THE HEART THAT WOULDN'T REPENT

Revelation 9:1–21

ANCHOR MOVEMENT

Judgment Falls. Hell Rises. Hearts Harden.

BIG IDEA

God's judgments are meant to lead people to repentance, but a hardened heart will cling to sin even as judgment falls.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever ignored a warning light?

Not because you didn't see it.

Not because you didn't understand it.

You saw it.

You knew what it meant.

You just convinced yourself it wasn't urgent.

Maybe it was the check engine light.

Maybe it was a strange noise.

Maybe it was a vibration.

Maybe it was smoke.

The problem wasn't information.

The problem was response.

And eventually the warning became a consequence.

Revelation 9 is one giant warning light.

God has already warned humanity through:

the seals

the trumpets

natural disasters

global devastation

gospel preaching

the witness of believers

And yet humanity continues to ignore the warning.

The terrifying thing about Revelation 9 is not that hell invades earth.

The terrifying thing is that even when hell invades earth, people still refuse to turn to God.

As we come to Revelation 9, John answers a sobering question:

What happens when people continually reject God's mercy?

The answer unfolds in three movements:

Judgment Falls. Hell Rises. Hearts Harden.

1. JUDGMENT FALLS Revelation 9:1-12

Revelation 9:1–12

The Fifth Trumpet (v. 1a)

Revelation 9:1 NIV

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet,

"Then the fifth angel sounded..."

Something changes dramatically here.

The first four trumpets targeted creation.

The earth.

The seas.

The rivers.

The heavens.

But now judgment becomes personal.

The focus shifts from the environment to humanity itself.

The target is no longer creation.

The target is people.

Satan Is Released, But Not Sovereign (v.1)

Revelation 9:1 NIV

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

"I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth..."

Most commentators identify this fallen star as Satan.

That he was said to have fallen to the earth suggests that this is a reference to Satan—the leader of all the fallen angels. Isaiah 14:12–15 describes his fall:

Isaiah 14:12–15 NIV

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Notice carefully:

The key is not taken.

The key is given.

Jesus holds the keys

Revelation 1:18 NIV

I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Satan does not possess ultimate authority.

He operates only under divine permission.

Even in judgment, God remains completely sovereign.

This is one of the most important truths in Revelation 9.

Nothing in this chapter is out of control.

Nothing surprises God.

Nothing exceeds His authority.

Pastoral Application

Some of us need to remember that today.

The enemy may be active.

But he is never sovereign.

The enemy may be powerful.

But he is never ultimate.

God remains on the throne.

Hell Is Unlocked (vv.2–3)

Revelation 9:2–3 NIV

When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.

"He opened the shaft of the abyss..."

When the abyss opened, smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. Smoke in Revelation may refer to holy things (8:4; 15:8), but is usually associated with judgment (9:17–18; 14:11; 18:9, 18; 19:3; cf. Gen. 19:28; Isa. 34:10; Joel 2:30; Nah. 2:13). Such a vast volume of smoke issued from the abyss that the sun and the air were darkened by it. The smoke polluting the sky symbolizes the corruption of hell belched forth from the abyss to pollute the world.

The abyss is a prison.

A holding place for certain demonic forces.

Smoke fills the sky.

Darkness spreads.

And suddenly hell begins spilling onto earth.

MacArthur describes this moment as:

"All hell breaks loose."

The world thinks it understands evil.

The world has no idea.

Everything humanity has seen up to this point is only a shadow of what is coming.

Torment Replaces Mercy (vv.4–10)

Revelation 9:4–10 NIV

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

The locusts are not ordinary locusts.

Everything about them is different.

They don't attack vegetation.

They attack people.

They don't destroy crops.

They torment humanity.

These are demonic forces unleashed upon a rebellious world.

