When the fifth trumpet sounded we learned that a being John calls a "star" has the key to the shaft of the Abyss. Today this being opens the Abyss and John sees what looks like a plague of locusts coming out of it.
"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. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth." (Revelation 9:2-3) We are reminded of when, in Exodus 10, the Lord sent a plague of locusts upon Egypt during the days when Pharaoh refused to allow the Hebrew people to leave.
The locusts of Exodus destroyed all the crops in the Egyptian's fields and all the fruit on the Egyptian's trees. The locusts from the Abyss will harm no plants or trees---only human beings. "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." (Revelation 9:4) In Exodus the plagues fell only on the Egyptians, on the Hebrew people living in the Egyptian territory of Goshen. In the same way, the Lord will protect those who are His from the locust swarm of Revelation. Previously we saw that the Lord sealed 144,000 evangelists from the twelve tribes of Israel. Here it is believed by many experts on the book of Revelation that the people who have "the seal of God on their foreheads" represents not only the 144,000 but all who come to Christ during the Great Tribulation.
What is this seal and is it visible to all the world? I don't think humans can see it, but the Lord sees it because He knows those who are His. (2 Timothy 2:19) All the entities of the spiritual realm see it, because the locusts from the Abyss see the seal and pass over those who belong to the Lord. I think the seal may very well be the Holy Spirit, for we are told in 2 Corinthians 1:21, "Now it is God who makes both you and us stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." Ephesians 1:13 says, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." And Ephesians 4:30 assures us that we who believe in Christ were "sealed for the day of redemption" by the Holy Spirit. This means that everyone who belongs to Christ has the seal of the Holy Spirit. The people who turn to Christ in the end times are going to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. I can't look at you and see if you have the seal of the Holy Spirit, but rest assured that the Lord sees it. Every angel of heaven and every demon of hell sees it. There is no doubt as to Whom you belong. In Revelation, when the locust swarm comes out of the Abyss and is told not to harm those who are sealed, this means that they only harm those who are still living in rebellion toward God, who are refusing to acknowledge Him, and who are refusing to repent.
These locusts are not the locusts we are familiar with, but are of supernatural origin, and we will see what they look like in just a moment. Some Bible scholars think they are demons (fallen angels). If they are, then their inability to harm those who belong to the Lord should comfort us, because they can't do anything the Lord doesn't allow them to do. They would like to be able to torment those who belong to Him, but He forbids them to touch His people. The Lord's authority over the entire spiritual realm is further displayed by the fact that He orders these locusts not to kill those who hate Him, but only to torment them for a time. "They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them." (Revelation 9:5-6)
As terrible as all this sounds, it is the the act of a merciful God who wants everyone to come to repentance. The plague falls on those who are still rejecting Him, not as punishment but as an incentive to repent. If God were trying to punish them, He could just allow the locusts to kill them, but we are told that these people can't die during this time even though the locusts are making them so miserable that they want to die. The Lord is holding them in this life so they can be given every opportunity to repent. I've read some commentaries in which the authors suggest that some of these people will try to commit suicide and fail because God is compelled, out of His love for mankind, to give them as much time as possible to come to Christ. And if they never repent, at least they can never say that God didn't give them the opportunity.
We will conclude today with John's description of what these supernatural locusts look like. "The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 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. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 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)." (Revelation 9:7-11) When I was a little girl I had a book that included the story of Pandora's box. There was an illustration of a swarm of small, terrifying-looking things flying out of the box after Pandora opened it. Any time I read verses 7-11 I'm reminded of that illustration. Wicked things were in Pandora's box. They were bizarre and ugly. Wicked things reside in the Abyss, and they are bizarre and ugly. I don't know whether the locusts will be visible to human beings, but John saw them so it's possible humans will be able to see them. Or it could be that they will be invisible to the human eye and that the humans stung by them will feel the sting but will not see the creatures.
John tells us that the leader of these locusts is called "Destroyer". Some interpret this to mean their leader is Satan, since the Lord Jesus referred to Satan as a thief and said he only wants "to steal and kill and destroy". (John 10:10) Others think the Destroyer is a demon of high rank. I've found other commentators suggesting that he is not an evil being but an angel who holds the locusts of the Abyss in check until the day when he will let them loose and give them their instructions. This has led some to speculate whether he might be the angel of death from the book of Exodus. The angel of death struck down the firstborn of Egypt but passed over the firstborn of all the Hebrews who painted the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their houses. The angel of death was likely not a fallen angel but an angel who served God. We can see the similarity between the death angel passing over the houses that had the blood applied to them and the plague of locusts in Revelation passing over those who have the blood of Christ applied to them. It is the shed blood of the Lamb, and the believer's faith that the blood was shed for our sins, and the believer's faith that the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sins, that makes us righteous in the eyes of a holy God.
"The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come." (Revelation 9:12) The fifth, sixth, and seven trumpets each have a "woe" connected with them. Tomorrow we will see what happens when the sixth trumpet is blown.
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