Revelation Sermon - 21

Lars Janssen

Revelation Series • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Revelation: Locusts, Locusts Everywhere!

Revelation 9:1-12

1. Introduction – If you read ahead this week, right off the bat you should notice that this trumpet has a lot more detail than the previous four.

a. Hopefully you also noticed an escalation in the judgment. Trumpets 1-4 affected different portions of nature…

i. Vegetation, oceans, rivers, sun, moon, and starts.

1. But trumpets 5 and 6 affect people – specifically these trumpet plagues affect the unrepentant – those who don’t have the seal of God written on them.

ii. There’s also an escalation in the language, because before the last 3 trumpets are blown an eagle announces them as ‘terrors,’ or as other translations call them – ‘woes.’

1. In other words, the eagle soars in mid heaven and says, “You think the first four trumpets were bad??? You haven’t seen anything yet.”

b. What we have to keep in mind as we study this trumpet blast, this section, this chapter, the rest of the book – is that God only pours out his judgment on unbelievers.

i. And Revelation uses a technical term to describe the unbelievers. Revelation uses the phrase ‘earth-dwellers’ or ‘those who belong to this earth.’

1. The judgments of the 7 trumpets, the judgments we’ll see in the rest of the book are only for those who reject God, who reject Jesus and refuse to walk the path that he has set out for us.

a. Christians, those who have been sealed by God, have nothing to fear.

c. Since this section is lengthy, since it is packed full or details, we are only going to study this one trumpet this morning.

i. There’s so much in here to learn, so here’s what we are going to focus on this morning.

1. We are going to look at the images being used while we also study the sequence of events.

a. We’ll look at the purpose of this vision, and finally, we’ll study what this passage means for our lives today.

2. Understanding the Images – so the first image we see in this chapter is that of an angel falling to earth with a key to open the bottomless pit.

a. A couple points to consider…first, who is this angel? There’s some debate to this.

i. Some scholars take the word ‘fallen’ in a moral sense.

1. Meaning this in a fallen angel, maybe even Satan himself, who is given the key and opens the pit.

a. They think that because in Isaiah 14, the king of Babylon is described as an angel falling from the sky, and Jesus uses the same sentence when he said he saw, “Satan fall from heaven like a falling star.’

i. So ‘fallen’ or ‘falling’ in this cause could mean that this is a demon or Satan himself who has been given authority by God to open the pit.

b. But I think the evidence is stronger for the second option. This is simply an angel, coming to earth from heaven, who is doing God work.

i. This angel was given divine authority to open the pit.

1. The reason I think the text supports this view is because throughout the book of Revelation, God always has angels do his bidding.

a. He never calls upon demons or fallen angels to blow trumpets or pour out bowls, or here, open the lid to the bottomless pit.

i. The role of this angel in 9:1 is no different from the 5th angel who blows his trumpet to initiate the action and execute the divinely orchestrated plan.

c. So, the angel comes down from heaven and opens the bottomless pit.

i. Smoke comes billowing out of it and its so thick that it hides the sunlight and pollutes the air.

1. And out of the smoke, not the smoke itself, but out of the smoke comes a nasty, creepy, massive mob of locusts.

a. And before we study how these locusts are described, pay attention to their activity.

3. What These Locusts Do – Remember last week we talked about how trumpets 1-4 are reminiscent of the Egyptian plagues only on a much larger scale?

a. Well, so is trumpet 5. It is a reimagining of the plague of locusts, blown up to colossal proportions.

i. But locusts in the Egyptian plagues, and at any other time throughout history, normally devastate crops.

1. There are accounts of massive swarms of locusts swooping in to areas and eating all the vegetation clean.

a. It looked like the land was ravaged by fire – bone dry, because locusts consumed all the vegetation.

b. But here in Revelation 9, did you hear what these locusts are told?

i. Don’t eat the grass or plants or trees. Hmm, first indication that these aren’t ordinary locusts.

1. Locusts naturally eat vegetation, but not these ones.

c. They were commanded to torture and torment whose who did not have the seal of God on their forehead.

i. In other words, instead of just being annoying and buzzing around your head…

1. Instead of devastating crops, as horrible as that is, these locusts were given the ability to torment and inflict pain upon the earth dwellers.

a. The torment lasted for 5 months – probably not a literal number, most numbers in Revelation are symbolic.

i. 5 months probably best corresponds to the life span of actual locusts, or it could represent the months of the dry season in Asia Minor – a time in which locusts were usually active.

4. How They Look – Now, look at how these locusts are described.

a. Again, we aren’t to analyze this vision down to the finest detail…we are to experience the shock and horror and the fear that such images would have evoked to their first century audience.

i. Long-haired, horse-shaped, flying locusts with scorpion tails and golden crowns above human faces marred by lions’ teeth. That’s how one commentator described them.

1. They have to be among the most bizarre creatures in Revelation and maybe even the whole Bible.

a. These creatures were unnatural and cruel.

b. And we could spend a lot of time this morning studying each individual characteristic, but I think the overall, big picture description is terrifying enough without going into nitty gritty detail.

i. John describes these locusts from their heads down to their tails. And there are a couple points to note.

1. First, notice John’s use of the word ‘like’ or the phrase ‘as it were.’ Hear this as John struggling to find adequate words to describe what he is seeing.

a. John says the locusts are like this and like that…that they had the power to sting like scorpions.

i. A couple of times, John says they have the power of a scorpion, not the appearance of one.

