Though This World With Devils Filled | Rev 9:1-12

Open your Bibles to Revelation 9.

In 1941, C.S. Lewis, one of the most influential Christian authors of all time, wrote a series of correspondence letters published in the Guardian, an Anglican weekly newspaper (and not to be confused with the current British newspaper by the same name).

These articles used a satirical format to quite literally play devil’s advocate. Written from the perspective of an experienced and elder demon by the name of Screwtape, the letters contained advice to a newer, less experienced demon on how best to tempt, trick, or at the very least discourage a young man and keep him from following the Lord in the faithfulness.

After receiving widespread praise, these letters were collected and published in a book the next year under the title The Screwtape letters.

How many of you have read this book?

The book became an international best seller, has sold millions of copies, gone through numerous reprints, was translated into over a dozen languages, and continues to be a book that challenges even our modern audiences today.

What makes the book so impactful is how seems to give us peak behind the curtain, as it were, at the demonic realm and how they use our own sinful proclivities to tempt us and try to get us to fall. Although written from the perspective of a demon, it gives us a snapshot into our own hearts that reveal why we are tempted by the things we are in the first place. If you have never read the book, I would encourage you to do so.

In the seventh letter, C.S. Lewis reveals how the devil has used our modern sensibilities to try to trick us into believing that the demonic realm doesn’t exist. Listen to this

“My Dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask my whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence. That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command. our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When the human disbelieve in our existence we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism, and we make no magicians” (what today we would likely call sorcerers). On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and skeptics. At least, not yet”

He goes on to express his desire to one day find a way to blend these two approaches in order to reap the rewards of two extremes of errors, but then he concludes this section with this:

“But in them meantime we must obey our orders. I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that “devils” are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence beings to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.”

The devil has done an excellent job of this. By painting cartoon characters of himself in contemporary culture, he tricks us into thinking that is the extent of his and demon’s true existence. While we might even intellectually acknowledge that theses spiritual being exists and have it as their aim the shipwreck of our faith, we are lulled into a false sense of immunity from them often live our lives as if the demonic world did no exist.

Sure we read about the stories in the bible, but we look around and go “huh, they really don’t do stuff like that anymore do they” even though there is no reason to conclude they have finished their work.

Sadly, there is coming a day when all doubt will be removed about the existence and power of the demonic realm. In fact, in the last days, Rev 9 teaches us that the Lord is going to remove many restrictions that have been on the demonic realm and they will have a heyday as they torment humanity, much to the delight of Screwtape, I’m sure.

Revelation 9 paints a harrowing picture of a future with nearly unchecked demonic affliction upon the earth. It shows us what happens when the worship of the one true God is replaced with the worship of that which is no god at all, but rather is a demon disguised as god.

Let’s read our text.

Revelation 9:1–12 LSB

Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.

I have to tell you that I don’t like today’s text. Or next week’s for that matter.

That might be startling to hear. There is a reason, and I’ll explain.

We’ve covered many heavy texts over the last 5 years. We walked through Judges. We worked through Daniel. Though there were points when it was challenging, Revelation has proven to top them all in one regard for my own heart: There just seems to be what some might say is gratuitous suffering. I mean, come on, we have locust-like demons stinging people for 5 months!

There a certain tension that we may feel from this text and others as we see God’s plan unfolding, the scroll unrolling, the trumpets blasting. We know that God is just and his judgment is righteous, and yet we feel the shock, horror, and sorrow at the judgment. If we are not careful, we can even let ourselves begin to question to fairness of God’s judgment.

There are many who have rejected the faith of Christianity because they feel that’s God’s judgment is gratuitous. They feel he over-reacts to momentary sin. They think that God is a cosmic bully with a “worship me or else” attitude.

Is that a fair way to understand God’s judgment? How do we think rightly and fairly of God’s just condemnation on world that has rejected him? How do we worship a God who treats his creation in this way?

These are challenging tensions, and I will return to them after we walk through today’s text.

In verses 1-5 we have a description of what is going to happen.

A star from heaven falls to the earth and obeys the abyss. Some of your translations might say the bottomless pit. The Greek word is Abussos, which is where the english word abyss comes from.

It refers to spirit realm, a place where evil spirits are apparently kept in chains.

you might recall the legion of demons that Jesus cast out of a man who then went into the heard of pigs. Before they went into the pigs they begged that Jesus not cast them into the pit.

Luke 8:31 LSB

And they were pleading with Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.

It seems that some demons have been judged to some degree and have been temporary been cast into the abyss, where they wait to be released to torment the earth. This is also the location where Satan himself will be cast when he is bound for 1000 years according to Revelation 20.

The abyss is opened, and what comes out is a startling sight.

The texts first describes them as locusts, but, but are said to have the power of scorpions.

They are not to afflict the earth itself, but inflict their torment directly on humans themselves. This is a hint that these being described as locusts are literal locusts.

Locusts in the OT are a sign of God’s judgment, particularly in Joel. Locusts are a form of swarming grasshoppers and they will consume all veggitation in sight. Grass, leaves, wheat, you name it. When the locusts come through, famine follows.

