Slices
Prepare
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…’ (Revelation 21:4). Thank God for Christian hope.
Bible passage
9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stings, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulphur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulphur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulphur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Explore
How do you react, as the seven trumpets of judgement continue to sound, intensifying in their severity (8:13)?
The fifth and sixth trumpets unleash demonic hordes, pictured as a plague of locusts (v 3), led by fallen satanic overseers (vs 1,11) bent on destruction. The sixth trumpet releases a great army (v 16), adding their dark power to the agonies on earth (v 18). It is hard to sugar-coat this picture of judgement, but three glimmers of light shine through the darkness.
In God’s mercy, these acts are limited in duration and effect (vs 5,10,15,18).
Secondly, these are not random acts of violence, but ‘earned’ judgements by those who have rejected God and his ways (20b,21), and brutally oppressed God’s people (6:9–11).
Thirdly, despite (or maybe because of) the horror, there is still the opportunity of repentance (v 20). These trumpet judgements are heavily based on the plagues against Pharaoh (Exodus 7–11) and, just as some of the ancient Egyptians escaped the plagues and joined God’s people (Exodus 12:38), so, too, in God’s grace, repentance is always a possibility, even in the worst of times.
Respond
Pray this blessing for friends and family: ‘May Christ Jesus guard and deliver you from the snares of the devil, from the assaults of evil spirits, from the wrath of the wicked, from all base passions, and from the fear of the known and unknown.’*
*Common Worship, Church of England.
Deeper Bible study
Help us to face the truth, even when it is hard to bear and we are tempted to turn away. Amen.
One commentator says that in chapters 9 and 10 the imagery used by John ‘reaches the height of fantasy’.1 Indeed, it is true that the depiction of the evil forces which burst out from the abyss and inflict terrible suffering is graphic and difficult to read. However, mention of the ‘abyss’, and the action of a ‘fallen star’ (see v 1) in unlocking the door to this infernal realm makes it clear that what is described in these texts is the tragic consequence of the unleashing of demonic forces within human society. The powerful symbolism in these visions is intended to shock the reader, not because this is sensationalist literature, but because it relates to realities which are indeed profoundly disturbing.
Once again, it is vital to remember John’s context. The ruler of the abyss is described as a king whose name was Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek (v 11). This may connect to the Greek god Apollo, whose character influenced the emperors Nero and Caligula – and Domitian claimed to be an incarnation of the god! The dramatic and terrifying images in these chapters reflect the unspeakable tragedy of a society in which huge numbers of people suffered the dreadful consequences of ‘worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood’ (v 20).
The question this raises concerns the presence of demonic powers in our culture and the suffering this brings to human beings, often concealed beneath a veneer of civilisation. Can the violence of the twentieth century be explained apart from demonic influence? Is the tsunami of child abuse, of the trafficking of women, of the proliferation of nuclear weapons not the result of the unleashing of the powers of darkness? John’s language begins to make sense!
Read today’s newspaper alongside this passage. Are there signs here that suggest the activity of demonic powers?
1 GR Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation: New Century Bible, Oliphants, 1978, p160
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Numbers 4,5; Acts 15
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks to God for those churches that have worked so hard to maintain connections with children and young people amid the turbulence of the pandemic. (This week's prayers all relate to this story.)
