Facing the Abyss: The Consequences of Rejection - Glorious Hope | Studies in Revelation

So far as we've been looking at the book of Revelation, we can

see that the visions that it presents to us enable us to look

on history.

But it's history from the perspective of God's throne in heaven.

That's why we often talk about the curtain being pulled back so

that we can see, not from our perspective, but from God's perspective,

what he is doing and what he will do in human history.

And we see through the opening of the seven seals that we took a

number of weeks to go through, that God is guarding his servants,

he's guarding his people to pass through the great tribulation

of earth and to arrive safely into heaven.

And we see now, through the blowing of the seven trumpets, God's

judgments that declare the inevitable victory of Christ and

call adulterous humanity to repent of sin.

And so when we sing Christos Victor, Amen, and that last verse

says, and he will stand Christ the victor, that's what we're talking

about.

It's what revelation is telling us is the ultimate outcome,

the inevitable victory of Christ, and He will win.

But revelation, as we see the victorious Christ, is also a call

to us as adulterous humanity to repent of sin.

And so the Lord is gracious in Revelation.

He's still giving us time to repent.

And so when we get to the seven bowls as will come, we see

through them the judging punishments from God that destroy

the fortresses and the pleasure places of this age.

But for now, we're in the seven trumpets.

And as we come to chapter nine and the blowing of the fifth and

the sixth trumpets, we see through them horrors that fill us

with dismay.

So let me remind you of what these seven trumpets are.

And we've been looking at them from chapter eight, and we will continue

to look at them until the seventh trumpet is sounded in chapter

11 to its end.

Trumpet one was about the earth that heal fire and blood would

come on the land again.

We see this echoes from Exodus and what happened there.

Trumpet 2 was about the seas burning mountains thrown into the

sea, the unthinkable, but yet demonstrating God's power and his

judgments, even on the seas.

Trumpet three was to do with the rivers and the springs, burning

star falls and rivers and springs, and making them unusable,

much like what happened in the waters in Egypt.

And then trumpet four, as we finished last week, was about the

sun and the moon and the stars darkened, so that once again we would

know the significance of God's judgment on humanity.

And so now, as we come to these next number of chapters 9,

10, and 11, we're going to see three woes with trumpet 5, 6, and

7.

The first and second woe that we look at this evening are demons

from the abyss and then demons from the east.

Then as we get to chapter 11, because there's an interlude between

the sixth trumpet and the seventh, we come to the third woe,

which is about the kingdom come and the Almighty and amazing

judgment of God with the full force of who he is as Lord over all.

And so we must be aware that these just don't simply happen one

after the other, as Scripture records for us, that there are intervals

in the soundings of the trumpets that give us more detail

of what God is doing or to slow things down so we can pay attention

to what is happening in this world.

And the interval between the fourth trumpet and now the fifth

trumpet is presented to us as an eagle crying with a loud voice

as it flew over John's head, warning us that the blasts of the

trumpets now to come were three woes on the earth.

And those woes are for those on the earth who reject God's salvation.

And these three woes are far worse than anything that has been

seen already.

And so we come to the blowing of the fifth trumpet.

And John tells us in verse one, and the fifth angel blew his

trumpet, and I saw a star fallen.

Now, notice the word fallen, not falling, but fallen from heaven

to earth.

And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pillow

hit.

Now, when a trumpet blows, you don't miss it.

We talked about that last week.

We know the sound, we know the volume of a trumpet, and so it's

not missed.

And so what does John see?

Well, when the fifth angel blew his trumpet, John saw a star

fallen from heaven.

Now, if something is fallen, it means that it has gone from one

position to another, not necessarily a physical drop.

We know of fallen angels, angels that were once holy but no

longer are because of sin and are now demons of Satan.

So that's why I said, pay attention to the word fallen.

It is not falling as a physical drop from one place to another,

but fallen, a position that once was, that is now lost.

And so this star represents one who is coming down.

And this angel is granted the key to open the bottomless pit.

