October 13, 2008

• Revelation 9:2 and 3

  Revelation 9:1-12 KJV  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.  (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.  (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.  (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.  (11)  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.  (12)  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
  
  The star uses the key he’s been given, and opens up the abyss.

  As this pit is opened we see this smoke come pouring out. This pit that has been closed for several thousand years is now opened and we see these demonic locust-like creatures come forth who will have a sting upon the earth’s inhabitants like a scorpion!

  Are they real locusts? One of the plagues in Egypt was with real locusts who demolished the fields of Egypt. But these aren’t normal locusts, these have a king (vs. 11)

  For some reason, Solomon tells us that normal locusts don’t have a king:

  Proverbs 30:27 KJV The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

  Though some would argue that these creatures are military weapons like Apache attack helicopters, I think that it’s just possible that these are simply demonic creatures.

  In Revelation chapter 12 we are told that when Lucifer or Satan rebelled against God, he took 1/3 of the angels with him. Folks, I believe these fallen angels are nothing more than demons.  But not all demons are locked in this pit, which is very obvious as you look at the work they are doing in this world right now!  But then, who are these angels that are locked up until this time of judgment?  In Jude 6, 7 we are told, “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; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.“

  I believe Jude is saying that these fallen angels violated the laws of God by not carefully guarding and maintaining their original position they were created for. Yes they did rebel against God and were punished for that, but there is something more going on here than just that. Specifically, these fallen angels invaded territory that was foreign to them and forbidden to them, namely the human race!  In fact, Jude likens their sins to that of Sodom and Gomorrah, who went after strange flesh.

  The word “strange” in the Greek is HETEROS or different flesh. You see, the men in these cities were involved in homosexual relationships, which went against that which was natural!  These angels invaded the realm of another nature, they co-habituated with women to pollute the human race and prevent the Messiah from being born of the seed of a woman!  God destroyed the world in a flood except for Noah and his family who were not affected by this!  It is as Peter tells us of these angels, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.“  II Peter 2:4.  All the angels who rebelled against God sinned, but here something else is going on like I said, and these angels who co-habituated with women are chained for this day spoken of here, a day of judgment!

  Now where in the Bible do we see this take place or do we see it in the Bible? I do believe we see this take place in Genesis chapter 6, where we are told, “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. . . . There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”  Genesis 6:1-2, 4.

  Now some like to say that this not speaking of angels here but that the godly line of Seth, being “the sons of God” married the ungodly line of Cain, being the “daughters of men.” But the union of a believer and unbeliever does not produce some kind of mutation or strange manifestation – giants or Nephilim. The classical use in the Old Testament of the phrase “sons of God” or BAR ELOHEM is that of angels. You can find that used that very way in Job 1:6 and Job 38:7.  And so these fallen angels or demons that are locked in chains in the center of the earth are those wickedest of angels who co-habituated with women, and there may be others that the Lord has placed there, but they are not all chained in this pit.

  I think John Phillips makes some interesting comments on these fallen angels as he wrote, “Picture what the world would be like if we were to open the doors of all the penitentiaries of earth and set free the world’s most vicious and violent criminals, giving them full reign to practice their infamies upon mankind.  Something worse than that lies in store for the world. Satan, cast out of heaven, is now permitted to summon to his aid the most diabolical fiends in the abyss to act as his agents in bringing mankind to the footstool of the Beast.”

  Ok….I guess we will save verse 4 for tomorrow.

  God bless you. Have a Marvelous Monday.

  • 8:00 am
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