Revelation 9:2 And
he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out
of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun
and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the
pit.
3 And there
came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto
them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have
power.
4 And it
was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of
the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but
only those men which have not the seal of God in their
foreheads.
5 And to
them it was given that they should not kill them, but that
they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he
striketh a man.
(Suddenly, coming out of the smoke
spreading over the land, are swarms of terrifying evil
locusts, never seen before.
These locusts are not like the swarms of
locusts typically seen in the Middle East, or even like the
locusts in Exodus.
Those other locusts look like
grasshoppers, that don’t bite or sting people, but eat up
all the vegetation in their path.
However, these locusts are far uglier,
much more dangerous, and extremely terrifying.
It says that these locusts are commanded,
perhaps by the fallen angel like in line 11.
They are commanded to not hurt the
vegetation like normal locusts do.
Instead, they are commanded to hurt men,
but not any of the men that they find.
They
are commanded to hurt “only those men which have not the seal of
God in their foreheads”.
So, only the 144,000, the 12,000 from each
of the 12 tribes mentioned in chapter 7, are the only ones
not hurt by the locusts.
That would mean that the locusts will hurt
the other men of Israel, all the women of Israel, and all
the Gentile men and women.
How do these locusts hurt all those
people?
It says that the locusts were given power
as the scorpions of the earth have power, that is the power
to sting with their tails.
The stings of these locusts will not be
allowed to kill the people that the locusts sting, but only
to torment the people.
It says that this plague of stinging
locusts will be allowed to continue to torment men for a
full five months!
The
torment will be like “the torment of a scorpion, when he
striketh a man”.
Since these stings don’t kill, it will not
be like scorpion venom, but apparently only the painful feel
of the sting itself.
I’ve been bit by Caribbean centipedes,
which I’m told, is about the same pain as a scorpion sting,
and it hurt, for quite a while.
Scorpion stings, like Caribbean centipede
bites, continue to hurt, sometimes for hours.
The initial pain of a scorpion sting,
though, is similar to a wasp sting, which is much more
painful than a bee sting.
And that appears to be what is referred to
here, the torment of a scorpion, “when he striketh
a man”, not after he strikes.
If you have ever been stung by a scorpion,
or even a wasp, not a bee, then you know what it will be
like.
However, it is doubtful that it will be a
single sting, since locusts always travel in swarms.
So, it is likely that people will be
getting stung by many of these locusts with scorpion
stingers, all at the same time.
When I was 7, I stepped into a hive of a
kind of bee that sometimes has hives on the ground, rather
than in a tree.
They were bees, not wasps, but they
swarmed up out of the hive, all over me.
I ran home, in pain and terrified,
continuously swatting them all over my body and head.
For the next 20 years, I was terrified of
being stung by bees, wasps, or anything else that stings.
So, before I was saved, I read the entire
book of Revelation one Christmas Eve, and terror gripped me
when I got to this chapter.
Something convinced me that I was not
right with God, and that what I was reading was really going
to happen, and happen to me.
The terror that I was going to be swarmed
again, this time by locusts with stingers, gripped me, and
would not let me go.
2 days later, Jesus first brought the
gospel to me, and within two months, I repented and called
on Jesus to save me.
Therefore, this plague of the locusts with
stingers is important to me, as it was very instrumental in
my getting saved.
Those of us who are saved will not
experience suffering this plague.
However, we all have loved ones, family,
friends, coworkers and neighbors, who are not yet saved.
If the blessed hope happens soon, and the
tribulation also begins soon, then many of them may face
this horrible plague.
Thinking of them swarmed by these locusts,
stinging them relentlessly, ought to provoke us to continue
witnessing to them.
Would any of us want this horrible thing
to happen to someone that we care about?)
Revelation
9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not
find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from
them.
(For five, long, agonizing months men will
be getting stung by swarms of locusts with scorpion stinger
tails.
Not only will the stings not kill them,
but they will be unable to escape the torment by committing
suicide.
It says that men will seek death, in order
to try and escape the torment of being continuously stung.
However, it says that though they seek
death, they shall not find it.
It says that they shall desire to die, but
that death shall flee from them.
They will be unable to commit suicide to
escape from the unending and unbearable torment.)
(Suicide is a very serious decision to
make, and only the most depressed or fearful even consider
it.
There are a number of people in the
scriptures who desired to die:)
Proverbs
8:36b all they that hate me love death.
Job
3:11 Why died I not from the womb? why did
I not give up the ghost when I came out of
the belly?
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and
life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Which long for death, but it cometh not;
and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad,
when they can find the grave?
Job
7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and
death rather than my life.
16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let
me alone; for my days are vanity.
Jeremiah
8:3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the
residue of them that remain of this evil family, which
remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith
the LORD of hosts.
Numbers
11:15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee,
out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me
not see my wretchedness.
Jonah
4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life
from me; for it is better for me to die
than to live.
8b and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
I
Kings 19:4b and he requested for himself that he might
die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life;
for I am not better than my fathers.
(Then there are these 5 people who killed
themselves, with the first 4 being in rebellion against the
LORD when they did:)
I
Samuel 31:4b Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer,
and all his men, that same day together.
II
Samuel 17:23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was
not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose,
and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his
household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was
buried in the sepulchre of his father.
I
Kings 16:18 And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the
city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s
house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire, and
died,
Matthew
27:3a Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that
he was condemned,
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
departed, and went and hanged himself.
