The Book of Revelation: Part 18, The Fifth Trumpet

Revelation 9:1-12 (BSB)

We are in week 18 of our sermon series on the book of Revelation. John is continuing to explain the vision he received from the Lord. He has been describing the throne room of God, and in particular, a scroll that had seven seals affixed to it. The Lamb has been opening the seals one at a time, and after the seventh seal was opened, there was half an hour of silence, and then a gold censer was thrown to earth, followed by the first four of seven trumpets. Just like when the seals were opened, terrible things have been happening each time a trumpet is sounded.

Today, we are reading the first half of chapter 9, when the fifth trumpet is sounded. To review, when the first trumpet was sounded, John says that hail and fire were cast to earth, and a third of the earth and trees were burned up, and all the grass. When the second trumpet sounded, something like a great mountain was cast into the sea, and a third of the sea turned to blood, and a third of the sea creatures died, and a third of all ships were destroyed. When the third trumpet sounded, a great star fell upon a third of the rivers, turning the water bitter, and many people died. When the fourth trumpet sounded, a third of the sun, moon, and stars were struck so that they became dark and did not shine. Then, if you remember, after the fourth trumpet was heard, an eagle flying cried, “Woe, woe,” to the people on earth because of the three “woes” that are still to happen as the last three trumpets are sounded.

Let’s read what happens when the fifth trumpet—the first woe—is heard. Revelation 9:1-12 says:

1 Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss. 

2 The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.

3 And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.

4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 

5 The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion. 

6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.

7 And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads; and their faces were like the faces of men. 

8 They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions. 

9 They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 

10 They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. 

11 They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to follow.

That eagle was right to cry out a warning. This woe does seem worse than the events that followed the previous four trumpets. But just as I asked last week, what if God’s answer to the prayers of His people is to bring judgment on the ungodly? And if so, it’s possible then that the trumpets and the events that follow are showing further judgments on the earth or even what will happen when Jesus returns in final judgment.

Before the seventh seal was opened, the winds were paused in order to place a seal on the forehead of every servant of God, marking His people. In light of this passage, I must ask you: Do you wear the seal of God on your forehead? It’s not a literal seal that we can see, but it is a necessary seal, nonetheless. To be sealed with the seal of the living God means that you belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ—that you have repented of your sins, asked Jesus to forgive you, and have received the Holy Spirit. So, let me ask it the traditional way: Do you have faith in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God? If so, then you too have received a mark and belong to the Lamb.

Now, let’s go back and look at this passage again, taking it one verse at a time. Verse 1 says, “Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss.”

I mentioned last week how we are told that the term “star” may sometimes refer to angels. In Revelation 1:20, it says, “This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” Although, to be fair, I should mention that a lot of theologians think the term ‘angel’ means the leader of each of those seven churches. But I think the term angel means “heavenly being.” And as I said when we looked at those letters, each church seems to have an angel who is assigned to it.

And here, in this chapter, we see that exact same term being used by John, and I think we can assume that star means angel again, and clearly it is not a literal star or an elder of a church who is given a key to the pit of the Abyss—it is an angel.

The word for Abyss is the Greek word abussos, and it means “Abyss, bottomless pit, deep.” It is the same word used in Luke 8:31 when Jesus cast some demons out of a man. It says, “And the demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss.” Jesus sent the demons into a herd of pigs instead, and the pigs rushed down a steep hill into a lake and drowned.

Back in Revelation 1:18, Jesus said, “I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.” So, now, an angel has been given a key to the pit. And this angel is described as “a star that had fallen from heaven to earth.”

This text alone does not make it clear whether this angel is a “fallen angel” and, if so, if it is Satan. But the use of the words “fallen from heaven to earth” makes me think it was. The Greek word is piptó and it means “To fall, to descend, to perish, to fail.” It’s the same word used by Jesus in Luke 10:18, when He says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

At any rate, the key being given to this angel lets us know that the angel is under the authority of Jesus who holds the keys. Then verse 2 tells us what happens when the key is given. It says, “The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit.”

If you remember, when the first four trumpets sounded, many of those effects were similar to the plagues in the book of Exodus, and it’s the same thing now. The ninth plague of Egypt brought total darkness. But this time, with the darkness coming from smoke, it’s also similar to the sixth plague that brought boils. God had told Moses to take soot from a furnace and spread it in the air. Exodus 9:10 says, “Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast.”

Instead of boils breaking out on everyone, though, after the sun and air darkened, then verse 3 says, “And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.”

The locusts are reminiscent of the eighth plague of Egypt. Exodus 10:12-15 says, “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.’ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be. They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.”

So, for sure, these locusts in John’s vision could be literal locusts, just as there were literal locusts who were brought in judgment against the Egyptians. But, as we see from the rest of their descriptions, they certainly don’t seem like ordinary locusts, and so this seems like symbolism. And something else to note, in that passage of Exodus, God says He will never again send so many locusts like that.

What is really interesting, though, is something that Ellicott points out in his commentary on this verse. He brings up the point that this language is very similar to something Jesus says to His disciples. Seventy-two disciples had returned from proclaiming the Kingdom of God to people, and they were filled with joy that the demons submitted to them in Jesus’ name. Back to that passage in Luke, Luke 10:18-20 says, “So He told them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven’.” As Ellicott remarks, “The coincidence is hardly undesigned.”

And indeed, that promise Jesus made is fulfilled, for verse 4 says that these locusts, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” 

In Exodus, the locusts don’t directly harm any people. They do what normal locusts do: they eat all the plants. Here, they act the opposite. They leave the plants alone, and instead, they harm people.

But again, we see the mercy of the Lord, because all of God’s people who have the seal of God on their foreheads are not harmed. And also, too, the people who are not marked as His are not killed. As verse 5 tells us, “The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion.”

Something interesting to know about locusts is that their average life span is between three and five months. But if this vision is not talking about literal locusts, then we also shouldn’t assume though that the five months is to be taken literally. But let’s assume for a moment that we are to take it literally. I don’t know if you’ve ever been stung by a scorpion, but I have. It’s similar to a bee sting, but more intense in pain. It feels like burning. I cannot imagine feeling that sort of pain for a sustained amount of time, much less enduring that for five entire months.

When the scorpion stung my foot, I quickly pulled the stinger out, and then shortly the pain went away. If that had stayed in my foot, it would have felt unbearable. I see why verse 6 says, “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.”

But these things causing unbearable torment are not scorpions—John says they are locusts, but clearly not ordinary ones. Verse 7 says, “And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads; and their faces were like the faces of men.”

And as if that wasn’t strange enough, verse 8 says, “They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions.”

This isn’t the first time that the Bible has described locusts as having teeth like a lion. The book of Joel contains a prophecy where God warns His people that if they do not repent, they will face His righteous judgment. He tells them in Joel 1:4, “What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.” Then, Joel 1:6 adds, “For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness.” This seems to be describing literal locusts, but it’s also possible he is talking about an actual army of men. Regardless, the similarity to this vision in Revelation is unmistakable.

Then John adds even more detail in verse 9, which says, “They also had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.”

We also see that same sort of imagery in the rest of Joel 2:1-32. The prophecy is quite long, so for the sake of time I have condensed it. But note right away—it also begins with a trumpet being sounded. It says, “Blow the ram’s horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the Day of the LORD is coming; indeed, it is near—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like the dawn overspreading the mountains a great and strong army appears, such as never was of old, nor will ever be in ages to come. Before them a fire devours, and behind them a flame scorches. The land before them is like the Garden of Eden, but behind them, it is like a desert wasteland—surely nothing will escape them. Their appearance is like that of horses, and they gallop like swift steeds. With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle. Nations writhe in horror before them; every face turns pale. They charge like mighty men; they scale the walls like men of war. Each one marches in formation, not swerving from the course…Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness. The LORD raises His voice in the presence of His army. Indeed, His camp is very large, for mighty are those who obey His command. For the Day of the LORD is great and very dreadful. Who can endure it?”

Joel asks, “Who can endure it?” Then, he goes on to say that if the people repent, God will relent from sending disaster. The rest of that chapter, verses 12-19, tell how God will relent if everyone will turn to Him. And then God makes a promise in verse 20, saying, “The northern army I will drive away from you, banishing it to a barren and desolate land, its front ranks into the Eastern Sea, and its rear guard into the Western Sea.” Then the prophecy describes how God will bless the people who turn to Him and repent in verses 21-24. And in verse 25, it says, “I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.”

Joel’s prophecy was given to a specific people at a specific time, warning them about what was going to happen to them. God wanted the people to heed the warning and repent. But it ends, in verses 28-32, by saying something important to all of us. It says, “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on My menservants and maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.”

As Barnes says in his commentary about this prophecy in Joel, “‘The Day of the Lord’ is any day in which He avengeth sin, any day of Judgment, in the course of His Providence or at the end.” So, we don’t know for sure if the prophecy in Joel is speaking of a judgment on those specific people only, or if it’s about the end times, or both. In that same way, we don’t know if these trumpets that John is describing are announcing the end of the world or if they are representative of particular times of judgment of God.

By seeing that the Bible has used this sort of imagery before to describe God’s judgment, that tells us that the point isn’t what these locusts represent so much as what this tells us about God. It tells us that God has consistently brought judgment against sin, but He’s also consistently called out to people to repent and escape that judgment.

