Revelation Chapter 9
Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Rev 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
The symbols in this trumpet are a bit peculiar.
They are not drawn exclusively from the natural world, nor exclusively from human life so they are neither exclusively political nor religious.
They are however living active agents of destruction, thus the designation of a woe.
We begin with a fallen star
This star could either be a civil ruler or religious leader
This star is a fallen star, so likely a false teacher or false religion
This star is given a key
Not the key to the Kingdom of God like the followers of Christ
But rather the key to the bottomless pit
There arose a great smoke…not a light like the gospel
But obscuring the view like a smoke
Appropriate for a propagator of false religion
We find this symbol fulfilled in Mohammed and the false religion he propagated
This was around 612 AD
The next object is the locust
With the deadly sting of the scorpion
This is the Saracens were the warrior followers of Mohammed
They are commanded to not hurt the grass or trees only those who not the seal of God in their foreheads
Both the church in the Western and Eastern Empire had grown very corrupt
These Saracen were sent a scourge on apostate Christianity
It was given to them to torment but not kill
Though they attacked, they did not overthrow Constantinople political
Though they tormented, they did not destroy the Armenian and Greek churches
The time designated was 5 months, or 150 days
Using the day for a year symbolic time, this is a period of 150 years
612 AD to 762 when they built Bagdad and became settled
War like, triumphs, boldness on one hand, but also effeminate, ferocious, invincible, multitude
Name = destroyer
One woe is past, another 2 to come indicates happening in succession
Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
Rev 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
The sounding of the second woe trumpet, the 6th trumpet is heard from the throne, from the altar
The same altar from which the souls of the saints cried out for justice
Loosed four horsemen from the Euphrates for judgment on the apostate church
Drawn from both the religious and political arenas
We are to look for some political religious power to overthrown the empire ….we are at this time focused on the Eastern Empire, as we have seen in the previous chapter the overthrow of the Western Empire
The Turkish or Ottoman Empire fulfills this symbol
The Turks were of Scythian origin, descended on the empire
Within a 200 year period they formed into 4 Sultanies, at Bagdad, Damascus, Aleppo and Iconium, the first of these erected in 1055 and the last in 1080, a 25 year period
Before the end of the century, the sultanies were united under Osman
The Ottoman Empire was a political power and it extended conquests and established their empire
However, it was accompanied by the religious system of Islam
From the time they were let loose, their aggressions continued until 1453 when Constantinople fell with the last of the Constantines
The Empire continued to grow until 1672 when they attacked Poland
That would be their last success
Venice and Russia combined to strip city after city away from the Empire
Austria and Italy regained territory
Time = hour and a day and a month and a year
391 days = 391 years from 1281 to 1672
Of interesting note: though their time to extend was limited, they are to continue until the final woe, the final judgment