Out of the Abyss (Revelation 9:1–12) | Coronation (Part 18)

Transcript

JRNT 517
OUT OF THE ABYSS
REVELATION 9:1-12
1/11/2026
JESSE RANDOLPH

Well, it has been a while since we’ve been in the book of Revelation, so we are resuming our normal Sunday evening service or Sunday evening series in the book of Revelation after a few weeks off with especially the Christmas holiday in between and the different worship services we had in the last few weeks. We’ll be picking it up this evening in Revelation chapter 9. Now, because it’s been a while since we’ve been in our study of this book and recognizing that there are likely very few of us who have the exact sequence of events laid out in the book of Revelation memorized like on the back of our hand.

I figured it would be good since we’re coming back from a two-month hiatus to remind us of all of some of the general contours of the book of Revelation. As we’ve seen so far in our study, John the Apostle the human author of this book, received a vision somewhere in the mid-90s AD from the risen Lord Jesus. He received this vision while he was imprisoned, John did, while he was on the Isle of Patmos, an island in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Jesus gave John this vision, not only of Himself, but that’s also what we see in Revelation chapter 1. But then He gave John this vision of these different characteristics of the church age. We see that in Revelation 2 and 3. Then He gave John this vision of God’s heavenly throne room. We saw that in Revelation 4 and 5. Starting in Revelation 6, Jesus laid out for John this vision of this future period of Tribulation which will fall upon the earth. That will be after the church saints are snatched up, “Raptured” away, out of this world.

That’s where we’re sitting right now in our study of Revelation, we are right in the middle, really on the front end of this study of the Tribulation Era. Now getting our terminology right, it’s important to recognize that Believers in Jesus Christ today do go through tribulations. Lower case “t” tribulations. We do go through trials, and we do go through afflictions, and we do go through suffering in this world, even as Believers. You might even say especially as Believers. Philippians 1:29 says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His sake.” So, we go through tribulations as Christians.

But a period of time is coming in the future a period that is known as the Tribulation, “capital T” Tribulation, during which God will unfurl His righteous wrath on this wicked and sinful planet. Wrath and fury in judgment which He’s been storing up for centuries. By that point, for generations, really for millennia. It’s really a wrath and fury which His justice requires on account of the gravity of the sin of mankind against him. And the Tribulation, we’ve only seen the beginning of it in our study so far, the Tribulation period is going to be terrifying. In fact, I’m not sure the word “terrifying” even does justice to what will be happening on the earth during the period of the Tribulation. But thank the Lord as Believers in Jesus Christ, those who are living in the church age today, we’re not going to be there for any of it. We’re not going to go through what the world will go through during that period. Rather we have the sure promise from God’s Word. God has said in I Thessalonians 1:10, that “Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come.” We are not going to be here for the Tribulation.

Now, it’s still important that we study this for a number of reasons. Number one it’s God’s Word. Number two we look at the urgency of our mission here on earth. To make sure we are getting the Gospel into the hands and the hearts of people around us. So that they can come to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So that they too can go up with us at the Rapture. So, they too can be spared from this wrath that is coming to this planet.

Now in terms of the mechanics of the Tribulation the order of things in the Tribulation, we’re just three chapters into our study of this segment of things coming. And to get us caught up and to give us sort of a running start into tonight’s study let’s do some quick review.

In our study, feel free to turn with me as we are viewing this, we started in Revelation 6. That was our first study of the Tribulation. In Revelation 6 we saw that the worthy Lamb the resurrected, the ascended, the glorified Christ was on His throne, and He opened this seven-sealed scroll. Each of those seals represented a different stage of future judgment which He will bring on the earth during the Tribulation. The first four seals that were opened, related to these Tribulation-era judgments that will be brought in by the four horsemen. The rider on the white horse, and the rider on the red horse, and the rider on the black horse, and the rider on the pale horse. Each one of those is ushering in a distinct era, form of judgment during the Tribulation.

Then there was the opening of the fifth seal. That’s in Revelation 6:9-11, where we were introduced to a group of the martyred dead, known as Tribulation Martyrs. They were pictured there, as gathered underneath the altar in the throne room as they were looking to have their blood avenged by the Lamb. Then there’s seal number six and that’s mentioned in Revelation 6:12-17. Here we saw John witnessing this series of additional events which would happen during the Tribulation. A great earthquake, the sun becoming black, the whole moon becoming like blood, the stars of the sky falling to the earth, the sky splitting up and rolling up like a scroll, kings and commanders begging to be buried under the rocks which were falling to be spared of the wrath of the Lamb.

Then, before the seventh seal was opened, we had Revelation chapter 7 where we saw this break in John vision, this interlude. In Revelation 7, what John was doing was describing this vision he had of these two distinct groups of redeemed people. This “mixed multitude” who God would handle specially during the Tribulation.

First, would be the 144,000 converted and sealed Jews. They’re mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8. The tribe of Judah and Rueben and Gad and Asher etc. The second group is that great multitude mentioned in Revelation 7:9. That great multitude which no one could count. Who came “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” These, we saw, are the Tribulation Saints meaning, individuals from these different people groups who would come to place their faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

So that was Revelation 7 this “interlude.” Then, in Revelation chapter 8 we saw that John’s vision carried on chronologically and he’s given further insights into the outpouring of God’s wrath during the Tribulation. There was the opening of the seventh seal in Revelation 8:1. But that was only after there was an hour of silence in heaven. With the opening of that seventh seal, we saw that this angel took a censer from the altar in the throne room of God and Revelation 8:5 says the angel took this censer and “filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth.” Then this angel even wreaked more havoc by causing “peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” Then following the opening of that seventh seal and the pouring out of the judgments associated with that seventh seal, John, in this vision, saw these additional waves of judgment which would be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation after the seventh seal was opened. What we saw about those next waves of judgment that would be after the opening of the seventh seals, is that these additional judgments would come through the blowing or the blaring of trumpets. The seven trumpet judgments.

So that next phase of the Tribulation Era would start after the seven seals were opened and it would flow right into this next wave of judgment involving the blasting of trumpets. They’re known as the “trumpet judgments” and we’ve already covered the first four trumpet judgments. That’s what we studied last time. But let’s go ahead and just review those again to give ourselves kind of a warm handoff into what we’ll look at tonight.

The first judgments mentioned in Revelation 8:7. This is the first trumpet judgment. It says, “And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

The second trumpet judgment is found in Revelation 8:8-9. “And the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea those which had life died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

The third trumpet judgment is found in Revelation 8:10-11, where we’re told, “And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

And then the fourth trumpet judgment is found in verse 12, “And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.”

That’s as far as we got last time and you can go a look up that sermon and you’ll get the full exposition of what’s going on in each of those four trumpet judgments. But we didn’t wind down chapter 8 before we got to verse 13. We had to get through verse 13 where we saw this vision that John had of an eagle. He says, “Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

So, we left off right there back in November, with a bit of a cliffhanger with three more trumpets about to sound, trumpets five, six, and seven and three more waves of judgment about to hit the earth during the Tribulation. And that now brings us now to our text in Revelation chapter 9. We’re only going to get through verse 12 tonight as we consider this next wave of judgment that will come upon the earth during the tribulation with the blowing of, the blast of the fifth trumpet, and the execution of the fifth trumpet judgment.

Let’s go ahead and look at Revelation 9:1-12. I will read it in full and then we’ll get through it verse by verse. It says, “Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.”

So, when the eagle was flying across the sky at the end of chapter 8 declaring “woe, woe, woe” it was a solemn announcement. It was a haunting announcement. It was a foreboding announcement that these three final trumpet judgments were going to increase in intensity. In other words, things were about to get worse with the coming of these three additional trumpet blasts.

Now up to this point much of the devastation that’s happening in the Tribulation would be impacting the physical world itself. The trees and the grass, the oceans and the rivers, the sun and the stars. While no doubt the outworking of these different blasts or these different judgments would be striking fear into countless human hearts at that point in the tribulation, whatever pain or whatever suffering people were experiencing would really be happening indirectly as God was bringing the judgment directly on the planet, directly on the earth, then causing them suffering as a consequence. That really all changes with the blast of trumpet number five. As God’s divine judgment is now brought to bear directly not only on the planet but on the people on the planet. As we’re about to see in our text for tonight, those who are still living at this point in the Tribulation, are going to directly, and painfully experience the mighty sting of God’s judgment as God brings these instruments of judgment “out of the abyss.”

Let’s go ahead and work through our text verse by verse. John begins with these words, in Revelation 9:1. He says, “then the fifth angel sounded.” Now recall that each of the seven trumpets through which these waves of judgment will be meted out, is assigned to an angel. We see that back in Revelation 8:6, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.” So what John saw was this “fifth angel” here in Revelation 9:1 who was now “sounding” this fifth trumpet and who was now bringing about this new wave of judgment on the world during the tribulation.