Vile demons, taking on a visible form resembling locusts, swarmed out of the abyss to plague the earth. The destructive power of locusts is noted in several Old Testament passages (Deut. 28:38; 2 Chron. 7:13; Ps. 105:34; Joel 2:25; Nah. 3:15); locust swarms consume all vegetation in their path. The scene is reminiscent of the locust plague in Egypt (Ex. 10:4–5, 12–20), and of the description of the locust plague in Joel 1:1–7; 2:1–5, but far worse.

The imagery of the smoke is an apt depiction of a locust plague, since millions of the grasshopper-like insects swarm so thickly that they can darken the sky and blot out the sun, turning day into night. Locust swarms can be unimaginably huge (cf. Ps. 105:34); one swarm over the Red Sea in 1889 was reported to have covered 2,000 square miles.

The destruction they can cause to crops and other vegetation is staggering (cf. 2 Chron. 7:13). John Phillips writes:

The worst locust plague in modern times struck the Middle East in 1951–52 when in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia every green and growing thing was devoured across hundreds of thousands of square miles. Locusts eat grain, leaf, and stalk, right down to the bare ground. When a swarm arises and flies on its way, the green field is left a desert; barrenness and desolation stretches as far as eye can see. (Exploring Revelation, 125–26)

Yet even here, notice God's restraint:

Strict limitations were placed on the activities of this demonic host. This judgment, unlike the first four trumpet judgments, is not on the physical world. In fact, they were told (probably by God, who gave the angel the key to the pit in 9:1, and who controls everything for His purposes) that there were limits. God forbade the locust horde to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree (cf. 8:7). That again shows that they were not actual insects, since real locusts devour plant life. The reference to the grass of the earth suggests that some time has passed since the first trumpet judgment scorched all the grass that was then in season (8:7). The damaged grass has grown again and is to remain untouched in this plague, indicating that enough time has elapsed for a partial recovery of the earth’s environment.

They cannot touch God's sealed people.

The demons’ business is not with vegetation, but only with men—not all people, but only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Believers will be preserved, just as God sheltered Israel from the effects of the Egyptian plagues (Ex. 8:22ff.; 9:4ff.; 10:23). Those who have the seal of God include not only the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (7:3–4; 14:1), but also the rest of the redeemed (cf. 22:4; 2 Tim. 2:19). This seal marks them as personally belonging to God and as such protected from the forces of hell. Jesus promised the faithful members of the Philadelphia church that “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name” (3:12).

They cannot kill.

Although Satan has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), its exercise is subject to God’s sovereign will and power, thus these demons were not permitted to kill anyone.

Hebrews 2:14 NIV

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—

They can only torment.

They can only operate for five months.

But God, in His mercy, will give people torment for five months (the normal life span of locusts, usually from May to September), during which they cannot die but will be given the opportunity to repent and embrace the gospel. Torment describes punishment in Revelation (11:10; 14:10–11; 18:7, 10, 15; 20:10; the only exception is 12:2; “pain” is the same Greek word elsewhere translated “torment”). That five-month period will be one of intense spiritual and physical suffering inflicted on unbelievers by the judgment of God through the demon horde.

Even hell has boundaries.

Even demons operate on a leash.

Application

One of the most comforting truths in Revelation is that evil is never equal to God.

There is no cosmic tug-of-war.

There is no battle between equals.

God limits.

God restrains.

God determines.

God rules.

People Want Escape, Not Repentance (v.6)

Revelation 9:6 NIV

During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

"People will seek death and will not find it."

This may be one of the most frightening verses in the book.

The torment becomes so severe that people long to die.

Yet death escapes them.

But notice what they seek.

They seek death.

They don't seek God.

They seek relief.

They don't seek repentance.

Already John is exposing the true issue.

The problem is not lack of evidence.

The problem is the condition of the heart.

The Destroyer Leads (v.11)

Revelation 9:11 NIV

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

Abaddon.

Abaddon is used in the Old Testament to describe the place of eternal punishment (cf. Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 15:11; 27:20), thus further reinforcing this angel’s connection with the abyss and hell.

Apollyon.

