Year 0, Day 20: Revelation 9

Abyss

The first of the remaining three woes deals heavily with the Abyss, so let’s look for a moment at what exactly the Abyss means. 

• Originally, the Abyss was thought to be the place of the primeval waters when they were separated to make land in the creation story (see Genesis 1:6-7). 
• The next progression of development in the Abyss theory is that the Abyss is also the great subterranean sea where God held the waters that were used in the great flood in the time of Noah. 
• As time passed on, the Abyss became known as the holding place for the enemies of God, both the enemies in heaven and the enemies on earth.

There are plenty of aspects to consider when thinking about those who dwell within the Abyss. 

• Take notice of the fact that the residents of the Abyss are numerous. 
• The stars are often made analogous to the wandering fallen angels who have been cast out of heaven. 
• In the book of Enoch these wandering fallen angels are bound hand and foot and thrown into the Abyss. 
• Additionally, it is also often thought that the angels who fell from heaven and seduced the inhabitants of the earth (thus creating the Nephilim of Genesis 6:1-4) were thrown into the Abyss. 
• Interestingly enough, the star that falls from heaven and is given the key to the Abyss is often thought of as Satan, who is then given the power to bring destruction upon the earth. 

If this is true, then it would seem that this passage also is a multi-layered teaching of past, present, and future.  Satan is already referred to as the prince of this world – although he is certainly not an eternal prince.  Satan has already been unleashed upon the earth – and we know that this has been true at least since the time of Job.

Fifth and Sixth Trumpet

In any case, note the dramatic shift between the natural disasters of the first four trumpets and the supernatural destruction of these trumpets that come after the eagle’s interlude.  If nothing else, this is a stark reminder to us that while there are physical and natural woes to be faced in life (and especially in the time of judgment) there are also certainly supernatural forces at work as well.

Let’s take a look at these locusts.  Earthly locusts belong to the same family as both the house cricket and the grasshopper and can grow anywhere between 2-6 inches in length with a wingspan of 2-3 times their length.  Locust swarms can reach up to one hundred feet deep and up to 4 miles long. They can be so densely packed within the swarm to limit visibility to less than 200 feet.  Locusts eat most grasses and strip the bark off trees.  When locusts are done feeding on an area, the area usually looks as though it had been burned with a great fire.  Locusts often spawn in desolate places and then migrate to places where there is readily available food.  The sound of the flight of locusts is often described as a waterfall, and the sound of a large swarm eating is often compared to the crackling of a fire.  Historically, the head of a locust has been compared to that of a horse, and many languages use a word for locust that is a derivative of the word for horse or cavalry.  Finally, the life cycle of a locust is about five months from hatching to death (late spring to early fall).

So how do natural locusts compare to these supernatural denizens of the Abyss?  Well, the starkest contrast is that the supernatural locusts prey not on plants but on mankind.  If we can anthropomorphize a field being destroyed slowly by a locust swarm, I think the slow agony of the plague upon the field would compare to the slow agony these supernatural locusts will give to the unsealed humans upon the earth.  Their pain will be great, but not ultimately permanently lethal.  It’ll be sheer torture, making a person to seek death but be unable to find it.  Also notice the description that these locusts are given.  They have a human appearance.  How often it is our own cunning and sinfulness that causes us our biggest troubles in life?  They are also spoken of as having great armor.  Could we not again take this as an analogy to how difficult our own sin is to root out from our own lives?  The locusts are given teeth like those of a lion. Again, can we not see in this a reflection of the ferocity with which sin attacks our lives?  I’m not saying these locusts are nothing more than a metaphor for sin, but what I am saying is that these locusts have a great human appearance and I think it is fair to see the similarities of our own sinfulness within them.

Another interesting perspective on these locusts is that it appears that a single generation of locusts will cause massive destruction to humanity.  Of course, many people will want to speak of this in terms of end-times judgment language and believe that at the end of the world this plague of locusts will literally be unleashed onto the earth.  While this certainly could be true, I know that we can definitely learn something about the present and past condition of mankind from this teaching.  Within John’s own lifetime, he has seen a single Roman Emperor, Nero, bring great torture to Christians.  Several decades later the Emperor Domitian brought about another plague of torture.  John’s experience is that persecution comes and goes with each generation of emperors.  Isn’t it amazing what damage can be brought about by a single generation – or even a single person – in which depravity reigns within them?

Having learned a few things about humanity from the locusts, let’s turn now to the second-to-last trumpet: the angelic horsemen of vengeance. John could be tapping the book of Enoch, which frequently describes the “angels of punishment.”  These angels had the task of coming and delivering punishment whenever God deemed it necessary and just.  Historically speaking, John could be using this as a reference to the Parthians, whose home in modern day Iran would be “across the Euphrates.”  They were the most feared military – even above the Roman legions – as their cavalry had beaten Roman soldiers in several battles.  From a numerology perspective the number of the horsemen is 200,000,000, which just happens to be 2*(10,000)².  This number isn’t particularly significant other than the fact that John is claiming double a very large number squared.  In other words, it is not only beyond the ability to be counted (thousands), but it has an element of divine perfection within it (perfect square).

So what conclusions can we make about these horsemen?  Again, it is possible that people will want to interpret this passage into solely end-times theology and the literalness certainly cannot be disputed until it actually happens. 

For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to instead search for what we can learn about ourselves, humanity, and God. 

• The fact that two-thirds of humanity who aren’t killed by these horsemen continue to worship other gods speaks volumes to the human condition.  Human beings are stubborn and often destructive within our stubbornness. 
• Human beings are often willing to sacrifice others around them to get what they want.  For many people who live, they live under the assumption that so long as they are still able to get what they want then they need not care about the next guy or the overarching consequences.  As long as we can still live in the blindness of following our own personal gods, why should we care about what is happening around us? 

Isn’t it a shame how even when a third of the population of the earth is threatened that the typical human response is going to continue on with their own way of life as if nothing changed?  That discovery is one of the saddest discoveries that this chapter of Revelation has for us to witness about our human condition.