Revelation – the end…or the beginning… Rev 9 – Woes and Worship. Pastor Jim Erwin
October 18, 2020
Revelation – the end…or the beginning… Rev 9 – Woes and Worship
I’m going to begin by asking this morning-who’s afraid of bugs? But I want to back up a minute and ask the opposite-who likes bugs? Who’s interested in the insect world? That you find bugs fascinating, you’re not afraid of them but enjoy studying them? Who’s that? Few people-that’s what I thought! Asking who likes bugs is asking who likes eating liver-very few people! So back to the first question-who’s afraid of bugs? And don’t be afraid to admit it! Who doesn’t like spiders? There’s a big range-little spiders aren’t too bad, big ones get worse, and then hairy spiders are in another category! That’ll give you nightmares! What about crickets? Again those aren’t too bad-but then there’s the spider-cricket as we call them at our house. I’ve also heard them called cave crickets or camel crickets-one website just called them mutant spiders! Which is an apt description-look like spiders, jump like crickets! They’re fast to get-you have to swing your shoe or the newspaper very swiftly! Who’s afraid of bees and hornets? If you’re allergic to their sting then you’re fearful for good reason. Fireflies or lightning bugs aren’t too scary-fun to see on a summer’s night. Anybody afraid of a praying mantis? That’s a good bug-it’s elegant, not too jumpy or starling-and it’s praying-so it’s the Lord’s bug! What about cockroaches-who’s afraid of them? Most bugs don’t scare me-but cockroaches freak me out. When we lived in TX they were gigantic-and strong! I remember on multiple occasions hitting one with my shoe making a direct hit-but when I lifted the shoe off it ran away not even phased. That was some serious armor on those cockroaches! And yet bugs with armor is what we’re talking about this morning. Not your everyday, average sermon topic to say the least! In fact, when you come to Rev 9 as we are this morning, the majority of the chapter is about a swarming hoard of stinging insects! Again how about that for a topic! And quite honestly what we’ll be reading sounds like something from a science fiction novel or a comic book film-that a superhero like Ant Man is going to take on the swarm of insects and save the world.
But unfortunately what we’re going to read in Revelation isn’t the the stuff of science fiction but the sobering reality of what our world’s going to face one day. And that’s why we’ve titled our series Revelation…the end…or the beginning… And often the reality of the end is what stands out to us-especially in these current chapters we’ve been looking at. Much like last week when we read about the first 4 trumpet blasts of God’s judgement where 1/3 of the earth, sky and sea were destroyed-it was hard to think that will actually happen. Does God really mean that? Maybe there’s more of a symbolic way to interpret it? Life is going good-the earth, sky and sea seem so stable, so permanent-surely God isn’t going to wipe them out like that. Will a 1/3 of the trees really burn up and 1/3 of the sun go dark? And yet we said that none of those things-earth, sky sea and sun are permanent and that God is bringing His judgement on the planet. And we looked at Jesus’ words who said that this time of judgement will be a time unlike anything that’s ever been before-Matt 24:21. That the world went from out of the frying pan with the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse during the first half of the Tribulation and into the fire with the trumpet blasts during the second half of the Tribulation. And so we left off last week with that ominous statement in Rev 8:13. As if the first 4 trumpets weren’t bad enough with a 1/3 of the earth, sky and sea wiped out-the next 3 trumpet blasts will be even worse! And that’s what brings us to the 5th trumpet and this swarming hoard of insects.
