All Hell Breaks Loose

Revelation 9

Immanuel – 4/24/22

It has been a month since I last preached from Revelation; and since we’ve paused Revelation for so long, let’s take a moment to reorient ourselves. Four trumpet judgements have blown. They were the beginning of the end for Apostate Jerusalem.

Israel has become an apostate and wicked people. They have turned the covenant with God into a self-justifying abomination, they have rejected the new and living covenant in their Messiah, and they have persecuted His church. And because Apostate Jerusalem has obliterated her covenant with God, God is obliterating her with covenant curses. The trumpet judgements are covenant curses God ferociously rains down upon the Jerusalem that has rejected Him.

And let us not forget that God rains down these judgements, and the angels sound the seven trumpets, in response to the prayers of the martyrs. When the seventh and final seal was broken there was a 30-minute silence in heaven: a reflection of a ceremony held in Jerusalem’s temple twice a day – a ceremony of prayer that lasted about 30 minutes.

The trumpet judgements are God’s divine answer to the saint’s holy prayer which we heard uttered all the way back in chapter 6. The 30-minute silence in chapter 8 is a symbol of God receiving the prayer. Immediately the trumpets of judgement begin to blow in response.

And thus far, we have heard the blowing of four trumpets.

Trumpet 1 = Israel is condemned like Sodom and Egypt (see also Rev 11:8).

Trumpet 2 = The covenant is taken from Israel and given to the nations.

Trumpet 3 = Israel’s once living waters have become a poisonous curse.

Trumpet 4 = Israel’s leaders were condemned and would be snuffed out.

I showed you these things when I last preached on Revelation. When you take Revelation and look at it through the lens of the Old Testament, and the words of Christ, and the mind of first century Jews, the symbolism becomes obvious. As Jesus said:

“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell…on you [will] come all of the righteous blood shed on the [land]…Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” -Matthew 23:33,35,36

“These are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.” -Luke 21:22

The days of vengeance had arrived upon that generation in fulfillment of Jesus’ words, to fulfill all that is written, and sounding in response to the prayers of the saints. We saw all these things by allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible; which we will continue to do today.

The first four trumpets sound the beginning of the end. Yet three are left. These three are the end of Apostate Israel and their Jerusalem. These three will bring hell upon earth.

Read Revelation 8:13

Purpose

Walk through the symbolism of chapter 9, and it is horrible. We will see a lot of demonology along the way.

I want to give you two brief reasons why this chapter is important today.

Read Revelation 9

We have just read a deeply symbolic and complex passage; and its imagery is wild and vivid. It is not meant to be taken literally. Even those who claim to interpret Revelation literally, do not interpret this chapter literally. In this chapter many have seen helicopters and tanks and modern nations. But none of those things are literally in Revelation 9.

Let us not fall into the trap of interpreting Revelation with symbols that make sense to us in the 21st century. Rather, let us understand these symbols according to the 1st century Jewish reader – the primary audience of John’s revelation. What would they have seen in the symbols?

And since Jesus said all these things would come upon this generation, then let us look for fulfillments within that generation. Additionally, let us not forget how Revelation opened:

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place…Blessed is the one who reads this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

-Revelation 1:1,3

These are words we can take literally. This book contains things that would soon take place; not more than 2,000 years in the distant future. The Days of Vengeance were upon that wicked generation in Jerusalem; and all these words found fulfillment in 70 AD, only a few short years after John wrote them in the 60s.

With this context in mind, let us dive into the complexity and symbolism of chapter 9.

Read vs 1-2

The Demonic Horde

The 5th trumpet sounds, a woe has come! John sees a star that has already fallen. Here is a symbol of a fallen angel – a demon. It is a demon with great authority because he was given a key to open the bottomless pit. This powerful demon has a name, and in verse 11 we are told it is Abaddon and Apollyon.

