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

When I was a teenager my father thought that the description which John gives of the locusts released by the fifth trumpet sounded like a description of the military helicopters used in Vietnam.  The members of the Church I grew up in were convinced that Christ’s Return was imminent. So, they spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the events described here, and in other prophecies of the End Times, applied to what they saw going on around them.  Many of them even thought that they could calculate the date (or a close approximation of it) if they just looked at these passages closely enough.  My father did not believe that was possible, but he did believe that we should look at the prophecies made here and see how they were being fulfilled around us.  My father believed that we should live our lives as if we KNEW that Christ would return tomorrow.  I fail to live up to that, but I believe he was correct.

Now, let’s look at what John writes here.  After the fifth trumpet sounded, people faced great suffering and hardship, but no one died from it.  Followed by the sixth trumpet sounding and a third of mankind died violent, painful deaths.  Yet, no one repented of their sins.  No one looked at the suffering and death and said, “We should change our ways and turn to God.”  While I do not see events in the world right now which match up to these two prophecies, I do see people behaving in a similar manner.  They see great suffering, but no one died, so why should they change their ways?  Then, they see people die, but their response is, “What difference would it make if I change my ways?  It’s not my sin which caused these problems.  It is other people who need to change their ways.”

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

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.

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

One thing I want to note about the Book of Revelation: it reads like an account of a dream.  The best way I can describe what I mean is by giving an example from dreams I have had.  I have had dreams which took place in the house I grew up in with people who would have been in that house while I was growing up, then I go through a door into a room that was never in that house and the people who were with me are now different people, and yet the same.  There appear to be scene shifts in John’s vision which involve real world events which are only connected in terms of God’s plans, not anything we can see without revelation from God (and I wonder if some of the events described in this vision take part solely in the spiritual realm with no connection to real world events we can recognize).  With that introduction I will start writing about today’s passage.  John describes smoke which rose from the earth after a star fell from the sky.  Out of the smoke came locusts which had the power to inflict pain in the manner of scorpions.  These locusts will inflict torment on those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The star fell from the sky after the blowing of the fifth trumpet.  After the five months of torment, the sixth trumpet will sound.  When the sixth trumpet sounds four angels will lead mounted troops throughout the earth to slay a third of mankind with fire, smoke, and sulfur.  Reading that I can make no connection to what that would look like in physical world events.  I wondered if the seal of God on the forehead would have a physical manifestation which could be seen, or if it will be purely figurative?  Which leads me to ask, to what degree are the rest of the things described in this part of John'[s vision figurative and to what degree will they have physical manifestations which we can connect to what he describes?

I am going to skip to the end of today’s passage to a scene which most clearly illustrates that dream-like jump in focus I referred to at the beginning of today’s blog.  In the account of the woman and the great dragon, the dragon waits in an attempt to devour the woman’s child, but is thwarted when the child was snatched up to God.  The dragon is the devil, or Satan, while the child is Jesus.  John makes it clear that from the moment of His birth, Satan sought to destroy Jesus, but failed.  The woman is the Jewish people collectively.    The dragon pursued the woman, but she flew to a safe place which had been prepared for her.  I cannot help but think that the safe place described is the modern state of Israel (but it may be something much more figurative).  Unable to destroy the woman, the dragon turned its attention to her other offspring, those who follow Jesus.  So, Satan, the devil, has sought to destroy the Jewish people, and seeks to destroy those who follow Jesus.

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

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

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

Every year when I read this passage I try to find an interpretation of the events John describes which feels like what John predicted, and every year I fail to be satisfied by what comes to my mind.  However, there are several things which are clear to me.  First, each trumpet blast takes place some length of time after the previous (for example, the suffering after the fifth trumpet blast lasts for at least five months). Next, the suffering brought about in response to the trumpet blasts was not directed at those who had been marked as being among those who serve God.  The final thing from this passage I want to comment on today applies to circumstances outside of those being described in this vision.  Those who experience plagues and other suffering because of their rejection of God will not respond to that suffering by repenting of their sin and turning to God.  This last never ceases to amaze me when I consider the number of people I have known who experienced suffering brought about by their own actions, yet refused to change those actions in order to reduce their suffering.

I am fascinated by the the account of the small scroll, the one of the two witnesses, and of the woman and the dragon.  Despite having some thoughts on those portions of today’s passage, I find myself unable to put those thoughts into a form which would allow me to write about them here.  Perhaps I should seek a small group study of the Book of Revelation where we can talk about what to make of these things.