So Rev 9:1-2. Again this reads like the opening of a science fiction film. Here you have this star fallen from heaven to the bottomless pit-the abyss-and he takes a key and opens this long tunnel that leads into the pit and initially what comes out of it is billowing smoke that darkens the sky and sun and makes it hard to see. And we’ve all seen too many movies where we know that what’s coming out of the pit once the smoke clears is not good! There’s not a bunch of cute teddy bears coming out of there or munchkins wanting to hand out candy-because who’s the identity of the one opening the pit? This fallen star isn’t an actual star of burning gas in the sky but a symbolic reference to a fallen angelic being. A lot of Bible scholars think this could be a reference to Satan-or even a high ranking demon in his army. But look at the connection to Satan with the idea of a fallen star descending to the pit-Isa 14:12-15. We all know that Satan was once a high ranking angel in God’s presence-and yet pride grabbed a hold of his heart. He wasn’t willing to bow down and worship God Most High-he wanted to be like God Most High (and that was the same lie he passed off on Adam and Eve). So now here he is having fallen from heaven to make war and rain havoc on God’s people. And before we look at the details-I want you to remember that God is still and always will be the Most High. No matter how hard Satan tries he can’t set his throne next to God or ascend above Him. Anything and everything he does is still limited and controlled by God. The battle of good vs evil is not a battle between two equal forces, let’s hope good wins. God is good and He’s always in control-even with the schemes of the devil. Case in point-Job 2:3-6. God has boundaries over Satan. In His perfect will and infinite wisdom He’s allowing Satan to torment Job-but Satan isn’t allowed to kill Job. God says you can only go so far-I’ve put limitations on you.
And we see very similar limitations as the smoke clears in Rev 9:3-5a. So that doesn’t sound too good! These insects are not allowed to eat up the plants or the grass on the earth-as locusts usually do-but instead sting and torment people! So here’s a handful of locusts-pic. Who would do that? These things are big-sort of the grasshoppers’s ugly cousin! And normally what locusts do are swarm over an area and devour all the crops in sight leaving nothing behind but a barren landscape where food is scarce-but in this case their target isn’t plants-but people! The swarming devastation won’t be on the wheat fields but on the planet’s population. Now we just read a moment ago that God’s people will be spared-those who have His seal on them won’t be harmed by the locusts just like the plants and crops won’t be harmed. And we saw that multitude of Jewish believers-the 144,000 sealed by God in chapter 7. They’re protected-along with all who come to faith through their witness. But for everybody who hasn’t turned to God, for all who haven’t humbly trusted in His saving grace this is a severe season of judgment. Back to Rev 9:5-6. How horrific is that? Who’s been stung by a bee or hornet or wasp? It hurts, right? The last time I was stung was several years ago-I was on the phone talking with another pastor who was going to speak at our church’s men’s retreat-and while I was talking to him I was pulling some weeds in the garden. A bee somehow crawled onto my hand-because while I was talking to him it stung me! I didn’t shout-but strongly affirmed my excitement for him speaking-YES-looking forward to it! And he continued to talk with me-all the while I was jumping around shaking my hand! Finally when I hung up I gave the big Ouch! So a bee sting hurts-and for some who are allergic it can be deadly. But for many, many people after being stung by a bee you’re not laying there begging to die. Lord, I have been stung-take me now! And yet that’s precisely what’s happening here-they will long to die but death will flee from them. This will be excruciating, burning, stinging pain-where all you want to do is die but can’t! So Pt1:5th Trumpet: Death is deeply desired-but there’s still time to repent. That’s what God is allowing here-even though people are begging and longing to die-God is saying no-it’s not time. He’s keeping them alive-yes it’s with a lot of pain and misery-having been stung by demonic/scorpion/locusts-that’s what we’re calling these creatures and we’ll read their description shortly. But God is keeping people alive so that they might turn to Him and be saved. That somehow in the midst of this horrible, stinging pain they would realize that they need the Lord, He’s their only hope. Why wouldn’t God just let people die? Why keep them alive? In order to give them one more opportunity to turn to His saving grace. Listen to how Paul phrases this message to the people of Athens-Acts 17:27. That was true for the people of Athens-God wasn’t far from them. That’s true for the people suffering in Revelation 9-despite their horrible pain God isn’t far from them. That’s true for you and me today. God wants us to seek Him because He is not far from any of us. He is a God who is willing and eager to save! The question is whether we’ll turn to Him even when times are tough. And they will be then! Back to Pt1.
