Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 9-12.

John writes that when the fifth trumpet is blown a star will fall from the sky to earth and be given the keys to the Abyss.  When the star opens the Abyss, smoke will rise out of it and darken the sky.  Locusts, which look like horses, will emerge and torture those who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.  The angel of the Abyss, also known as The Destroyer (Abaddon in Hebrew, and Apollyon in Greek) , was king over these locusts with the sting of a scorpion.  Tradition holds that Abaddon is one of Satan’s fallen angels, but there is reason to connect Abaddon with the angel who killed the first-born of Egypt, and the angel who spread the plague over Israel after King David’s census.  If those other angels were serving God in bringing destruction, perhaps Abaddon is also.  In fact we have four more angels who carried forth destruction at God’s command after the sixth trumpet is blown.

Which brings me to something that I want to pull out for extra attention.  After the sixth trumpet is blown, the four angels are released and kill one third of all mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur.  Yet, those who survived refused to repent of their sin and idolatry.  They did not turn from their murders, thefts, sexual immorality, or magic arts.  It strikes me as how true this is to human nature.  There have been several times in my lifetime when the actions of people led to suffering for many of those who performed those actions, yet others refused to stop taking the actions which increased the likelihood of suffering the same fate.  Likewise, we should remember this prophecy when trying to bring the Gospel to those around us: many of them will refuse to turn from their sin, even in the face of great suffering.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.