Woe: The Reality of Demonic Judgment – Revelation 9:1-21

Woe: The Reality of Demonic Judgment – Revelation 9:1-21

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WOE:

The Reality of Demonic Judgment

Revelation: Every Eye Will See Him

Revelation 9

THE TEXT:

The text for the sermon today is Revelation 9. Our text can be found on page 1030. These are the words of God:

¹ And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. ² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, ⁸ their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; ⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

¹² The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

 

GRAB THEIR ATTENTION

“And though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.” – Chesterton

In my study of this passage, pouring through commentaries, I found at least 9 different possible interpretations for these locusts and the army pictured in Revelation 9; and they range from the plausible to the ridiculous. Here are a few.

Some commentators, connecting the symbols of Revelation with historic events see the locusts as invaders from the East, such as the Vandals sacking of Rome in A.D. 455, or the Muslim invaders of A.D. 846. Others see the locusts, not as an invading army, but as internal corruption either in the Roman culture or as the apostasy of a new Pope.

Some connect these visions with epidemic and the spread of disease throughout the centuries, or the spread of occult and pagan practices.

Other mid-century commentators connected these locusts and this army as a future event in which John was describing Cobra Helicopters in Vietnam.

So, as you can see, Chesterton was right. John saw many strange monsters, but he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.

If you are new to Lake Wylie Baptist, you likely have several questions running through your mind:

• What is this guy talking about?
• Why did I decide to come to church?
• What could I possibly learn from a sermon on such a strange passage?

Well, friend, at our church, we preach sequentially through books of the Bible, and we’ve been studying the book of Revelation for several months. The section we are currently studying has to do with a vision of 7 trumpets blowing, each of which is a warning to those who are far from God.

Last week we studied trumpets 1-4, seeing that God uses natural disasters to wake us up to our own frailty and immortality.

RAISE THE NEED, SIGNPOSTS, STATE THE DESTINATION

Today, as we study the 5^th and 6^th trumpets, the vision of locusts and a great army, we do well to remember these are called “Woes.” They are a warning, sent to wake up hardened unbelievers to the reality of God, his holiness, and his coming wrath.

Today, we’ll study this text under two headings:

1. THE FIFTH TRUMPET & THE FIRST WOE (9:1-12)
2. THE SIXTH TRUMPET & THE SECOND WOE (9:13-19)

This passage tells us that God uses even demonic commissioned judgment in order to wake unbelievers up and call them to repent and turn to Christ in faith. It tells us that that though the demonic realm is real, and potent, ultimately it has no lasting power over those who belong to Christ.

So, there is a great warning in this passage, but a great hope as well.

1. THE FIFTH TRUMPET & THE FIRST WOE (9:1-12)

Chapter 9 begins:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. (9:1)

From this abyss come smoke and a horde of locusts unlike any in nature. These locusts are symbolic of the work of the Devil and those fallen angels who followed his rebellion against God. There is no need to associate them with a people group such as Muslims or Communists or Nazis. Neither are we to think of them as symbolizing the false teaching of a Pope.

No, this is a warning, that while there is a God who shows mercy to sinners, and angelic beings who protect and minister on behalf of those who know Christ, there is another category of supernatural beings who desire the destruction and corruption of all human life.

This “star” in verse 1 must be Satan, who Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightening.” Similarly, in Isaiah 14, we are given a similar description of the fall of Satan:

¹²    “How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

       How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

¹³    You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

       above the stars of God

I will set my throne on high;

       I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;

¹⁴    I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

¹⁵    But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

Friend, the Scriptures teach that there is a real Devil, his original name was Lucifer, and he rebelled against God in heaven and was cast out with 1/3 of the angels who had followed him. He doesn’t dress in a red leotard and carry a pitchfork.

No, instead he is a powerful enemy who seduced our first parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Apostle Peter says that he prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8-10) Here, we see that he is given a key, representing authority to rule over the abyss—or Sheol, or the place of the dead. Smoke billows out, blocking the sun’s light, and from this place of destruction come hoards of demons.

This picture is meant to frighten you. It’s meant to stop you in your tracks. John sees that behind the visible history of the world is an invisible spiritual world full of demonic deception, manipulation, temptation, and destruction.

This plague of locusts don’t harm the trees and grass like a normal plague, instead they are given power to harm all those who are not sealed by God. Christian, the great comfort of this verse is that while Satan and his demons may cause torment around you, they have no claim on your soul.

In verse 7, John gives a description of their appearance. This isn’t a literal description, but a symbolic one. They are like horses prepared for battle; ready to go to war. They have crowns of gold symbolizing great power. Their faces are human, reminding us that demons are intelligent ad discerning beings. Their hair is like a woman and their teeth like a lions. In other words, they can be seductive and ferocious.

What is the effect of these demonic afflictions? Verses 4-5 says the sting of their tail is like that of a scorpion, and those who are tormented live a life that is worse than death.

Friend, you may be tempted to tune this sermon out. As disturbing as this passage may be, and as much as you may want to look away, don’t. John is trying to get you and I to look beyond what our eyes can see. There is much evil in this world that cannot be explained. There is much emotional suffering in this world that cannot be explained by mere physical explanations.

Why is there an opioid epidemic in our nation? Why is there so much confusion and delusion on what it means to be male and female? Why are so many living lives of hopelessness?

Is it not possible that there is an unseen realm of beings leading people to lives of destruction? In fact, that’s their very goal.

