Kept Safe

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 is an angel coming from Heaven at God’s command. He opened the Abyss – a place of demonic forces. To John’s contemporaries the sea is the abyss. The sea was regarded as the home of evil forces.
   From the Abyss came evil as smoke from a fiery volcano. The ash darkened the sky. Then locusts, given power like that of scorpions, harmed only those people who did not have God’s seal on their foreheads.
   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.
   The locusts’ leader is a demon. His name, Abaddon, means “destruction”. 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.