Revelation 9 - Introduction

The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets Sound Revelation Nine

Revelation chapter nine provides and account of the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets. These are two of the three angles that were included in Revelation 8:13. "And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" The last three trumpets are often called the "woe" trumpets and they are discussed in Revelation Chapter s nine through eleven.

The woe of the fifth trumpet is represented under the figure of an immense army of locusts bringing calamity upon the earth. A star fell from heaven and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. When he opened the pit the swarm of locusts comes forth on the earth. They are commanded to do certain work. They were to torment those that did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. However, they were not to kill them. A very vivid description is given of the destructive horde of locusts.

The sixth angel sounded and four angels which were bound in the great river Euphrates were loosed. The four angels are prepared and loosed with a great army to destroy one third of the men. The sad thing about God's judgment coming on the nations is that it does not produce the desired result. The nations are not turned from idolatry. There is no inclination on the part of the ungodly to repent of the abominations they had long practiced. Wickedness still abounded!