This pit, as we see in verse 2, is a place of fire as smoke rises

from it.

And the key grants the angel authority and rule over those in

the pit, implying that the angel's authority is granted him

by God.

And as the pit is opened and as the smoke billows out.

The sun and air are both darkened by the smoke spreading over

the world, representing Judg, as was seen by Isaiah in chapter

34 in verse 10 as he was speaking of the Lord's day of vengeance.

Night and day it shall not be quenched.

Its smoke shall go up forever.

From generation to generation it shall lie waste.

None shall pass through it forever and ever.

And what Isaiah is giving us here is a picture of desolation brought

upon the earth as the Lord judges the wicked.

And this is what we see coming out of the pit.

Revelation.

And John now looks into the smoke.

He has to look into it, and he sees a plague of locusts coming out.

And we've seen this image before in Joel, chapter two and verse

ten.

And here, there we find God's judgment spreading throughout the

world.

And of course, we only have to think about the 10 plagues on Egypt

that we are looking at in the morning to see the devastation brought

by a plague of locusts and all the crops that were left after the

heels storm in the event of that plague.

And once again, locusts are used here for us as judgment on the

enemies of God.

I don't know if you've ever seen a plague of locusts.

They're awful.

Quite literally.

This is a picture from East Africa, because plagues of locusts

still ravage the earth, where they will devour every crop.

The worst I have ever seen was a plague of caterpillars, where within

one night, cauliflower and broccoli and brussels sprouts were

all devoured, not ready for any harvest to be consumed.

They were gone, and that was it.

And so when locust comes, it is total devastation upon the earth.

But these locusts in Revelation 9 have a number of characteristics

about them that are not normal, telling us that these invaders

are not natural forces in our world.

Yet the image presented to us is the same force with which they

will bring their devastation and desolation.

The first thing is that they have the power of scorpions.

If you've ever seen a scorpion, you will know to run in

the opposite direction.

Whenever we were working at our campsite in Malawi and we'd have

to be lifting blocks for whatever work was going on, you had

to be very careful because these little black scorpions would

be everywhere.

And if they felt that they were in a position that they were

going to be attacked, their tail would come up and you would

see the little point in their tail.

And as quick as anything, I mean, as quick as lightning, they

would pounce.

That tail on you, and before you knew it, you had a scorpion attacking

you.

And then you had an hour to get to hospital.

Or it could be worse than you could imagine.

Quite literally, a scorpion's tail causes severe illness and even

death.

But these locusts aren't scorpions.

Yet.

The image that is given to John and to us is the power of these

locusts, is the power of a scorpion's tail quick, painful and

in need of treatment.

Secondly, they're restricted in what they can attack.

What do locusts do?

Locusts devour crops.

That's all they do.

But look at the change in the image here from a locust.

We would know in our normal course of nature, they're restricted

in what they can do.

Only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads will

be attacked by these locusts who have the power of a scorpion's

tail.

So here we're told that they are limited, yet what they're doing

is painful and it will have far reaching consequences.

But it's only to those who are not marked by the seal of, of Jesus

Christ.

That seal we have seen in previous chapters.

And thirdly, they are only allowed to torment, they're not allowed

to kill.

Now a scorpion can kill.

So whatever power or control of power that these locusts have

with a sting and a tail as powerful as scorpions is, they have

to regulate it or they are regulated, they cannot kill.

They can only torment.

And that's important for how this section closes out, because

the outcome of their torment is such that we see the desires of

the people of which they attack in verse six.

And in those days people will seek death and will not find it.

They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

They're facing such an attack that they wish they were dead.

They can't take any more pain, they can't take any more desolation.

They cannot see a future, only a future of death.

But death does not come to them, because the Lord has ordained

that these locusts are restricted to only torment and not

kill.

Now remember, this is a judgment on the people.

And how unbearable this judgment is upon them.

They have no respite available to them and they continue to be confronted

by these beasts that are beyond what has been seen before.

And verses seven through nine go on to tell us of what they look

like.

So we've now been told about their power and what their power

is limited to.

But now what do they look like?

Because imagery is important.

Cast your eye over these verses and you'll see John's repeated

use of like.

He uses the word like to give us a vivid sense of these demonic

creatures that bring a spiritual plague of misery upon humanity.

It's as if John is struggling to describe what he's seeing in a

way that will communicate the reality and the fullness of their

demonic nature.

We know they're demonic because we're told in verse 11 where

they come from and who is king over them.

Because verse 11 says they have a king over them, the angel

of the bottomless pit.

His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

Now these demons appear, commanding.

They look as if they're instructable in the guise of locusts.

They're seductive and they're cunning, but they sting and they

hurt and they torment.

The power to hurt people is in their tails, in the devastation left

behind after the fun has ended.

And doesn't this seem to reflect the reality that so many

things that seem so empowering, so natural and so enjoyable

on the surface of this current age actually end up bringing misery,

Reveling in supposed freedom to indulge, so many people find themselves

enslaved to things that are quite literally killing them.

So many people indulge in things that they think will add to

their lives, but really only take and take from their lives.

That's because they come from the pit of hell, from the one who,

as Jesus says, comes only to steal and kill and destroy, as he

says in John 10:10.

John 10:10

John gives us his name here in Revelation.

It's presented to us in both Hebrew and Greek.

Why?

Because remember, we're talking about the full church of

God, his.

His full people, the full account of his people.

Thereby, the language is reflecting both the Old and the New

Testaments, and in both languages, his name means the destroyer.

Apollyon is Satan himself.

He is the one who destroys.

He is the one who ruins human beings.

And the locusts become the agent of this destruction.

The Hebrew Abaddon has the same meaning in this context, describing

Satan's destructive power.

In the Old Testament, Abaddon is often paralleled with Sheol and

names for us the place of the dead and the place of the power of

death.

And so John develops this meaning in this first woe and tells

us that the place of death is now personified, for there is a king

over the dead, and it is Satan himself.

The writer of Hebrews confirms this in Hebrews 2, verses 14 and

Hebrews 2:14

15.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself

likewise partook of the same things that through Death.

He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the

devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were

subject to lifelong slavery.

So here in the middle of these verses, we see the king over the

dead, the one who has authority of death.

And it is he whom Jesus has come to defeat.

Although Satan's power is limited, he still needs to be defeated

to prove the power and authority of salvation in Jesus.

And as verse 12 tells us that the first woe is over, so we must

pause and consider its truth and its truth for each of us.

Ultimately, God is sovereign even over the actions of the devil

and demons.

But at the same time, God is sovereign over the torment human

beings feel because it is the punishment on the ungodly.

Yet he uses the devil and demons as his agents in inflicting

misery.

But still, God's role in what happens to humans is dramatically

different from that of the devil and demons.

For God always does what is holy and what is just, while the

devil and demons are filled with hate and spite.

We also learn from this text that sin brings anguish and torment.

Initially it may be pleasurable, but there is a sting

in the tail, quite literally, and the end result is grief.

When we see human beings controlled by self pity, by anger,

by lust and jealousy, full of unhappiness and rage against life,

it is part of the judgment of God.

They are under Satan's dominion.

Their lives are slowly unraveling, and pretty soon the thread

is gone and only foolhardiness remains.

Quite literally, everyone in hell is insane.

For there is nothing more insane than the worship of self and

the hatred of God.

And this too is part of God's judgment on the human race.

That's why Paul writes what he does in Romans 2 and verses 5 to

6.

But because of your hard and impotent heart, you are storing up

wrath for yourself.

On the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be

revealed, he will render to each one according to his works.

See, God acts in ways that are holy and just.

He has said he will punish sin because it is an abomination to him,

and that he will.

The devil and his demons, however, are not holy.

And they are not just.

Their desire is to pull you away.

Their desire is to, as it were, tickle your heart to their

ways so that you will be more inclined to what they present as

the pleasures of this world, with every pun intended, that inevitable

sting in the tail.

