Who do you interpret to be the locusts who come out of the smoke of the abyss in Rev: 9
The locusts of Revelation symbolize the kings of God’s kingdom going forth to war against the people of Satan’s world after the point at which the sealing of the holy ones has been accomplished. Their being released from the abyss also likely symbolizes the resurrection of the holy ones as well. They will at that point participate from the heavens in a military-like operation under their king, Abaddon, which means Destroyer. Christ is the Destroyer of Satan’s world and Satan himself.
The holy ones remaining on the earth at that time will have been sealed and revealed, meaning they will have been granted God’s irreversible approval. Their wearing “crowns like gold” indicates that they will have been given the kingdom at that time. Their having the teeth of lions represents their fearlessness and ferocity in denouncing the Devil’s world as a preliminary to its actual destruction.
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Sunday, November 12, 2006
More about the locusts of Revelation chapter 9
To understand who the locusts of Revelation chapter 9 represent we may have to look at how Jehovah dealt with his people, Israel of antiquity.
The blowing of the fifth trumpet is the first of a series of three “woes” coming upon the inhabitants of the earth. Historically God has visited his people with woes, such as when he delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. We recall parts of the initial plagues affected both Egyptians and Israelites. Because of their lack of faith Jehovah allowed the older generation of Jacob’s children to wander in the wilderness until they die. The younger generation was allowed to enter the Promised Land.
As leaders of this people, Joshua and Caleb, the two faithful spies, were the ones from the older generation that made it to the land flowing with milk and honey. We recalled too that while they were in the wilderness, God sent venomous serpents, killing many of the unfaithful ones. To stop the ravages of this plague or woe God instructed Moses to affix a copper serpent upon a pole so that those who looked at it were made well from their snake bites.
Much later after the nation has been established and fallen into apostasy and internal mayhem divided them into the ten-northern tribes and the two-southern tribes, God appointed the Assyrian to destroy the northern tribes. It was not long afterward, within a century or so that God appointed Nebuchadnezzar as his “servant” destroyer of the southern two-tribe nation, bringing woe upon his “rebellious sons.” Then of course we know about the woe that came upon the rebuilt city of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. In all of these incidents, God blew trumpets, sounding the need for this people to walk orderly before him, even warning them of the consequences of following after the false gods of the surrounding nations.
Fast forwarding now, John reports that the locusts came out from their underground-like restraint after the blowing of the fifth trumpet. So that would put us somewhere in the middle of the great tribulation, following the devastation wrought by the opening of the fourth seal.
During this time God is using the wild beast and Babylon the great as instruments of his judgment to bring woe upon earth’s inhabitants. They conquer even the holy ones at this time. So it would seem that the locusts from the abyss are on a campaign of destruction against anyone who stands against their authority; the authority of the 8th and final king of Bible prophecy. However, in reality as shown in verse four (4), they could not harm the men who “have the seal of God on their foreheads.” This is because these ones look to Christ as their means of salvation, as oppose to the masses that follow admiringly after the revived beast.
So by situating the blowing of the fifth trumpet midway through the Great Tribulation, the locusts of John’s vision may represent the same insect-like army found in the book of Joel, the northerner that devastated God’s people, namely the Chaldeans. How do we know this? As in John’s vision, Joel describes the locusts invaders as having “teeth of a lion” and the jawbones of lions.
Nebuchadnezzar who led this assault upon the Jewish people of antiquity is long dead. However, the spirit of arrogance of which this king was imbued with is alive in the person of God’s Adversary, Satan the Devil. Could it be that this is the angel or “star” that John saw that had fallen from heaven to the earth? Can we say that Jesus fell from heaven? Obviously Revelation chapter 9 is speaking of an angel that fell from heaven. This must apply to the fall of Babylon, even in poetic reference to a fallen one from heaven, as shown from the following span of verses taken from the 14th chapter of Isaiah:
“O how you have fallen from heaven, you shining one, son of the dawn! How you have been cut down to the earth, you who were disabling the nations! As for you, you have said in your heart, “To the heavens I shall go up. Above the stars of God I shall lift up my throne, and I shall sit down upon the mountain of meeting, in the remotest parts of the north. I shall go up above the high places of the clouds; I shall make myself resemble the Most High. “However, down to Sheol you will be brought, to the remotest parts of the pit.”
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
More on the locusts of Revelation Chapter 9
The locusts of Joel seem strikingly parallel with those of John’s apocalyptic vision. John saw them after the fifth angel blew his trumpet, apparently subsequent to the devastation wrought by the opening of the fourth seal. So it appears that this event is situated somewhere midway through the great tribulation. Therefore, it would seem appropriate to conclude that it is at that point that the beast is revived from its death stroke and morphed into the 8th king, as though coming out of the pit of the abyss.
The locusts with stings of scorpions could not represent the anointed remnant for the reason that Christ sends his followers out as “lambs in among wolves,” even in the time of the end. (Luke 10:3) Also we should not think of King Jesus as the “star” that John saw that fell from heaven, because Jesus never fell from heaven. His life was miraculously transferred to Mary’s womb; the abyss that he went into was the common grave of mankind. He did not fall into it, but descended into the grave or the pit, as being placed in a tomb. --Matthew 27:64; Romans 10:7.
So in all likelihood the “star” in Revelation chapter nine refers to the “shining one” Isaiah mentioned as going down to “Sheol” and into “the remotest parts of the pit,” an apt description of Satan and his fate. He is contrasted from light to darkness. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Revelation 9:2) He is given the key of the abyss indicating that Jesus allows him to come out of the abyss. Could this mean that mankind will be able to visibly see the fallen angels as was the case prior to the Deluge, or most likely the manifestation of their rage in people’s hearts? –Isaiah 25:4-5; Revelation 2:10; 2 Corinthians 1:18.
As for the kings of God’s kingdom, John saw them charging forward riding on white horses in God’s army following the King of kings, Jesus Christ. (Revelation 19:1-15) So contrary to the locusts that came charging from out of the pit of the abyss, the kings of God’s kingdom came forward charging from heaven. At this point it can be envisioned that Christ, the holy ones and God’s angelic army are chasing after the Devil and his minions in a galactic pursuit that will leave the Devil and his angels exhausted. Then they are ceased, chained and thrown into the abyss for a thousand years; light is restored on earth, commencing Christ’s millennial rule. –Revelation 20:1-3
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