After the five months of torment and gloom end, a 6th angel sounds the second woe. It likewise shakes the earth, releasing a Satanic army that brings more of the devil’s ways on the earth. It is led by the ruling demonic spirit behind the Middle Eastern empires that oppressed ancient Israel.  
      The onslaught is described in the rest of Chapter 9 using figurative language as plagues and warfare. John is seeing things in the spiritual realm that have not yet been seen in the natural realm in his time. He is doing his best to describe it. We can only imagine the shock he must have felt watching this unfold. The bottom line is that this “warfare” destroys one third of mankind on the earth.
      End-Time Lesson: Here we get a better picture of why God’s judgment is necessary. You would think after the first two world wars in our own history that mankind could find a way to settle our disputes. Our best-laid plans and ideas, such as the United Nations, have failed because every worldly institution is established by fallen people. Apart from God, our best intentions always fall short.
       Deception is hard to expose because it works overtime to bury the truth. As this 7th Day draws near, the technology that was designed to make our lives better has also served to make it more deceptive. With AI applications so rampant, we can’t even believe what we see in pictures and videos anymore, let alone online. Teachers can’t even tell whether or not the work submitted by their students is their own.
        It is interesting that  those in the Department of the Treasury who are assigned the task of identifying counterfeit monies do not study the counterfeits. They study the real thing. This way it makes it easier to spot the inconsistencies in the false money.
        Probably the greatest falsehood undermining our society in our time is the false doctrine of relativism. It preaches that there is absolutely no absolute truths. Hopefully you recognize the fallacy and absurd idea of saying this “fact” of no absolute truths is absolutely true!
        The best way to inoculate ourselves against the deceitfulness of this age, especially the false doctrine of relativism, is to study the real thing. That is, God’s eternal, established, absolute truths recorded in His Word.  The biblical truths we know—both in terms of knowledge and practice—are what set us free from Satan’s traps and protect us against his deceptions (Jn. 8:32).
          Sadly, the same cannot be said of many of the people in the age to come. Chapter 9 ends with this indictment: “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (vs. 20-21, emphasis added).
       Now perhaps you have a better idea of God’s unfathomable and patient mercy toward mankind. He is perfectly loving, yet He is also perfectly just. He and He alone knows the point of no return, when He has given mankind every possible chance to realize the error of their ways. Needless to say, these trumpets are a clarion wake-up call to mankind.
       So when someone tells you they cannot believe in a loving God who would allow such horror to happen, you now have an answer. God is trying to remove the blinders of deception so people can make the right choice. These horrors are the consequences of evil and the evil one. God is not a spiritual kidnapper. It would be unfair of Him to give us a choice and then remove the consequences of those choices. Yet He longs for us to see clearly and choose life in him. He has given us His Word.

      In Revelation 9 we hear the sounding of the 5th and 6th trumpets. They are the first two of three woes. The “star” that comes to the earth as the 5th trumpet sounds is an angelic messenger from God. In short, it brings upon the people what they have loosed through their ungodly decisions to follow after Satan’s kingdom of darkness. It shows what lies in store for those who do not repent.
      The bottomless pit is a compartment of Hell. Hell was not created for mankind; it was created to hold the fallen angels who rebelled with Satan and became his evil hierarchy (Eph. 6:12). Sadly, those who likewise reject God and His Son shall meet this same fate in Hell.
       What comes forth from the pit is a fallen spiritual being whose two names (in Hebrew and Greek) mean “destroying angel.” John 10:10 reminds us that Satan came to steal, kill, and destroy. So here we see what Satan ultimately has in mind for the earth. He knows God’s plan, so he already knows he won’t win despite his best efforts. So he would rather see the earth destroyed than have God’s people governing it as was the plan of God’s original creation.
        This time when the atmosphere is darkened once again, a sound is heard. It builds until a horde of something that looks like scorpion-like locusts swarm out of the darkness like a marauding army of chariots. But this time, instead of harming the earth, this plague attacks the people. Their sting is not deadly, but it causes great pain and torment.
        End-Time Lesson: Note that these locusts cannot sting those who have the seal of God on their forehead. We know this judgment comes after the rapture of the Church, who is now seated as the immortal heavenly government. We also know that this sealing comes by being born again in the spirit, as a result of accepting Jesus as the Savior. So the sealed in this chapter are people who were “left behind” at the rapture, who have now seen the error of their ways. Having accepted Jesus as their Savior, they are given the Spirit as part of the latter rain outpouring.
        For those who are not sealed and are stung by this woe, the poison lingers in the body for five months. The torment is unbearable, such that “men seek death and will not find it.” The number 5 in Scripture symbolizes grace. The people may not see this reprieve from death as gracious, but it is better than dying unrepentant and spending eternity apart from God in eternal damnation. They can choose salvation through Christ.  
