The One Year Bible Club with Teaching
Commentary by Nick Boork
December 18
Commentary by Nick Boork
December 18
December 18
Revelation 9:1-21
Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit
9 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. 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. 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. 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.
7 The shape 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. 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. 12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates
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.” 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. 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 came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came 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.
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 or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
John saw the fifth angel blow his trumpet and an angel fell from heaven with authority to open the bottomless pit. Out came a dense black smoke and from this creatures that looked like locust. Apparently it was impossible to kill these creatures and the sole purpose was to torment men for five months. One thing I would like to say here is that I have absolutely no desire to be here for this event! Can you imagine people being tortured by these demonic creatures stinging them like scorpions?
Here’s the real kicker, the Bible says that people will seek death to escape from being tormented but will not be able die to escape! I think the reason for this is that God is giving these people of foretaste of the eternal punishment of hell to come but at the same time they still have an opportunity to turn to God for salvation. Why else would they not be able to escape this kind of torment even through death? Could this be a form of the mercy of God getting peoples attention through this judgment that they may acknowledge God’s power and repent?
When the sixth angel sounded his trumpet four angels were released that are currently bound up in the river Euphrates. These fallen angels release 200 million warriors riding horses to go forth and kill one third of humanity! These were not natural horses because they are described as having heads like lions that were able to breath fire on people and sting them with their tails like serpents. It seems that just like the Father in heaven has blessings and rewards for his faithful servants he also has reserved wrath and judgment for those that reject him and follow Satan. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about the goodness and judgment of God:
Romans 2:4-11 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
I think this is a great reason to make a decision to serve God and give Him the reverence, worship and respect that He alone deserves as God Almighty, our Creator. It’s with this kind of Biblical understanding that I mentioned to people:
“God is love but don’t tick Him off!”
and
“If God is almighty let’s just get with the program!”
We know that the Lord is merciful but some people just reject God altogether but if we believe the Bible and we understand that it doesn’t matter if people believe in God or not they’re going to have to deal with him because he is the ultimate reality and has all power to save or judge. What we read in this portion of the book of Revelation is a prophetic picture revealing aspects of the anger and wrath of God coming upon people that refuse to repent. It seems like these people just cursed God and we’re 100% bent on total rebellion. However, even with this strong manifestation of God’s wrath it says that they did not repent of their sins. Tragically, even in the middle of the judgment of God being poured out upon them they had an opportunity to repent from their sins but refused to do it. What were some of the sins they refuse to turn from? Here is a divinely inspired list in this 9th chapter of the Book of Revelation: sins that mankind refused to repent of and because of these the wrath of God was being poured out on them:
· Idolatry
· Worshiping demons
· Sorcery
· Murder
· Theft
· Sexual immorality
SEVERAL LISTS OF SINS FOUND IN THE BIBLE THAT KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF HEAVEN:
What’s amazing to me is how many pastors reject these divinely inspired lists of sins that will keep people from entering Heaven or the Kingdom of God. I have had some dialog with pastors concerning these lists say that it only has to do with not inheriting the Kingdom blessings now. In other words, if people continue to live in these sins it will just hinder them from experiencing the things of the kingdom of God now on earth. I totally disagree!!!
According to the Gospel that the apostle Paul preached it brought into the life of those that obeyed it’s message the power to be delivered and set free from sin!
Romans 6:17-18 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Here is an example of a conversation that I had with several pastors about this issue. I asked a question to clarify their position. “Are you saying that if a born again Christian is living in adultery and they die right in the act of committing this sin that they’re still going to heaven? Like a pack of wolves they snapped at me all yes! and the Lord will not keep people that are his children out of heaven for this sin. I was both shocked and amazed. I pointed out several of the divine lists in the Bible that warn people about missing heaven because a living in sin. They denied that those apply to eternal life. I took my final stand based on Revelation 22:14-16 where Jesus says that outside of the gates were people that did not repent of their sins and then he lists the sins that kept them from entering into the holy city and sexual immorality was right there.
After this meeting I just had to do some deeper research to find out what others were saying about these divine lists of sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God. I could not find one Bible scholar or commentator that agreed with the interpretation that it would only hinder them from experiencing the kingdom of God and its blessings now on earth. I emailed one of the leading pastors back about my findings and he never replied. On more than one occasion I have come across Christian leaders from different churches that hold to this interpretation. I believe that this is a spirit of error like Paul writes to Timothy to be alert about calling it “doctrines of devils” Ref; 1 Timothy 4:1-2 that has crept into the church to deceive and lead astray people teaching it’s ok to continue to live in sin, not repent and still be a Christian.
Here’s references to lists of sins that keep people from entering the Kingdom of God and I believe this has to do with our salvation should we not repent and chose to live in these sins whether people confess Jesus as Savior or not. Remember that Jesus said on the day of judgment MANY would say to him “Lord, Lord” but that he would answer I never knew you depart from me workers of iniquity. Ref; Matthew 7:21-23. No, according to Jesus it’s only those that do the will of the Father God that make it to Heaven…think about this, it’s super important and calls for preachers to not compromise the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5-7, Revelation 22:14-16
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) The God of the Bible is the Almighty God
2) He has prophetic events already lined up to take place
3) Woe to the people that refuse to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Savior
4) The Bible provides several lists of sins that will condemn people to hell.
5) We should preach the truth in love but never water-down the message of the Gospel.
6) The apostles preached repentance from sin and faith in Jesus alone to be saved.
7) A simple verbal confession of Christ as Lord is of no value if it is not under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent and then followed by a life committed to overcome sin everyday!
