Revelation 9:1. What the Seer beheld was not a star ‘fall' out of heaven, but a star fallen (AS in the Authorised Version). The difference is important, for we ARE thus led to think not of any punishment which befell the star, but of its moral and religious condition at the time when it was permitte... [ Continue Reading ]
The verses before as contain an account of the fifth trumpet.... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:2. No sooner was the well opened than THERE WENT UP A SMOKE OUT OF THE WELL AS THE SMOKE OF A GREAT FURNACE. The smoke must be thought of as so thick and black that the sun was shrouded from view and the whole air darkened. It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that-darkness is th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:3. OUT OF THE SMOKE, WE ARE next told, THERE CAME FORTH LOCUSTS INTO THE EARTH. WE need not ask whether these locusts came out of the well, or only out of the smoke after it reached the surface of the earth. The latter is all that the Seer beholds, but it cannot be doubted that he looks... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:4. In one respect, indeed, there is A remarkable distinction between the ravages of the locusts mentioned here and those of the common locusts of the earth. GRASS and trees and all green things are what the last lay desolate, but such things these locusts are forbidden to touch. It was... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:5. While ‘men' are thus the object of the locust plague, its violence is even AS to them restrained. AND IT WAS GIVEN THEM THAT THEY SHOULD NOT KILL THEM, BUT THAT THEY SHOULD BE TORMENTED FIVE MONTHS. The killing of men is reserved for a still higher stage of judgment, under the sixth... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:6. So terrible is the plague that men shall eagerly, but in vain, desire to die a point reached under the _sixth_ seal, but now under the _fifth_ trumpet, the usual climax of the Apocalypse. Before passing on it may be well to notice the remarkable double reference to the book of Job in... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:7-11. The locusts are now more particularly described, and the description consists of three parts; the first general, the second special, the third the locust king. The general description. Their shapes are like HORSES PREPARED FOR WAR. The same comparison is found in Joel 2:4; and th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:12. We are now at a higher stage of judgment than in the seals. More solemnity therefore befits the occasion. At the close of the fifth seal we passed directly to the sixth: not so now. The Seer interposes with the warning, The one woe is passed; behold, there come yet two woes hereafte... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:13-14. When the trumpet sounded, the Seer HEARD ONE VOICE OUT OF THE HORNS OF THE GOLDEN ALTAR WHICH IS BEFORE GOD. This ‘golden altar' is the altar of incense already mentioned in chap. Revelation 8:3 as that the incense of which mingled with the prayers of the oppressed saints. We can... [ Continue Reading ]
The verses before us contain an account of the sixth trumpet... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:15. A new circumstance connected with the four angels is added in this verse. They had not only been bound: they had been kept ready for an appointed moment. THEY HAD BEEN PREPARED UNTO THE HOUR AND DAY AND MONTH AND YEAR. The translation of these last words in the Authorised Version co... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:16-17. A further part of the vision is unfolded, in which we are introduced to HORSEMEN, as if we were already familiar with them, although nothing had been said of them before. The number of the horsemen was so great that they could not be counted: St. John only HEARD THE NUMBER OF THE... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:18. Before the description of the horses is continued, the effect of the three plagues that issue from their mouths is noticed. BY THESE THREE PLAGUES WAS THE THIRD PART OF MEN KILLED, the third part, that is, of men over the whole earth, and whatever the division of the human race to w... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:19. The description of the horses is resumed, for the purpose of bringing out another terrible feature of their destructive power. That power is also IN THEIR TAILS, FOR THEIR TAILS ARE LIKE UNTO SERPENTS, HAVING HEADS, AND WITH THEM THEY DO HURT. Three characteristics of the tails are... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:20-21. The vision is over, but the guilt of the world which was now under judgment has to be set forth with greater fulness, in order that we may better understand the evil of sin and the justness of the judgments that overtake it. AND THE REST OF MEN WHICH WERE NOT KILLED IN THESE PLAG... [ Continue Reading ]