Revelation 9:1-21
Notes
Transcript
Handout
INTRO
What does it mean to repent?
Mark 1:15 “15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””
READING
Cindy Krause
PRAYER
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Spiritual Warfare is Real and Intense.
Spiritual Warfare is Real and Intense.
This chapter reminds us of the reality of spiritual warfare and the power of darkness in the world.
As believers, we must be vigilant and prepared, putting on the full armor of God to stand against the schemes of the devil.
God is sovereign in what He allows
Demons are powerful and love to harm us
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.
Star = Angel
Satan? = Luke 10:18 “18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Isaiah 14:12 “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!”
Revelation 20:1 “1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.”
Bottomless pit = abyss - - demonic realm
Luke 8:31 “31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.”
Jude 6 “6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—”
Smoke = opposite to the fragrant incense of the saints…
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.
Locusts = Real or Figurative ??
From the pit or the smoke?
Demonic creatures - No Greenery = humanity - seal on foreheads
5 Months = locust timeframe / figurative time?
Torment = physical / mental / spiritual… emotional
Seek Death - unable ??
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.
Description of these Demonic Locusts
Real / figurative… ??
Insatiable = Locusts devour - not plants, people!!
Joel 1:4 “4 What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.”
Intrepid = they charge like horses - no fear
Invincible = crowns of gold - wreath of the victor - man has no power to stop
Intelligent = faces of men - no mere bug !
Proverbs 30:27 “27 the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;”
Insidious = the hair of women - horrible seduction and attraction
Insensitive = they know no mercy - hearts are untouched by mankind
Injurious = Lion teeth, scorpion tails !! = 2x the tail = their soul purpose !!
1 Corinthians 15:55 “55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””
Inescapable = chariots into battle - predicted by God - they are coming !!
Abaddon / Apollyon
the destroyer - Apollo - locust - Domitian = Satan !!
Thank God for His Restraining Grace.
Thank God for His Restraining Grace.
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.
Things are not/are never as bad as they could be !
God is in control even over Satan & his demons
Martin Luther = “The Devil is still God’s devil” he too must be subservient to His higher goals because God is his Lord!
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.
4 Bound Angels - 4 holding wind = bound??
Euphrates = boundary to the east / Assyria / Babylon
Revelation 16:12 “12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.”
Prepared = very moment… how long had they been preparing??
Harm & Homicide = 1/3 of population killed
Revelation 6:8 “8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”
1/2 of earths population killed !!
200 Million demonic army
real or figurative ??
Mythical creature in the Greco-Roman world = Chimera
horse bodies / lion head / fire breathing / tails that are snakes
3 Plagues… Fire / Smoke / Sulfur… Mouths and Tails
Figurative / Literal ??
Spiritual Warfare is Real and Intense !
Thank God for His Restraining Grace !
Praise The Lord for His Saving Grace.
Praise The Lord for His Saving Grace.
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 to me is the scariest part of this entire chapter…!
This is the hardness of humanity
This is the depravity of man
Romans 3:10–18 “10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””
Jeremiah 17:9–10 “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.””
Ephesians 2:4–9 “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Spiritual Warfare is Real and Intense !
Thank God for His Restraining Grace !
Praise the Lord for His Saving Grace !
This passage serves as a wake-up call for us to repent of our sins and turn back to God.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and trust in His ultimate victory.
CLOSE
As we reflect on the unsettling imagery of Revelation 9, may we be reminded of the spiritual battle we are engaged in, the call to repentance and renewal, and the ultimate victory we have in Christ. Let us hold fast to our faith, knowing that God is sovereign over all things and will bring about His perfect plan in the end.
GROUP QUESTIONS
What stood out to you most from this message?
Have you ever seen God use evil to accomplish His purposes? What did that look like?
How do you see God’s authority over agents of evil in this passage?
Is God guilty of evil by allowing evil? why or why not?
What strikes you as most terrible about the description of the demonic locusts?
John’s description of Apollyon may have been an indirect attack on one of the false gods of his day. How does this judgment apply to the idols of our day? What are the idols of our day?
What does it mean that “idolatry is at the core of an unrepentant heart”? How would you explain this to someone who does not worship wood, metal, or stone idols?
How are idol worship and demon worship related?
Why will people not repent, even after seeing the judgment of God?
Has there ever been a time when you were slow to repent? Why did you not immediately turn from sin?