The thundering horde

Worse than any wound is the wish to die and yet not be able to do so.--Cornelius Gallus, Roman Poet, ca.26 B.C.

In heavenly armour we'll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that's fashioned against us shall stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor Power and strength to the Lord (repeat)

The power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He's raised up a standard, the power of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend, your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

This post begins with multiple images, and dueling quotes signifying opposing sides in a spiritual war.  It is important to remember the first verse of the song written by Jamie Owens-Collins, because when the second verse plays out, the enemy will take the form of evil beings that combine the three separate images into one terrifying species of invaders.  Either you despair of life, like the poet Gallus, or you place your hope in the Lord.

Here is what I mean.  In Revelation chapter 9, the first four Trumpet Judgments have taken place, but a vulture-like creature has warned us that the worst is yet to come: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" (Revelation 8:13).

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.  The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.  When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.  The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.  And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.  They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months.  And the agony they suffered was like that of a sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.  During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.  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 of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.  They had tails and stings 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, Apollyon.  The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.--Revelation 9:1-12

Wow!  What a terrifying scene.  Let's look a little closer.  The star of our show is a heavenly being, probably an angel.  Remember Lucifer was once an angel in heaven before he fell from heaven.  This angel may or may not be Satan.  What we do know is that this angel is subject to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Revelation 1:18 says, "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death an Hades."  When Jesus was on earth, he said, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:18).  On earth, Peter was given the keys to heaven.  In the last days, this fallen angel will be given the key to the Abyss.  More on this later.  It is important to keep in mind, however, that later in Revelation, the key is taken back, because Revelation 20:1 says, "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain."  That chain will bind Satan forever, and he will be thrown into the lake of fire.

What is the Abyss?  It is usually conceived of as the subterranean abode of demonic hordes.  The Greek word means "very deep" or "bottomless", and it is used in the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament) to translate the Hebrew word for the primeval deep.  Genesis 1:2 says, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 8:27-28 that Wisdom said, "I was there when He set the heavens in place, when He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep."   And remember when Jesus cast the demons out of the possessed man who had been living among the tombs--when Jesus spoke to the demon and asked its name, the reply was "Legion--for we are many".  As Jesus commanded the spirits to leave this man, Luke 8:31 says, "And they begged him not to order them to go into the Abyss."  Jesus instead ordered them into a herd of pigs, and the pigs immediately ran off a cliff and into the lake.

But in our text, when the Abyss was opened, thick smoke came out, like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.  I can't help but think about the faithful Hebrew men in Daniel chapter 3, who refused to bow down to the image of king Nebuchadnezzar.  The king was so angry that he made the furnace seven times hotter than it had been, and he had the three Hebrew men thrown into it.  But when he looked, he saw four men, and the fourth looked like the Son of God.  God was with them.  Like the Psalmist said, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there." (Psalm 139:7-8).

But the inhabitants of the Abyss were not sleeping.  They were waiting for the day that they could come out and torture mankind.  In Revelation 9, the image turns from black smoke to a dark cloud like a locust swarm.  We mentioned before how many references there are in Revelation to the plagues of the Exodus.  You remember the plague of locusts in Exodus chapter 10.  Well, there are also references to other Old Testament scriptures.  The prophet Joel described another locust plague, that he said had been sent on Israel because of their sins.  But the way that Joel described the locust swarm is telling: "A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.  Like dawn spreading across the mountains, a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old, nor ever will be in ages to come....Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine." Joel 2:2, 10.  The way Joel describes the massive locust swarm is very similar to the description of the thundering horde in Revelation.  There are so many that the cloud of them black out the sun, the moon and the stars.

As we take a closer look at them, we get a description of demonic forces never before seen on earth.  The locusts individually looked like horses prepared for battle.  Joel 2:4 says, "They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry."  But their faces resembled human faces, indicating that they were intelligent beings, not insects or animals at all.  They had cunning, and did not simply use brute force.  On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their hair flowed in the wind like women's hair.  They had teeth like lions' teeth.  Joel 1:6 says, "A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness."  Can you imagine such a fierce, fearsome creature?  I can't even imagine a Halloween costume this scary.  They had breastplates like iron, and the sound of their wings against the iron breastplate sounded like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.  And on their tails, a scorpion's stinger.  A multitude of these creatures was loosed from the Abyss.

What was their mission? They were told not to harm green plants or trees, but only those people that did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.  If you were not sealed by God, look out!  The creatures would not kill you, but they would torture you with unspeakable pain, like being stung by a scorpion.  The pain and torture will be so bad that people will wish they were dead, but they will not be able to take their own lives.  This torment will last for five months.  This is about as long as locusts usually live, I think.  Or maybe the time period corresponds to the growing season, spring to summer, when locusts are a danger.  Or maybe it is prophetic of something else, I don't know.  What I do know is that the time is limited.

Who is the leader of this massive horde of tormentors?  He is described as the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon (Destruction), and in Greek, Apollyon (Destroyer).  Most likely this is a general in Satan's army, who is waiting for the day to be loosed from the pit to wreak havoc on the earth.  Even so, he cannot touch those with the seal of God on their foreheads.  Job 28:22 says, "Destruction and Death say, 'Only a rumor of it (wisdom) has reached our ears.' "  I said that the demonic creatures were cunning; I did not say they were wise. This is the first woe--misery, sorrow, affliction, distress.  There are two more coming.

I know this is creepy stuff, and most preachers today will not touch this subject.  But the facts are clear, and spelled out very clearly in the Bible--if you do not know Jesus personally as your Redeemer and Lord, and if you do not have His name written on your head and on your heart, then your fate will be worse than death.  You may not face the end of the world in your lifetime, but you will spend an eternity outside of the presence of God.  And without God, the spirits in charge of your future are Satan, the Destroyer, and Destruction.  Call out to Jesus today, and ask Him to save you from sin and Death.

Savior, more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging, close to Thee;
Let Thy precious blood applied,
Keep me ever, ever near Thy side.
Refrain
Every day, every hour,
Let me feel Thy cleansing power;
May Thy tender love to me
Bind me closer, closer, Lord to Thee.
Through this changing world below,
Lead me gently, gently as I go;
Trusting Thee, I cannot stray,
I can never, never lose my way.
Refrain
Let me love Thee more and more,
Till this fleeting, fleeting life is o’er;
Till my soul is lost in love,
In a brighter, brighter world above.