The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Part 21, 9:1-12; The Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts are Coming

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Part 21-9:1-12: The Fifth Trumpet-The Locusts are Coming We had to travel half way around the world for our first exposure. To Mystery Science Theater. Gabe was in kindergarten and ‘Becca was a freshman in High School, in the Korean-American International Christian School. We had been in S. Korea a few months and met some friends who were MST3K fanatics-that’s shorthand for Mystery Science Theater 3000. For those who have watched it, don’t you love Tom Servo and Crow! We spent a lot of time laughing together watching MST3K. Of course the plot of the show is we, the viewers watch the very cheesy movie with the sound turned down and Joel, along with Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow all making hilarious comments in the front row of the theater, watching the backs of their heads. Now, I’m not a movie critic. I don’t have a critical eye for the nuance when it comes to a movie, that’s why I need to depend on Chris. But even I can tell that the movie called “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies”—a real title by the way—is bad. According to the MST3K aficionados, it is a brain-meltingly bad movie; It’s ugly, greasy and deeply unlikable on all fronts, the story of a strange carnival attended by annoying people who get hypnotized and are set loose on the world. Going by the title of the message today, what we’re going to talk about would seem to fit into the category of a B movie—the kind Joel and the gang would make fun of. Because the locusts are coming. And it is no laughing matter. As we know, John writes down what he sees and hears in his vision of the Great Tribulation. And he experiences what he understands as terrifying locusts which will swarm over the earth. It will be horrific for those on the planet, for the vast majority anyway. But in the midst of all the hellishness, there will be some who will not be affected by the locusts. They will witness the locusts’ effects upon fellow human beings, but they themselves won’t suffer. If you were with us last week or happened to catch the message on our Face Book page, you remember how the Lamb of God, owner of the scroll which is the title deed of the earth, opened the 7th seal, and allowed creation to witness what is written on it. The things, as the Lord himself told John, are things that must take place. We remember the 7 angels, standing before the throne of God, ready to announce his judgments on sin poured out on the earth. The last Lord’s day we read and thought about the first 4 of the trumpet blasts blowing in rapid fire succession. After much destruction, ultimately brought about by the Lord—as he himself speaks through Isaiah that he creates calamity, John sees and hears an eagle, issuing a 3-fold woe to those on the planet. It’s as if the Lord sent a magnificent creature to tell everybody, “get ready, for you haven’t seen anything yet.” The 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpet judgments make up the 3 woes. And today, we encounter the first woe. Let’s read our passage for today, Revelation 9:1–12. We’re going to briefly wrestle with the locusts, for like with everything else John experiences, there is very little commentary. And it seems the more vague and horrendous, the greater room there is for interpretation. And that is especially true here. This is apocalyptic language as we remember. But I want us to also spend some time on the implications surrounding v. 4, and how it ties into another time when the Lord rained judgment on earth. As careful Bible students, we remember Israel’s greatest moment as God delivered them out of Egypt and he rained destruction down on their gods with 10 plagues, letting the Egyptians know with certainty who is in charge. Not their gods, but the maker of heaven and earth. In about half of the plagues, the Lord told Pharaoh that he was going to make a distinction between the people of Egypt and his covenant people. The Lord completely protected his people from half of the plagues he devastated Egypt with. In the same way, as we will see in our passage for today, God makes a distinction between the people of the world and those he called out from the world—his new covenant people. In this case, he protects the destroyer from destroying them. So, let’s begin by reading Revelation 9:1–2 as John sets the stage for the locusts’ arrival. 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. 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. This is the fifth trumpet judgment of the 7. The text does not say how long after the first 4 but this is the first of the 3 woes the eagle pronounced would come. And horrifically, it came. And it begins with a star slamming into the earth and John calls that star, that inanimate object, “he”. Most people are in agreement that this star is an angel, either an unfallen angel—like Michael or Gabriel, or a fallen one. We would call them demons, or even the chief fallen angel, Satan. Whether an unfallen angel comes to earth to demonstrate God’s authority over the pit, or a fallen angel who is allowed to have his way with evil, notice how the angel cannot open the pit until. Until when? He has the key. John implies there is a lock on the pit and the angel cannot open it until he receives the key. And that’s exactly what happens. Apparently another angel gives this being, this angel, a key—permission—to open the pit. What an awesome, terrible thought that is. Remember who is in charge, over the fact the pit can be opened in the first place, and when it can be opened. The Lord knows what is needed in every situation to bring him maximum glory; and based on that knowledge, the Lord acts at just the right time. And at just the right time, according to what is written on the Lamb’s scroll, the bottomless pit was opened, darkening the sky with pitch dark smoke. In the midst of the smoke the locusts surface from the pit. Let’s read vv.3-6 as we discover their mission: Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 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. 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. