Revelation 9

When the people of Israel were delivered from their bondage in Egypt, God made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The Lord continues to distinguish in the New Covenant era between the church and the world in which the church now lives. One of the great messages of the book of Revelation is that a day is coming when there will be a permanent divide between the church and the world.

Even when some of the judgment of God seems to come from the pit of darkness, we are reminded that the Lord is in charge of the events that are taking place that have such a devastating impact upon the earth. In the previous chapter four trumpet blasts brought great trouble upon the earth. Now the fifth trumpet blows. The action begins in heaven, with some angelic figure who unleashes upon the earth plagues from the abyss.

God has kept evil under His sovereign control since death and sin entered the world. He rules over the events that touch the lives of His beloved children, and though some agent of evil might desire to sift them as wheat, that enemy is never allowed to go beyond what the Lord in His wisdom and love has permitted. This is not just true of particular individuals. W hole nations and people groups live and die according to the command of God in heaven.

If the Lord closes up some shaft of death and evil, people live and prosper. If He determines to open a door for the expression of His judgment upon the earth, an entire way of life can swiftly be removed from the earth. Has the judgment come from the bottomless pit? Yes, you can look at it that way, and you would be right. Does it originate first from the order established by God in heaven? Also yes, since an angel from above is the one blowing the trumpet, and subordinate authorities are “given power” from above. They are told what they can and cannot harm, and if they bring trouble upon anyone, it is because they were first allowed to do so.

The frightening images that John sees may be difficult to interpret, but the basic point is clear enough. The judgment of the Lord, whatever form it may take, is coming upon those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. That symbol is a sign that is visible to John only as a part of the vision. There is no real moment prior to the final resurrection when the elect will be known to all by a visible mark of God upon their bodies. The circumcision of the heart comes to us by the Spirit, and is known to God perfectly, but is expressed visibly among men only in the life that the faithful live in accord with the blessing of God's Spirit.

The judgments that are depicted here upon those who do not have the Lord's mark upon their souls are very significant. People will long to die, but death will elude them. To face the sting of whatever is symbolized here by the scorpion, tormenting people for five months but not permitted to take life, is a picture of horrific suffering.

Who can understand hell? Who has an adequate explanation for the level of suffering upon the earth even now? Those who answer quickly are too smart by half. It is enough to acknowledge the facts of divine justice as they are revealed to us, and to flee from the wrath of God to the sure safety that can only come in the cross of Christ.

Whatever the enemies may be that inflict such pain on the bodies of men in John's vision, they have a leading figure who is king over them. He is the fallen angel of the bottomless pit. He is a destroyer, and his name is destruction. Even he has his limits.

The sixth angel also blows the trumpet. Again destruction actually begins from the place of the Lord's authority in heaven. The command unleashes much trouble and destruction upon the earth. Four deadly angels, prepared for this moment, are sent to do the damage that God has ordained for that time and place, the killing of a major portion of mankind.

Who can live through such an assault that is sent forth from heaven? The number of powerful spiritual beasts bent on the destruction of so many people is simply overwhelming to contemplate. How much wrath from God is coming against man?

Yet with all of the horror of this day, it does not bring about repentance among those who are still alive. This is the depth of sin in the heart of man. This is how difficult it is for any man to find spiritual life. Even with such a great struggle and and such a deadly trial, so many are unwilling to acknowledge the Lord and to turn from their sins. They will not repent of their idolatry. They will not turn away from murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, or theft.

This display of the visionary wrath of God is only a small indication of the punishment our sin deserves. It is still not the fullness of what is due against us because of our rebellion against God and His ways.

This full weight of the righteous justice of God against us is what Jesus Christ carried on His body and soul on the tree of His great sacrifice. That cross was more horrible than anything that man alone could devise. Yet Jesus endured that hour for us. This is our great hope as we wait for a judgment against mankind that is surely coming: Christ has died for me. The light of His love shines most brightly with the backdrop of the Lord's divine wrath. We see a part of this with John in this difficult vision. But Christ has taken more than a part of what we deserve. He has taken it all, and that is far beyond anything that John has described in his book.