(However, the 5th
person repented, and even asked the LORD to help him kill
himself, and the LORD used his death mightily:)
Judges
16:28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD,
remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee,
only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the
Philistines for my two eyes.
30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he
bowed himself with all his might; and the
house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at
his death were more than they which he slew
in his life.
(So, suicide is not the unpardonable sin
that so many believe, saying if you commit suicide you go
straight to hell.
That may have happened with Zimri and
Ahithophel, and also with Judas, but not with Samson or
Saul.
The LORD answered Samson’s prayer and used
him mightily in his death.
Also, Samuel had told Saul that he would
be with Samuel the next day, and Samuel was not in hell:)
I
Samuel 28:19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with
thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be
with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into
the hand of the Philistines.
(So, the terror and the torment of the
locusts with stingers will be unbearable.
The anguish will increase as the seconds
turn to minutes, the minutes to hours, the hours to days,
and the days to 5 months.
It doesn’t say how large these are, but
since they are called locusts, they will probably be that
size.
So, something locust-sized with scorpion
stinger-tails, would not only terrify, but would inflict
excruciating pain.
Then, for someone to have many locusts all
over them, stinging & stinging & stinging, would
drive men to madness and despair.
Imagine someone terrorized and tormented
by these monsters, jumping off a building to kill themself,
to end the pain.
Only to hit the ground, breaking so many
of their bones, but not dying, as death flees from them.
As they lay there writhing in agony, and
unable to get up, because of their broken bones,
suddenly
a swarm of these locusts swoop down upon them, covering
their body, thousands of them,
relentlessly
stinging their body everywhere, over and over and over
again!
That is why this plague is a picture and a
warning to man, of what hell would be like.
Non-stop terror and torment, with no
escape – no one can escape hell by killing themselves there,
they will already be dead.
Hopefully, after the 5 months of this
nightmare, there will be those who realize that this is a
picture of hell.
That this was only 5 months of terror and
torment, but that the torments of damnation continue
forever, with no escape.
Perhaps, that will wake people up to
repent and believe the gospel, like how even reading it, did
for me.
Sadly, as seen at the end of the chapter,
many will not repent and get saved, and this plague will
only be a foretaste.)
Revelation
9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like
unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their
faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth
were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of
iron; and the sound of their wings was as
the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were
stings in their tails: and their power was
to hurt men five months
(If all that is not frightening enough,
then how scary will they actually look like?
Horses prepared for battle had coverings
of leather and iron draped over them, protecting them from
arrows and swords.
These locusts are similarly armored for
battle, making them hard to strike.
They looked like they had gold crowns on
their heads, intimidating by their superior look.
But then it gets weird, they had faces
like men, but hair like women, an indictment of the time we
live in.
They also had teeth like lions, with the
overall combined look terrifying to anyone that sees one,
let alone thousands.
There was an Outer Limits episode that I
saw as a child, called The Zanti Misfits.
They were creatures exiled from their
planet, but the ship crashed on earth.
They looked like giant, rat-sized ants
with human faces – I was so frightened for years, that they
would get me.
Years later, when I first read this
chapter, I knew all my fears were not unfounded, that I was
to face creatures like this.
Fear affected me, fear of real terrifying,
painful, hauntingly ugly creatures, that would hurt me,
because I was not saved.
Others may also be moved to hear the
gospel by simply reading chapter 9, or more so, by even
experiencing this.
And they had as it were breastplates of
iron, and their wings sounded like chariots of many horses
running to battle.
They looked and sounded like a great, well
prepared and well armored army.
Perhaps, so that people will know that
they cannot be killed, and their look only further makes
this point to men.
They had their existence down in the fires
of the bottomless pit, so they are probably fallen celestial
creatures that don’t die.
Therefore, they won’t be killed by
swatting them by bats, or stomping on them, or bullets, or
poison, or fire.
They don’t die and neither do the people
that they are stinging for those five months.
Their tails are like scorpion tails,
probably both in the way that they look, and in the way that
they sting.
Their stings are not tiny like fire ants,
but like scorpions, very scary and very painful.
It restates that their power is to hurt
men five months.
One hour being stung by them will seem
like forever, how much more a day, or worse a week, but what
about five months?
Will people will have periods of reprieve
during this time? Or will they be stung day and
night? It doesn’t say.
People probably will not be able to escape
them by hiding indoors, similar to how they couldn’t escape
things in Egypt:)
Exodus 8:3 And the
river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go
up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and
upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon
thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy
kneadingtroughs:
21 Else, if
thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants,
and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses
of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of
flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
22 And I
will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my
people dwell, that no swarms of flies
shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.
23 And I
will put a division between my people and thy people: to
morrow shall this sign be.
24 And the
LORD did so; and there came a grievous swarm
of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into
his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the
land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of
flies.
(When the plagues came upon Egypt, the
children of Israel were safe in Goshen.
No doubt people will notice that the
12,000 from each of the 12 tribes are not being stung.
Like in Egypt, this caused some to fear
the LORD, but not others, whose hearts were hardened, and
they hated them all the more.
Since people getting stung cannot die
during the 5 months, they also won’t be dying from not
eating, drinking, or sleeping.
If it is to be a foretaste of hell, then
the torments most likely will be continuous, day and night,
for the entire 5 months.)