Now I trust it doesn’t have to come to that for any of us-that we have to literally be on death’s door, wanting our misery to end before we’ll decide to repent. I trust that we would be a people eager to repent because we have a God who is so eager to forgive us. But we all know the hardness of the human heart. We all know how stubborn people can be. Maybe you know people who’ve been very stubborn in turning to God and repenting. Maybe you yourself have been stubborn to God in ways you need to repent. But a chapter like this forces us to wrestle with the statement that we’ve all heard people say-or have even said ourselves-If God really gets my attention then I’ll listen up and turn to Him and change! If things were to get really bad in my life then certainly I’ll do what God says. But right now I’m in a good spot, things are going well, so I’ll repent later. Have you said something like that to God? Or maybe you’re subconsciously trying to live that way. It’s a bad place to be. First of all, we have no idea if later exits. And secondly, if we’re unwilling to repent and change now, chances are we’ll be even more unwilling later on. Or more unwilling if God really does get our attention in a big way. This chapter is revealing how eventual repentance often doesn’t happen. That suffering, pain and misery often lead us to develop harder hearts that reject God, instead of softer hearts that repent. Look at what it says in Heb 3:12-15. Today is the focus. Today is when God speaks. Today is the time to repent and turn to Him-not somehow think we’ll turn to Him later when He really gets our attention through suffering and struggles or the stinging bites from demonic/scorpion/locusts!
So back to them-Rev 9:7-9. And what’s important to notice is how John is trying within the confines of what he knows to describe these creatures. Have you ever seen a locust like that-a hairy, horse-like, lion-toothed locust? Again-this sounds like something from a science fiction movie! But John is trying to describe the indescribable with human language. These aren’t actual insects-or some new breed that’s come out of hibernation from the bottomless pit in the last days. These are supernatural beings from the kingdom of darkness because here in Revelation the invisible has been made visible. The spiritual warfare that’s been taking place behind the scenes for all of human history has now taken center stage for all to see. Remember what Paul said in Eph 6:12. That’s who this demonic/scorpion/locust horde is-part of the spiritual forces of evil-and now they’ve been fully unleashed on planet earth. Rev 9:10-11. And both those words mean destruction and destroyer-which is exactly what this king has done with his vast locust horde. And whether this king is a high-ranking demon under Satan or Satan himself, he’s part of the cosmic forces of darkness.
And now they reveal themselves in a big way with the next trumpet-Rev 9:13-14. And just as the star that fell from heaven from the 5th trumpet wasn’t someone good, so these aren’t good, guardian angels sent to look after us. These are fallen angels-once again spiritual forces of evil having been previously bound by God-and now look at what happens when they’re unleashed-Rev 9:15. There’s that fraction again that we saw last week-but instead of 1/3 referring to the earth, sea and sky being destroyed, it’s referring to people. This is catastrophic death and destruction. If you remember the 4th Horsemen of the Apocalypse who was riding on that pale horse of death-he was responsible for 1/4 of the population being killed. Now with this 6th trumpet we’re talking about 1/3 of that remaining 3/4 of the planet who are still alive. So that’s a death toll somewhere around the 2 billion mark! It’s almost unthinkable-and look at how it happens-Rev 9:16. And that’s the largest number recorded in the Bible-2 hundred million mounted troops from the kingdom of darkness. And look at their description-Rev 9:17-18. Again there’s a lot of symbolic language there. You can almost picture an army of orcs from LOTR. But John is using the language of his day to describe something none of us have ever seen before-and yet what comes through loud and clear is how fierce and intimidating and destructive this army is. Horses with lion heads breathing fire! That’s the overriding image! Did anybody happen to see that video that went viral this week of the jogger in Utah being stalked by a mountain lion? That was a scary 6 minutes as this mountain lion lunged at him and didn’t appear to let up but just keep after him hunting him down. Eventually it took off and the guy was okay-but that was just one normal mountain lion and this jogger is fearing for his life! This is some sort of demonic/lion/horse army of 200 million bringing about untold chaos, catastrophe and death to the planet-unlike any death ever experienced before. I think John giving us this description is completely overwhelmed by it! We pray as believers we won’t be here during this time of the Tribulation-having to endure such massive and widespread destruction.