Apollyon comes from the Greek verb apollumi, which means “I destroy.” These terms identify this leader as the king of the demonic death squad.

"The Destroyer."

John uses both names to emphasize his impact on both ungodly Jews and Gentiles. Both words mean “destroyer”—an apt name for the head of the devastating army of demons that rises from the abyss.

Whether this is Satan himself or a high-ranking demonic ruler, the emphasis is clear:

Hell has a king.

Hell has a purpose.

And hell's purpose is destruction.

Jesus came that people might have life.

The Destroyer comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Transition

If the fifth trumpet brings torment… The sixth trumpet brings death.

Judgment is escalating.

Revelation 9:12 NIV

The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

The warnings are becoming louder.

The consequences are becoming greater.

Judgment Falls. Hell Rises. Hearts Harden.

2. HELL RISES Revelation 9:13–19

The Sixth Trumpet

The first woe brought suffering.

The second woe brings slaughter.

The Altar of Mercy Becomes the Altar of Judgment (v.13)

Revelation 9:13 NIV

The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.

"I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar..."

This may be the most overlooked detail in the chapter.

Throughout Scripture, this altar represented:

prayer

mercy

forgiveness

access to God

It was the place where sinners sought grace.

It was the place where prayers rose before God.

Yet now the altar speaks judgment.

John had already seen this altar, the heavenly counterpart to the Old Testament altar of incense, twice before in his visions. In the tabernacle and temple, this altar was a place where incense was burnt, symbolizing the peoples’ prayers for mercy rising to God.

But in John’s vision the golden altar became an altar of imprecatory intercession, as the martyred saints pleaded there with God for merciless vengeance on their murderers (6:9–11).

Then in 8:5 it became an altar of judgment, as an angel took his “censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth.” His action set the stage for the trumpet judgments, which followed shortly.

The original altar of incense is described in detail in Exodus 30:1–10

"The altar of mercy becomes the altar of judgment."

God is a merciful, gracious, compassionate God, yet His “Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Gen. 6:3). When this trumpet judgment occurs, the time for mercy will have passed; the altar of mercy will become an altar of judgment.

Sinful men will have finally and completely rejected God’s gracious offer of salvation. In the words of the writer of Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:28–31 NIV

Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Why?

Because mercy has been continually rejected.

Illustration

The warning light has been blinking for a long time.

The problem isn't that God failed to warn.

The problem is that people refused to listen.

God Releases What He Has Restrained (vv.14–16)

Revelation 9:14–16 NIV

It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.

Four bound angels are released.

These are not holy angels.

These are fallen angels held for this specific moment.

Notice the language:

"the hour and day and month and year"

Not an hour early.

Not a minute late.

God has determined the exact moment.

The site of the four angels’ imprisonment is also, familiar—the great river Euphrates (cf. Deut. 1:7; Josh. 1:4).

Rising from sources near Mount Ararat in Turkey, the Euphrates flows more than seventeen-hundred miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. It is the longest and most important river in the Middle East, and figures prominently in the Old Testament. It was one of the four rivers into which the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden divided (Gen. 2:14).

It was near the Euphrates that sin began, the first lie was told, the first murder was committed, and the tower of Babel (the origin of an entire complex of false religions that spread across the world) was built.

The Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Promised Land (Gen. 15:18; Ex. 23:31; Deut. 11:24), and Israel’s influence extended to the Euphrates during the reigns of David (1 Chron. 18:3) and Solomon (2 Chron. 9:26).

The region near the Euphrates was the central location of three world powers that oppressed Israel: Assyria, Babylon, and Medo-Persia. It was on the banks of the Euphrates that Israel endured seventy long, bitter, wearisome years of captivity (cf. Ps. 137:1–4).

It is the river over which the enemies of God will cross to engage in the battle of Armageddon (16:12–16).

Pastoral Application

History is not spiraling out of control.

History is unfolding according to God's sovereign plan.

