compartment called Paradise, also called Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16). That place is now in heaven. Paradise was transferred to heaven after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then there was a place of torments where all of the unsaved go. Then there was the place of the abyss which is the location of the demon army related to the fifth seal. Then there is a place of those demons who will continue to be imprisoned during the Tribulation period under the chains of darkness, according to passage in Jude and 1 Peter. This is where those demons who were called the sons of God is Genesis chapter six who intermarried with the daughters of men to produce a hybrid race in an attempt to destroy the genetic unity and purity of the human race. This is that group who are permanently imprisoned until the judgment of the angels and are cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 9:2 ^NASB “He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.” That is the abyss, which literally means a place without bottom and it is somewhere pictured within the earth. Smoke arose out of the pit. We must also interpret this smoke as literal; it isn’t just figurative. It is pictured something like a volcano but it is not a volcano. The smoke is understood as being literal because we see it associated with judgment and understand it to be literal in other similar judgment passages such as the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19:28 and also the smoke surrounding the presence of God on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:18. Smoke is often associated with judgment, doom and torment. So there is a physical opening in the earth and it is out of this opening or shaft to the abyss. As it opens this belch of smoke and ash goes up into the atmosphere and it is going to further minimise the light that reaches the earth from the sun, and so this increases the problems upon the earth.

Revelation 9:3 ^NASB “Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” This is Satan’s first demonic assault army in the Tribulation. There are similarities with the eighth Egyptian plague in Exodus but these in contrast are not ordinary locusts. Proverbs 30:27 ^NASB “The locusts have no king, Yet all of them go out in ranks.” So there is no leader of locusts but there is a leader of this locust/demon army in the Tribulation period known as Abaddon. We might even say that because these are locusts and they have a tail like a scorpion that these were the original scorpion kings who are going to then plague the earth during a five-month period in the Tribulation time. Locusts in the Bible are often used to depict judgment—not that they are not literal because often there was a literal locust plague that would come upon Israel and destroy all of their crops. But that was used as imagery to communicate the devastation and destruction during the Tribulation period during the day of the Lord. And just as literal locusts would devastate the land so the armies during the Tribulation period will also devastate the land. That is seen in Joel 1 and 2 where we see locusts used to depict judgment.

But this army here in Revelation 9 is not simply a physical locust army. They are given instructions; there are limitations to what these locusts can do. This is described in vv. 4 & 5 ^NASB “They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Remember that in the first trumpet judgment all the grass of the earth is burned up. But it has grown back now so some time has gone by between the first trumpet judgment and this trumpet judgment. The focus isn’t on the physical as it was in the first four trumpet judgments but it is now on mankind. “Only the men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads” would include unbelievers who had become believers as well as the earth dwellers. [5] “And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.” This is going to bring an illness upon those who are stung by them. [6] “And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.” The pain is so bad and the misery is so intense that they will try to kill themselves, try to find death, and they will long to die and death flees from them. Death will not be possible and they are going to suffer incredible physical torment for this five-month period of time.

Starting in verse seven we have a description of what these locusts look like. We must interpret this somewhat literally because that is what it depicts, although there are some images used here. Revelation 9:7 ^NASB “The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.” In the way that a horse is armoured for battle so these were similarly armoured in their natural shells like a locust would have. The crowns appeared to be like gold. It doesn’t say they are crowns but they appear to be that way; they look like that. So there is something on their head that is rather shiny like gold. They are voracious, destructive and deadly. [8] “They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like {the teeth} of lions.” They are voracious, destructive and deadly. [9] They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.” These are just these supernatural locust demons who take the form of these locusts. [10] “They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.”

But they have a king over them. This is one of the highest of all of the demons and he is called the angel of the abyss. Revelation 9:11 ^NASB “They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.” This is not the angel who opens the abyss but he is the leader in the abyss prison. His name is Abaddon which means “:the destroyer,” and the Greek equivalent is the name Apollyon from the same Greek verb that refers to perishing. Those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will perish, according to John 3:16. The noun in the Greek is apollumi [a)pollumi]. So this indicates his character; he is the destroyer.

Revelation 9:12 ^NASB “The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.” How can it get much worse? [13] “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.” That is the altar of incense.

What we have seen here is an incredibly intense judgment by God on the human race. The question that occurs as we look at this whole passage is: What significance does this have for me in the church age? The impact should be in a couple of different areas. One of these is that when we look at this it reminds us that God is a God of justice and He is going to judge sin and evil eventually. It may not be when we think it should be but it will occur during the Tribulation period and this is a part of God’s plan in bringing sin and evil to a final end during the Tribulation period. So we can rejoice in that whatever injustice we may face, whatever undeserved suffering we may go through in this life, ultimately God is going to make all things right. A second thing we should take away from this is a recognition of God’s grace. That this first woe was announced by this angel and as a result of that announcement we see God’s grace to those on the earth. They know what is coming and there is always a solution offered.

We are not in a period that is not as bad as the Tribulation. We are in the church age and God’s grace is manifested to us in ways that are just extraordinary, and if one has never received Christ as saviour God continually offers that. And there is no sin that we could ever commit that would be anything as bad or intense as these earth dwellers in the Tribulation period, and yet God continues to extend His grace to them throughout the Tribulation period, even to the point where we come to the bowl judgments and He will send angels throughout the atmosphere who will announce the gospel to the earth dwellers. What we see in this passage is that there is no sin that is too great for the grace of God. The third thing that we note from this is a realisation that human history is really part of a greater cosmic battle—that cosmic battle we often refer to as the angelic conflict—and that human history intersects with this cosmic conflict that relates to the angelic rebellion, Satan’s rebellion, and for God to bring human history to a close there has to be a more direct intersection of these two realms, the invisible realm of the angels now and the physical realm of man. What we are going to see is that these are going to come together in the Tribulation to the point, as we will see, that at the end of chapter twelve the earth dwellers refuse to give up their worship of demons. So the demons will be cast out of heaven and they will be physically visible and walking around on the earth during the Tribulation period, and that is necessary for God to bring about this final conclusion to His judgment purification of the earth and the human race because of sin. It also tells us how complex the problem is. The solution is easy to understand but the more we study these things the more we realise that the solution is so complex because sin is really an extremely complex problem. But God is greater than any problem that any creature can develop, and His grace has given us the solution.

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