Now the fifth angel starts to blow his trumpet, what is going to happen next? Picking back up on your reading at Revelation 9:1
The Fifth Trumpet and its Woe
Revelation 9:1- 4 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet. And I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given him. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun was darkened, also the air, by the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth; and authority was given them, the same authority as the scorpions of the earth have. 4 And they were told to harm no vegetation of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
The first denunciation or woe is against the men of the earth who do not have a seal of God on their foreheads. The physical earth was not to be harm by the locusts. Now we know this woe has spiritual implications. Who is this angel that opens up with the key of the abyss and who are the locusts that come forth? Who are the scorpions?
Jesus Christ identified serpents and scorpions as being a spiritual enemy a type of spirit or demon that his disciples had authority over.
Luke 10:17-20…Then the seventy returned with joy, saying: “Lord, even the demons are made subject to us by the use of your name.” At that he said to them: “I began to behold Satan already fallen like lightning from heaven. Look! I have given YOU the authority to trample underfoot serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will by any means do YOU hurt. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice over this, that the spirits are made subject to YOU, but rejoice because YOUR names have been inscribed in the heavens.
Where did these demons come from? Enoch 15:8 – 16:1 answers the who and the why.
So, who are these locusts that have been released from the abyss? The abyss is a prison for disobedient angels or spirits as the scriptures point out at Enoch 10:11-13, Luke 8:30-31 and 1 Peter 3:19.
Revelation 9:5-6… And it was granted the [locusts], not to kill them, but that these should be tormented (G928) five months, and the torment upon them was as torment by a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 And in those days the men will seek death but will by no means find it, and they will desire to die but death keeps fleeing from them.
What is this death they seek or desire? Could this be the teaching that all good Christians are raptured before the Great Tribulation?
Back to the reading:
Revelation 9:7-12… And the likenesses of the locusts resembled horses prepared for battle; and upon their heads [were] what seemed to be crowns like gold, and their faces [were] as men’s faces, 8 but they had hair as women’s hair. And their teeth were as those of lions; 9 and they had breastplates like iron breastplates. And the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle. 10 Also, they have tails and stings like scorpions; and in their tails is their authority to hurt (G91) the men five months. 11 They have over them a king, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew, his name is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The one woe (G3759 denunciation)is past. Look! Two more woes are coming after these things.
The first of the 3 Woe’s upon mankind is the releasing of the Locust who have authority over men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Why would this be a Woe for mankind?
Verse 5 gives us the first clue when it speaks of torment, you see the Greek word used is “basanisthesontai”, and it means to examine by use of torture according to Strong’s Concordance #G928.
The second clue comes from verse 6 where it speaks of men seeking death and longing for dying.
The third clue comes from verse 10 where it talks about the tails have authority to hurt the men. The use of the word hurt according to Strong’s Concordance #G91 means to injure, act wickedly, unjustly to bring about harm, ignoring God’s righteous justice. The next logical question would be who are these locusts?
After all the locust have the same authority as the scorpions, we have already identified the scorpions as demons or wicked spirit entities. With that clue we then can identify those coming out of the abyss as those who had been put into it for disobedience to God. There releasing would definitely bring about a woe to mankind.
The next clue we have is the angel of the abyss, and he has a Hebrew name, and he is referred to as the Destroyer. But his Greek name is Apollyon or Apollo, this is synonymous with the worship of the sun God by the Romans and the Egyptians. No, this is not Jesus Christ who came to break up the works of the wicked one.
Enoch 20:4 identifies Raguel as one of the righteous angels and he is over all other angels who inflict punishment.
What kind of plagues would cause a calamity to those who encounter these locusts?
The Lie
A lie has the same effect upon our emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being, it is meant to mislead and hurt the one accepting or believing the lie as truth. The realization of finding out the truth is the same as if you been struck or stung by a scorpion. Relationships have suffered because of the lies that are told, they can kill a marriage and end friendships forever.
How long do they have this authority or what is the duration of time? The Scripture says for five months, so how long would that be for us? These five months are not measurable in mankind’s time frame but are measurable in the spirit realm. So, If we use prophetic time, (day for year) we could use 30 days equals a month and we times that by five months we get 150 years.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have long taught that the locust represented the anointed who were governing the organization to date. I will not disagree with them in their teaching and as you have now learned through reasoning on the Scriptures that the locust where definitely disobedient spirit creatures.
So, with that thought in mind what date could we use to apply as a start date for the tormenting that these locusts are dishing out to humankind who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads?
