Revelation 9

Revelation 9:1-12

In this chapter we have an account of the founding of the fifth and sixth trumpets, the appearances that attended them, and the events that were to follow: the fifth trumpet, ver. 1—13. the sixth, ver. 13, &c.

1. AND the fifth angel founded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 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. 4. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he darketh a man. 6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall

fire from them. 7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto horses; and on their heads were as it were: crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running so battle. 10. And they had rails like unto scorpions, and there were flings in their rails; and their power was to hurt men five months. 11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apolylon. 12. One wo is pail, and behold there come two woes more hereafter.

The fifth trumpet is supposed to refer to the rise of the impolite Mahomet, who is the fear here spoken of, indicting the earth like a pestilential contact with his abominable falsehoods, permission being given him to open the bottomless pit, and a cloud of erupts, black as the darkness of hell itself, immediately burst out, and covered the East; innumerable multitudes of Saracens, thick as locusts, under his banners, rushed forth: they chiefly consisted of cavalry, made dreadful incursions into the empire, with turbans like crowns on their heads; were long hair like women; strong as lions; defended with armour, weapon proof; and rushed with irrefillable fury on their foes. Satan, the angel of the bottomless pit, the great destroyer of men, was at their head: and such was the misery which they every where spread through the apatite church, that death appeared preferable to life; but to the elect of God, the failed in the earth, the power of these destroyers reached not; they were not to be deceived by the wiles of imposture, nor terrified from their profession by any danger or threatenings. The space contained within this seal extends from 368 to 675. Note, (1.) The heaviest judgments upon the world are made, when God lets loose the great deceiver; and because men turn away from the truth, he gives them up to strong delusions, no believe a lye. (2.) Hereby and error, like the scorpion’s fling, inflate baleful poison into the soul. (3.) Satan, and all his emulators, are under a divine refraiter; God hath unto them, Hitherto shall ye come, and no further. (4.) Whatever prevalence of delusion there may be, God’s people shall every one of them be preserved in the most trying times.

One wo is now pail, two more are yet to come.

13. And the sixth angel founded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. 14. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to lay the third part of men. 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand; and I heard the number of them. 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breast-plates of fire, and of jaecint, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths lifted fire, and smoke, and brimstone. 18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which lifted out of their mouths. 19. For their power is in their mouths, and in their rails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver, and brass, and flume, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their forceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Revelation 9:13-21

On the founding of the sixth angel, the voice of Christ is heard from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, the emblem of the prevalence of his intercession for all his people in the four parts of the earth: his command to the sixth angel is, that he should loose the four angels that were bound in the great river Euphrates, and let them have power for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to lay the third part of men. This may be referred to the sunshine quarrels among the successors of Mahomet, which for about fifty years prevented them from spreading their conquests in the empire; but afterwards, from 675 to 725, they carried their arms far and wide through Egypt, Africa, and Spain: their forces were innumerable and invincible, chiefly modelling of cavalry, and breathing forth threatening and slaughter through the earth; and, like scorpions, they infested their poisonous tenets wherever their arms

arms prevailed. Yet all these heavy judgments reclaimed not those who bore the Christian name, but dishonoured it by the viles’ abominations; nor did they repent of their idolatries, the worship of demons and images, unable to hear or answer their most dispel votaries, but continued in the practice of murder, sorcery, fornication, and theft, and all these miscalled pious frauds which priestly invented to beguile the Superstitions: therefore more deadly woes are yet in store for them. Men, (1.) God sends his judgments that sinners may turn from the evil of their ways. (2.) They who under God’s vellations harden their hearts, must inevitably perish at the last.