Thought On This Chapter
REV 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and
the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
REV 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon
the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have
power.
REV 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not
hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only
those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
These strange creatures are let loose upon the earth
out of the bottomless pit. Try to picture these evil creatures from the
Bible's description.
REV 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto
horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like
gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
REV 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
REV 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were
breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots
of many horses running to battle.
REV 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and
there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
These wicked creatures are let loose to hurt men. They
have been locked up for thousands of years just waiting to unleash their evil
upon men. And when their chance finally comes they will not hold back.
No doubt they are eagerly awaiting this event right now. Their wicked
imaginations are dreaming of the evil that they will afflict and they will let
it loose with vigor and fury. But no matter how great their evil desire is
to hurt men, there are some men that they will not be allowed to harm.
They will not be allowed to harm those with God's seal
in their foreheads (verse 4). God will protect His own even in this great
judgment. Even in judgment you will find God's mercy.
Since God can protect His own even from the fury of
these wicked evil beasts, can He not protect and care for you? The answer
is of course He can. He is above all things. He is all powerful and
in control. While He is judgment, He is also Love. He can meet out
judgment and mercy at the same time. Judgment will come to those who
reject Him and mercy to those who receive Him. And the wicked
circumstances of this world cannot stop His mercy being extended to His own.
God can and will take care of you.
Thought On This Chapter
REV 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were
prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men.
They were prepared for an hour. A certain hour on
a certain day on a certain month, of a certain year. Here we see the
foreknowledge of God. From eternity past God knew exactly what would
transpire. He knew what He would do in the Tribulation. So God
prepared these four for a specific purpose. They were to kill the third
part of men. It will be no problem for them. They were prepared by
God for this purpose. They were only to do this once and at a certain set
time. Not before. So right now they are waiting.
We see many things here. One is God's exact
foreknowledge. It is not only that He knows what will happen, but that He
also knows exactly when it will happen. Two we see His Sovereignty.
This is His plan and will be carried out by His order. This also shows
that God is in complete control. This will happen at the exact appointed
hour. God will not be late. He will not be early. Man can in
no way foil His plans nor can man speed them up. God prepared these angels
for an exact hour on a certain day of a certain year.
Some will falsely teach that man can usher in the
kingdom if he does this or that. They are just fooling themselves.
God has a set plan that will happen at a set time.
We should take great comfort from the fact that we have
an Almighty Sovereign God who is on the throne and is working all things out
according to His will. Instead of getting all worried and spend our time
fretting about current events, what we need to do is trust in our God and put
our energies into being a witness for Him. Our main concern should be
taking as many people with us to Heaven when He comes to get us.
|
|
|
King James Bible Main Index:
REV 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
REV 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
REV 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
REV 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
REV 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
REV 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
REV 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
REV 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
REV 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
REV 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
REV 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
REV 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
REV 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
REV 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
REV 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
REV 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
REV 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
REV 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
REV 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
REV 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
REV 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
|
|
|
|
Thought on This Chapter
REV 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed
by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should
not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of
wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
REV 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of
their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Many judgments have already fallen in the previous chapters. And in this
chapter creatures from the bottomless pit are released to torment men.
Creatures of wickedness like the world has never seen.
Witnesses of God's truth are also on the earth with His
seal in their foreheads (verse 4). People can see that they are protected
from the creatures. People are seeing with their own eyes the judgment of
God being poured out upon the earth and at the same time God's protecting power
for His own. And yet in verses 20 and 21 it says that
they will still not repent. They still refuse to repent of the
works of their hands. They continue to worship devils, and idols of gold,
silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can't see, hear, or walk. Even
after all that has happened so far and all that they have seen, they refuse to
repent of their murders, sorceries, and fornications. They even refuse to
repent of stealing.
What we see here brings Jeremiah 17:9 to mind.
"The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can
know it?" A man's heart can be so set on wickedness that
nothing will get him to repent and turn to God. Not even the terrible
judgments of the tribulation. Do not let it get to you when you run into
people that refuse to trust Christ.
Just keep on witnessing and praise God that not
everyone will refuse to repent and trust Christ. The people who do get
saved are worth all the trouble and all the rejection.
|
|
