Revelation 9:3-21

Throne Section-The Locusts

8 The detailed description of these locusts forbids our taking them in any way but as literal creatures just as they are described, Their time limit is the same as natural locusts-five months-but they differ from them in many ways, Common locusts are harmless to mankind.

They devour only the vegetation (Exo_10:12), These are designed to torment mankind without killing them, yet do no damage to the grass or the herbs or the trees. They are a fourfold combination of the horse, the lion, the scorpion and the human. They are swift as horses, terrible as lions, intelligent as human beings and malignant as scorpions. It will be a far more terrible scourge than anything which has preceded it. There is good reason for calling it a woe! Locusts have no king over them (Pro_30:27), but these are the subjects of the messenger of the abyss. His name is given in both Greek and Hebrew. Both Apollyon and Abaddon signify "Destroyer". Defensively they are armed with iron cuirasses, an armor covering the entire trunk with both breast and back plates. Their offensive power lies in their tails, which are like scorpions, The sting of the scorpion is very painful, much more so than that of the hornet. Men have been known to die of its effects. Just as Satan was licensed to torment Job, but forbidden to take his life, so these locusts are limited to their work of torment and cannot take life. Their sting is so terrible, however, that the votaries of the wild beast would be glad to die, if they could, to escape it. All of this is in direct contrast and actual opposition to God's dealings in the present economy of grace. Hence it is worse than futile to seek any fulfillment in the history of the past. Such scenes as this can come only once in the history of the race and must necessarily be of brief duration. Those who have God's seal will escape. The locusts in the introduction to Joel's prophecy represent the four Assyrian invasions which devastated the land in the four generations referred to. Two of these, involving Judah, are the immediate subjects of Joel's prophecy.

Throne Section-The Horses

THE SECOND WOE

The second woe is even more terrible than the first and, like it, cannot be understood otherwise than literally.

14 These are probably the messengers who were thrust into the gloomy caverns of Tartarus, to be kept for chastening judging (2Pe_2:4), or, as Jude says, kept in imperceptible [not "everlasting"] bonds under gloom for the judging of the great day (6). Now that the specific hour and day and month and year has come, they are sent about their work of killing a third of mankind. The detailed description of these creatures is necessary because no one has ever seen such monsters. It is difficult to imagine two hundred million cavalry such as these, in which the horses themselves are provided with death-dealing mouths and tails. This is certainly one of the marvels "which are not created in all the earth, nor in all the nations" (Exo_34:10). None of men's instruments of destruction seem to compare with these. They combine modern methods of warfare, such as flame projectors and poison gas, with the serpent's sting. Preceding judgments will have reduced the population of the earth by more than one fourth (Rev_6:8, Rev_8:11). We have no way of knowing how many will be alive at the time when death is fleeing from mankind (Rev_9:6). A third of these will be killed by "the troops of cavalry."

17 Amethystine, the ancient hyacinth, corresponds to our amethyst, a transparent, violet colored gem, or our sapphire, of purple hue. The context here suggests the amethyst.

17 Sulphur was much used as a purifier in the religious rites of the nations, hence its name in the Greek is "divine". Fire and sulphur were regarded as the divine lustrations or purifying agents.

20 That such a judgment should not change the minds of those who are spared seems incredible. Yet such is man. The most terrible trials but harden his heart instead of producing repentance. They continue as before in their idolatry and sin. We may learn from this that men do not change their minds from compulsion or fear, even in the proclamation of the kingdom.

This will be accomplished by milder means.