Revelation Lesson 23: Hardhearted Humans, Stubborn & Hopeless
Revelation Chapter 9: 13-21
“Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
“And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
We hate death. We fight it with every fiber of our being. The struggle to live is ingrained in our DNA and the DNA of all creation. God created people, men and women, as eternal beings. We know that we will live forever; the question is, where? As our bodies age, we still remember that kid that we once were. We mature in our thoughts and learn a few things, but we remain young inside. The body slows, the mind may slow and even wander, but the soul is youthful and ready for the next step.
Are you ready? Has your future been secured in Jesus and by Jesus? This is the question that all mankind must face. There is no R.I.P. without Jesus as your eternal peace. You must have peace with God the Father through God the Son, and this peace is in us through God the Holy Spirit. John the Apostle puts it this way in John 5:12, and this is as plain as it can get:
“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Four Angels, demons bound by God, Revelation 9:13-14
In the Bible we never see the Holy angels ever in chains. They are free as they do the work of the Lord around the earth and in Heaven. Many of Satan’s angels are also free and are part of the principalities against whom we fight daily (Ephesian 6: 12). But there are some very, very dangerous angels that are bound by God. In Jude verse 6 we are told this about some of these angels; I have my understanding of this but it is not relevant to our discussion today,
“And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”
So, there are angels that are bound in chains, under darkness until the time of the judgment day. In Revelation 7 we have already met another set of four angels that are stationed at the four corners of the earth, referring to the 4 poles: North, South, East and West. It is clear that these four angels in chapter 7 are not the same ones we meet in chapter 9.
Right now, as the time of Halloween approaches here in Southern Ontario and around North America, we hear about demons and ghosts. People make fun of them. Of course there are no ghosts; we are told that once a man/woman dies they are immediately taken to Heaven or to Hell. They do not wander around their loved ones or stay in the house. But in the case of demons, the Bible is clear that these exist and are actively serving their temporary master Satan. There is a real and seemingly violent spiritual battle going on with the armies of Heaven and Hell all around us.
These four angels that we meet in Revelation 9 are made by God, and at one time they would have been in His service. But, in their rebellion, they had to be bound for whatever reason we don’t know and don’t need to know. God repurposed them, and He set them in chains until a specific hour, day and month. These phrases are eye-opening statements for many Christians. You mean that God had these demons chained and He knew exactly what day that they would be released – in fact He designed the day? Yes! A thousand times Yes! Many Christian parents, my wife and I included, teach our kids a little song:
This is the day (this is the day) that the Lord has made (that the Lord has made).
We will rejoice (we will rejoice) and be glad in it (and be glad in it).
For this is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it;
This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made.
We use this to help our kids to appreciate each day, and there is nothing wrong with that. But Psalm 118:24 where we find the root of this song, this is a part of Halal Psalms sung at the Passover. “This is the day that the Lord has made” is a reference to the day that Jesus was crucified. God made that day, He planned that day, and nothing was left to chance – from making sure that Rome was in charge of Jerusalem to making sure that the soldiers were professional killers who understood death, so that Jesus’ death could not be disputed; to the fact that Rome used crucifixion as a main source of killing criminals; to the fact that there was a new unused tomb in which to bury Jesus, and on and on we can go.
God planned every last detail, worked within the framework of man’s free will, and overlooked every decision in His Sovereignty. That day, that particular day, was the day that God had made to make atonement for our sins.
Well, in like manner, He has prepared these demons – the bound angels – for a particular month, day and hour, and that day had arrived for the people of earth. During the previous trumpet, they had longed for death and they were forbidden from dying by God. But this day they were going to get death; the very thing they had longed for but was so elusive would now hunt them like prey.
I love this verse as do many Christians; we think about our home in Heaven:
1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
Well, let me say to you that this is also true for those under the wrath of God. They could not imagine the horror that was coming their way. The finite human mind could not have pictured these Hell-bent demons that God unleashed on the earth. I am literally shaking as I write this, trying to imagine the suffering that will engulf the earth. They are released from the area of the Great River Euphrates (verse 14).