The description of the judgment which is going to correspond with the blast of trumpet number five begins this way. He says, “Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth.” Now a few things to note right away. We need to figure out the identity of this “star.” Is it a literal star? Is it a blazing physical object which has now fallen from the sky? I mean that was the meaning of that word “star” back in Revelation 6:13, where seal number six was opened and John said he saw “the stars of the sky falling to the earth.” So, in that instance in Revelation 6, “star” meant meant some sort of physical astral element falling from the sky as part of God’s divine judgment on the wicked planet. But what about here, in Revelation 9? Was John, in this vision, witnessing the falling of a burning object from the sky? Or was he referring to something else?

You know, in the book of Revelation that word “star” has multiple different meanings. You might remember that back in Revelation 1, as John is having that initial vision of Jesus as Jesus is revealing to John His glory in His resurrected state. In Revelation 1:20 that word “star” is used to describe “angels” which in turn means the messengers, or the pastors of the seven churches of ancient Asia Minor. So, what is it then? Back here in Revelation 9, he refers to a physical object of some sort. Is he referring to a pastor falling from the sky? I don’t think so. No, the “star” was a person though. The star had personhood and we know that because if you drop down to verse 2, you’ll note that this person who is called a star, is identified as a “he.” And he, not it, opened the pit of the abyss. Meaning John is not describing as that star some flaming meteor that had fallen from the sky. He’s talking about a person. Not only a person but a person who it says, “had fallen.” Now note that language, that’s interesting language in verse 1, here. John didn’t see this star “falling.” Rather, the tense in Greek here is perfect meaning the act of falling from the sky or falling from the heavens, had already been completed. Which is why we’re told here that this “star from heaven had fallen (to) the earth.” This “star from heaven” had previously fallen. This star from heaven was now at John’s time in history in a fallen state.

So doing a little clue work here, a little detective work here piecing this altogether, who is someone that possesses these traits of personhood. Who is someone who has by John’s time already “fallen” from heaven and has already in this “fallen” state? Answer. Satan. We remember the words of Isaiah 14:12, “How you have fallen from heaven, Oh star of the morning, son of the dawn.” And then, verses 13 through 15 of Isaiah 14. “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, you will be brought down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.”

Jesus also reported on this event, the fall of Satan, in Luke 10:18 where He said, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Now again, here, in Revelation 9:1, John wasn’t saying that as he was experiencing this vision, he personally witnessed this star falling from heaven real time, right before him. Again, the verb tense here is saying that he was seeing one who had already fallen from heaven to the earth, and I would argue that the balance of the Biblical evidence there would suggest who he saw in this scene was Satan.

So, John had this vision of this “star from heaven which had fallen to the earth.” Now note what John reports next, still in verse 1. He says, “and the key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.” Now, we’ll come back to this a few times tonight but note how the picture here that John is painting for us. What he saw in this vision is not this vision of Satan out there running amok, free to do whatever he wants. No, the keys to this pit belong ultimately to Jesus. In fact we can infer that from Revelation 1:17-18, where John when he as that initial vision of Jesus, and Jesus says to John, “Do not fear; I am the first and the last, the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades.” Jesus has the keys of life and death which includes what’s described in our text as this “pit of the abyss.”

While Satan, here in verse 1, is described as having “the keys of the pit,” it’s ultimately not his key. Rather, it’s a key that’s going to be given to him, by Christ. Not only that, but in quite the twist we’re going to see later as we get to Revelation 20:1-3 that it will be Satan who is ultimately thrown into that pit. Revelation 20:1-3 says “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were finished.” But for now, the point is though Satan is here portrayed as having a key to this pit. He only has that key because that key has been given to him by the one who owns the key. Satan in other words has borrowed authority. He has derived authority, which has always been the case. We are thinking of study of the book of Job, in Job chapter 1 specifically. Job is of course afflicted in various ways and there’s that interaction between Yahweh and Satan in Job 1 and very clearly in that scene Yahweh, God, is telling Satan you can only go so far with my servant Job. I will only let you afflict him up to a certain point, indicating as Martin Luther once said that “The devil is ultimately God’s devil.” He’s on a leash.

Back to our text. What is it that this “key” opened? What is ultimately this “pit of the abyss” or as other translations have it, this “bottomless pit”? Well this “pit of the abyss” apparently describes some place in the deep interior of the earth where demons now dwell. Where wicked angels, evil angels are now detained as they wait right now to one day be unleashed on this planet during the Tribulation period. Then ultimately, we’ll see they’re going to be sent back to this pit where they’ll ultimately meet their final fate of being cast into the eternal lake fire. That idea is picked up by the way in II Peter 2:4 which says, “God did not spare angels who sinned but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment.”

