Faith that Shakes (Acts 16:16-34)

Rich Realities from Revelation
God Wants Everyone to Repent
Revelation 9
INTRODUCTION:
We often make comments like: “Can things get any worse than this?” Or “How long is God going to wait before He sends Jesus back again?” And we mean by that, “Hasn’t God gotten sick and tired of the world as it is?”
To answer those questions: #1 - Yes, things can get worse. #2 - I don’t know. #3 - Apparently, not yet. In 2 Peter 3:15, in the context of people arguing that Jesus isn’t coming back any time soon because He hasn’t come back and everything seems to be pretty normal, the apostle Peter says that we need to consider the “patience of our Lord as salvation.” In other words, God has not yet sent Jesus because God is waiting for more people to hear the gospel and more people to obey the gospel, and to repent of their sins.
I’m guessing that those same questions that we ask ourselves, the Christians in the first century were asking themselves. In fact, as we discussed last month in our study of the book of Revelation, those Christians who were killed for their religious convictions were beneath the altar in 6:9-11 and were asking God: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
The lesson we are learning from chapter 9 in this study is that God is waiting and desiring for man to repent. As Peter also told his readers in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
PRINCIPLES FOR INTERPRETING THE BOOK OF REVELATION
1. 1:1 - The word “communicated” - better translated “signified” (NKJV) - shows that Revelation is communication through sign and symbols. That means that we have to understand these signs and symbols in a figurative way!
2. 1:1 - The events in Revelation are said to be taking place “soon” or “the time is near” (1:3). John is referring to events that would happen soon from the standpoint of the first century Christians.
3. 1:4 - Speaking of those first-century Christians, verse 4 tells us that Revelation was written primarily for the Christians worshipping in those seven churches of Christ in Asia Minor. Whatever the images of Revelation mean, they had to mean something first and foremost to the Christians in the first century!
4. 1:9 - Speaking of persecution, Revelation is full of references to persecution throughout its pages. Some (2:13), were being killed for their religious convictions. Others, like those in the church in Smyrna, were being thrown in prison (2:10).
RICH REALITIES WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR:
1. Jesus Christ walks among His lamp stands and holds His churches in His hands.
2. Christians will overcome if we do not compromise the testimony of Christ.
3. God and Christ deserve worship. We should never stop.
4. God knows those those who are His. Find strength in this fact.
Last month’s lesson was on Revelation 7, where God held back His wrath on the Roman Empire so that His people, Christians, could be sealed on their foreheads. This is all a metaphor. It is intended to simply convey the idea that God knows those who are His.
WHAT’S HAPPENED IN CHAPTER 8:
You remember at the beginning of chapter 7 that God told the angels to hold back the four winds of the earth so that His people could be sealed. That was a delay, a pause, in the breaking of the seven seals. The seventh seal is in chapter 8 where there is silence in heaven for half an hour (8:1-2). That does mean there will be no women in heaven (“silence” for 30 minutes!?). That silence symbolizes the wrath of God, in the sense that God is pausing before He unleashes even more of His wrath.
The next barrage of God’s wrath is pictured as a series of trumpets - seven trumpets. The Israelites used trumpets to call their nation into battle. That’s the idea we have here. Before the trumpets sound, in 8:3-5, we have the prayers of Christians pictured as incense burning on the altar before God. The message is that God hears the prayers of the saints: “How long, O Lord, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood…” God’s message is: Be patient; I’m working.
Trumpet #1 (8:7) - Just like with Sodom and Gomorrah, God is going to destroy by fire and hail 1/3 of the grass and trees. So, while this is a metaphor for God’s wrath on the Roman Empire, it is also a message about God’s grace. He’s not destroying everything. Not yet.
Trumpet #2 (8:8-9) - God drops a mountain into the sea and it turns the sea into blood and 1/3 of ships are destroyed. Jeremiah will use the idea of “mountain” as a metaphor for the nation of Babylon, which fits into Revelation’s later message. Here, God is attacking the maritime trade of the nation of Rome.
Trumpet #3 (8:10-11) - God sends a star into the water supply and it turns the water bitter and 1/3 of mankind dies. Once again, we see both God’s wrath and His mercy - He has not yet destroyed all of mankind who persecutes His people.
Trumpet #4 (8:12) - This trumpet especially lets us know that this whole imagery is not literal; it is all metaphorical. One third of the sun, moon, and the stars are darkened. Life on earth would quite literally die if that were to happen. It is simply a metaphor for God’s wrath and His mercy.
At this point, God gives John a vision of an eagle soaring through the sky (not a normal eagle because this one talks) and it says: “Woe to those who live on earth because there are three more trumpets to sound!”
And that brings us to chapter 9…
THE FIFTH TRUMPET - 9:1-12:
“Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, 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” (9:1-2).
This “bottomless pit” translates an expression: the “pit of the abyss.” “Pit” is used four times in these first two verses. “Abyss” is used 7 times in Revelation; after this chapter, it is used at 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3. Remember, these images are all symbols; they are not real items. This star is a sentient being - perhaps an angel or a demon - and it fell from heaven and was given a key to this pit. There is no doubt that even if the star is a demon, God is the one who gave him the key because everything is under God’s control.
This star opened this pit and smoke ascends, as if the abyss was a furnace. Then the smoke from the abyss darkens the sun and the air.
“Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 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 not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them” (9:3-6).
The locusts, are of course a metaphor, an emoji, taken from the eighth plague on Egypt (Exo. 10:1-20) from Exodus. But these locust in John’s vision is quite different. These locusts have power. Then John compares them to scorpions. Locusts have no offensive weapon like scorpions do. They are defenseless. Scorpions are not. These locusts have power. But, because God is in control, these locusts / scorpions do not have power to hurt the grass, any green thing, or any tree - unlike the locusts of the Exodus.
What they do have power to do is to hurt those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads! That’s why the message of chapter 7 was so important. While God will not protect His people from the physical effects of the destruction of Rome, He will protect them from the spiritual effects of the destruction of Rome.
In fact, these locusts / scorpions are not given power by God to kill anyone. They can only torment for five months. Just like the time of 10 days given in Revelation 2:10 is figurative for a short period of time, so here “five months” is a figurative period of a short time, but longer than the persecution Christians would experience. These locusts could torment men like scorpions torment men. Notice in verse 6, these men who are tormented would want to die, but they will not be able to. That is quite a bit of pain, isn’t it?
Remember this is part of God’s answer to the martyrs’ question in 6:10. “I’m going to punish those people in a way that they’ll wish they could die!”

