When God Uses Evil to Judge Evil
When God Uses Evil to Judge Evil
The fifth trumpet. John now focuses attention on the fifth and sixth trumpets (first and second woes) by giving more than twice the space to their description than he gives the previous four trumpets together. The fifth trumpet releases locusts from the Abyss. For five months these locusts torment the inhabitants of the earth who do not have the seal of God. John sees a “star” that has fallen to the earth. Since this star is given a key to open the Abyss, it is reasonable to understand it as being a symbolic reference to an angel. This is supported by v. 11, where “the angel of the Abyss” is mentioned and named “Abaddon,” as well as by 20:1, where reference is also made to “an angel coming down” (i.e., stars “fall”) and having the key to the Abyss, into which Satan is thrown.
Abyss is also referred to in 11:7 and 17:8 as the place from which the beast arises
When the Abyss is opened, huge billows of smoke pour out, darken the sky, and release horselike locusts on the earth.
But the locusts of the Apocalypse inflict agony like the sting of scorpions (vv. 3, 5, 10). This and the fact that they do not eat grass show that these locusts are something other than ordinary earthly insects. Indeed, they have the special task of inflicting a nonfatal injury only on the beast-worshipers, who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads
demonic forces out of the Abyss from whom the true people of God are protected
The five months of agony (vv. 5, 10) may refer to the lifespan of the locust (i.e., through spring and summer
combined with their humanlike faces suggests something unnatural, hence demonic
This description creates an image of the fearful onslaught of demonic powers in the last days
Hebrew ʾabaddôn (GK 11) means “destruction” or “ruin”
Some understand Apollyon as a separate angel entrusted with authority over the Abyss
This stylistic trait of giving information in bilingual terms is peculiar to Revelation and the fourth gospel (Jn 6:1; 19:13, 17, 20; 20:16). It may also reveal a mind steeped in the targumic tradition of the ancient synagogue, where it was customary to render Scripture in Hebrew and then in either Aramaic or Greek for those who did not understand Hebrew.
a transitional verse, indicating that the “first woe” (fifth trumpet) is finished and two woes are yet to come
The sixth trumpet: the second woe. Here we find a description of disasters that reach to the death of a third of humanity
are held at the river Euphrates, from where traditionally the enemies of God’s ancient people often advanced on the land of Israel
a reference to the “golden altar” of incense, the release of these angels is again connected with the prayers of God’s saints for vindication
a mounted army of some two hundred million horses and riders is rather abruptly introduced
an army of two hundred million could not be conscripted, supported, and moved to the Middle East without totally disrupting all societal needs and capabilities
All the Allied and Axis forces at their peak in World War II were only about 70 million, according to the 1971 World Almanac.
it seems better to understand the vast numbers and description of the horses as indicating demonic hordes
God’s purpose for the plagues is first of all a judgment on humanity for the willful choice of idolatry and the corrupt practices that go with it
In these verses we see the end result of refusing to turn to God. This stubbornness leads to both the worship of demons and of cultic objects made by human hands (gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood
John no doubt shared Paul’s concept of demons as evil spirits (16:14; 18:2). Hence there is a twofold evil in idol worship: (1) it robs the true God of his glory (Ro 1:23), and (2) it leads to consorting with corrupting evil spirits
This demonic corruption is manifest in the inhuman acts of those who have given up God for idols—acts of murder, sexual immorality, and thefts (cf. Ro 1:24, 28–32). In general, these are violations of the Ten Commandments. “Magic arts” (pharmakon, GK 5760) means the practice of sorceries or “witchcraft” (LXX Ex 7:11; 9:11; Gal 5:20; Rev 21:8; 22:15). Drugs were usually involved in these arts. Sometimes the word pharmakon means “to poison,” as in a Jewish prayer from the first century BC: “I call upon and pray the Most High, the Lord of the spirits and of all flesh, against those who with guile murdered or poisoned [pharmakon] the wretched, untimely lost Heraclea, shedding her innocent blood wickedly” (cited in MM, 664).
The second purpose of God revealed in the agonizing plagues described in chs. 8 and 9 is to bring societies to repentance (cf. 16:9, 11). God is not willing that any person should suffer his judgment but that all should repent and turn to him (Lk 13:3, 5; 2 Pe 3:9). But when God’s works and words are persistently rejected, only judgment remains (Eph 5:6; Heb 10:26–31)