In fact, go with if you would me over to Luke 8 where we are going to see more about demons, the demonic realm and their relationship to the pit, to the abyss. Luke 8:26-31. This is Luke’s account of Jesus’ encounter with the Gerasene demoniac. It says “Then they sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He came out onto the land, a man from the city met Him, one who was possessed with demons and had not put on any garment for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. Now seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, ‘What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.’ For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times, and he was bound with chains and shackles, being kept under guard. And yet breaking his bonds, he was driven by the demon into the desolate regions. And Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him. And they were pleading with Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.”

Those demons in that scene were pleading with Jesus not to send them back to their preliminary place of incarceration, the abyss. Not to send them back to their dark holding cell, the pit, as they awaited their final judgment.

Well back here to Revelation, in Revelation 9, here in this vision from Patmos, John saw this “star” who again I believe to be Satan. He’s in possession of the key of this pit, a key which it says has been “given to him.” And this pit was, and this pit is, the temporary dwelling place, the domain, of the demonic realm. As we are going to see that key was used to open “the pit of the abyss.” The occupants of this pit, certain demonic creatures, are going to be freed temporarily from this pit and let loose upon the earth as God’s instruments to bring further judgment upon the earth during the Tribulation.

Look at verse 2. It says, “And he opened the pit of the abyss and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.” So “he” which again, I take to be Satan, “opened the pit of the abyss,” apparently with that key that Christ gives him, and when the abyss was opened, we’re told that “smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace.”

Now, notice right away, that word “like” in verse 2. “Like the smoke of a great furnace.” As we will see many times here tonight in John’s account of this vision he had of this fifth trumpet judgment, or woe number one, there are times when he’s operating within his own human limitations, that John through his humanity and his limited vocabulary and his limited experience, is unable to fully grasp or process or describe whatever it is he is seeing in that very moment. And so, what he has to do is he has to resort to the language of simile by using words like “like” or “as” to describe what his human faculties can’t fully explain in the moment.

That’s what’s happening here in verse 2. In fact, I learned that here in Revelation 9, there are more uses of that word “like” or "as.” In other words, there are more similes in Revelation 9 than in any chapter of the Bible. This shows how difficult it was for John to describe, in human terms, all that was unfolding before him in this vision. John as he’s describing here Satan’s opening of this pit, and as he begins to describe what’s coming out of this “pit of the abyss” as he calls it, he is using the only terms he has. With that mind, John says that when this bottomless pit was opened, “smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace.” Still in verse 2, he says, “and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.” Smoke, in Scripture, a lot of the times it’s emblematic of judgment. We think of the judgment that was rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis in the early chapters and how in Genesis 19:28, Abraham it says, when “he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah after the destruction, and toward all the land of the valley he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

Or next week, when we get to the sixth trumpet judgment in Revelation 9:18, we’re going to see how “a third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by fire and smoke and brimstone.”

Well, here in Revelation 9:2, we saw that what John saw was that “smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace.” Smoke is described here as pouring forth from this subterranean smokestack that leads down into the pit. Look at what this smoke will cause at the end of verse 2. It says, “and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.” The smoke from this pit will at this point in the Tribulation come billowing forth, presumably from a shaft that leads down into the pit and then descends down into the pit, and the smoke will flow upward through this shaft over the surface of the earth and eventually enveloping the earth in darkness, covering even the sky and the sun to some degree.

Moving on to verse 3. John reports here what came next in his vision as the carrying out of this fifth trumpet judgment was happening. Revelation 9:3 says, “Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” So out of the smoke which was coming out of the billows of this bottomless pit the “pit of the abyss” this realm of the darkness, this realm of the demons “came locusts.” These creatures which John described as “locusts” is says came “upon the earth.” Now “locusts” come from the same family as the household cricket or the grasshopper. They can grow up to two inches in length. They can have a wingspan of up to four to five inches. They travel in large groups. There are in fact records of columns of locusts that were as much as a hundred feet deep. They found trains of locusts that were as many as four miles long. So, they travel in these massive groups. However, you measure that, down, wide, extended, that’s a lot of locusts. But when they travel in groups like that, the point is they can really obscure, from an earthly vantage point, one’s vision. They can obscure the rays of the sun. They can make it seem as though you’re in a partial eclipse at that time.