        We must remember that judgment is meant to open people’s eyes to their folly and wrong decisions. God doesn’t want any to bear the consequences of choosing the lies of this world. He desires all people to be saved. So the purpose of God’s wrath and this stage of the plan is to expose the damaging nature of evil in a way that will cause people to repent and be saved.

    As we see the trumpet judgments, we have to keep them in context. They are devastating, but so were the evil acts generated by the forces of evil on the earth. Evil reproduces after its own kind, bringing deception and abomination such that what is evil is called good, and what is good is called evil (Is. 5:20).
    Choices always have consequences. To be just, these consequences have to be equivalent to the deeds done. Without equal consequences there can be no accountability and justice. We’ve already seen in our current culture what happens when justice is not served and wrong-doers are not prosecuted accordingly. Society falls apart. That is the nature of lawlessness.
     Judgement is based on God’s nature. He is both perfectly loving, yet perfectly just, unlike mankind. God created mankind to love and be loved. Despite what we may think, love is not just a physical attraction. It is a decision.
       True love chooses to love no matter what the other person does. It doesn’t excuse wrong actions, but it seeks to help the person see the error of their ways, primarily through the negative results of their decisions. We call this disciplining. The Bible calls it chastisement.
     The fact that our decisions have consequences was vividly on display in the Garden of Eden. For God had planted two trees: the Tree of Life (in Him, according to God’s kingdom of light) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Very quickly our human ancestors came to realize that this second tree brought a fallen life, compliments of the fallen angel (Satan) and his kingdom of darkness.
       These plantings were part of God’s prophetic plan of redemption. Being all-knowing, He knew what mankind would choose, yet He already had the remedy in place before He even started creating this earth (Rev. 13:8).
       The plan was necessary because there was another fall before that of mankind. A created spiritual being, an angel, likewise created with a will, revolted against God. He wanted to be worshipped like God, despite serving in the throne room. He goes by several names: Hay-lale, Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, the Accuser, and the Father of Lies.
      End-Time Lesson: God’s plan of redemption was fashioned according to the creation blueprint. But instead of 7 regular, earthly days, it would unfold across 7 great Days, each lasting 1,000 years as God counts prophetic time. Why would it take so long? The saga of the early Days of the Old Covenant gives us a clue. Because we have a will so we can choose whom we will love and serve, we have, as we say it, a mind of our own.
       Separated from God by our sin nature, mankind tends to see ourselves as gods, deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong. We prefer to do things as the song declares: “I did it my way.”
         Within the first few chapters of the first book in the Bible, we see this in the Tower of Babel, where mankind wanted to make a name for themselves and construct their own building as a temple unto themselves. They rejected God’s mandate to spread out and populate the earth.
        Before long, we see mankind intermingling with other created beings, both natural and spiritual. The contamination of sin escalated rapidly as seen in the ungodly practices in idol worship. Within one generation, murder occurred. Within a few more generations, “the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5). As with everything else in God’s natural creation, each aspect of life reproduces according to its own kind (Gen. 1:11). Lawlessness breeds more lawlessness.
       Yet because God had given the earth over to mankind as His delegated authority (Gen. 1:27-28), He would not go against His own word. Thankfully, He had the solution already in line, the Seed prophesied in Gen. 3—His only begotten Son who would redeem the world. However, the Redeemer could only come at the appointed time. The world first had to see the consequences of their decisions. They had to see the full impact of choosing unwisely. They had to be held accountable.
        We may see this as unjust at first glance, but God will not violate our wills. Instead, He always provides a way to be connected to Him in a covenant relationship. It is always up to us whether we want to abide by the conditions stipulated in the agreement. Without consequences and judgments, there can be no justice and peace.

     Rev. 6 opened with the 4 angels being held back until the elect were sealed. It closed with the revelation of the 6th seal, the shocking sixth seal of total darkness on the earth. What about the 7th seal? We would logically expect to see it next, but instead we see an intervening event in Chapter 7. We see the elect in Heaven as the result of the rapture.
       We have to admit that the Holy Spirit knows how to tell a story. So now we would logically expect to finally see the 7th seal. Instead we get another surprise. Rev. 8 opens with total silence. What does this mean? Once again we are meant to make the Spirit-inspired connections. Zephaniah 1:7 gives us the answer. “Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the Day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.”
        Remember, the Day of the Lord is another name for the last Day, the 7th Day in God’s prophetic timetable of the great Week. It’s an awesome, earth-shattering Day.  It should be noted that the events we are about to be shown in the 7th seal don’t necessarily occur one after the other. They occur across the first 3 and one-half years of the 1,000-year period known as the wrath of that Day.
        The silence is then broken. Once again we are told that “there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.” We see seven angels equipped with seven trumpets. We see another angel given a golden censer filled with incense. He mingles it with the prayers of the saints and offers it upon the golden altar before the throne. The smoke that results rises unto God.
        Fire can represent transformation and purification. It can also represent destruction and death. Something monumental is about to happen that shall bring great joy and justice, yet great wrath and vengeance as well. No wonder there is silence in Heaven.
