Line upon line, chapter by chapter, that is God's Way of Bible study. I'm assuming those reading this have already studied the previous Revelation chapters and the rest of the Books of God's Word.
The last 3 trumpets in our Lord Jesus' Book of Revelation serves as a type of key to the timeline event order for the last days. Reason they are emphasized in God's Word is because each of those last 3 trumpets has a Woe attached to them. Each trumpet - woe serves as a particular period of time in the end.
At the end of Revelation 8, we are given a special warning about these coming last 3 trumpets with woes...
Rev 8:13
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"
KJV
Then the 5th Trumpet - 1st Woe begins in Revelation 9...
1st Woe:
Rev 9:1-12
9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
What star of old fell from heaven to the earth long, long ago? It was Satan. Our Lord Jesus said He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). In Revelation 12:3-4 we are shown how the red dragon drew a third of the stars to earth, and are later shown in that same chapter that the name "dragon" is just another title for Satan.
What is that "bottomless pit"? It's the abode of the wicked called Haides, or hell. It is Satan's abode in the heavenly dimension. It's where his pit prison is. So who would have the key to it? Peter? Not in this sense here. Apostle Peter certainly did not as a star fall from heaven. It's Satan's abode, so he has this key, and it is Satan that is getting ready to open up this pit and loose something upon the earth...
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Did you notice the sun gets darkened at the loosing of these locusts? That's a sign for the last days at the end of this world (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:15). But this event shows its smoke that causes this darkening, and that smoke is from the pit! Do you think this may be a fake darkening of the sun, a mimic by Satan? Yes! That is exactly what it is, smoke & mirrors to cause deception.
These locusts were first mentioned by God through His Old Testament prophet Joel (yes, there still is a lot of OT prophecy not fulfilled yet today). Turn to Joel 2...
Joel 2:1-5
2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
The timing is set here by that "day of the LORD cometh, for it is night at hand". That is the last day of this present world. So this locust army event is to occur just prior to that day of the LORD.
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
God goes on to describe what kind of time it will be. Then He mentions "a great people and a strong" that has never been the like before upon the earth, nor ever again, loosed upon the earth. This is covering the time of the end, including into the time of "great tribulation" our Lord Jesus forewarned of in His Olivet discourse (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).
This "great people and a strong", meaning a strong people, are the ones God began describing as symbolic locusts in the Joel 1 chapter; turn to Joel 1 ...
Joel 1:4-7
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He hath laid My vine waste, and barked My fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
KJV
He is using the idea of HOW real locusts in nature attack the vines and trees and plants, leaving destruction in its wake.
In Revelation 9, we will be shown about the locusts out of the pit having teeth like lions, and riding horses like an army, etc. This in the Book of Joel shows we were supposed to understand about these locusts here in Joel first...
The locusts are a symbol for a certain people, a strong people, and they symbolically strip the bark off the trees of God's people, meaning their wealth and blessings from God.
Back to Joel 2...
Joel 2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Nothing will defeat them (except God Himself). Like real locusts, in front of them is like a plush garden of Eden, and what's left behind them is like a barren desert land destroyed. This of course is all in the spiritual destruction sense. But our Heavenly Father knows how to get the point across with this kind symbology, doesn't He?
4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
There's the like horsemen in battle array idea linked to Revelation 9 we'll see later.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
KJV
Now it is more clear that these locusts are LIKE an army. This isn't about a real military army though, God is only using these symbols to get His point across as to How they operate like an army.
Now continuing in Revelation 9...
Look at Revelation 9:3 again about the symbolic locusts having power LIKE scorpions:
Rev 9:3
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
KJV
Since God is using symbols here to get His point across with this "nation" of Joel 1 that operates like locusts, we should understand how a scorpion works its power too.
A real scorpion in nature has no digestive system. It stings its prey numbing it. Then the scorpion throws up an acid-like fluid into the victim's mouth which turns the victim's insides literally to mush. Then the scorpion sucks the victim's insides up that serves as digested food. Terrible sounding I know, but that's how a real scorpion works. Now apply all that in the 'spiritual' sense as to HOW these symbolic locusts attack God's people.
These great people and a strong represented by these locusts in Joel 2, attack God's people, steal their wealth, and through lies and deception leave the deceived of His people like an empty shell after a scorpion got done with it. Later in Rev.9 we learn their power is in their 'mouths'. What comes out of one's mouth? Words! Thus words to cause deception is their main mode of working against God's people, be that in the world of politics, finance, education, or religion.
Joel 2 further describes the locusts as climbing the wall like mighty men, and they will enter into the windows like a thief. That can easily represent today's media machine influence, education systems, etc. So these symbols have a wide application in how they actually apply to what this locust army has been working upon God's people in the last days.