But what locusts are best known for is the destruction that they cause. There are many historical records of devastating, deadly local famines caused by locust invasions where they not only destroyed crops, but they destroyed people groups and people as they didn’t leave a single blade of grass for cattle to graze on so even the animals died and the food supply died off. Of course, in the Scriptures, we know that God employed locusts to bring about all kinds of purposes. He used locusts as the eighth plague that he brought upon Egypt in Exodus chapter 10. God warned His own people, Israel, that locusts would be one of the instruments of judgment he would bring against them for their disobedience, for their sin. Deuteronomy 28:38, God says to Israel, “You shall bring out much seed to the field, but you will gather in little, for the locust will consume it.” It’s a statement of judgment. Later in their history, God said this to Israel, through Solomon in II Chronicles 7:13-14. He says “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will listen from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.”

Now that second part of that passage you are likely familiar with because II Chronicles 7:14 is often misquoted around the Fourth of July every year as people assume that’s about the grand old USA and not about Israel. But if you look back in verse 13, the whole setting here is God is actually talking about judgment on Israel through locust or grasshoppers. But there’s a promise to restore Israel after the grasshoppers have devastated their land. And of course, we can’t mention locusts without mentioning the Old Testament prophecy of Joel, where locusts were there described as being the agents of destruction, that God was going to allow to come upon Israel in light of their wickedness and their apostasy.

Now here’s Joel 1:1-4, “The word of Yahweh that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel: Hear this, O elders, and give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers’ days? Recount about it to your sons and let your sons recount about it to their sons, and their sons to the next generation. What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has consumed; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has consumed.” Later in Joel’s prophecy, specifically in Joel 2, he connects the locust plague of his day, 9th century BC, to the coming “Day of the Lord” which parallels the events that we’re now studying in the Book of Revelation and its account of the Tribulation period.

Back to John’s vision here in Revelation 9:3. What the Apostle saw here were no ordinary locusts. These weren’t the gnawing locusts or the swarming locusts or the creeping locusts of Joel’s day. No. While the locusts that John saw in this vision, like those of the days of Joel, would actually swarm over all the earth. The locusts of John’s day had an entirely different origin. They came straight out of the pit. They came out of the bottomless pit. They came out of this demonic realm known as the abyss. Meaning the “locusts” that John was describing in this vision were actually demons. These are demons. These are demons who were now embodied in a manner which resembles locusts, who are now in this Tribulation period being temporarily released from that pit. Their ordinary residence, the “pit of the abyss,” to afflict the unsealed and the unsaved, during the Tribulation period and bring upon them horrific pain and suffering at that point in history. What John saw in this vision were demons who had been chained in the abyss for thousands of years, who were now being freed and given permission to run rampant all over the earth, in visible form, during the Tribulation. Demon-locusts coming out of the smoke of the pit and fanning their way all over the earth. How terrifying is that. That’s what is being described here.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Wait, aren’t demons spirit beings? Aren’t they spirit forms and not embodied beings?” And you’d be right as a general principle. But when we study the Scriptures, we do also see that there are instances where demons not only enter people, but they actually take on embodied animal form. They enter animals. We think of Jesus sending demons into swine in Mark 5:12-13. There’s also this record in Revelation 16:13, of the “spirits of demons” occupying frogs. So, it’s not at all outside the realm of possibility, probability even, that demons could take the form of locusts at this point of the Tribulation.

That’s what we see here in verse 3. Demons taking the form of locusts. Now these are actual creatures in locust form, and they are no ordinary locusts. As we’re about to see, these aren’t locusts who feast on vegetation. These are rather locusts who feast on men. These are locusts that are intelligent and discerning. They are able to distinguish between those who have the seal on their foreheads and those who don’t. As we’re going to get to in just a moment, the physical appearance of these demon locusts is absolutely frightful. They have these horse-like features. They have these crowns like gold on their heads. They have faces like the face of men. They have hair that’s length like the hair of women. They have teeth like those of lions. They have coverings like breastplates of iron. They have tails like scorpions. These aren’t some sort of imaginary creatures like something out of a bad sci-fi movie. No. These are demonic beings in material, visible form who have been loosed from this bottomless pit, “out of the smoke,” as it says here in verse 3, meaning, out of the torment they have been facing in that pit up to that point. They’ve been released to wreak havoc and carnage on the planet, this planet, during the time of tribulation.

Look at the end of verse 3. After saying out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, it says “and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” Now scorpions, I had to look this up. I had to confirm that a scorpion is actually from the arachnid family, meaning they have eight legs whereas a locust I guess has six legs. They are arachnids. They resemble lobsters in a lot of ways. They are like these hideous land lobsters. But a scorpion is most known for the venomous stinger that’s attached to the tip of their tail. Their stings are extraordinarily painful and powerful. That’s what has been illustrated here. Scorpions are powerful. These locusts which John saw in his vision, like the sting of a scorpion, they, too are powerful.