Back to John’s description, in verse 10 he adds that these locusts, “They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months.”

Again, he mentions that this judgment is to last for five months. And, unlike the judgment in Joel, these locusts are not harming the land—they are injuring people. That is more reason to believe that this is not the same prophecy that Joel is foretelling and nor are these literal locusts.

And indeed, there are many different ways of interpreting this passage. Barnes states that in Revelation, whenever there are dates or lengths of time mentioned, we should interpret it to mean that one day equals one year. So, when it says that they could torment people for 5 months, one way to understand that is 150 years. And he then goes into great detail explaining all the specifics, but at the end he states that “the fifth trumpet—the symbol of the locusts—is referred to the Arabian hordes under the guidance of Muhammed and his successors.” And it’s possible he is correct, or at least he is correct in the idea that these locusts are symbols of violent hordes of armies throughout history that had power for a certain amount of time.

Because what’s interesting is that throughout history, there has been devastation as widespread as John describes. I think some people tend to think that John’s vision is beyond anything we’ve ever seen before, but if you look at history, there have been many periods of horrific destruction and killing. In the book The Church of the East, it quotes from the Chronica Major, which was published in 1240. It says about the Mongols who conquered so much of the world, that they were “Swarming like locusts over the face of the earth, they have brought terrible devastation to the eastern part (of Europe), laying it waste with fire and carnage. After having passed through the land of the Saracens, they have razed cities, cut down forest, overthrown fortresses, pulled up vines, destroyed gardens, and killed townspeople and peasants…ravaging and slaughtering, and striking everyone with terror and incomparable horror” (p.79). That book also adds that, after that, the Mongol ruler Halaku came to power, and he caused so much carnage, “Persian writers say that the Tigris was swollen with waves of blood” (Holzmann, p.80).

That is just one example, but sadly, this is a scenario that has played out many times, and sadly, could happen again. I don’t think it would take us very long to find multiple eras in history that lasted for roughly 150 years when different empires waged war against a part of the world. In light of all that, I think this vision is most likely emblematic of the horrors of war, and not just the devastation of strange looking locusts.

But perhaps most telling of all, verse 11 brings us back to the beginning of this fifth trumpet and tells us something more we need to know about these locusts. It says, “They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.”

I say this is telling because, in a different book in Scripture, we learn something important about actual locusts. Proverbs 30:27 says, “The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation.” So maybe that is yet another clue that these locusts in Revelation are not literal locusts, because they do have a king. And their king is not just a human king, but a king from the abyss.

You may recognize the name Apollyon if you’ve ever read John Bunyan’s book, The Pilgrim’s Progress. In that, Apollyon is a hideous monster whom the main character, Christian, has to fight. Apollyon throws a flaming dart at Christian who has a shield in his hand and easily catches the dart with the shield. Further battle ensues, but in the end Christian is victorious. Bunyan’s point is that we must have faith (which the Bible tells us is a shield) if we are to stand against the attacks of the devil.

In John’s vision, these demon-led “locusts” are not allowed to harm any of God’s servants who have the seal of God on their foreheads. In other words, they are not allowed to harm anybody who has faith in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Now, to be sure, we shouldn’t forget that John has also shown us that even God’s servants who are clothed in white and follow Him may end up as martyrs. That shows us that even following the Lord to the best of our ability, like Christian in The Pilgrim’s Progress, we will still face attacks from the enemy, and those attacks may even lead to our physical death. But with the seal on our forehead—with the shield of faith—we will ultimately be victorious, because even if we die, we will be with the Lord.

And so, when locusts led by servants of the devil wage war against us, we do not need to fear because the Lamb is still in control of what they are ultimately allowed to do to us. And when God brings judgment against evil, using evil itself to judge those who don’t follow the Lamb, we can trust that the Lord is looking out for us and restraining their ability to harm us. We can rejoice that even death cannot separate us from the Lamb if we belong to Him.

Because as verse 12 warns us, “The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to follow.” That means there is more to come.

For now, though, what I want us to consider is this: Joel had asked, “Who can endure it?” Whether the righteous judgments of God against sinful people brings swarms of literal locusts, swarms of an attacking army of men, or swarms of demons out of the abyss, who can endure it? John’s vision answers that question. Only those who have been sealed by the Lamb.

So, one final time, let me ask, are you sealed by faith? If not, it is not too late. As Joel prophesied, “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.” Repent, turn from sin, and place your trust in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. So that you too can endure the coming day of the Lord.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Jesus to die on the Cross and rise again, so that by believing in Him we might have salvation. Thank You that through our faith in Jesus, You have given us the Holy Spirit as a seal on us, marking us as Your servants. When we face trials and persecution, danger and threats, please help us to trust in You and wield our shield of faith. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.