Revelation 9:20

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: THE REST OF THE MEN - i:e., the ungodly. YET. So A, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic; B 'Aleph (') read, 'did not even repent of,' so as to give up "the works," etc. Like Pharaoh hardening his heart against repentance, notwithstanding the plagues. OF THEIR HANDS - (.) Especially the idols made by their hands. Compare Revelation 13:14; . THAT THEY SHOULD NOT. So B;...

13-21 The sixth angel sounded, and here the power of the Turks seems the subject. Their time is limited. They not only slew in war, but brought a poisonous and ruinous religion. The antichristian generation repented not under these dreadful judgments. From this sixth trumpet learn that God can make one enemy of the church a scourge and a plague to another. The idolatry in the remains of the eastern church and elsewhere, and the sins of professed Christians, render this prophecy and its fulfilment more wonderful. And the attentive reader of Scripture and history, may find his faith and hope strengthened by events, which in other respects fill his heart with anguish and his eyes with tears, while he sees that men who escape these plagues, repent not of their evil works, but go on with idolatries, wickedness, and cruelty, till wrath comes upon them to the utmost....

Verse Revelation 9:20. _YET REPENTED NOT_] The commission which these horsemen had was against idolaters; and though multitudes of them were destroyed, yet the residue continued their senseless attachment to dumb idols, and therefore heavier judgments might be expected. These things are supposed to refer to the desolation brought upon the Greek Church by the _Ottomans_, who entirely ruined that Church and the Greek empire. The Church which was then remaining was the _Latin_ or western Church, which was not at all corrected by the judgments which fell upon the eastern Church, but continued its senseless adoration of angels, saints, relics, c., and does so to the present day. If, therefore, God's wrath be kindled against such, this Church has much to fear....

AND THE REST OF THE MEN WHICH WERE NOT KILLED BY THESE PLAGUES ... - One third part is represented as swept off, and it might have been expected that a salutary effect would have been produced on the remainder, in reforming them, and restraining them from error and sin. The writer proceeds to state, however, that these judgments did not have the effect which might reasonably have been anticipated. No reformation followed; there was no abandonment of the prevailing forms of iniquity; there was no change in their idolatry and superstition. In regard to the exact meaning of what is here stated Revelation 9:20, it will be a more convenient arrangement to consider it after we have ascertained the proper application of the passage relating to the sixth trumpet. What is here stated...

EXPOSITION REVELATION 9:1 AND THE FIFTH ANGEL SOUNDED, AND I SAW A STAR FALL FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH; _a star from heaven fallen unto the earth _(Revised Version); not _saw a star fall. _(For the distinctive character of the last three judgments, see on Revelation 8:2.) "A star" sometimes signifies one high in position. Thus Numbers 24:17, "There shall come a star out of Jacob;" Daniel 8:10, "And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground." In Revelation 1:20

AND THE REST OF MEN WHICH WERE NOT KILLED BY THESE PLAGUES,.... By whom are meant the western antichristian party; and such of them as were not plagued, harassed, and destroyed by the Turks, as in Germany, at least some parts of it, France, Spain, Italy, c. YET REPENTED NOT OF THE WORKS OF THEIR HANDS: their idols, their images of saints departed, which their hands had made the goodness of God in saving them from the depredations of the Turks, should have led them to repentance for their idolatrous worship of images, but it did not: THAT THEY SHOULD NOT WORSHIP DEVILS; or demons, a sort of deities with the Heathens, that mediated between the superior gods and men; and here design angels and saints departed, which the Papists worship, and use as mediators of intercession for them; and this is no other than worshipping of devils, in God's account, and is downright idolatry, and the doctr...

CHAPTER 9 Revelation 9:1 . The remaining three trumpets have a “woe” attached to each. This is announced in the last verse of the preceding chapter, where the word angel should be “eagle.” An eagle, the bird of prey, proclaims the threefold woe. He acts thus as a herald of great judgments (Matthew 24:28, Revelation 19:17). The fifth trumpet is a special judgment upon apostate Israel: because those who suffer are they “which have not the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4). The great tribulation in the second half of the week, comes now into prominence. If we turn to...

THE SIXTH TRUMPET OR THE SECOND WOE. The loosing of the four angels of death, and the slaughter of a third part of the human race. REVELATION 9:13. THE HORNS: the corners. THE GOLDEN ALTAR: _cf. Revelation 8:3_. Revelation 9:14. Loose the four angels: these angels are kept bound in the river Euphrates (_cf. Revelation 16:12_) waiting for the day of vengeance. There is a striking parallel in a Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra, Let these four kings be loosed which are bound near the great river Euphrates which shall destroy a third part of mankind. Many commentators see in this refere

2 The term here used for year is not _Kairos,_ the prophetic year of twelve months, or 360 days, but _eniautos,_ the regular solar year of 365. days. Hence the period named in the text would be 365. plus 30 plus. plus 1-12 equals 396 4-12 days, or in years, 306 years and four months.. The origin of this singular badge of power among the Turks is said to be that in one of their early battles their banner was captured by. charge of the enemy, whereupon their leader out off the tail of his horse, hoisted in on. spear, and called on all to follow that banner into the conflict. Under this banner they fought and won this battle.. It is taught authoritatively in the works of canonized Romish Saints, works accepted as of canonical authority, that if. priest marry he shall be excommunicated. but that if he keeps. concubine he shall only be fined.--_ Works of St. Liguori, Doc. Mor. p._ 444....

THE UNLOCKING OF THE ABYSS (Revelation 9:1-2) _ 9:1,2 The fifth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet, and I saw a star failing from heaven on the earth, and to him there was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss; and he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up from the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss._ The picture of terror mounts in its awful intensity. Now the terrors coming upon the earth are beyond nature; they are demonic; the abyss is being opened and superhuman terrors are being despatched upon the world. The picture will become clearer if we remember that John thinks of the stars as living beings. This is common in Enoch where, for instance, we read of wandering and disobedient stars being bound hand and foot and cast into the abyss (Enoch 86:1; 88:1).