Thankfully, as powerful and fearful as Satan and his demons are, in comparison to Christ, they are insects. Their power is limited. Their authority is delegated. And, because of Christ, they are under judgment. In Colossians 2:13-15 we’re told that:

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Friends, the gospel of Christ is the power that delivers sinners from the clutches of demons. The gospel seals us by God and to God. At the cross, God revealed how fallen humans could be delivered from the power of fallen angels.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bore God’s holy wrath against sin at the cross. He absorbed the sting of death, so that any who turn to Christ in faith could be forgiven, redeemed, and sealed.

So, if you belong to Christ, you have nothing to fear. But if you do not, will you hear the sound of this trumpet warning you today? The only way to stand against the power of hell is to be sealed by Christ. Confess your sins today. Believe in Christ even now.

2. THE SIXTH TRUMPET & THE SECOND WOE (9:13-21)

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Rev. 9:13)

These four angels in turn, unleash war on the earth. Verse 16-19 describe an army of 200 million spreading over the earth, killing 1/3 of mankind. Again, the 1/3 isn’t a literal third, but rather symbolic that war is a partial judgment. So, while the demons of verses 1-12 only torment, not kill, now with the coming of war comes death as well.

Back in verse 11 we’re told that the king over the demons is named Apollyon; literally “the destroyer.” And here we see the classic example of human destruction: war. I don’t believe these verses are describing any one war or army, but rather every war in every age. War is always with us.

The number 4 in Revelation symbolizes the earth (4 corners, 4 winds) and therefore no part of the earth is spared from the presence of war. According to some estimates, between 1480 and 1941, Britain engaged in seventy-eight wars; France, in seventy-one wars; Spain, in sixty-four wars; Russia, in sixty-one wars; Austria, in fifty-two wars; Germany, in twenty-three wars; the United States, in thirteen wars; China, in eleven wars; and Japan, in nine wars. Even now, two wars are raging in the Middle East and in Ukraine. And the war drums continue to pound.

With this 6^th trumpet, God is saying: this is what men and women are apart from my mercy and intervening grace. This is what happens when I remove my restraints.

Look around at our world today. Rather than humble, our world is proud. Rather than peacemaking, our world seeks division. Rather than generous, our world is envious. The leaders of our nations either have no moral anchor at all, or their moral anchors are evil. Friend, I do not say this as a fear-monger, but the world stands on the edge of a knife. It would not take much for us to see total war again in our time.

Let this be a warning to you. Your hope cannot be in the next election (though you ought to take it seriously and vote as a Christian). Your hope cannot be in human-made world peace. Your hope cannot be in anything but God himself. There is no other true refuge.

Sadly, in the last few verses of our passage, we are told how most people respond to the Woes of demon activity and war:

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

This is how hard the human heart is. Apart from God’s saving grace, this is how stubborn they are. Even when they see the work of demons in broad daylight, and hear the drums of war pounding in their ears—they do not repent of their sins.

Listen to how Michael Wilcock describes this entire chapter:

These trumpets… are not only tanks an planes… They are also cancers and road accidents and malnutrition and terrorist bombs and peaceful demises in nursing homes. Yet ‘the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues’, still do not repent of their idolatry, the centering of their lives on anything rather than God, or of the evils which inevitably flow from it.

They hear of pollution, of inflation, of dwindling resources, of blind politicians, and will not admit that the first four Trumpets of God are sounding.

In the end they themselves are affected by these troubles, and for one reason or another life becomes a torment: the locusts are out, Trumpet 5 is sounding, but they will not repent. Not even when the angels of the Euphrates rise to the summons of Trumpet 6, and the cavalry rides out to slay – a friend or a relative, a husband or a wife: not even in bereavement will they repent”.

THREE APPLICATIONS:

1. Recognize the Depravity of Man

When I say the word depravity, I don’t mean that every human is as bad as the could be. I do mean that we are all infected and corrupted by sin. I do mean that when we are born, our nature is sinful at the root.

People are not basically good. Verse 20 tells us that even when truth stares us in the face we reject it. The basic human problem is not that we are ignorant of God, but that we are absolutely aware of his reality—and we don’t want it.

¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

Have you recognized your own sinfulness; that if God did not first seek after you, you would never seek after him?

2. Recognize God’s Sovereignty

The Scriptures are clear that God is completely sovereign, even over evil. He is not guilty of committing evil—but even evil itself is within his sovereign power.

When John see’s this massive army unleashed in Revelation 9, notice that a voice from heaven releases the four angels in v. 14. In other words, even the devastations of war are not outside of God’s control. Verse 15 says that the four angels of this war had been prepared for the year, month, day, and hour.

We take great comfort in knowing that our future doesn’t ultimately hang on the actions of a president, or a warlord with a few nuclear weapons. The future of this world is not found in the White House, or the Kremlin, or the Parliament. The future is in the omnipotent and benevolent hands of God.

3. Turn to Christ Today

Over and over, God says in his word, “Today, if you hear my voice, turn around.” We do not understand all of God’s reasons for allowing sickness, allowing war, allowing even demonic activity.

²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deut. 29:29

So, God does not reveal to us all that he is doing and why he is doing it—but he has at least told us this: one of his purposes in all that he allows is to humble us and bring us to a place of belief and obedience to him.

He wants us to know that we are not safe apart from trust in Christ. Friend, have the “Woes” of this world softened you, or hardened you? Are the anxieties of this life driving you towards Christ or further from him? Are you believing or unbelieving?

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love, and pow’r.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.