So, at this point in the Tribulation, really the demonic realm which up to this point has occupied the invisible realm, now becomes visible on earth. Whereas ordinary locusts eat grain, and eat leaves, and eat stalks and they eat it all the way down to the bare ground. These demons embodied as locusts, what they are hungry for is men. Mankind. They are hungry for unregenerate, godless, Christ-rejecting men. That’s the prey that they’ll be after in the Tribulation. These men, as we’re told in verse 4 “who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads.”

In fact, since we are there already let’s go ahead and turn to verse 4. It says, “And they were told (speaking of these locusts) not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Now this right away is a key piece of evidence which shows us that what John saw here in this vision, were not ordinary locusts. That’s because we know that the very staple of the ordinary locust is the grass of the earth, is foliage all over the earth.

That’s what makes the ordinary locust in fact so dangerous and so deadly is they can bring an entire region to its knees to this place of starvation when they eat all of the green vegetation all around. But again, these locusts which John saw in his vision, they didn’t eat vegetation. These weren’t vegan, or vegetarian locusts. In fact, John reports here in verse 4 that “they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree.” That is very un-locust-like behavior. Instead, all these locusts are permitted to do presumably, by the one who opened the abyss and released them in the first place, Satan who himself is under the thumb of Christ who holds the keys to the abyss. All these demon locusts are permitted to do is hurt, end of verse 4, “only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

In other words, the Lord Himself will not only prevent these demonic locusts from foraging on the greenery of the earth. He’ll limit their ability to attack men. He won’t allow them to attack those who are sealed, those who have the seal of God on their foreheads. That language takes us back to Revelation 7 and the sealing of the 144,000. Those individuals the 144,000 sealed Jews, they will be left unscathed. They will be protected from this swath, this plague of demon-locusts. But for those who are unsealed, those who are unsaved, for the unbelievers in the Tribulation, they are going to be fair game. They’ll be prey.

But even then, there will be limits on what these demons can do with their prey. Look at Revelation 9:5. It says, “and they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.” Yet again the sovereign hand of the Lord is evident here. As we have another statement of what these demonic beings are permitted to do and not permitted to do. They operate under divine permission. They operate for divine purposes. They are only allowed to do what God has allows them to do.

That again reminds us of of the fact that God is fully in control of all that is happening all throughout history, including in the Tribulation period, including what happens within the demonic realm. He’s in control of what happens not only on earth, He’s in control of what happens in the heavens above the earth. He’s in control of what happens even down to the pit, to the abyss, below the earth. Even though at this point in the Tribulation, it might seem to many like the earth is just out of control, like it’s in chaos, especially under demonic control. The reality is it will be as it’s always been, under God’s sovereign control. Though destruction and affliction will be happening at massive rates during this time, it’s not as though the Lord will have suddenly released His sovereign grip on all that is happening on the planet that He made. He’ll still be in total control. And note, He’ll be in control not only what these demon-locusts can do, but what they can’t do. Still in verse 5, after John reported that “they were not permitted to kill anyone.” He next says that they instead were allowed only to “torment” those who were unsealed, unsaved and they were only able to do so “for five months.”

So, the length of the leash of these demonic locusts will be exactly precisely five months, which maps really nicely onto the ordinary life cycle of a locust. Usually, it’s from somewhere around May until September. In a similar fashion these demon-locusts will have a five-month window, no more, during which to wreak havoc upon the earth as they torture and afflict the unsealed ones.

Look at what they’ll do during this time. Look at the nature of this affliction they’ll bring. End of verse 5 it says, “and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.” Scorpion stings are excruciatingly painful. Much worse than the sting of a hornet. A Scorpion would be pretty high up there on the scale of painful stings. They have these long tails, and they have these curved claws that go over the backs of their heads. At the end of that tail, at the end of that curved claw is that stinger, that has poison that injects itself into the skin of the victim as it makes contact.

The demonic locusts of the Tribulation period, they’re going to have the power of that kind of sting. It will not only be fearful in their appearance, but they’ll have that sting that brings affliction to the unsealed and the unsaved. As we look down at verse 10, we’ll get there in a minute, we’ll see that they have tails like Scorpions and they actually sting.

