Revelation Chapter 9

1) How far would you go to escape something horrible?  What extreme measures would you take to get away from pain?

2) Consider God’s sovereignty.  Who is He in charge of?  What does He have at His disposal to accomplish His purposes?

3) Pain, suffering, judgment.  What is the point of all of this?  What is God attempting to do during these final days?

Chapter 9 brings the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets.  With these trumpets, two of the final three woes are realized.  Unlike the previous trumpets, the judgments here are directed against man himself.  So intense will these judgments be that people will seek death as a means of escape, but will be unable to die (9:6).  How horrible these judgments must be.  How wonderful to know we would be safe even if we were alive during this time (9:4).

God’s sovereignty is seen throughout Chapter 9.  The falling star (possibly Satan) was given the key to the Abyss (9:1).  The locusts were given their power (9:3).  Further, the locusts were told what and whom they could and could not harm (9:4), and were prevented from killing (9:5).  In verse 14 we read of four evil angels that had been bound by God only to be released to accomplish His purposes when He said so.  Although Satan and his demonic forces will be the agents of destruction, all they do is under the authority of God.

While the Book of the Revelation chronicles God’s plans for the final destruction of mankind, the earth and Satan, another theme consistently comes through.  To the very end, God gives mankind the opportunity to turn from their evil ways and repent.  This is evident in the final verses of Chapter 9 where we read that in spite of all the destruction and in spite of all their suffering, “The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.  Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”