The Historical Events of JW ORG
Publishing date of Zion’s Watchtower – July 1879
Officially registered as a corporation as Zion’s Watchtower – 1884
First official breakaway over the covenant teaching – October 1909
Power struggle over the Board of Directors and Joseph Rutherford – July 1918
The third breakaway over unfulfilled Bible prophecies and doctrinal changes caused a third of the people to abandoned the organization by – 1928 to 1931
New Name Jehovah’s Witnesses adopted. – 7/26/1931
False hopes over the 6000 years of man’s existence and the coming of Christ kingdom predictions caused a falling away. – 1975
Governing Body takes control over the corporations presidency – 1976
Purge of senior headquarters staff along with Raymond Franz for apostasy – 1980
Jehovah’s Witnesses join the UN as an NGO supporting the principles of it – 1991
The Governing Body resigns from the corporations. – 2000
Jehovah’s Witnesses asked to be disassociated with the NGO. – 2001
The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses claims to be the faithful and discreet slave as so stated in the Watchtower Magazine. – 2013
Not accepting the Governing Body as the faithful and discreet slave will get you disfellowshipped as an apostate, as it is unofficially stated. – 2017
I am not sure that any of these so stated dates could or should be used as the date for the releasing of the locus upon mankind. But this definitely constitutes an interesting thought process of how the effect the locust have on the men without the seal of God upon their foreheads. Matthew 7:27
The 6th Trumpet
What does the blowing of the 6th trumpet blast accomplish? How are the third of the men of earth killed? What is the end result of killing these men?
Revelation 9:13- 15… And the sixth angel blew his trumpet. And I heard one voice out of the horns of the golden altar that is before God say to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: “Untie the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Strong’s # G2166) And they were untied, who have been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to kill (Strong’s #G615)a third of the men.
The blowing of the six trumpet is a Woe for humankind and those who are controlling or leading them. This trumpet blast signals God’s angels to begin their work.
There is a plague turn loose on humankind and the object of this display is to kill, clean and refine, that means get rid of impurities and infection. This killing stops the worship that is being given, that has been miss directed to the demons and idols. This killing stops the sin that is occurring.
So, why is this a woe for humankind? Are the four untied angels good or bad for mankind?
The name Euphrates means; to Gush Forth, as in breaking forth of liquids. And the Greek word rendered to kill according to Strong’s Concordance #G615 is a figurative meaning, it means to deprive a spiritual life, and to allow to perish.
And when I think of the word gush forth I cannot help but think of the Scripture in Revelation 12:15 that speaks of the Great Dragon or serpent spewing water out of its mouth at the woman who gave birth to God’s kingdom.
So, were these four angels allowed to bring about a spiritual harm to humankind?
Revelation 9:16-19… And the number of the armies of cavalry was two myriads of myriads: I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw the horses in the vision, and those seated on them: they had fire-red and hyacinth-blue and Sulphur-yellow breastplates; and the heads of the horses were as heads of lions, and out of their mouths Fire (G4442) and Smoke (G2586) and Sulphur (G2303)issued forth. By these three plagues (Strong’s G4127) a third of the men were killed, from the fire and the smoke and the Sulphur which issued forth from their mouths. For the authority of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with these they do harm (Strong’s G91).
What are these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur for? What is the point of killing of these men? Is it to cause fear to disobedient mankind? Who are these men on the horses? What are these horses?
The men who sat on the horses are in fact just riders and have no real authority, they are just along for the ride as it were. But the horses that have the Lions heads with the Fire, Smoke, and Sulfur coming forth represent an organization. The real clue comes from the Greek word as rendered by Strong’s Concordance #G91, to do harm wrongly, acted wickedly or unjustly towards ones as they injure them. These plagues are an affliction as so indicated by Strong’s Concordance #G4127 which means to bring the calamity by means of a wound.
Fire, Smoke and Sulfur
Fire has been used to purify objects in the past from various bacteria and viruses. It is a source of warmth and light and it has allowed man to transform elements from liquid to gas, from solids to liquids.
Smoke has been used in the past is a type of cleansing and healing, even the Israelite nation made smoke in the temple of God as a part of worship. Smoke bathing helped get rid of bacteria on your body and was used to preserve meats.
Sulfur was also known for its antifungal and antibacterial abilities.
So, the plague of smoke, fire, and sulfur does have a positive benefit because context shows us that being killed by this plague is actually a good thing, in that it could allow for repentance once they realize they have been worshiping wrongly.
Revelation 9:20-21… But the rest of the men who were not killed (Strong’s # G615) by these plagues did not repent (Strong’s # G3340) of the works of their hands, so that they should not worship the demons and the idols of gold and silver and copper and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their spiritistic practices nor of their fornication nor of their thefts.
So, we can see by the use of the word kill in the context according to verse 20 is actually a good thing. The goal of the smoke, fire, and sulfur is a type of curing. It is used to stop the worship that would be given to the demons. Was this meant to bring about repentance to men? Will you be brought to repentance by truth, or will this continue to mean a Woe to you?
Writingwithlogos.com – Last Revised 11/3/24