And who has given Apollyon the key to the bottomless pit but God Himself. In chapter 1 we saw that Jesus holds the keys to Death and Hades, but this is a different key. We all know death, and if not, we will soon. Hades is the symbolic place of the dead. The bottomless pit, that’s another place. Perhaps there is a footnote in your Bible at the end of the phrase “bottomless pit.” It will direct you to the actual word: the abyss. It is the place of the demonic, the nothingness where banished demons are bound.

Do you remember the scene where Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a man, and sends them into a herd of pigs?

[The demons] begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

-Luke 8:31

Demons are hell-bent on destruction. They love to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). There is nothing to destroy in the abyss and so they hate it. The abyss is their hell. Indeed, the abyss is another way the Bible talks about hell.

And from the abyss rose a great smoke in verse 2. This is language directly out of Genesis, when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire…Behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. -Genesis 18:24,28

This language is serving two purposes. First, to show that Destruction reigns in the abyss – all has been destroyed and burns. Secondly, it is another link between Jerusalem and Sodom. For the smoke of Sodom is about to rise from the ashes of Jerusalem.

Read vs 3-4

The smoke billowing from the abyss turns out not to be smoke at all, but some terrible mass of locust. Locust were one of the plagues God brought upon Egypt – another link between Jerusalem and Egypt. Locust were explicitly stated as a curse for covenant unfaithfulness in Deuteronomy 28:38.

But these locust of Revelation 9 are no ordinary sort. They sting like scorpions. They are told not to harm grass, but people. What natural locust do not eat green things? They are not natural. They are supernatural. This is a demonic horde wrapped in the symbolism of covenant curses. For these locust issue forth from the abyss. God is letting loose demons upon Apostate Israel.

Verse 3 says the locust from the abyss have the power of scorpions. Listen to how Jesus links scorpions and demons:

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” -Luke 10:18-19

Scorpions and demons had a symbolic association. Every Jew understood it. This is why Jesus speaks in such a way. He is not encouraging Christians to handle snakes and scorpions. Rather Christ encourages His followers with a new reality. Demons do not have authority over us, and demons can never destroy us! Amazingly, Christ has given His Church authority to destroy the power of the enemy!

And look at verse 4. In accordance with Jesus’ words in Luke 10, and with the heavenly command in Revelation 9:4, demons are not permitted to harm the sealed – or the elect. Because if God is for us, who can be against us? No angel or demon or power, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31,38-39)!

But in 70 AD, there were no believers left in Jerusalem, only those of that wicked generation. They have hated God, killed their Messiah, and persecuted His church. Now come the demons! Now come their destruction! From hell to bring hell!

Read vs 5-6

The demonic horde will come upon Jerusalem for 5 months. The demons are not permitted to kill directly, but only to torment. Their demonic torments will be so bad that the possessed will long to escape through death, but death will not come. Jesus talked about this as He carried His cross to Golgotha.

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ They will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” -Luke 23:28-30

Less than 40 years later, within that same generation, just as Jesus prophesied, Jerusalem was surrounded by the Roman armies in 70 AD. Rome arrived at Passover, in April. By August the city lay in ruins. That’s a period of 5 months. Do you see that time stamp there in verse 5? The demonic horde was allowed to torment the Jews for 5 months.

When the Jews were completely surrounded by Rome, something changed within the walls of Jerusalem. A demonic madness overtook them. I hardly have time to give an accounting of it all, so look to Josephus’ books on the War of the Jews if you want more.

But in summary, the Jews lost all reason during the siege. A number of prophets arose. At any other point in their history, the Jews would have clearly perceived their patently transparent falsehoods; yet multitudes of the Jews followed them – many to their own demise. There was an outbreak of transgenderism and disgusting sexual immorality. People executed one another on baseless accusations. Crazed mobs relentlessly attacked one another. Thousands were slaughtered as Jewish factions warred for control of the city. They burned their own food supply, driving themselves into a deep famine. They ate what no humans should eat. Some ate their own children. Father’s slaughtered their families, attempting to save them.

God’s graces had been withdrawn from the once Holy City: the Spirit and glory of God replaced with destructive spirits of madness. The place where heaven was meant to touch earth had become hell – like Sodom, like Egypt. Such it was for five long months.

