Revelation 9

SLIDE 1 Revelation 9:1-2

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.

Who do you think the star is?

·        Remember the four horsemen; one was given a crown. Rev. 6:2

·        Here the fallen star, angel is given the key to the bottomless pit.

·        Who do you think had the power to give a crown or a key to Satan?

 “The devil carries on his designs by blinding the eyes of men, by putting out light and knowledge, and promoting ignorance and error.” Matthew Henry

SLIDE 2 Isaiah 14:12-15"How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How

you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! ¹³You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

·        Remember Job when God allowed the devil limited access.

·        Here God gives the key to the pit and smoke rose and darkened the air.

·        This time is also limited! Jesus has Satan on a lease don’t forget that.

SLIDE 3 Job 1:6-12 Satan Allowed to Test Job

⁶Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the, and Satan also came among them.⁷The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it." ⁸And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"… ¹²And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

SLIDE 4 ³Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.⁴They 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

SLIDE 5.⁵They 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 someone⁶And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

SLIDE 6 Those of you who watch Little House on the Prairie may remember the locusts that ate the crops and even the clothes hanging outside. However these locusts are not allowed to harm the grass or plants. Who do you think limits these tools of Satan?

How are these locusts different for those we might see today?  Looking back at the 144,000 from the tribes of Judah; these were sealed (protected) from the sting of the scorpion tail. How long are they allowed to torment the unbelievers on the earth? Read v.6 again. Have you ever been so sick you wanted to die? Think of those who suffered from shingles. The life of a locust is five months. Remember in Chapter 7 the people begging the mountains to fall on them.

SLIDE 7 ⁷the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads looked like crowns of gold; human faces,⁸ women's hair, teeth like lions' teeth;⁹ breastplates of iron,  the noise of their wings was like of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.¹⁰ tails stings like scorpions, power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.  

What is so amazing to me are the youngsters out there playing games on the computer Knight and Dragons? The artist depicting the evil creatures that so resemble the visions of John.     

SLIDE 8 ¹¹Their king was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew Abaddon, Greek he is Apollyon. 

In the name we have summed up the character of him who bears it. He is the "destroyer," the one who causes "perdition" to mankind. Look at the chains.

We know that John used symbols of things he was familiar with, symbols are timeless. But in our age of development the symbols could be updated to things we know.

SLIDE 9 Do these helicopters remind you of the locusts?

 ¹²The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come 

SLIDE 10 ¹³6TH angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,

This altar is said to be "before God", in a visionary way, as the altar of incense was before the veil, and the mercy seat, and by the ark of the testimony, Exodus 30:1; suggesting that Christ continually appears in the presence of God for all the saints.
“not the voice of many angels round about the throne, nor of the souls under the altar, but of the one and only Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ; and this was a voice, not supplicating, but commanding, being addressed to one of his ministering spirits. “        Gills                               

SLIDE 11 ¹⁴"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 

The Euphrates River is important to God-32 times in Old Testament from Genesis through the chronicles of the kings and prophets in eleven different books God uses the Euphrates River as a boundary for his people.                                                

Deuteronomy 11 ²⁴ Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.  

SLIDE 12 Compare 5^th and 6^th Trumpets        

 ¹⁵4 angels prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, released to kill 1/3 of mankind.( If the angels were bound, these must be satan’s angels since God’s warriors and messengers are not bound.)

^16-19 mounted troops 200 million horses those who rode them: breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and horses had lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 3 plagues 1/3 mankind was killed,              

SLIDE 13 by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. Power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

We might not understand the angels that bring judgment, we do not know God’s mind. But we do know god has warned his people through the ages of his judgment.

SLIDE 14 ^20-21the survivor did not repent of their evil acts; nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, wood, (which cannot see or hear or walk),nor repent of murders or sorceries or sexual immorality or thefts.

*“At one time many convicts were employed in building high walls around the prison grounds at Portland. Soldiers posted above them with loaded guns watched them at their work. Every brick laid rendered their escape more impossible, and yet they themselves were laying them. So each sin committed makes it harder to refrain from further sin, more difficult to turn back.”   

“Building Our Prison,” Sunday School Times, accessed at http://moreillustrations.com/Illustrations/sin%206.html.

Do you know people and family today that are laying bricks of damnation to their souls? Yet they continue to use drugs and alcohol and commit vile acts against God. They are building the wall higher and higher to shut out the only person that can save them.