Here, however, they are not consuming anything, but are rather inflicting pain on humanity. Terrible pain. Like a scorpion. I’ve never been stung by a scorpion, but from I’ve read it is similar to a bad wasp sting, and I’ve had enough of those. Some scorpions are much more severe, however and can cause intense pains and lasting symptoms.

It says in those days the pain will be bad enough that men will seek death, but they won’t find it. They would rather die than face the torment of these demonic beings. But won’t be able to. They must endure the torment.

The exception is that they will not be able to hurt those with the seal of God. I believe this refers to the 144k from chapter 7. They will not be affected by this, just as Israel was protected from the plagues in Egypt thousands of years prior.

The main things to catch from the first paragraph is that several place the text says it was granted that such and such should happen.

Vs 1 the key to the pit was given to him.

vs 3 power was given to the locust beings.

vs 5 the inverse is true they were not permitted to kill anyone, but rather were permitted to torment.

Even as literally all hell breaks loose and demons roam the earth causing havoc, they are still limited in their power and ability to whatever God has given, whatever God has permitted. God remain sovereign over the demonic realm as He unleashes them wreck havoc on the earth.

Second is that this judgment is specifically for those who have remained in unbelief to this point. The sealed are protected. The earth itself is protected. While other judgments have collateral damage that affect the saints, this judgment is on the unbelieving world, as will be seen next week when we get to verse 20.

Demons need permission

Sometimes when it comes to the demonic realm and the conflict between the light and darkness we can be tempted to think that in the battle God is struggling in the fight with the enemy. But he’s not.

The demons are struggling. They fight. They seek to cast off the bonds of the almighty. But they are limited and their power extends only so far as they are allowed.

Here they are granted significant freedom to harm, yet still with limitations.

The second paragraph, vs 7-11 contains a larger description of these demonic beings. Locusts like horses wearing crowns, but with faces like men.

All these descriptions are presented in such a way that makes is clear we aren’t dealing with a literal description, per se.

We’ve noted several times that our default approach to Revelation is to take the words at face value unless there is a textual reason to do otherwise. Here is one of those examples. they are like horses prepared for battle. On their heads appeared to be crowns. their faces were like the faces of men.

All the descriptions are given as like the thing they are described as.

This is an indication that these demonic beings may not have the literal appearance as described, but these descriptions carry symbolic weights.

They are prepared for war. They have intelligence and wear victors crowns. they are vicious like lions, and cannot be hurt due to their armor. Scorpions tails to sting and inflict torment for 5 months.

They have a king over them. Abaddon. Apollyon. Hebrew and Greek transliterations. Both words mean, the destroyer.

The description of this army and their leader make it clear what their intent is. This has been true of the demonic realm ever since the fall of Satan and those who have followed him. Their desire is to destroy. Jesus said the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. This is just a continuation of the same things.

Demons desire to destroy

This is another reminder. Satan hates your soul. The devil and his demons hate your guts. They will do anything and everything they are permitted to do to bring anyone down that they can. They desire to prevent faith, cause death, and bring destruction. They will cause massive problem during the tribulation, yet not without limitations. nevertheless, they will be given significant freedom to do what they desire - destroy, yet not kill.

The fictional Screwtape encouraged Wormwood to conceal himself and seek to trick humanity into believing that demons aren’t real.

Here there is no doubt. The demonic realm is real. And they are horrifying.

Tension point: A loving God permitting demonic harm

I mentioned that texts like this challenge us with certain tension.

Often people ask “how can a loving God inflict such pain and suffering on people?” Some call this judgment gratuitous.

How do we respond to such claims?

Time is opportunity

God’s Nature - Impassibility

Judgment is less than deserved

Sin is worse than we realize

Every moment they have breath in their lungs they have opportunity to repent and believe. Based on passages like Rev 7, it seems that millions will believe during the tribulation! A countless host!

Though the judgment might seem gratuitous, there are several reasons it is not.

God is not a god driven by passions. This attribute is called divine impassibility.

God’s judgment is always at the most proportional to our own sin. If anything, we always get less than we deserve, but never more. Hell is the just judgment. Any torment on earth is less than what is deserved.

Texts like this confront us and reveal that our sin is far worse than we could have ever imagined.

Our grief over our own sin ought to be more than over the just judgment on that sin.

Those who receive this judgment rejected the Gospel of Christ, have chosen the worship of false gods over the worship of the true God, have served the created thing over the creator even in the face of clear revelation from God, and we will see that in sharper details moving forward, and have actively hounded, persecuted, and slaughtered the saints with hatred and malice in their hearts. God’s judgment is raining down on a generation of people that may be the most obstinate, most rebellious, most blasphemous, and most violent of any generation in history - Depravity unrestrained. Thus, as 2 Thess 1 says, it is right for God to afflict those who have afflicted his people. Next week we will see more of this reality.

Every moment they have breath in their lungs, they are receiving the grace of God. Even torment on earth at the hands of demons is better than an eternity in the lake of fire.

So when I say “I don’t like today’s text” It could be because I love people. and I hope that’s true. It could be because I don’t like to sit with the reality of what my sin deserves.

This is part of what makes the Gospel so great! Even though my sin makes me worthy to be tormented by demons who will likely have a share in torment in the lake of fire, Jesus Christ died to save me from that!

So yes, there are tensions in texts like this. We Behold the kindness and severity of God as Paul says in Rom 11.