1. So, take note of the word ‘like’ and instead of analyzing down to the finest detail – take in the overall effect of these terrifying and hideous creatures.

c. Secondly, take note of the phrase ‘looked like gold crowns on their heads.’ John makes a very important contrast with this phrase.

i. In Revelation, celestial and heavenly beings wear golden crowns. The elders wear gold crowns, which they cast down at the foot of the throne around the glassy sea.

1. In Revelation 14:14, one like the Son of Man – Jesus – is also seen wearing a golden crown.

a. But here in 9:7, the locusts are wearing a ‘goldlike’ crown.

i. This is an impostor’s, a usurper’s crown. These locusts are claiming for themselves an authority which they do not possess.

ii. True gold crowns are reserved for heavenly beings who have been given authority by God.

d. So what is John describing here? An actual terrifying swarm of locusts? Or a demonic army coming to wreak havoc?

i. These locusts are most definitely demonic in nature – making their way up from the bottomless pit, flying out in a great cloud of smoke, wreaking havoc on the people who belong to the earth…

1. Not to mention that “The Destroyer” is their king.

a. We could spend time sketching out what these locusts looked like, we could spend lots of time trying to find modern day parallels.

ii. And that could be helpful because here in 21st century North America, we don’t really fear a plague of locusts like the 1st century in Asia Minor.

1. We fear nuclear war or something of the like, but we can’t make modern day one for one equivalence and say that that’s what John saw.

a. We don’t need to analyze this down to the finest detail, we need to experience the shock and terror of the images being described.

iii. And what’s being described is a hideous, powerful, and awful army that is demonic in nature.

5. Their Purpose – So we’ve looked at the sequence of events for this trumpet woe.

a. We’ve looked at the description of these locusts…now I want to focus your attention on their mission. And it’s a strange one.

b. Look at what their command was…again, don’t harm the vegetation. Ordinarily locusts were harmful to crops and harmless to people – but these locusts are just the opposite.

i. But note who they were command to torment – only those who didn’t have the seal of God on their forehead.

1. Only the earth dwellers…only those who didn’t worship God and follow the way of the Lamb.

a. Do you see why this is strange??? An army of demonic locusts charged with only attacking who??? Those who reject God. Do you see what’s happening?

i. Evil is turning on itself.

1. An army of locusts is released form the pit – commanded to torment for 5 months…who???

a. The very people who worship their king.

c. This points to a couple things.

i. First, God’s people are protected from this onslaught. If God seals his people, he also protects them from the harm caused by this demonic army.

d. But this passage also shows the ungodly the foolishness of their ways. Eventually evil will turn on itself.

i. And presumably the period of five months is there and the torment comes as a means of causing people to repent and turn to God.

1. This is not an act of indiscriminate cruelty, but a divine way of showing that evil cannot and will not go unpunished.

ii. This scene shows that eventually, evil will be unleashed…on itself. It shows that the forces of evil hate and torture their own followers.

e. And one last point and we’ll head into some application…know this…

i. Evil is powerless unless God gives it permission to act.

1. Often, we have this idea that the spiritual warfare we face is a battle between equals.

a. It’s not. Greater is he who is in you than he that is in the world.

ii. As terrible and destructive and terrifying as this army of locusts is – they have limited time to operate and limited power which they can use.

1. And even the forces of evil operate under the authority and lordship of God…as weird as that may seem.

a. Spiritual battles are not fought on an even playing field. Evil has already been defeated at the cross.

i. The devil and his minions are not independent operators who act outside the authority of God.

1. God’s reach is so big, it even includes the destructive forces of evil.

6. Application – So how does a passage about demonic locusts help us today? How does it apply to our lives?

a. Well, this is part of God’s word. And I believe that every part of God’s word is profitable to us.

i. That being said, there are different passages that are useful for different circumstances.

b. This passage isn’t all that useful to comfort someone who is grieving, or to bring peace to the hurting.

i. But, a passage like the 5th trumpet in Revelation is useful to us as Christian because it can effectively shake us up out of our spiritual malaise and complacency.

c. This passage reminds us that we must be passionately and wholeheartedly devoted to God and to the Lamb.

i. It reminds us of the heinousness of evil and reminds us that when it comes to worship, there is no neutral ground.

1. We are either worshipping at the feet of the Lamb or following the ways of the beast.

a. We are either worship God wholeheartedly or we worship the beast and he has your allegiance.

ii. We’ve already been reminded of this when we studied the letter to the church in Laodicea.

1. Jesus has nothing good to say about spiritual complacency and lukewarmness.

d. One of the big questions Revelations asks is ‘Who do you worship?” “Where does your allegiance lie?’

i. Revelation 7 reminds us what happens to those who have been sealed by God.

1. Eternal worship in front of God’s throne.

a. And Revelation 9 shows us what happens to those who receive the mark of the beast and claim allegiance to him.

i. Torture at the hands of the one they worship.

e. And this is once again a call to repentance for those who haven’t yet decided to follow Jesus.

i. Evil will eventually turn on itself. There is no middle ground – either you are for God or you are against him.

1. And if you are against him, if the way of the world has your allegiance, then you can expect that one day the rulers of this world will turn on the very ones who follow them.

a. This chapter serves as a wake-up call to Christians and non-Christians alike.

i. It serves to shake Christians from complacency and to awaken non-Christians to heinousness of evil in order to cause them to repent and turn to God.

f. For next week, read Revelation 9:13-21. Ask yourself the questions “what leaps out at me” and “what confuse me” as you read the blowing of the sixth trumpet.

i. And when we gather together next week, we’ll try to make sense of this passage as we study what it says, what it means and how it too applies to our lives today.