Last 5 Days
Live for Jesus!
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lions' teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The fifth trumpet sounded. John saw a star fall from the sky. “He” suggests it is not a literal star but somebody. In this case, like Satan who was being expelled from heaven to the earth as prophesied by Isaiah and Ezekiel. He was given a key implying God gave him permission to release those imprisoned in the bottomless pit. “Bottomless pit” is also translated as “abyss” in some versions. The word appears seven times in the book as a prison for demons. John saw them coming out like “smoke rising of a great furnace” to darken the sky. This “smoke” was a plague of locusts symbolizing the total corruption of the earth by these evil spirits. In other words, they were given permission and power to do so. They stunk their victims like scorpions and destroyed the crops on earth. Those without the seal of God on their foreheads were tormented for a period of five months. However, they cannot kill them.
The torment was so bad that they preferred to die. John said several times that it only appeared “like” as he described the evil spirits. So, it was not literal. They will have a king identified as “the angel of the bottomless pit.” The Hebrew name is “Abaddon.” The Greek is “Apollyon.” Both mean “destroyer.” Thus, some say Satan is allowed to take a final assault on God and His people. This implies God is in control despite Satan waging war against the saints. Thus, when we are going through hardship and are tempted to give up our faith in God, remember God is in control. What we are going through is only temporary.
John said the first woe has passed, two more are to come and so four more will follow from the Seven Woes. These two woes will come at the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments respectively. It seems that there is a pause here. A moment for unbelievers to consider repenting when the gospel is preached to them; and for believers to preach the gospel to them.
It is hard to comprehend how a holy God can use unholy beings to accomplish His will especially in bringing people to repentance. However, if God has no such power or control over anybody including evil spirits then He is not very powerful after all. The Bible also said that Jesus holds the keys to heaven and hell. “Holding the key” speaks of His sovereign power and authority over His creation. Jesus once warned us to fear the One who can destroy both the body and soul than just the one (evil men and spirits) who can only harm the body. Thus, let us be warned that if there is still a chance, it is better to take heed.
At the sound of the sixth trumpet, a more severe judgment and deaths resulted. John heard “a voice” (the Lamb’s voice) from the golden altar. It told the sixth angel to “release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.” As they were forbidden to kill those sealed by God earlier but now, they were allowed to kill a third of the population. John heard there was a “two hundred million” strong armies, in the plural. Thus, it was said that there were four major armies from different empires commanded by the demonic angels or “kings” that will appear during the sixth bowl judgment at the sound of the seventh trumpet to war against the saints.
Three ways these demonic creatures were allowed to kill their victims, With their mouths, their tails, and their heads. The mention of colors from the ignited rock that produce a burning flame and gas were common features of hell. It depicts the violent devastation of the earth, the killing of their victims with fire to suffocate the victims with smoke and gas coming from the heated rocks. It was a description of the horrific deadliness of the demons and the intensity and increase of evil on earth. Yet, the seven churches did not take the opportunity to evangelize the world like many churches are not doing so today as well.
The sixth trumpet judgment killed a third of the world’s population because of the “plagues.” Each will be more catastrophic and worse than those before. But the people remained unrepentant and continued to mock God as their hearts were hardened. John listed five actions of these people. First, they were unrepentant of their wicked deeds. Second, is an increase in murders. Third, an increase in sorceries. Fourth, is an increase in sexual immorality. Fifth, theft will increase.
The people will become desperate because of the scarcity of food, clothing, water, shelter, and medicines caused by the plagues and wars. Nations will stop exporting food and other necessities because of scarcity. They will steal, cheat, and rob for them to survive. Thus, evil and suffering will be prevalent all over the world.
These increasing acts are happening all over the world today lately too. Is it coincident or is it we are living in the days as described in John’s vision? In comparison with the 144000 who kept themselves pure, we must also keep ourselves pure amid such a prevalent spread of evil in our days as well. But many are unaware that the five acts were the result of the influences of the demonic forces in the world corrupting mankind to practice a false religion, murder, and sexual perversion as crimes and criminal activities increased in the world. These are the signs of the Last Days, and they are the days for those who live in the Last Days.
In view of God’s judgment and the perversion of the world, the urgency to evangelize is even greater. We should mobilize the church to preach the gospel. We should be making disciples who would persevere to the end for God is calling unbelievers and believers to stop living in sin! Thus, do not love the world or be entangled with the things of this world! But live as disciples of the Lord and fulfill the task of making disciples of all nations!