“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. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. 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. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things” (9:7-12).

This is an appropriate time to point out that John uses the word “like” 21 times in Revelation, four times in this chapter. “As” is used 71 times in Revelation, 10 times in this chapter. I point this out because these are indications of similes, which is a figure of speech.

The picture of these locusts are “like” horses prepared for battle. God is going to bring the Parthians against Rome and eventually they will defeat Rome. That’s how God will not just bring Rome to its knees but destroy Rome as a force against His people. They wore crowns of victory on their heads, crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces; their hair was like the hair of women; their teeth were like the teeth of lions.

Notice further “military / war” imagery in verse 9: breastplates of iron, the sound of chariots, of horses rushing into battle. These locusts, John sees, have tails like scorpions and their power is in their tail, like scorpions. They have power to hurt men for five months, again, a figurative use of the clock to denote a short period of time.

Now, the king of these locusts - every army needs a commander, right? - is an angel out of the abyss, which is named “Destroyer.” The Hebrew name is Abaddon and the Greek name is Apollyon. This army is sent by God to destroy!

Verse 12 is another warning for John’s audience that the fifth trumpet is past and two more woes are still to come.

THE SIXTH TRUMPET #6 - 9:13-19:
“Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind” (9:13-15).
An angel from the golden altar before the presence of God now says to the sixth angel that the sixth trumpet will blow and release the four angels who were bound at the Euphrates River. This River marked the boundary between the land of Israel and the Assyrian nation and the Babylonian nation. It will also separate the Parthians from the Romans. Later, in chapter 16, God is going to “dry up” the Euphrates River (16:12-16) so that the Parthians can invade and conquer and destroy the Roman Empire. If Michigan was going to be invaded by Californians, then God might picture the Mississippi River drying up.
These angels which were released at the Euphrates River were allowed by God to kill 1/3 of mankind. Again, wrath tempered by mercy.
How big of an army is God going to bring against the Roman Empire? According to the Brookings Institute, China has the world’s largest army at 2.8 million. The US has about half that number. Other countries with armies larger than 1 million are: Russia, India, and North Korea. How big is the army God is going to bring against the Roman Empire? Christians in the first century were probably thinking that very thing: What size army is God going to have to assemble in order to bring down the Roman Empire?

“The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.” Literally the number is “two myriads times myriads” with “myriads” being 10,000. So, it’s 20,000 times 10,000. So the number is designed to encourage Christians that God will take care of the problem! The Roman Empire’s army at this time was estimated to be about 150,000 with a reserve corps of about 150,000. So God’s “army” is going to be 700 times larger than the world’s most powerful military at that time.

The Lord has always tried to teach mankind that He can “save by many or by few” (1 Sam. 14:6).

But the vision goes on…
“And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm” (9:16-19).

Again, we have imagery of an army - horses and breastplates on these locusts / scorpions that look like horses. The heads are like heads of lions - John has already mentioned their teeth are like the teeth of lions. They are ferocious and strong and deadly. Out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. With the use of these three “plagues,” God is going to kill 1/3 of mankind. God’s wrath and God’s mercy.

This army is destruction “coming and going…” the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails are like serpents and have heads and they do a lot of harm. All of this imagery is designed to help the Christians understand that this invading army is going to be very destructive.

God’s mercy limits the scope of His wrath because, in the words of Paul: “God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). But, the flip-side of this idea that God wants all men to be saved is that all men will not be saved because all men will not repent. God has punished / killed 1/3 of mankind. But that destruction - as we saw with Pharaoh and the Egyptians - punishment does not always motivate hard-headed and hard-hearted people to repent…

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts” (9:20-21).

Notice the specific sins for which God is punishing the Roman Empire: idolatry (which God defines as ultimately worshipping demons just like teaching a different gospel is the “doctrine of demons” - 1 Timothy 4:1), murder, sorcery, immorality, and theft. But, despite all the pain and heartache God has caused through His plagues, men still refuse to repent! Four of these have been prohibited by God since the Ten Commandments. “Sorcery” has specifically to do with the practice of magic in the context of religion, which was done in Rome.

The verb “to repent” is used 34 times in the NT, 1/3 of those are in the book of Revelation. And the command to “repent” is given first and foremost to Christians who were not living according to the gospel and not teaching the gospel accurately: 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19.
CONCLUSION:
1. God will judge evil. He might not wait until the day of judgment to do that. There is no guarantee that any nation that exists today will still exist 100 or 200 years from now. Evil will never succeed.
2. God wants the wicked to repent. These trumpets are pictured as acts of discipline by God, like spanking a child, to encourage people to repent. God has limited the destruction because of His mercy. We should not think that the patience of God means that He has changed His mind or His definition of sin.
Rich Reality from Revelation #5: God wants all men to repent.