(Continued...)
The last 3 trumpets in our Lord Jesus' Book of Revelation serves as a type of key to the timeline event order for the last days. Reason they are emphasized in God's Word is because each of those last 3 trumpets has a Woe attached to them. Each trumpet - woe serves as a particular period of time in the end.
At the end of Revelation 8, we are given a special warning about these coming last 3 trumpets with woes...
Rev 8:13
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"
KJV
Then the 5th Trumpet - 1st Woe begins in Revelation 9...
1st Woe:
Rev 9:1-12
9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
What star of old fell from heaven to the earth long, long ago? It was Satan. Our Lord Jesus said He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). In Revelation 12:3-4 we are shown how the red dragon drew a third of the stars to earth, and are later shown in that same chapter that the name "dragon" is just another title for Satan.
What is that "bottomless pit"? It's the abode of the wicked called Haides, or hell. It is Satan's abode in the heavenly dimension. It's where his pit prison is. So who would have the key to it? Peter? Not in this sense here. Apostle Peter certainly did not as a star fall from heaven. It's Satan's abode, so he has this key, and it is Satan that is getting ready to open up this pit and loose something upon the earth...
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Did you notice the sun gets darkened at the loosing of these locusts? That's a sign for the last days at the end of this world (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 3:15). But this event shows its smoke that causes this darkening, and that smoke is from the pit! Do you think this may be a fake darkening of the sun, a mimic by Satan? Yes! That is exactly what it is, smoke & mirrors to cause deception.
These locusts were first mentioned by God through His Old Testament prophet Joel (yes, there still is a lot of OT prophecy not fulfilled yet today). Turn to Joel 2...
Joel 2:1-5
2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
The timing is set here by that "day of the LORD cometh, for it is night at hand". That is the last day of this present world. So this locust army event is to occur just prior to that day of the LORD.
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
God goes on to describe what kind of time it will be. Then He mentions "a great people and a strong" that has never been the like before upon the earth, nor ever again, loosed upon the earth. This is covering the time of the end, including into the time of "great tribulation" our Lord Jesus forewarned of in His Olivet discourse (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).
This "great people and a strong", meaning a strong people, are the ones God began describing as symbolic locusts in the Joel 1 chapter; turn to Joel 1 ...
Joel 1:4-7
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He hath laid My vine waste, and barked My fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
KJV
He is using the idea of HOW real locusts in nature attack the vines and trees and plants, leaving destruction in its wake.
In Revelation 9, we will be shown about the locusts out of the pit having teeth like lions, and riding horses like an army, etc. This in the Book of Joel shows we were supposed to understand about these locusts here in Joel first...
The locusts are a symbol for a certain people, a strong people, and they symbolically strip the bark off the trees of God's people, meaning their wealth and blessings from God.
Back to Joel 2...
Joel 2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
Nothing will defeat them (except God Himself). Like real locusts, in front of them is like a plush garden of Eden, and what's left behind them is like a barren desert land destroyed. This of course is all in the spiritual destruction sense. But our Heavenly Father knows how to get the point across with this kind symbology, doesn't He?
4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
There's the like horsemen in battle array idea linked to Revelation 9 we'll see later.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
KJV
Now it is more clear that these locusts are LIKE an army. This isn't about a real military army though, God is only using these symbols to get His point across as to How they operate like an army.
Now continuing in Revelation 9...
Look at Revelation 9:3 again about the symbolic locusts having power LIKE scorpions:
Rev 9:3
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
KJV
Since God is using symbols here to get His point across with this "nation" of Joel 1 that operates like locusts, we should understand how a scorpion works its power too.
A real scorpion in nature has no digestive system. It stings its prey numbing it. Then the scorpion throws up an acid-like fluid into the victim's mouth which turns the victim's insides literally to mush. Then the scorpion sucks the victim's insides up that serves as digested food. Terrible sounding I know, but that's how a real scorpion works. Now apply all that in the 'spiritual' sense as to HOW these symbolic locusts attack God's people.
These great people and a strong represented by these locusts in Joel 2, attack God's people, steal their wealth, and through lies and deception leave the deceived of His people like an empty shell after a scorpion got done with it. Later in Rev.9 we learn their power is in their 'mouths'. What comes out of one's mouth? Words! Thus words to cause deception is their main mode of working against God's people, be that in the world of politics, finance, education, or religion.
Joel 2 further describes the locusts as climbing the wall like mighty men, and they will enter into the windows like a thief. That can easily represent today's media machine influence, education systems, etc. So these symbols have a wide application in how they actually apply to what this locust army has been working upon God's people in the last days.
(Continued...)