seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
Here's the commentary link.Then the fifth angel sounded: This is the fifth angel that sounded a trumpet. There were seven seals, followed — thematically if not chronologically — by seven trumpets. In their arranged order, they are similar.
The first four seals and trumpets presented judgments directed against the earth. In the first four seals, these were the “four horsemen” bringing tyranny, war, famine, and death on the earth. In the first four trumpets, these were the ecological destruction of the vegetation, seas, fresh waters, and sky.
The last three seals focused upon heaven: the cry of the martyrs, cosmic disturbances, and the heavenly prelude to the seven trumpets. The last three trumpets will speak of hell, in terms of the demonic.
Out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth: These are obviously not natural locusts. They avoid plants and attack men like scorpions attack. They are “A visual representation of the hordes of demons loosed upon the earth.” (Walvoord)
The idea is simply that as part of the judgment of the great tribulation, God will allow demonic hordes, previously imprisoned, to descend upon the earth like a swarm of destructive locusts. They are not, as some have suggested, heretics, Muslims, Turks, Saracens, Jesuits, monks, or Protestants!
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them: Death will offer no escape from this prolonged torture. Their power is described like the power of scorpions, and the bite of a scorpion, though extremely painful, is rarely fatal.
Careful now, don't get behind yourselves.... Believers don't have to worry about the locusts getting them. Believers will already be gone. These creatures are there to plague those who refused to Believe. We really don't have to research how to destroy locusts or scorpions. We won't be here. We'll be safe in a mansion at our Brother's place.
The sting that lasts for five months is not something I would want to try to withstand.
Have you ever wished you were dead? Do you know that feeling?
I wonder, when the NON-Believers have to endure the bite, will it be strong and then work to mild or will it be horrific for five months and then just stop hurting? Will the NON-Believers have significant relief or just wake up one morning, just angry from hurting so long? Will the humans who are bitten get even angrier at God? Will they shake their bug-eaten hand at God, in spite?
Don't get sidetracked by the look of the locusts. It's not their looks that make humans want to die... it's the sting.
Worry about the sting!
Avoid the sting!
