The Fifth Trumpet

The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from heaven. The keys of the abyss was given to him. He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. Then locusts came out of the smoke on the earth and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only the people who do not have God's seal on their foreheads. They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it strikes a man. Qin those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.

The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like men's faces; they had hair like women's hair; their teeth were like lion's teeth; they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle; they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months.

They had their king, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is 'Abaddon' and in Greek he has the name 'Apollyon'. The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.

Revelation 9:1-12

Satan is likened to a fallen star and as we see in the book of Job, he is limited in what he can do. He can only do what he is permitted to do. There are many interpretations of 'the star that had fallen' but I prefer to think it was Satan. He rules his hordes of locusts but with limited power.

The very thing that locusts eat are not permitted to them. The fact that they are to attack man for 5 months, a locust's lifespan, is interesting but then everything about God's ways is interesting. Not being able to eat vegetation will make for a frustrated insect. Locusts are annoying at the best of times. I remember a time in Albury Wodonga when people placed gauze over the fronts of their cars as the locusts were so numerous they were getting caught in the engines and causing problems.

Imagine being constantly attacked by locusts that had a scorpion's tail. The bite of a scorpion causes pain and very little swelling, it can cause numbness in the area. As locusts invade everything so will these creatures. They will be in beds, in clothing, caught in hair, caught in car fans, caught in air conditioners, in fact they will be everywhere and the fact that they sting with their tails will make them a source of fear.

The sealed will remember a time when God sent a plague of locusts on the earth in Egypt, this plague will ring true to them. Imagine being protected from this wrath!