Read vs 7-10

Remember this is a vision. It’s meant to be understood symbolically because John is given symbolic images. If we lose the way symbolism works in apocalyptic literature, you might be tempted to see apache helicopters in these verses. I assure you, John was not looking into the distant future and seeing helicopters, and then struggling to describe it.

Instead, John was looking backwards, employing apocalyptic language first used by Joel. Hear the similarities:

For a nation [of locust] has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. -Joel 1:6

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of mountains…The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining…For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it?

-Joel 2:4,10-11

Locust with lions’ teeth, a symbol of their ferocity and savagery. They sting like scorpions, which I already showed you is a reference to the demonic. They wear crowns, why? Because again and again the Bible refers to demons as rulers, powers, and authorities in spiritual places.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. -Ephesians 6:12

The demonic locust wear crowns because they are spiritual rulers and powers. They possess a person, they rule that person.

The locust have human faces, which symbolize intelligence. Unfortunately for Jerusalem, these demonic locust possess a terrible and destructive intelligence. And in verse 8 it says that they have the hair of women. What’s that about? It’s about sexual immorality; for people possessed by an evil spirit are ruled by that spirit’s wickedness.

Again, here is Josephus describing the Jews during the siege:

With their insatiable hunger for loot, they ransacked the houses of the wealthy, murdered men and violated women for sport; they drank their spoils with blood, and from mere satiety and shamelessness gave themselves to effeminate practices, plaiting their hair and putting on women’s clothes, drenched themselves with perfumes and painting their eyelids to make themselves attractive. They copied not merely the dress, but also the passions of women, devising in their excess of licentiousness unlawful pleasures in which they wallowed as in a brothel. Thus they entirely polluted the city with their foul practices. Yet though they wore women’s faces, their hands were murderous. They would approach with mincing steps, then suddenly become fighting men, and whipping out their swords from under their dyed cloaks, they would run through every passerby. -Jewish Wars 4.9.10

The Jews possessed by the demons took on the demonic attributes. They practiced transvestism and sexual immorality, as symbolized in the demonic locust with women’s hair.

In verse 9 the locust wear breastplates, symbolizing their near invulnerability once upon a person. Combine that with more imagery from Joel, and another mention of scorpions in verse 10, and the whole picture comes into focus. This is a demonic horde sent as judgement upon Jerusalem.

Natural locust have no king, but weather patterns and instincts. Yet this demonic locust horde has a king.

Read vs 11

Abaddon and Apollyon mean the same thing in English: Destroyer. This is none other than Satan himself – the great Destroyer. He is the one who was given the key to the Abyss and unleashes hell upon earth. He is the one who brings destruction. He is the king of demons.

But remember, he had to be given the key. He did not have the authority to bring hell until God said so. And God does not allow him, or his minions, to harm the elect. Though Satan is powerful, and commands a great horde, he is still limited. And as we will see later in this book, Satan is bound.

But here in Revelation 9, Satan is not bound, but unleashed. Madness falls upon Apostate Israel and they are plunged into hell on earth.

Again, the Lord’s prophetic words:

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.” -Matthew 12:43-45

Jesus came to Israel and He swept the house, casting out all kinds of evil spirits. But after Israel rejected both Him and His church, there is only a tidy house with no one to secure it. Revelation 9 is the picture of evil spirits, sevenfold their original number, making the last state of Israel far worse than the first; just as Jesus said it would be for that evil generation.

And this is only the first of the three woes.

Read vs 12-14

It is important to note that, though these trumpet judgements come in series, the fulfillment of the prophesies are not bound by the same sequential ordering. The first four trumpets signaled covenant curses occurring simultaneously. The fifth and sixth trumpets come next, but these two emerge together, and need each other for fulfillment. The seventh will come with the end. Remember, the prophesies come from the Alpha and Omega, who is and who was and who is to come (Revelation 1:8). He is not bound by our ordering of time, and neither must His prophetic words be.