Revelation 9:1-21
Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit
9 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. 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. 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. 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.
7 The shape 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. 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. 12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates
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.” 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. 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 came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came 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.
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 or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
John saw the fifth angel blow his trumpet and an angel fell from heaven with authority to open the bottomless pit. Out came a dense black smoke and from this creatures that looked like locust. Apparently it was impossible to kill these creatures and the sole purpose was to torment men for five months. One thing I would like to say here is that I have absolutely no desire to be here for this event! Can you imagine people being tortured by these demonic creatures stinging them like scorpions?
Here’s the real kicker, the Bible says that people will seek death to escape from being tormented but will not be able die to escape! I think the reason for this is that God is giving these people of foretaste of the eternal punishment of hell to come but at the same time they still have an opportunity to turn to God for salvation. Why else would they not be able to escape this kind of torment even through death? Could this be a form of the mercy of God getting peoples attention through this judgment that they may acknowledge God’s power and repent?
When the sixth angel sounded his trumpet four angels were released that are currently bound up in the river Euphrates. These fallen angels release 200 million warriors riding horses to go forth and kill one third of humanity! These were not natural horses because they are described as having heads like lions that were able to breath fire on people and sting them with their tails like serpents. It seems that just like the Father in heaven has blessings and rewards for his faithful servants he also has reserved wrath and judgment for those that reject him and follow Satan. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about the goodness and judgment of God:
Romans 2:4-11 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
I think this is a great reason to make a decision to serve God and give Him the reverence, worship and respect that He alone deserves as God Almighty, our Creator. It’s with this kind of Biblical understanding that I mentioned to people:
“God is love but don’t tick Him off!”
and
“If God is almighty let’s just get with the program!”
We know that the Lord is merciful but some people just reject God altogether but if we believe the Bible and we understand that it doesn’t matter if people believe in God or not they’re going to have to deal with him because he is the ultimate reality and has all power to save or judge. What we read in this portion of the book of Revelation is a prophetic picture revealing aspects of the anger and wrath of God coming upon people that refuse to repent. It seems like these people just cursed God and we’re 100% bent on total rebellion. However, even with this strong manifestation of God’s wrath it says that they did not repent of their sins. Tragically, even in the middle of the judgment of God being poured out upon them they had an opportunity to repent from their sins but refused to do it. What were some of the sins they refuse to turn from? Here is a divinely inspired list in this 9th chapter of the Book of Revelation: sins that mankind refused to repent of and because of these the wrath of God was being poured out on them:
· Idolatry
· Worshiping demons
· Sorcery
· Murder
· Theft
· Sexual immorality
SEVERAL LISTS OF SINS FOUND IN THE BIBLE THAT KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF HEAVEN:
What’s amazing to me is how many pastors reject these divinely inspired lists of sins that will keep people from entering Heaven or the Kingdom of God. I have had some dialog with pastors concerning these lists say that it only has to do with not inheriting the Kingdom blessings now. In other words, if people continue to live in these sins it will just hinder them from experiencing the things of the kingdom of God now on earth. I totally disagree!!!
According to the Gospel that the apostle Paul preached it brought into the life of those that obeyed it’s message the power to be delivered and set free from sin!
Romans 6:17-18 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Here is an example of a conversation that I had with several pastors about this issue. I asked a question to clarify their position. “Are you saying that if a born again Christian is living in adultery and they die right in the act of committing this sin that they’re still going to heaven? Like a pack of wolves they snapped at me all yes! and the Lord will not keep people that are his children out of heaven for this sin. I was both shocked and amazed. I pointed out several of the divine lists in the Bible that warn people about missing heaven because a living in sin. They denied that those apply to eternal life. I took my final stand based on Revelation 22:14-16 where Jesus says that outside of the gates were people that did not repent of their sins and then he lists the sins that kept them from entering into the holy city and sexual immorality was right there.
After this meeting I just had to do some deeper research to find out what others were saying about these divine lists of sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God. I could not find one Bible scholar or commentator that agreed with the interpretation that it would only hinder them from experiencing the kingdom of God and its blessings now on earth. I emailed one of the leading pastors back about my findings and he never replied. On more than one occasion I have come across Christian leaders from different churches that hold to this interpretation. I believe that this is a spirit of error like Paul writes to Timothy to be alert about calling it “doctrines of devils” Ref; 1 Timothy 4:1-2 that has crept into the church to deceive and lead astray people teaching it’s ok to continue to live in sin, not repent and still be a Christian.
Here’s references to lists of sins that keep people from entering the Kingdom of God and I believe this has to do with our salvation should we not repent and chose to live in these sins whether people confess Jesus as Savior or not. Remember that Jesus said on the day of judgment MANY would say to him “Lord, Lord” but that he would answer I never knew you depart from me workers of iniquity. Ref; Matthew 7:21-23. No, according to Jesus it’s only those that do the will of the Father God that make it to Heaven…think about this, it’s super important and calls for preachers to not compromise the Word of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5-7, Revelation 22:14-16
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
1) The God of the Bible is the Almighty God
2) He has prophetic events already lined up to take place
3) Woe to the people that refuse to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ as Savior
4) The Bible provides several lists of sins that will condemn people to hell.
5) We should preach the truth in love but never water-down the message of the Gospel.
6) The apostles preached repentance from sin and faith in Jesus alone to be saved.
7) A simple verbal confession of Christ as Lord is of no value if it is not under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to repent and then followed by a life committed to overcome sin everyday!
OKAY, HERE’S MY TEACHING COMMENTARY
WHAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE?
PRAYER TO APPLY THE WORD OF GOD TO OUR LIVES
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