September 26 The Lord Watches

Revelation 9:1-12 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. 2 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. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 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. 5 They were not given power 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 a man. 6 During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. 7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9 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. 10 They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. 12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
 
THIS is the fifth of the seven trumpets, the first of the three woe’s. Let’s understand what God is revealing here. First, the star that had fallen from the sky to the earth is an angel form heaven. He is not falling because of sin, but he is coming from heaven at God’s command. He opened the Abyss – a place of demonic forces. John’s contemporaries would have seen this as the sea. They knew not what was under the water’s surface.
    From the Abyss came evil as smoke from a gigantic furnace. As a fiery volcano, the ash darkened the sky. Then locusts came down upon the earth. These are grasshoppers given power like that of scorpions. Unlike grasshoppers that eat all vegetation and do not harm people, God gave these locusts instructions 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.
    Note, this is a plague of suffering. Even though people wanted to die because of their great pain, God would not allow them to die. The locusts were armored with fearful strength. And the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. One of the most fearsome sounds to ancient people was the sound of war chariots approaching. The locusts’ leader is a demonic angel  or demon. His name, Abaddon, means Destruction.
    God first gave a similar judgment image to his people in Joel 1: 6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. God’s Word is constant and true. How precious is his salvation to seal his own from pain and suffering.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for your promise of Psalms 121:7 to keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life. Amen.