This river plays a prominent role in the Bible; it is mentioned quite often. It was one of the four rivers that ran in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14). It ran through Babylon and was a witness to the people who revolted against the Lord in Genesis 11. Of course, Babel is the root of many of the pagan religions that exist even today. This river has seen many revolts against God along that way of man’s history. But on this day, there would be only obedience by these fallen angels; no revolts today.
Two-Hundred Million Demons, Revelation 9:16-17
This this is the first army of 200,000,000 unleashed upon the earth. There will be another army later on, a physical one. This is a spirit army; the ‘soldiers’ are visible and certainly terrifying, but it is a spiritual army nonetheless.
One of the things that one will learn as you study the Bible is that the spirit world is real and that it is often more real than the physical world that we see. Spiritual warfare is real; Satan fought Michael for the body of Moses (Jude verse 9). Jesus cast out demons; He was attacked and personally tempted by Satan; demons recognized Paul but not others; we can go on, I am sure. The spiritual world has not changed. It is still active and alive today.
The people on earth at this time begin to be slaughtered. One-third of the remaining population is killed by these demons who look like horses in the body, have the heads of lions, and tails that are like snakes.
You know, sometimes we get what we ask for; and when we get it, it is nothing like what we envisioned. There is a monument called the Georgia Guidestones; it has Ten Commandments of the New World Order. The first one is this: Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
No one ever thinks that they are one of the ones that they are going to get rid of. We currently have a population of about 7,000,000,000; so to get to the 500,000,000, they have to kill off over 90% of the population, and that will include some of the very people who are pushing for this change. God is about to answer their prayer, so to speak. These demons will ravage earth; death will be painful and plentiful.
I cannot imagine the stench that will hover over the earth: the smell of death, sulfur and the aroma of burning bodies. No one will be safe from these demons and their deadly heads, both to the front and rear. These things are unstoppable; they do not need sleep or rest; they have no pity and no emotions. They know their fate – the pit of Hell.
Recall how the demons, when they met Jesus, often asked if He was there to torment them? Was it the time? they would ask. They know their fate, their end, and they have accepted that there is no redemption for them. So why be good; why even try? The wrath of God is nothing to be messed with. Being under the wrath of God is a horrible place to be.
Hardhearted People, Revelation 9:20-21
These two verses are some of the hardest verses to read in the scriptures. The people of earth were seeing the wrath of God in a way that shook them to the core. They could see what happens to the redeemed versus the lost. In the previous trumpet, the sealed ones of God were not even touched by the scorpion locusts. Yet, the people of the earth would not repent. The opportunity to repent was there; they simply refused to do it. They continued to defy God and would not humble themselves before Him.
How sad! It really is. I read this, and it breaks my heart; I feel sad. God is willing if they will, but they simply will not.
They continue to worship false gods, idols and demons; they continue in committing murder, in sorceries and in sexual misconduct. They not only refuse to repent, they would not even stop their immoral practices. I mean there are 200,000,000 demons killing people all around them, and they continue to worship them rather than turn to the Living God!
Oh, what a sad people we are! We are so stubborn and hardhearted, bullheaded and full of pride that we cannot admit we are defeated and that we need help.
So many try to please God on their own, to please God without Jesus, pushing the idea that God has to accept their righteousness because they are better than the next guy.
God wants to have mercy on us; He wants to help us and save us. God extends His grace in the midst of His wrath, and He is both willing and able to offer us peace. But so many of us reject Him, as do these people here during this time not too far into the future.
Lord help! Come to Jesus NOW! Come while there are no demon armies chasing you and no scorpion locusts biting you; and, for now, there are not even humans chasing you to kill you – at least not here in North America. Repent; call on Jesus and be saved. The end is near.
Ephesian 2:14-18 “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
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