       End-Time Lesson: We’re about to see the overview of God’s vengeance against evil. We’re about to see the shaking of the powers of the heavens when the first four trumpet judgments are sounded. The first trumpet brings hail and fire mixed with blood, striking the vegetation, destroying one-third of the trees and grasses.
       The second trumpet brings a burning mountain (asteroid, meteor, or something akin to these) that strikes a major ocean used for shipping, turning it to blood, killing one-third of the sea creatures and destroying one-third of the ships on the sea.
         The third trumpet brings a great star (meteor) called Wormwood to the earth that burns like a torch. One third of the fresh waters are poisoned by it, and many people die because of the contamination of the water supply. The fourth trumpet is a bit different. A third of the sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened, such that one third of the daytime and one third of the nighttime are effected.
            Then an angelic voice echoes across the globe, in effect saying that the population of the earth hasn’t seen anything yet. Only four trumpets have sounded so far—four is the number of the earth. Three more trumpets are to come; three is the number of the Triune Godhead. The results of the next three trumpets are bad—so bad that they are called woes.

     Of course we know that God doesn’t make mistakes! So why did God deliberately break the rules of grammar in Rev. 7 to identify the number of people sealed as 144 thousands (plural)? He deliberately used symbolic language to make His point.
     In our English language, when we want to describe a specific number of people, we use a specific numeral with the singular form, such as there were two thousand (singular) people at the concert (2,000 people attended). But if we want to show that there were many, many people in attendance, too many to count, we say there were thousands (plural) of people at the concert. Notice that no specific numeral is used.
     But here God broke these rules for a reason. He wanted to highlight that there is an innumerable company of people and that they have a special identity. Their identity is numerically represented by a perfect square: 12 times 12 = 144.  The number 12 in Scripture speaks of God’s perfect governmental order. We see it in the 12 tribes of Israel and in the 12 foundational disciples. By linking this specific number with the plural form of thousands (as in the original text), God is describing an innumerable company that shall be part of the ruling government of heaven. That is, the Church, the Body of Christ, His Bride.
       But what about the naming of the tribes? Why do this, especially since it has led to a misinterpretation of this pivotal multitude in Heaven? Again, God is calling our attention to another pivotal principle in the New Testament that identifies this innumerable company. It is the true Israel of God, not chosen by natural inheritance but chosen because of faith.
      We have already seen that Jesus has been given the scroll of inheritance as the title deed over the earth. As such, it belongs to the firstborn son, the only begotten son, to rule over the earth as God’s appointed Heir. But He is not alone in this assignment. Because we are in Christ, as begotten sons (Eph. 1:5), we likewise rule with Him as joint-heirs.
     “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Rom. 8:16-18, emphasis added). His suffering included rejection and persecution, and being subject to death.
       Like our Lord, we shall overcome death when we are resurrected at the rapture, when He comes again to gather us to Him and take us back to Father’s House as He promised (John 14:1-3). He doesn’t come because we cannot bear what is to happen. No, He comes so that we can be seated with Him as the immortal government of Heaven, always with Him in the position of all authority both in heaven and on earth. As His Body, we are not appointed to experience this wrath. That is why His name and the name of God’s city is written on us (part of the promises to the overcomers).
       By the way, what would we expect to see, according to Jesus’ teaching on His second coming, after seeing the seals and the signs of this age? We would expect to see the rapture, which is the purpose of His coming again. And this is exactly what John is shown as part of the overview!
        END-TIME LESSON; This isn’t escapism; it’s ruling and reigning! Who is reigning? The true Israel of God by faith (Rom. 9:6). The true Israel of God are those who recognize His Anointed One, Jesus Christ the Messiah. For those who are in Christ, we are no longer Jew nor Gentile nor Greek. We are the redeemed of God.
         The ruling court is now fully in session, the Head and His Body as one new Man. It is the fullness of the New Covenant. God highlights this truth using the twelve tribes of Israel (from the old covenant), yet affirming that they are sealed by the Spirit through Christ’s redemption (through the new and better covenant).
          If this identity is hard for you to accept, don’t take our word for it, take God’s Word for it. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9-10, emphasis added). In short, what we are seeing in this chapter is the overview of the rapture!
          And if that is not enough, God makes sure we will get this right. It is time to raise up a deep valley in our end-time highway that has really caused a lot of casualties. God wisely has an angel ask John who is this multitude. Quick on his feet, John wisely turns the question back to the angel—"Sir, you know.”
          The angel affirms that “these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation [the signs of this age and the seals we just saw], and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them” (Rev. 7:14-15).
            You may recall that these last two facts are part of the promises Jesus gave to His Church in chapters 3 and 4. We are seeing the true Israel of God by faith (Gal. 3). By the way, as a sort of sneak peak, we never see 144,000 Jewish evangelists preaching in the rest of the Revelation. We never see them whenever Jesus is shown. That seals the deal on the identity of the innumerable company—pun intended!