So why are you trying to fool yourself and to fool God?

If he is holy and he is just, then sin will be punished for what

it is.

To simply live in sin and think you can get away with it is

foolhardiness and only playing into the hate and spite of the devil.

So which will it be?

Will you avoid the judgment and the wrath of God by trusting

in the Savior?

Or will you continue to live in it and know that eternal punishment

of those locusts with the power of a scorpion's tail to in

a moment as quick as a flash to pince you and to know that you

are mortally wounded for all eternity?

So as we move on from the sounding of the fifth trumpet and

the first woe is over, at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, we

are told what John hears rather than what he sees.

We've come across this before because we know that John saw in

the throne room of heaven and then he heard.

And so now in this second woe with the sixth trumpet, it's again

what he hears.

And in verse 13, we told that he hears a voice.

And the voice is coming from the horns of the golden altar before

God.

Now, the trumpet judgments are from a censer.

And if you'll recall, that censer is like a pan that has hot

coals in it that was incense, and it was heaped onto the earth.

And we saw that in the first five verses of chapter eight.

Well, the horns on altars generally don't speak.

But in what John is telling us here, he's reminding us that the

judgments are taking place, are in answer to the prayers of the

saints.

And the voice that John hears now speaks in verse 14, saying to

the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who

are bound at the great river Euphrates.

These four angels are not angels from heaven, but are once

again fallen angels.

In Scripture, angels from heaven are sent.

They're commissioned to do the work and the will of God.

These four angels are neither sent nor commissioned.

They are bound because they can only be released if they are

bound.

And so to be released means that they have been imprisoned or

they have been held back.

And the place at which they are held is significant because the

Euphrates river was the ideal boundary of Israel as promised by

God.

Therefore, these horsemen represent invading enemies from the

world.

In the Old Testament, God sent the Assyrians and then the Babylonians

across the Euphrates to bring judgment onto Israel for her idolatry.

Jeremiah warned those of his time of a nation that would be cruel,

coming from the east and have no mercy, riding on horses, to attack

and to kill.

And that's in Jeremiah chapter 6.

Jeremiah 6 · chapter mention

Even in the time of John's writing, the Euphrates was the border

of the Roman Empire.

Quite literally, the world ended at the Euphrates.

Beyond it, there were terrifying horsemen of the Parthian

Empire.

Now, that Parthian Empire would eventually be conquered by

Trajan in AD114.16.

But before then, these enemies stalked the nightmares of those living

within Rome's borders along the Euphrates River.

It is possible that then, the description of these horsemen breathing

out of their mouths and stinging with their tails would remind

John's readers of the way in which Parthian horse archers fired

both while advancing and while retreating, not simply running away,

but taking every last shot they could.

You see, this was a real war and battle going on at the time of

John.

And so the imagery is rich, running from the Old Testament into

the new.

And can't we still see it today?

Verse 15 confirms that these fallen angels were sent to kill a

third of mankind.

And we've seen this before.

But this tells us that their attacks lead to the death of a great

number of people.

And this was demonstrated in the blast of previous judgments.

Well, the demons are portrayed as troops on horses, and two times

we're told that plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur come out of

their mouths and the mouths of the horses.

And John hears the number of the demonic army, a staggering 200

million.

And earlier we noted that John heard the number of the 144,000.

And so this number of 200 million tells us of an incalculable

army.

They make their way to attack and bring judgment on the earth.

And as they do, we see a horrifying image of these invading

forces.

Verse 19 tells us, for the power of the horses is in their mouths

and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads,

and by means of them they wound.

These horses are nothing like horses in this world, for the power

to injure people is in their mouth and in their tails, their tails

are like serpents.

They're telling us that it's a demonic power at work.

And so we must remember that the language here is apocalyptic.

John is not anticipating modern weaponry.

How could he?

He couldn't foresee it.

Instead, he teaches that the plagues come from demonic powers.

Demons destroy human beings, especially through false teaching

that separates unbelievers from God.

And so how sad it is for a judgment of death to be placed on

one third of the earth, a judgment they deserve for their rejection

of God.

But we could easily ask, if that's just one third, what about

the other 2/3?

What about the remaining people?

Well, verses 20 and 21 tell us of how they fare.

And they don't give up on their sinful ways.

Verse 20 tells us that they do not repent of their sin, nor do they

stop worshipping the false gods of this age.

The specific sins are mentioned in verse 21.

Nor do they repent of their murders or their sorceries, or their

sexual immorality or their thefts.

What we have here is a zeroing in on various sins requiring repentance,

specifically murder, sorcery, sexual immorality and theft.

It's striking that all of these sins are forbidden in the Ten

Commandments.

Sorcery relies on another God besides the Lord, thereby taking

his name in vain.

Murder and stealing reveal how human beings secure their well being

through their own schemes, while sexual immorality pursues pleasure

on our terms instead of through adherence to God's standard.

And as we hear the fifth and sixth trumpets and see the judgments

that they will bring, we could easily ask, is there any hope?

And the answer is yes.

These judgments are given to us as a warning of how sin will be

and must be punished.

We see people caught up in their sin, unwilling to surrender

to Christ and live by his way.

And it should remind us of the story of the man of the Gadarenes

that Jesus delivered from the legion of demons.

These demons begged Jesus not to cast them into the abyss.

Jesus instead sent them into a herd of pigs and they ran straight

off the cliff to their death.

But what about the man who was formerly so tormented by these demons?

But he submitted to Jesus.

And when the people came looking, where did they find him?

Luke 8:35 tells us.

Luke 8:35

Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came

to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting

at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

And what was their response?

They were afraid.

The images that we've seen in Revelation tonight may frighten us,

and they are a stark warning for us.

But in Christ we need not fear.

In the Savior, as we give everything over to him, he drives

out fear so that we can enjoy his wonderful peace.

Those who are not in Christ are fully afraid of his power.

Just like the people who came to find the man who had once been

tormented by the demons.

In Christ we do not fear the future.

Rather, we have assurance of what he gives us here and now.

In giving us his salvation, he gives us his peace.

And when we come to know Christ in saving faith, trusting

his redeeming work to set sinners free from judgment and misery.

Then we will know his peace.

As Jesus himself says in John 14:27, Peace, I leave with you.

John 14:27

My peace I give you.

Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

The fifth and sixth blasts of trumpets with these first and second

woes are truly horrific of what it means to face the judgment

of God.

Is that the judgment you're going to face?

Is that the judgment that is currently awaiting you for your rejection

of God?

There is hope.

There is hope tonight to know a peace that only the Lord can give.

A peace that will drive out fear, so that we will not fear the

judgment, but will know as the first fruits, as we follow the first

fruits of his creation of that new order in heaven, we will know

the joy of salvation.

We will be free from fear.

And we will have glorious hope in a Savior who will lead us home.

The call and warning tonight is to avoid these woes.

And the only way we can do that is not by sidestepping them

or thinking we can sidestep them, but by trusting in Jesus.

And so it is him who calls us tonight to take everything of our

lives and to give it over to him for him to take our lives and

work in us so that we can know the fullness of his goodness, his

blessing and his glory.

Listen, and listen well to the soundings of these trumpets that

warn us of the judgment to come so that we will turn to Christ,

knowing that he drives out the fear we feel and he will give us

peace everlasting.

And so may it be for your soul this night.

Let us pray.

Our Father God, your word warns us with vivid imagery of what

it means to.

What it means to face the punishment that our sin deserves.

And if we're not in Christ, then this is the reality that will

come.

But thank you for a Savior.

Thank you for a Savior who drives out fear so that we may know

peace.

So, Father in our hearts may we be honest with ourselves and honest

with you as we eagerly seek the Savior and that wonderful assurance

that indeed we will pass through the judgment and come to

eternal rest.

So Father, may we respond well to these your words this night.

In Jesus name, amen.

Sa.