Revelation 9:3

 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth.  And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

·        These locusts had, by the just permission of God, power to hurt (MH)

·        God lifts His restraints off the demonic realm, so their wickedness is manifest. (CS)

Exodus 10:12-15  Then the LROD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land – all that the hail has left.” …

Deuteronomy 8:15   …who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock…..

Revelation 9:2

 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace.  So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

·        The devil carries on his designs by extinguishing light and knowledge (MH)

·        These are obviously not “natural” locusts. They avoid plants and attack men like scorpions attack. They are “A visual representation of the hordes of demons loosed upon the earth.” (Walvoord)

Genesis 19:28  Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.

Ezekiel 32:7  When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

Revelation 9:1

 Then the fifth angel sounded:  and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.  To him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

·        The text clearly shows us that this star is a person (to him), not a literal star. The verb tense (fallen) indicates that he already had fallen. (DG)

·        This key becomes the devil’s turnkey, to let loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ (MH)

Isaiah 14:11-16 ….How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!.....

Psalm 30:3  O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Revelation 8:13

 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

·        Here are three woes, to show how much the calamities coming should exceed those that had been already (MH)

·        If less judgments do not take effect, but the church and the world grow worse under them, they must expect greater. (MH)

Isaiah 3:11 Woe to the wicked!  It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.

Psalm 47:5  God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.

Revelation 8:12

 Then the fourth angel sounded:  and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.  A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

·        This supernatural work of God will affect heat, health, agriculture, navigation, etc.

·        This parallels the fifth bowl judgment which will cause darkness to fall on the Antichrist’s empire (Rev. 16:10-11) and the ninth plague of darkness on Pharaoh’s kingdom for three days (Ex. 10:21-23).

 Ezekiel 32:7 When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

 Amos 8:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord GOD, that I will make the sun go down at noon.  And I will darken the earth in broad daylight…

Revelation 8:11

 The name of the star is Wormwood.  A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

·        Wormwood is a very bitter substance, and proverbial for bitterness and sadness.

·        The proportion of ecological disaster stays the same. In each one of the trumpets, a third of an ecological system is destroyed in judgment.

Ruth 1:20  But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

Jeremiah 9:15  therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:  “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

Revelation 8:10

 Then the third angel sounded:  and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

·        A great burning star will fall from heaven. This meteoric mass will poison the fresh water (rivers and springs) causing the inland fresh water supply to be contaminated.

·        This parallels the third bowl, which will poison the fresh water by turning it to blood (Rev. 16:4-7), and the first plague, which destroyed the water supply in the lakes and springs when the Nile turned to blood.

 Isaiah 14;12  How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations.

Zechariah 12:6  In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place – Jerusalem.

Revelation 8:9

And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

·        The souls of men found their ruin where they sought for their refreshment (MH)

·        God may use whatever method He desires to bring judgment, but people on earth know these events are from God, and do not think them to be merely natural disasters (Revelation 16:9; 16:11; 19:19). (DG)

Psalm 89:25 Also I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand over the rivers.

Psalm 48:7  As when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind

 

Revelation 8:8

 Then the second angel sounded:  and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.

·        Something like a great mountain: John carefully says that this is not an actual mountain (note the use of like), but it is a blazing mass as large as a mountain. (DG)

·        The sea may be a specific reference to the Mediterranean and not a reference to all oceans. For a person in the world John lived in, the Mediterranean Sea was the sea, and they really had little knowledge of other oceans. (DG)

Exodus 7:17-20  thus says the LORD:  By this you shall know that I am the LORD.  Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is my hand, and they shall be turned to blood…….

Ezekiel 14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast…..

Revelation 8:7

 The first angel sounded:  and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth.  And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

·        The first four trumpets are “supernatural acts of God through nature” sent to destroy the Antichrist’s resources and his followers, while displaying Jesus’ power as superior to his. God’s judgments against the wicked in the “trumpets” affect various areas of the environment (trees, grass, sea, rivers, sky), food supply (vegetation, meat), sea trade (fish), water supply and energy (light and heat from sun, moon and stars). They are not merely “natural acts” portrayed in symbolic language, but are the supernatural power of God using and moving through God’s natural creation, affecting it in a supernatural way that has never been seen before in human history at this magnitude.  (CS)

·        The most severe calamities have their bounds and limits set them by the great God (MH)

 Exodus 9:23 and Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground.  And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Psalm 18:13 The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire.

Revelation 8:6

So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

·        Sound is associated with the seal judgments. The first four are released by a voice like thunder.  The fifth seal describes the intercessory cry from beneath the altar. In the sixth seal, the kings cry out. Here, the terrifying silence of the seventh seal is in great contrast with the other six seals.

·        We waited for the seven seals to be opened, and saw them loosed one by one. But when the seventh seal was finally loosed, the end did not immediately come. It set in motion seven trumpets that would sound upon the earth. (DG)

 Leviticus 23:24 Speak to the children of Israel, saying:  in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

Joshua 6:4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark.  But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

Revelation 8:5

 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth.  And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

·        These prayers that were now accepted in heaven produced great changes upon earth.  (MH)

·        All things will not be resolved on this earth until judgment comes, and when the prayers of God’s people “come back” to earth, they bring the groundswell of judgment  (DG)

Leviticus 16:12  Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil.

Exodus 20:18 Now all the people witnesses the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.

Revelation 8:4

 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.

·        Prayer and incense are often associated in the Bible.  (DG)

·        The idea is that just as incense is precious, pleasant, and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers.  (DG)

Exodus 30:8  And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

Leviticus 16:12  Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the LORD, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil.