February 17 - The Fifth Trumpet (pt. 2)

February 17 – The Fifth Trumpet (pt. 2)
Revelation 9:3-12

“And out fo the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given the power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

“The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel o fthe Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

“The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.”

These locsts have come up from the Abyss. This tells us they won’t be like anything we’ve ever seen on earth. They are demons that have been sent to torture humanity. This imagery is taken from Joel. If you spend time in Joel 1-2, you will find much of the same information. Joel 2:10 says “Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.”

The land is destroyed by the locusts. “Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste – nothing escapes them.” (Joel 2:3)

The locusts are limited to a time period of five months. They have been given the power to torture – not by Satan, but by God. Even with the awesome power they have, they are limited by God. The battle is raging, but there is no question as to who remains in control.

Locusts are actually grasshoppers in their swarming stage. My thoughts regarding the common locust comes from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book “On the Banks of Plum Creek.” She writes of a ‘glittering cloud’ of locusts so large it blocked out the sun. The swarm destroyed the wheat crop on her family’s farm and stripped the prairie bare of all vegetation.

Up until this point, locusts have never harmed men. In Proverbs 30:27, we read “locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks.” But, now, they have a king and his name is Abaddon in Hebrew – which means ‘Destruction,’ and Apollyon in Greek – which means ‘The Destroyer.’