God is sovereign over human history. Revelation chapter 9 demonstrates that sin is more serious to God than humans realize. Those who have not accepted Christ should repent of their sin and receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

1. May 13, 1978

2. At the heart of
a commitment
to God is a
commitment
to His Word!

4. Revelation 1:3
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the
words of this prophecy, and blessed are
those who hear, and who keep what is
written in it, for the time is near.

5. Summary of genre key
Revelation is apocalyptic prophecy.

6. “Apocalyptic literature is a
special kind of writing that
arose among Jews and
Christians to reveal certain
mysteries about heaven
and earth, humanity and
God, angels and demons,
the life of the world today,
and the world to come.”

7. Apocalyptic literature “reveals”
these mysteries through the use
of visions and highly symbolic
language.

8. Our Guiding Principle
Don’t miss the forest for the trees!
Let’s not get lost in the details and
therefore miss the message Jesus
has for us!

9. Recap: Revelation 4-8
Rev. 4-5 – The Lamb, with a scroll, in
the Throne Room
Rev. 6 – The Lamb removes first 6 seals

10. God’s Judgments Unleashed
in Three Movements . . .
 The Seal Judgments (7) – the 7th
containing . . .
 The Trumpet Judgments (7) – the 7th
containing . . .
 The Bowl Judgments (7)

11. Recap: Revelation 4-8
Rev. 4-5 – The Lamb, with a scroll, in
the Throne Room
Rev. 6 – The Lamb removes first 6 seals
Rev. 7-8 – Opening of 7th seal which
unleashes the Trumpet Judgments

12. Revelation 9
The 5th and 6 th Trumpet Judgments
(a.k.a. “The 1st and 2nd Woes”)

13. The Nazgûl

14. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:1
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet,
and I saw a star fallen from heaven to
earth, and he was given the key to
the shaft of the bottomless pit.

15. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:2
He opened the shaft of the bottomless
pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like
the smoke of a great furnace, and the
sun and the air were darkened with
the smoke from the shaft.

16. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:3-4
Then from the smoke came locusts on the
earth, and they were given power like the
power of scorpions of the earth. They
were told not to harm the grass of the
earth or any green plant or any tree, but
only those people who do not have the
seal of God on their foreheads.

17. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:5-6
They were allowed to torment them for
five months, but not to kill them, and their
torment was like the torment of a
scorpion when it stings someone. And in
those days people will seek death and will
not find it. They will long to die, but death
will flee from them.

18. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
“These are not ordinary locust,
but demons, who, like locusts, bring
swarming destruction. Describing them in
the form of locusts symbolizes their
uncountable numbers and massive
destructive capabilities.”
(John MacArthur, Because the Time Is Near)

19. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:6
And in those days people will seek death
and will not find it. They will long to
die, but death will flee from them.

20. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:7-8
In appearance the locusts were like horses
prepared for battle: on their heads were
what looked like crowns of gold; their
faces were like human faces, their hair like
women's hair, and their teeth like lions'
teeth;

21. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:9-10
They had breastplates like breastplates of
iron, and the noise of their wings was like
the noise of many chariots with horses
rushing into battle. They have tails and
stings like scorpions, and their power to
hurt people for five months is in their tails.

22. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:11
They have as king over them the angel of
the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew
is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called
Apollyon.

23. Tolkien’s Nazgûl

24. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:12
The first woe has passed; behold, two
woes are still to come.

25. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:13-14
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet,
and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar before God, saying to the
sixth angel who had the trumpet,
“Release the four angels who are bound
at the great river Euphrates.”

26. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:15-16
So the four angels, who had been
prepared for the hour, the day, the month,
and the year, were released to kill a third
of mankind. The number of mounted
troops was twice ten thousand times ten
thousand; I heard their number.

27. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:17
And this is how I saw the horses in my
vision and those who rode them: they
wore breastplates the color of fire and of
sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of
the horses were like lions' heads, and fire
and smoke and sulfur came out of their
mouths.

28. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:18
By these three plagues a third of mankind
was killed, by the fire and smoke and
sulfur coming out of their mouths.

29. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:19
For the power of the horses is in their
mouths and in their tails, for their tails are
like serpents with heads, and by means of
them they wound.

30. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Talk about a scene of pure horror and
utter devastation! Certainly those still
living will repent of their sin and turn
to God! Yes?

31. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Revelation 9:19
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by
these plagues, did not repent of the works of
their hands nor give up worshiping demons
and idols of gold and silver and bronze and
stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or
walk, nor did they repent of their murders or
their sorceries or their sexual immorality or
their thefts.

32. Revelation 9 – Two More
Trumpet Blasts!
Isaiah 53:6a
All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned—every one—to his own
way.

33. Today’s
1. God is absolutely sovereign over
the course of human history!

34. Today’s
Revelation 9:4-5
They were told not to harm the grass of
the earth or any green plant or any tree,
but only those people who do not
have the seal of God on their foreheads.
They were allowed to torment them for
five months, but not to kill them.

35. Today’s
Revelation 9:15
So the four angels, who had been
prepared for the hour, the day, the
month, and the year, were released to kill
a third of mankind.

36. Today’s
1. God is absolutely sovereign over
the course of human history!

37. Today’s
2. This chapter specifically and the
book of Revelation as a whole
demonstrates that sin is a much
more serious matter to God than it is
to us!

38. Today’s
Does God hate sin?
If God hates sin, should we not
also hate sin?

39. Today’s
2. This chapter specifically and the
book of Revelation as a whole
demonstrates that sin is a much
more serious matter to God than it is
to us!

40. Today’s
3. If you have never embraced the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, do so TODAY!
Repent of your sin and rebellion
against God and receive the free gift
of eternal life that God offers to you
in Christ!

41. Today’s
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord.