The Book of Revelation: Chapter 9

Scripture References:

• Revelation 9 - The fifth and sixth trumpet judgments
• Revelation 6:8 - A fourth of mankind killed in earlier judgments
• Genesis 2:11-14 - The four rivers flowing from Eden, including the Euphrates
• Isaiah 14:12 - Lucifer as the morning star
• Luke 10:18 - Jesus seeing Satan fall like lightning from heaven
• Romans 1:28 - God giving people over to a reprobate mind
• Exodus 8:20-32 - The plague of flies/swarms in Egypt
• Daniel 9:27 - The seven-year tribulation period

If the first four trumpet judgments seemed devastating, Revelation chapter 9 takes us into territory that defies human comprehension. Here we witness the transition from natural disasters to supernatural, demonic warfare unleashed upon planet Earth. These are the judgments that prompted the angel's threefold warning of "Woe! Woe! Woe!" at the end of chapter 8.

The Fifth Trumpet: Hell's Army Released (Revelation 9:1-12)

A Fallen Star Receives the Key

Chapter 9 opens with John seeing "a star fallen from heaven to earth." But this isn't a literal star—it's a person, as indicated by the pronoun "him." This fallen star is given the key to the bottomless pit (the abyss).

Who is this fallen star? Most Bible scholars agree this is Satan himself. Isaiah 14:12 calls him Lucifer, meaning "brightness," and compares him to the morning star. Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:18, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."

Notice something crucial here: even Satan doesn't have complete authority. The key to the bottomless pit had to be given to him. Satan is the only ruler who doesn't have the keys to his own domain; Jesus took those keys when He defeated death, hell, and the grave at Calvary. Now God permits Satan to unlock this prison because it serves His purposes for judgment.

The Abyss Opened

When Satan opens the bottomless pit, smoke rises like the smoke from a great furnace, darkening the sun and air. But it's not the smoke that terrifies; it's what comes out of the smoke: an army of demonic locusts.

These aren't ordinary locusts. Real locusts would actually be a relief compared to what John describes. These creatures are given power like scorpions, and their description is both fascinating and horrifying:

• Shaped like horses prepared for battle
• Wearing crowns of gold on their heads
• Faces like human faces
• Hair like women's hair
• Teeth like lions' teeth
• Breastplates like iron
• Wings that sound like chariots rushing into battle
• Tails like scorpions with stings

Five Months of Torment

These demonic creatures are given specific instructions: they cannot harm grass, trees, or any vegetation (which is merciful, considering the devastation from the earlier trumpets), but they can torment any person who doesn't have the seal of God on their forehead.

For five months (the natural lifespan of a locust) these demons will sting people and cause such excruciating pain that victims will long to die. But death will flee from them. Imagine the agony: pain so severe you cry out for death, but death refuses to come for 150 days.

Picture the scene: people all around the world are writhing in agony, crying out in pain day and night, while their neighbors who belong to Christ remain completely unaffected. Can you imagine the hatred this will breed? The 144,000 Jewish evangelists and all tribulation saints will be protected, but this protection will make them even more despised by those in torment.

The King of the Demons

These locusts have a king: the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. Both names mean "destroyer." This is the first woe, and there are still two more to come.

The Sixth Trumpet: The 200 Million Army (Revelation 9:13-21)

Angels Bound at the Euphrates

The second woe begins with a voice from the golden altar commanding the sixth angel to release four angels bound at the great river Euphrates. This river has deep biblical significance; it was one of the four rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:14).

Today, the Euphrates River begins in modern-day Turkey and flows through Syria and Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf. It's a crucial water source for the Middle East, providing power and irrigation for millions of people.

But what few realize is that God has kept four powerful demonic spirits bound along this waterway for centuries, perhaps millennia, awaiting this specific moment in history. These weren't bound randomly; they were prepared "for the hour and day and month and year" when they would be released. God is a God of perfect timing and detail.

An Army of 200 Million

When these four angels are released, they mobilize an army of 200 million. John describes their appearance:

• Riders with breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow
• Horses with heads like lions
• Fire, smoke, and brimstone coming from their mouths
• Power in both their mouths and their tails
• Tails like serpents with heads that inflict harm

Some try to identify this army with earthly military forces, pointing to nations with large populations. But given the supernatural context and the description of these creatures having tails like serpents, this appears to be another demonic army unlike anything in human warfare.

One-Third of Mankind Killed

Unlike the fifth trumpet judgment that tormented without killing, this army is released specifically to kill one-third of all remaining humanity. Let's do the sobering math:

• Current world population: approximately 8 billion people
• Already killed in earlier judgments: one-fourth (Revelation 6:8) = 2 billion dead
• Remaining population: 6 billion
• Killed by this army: one-third of remaining = 2 billion more dead
• Total dead by this point: 4 billion people: half of the world's population

The scale of this devastation is almost impossible to comprehend. Four billion people will perish through these supernatural judgments.

The Most Heartbreaking Verse

After witnessing unimaginable supernatural destruction and the death of half the world's population, you would expect the survivors to fall on their knees in repentance. Surely after seeing God's power displayed so dramatically, people would cry out for mercy and turn to Him in faith.

Instead, Revelation 9:20-21 reveals the most heartbreaking response: "But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts."

This reveals the total depravity of the human heart. Even after witnessing clear evidence that these judgments come from God, people refuse to repent. Instead, they continue in:

• Demon worship and idolatry
• Murder
• Sorcery (the Greek word "pharmakeia," related to drug abuse)
• Sexual immorality
• Theft

Romans 1:28 speaks of God giving people over to a "reprobate mind," a mind so hardened against God that it becomes incapable of repentance. These survivors have reached that tragic point.

The Midpoint Approaches

These events bring us to the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation period described in Daniel 9:27. We've now covered approximately three and a half years of this unprecedented time of judgment. And incredibly, it's about to get even worse. The bowl judgments are still to come.

Lessons for Today

1. The Reality of Spiritual Warfare
This chapter reminds us that we live in the midst of a cosmic battle between good and evil. While we don't face these specific demonic armies today, we do wrestle against spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

2. The Patience and Justice of God
God is patient, not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But His patience has limits. When hearts become so hardened that they cannot repent even in the face of obvious divine judgment, God's justice must be satisfied.

3. The Urgency of Evangelism
If this chapter doesn't motivate us to share the Gospel with urgency, nothing will. Every person we know who isn't ready to meet Jesus will face either these judgments or even greater eternal punishment. We cannot remain silent.

4. The Security of God's People
Notice that throughout these devastating judgments, God's people are protected. The 144,000 are sealed, and all who belong to Christ are exempt from the demonic torture. Our God is faithful to His own.

A Closing Challenge

As we read about these coming judgments, let's remember that we're not reading fiction—this is prophetic reality. The God who keeps His promises of blessing will also keep His promises of judgment.

Church, we must return to biblical evangelism. We must overcome our fear and pride to have Gospel conversations. We must warn people lovingly but urgently about what's coming while offering them the hope found only in Christ.

Don't ask people, "Are you saved?" Everyone in the Bible Belt will say yes. Instead, ask, "Do you have a relationship with Jesus?" or "Are you a follower of Jesus?" Then be prepared to explain how they can truly know Him.

Time is short. Hearts are hardening. The window of opportunity for repentance grows smaller each day.

But for those who know Christ, remember: we won't be here for these judgments. And as horrible as things get in the tribulation, the best is yet to come for God's people.

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" - Revelation 22:20

All for Him,

Pastor Dustin