In verse 13 we see the golden altar, which we saw in chapter 8. It is the altar of incense, the place where prayers are lifted to God in the temple. Multiple times in Revelation, the incense of this altar is equated with the prayers of the saints, rising to God as a pleasing aroma. Again, the trumpet judgements of God are linked to the prayers of the saints; for from the altar of prayer judgements are commanded.

Horde from the North

It is notable that the Euphrates is mentioned here. The Euphrates was the northeastern border of the Promised Land. The Assyrians had crossed it when they brought destruction upon the 10 tribes of the north. The Babylonians crossed with when they destroyed Judea and the first temple. And from across the Euphrates so also had come the Persians.

An invading army, coming from the north, across the Euphrates, became a symbol of God’s judgments upon Israel.

That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge Himself on His foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

-Jeremiah 46:10

Invasions from across the Euphrates became such a symbol of God’s judgements that it was simply called the River in apocalyptic literature.

“Behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

-Isaiah 8:7-8

And indeed, we see in Revelation 9 a vast army coming from the Euphrates, bringing judgement and destruction upon Israel. Here we might be tempted to think in literal terms. Some see modern day Russia and China, allied and crossing the Euphrates in vast force, invading Israel. A few hundred years ago literalistic interpreters were convinced it was the Islamic forces of the Ottoman Empire.

But none of that has anything to do with the wicked generation upon which Jesus said the Days of Vengeance would come. Therefore, we might be tempted to think it was the 10th legion of the Roman army, stationed along the Euphrates River, called to join the vast army gathering to bring destruction upon the Promised Land. Didn’t that happen in the time frame given by Jesus?

But even that would be to miss the point, the point which no first century Jewish reader would have missed. God was bringing judgement upon Israel through an invasion – a curse for covenant unfaithfulness.

We find these covenant curses detailed in Deuteronomy 28.

A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually, so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see. -Deuteronomy 28:33-34

The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand…They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. -Deuteronomy 28:49,52

Because of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia; the Euphrates River became the symbolic source of these curses in Deuteronomy. Now the army is Rome, and God has prepared them for this very moment.

Read vs 15-16

God had preordained the exact moment that this destroying army would appear, and bring to ruin the abominations present in Israel. Daniel’s 70 weeks point to this moment. The Father knew the day and hour it would happen. He had ordained it.

“Concerning the day and the hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” -Matthew 24:36-37,38

See how the coming of the Son of Man is associated with the sweeping away of the wicked. The Father had ordained the day and hour, or as Revelation says, the hour, the day, the month, and the year; which Israel would be swept away by a flood of invaders. This was the Son of Man coming in judgement.

Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and all the tribes of the [land] will wail on account of Him. Even so, Amen. -Revelation 1:7

And the invading army will come in a vast number. Verse 16 says ten thousand times ten thousand. Literally, that number is 200 million. But we should not read this literally; as we should not read the rest of this chapter literally. The enormous number is symbolic: it’s like saying a gazillion. The point is that this army is enormous, and its aim to destroy cannot be stopped.

The vast symbolic number is an echo of other symbolic accountings.

The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them. -Psalm 68:17

The sixth trumpet summons the vast army of God, arriving at His preordained moment. This is Christ’s hammer of judgement.

Read vs 17-19

The horses of the army have lions’ heads. Even the most literal interpreters do no interpret this literally. Some see military tanks. I see a Biblical pattern of apocalyptic language. For the second time in chapter 9, the lion is a symbol of ferocity and savagery.

The breastplates of the cavalry are colored like the plagues they propagate: red like fire, yellow like sulfur, and a deep sapphire blue that is almost black – symbolizing a terrible smoke. See how the colors mirror what the lion/horses spew in verse 17?

Fire, smoke, sulfur; it is apocalyptic in nature. These are the very disasters that God rained upon Sodom for its destruction. Again, Jerusalem has become Sodom. This time God does not rain the disaster from the sky, but pours it forth from the Euphrates.

They have the power of serpents in their tails. Remember when Jesus was talking about demons? He used the symbolism of snakes and scorpions. The horses have snakes as tails; they are being driven by the demonic.