Death Sweeps Across the Earth (vv.16–19)

Revelation 9:16–19 NIV

The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

Death, which had taken a holiday under the fifth trumpet (9:5–6), now returns with a vengeance. With an army of 200 hundred million.

This is likely an exact number, or more general specifications, such as those used in 5:11 and 7:9, would have been used. Then, as if anticipating that some skeptical readers would doubt that huge number, John emphatically insisted on the precision of the number, testifying “I heard the number of them.”

The imagery is terrifying:

fire

smoke

brimstone

Horses

Are frequently associated with warfare in Scripture (e.g., Ex. 14:9ff.; Deut. 11:4; 20:1; Josh. 11:4; 1 Sam. 13:5; 2 Sam. 1:6; 8:4; Ps. 33:17; Prov. 21:31; Isa. 5:28; Jer. 6:23; Ezek. 23:23–24; 38:4, 15; Dan. 11:40; Hos. 1:7; Joel 2:4; Nah. 3:2–3), but it is clear that these are not actual horses.

Using the descriptive language of his vision, John noted that the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions.

Like lions these demon forces fiercely, relentlessly, determinedly stalk and slaughter their victims.

John noted three ways that the demon horses killed their victims, all of which picture the violent, devastating fury of hell.

They incinerated them with fire, and asphyxiated them with smoke and brimstone.

John saw that the devastating result of this deadly demonic assault was to be that a third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.

Plagues

It may be noted that the word plagues will appear frequently in the remainder of Revelation (11:6; 15:1, 6, 8; 16:9, 21; 18:4, 8; 21:9; 22:18) as a term for the destructive final judgments.

As if the description he has already given were not frightening enough, John sees more about the deadly power of the demons. He is made aware that not only is the power of the horses in their mouths, but also in their tails.

Having likened the horses’ heads to savage lions, John notes that their tails are like deadly, venomous serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.

The horse’s tails were not actual serpents, because the horses were not actual horses. The horse was anointed with war force, the lion with vicious, deadly power, the serpent with deadly venom.

These images describe the supernatural deadliness of this demon force in terms that are commonly understood in the natural realm. Unlike the scorpion stings inflicted during the previous demonic assault (9:5), the snakebites inflicted by this host will be fatal.

One-third of humanity dies.

The judgment of the fourth seal killed one quarter of the earth’s population (6:8); this additional third brings the death toll from these two judgments alone to more than half the earth’s pretribulation population. That staggering total does not include those who perished in the other seal and trumpet judgments. The repeated emphasis throughout the trumpet judgments on one-third (cf. 8:7–12) demonstrates convincingly that these are controlled, precise divine judgments and not mere natural disasters. The terrible slaughter will completely disrupt human society. The problem of disposing of the dead bodies alone will be inconceivable. The sickly stench of decaying corpses will permeate the world, and it will take an enormous effort on the part of the survivors to bury them in mass graves or burn them. How these demons inflict death is specifically revealed in v. 18.

Think about what John is describing.

The death toll becomes almost unimaginable.

The warnings have become impossible to ignore.

Yet humanity still refuses to respond.

Illustration: Pharaoh

Every plague was a warning.

Every plague was mercy.

Every plague was an opportunity.

Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart.

The same sun that melts wax hardens clay.

Judgment reveals what is already inside the heart.

Transition

Now we arrive at the true climax of the chapter.

The demons are terrifying.

The death is staggering.

But neither is the tragedy of Revelation 9.

The tragedy is what happens next.

Judgment Falls. Hell Rises. Hearts Harden.

3. HEARTS HARDEN Revelation 9:20–21

Revelation 9:20–21 NIV

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The Tragic Climax

Everything in the chapter has been moving toward these two verses.

Not the locusts.

Not the abyss.

Not the Euphrates.

Not the 200 million demons.

These two verses.

They Saw Judgment

They experienced:

environmental devastation

supernatural torment

massive death

divine wrath

No one can claim ignorance.

No one can claim God didn't warn them.

No one can claim there wasn't enough evidence.

