Revelation 9

Revelation 9 describes the fifth and sixth trumpets, also called the first and second woes, showing a major intensification of God’s judgments after probation has closed. The fifth trumpet brings spiritual darkness, deception, and torment upon those who do not have the seal of God, while the sixth trumpet escalates into widespread destruction and death. Together, these trumpets reveal the consequences of humanity’s final rejection of God and the increasing removal of restraints upon satanic power, while showing that God still remains sovereign over the timing and limits of every judgment.

Revelation 9:1-2 (NKJV)
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.
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 fifth trumpet marks a major intensification of the judgments described in the previous trumpets. In this interpretive framework, the first four trumpets portray the progressive collapse of Babylon’s structures, security, spiritual teachings, and religious guidance, while the fifth trumpet turns more directly to the condition of the people who remain identified with that system after probation has closed. John sees a star already fallen from heaven to the earth, which may represent Satan as a fallen heavenly being who is permitted, within limits established by God, to open the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit symbolizes darkness, chaos, deception, and demonic activity, and when it is opened, smoke rises like the smoke of a great furnace, darkening the sun and the air. This smoke represents an overwhelming spread of spiritual darkness and deception among those who had already rejected the light of truth.

Revelation 9:3-4 (NKJV)
3 And out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

Out of the smoke come locust-like powers, showing that deception now takes an active, organized, and tormenting form. These are clearly not ordinary locusts, because they are commanded not to harm the grass, green things, or trees, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. This command should not necessarily be understood as protecting another symbolic group represented by vegetation; rather, it emphasizes that these locusts are supernatural or symbolic, for natural locusts normally destroy vegetation, whereas these are directed specifically against human beings. If probation has already closed, the phrase “those who do not have the seal of God” does not suggest that anyone can still become sealed, but identifies the final distinction already established between the sealed people of God and the unsealed followers of the beast. God’s people are therefore excluded from this particular torment, while the unsealed experience the consequences of the spiritual darkness they chose.

Revelation 9:5-6 (NKJV)
5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

The locusts are not given authority to kill, but to torment for five months, showing that their work produces intense anguish, fear, confusion, oppression, and despair rather than immediate physical destruction. Their torment is compared to the sting of a scorpion, suggesting a painful and penetrating form of suffering that may be spiritual, mental, emotional, and social. The five months represent a definite and divinely limited period, emphasizing that even satanic activity remains under God’s control. The suffering becomes so severe that people seek death but cannot find it, revealing the depth of their hopelessness when the religious, political, social, and economic systems they trusted have collapsed and can no longer provide peace, security, or deliverance. At this stage, the torment is not primarily a call to repentance, since probation has closed and the final decisions have already been made; rather, it is the bitter consequence of rejecting God’s truth and choosing deception.

Revelation 9:7-9 (NKJV)
7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

The appearance of the locusts further reveals the nature of these forces. They are like horses prepared for battle, showing organization, aggression, and readiness for conflict; they wear something like crowns of gold, suggesting apparent authority, success, or legitimacy; their faces are like human faces, indicating intelligence and calculated strategy; their hair is like women’s hair, suggesting attractiveness or seduction that hides their destructive nature; their teeth are like lions’ teeth, revealing ferocity and the power to tear down and destroy; their iron-like breastplates suggest strength, hardness, and resistance to opposition; and the sound of their wings like many chariots rushing into battle portrays the overwhelming speed and force with which these deceptions spread.

Revelation 9:10-11 (NKJV)
10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.
11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

Their tails are again compared to scorpions, reinforcing that their power lies in torment and injury rather than immediate death. Finally, the locusts are said to have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name is Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek, both meaning “Destroyer.” This strongly points to Satan as the ultimate ruler behind these forces, showing that the chaos of the fifth trumpet is not random but directed by the one whose character and purpose are destruction. Yet his authority remains limited: he must be given the key, the locusts are commanded whom they may and may not harm, they are forbidden to kill, and their period of torment is restricted. Thus Revelation 9:1–11 presents the fifth trumpet as a judgment in which Babylon’s outward supports have already been shaken, and the unsealed world is now exposed to the full spiritual darkness, deception, oppression, and despair of the kingdom it chose, while God’s sealed people remain distinguished and protected.

Revelation 9:12 (NKJV)
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

This verse serves as a transitional statement, marking the end of the first woe with the cessation of the locust plague, and setting the stage for further judgments. It reminds the reader of the escalating nature of the divine judgments yet to unfold, emphasizing the progressive intensity aimed at bringing about repentance.

Revelation 9:13-14 (NKJV)
13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

The sixth trumpet presents a further escalation of God’s judgment after probation has closed, moving from the torment of the fifth trumpet to widespread destruction. John hears a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God commanding the release of four angels bound at the great river Euphrates. The altar connects this judgment with divine justice and with the prayers of God’s persecuted people, while the Euphrates points symbolically to Babylon, since the ancient city depended upon that river and end-time Babylon represents the global religious, political, social, and economic system opposed to God. The four bound angels may represent demonic powers that had been restrained until the precise moment appointed by God, and their release shows that another restraint is removed as the judgment intensifies.

Revelation 9:15-16 (NKJV)
15 So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

They had been prepared for a specific hour, day, month, and year, emphasizing that even these destructive forces operate only within the limits and timing permitted by God. Their mission results in the death of a third of mankind, showing a severe but still measured judgment. John then sees an immense army of two hundred million horsemen, an image that most naturally emphasizes an overwhelming and apparently irresistible force rather than requiring a literal human army of that exact number.

Revelation 9:17-19 (NKJV)
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, smoke, and brimstone.
18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which issued out of their mouths.
19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads, and with them they do harm.

The horses and riders are associated with fire, smoke, and brimstone, and their lion-like heads symbolize ferocity and destructive power. From their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and brimstone, by which a third of mankind is killed, suggesting that the sixth trumpet involves both physical destruction and the destructive power of deception. Their power is said to be in their mouths and in their tails, and the tails are like serpents with heads, strongly connecting their influence with Satan, the great deceiver. This imagery suggests that lies, false teachings, propaganda, spiritual deception, and demonic influence accompany the violence and destruction of this judgment. The sixth trumpet therefore portrays a world in which the restraints upon satanic power are increasingly removed, allowing the system people chose in opposition to God to reveal its true character through chaos, deception, conflict, and death.

Revelation 9:20-21 (NKJV)
20 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.
21 And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.

The chapter closes by describing the response of those who survive: they do not repent of worshiping demons and idols, nor of their murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, and thefts. Within this framework, their refusal to repent does not mean that probation is still open or that another opportunity for salvation remains; rather, it reveals that their characters have already become fixed. Even under overwhelming judgment, they continue in the same rebellion and false worship they previously chose, demonstrating that judgment does not create their hardness but exposes it. Their continued idolatry shows that their deepest allegiance remains with powers opposed to God, while their continued sins reveal the moral corruption produced by that allegiance. Thus Revelation 9:13–21 presents the sixth trumpet as a severe intensification of judgment upon the unsealed world, in which satanic forces are permitted greater freedom, deception and destruction spread on a massive scale, and humanity’s settled rebellion is fully revealed, while God remains sovereign over the timing, limits, and final outcome of every event.