But why? Why such affliction? Why such pain? Why allow such pain to be inflicted upon people living in the Tribulation, during this period. Well, there will be stinging the unsaved as God’s divinely appointed measure for dealing with sin, and bringing divine judgment upon a world, an unrepentant world at this point that still refuses to accept Him, to bow the knee. And their stings will be effective, not in killing men because that’s not God’s divine purpose, but their stings will be affective in waking up men during this period up. Look at verse 6. (Revelation 9:6) “And in those days men will seek death and will never find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.” That’s a really frightening statement right there. At this point in the Tribulation the earth is going to be overrun by these demonic locusts, and they’ll be stinging the unsaved, with these stings like scorpions. They’ll be doing this for five months. Imagine Scorpions on the loose or locusts on the loose with Scorpion tails here in Lincoln from now until Father’s Day. That’s the idea. You’re just looking around and just waiting for the next one to get at you. That’s the idea here. This being under threat, day by day, of being stung by a demonic locust.

It's this intense scene. It’s so intense in fact, that those we just saw here in verse 6 who are living through it, they will want to die. They will want to check out. They’ll seek death it says. So badly they will want to be relieved of their misery, that they’ll want to go into the grave. But they won’t be able to get there. For five full months, they will be under threat of being attacked by these demon locusts, stung and tormented by these demonic locusts. But they won’t be able to end it. Their efforts to check out of the world will fail them. They won’t be able to die. Bodies won’t sink and drown. Guns will misfire, pains and poison won’t work, knives will suddenly slip out of hands as people who try to get rid of themselves, kill themselves, commit suicide, they won’t be able to. God has always been the One in controls of life and death. But at this point in the Tribulation, He is going to intentionally preserve life so as to extend wicked mankind’s suffering. An ancient Roman author once wrote that “Worse than any wound is to wish to die and yet not to be able to do so.” That will be the state of the unregenerate, the unsealed at this point in the Tribulation. They’ll want to die. They’ll try to die. But they won’t be able to.

Well next, in verses 7 through 11, John moves on from describing the carnage which will be brought about by these demon locusts, to describing the locusts and their appearances themselves. Note again, because John has never seen anything like this before in his ordinary experience on Patmos or Ephesus or wherever else he lived, he’s using this language of simile and comparison. Words like “like” or “as” to describe what he’s seeing.

Starting in verse 7, he says “And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.” Note that John didn’t say that these locusts were horses. He said they were like horses. They were like battle horses. These fearful creatures who had come out of this pit of the abyss resembled a battled steed. You know one that’s pulling on its rider and straining at its leash and pawing at the ground and ready to charge into the battle. These demon locusts as John saw them, they reminded him of horses getting ready for battle. That description harkens back to Joel 2:4 where Joel is linking an invasion of locusts with the Day of the Lord and he says, “Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like war horses, so they run.” Still in verse 7, John says “And on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold.” So, there were appendages on their heads that appeared to be crowns, “crowns like gold.” And gold we know is symbolic of victory, symbolic of conquest. Which is what these demonic creatures will experience for five months. That that very period that God allows them to have conquest over the unrepentant earth. They will have a short-lived period of conquest. Verse 7 it says, “and their faces were like the faces of men.” So, the faces of these demonic locusts are human like. They have certain humanlike features which is expressing the idea that they have emotions and they have intelligence. They have the ability to plan. To have forethought. There’s purpose that goes into the actions that they commit. They don’t act according to blind instinct. They don’t act like irrational animals. But instead, these demons in the form of locusts are able to engage in rational thought. They’re clever. They’re cunning. They are able to distinguish again the one who has the seal and the one who doesn’t.

Verse 8 the description continues where John says, “And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.” So here we have two additional descriptions of these locusts. First, they had the hair like women. They had man-like faces, but they had woman-like hair. And their long hair, that’s where that expression means, hair like women, suggests that there is something seductively attractive about these demon locusts. So, in the one sense they’re frightful in appearance, but in another sense they’re attractive and seductive even luring men to their doom. Still in verse 8, John also says that “their teeth were like the teeth of lions.” Meaning these demonic locusts are fierce, and their cruel, and their deadly. They are capable not only of stinging with their tails but also biting and tearing with their teeth. But even then, notwithstanding their ferocity, they won’t be able to completely tear their victims apart, they won’t kill them, because we already saw back in verse 5, “they were not permitted to kill anyone.”

