Revelation 9 Study
Notes
Transcript
Announcements:
Dinner - same rotation or try something else?
We have an opportunity to partner with Scott and Finley as they travel to Central Asia this month. They are going to be helping a gospel worker family from Parkwood, Jake and Caydance Kasper. They shared an Amazon wish list of things that would be helpful for us to bring to them. I will send the list if you would like to order something and we can get it to them before they leave on the 23rd. The list appears to be books for their kids, who I know would be so happy to have new books that they can read.
Prayer
Read Revelation 9:1-12
Read Revelation 9:1-12
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.
1. As you can tell just from reading, the overall tone of Revelation 9 is frightening and intense. The 5th and 6th trumpets are executions of God’s judgment on the unrepentant, those who are rebelling against God.
1. As you can tell just from reading, the overall tone of Revelation 9 is frightening and intense. The 5th and 6th trumpets are executions of God’s judgment on the unrepentant, those who are rebelling against God.
2. Let’s make some observations from vv. 1-6. What happens after the fifth angel blows his trumpet?
2. Let’s make some observations from vv. 1-6. What happens after the fifth angel blows his trumpet?
v. 1 - A star falls from heaven to earth; this star is given the key to the bottomless pit
v. 2 - the star opens the pit, releasing much smoke like a furnace
v. 3 - then locusts are released, with power like scorpions on the earth.
vv. 4-5 - these locusts will torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
v. 6 - these people will long to die, but will not.
3. This invasion of locusts…what does it make you think of? Does it remind you of another instance of locusts in the Bible? What’s the connection here? What’s similar, what’s different?
3. This invasion of locusts…what does it make you think of? Does it remind you of another instance of locusts in the Bible? What’s the connection here? What’s similar, what’s different?
It reminds us of the Egyptian plague of locusts in Exodus 10:12-15.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” 13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. 15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
In Exodus, the locusts harm the plants and fruit. In Revelation, they torment the people. Both of the plagues are divinely orchestrated by God. Both of the plagues show the Lord’s execution of righteous judgment. God will bring judgment upon the unrepentant.
Read Revelation 9:13-21
Read Revelation 9:13-21
4. Let’s observe what happens after the sixth angel blows his trumpet.
4. Let’s observe what happens after the sixth angel blows his trumpet.
v. 13 - John hears a voice from the golden altar before God.
v. 14 - the angel is told to release the four angels who are bound at the river Euphrates
v. 15 - the four angels had been prepared for this moment; they are released to kill a third of mankind.
v. 16 - this is a demonic army of an uncountable number
v. 18-21 - a third of mankind was killed and yet the rest still did not repent of their sins
5. How do we see God at work in these verses?
5. How do we see God at work in these verses?
Anywhere you see phrases like they “were given” or they “were released” or they “had been prepared” tells you that God was the one behind it. He is sovereignly working out his plan of judgment.
6. What kinds of things help us to see God at work in the midst of our suffering?
6. What kinds of things help us to see God at work in the midst of our suffering?
We must remember God’s promise to his people. In Isaiah 41:10 God says,
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
We must remember that truth. And we must remember that God is working all things for good. Romans 8:28 tells us,
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Even in our darkest times, we have to hold fast to who we know God is and be comforted.
7. Verses 20-21 are a shocking conclusion to the locust and demonic army judgment. We would expect those who survive to turn to the Lord. But no, they refuse to repent. Why do you think this is the case?
7. Verses 20-21 are a shocking conclusion to the locust and demonic army judgment. We would expect those who survive to turn to the Lord. But no, they refuse to repent. Why do you think this is the case?
In our sinful nature, we love our sin more than we love righteousness. Consider the famous passage in John 3, but keep going after verse 16.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Unbelievers are bound to their sinful nature and have no power to break free apart from the power of the gospel. God must make us see our sin and our need for salvation.
8. Why is a call to repent a crucial part of our evangelism?
8. Why is a call to repent a crucial part of our evangelism?
Repentance of sin is a necessary part of a person’s conversion. A person can’t be saved without realizing their sin, renouncing it, and turning to Christ in faith.
Jesus makes this clear in Mark 1:15 when he began his ministry, he said:
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
So we must call people to repent of their sin and believe the gospel so that they too can be saved.