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.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who 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. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts
Ok then.... the locusts had body armor.... like armadillos. As far as I know.... locusts already sport an exoskeleton. Where did those "mounted troops" the four "angels" came up with.
Now this is from bible-studys.org..... and it's pretty plain talk.
We know that Jesus Christ holds the key to the bottomless pit. He took the key away from Satan when He (Jesus) went there, preached, and brought captivity captive out with Him, Ephesians 4:8
The Fifth Trumpet - The expulsion of Satan from heaven. The identification of Satan in this passage is not hard to make. Isaiah foresaw this development in exactly the same manner described by John. "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations!" (Isaiah 14 v.12)
Many people mistakenly believe that throughout human history, Satan has already been banished from heaven, or that he reigns in some kind of kingdom in hell. That isn't true. Satan has always had access to the Throne of God, where he serves as the principle accuser of the saints of God. "Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,
and Satan also came among them." (Job 1 v.4)
and Satan also came among them." (Job 1 v.4)
Satan's entry into God's presence changes here. Now he is kicked out of heaven, and he is furious. Note also that he carries with him the key to the bottomless pit. He didn't have it before; it was given him by the One who holds the keys to heaven, hell and to death.
The appearance of these locusts is both frightening and repulsive, and they do not act in an unorganized way; in fact, John says, "They had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon" Both names mean "Destroyer". This seems to be one of the plagues that God sends on the followers of Antichrist to hinder them from proselytizing among the uncommitted of the world. It may also give Tribulation saints some time to prepare themselves for the horrors of the soon to come Great Tribulation.
If any religious activity is still going on at this time, there will be a flood of false doctrine and defaming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be a kind of religion of the flesh, (anything goes religion). It sounds very much like what is going on today in most churches.
As if this is not terrible enough that we have been hearing about, there are two more woes. The open warfare on the streets of Lebanon and Israel remind us very much of the things we read about in the last lesson. A mother in that area of the world has no idea when her family leaves the house whether they will return alive or not.
The descendents of Ishmael and Isaac (the flesh and the spirit) are still in mortal combat after all the 1000's of years that have passed. Just as there is a spiritual battle of the flesh and the spirit that we must face each day, there is a physical battle in Israel between the Arab and the Jew. Ishmael was told that his descendents would live around the Jews and would be fighting continuously.
The descendents of Ishmael and Isaac (the flesh and the spirit) are still in mortal combat after all the 1000's of years that have passed. Just as there is a spiritual battle of the flesh and the spirit that we must face each day, there is a physical battle in Israel between the Arab and the Jew. Ishmael was told that his descendents would live around the Jews and would be fighting continuously.
The Bible is true. A woe is a terrible calamity.
The Sixth Trumpet - The Four Angels Released - At the blowing of the 6th trumpet, the 2nd woe is released: the release of "the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates" (v.14). The angels apparently lead an army of 200 million "horsemen" (demons) who kill a third of mankind through the plagues of fire and smoke and brimstone.
God views the Euphrates River as the dividing line between East and West. In fact, the old Roman Empire also saw it that way. Everything east of the Euphrates was called the Far East or Asia. The region just to the west of the great river was known as the Near East or Asia Minor.
When these angels are loosed, they immediately inspire the great population centers of Asia to launch an attack on the Western and Middle Eastern strongholds. These demons are effective, because they cause one and a half billion people, a third of the remaining population, to be killed in short order.
Some have suggested that the 200 million will come from the Chinese who can currently field an army of that size. However it is very doubtful this could be a human army due to the inability to equip, feed, transport, not to mention the water it would take to support that size contingent. Those things taken into consideration strongly suggest this will be a supernatural rather than a human force, especially as the four angels (demons) are commanding this force.
Unlike the demonic scorpion stings of the 5th trumpet judgment, the bites of these demonic creatures will be fatal.
We are either on the side of Jesus or the devil. There is no middle ground. We are not to worship God's creations. We are to worship the Creator.
At that future point in history, idolatry, mysticism, spiritism, satanism and all forms of false religion will become the norm as demons lead people into more wicked and vicious behaviors. Violent crimes like murder will be absolutely rampant. Without any sense of morality, the evil, unrepentant people will imitate the demon horde's murderous blood lust. Of course, believers in God will doubtlessly be their prime targets.
So.... then the scripture gets into the sins non-believers will call normal.... like murder and abortion and adultery.... and the commentaries go on and on and on..... but let's not forget, please, that some of the members of the first church in Corinth were the male and female prostitutes employed at the temple to a goddess where the church rented a room. Most of the commentaries all act like the Believers were all perfect souls.... when they had been prostitutes.... male and female.
Let me set the scene here.... John is having a vision. John is on a quiet desert island. In John's vision... there had already been an earthquake that flattened mountains and raised the land from the bottom of the sea. It would be an earthquake so violent... the sunken city of Atlantis would be likely to become dry land again... that kind of earthquake! Then John described the death of a third of the trees and the grass. There is also the death of the seas... something has turned a third of the seas into a thick slime like blood.... nothing can live there... the ships that were on those seas were lost as well. And if that weren't enough.... John described a mountain falling to earth.... that's going to cause a shift in the plates as well.... right? And if that violence isn't enough.... a "Wormwood" has hit the fresh water and turned it bitter.... so everyone is thirsty..... really thirsty. So now the locusts and the weird demon army are only dealing with those who have survived all these natural disasters..... those who don't have Christ... those who think they are the best thing since sliced toast.... they are the ones who would be passing the offering plate in the church of the day.... and hoarding every single shiny coin... or pretty green dollar.
Yep... the humans who have survived all that natural violence.... will now face the second chance.... they might escape the sting of the demon locust..... they might escape the fire from the demonic horse's mouth as well as the sting of the horses snakelike tail..... but they still won't stop. They think they know more than God.
These are the kind of people who would say "God is dead" or "the Bible isn't real".......
I think these are demons..... I don't believe that even China will be capable of raising an army 2 million troops strong and outfit them with armored vehicles or any other kind of equipment for war... natural or motorized after that horrible quake.... and all the crap that falls afterward.
Whatcha think? Is this chapter all about the attack of the Satanic Demons.... or is this China?