But following all this death and misery-where 1 out of every 3 people are gone-for those who are kept alive there’s massive revival and turning to the Lord, right? That with all of this judgment those who are spared immediately surrender to the Lord and turn to Him as their source of hope and salvation, right? Here’s what’s most scary and disturbing about this 6th trumpet. Look at what John says next-Rev 9:20-21. Isn’t that mind-blowing? Isn’t that counter-intuitive? Why wouldn’t you turn to God at precisely a time like this? More disturbing than the demons is the defiance of depraved people still unwilling to repent! Hardness of heart is the world’s response instead of humbly falling to their knees. That’s Pt2:6th Trumpet: Death has descended everywhere-but there’s no desire to repent. One writer says it this way-Clearly the idolatrous addictions to the world’s treasures and pleasures can harden people’s hearts to such a degree that the most extreme judgements will be unable to capture their attention. That even with death raining all around and undoubtedly impacting every family on the planet-the addiction to idolatry and worshipping stuff is still stronger than turning to Jesus and worshipping the Savior. People just hunkered down to all their old ways instead of calling out to God. Back to the statement we were making-If God really gets my attention then I’ll listen up and turn to Him and change! If things were to get really bad in my life then certainly I’ll do what God says. But that’s a gamble God’s Word is telling us not to make. Don’t think that His extreme judgements will break your heart’s addiction to idolatry and sin. Don’t wait for Him to make things really bad, or assume that future troubles will drive you to your knees-that’s not what the world’s going to do when God gets everyone’s attention in a big way. Turn to God today before it’s too late. Back to Heb 3:12-15. And after reading all the horrible descriptions and destruction we’ve read in Rev 9 I’m glad that today isn’t like that. This world isn’t great-we all agree with that-2020 has had a 1 star rating if that-but it’s not nearly as bad as its going to get. And yet here, today, where are you on the spectrum of repentance? Has your heart been hardened by the allure and deceitfulness of other things? Dead idols can easily distract us from the living God. The stuff of this world can quickly blind us from the saving and transforming grace we need!
I want to ask a series of questions-What idols are enshrined in your life? And obviously we’re not setting up a little golden idol in a special place in our house surrounded by candles where we’ve constructed a little shrine we bow to it. But our hearts bow to lots of idols enshrined in key places of our lives. What are some of those things for you? What material possessions or key people or driving passions have overtaken your heart and become an object of worship? What pursuits have have become the primary thing in your life? And it could be good things that have somehow wrongly become ultimate things-maybe you’re pursuing a good cause or a promotion at work or pursuing a relationship that you’ve put everything into-and because of that there’s nothing left for the Lord. That career, that relationship, that pursuit has become the idol of your heart. You see this, isn’t just an issue for unbelievers, but for believers too. We’re all prone to let our hearts become that idol making factory-and a passage like Rev 9 shows us how easily we do it. So next question-Where does idolatry eventually lead? It’s a question of trajectory. And the answer is always entanglement and death. The Lord wants us to put Him central in our hearts-yes we’re called to love other people and to love other things-the work we do, the hobbies and interests we have-but they’re never meant to take that central place that only the Lord is meant to occupy. So anytime an idol does we have to slowly let our hearts be untangled from it because we’re worshipping what we’re never meant to worship-because we’re worshipping something that doesn’t last. All idolatry is worshipping something that is dead or will die. And there’s either two options. Let God root it out of your heart as you repent before Him-or remain defiant and go to the grave worshipping something that goes to the grave with you. Let that not be our hearts! It’s such a sobering and scary statement-Rev 9:20-21. They said-Lord, we love those things and worship those things far more than you. And God says-Okay have those things-but the end is death because you can’t have both your idols and me. I like the challenge from Swindoll, 153. That’s what repentance is all about. It’s saying-Lord, there are things in my life that have overtaken my heart, things that have become way more important to me than you-and they shouldn’t. They were never mean to be what my heart was created to worship-that place is only reserved for you. So last question-Where does worshipping God eventually lead? To the very place you were created to be; the very place where all joy and satisfaction and wonder is found. There is a joy worshipping the Lord here on earth-and that’s only magnified in heaven. Look at this contrast to what we’ve seen this morning-Rev 7:9-10, 15-17. Might that be the place where we’ll dwell for all eternity. Might that be the trajectory our lives are on-and it all begins by removing our idols and worshipping our living God!
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