Revelation 9
Revelation 9:7-10, The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
I think this was probably a difficult chapter for most of us! Let’s do our best to unpack it.
The fifth trumpet blows and a star falls from the sky. The star unlocks the key to the abyss. When the abyss is opened, all kinds of evil things come out of it. The people without the seal of God are forced to go through five months of torture at the hands of the scorpion-like locusts who have come from the abyss (five months is the life cycle of a locus). It’s all very graphic and hard to take in.
A wider look at the battlefield reveals that the one who rules over these terrible demonic creatures is the king of the abyss, Apollyon. There is a lot of symbolism here that John’s original listeners would have understood. The Greek name Apollyon means destroyer. It’s very similar to the name Apollos, the Greek god who was the favorite of the emperor of the time, Domitian (who reigned from A.D. 81 to 96). In fact, the emperor so identified with Apollos that he often called himself the reincarnation of the deity. Domitian was known for his reign of terror against both Jews and Christians. Just imagine, the original hearers of this text would have drawn immediate connections between the king of this abyss and their emperor, who was persecuting them relentlessly for their belief in Jesus. They would understand that while Domitian may be the source of persecution, the true source of suffering was Satan, the evil one, the one who reigns over the abyss.
Just when we think it might be over, the author says that it isn’t. The first woe has passed but there are more to come. Then ensues a wave of plagues. A third of humanity is killed and then another third. You would think this would be enough to scare the survivors into believing in Jesus. And yet, the Scripture says that they continue to be hardened. They don’t stop their evil behavior but persist in resisting God. Fear and terror have never been effective methods for leading people to a saving relationship with Jesus.
That begs the question – how do we effectively point people to Jesus? People are not frightened into the Kingdom (we are stubborn people!), people are not shamed into the Kingdom, lectured into the Kingdom, or forced into the Kingdom in any way. People are loved into the Kingdom. And even then, they have the choice to say yes or no to God’s free gift of grace.
Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, We pray for those we know who do not yet know you. We pray for those in our community who do not yet know you. Help us be instruments of your love and grace. Give us openings to share your Good News with others, to have spiritual conversations, and to bless others in surprising ways. Help us point people to you over and over and over again not out of obligation but truly out of love. You love them so we should love them. In Your Name, Amen.