David Chilton sums it up like this,

An innumerable army is advancing upon Jerusalem from the Euphrates, the origin of Israel’s traditional enemies; it is a fierce, hostile, demonic force sent by God in answer to His people’s prayers for vengeance. In short, this army is the fulfillment of all the warnings in the law and the prophets of an avenging horde sent to punish the Covenant-breakers.

-The Days of Vengeance

Read vs 20-21

Willful Unrepentance

The ESV and NIV translations throw us for a loop when they say, the rest of mankind. Mankind isn’t the best translation. It makes this sound global. The KJV, HCB, NLT and many others do a better job. They say, the rest of the men who were not killed, or, the rest of the people who were not killed.

In other words, those in Jerusalem not killed by ruin of war refused to repent. You would think that after all the destruction, after the wanton barbarity and abject depravity inside Jerusalem, certainly some would turn to God. But not a single one did.

On the Jews went, worshipping their idols; and worship of idols is worship of demons.

What pagans sacrifice, they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. -1 Corinthians 10:20

The Jews that had rejected Jesus had become pagan.

Worshipping idols is worshipping demons. Indeed, it is to have fellowship with demons. No, during the siege the Jews did not erect idols of gold or silver in Jerusalem. But they worshipped their lusts, their greed, and above all, their self-righteousness.

They wanted no part of their Messiah. Instead they plunged themselves into worship of demons. This is truly the synagogue of Satan! And so God gave them over to demons. Demonic hordes possessing those inside and demonic armies on the outside. This is surely hell on earth!

Still, they would not repent. Happy they were to let their hearts harden above the yawning abyss. Though some may have escaped war’s destructions, the abyss is patient. Its eternal destruction will one day swallow them whole. As Jesus said, how would this generation escape being sentenced to hell?

I’ll just leave a little note here. John says the inhabitants of Jerusalem refused to repent of murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft. It’s a fairly specific list. Turns out, these are the exact same sins which marked that infamous queen of old, Jezebel. John has been subtly building to a theme which will fully emerge in the third part of Revelation. Israel will be symbolized as Jezebel.

2 Things to Remember

First, does this not highlight how terrible is rejection of Jesus? How awful to turn your back on God! For when you turn away from Christ you turn towards something else – something demonic. And the idols we turn to are not usually statues, but come in many other forms.

The first thing to remember is that we can fashion nearly anything into idols. And when we do we participate with demons. You may fellowship with demons if you devote yourself to your appearance, or your health, or your job. If your family eclipses obedience to God, then you participate with the demonic. And you certainly do when you look at those images online, or eat without restraint, or habitually choose Netflix over prayer.

All who worship demons, how will they escape being sentenced to hell? Through Christ, crucified and living!

The second thing to remember is that Christ has triumphed over Satan! That powers that once ruled over us have been broken, and we have a new Lord now!

[Christ] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him. -Colossians 2:15

Jesus defeated Satan at the cross. The power of darkness, that once gripped your soul, has been cast aside by the brilliant glory of Christ crucified and risen! In Jesus you are forgiven. In Jesus you are righteous. In Jesus you are loved as a son or daughter of God. What shall separate you from the love of God?

No demon can harm you. No sin can rule you. No abyss will swallow you. You are Christ’s forever! No one can pluck you from His mighty hand!

None-the-less, forget not the lesson of Apostate Jerusalem. Let them serve you as a warning. To turn from God is to turn towards demons; just as turning off the light is to be in sudden darkness. And this is a darkness to fear.

So if there are secret sins you cling to, or a self-righteousness that grips you, then turn while you can. Come back to the cross as see your Savior, dying for those very sins. Through His agony you have forgiveness. Lift your burden, nail it to that tree, and walk away free. Satan has no hold on you! For you are not from the old Jerusalem, but a new one.

The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. -Galatians 4:26

Satan works to unite earth and hell. But he is on a short leash. For the conqueror, Jesus Christ, is forever uniting the heavens with the earth! For those who believe in Jesus, the freedoms of heaven are streaming into today!