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. This is horrendously odd, if you think about it. Completely out of character for locusts. What do locusts do best? Eat vegetation of all kinds. They target an area and absolutely conquer it. Then they fly away and all that is left is devastation, like a swarm that occurred in the Great Plains in 1874, according to History.net. An estimated 120 billion locusts produced a swarm 1,800 miles long and 100 miles wide—a swath equal to the combined areas of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. When they were done eating, all crops, leaves, all grass, the wool off sheep, the harnesses off horses, the paint off wagons and even the handles off pitchforks-gone. The article says, “They feasted for days, even devouring the clothing and quilts.” One woman says that locusts literally ate her clothing right off her back. “I was wearing a dress of white with a green stripe,” she recalled. “The grasshoppers settled on me and ate up every bit of the green stripe in that dress before anything could be done about it.” The article goes on to say that after the locust invasion only 10% of the families in Kansas had enough provisions to last through the coming winter. I can go on but you get the picture. And John is painting here in Revelation 9 a picture of absolute horror and devastation. But did you notice—the locusts are not set on vegetation. The text tells us that the locusts were told to leave the vegetation alone and go after people. I don’t know what would be worse: to have creatures kill me quickly or afflict me so severely that I would do anything to die but not able to. And what will make it even worse is that probably the people will not know how long the agony will last. John says it will be 5 months, but there is no indication in the passage that the people will know how long. Their desire to die will completely overwhelm them but they will have no relief from their pain. But what does one expect? The whole thing is orchestrated by Abaddon and Apollyon—“destruction and the destroyer” as John calls him in v.12 Having seen the mission of the locusts, now let’s try to get a picture of what they look like, in vv.7-10. 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, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 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. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. Once again, John is using words that he has available, probably stretching his vocabulary! Of course, people are all over the map on this. Some see these hideous things as actual locusts, demonically morphed and controlled, sent out to destroy. Others see them as more along the lines of man-made. Perhaps tiny drones about the size of locusts, or other weapons of warfare. Personally, I lean toward the idea that these are man-made torture machines, specifically helicopters. John said they were like horses, which gives me the impression they are big. We have all seen them in flight: for me, the tops of the helicopters could have props gold in color—as they are whirling, it may look like crowns to John. Human faces—the front of a helicopter is clear, revealing the pilot. Teeth and breastplates, the helicopter could be—armor plated and armed—a very robust war machine. Noise like chariots—well we know how loud 1 helicopter can be. Now multiply that by many squadrons. It is interesting that John doesn’t use “like a tail” but a definite tail, and stings like scorpions. To me, it’s a helicopter. But again, there’s room for interpretation. Regardless of what the delivery system is, whether actual, as I call them “morphed out” locusts, or man-made drones, or even helicopters, the issue is the business end of said system. The sting that inflicts so much pain that people will desperately seek death but will not be able to find it is the sharp point. Speaking of the scorpion sting, I did a little research, and talked to Gabe about this, who deals with nuclear, biological and chemical warfare as a marine. It’s amazing how many things we have invented to hurt and kill one another. One kind of chemical agent is called “blister agent”, and one kind of blister agent is called mustard agent. And no, it’s not what you put on your hot dog! Let me give you just a couple of things this nasty stuff can do, and why I think the scorpion sting may be some form of this. Blister agents are likely to be used both to produce casualties and to force opposing troops to wear full protective equipment thus degrading fighting efficiency, rather than to kill. These agents burn and blister the skin or any other part of the body they contact, whether outside or inside if one breathes it. They act on the eyes, mucous membranes, lungs, skin and blood-forming organs. They damage the respiratory tract when inhaled. Mustard agents are feared historically for several reasons, not the least is there is no effective therapy yet available for countering its effects, though it has been around for over 100 years. Why I think the scorpion’s sting could be this stuff is what the agent does to a person. For example, within 2 minutes contact time, a drop of mustard on the skin can cause serious damage. Heavy exposure to the agent irritates the eyes and after 1 to 3 hours produces severe wounds in and on them. If only a small amount comes in contact with the skin, it turns red and itches intensely. At higher levels blisters begin to form, increasing in intensity and amount of blisters for several days. In other words, it spreads. The blisters are fragile and usually rupture spontaneously giving way to pus producing, skin eating wounds, penetrating to the inner layers of skin. Of course, the damaged tissues are extremely susceptible to infection. The healing of these tissues is very slow, taking from several weeks to several months. And let’s not even talk about what happens to one’s lungs when someone breathes it in. But there is “good news” though. The great majority of mustard gas casualties survive. However, there is no practical drug treatment available for preventing the effects of mustard agent. So, in my opinion, helicopters delivering some form of blister agent are what John saw. You need to study and come to your own conclusion. And after 5 months, the first woe is done: v.12: The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come. Mercifully there will be an endpoint to the first woe, the 5th judgment. And, once again, as God pours out his wrath, he remembers mercy, answering Habakkuk’s prayer in Habakkuk 3:2. It’s not going to last forever. It may feel like it, though to those affected. Words leave us when we think of the devastation of just this judgment. How horrible it will be in those days for those who refuse to repent and turn to the Lord. But I want to take the rest of our time today on the part of v.4 which tells us about some who will not experience this. They will watch those around them go through the agony. But they will not have to suffer this judgment. Revelation 9:4. They (the locusts) 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. Who will only observe-that will be hard enough-but not have to endure the excruciating pain of this judgment? Those with the seal of God. Who are they? In a word: God’s people. Revelation 7:1–3. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” As we saw when we studied this passage earlier, the 144,000 is a symbol representing all of God’s people. We don’t have time to review that now, but go back and give another listen to that message on our Facebook page if you need to. As I read this passage for today, the more grateful I am to the Lord for his salvation, his protection. Of all his people. When was the last time, my dear brothers and sisters, that you thought deeply about just what the Lord saved you from? Or when was the last time you thought deeply about what the Lord has saved you unto? Or what, or to whom, has he saved you for? See, when God saves his people, he saves them for himself. He establishes a covenant with each person in his family. I love the way David Platt put it when we were going through Secret Church the other night. He gave a masterful teaching about salvation and he said, to make it personal, “God is passionate about me”—and if you are in his family this morning because Christ is your Lord and Savior, he is passionate about you, too. Platt also said, “God takes pleasure in me, but not because of my performance for him. God takes pleasure in me because of Christ’s performance for me.” We are also reminded that Christ is our sanctification. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:30–31: And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” What God does for every one of his sons and daughters is to take us and make us his very own. We are his precious sons and daughters. And by his spirit he makes a distinction between those of the world and those called out of the world to be his children. But it’s nothing new. He has a habit of doing that, going back to the days when he delivered his people in Egypt. Remember how God performed his wonders—he called them that. These were judgments poured out ultimately on Pharaoh but his people got caught in the crossfire. There were 10 of them, and half of them, God in essence said, “I am going to protect my people. I’m letting you know that I am greater than your gods. And if you think your gods can save you, bring ‘em on.” Before God performs one of his wonders by sending flies, God tells Pharaoh through Moses, Exodus 8:20–23: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself to Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants and your people, and into your houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.” ’ ” There’s a second time I want to point out how the Lord makes a distinction, a division between the people of the world and those whom he called out of the world to be his set apart people. Luke tells us in Acts 2-5 about the amazing things the Lord did in and through and to the early church. Many miracles. The gospel boldly preached. Incredible, open handed generosity—no one out of the thousands who were part of the believers had a need. Everybody sold their things and pooled their resources. Life was sweet! But there were things which happened in the fellowship that we can only say were frightening. Ananias and Sapphira told a lie about how much they gave, perhaps to gain some recognition to be seen as some sort of super Christians. God put them to death. And great fear came upon the whole church and on all who heard these things. And all the while, those outside the fellowship were watching. They saw all the good stuff going on—from a distance. They heard about Ananias and Sapphira. Did they beat down the doors of the fellowship to get in? Were those outside the church attracted by the new life that the thousands of disciples lived in front of them? Did the non-Christians desire to live a new life in Christ? Let’s see: Acts 5:13. None of the rest—as in the non-believers—dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. As one author put it, especially over the Ananias and Sapphira incident: “Why would they? They were probably too afraid!” Though the many people within the fellowship experienced great blessings and benefits, the outsiders would not join them. And we see it again in our passage for today. God made a distinction between those of the world and his people whom he called out from the world. God has made it so. Did you catch it though? In our passage for today, if it wasn’t for God’s mark of ownership on his people, the destroyer would have destroyed them, too. That leads me to our takeaway. God, in saving us unto himself, has saved us from so much that we are clueless about. Like the depth of our sin. I don’t know about you, but when the Lord saved me, I had no idea of how dark my heart was. How about you? All of us wrestle with sin. But those of the world live in it. It’s like wearing, and some proudly so, perpetual spiritual mustard agent. What does sin do to a soul? And what about the despair that those of the world live in? And many who are in the worst of despair are trying their best to show to everybody else that they can make on their own thank you very much. Or those who proclaim their own sufficiency outside of Christ. They will get by without him, regardless of how much God’s people care for them. Their pride. Their wickedness. Not to mention that they themselves are storing up of wrath unto the day of the wrath of God. As we conclude the message this morning, I want us to experience a song. Phil Keaggy, still one of the world’s greatest guitarists as I understand it, is also an excellent song writer. I want us to hear and follow along with the lyrics on the screen one of his songs, though you may not need to see them. The words are pretty clear, at least to me. In this song, I want us to hear the desperation, and at the same time, the self-sufficiency of a man of the world. I want us to feel the weight of his soul. Then I want us to, in the quiet, after the song, take a moment, to pray for the one or two, or several the Lord brings to your mind. How many in our circles of influence are living lives of desperation and living in their own self-sufficiency, all stemming from their rebellion against God the thrice holy God who loves them and sent his son to save them? Only gospel of the Lord Jesus can break the power of sin in a life captured by it. And the Lord has entrusted the gospel to us. Pray for those whom the Lord has brought to your mind. Pray for opportunities to share the truth that sets them free from sin, that they might live no longer for themselves but for him who gave himself for them.