Revelation 9 Study Notes

9:1 The judgment of the fifth . . . trumpet recalls both the eighth plague on Egypt in Ex 10:12-15 and the plague of locusts in Jl 1:2-4; 2:25, which was a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord (Jl 1:15). The star here may refer to: (1) the demon mentioned in v. 11, (2) Satan (see notes at 12:4,7-10), or (3) the angel who has the key to the abyss (the bottomless pit) in 20:1. The last option is the most likely.

9:2-10 Clouds of locusts (or grasshoppers) as thick as smoke come up out of the abyss (see note at v. 1). Their origin from the abyss, plus the fact that, unlike regular locusts, these are not allowed to harm any plant or tree on the earth, makes it clear that these creatures are demonic. They target people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads, apparently meaning everyone still alive on earth besides the 144,000 of Israel who were sealed by the Lord in 7:2-4 (although by this point it is possible that they had numerous converts, who might also be protected from the demonic locusts). Some hold that the span of the torment for all the unbelievers is five months because that is the life span of a locust, while others think it has to do with the time of the year when locust plagues occur with devastating impact—from mid-spring to late summer. It is not known how the Lord will prevent the death wish of so many people from being carried out.

9:11 The king of these demonic creatures is called Abaddon (Hb) and Apollyon (Gk), both of which mean “destruction.” It is ironic that unrepentant unbelievers who worship demons (v. 20) are tormented by the very beings they worship during the judgment of the fifth trumpet.

9:12 The first woe predicted in 8:13 has now passed with the fifth trumpet (vv. 1-11). The two remaining woes are the sixth trumpet (vv. 13-21; 11:14) and the seventh trumpet (11:15-19), which telescopes all the way to the second coming of Christ (19:11-16).

9:13 When the sixth . . . trumpet sounds, the authority of the voice from the altar . . . before God strongly suggests that this is the Lamb (Christ), not the martyrs under the altar (6:9-10), or even the angel whose actions led into the trumpet judgment (8:3-5).

9:14-16 The four angels are apparently demons in positions of authority over the demonic army, like Apollyon (v. 11). The river Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the land promised to Abraham (Gn 15:18) and was crossed by the Assyrians and Babylonians on their way to invade Israel. That these demons are prepared for the hour, day, month, and year indicates that all these events are according to God’s sovereign plan and timing (Dn 9:24-27). An army of two hundred million is large enough to accomplish such a horrific slaughter as killing a third (the same proportion of damage as in earlier trumpet judgments in Rv 8:7,9-12) of the human race. Some believe this army is human, but more likely it is demonic, as was the locust plague of the fifth trumpet judgment (vv. 2-11). It may not be either/or but both/and. On the heels of the judgment of the fifth trumpet, in which nobody was allowed to die (vv. 5-6)—which gives them the opportunity to repent before the Lord and be saved (vv. 20-21)—a third of the world’s population that survived the earlier judgments (6:2,4,8,12-17; 8:9,11) is now slaughtered by this demonic army.

9:17-19 The term plagues is used to echo God’s plagues on Egypt in Ex 7-11. It is also the first of many uses of plague in Revelation, speaking of God’s judgment in the end times (11:6; 15:1,6,8; 16:9,21; 18:4,8). The statement that the power of the horses is in their tails and that they are like lions resembles what was said of the demonic locusts (v. 10). But it is unlikely that this refers to the same group since the locusts were not allowed to kill anyone (vv. 5-6).

9:20-21 The only way for anyone who survives the “plagues” of the trumpet judgments to be saved is to repent of their sins (Lk 24:47; Ac 26:20) and come to saving faith in Jesus Christ (Ac 16:31). But since the names of the “earth dwellers,” upon whom the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments fall (Rv 8:13), are not written in the Lamb’s book of life (13:8; 17:8), they will not repent. They give the same hard-hearted response Pharaoh gave when confronted with the plagues (Ex 7:22; 9:7; see also Rm 9:17-18 and notes there). The words worshiping demons and idols, as well as sorceries and sexual immorality, recall problems in the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira (2:13-14,20-21) and point forward to the multiplied sins of Babylon the Great (18:2,3,5,9).