Next verse 9 it says, “they had breastplates like breastplates of iron.” Locusts, being an insect have a hard thorax, this midsection which resembles the breastplate of a warrior. John is describing these locusts as having “breastplates like breastplates of iron.” Iron was one of the hardest substances known in the first century, and breastplates were designed to guard a warrior’s vital organs. What’s being described here is that these creatures are invulnerable, they are immune to destruction. And then, end of verse 9 it says, “the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle.” Now back to Joel’s prophecy, which links a locust invasion of his day to the coming Day of the Lord. Joel said this in Joel 2:5, “With a noise as of chariots they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire consumes the stubble, like a mighty people arranged for battle.” These demon locusts, in other words not only have this intimidating appearance and not only do they have this powerful sting, they had these terrifying sounds they make, which would alert their victims to the fact that judgment is on its way.

Verse 10, “They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.” We’ve already seen back in verse 3, that these demonic locusts have power like a scorpion. We’ve already seen in verse 5 that “their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.” Well now it’s said even more directly. That these creatures have “tails like scorpions” and they actually do inflict “stings.” They’re actually physically afflicting the people that they come into contact with at this point in the Tribulation.

The last detail about these demonic locusts as they carry out this judgment associated with the fifth trumpet of the Tribulation. It’s found in verse 11. It says, “They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss.” Now, we know from Scripture that ordinary locusts have no king. It’s said just that way in Proverbs 30:27, “The locusts have no king.” But these locusts here in Revelation 9 do have a king. It says, “They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss.” Which is again, proof that these are no ordinary locusts. These aren’t the grass eating, tree eating locusts that we’re more accustomed to hearing about.

But who is this “king” mentioned in verse 11. It says as king over them, the “angel of the abyss”? Who is this angel of the abyss? Look at the next part of verse 11. It says, “His name in Hebrew is Abaddon.” That means “destruction” by the way. And then it says this, “And in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon.” Apollyon means “Destroyer.” So, he goes by the name destruction or destroyer. Now some will say then well that must mean this is Satan. The “angel of the abyss” is Satan because he is a destroyer we know. I would actually lean in favor of this being an evil angel in Satan’s army, and not Satan himself, I would do so for a very specific reason. Satan back in verse one, we already saw this is pictured as being outside the pit, outside the abyss. Remember he’s given the key to the abyss by Christ. Because Christ has the key and then He’s charged with opening the pit from the outside. Well here in verse 11 the angel of the abyss is portrayed as being inside the pit. He rules from the pit. That’s what being of the abyss would signify. I would argue that this angel of the abyss is a high-ranking evil angel in Satan’s army, but not Satan himself. That’s where I would land.

Well John’s written record of this fifth trumpet judgment during the Tribulation, ends this way in Revelation 9:12. He says, “One woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.” Recall from the beginning, there is that eagle “flying through midheaven” there in Revelation 8:13 who said “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

What we’ve been looking at tonight is the first of those remaining three trumpet blasts. The first of those three woes. Now the final of those two woes and trumpet blasts number six and seven, are going to show that the worst is yet to come.

What we have seen tonight is horrific. We’ve been talking about demonic locusts, ravaging the earth. That is terrifying. But what is being said here is that we haven’t seen anything yet. Trumpet blast number six and trumpet blast number seven are going to increase in intensity at this point in the tribulation, bringing even more destruction, even more carnage upon the earth.

Well as we wrap up tonight and prepare to look ahead to the sixth trumpet judgment next week, that will be in the last part of Revelation 9, I just want to give you a couple of simple reminders, a couple simple takeaways. Sometimes we go through this material and I get it. It doesn’t always seem like it applies to day to day living in Lincoln Nebraska in the year 2026. I don’t generally drive around town thinking about demonic locusts, for good reason. And one takeaway is what we see in this account, and this is one to take home with, is we definitely see the power of God displayed in this account. We see God setting limits on the destructive power that He will allow certain agents to employ during period of the tribulation. That’s a truth that carries over to today.

God appoints every difficulty, every circumstance, every trial, every grief as He will do in the Tribulation period. He is the same powerful God today as He will be when this day comes.

Second and I’ve already kind of alluded to this, and I’ll keep coming to this as we work our way through the Tribulation passages, praise God that we are not going to be here for any of this. I mean it is fascinating and it’s interesting to study, locusts and crickets and grasshoppers, even demonically influenced ones. But praise the Lord we’re not going to see any of this. We really won’t be worried about demonically possessed locusts running up and down 84th street for a five-month period and wondering if we’re going to be stung. That will not happen to us. It will happen to the world. It will happen to those who live in the world at that point, but that’s not our future. Our future’s in glory. Our future is around the throne of God and heaven above and that’s all because of what Christ has done for us. It reminds me of I John 5:18 which says, for those of us who have been “born of God,” for those who have been “begotten of God,” “the evil one does not touch him.” That’s a promise for today. That’s also a promise for the future. Let’s pray.