They Loved Their Sin

John gives five representative sins:

Idolatry

False worship.

Demon worship.

1 Corinthians 10:20 NIV

No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

When people worship idols, gods that do not exist, demons who do exist will impersonate those gods and hold those idolaters captive to their demonic power and deception. False religions are not void of the supernatural; they are full of it—because they are the best opportunities for demons to capture souls. They are the fortresses of 2 Corinthians 10:4–5 which must be assaulted with the truth if souls are to be delivered.

Murder

Violence without restraint.

As a result, in addition to idolatry, violent crimes like murders will be rampant. Bereft of any sense of morality, evil, unrepentant people will imitate the demon horde’s murderous blood lust. Believers in the true God will no doubt be their prime targets, as they lash out seeking revenge for the disasters God has brought on them.

Sorcery (Pharmakeia)

Spiritual deception.

Drug-induced escape.

John describes a third sin his vision revealed will characterize that tragic time as sorceries, a Greek word from which the English words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceuticals” derive. Drugs were and still are believed to induce a higher religious state of communion with deities. (For a discussion of such practices, see Ephesians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1986], 229–34.) Pharmakōn can also refer to poisons, amulets, charms, séances, witchcraft, incantations, magic spells, contacting mediums, or any object that is tied to pagan idolatry to elicit lust or to seduce. People will dive deeper into the satanic trappings of false religion.

Sexual Immorality (Porneia)

Rebellion against God's design.

The fourth sin from which the unregenerate will refuse to turn away is immorality. Porneia (immorality) is the root word of the English word “pornography.” It is a general term describing sexual sin of every variety, including fornication, adultery, rape, and homosexuality. Indescribable sexual perversions will be running rampant in that day.

Theft

The collapse of moral restraint.

The issue isn't merely what they do.

The issue is what they love.

Finally, people will refuse to repent of thefts. Like morality, honesty will be nonexistent, as people compete for the increasingly scarce supplies of food, clothing, water, shelter, and medicines.

They Refused To Repent

Twice John says:

"They did not repent."

"They did not repent."

The tragedy of Revelation 9 isn't that God stopped warning.

The tragedy is that people stopped listening.

Gary Hamrick repeatedly asks:

"What will it take for people to repent?"

Revelation 9 gives a terrifying answer.

Apart from God's grace, no amount of judgment can change the human heart.

Only God can.

GOSPEL CONNECTION

Here's the uncomfortable truth:

If left to ourselves, Revelation 9 is not describing "those people."

It's describing us.

The same sinful heart.

The same rebellion.

The same love of sin.

The same resistance to God.

The difference is grace.

The difference is that God intervened.

The difference is that Christ pursued us before judgment consumed us.

This chapter isn't merely showing us what judgment looks like.

It's showing us why we need a Savior.

CONCLUSION

The tragedy of Revelation 9 is not that mercy was unavailable.

The tragedy is that mercy was rejected.

Think about the warning light illustration.

The engine didn't fail because there was no warning.

The engine failed because the warning was ignored.

And Revelation 9 shows us humanity ignoring every warning God gives.

The seals.

The trumpets.

The gospel.

The witnesses.

The judgments.

The opportunities to repent.

And still they refuse.

Church, the greatest danger isn't demons.

The greatest danger isn't the Antichrist.

The greatest danger isn't even judgment.

The greatest danger is a heart that becomes so hardened that it no longer wants God.

And that's why the Gospel is such good news.

Because Jesus came to do what judgment cannot do.

He came to change hearts.

He came to rescue sinners.

He came to save people who would never save themselves.

Today the altar is still a place of mercy.

Today grace is still available.

Today repentance is still possible.

But one day the altar of mercy becomes the altar of judgment.

So don't wait.

Don't harden your heart.

Turn to Christ while mercy is still being offered.

Because the warning light is not meant to condemn you.

It's meant to save you.

Judgment Falls. Hell Rises. Hearts Harden.

Christ still saves.