The Locusts from the
Bottomless Pit
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Let's pray together before beginning this lesson:
Father,
We are most grateful to You for giving us Your prophetic Word, showing us that You will
always give Your people victory over their oppressors.
Now, as we start on the fifth trumpet, we humbly ask You to guide us by the power of Your
Holy Spirit, so that we may understand the important message You want to give us.
In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior we pray.
Amen.
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Revelation 8:12
Then the fourth angel sounded.
And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that
a third of them were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the
night.
In our last lesson, we saw that the Middle Ages Church made a lot of doctrinal
compromises to increase its power over the nations.
Those compromises caused it to plunge into deep spiritual darkness during its reign, which
lasted 1260 years, from A.D. 538 to 1798.
Many calls to repentance were given to it, but it obstinately persisted in remaining in
apostasy.
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Revelation 9:1
Then the fifth angel sounded.
And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.
Revelation 8:10
Then the third angel sounded.
And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch.
The fifth trumpet reports what followed this great apostasy.
Once again, the star fallen from heaven opens the scene.
As we have seen in our lesson about the third trumpet, this star symbolizes Satan.
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Revelation 9:1,2
I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.
And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit.
Genesis 1:1,2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.
The «bottomless pit» (or «the deep») represents chaos, the world without
God.
Satan, the star fallen from heaven, is now getting ready to launch a new attack, this time
drawing his strategy from this bottomless pit.
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Revelation 9:2
And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of
the pit like the smoke of a great furnace.
And the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
Genesis 19:28
Then [Abraham] looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and
toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went
up like the smoke of a furnace.
Calling to mind the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah, the bottomless pit gives
off smoke, increasing the darkness which was already prevailing.
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Revelation 9:3
Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth.
Judges 7:12
Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the
East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without
number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.
The message of the fifth trumpet revolves around a great locust invasion.
The Bible often uses the picture of locusts to represent a very strong attack.
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2 Chronicles 7:13,14
When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command
the locusts to devour the land, (...) if My people who are called by My name will humble
themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Amos 4:9
«When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig
trees, and your olive trees, the locust devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me,»
says the Lord.
The trumpets aim to call people to repentance.
The picture of locusts supports this message, since God often used them to this end.
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The picture of locusts also calls to mind the punishment of apostasy:
«But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice
of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I
command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: (...) you
shall carry much seed out to the field and gather but little in, for the locust shall
consume it.» (DEUTERONOMY 28:15,38)
«The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them
into the hand of Midian (...). [They were] coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and
their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel
was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out
to the Lord. (...) "I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land you dwell. But you have not obeyed My voice."» (JUDGES 6:1,5,6,10)
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Jeremiah 51:12-14
Set up the standard on the walls of Babylon (...).
O you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of
your covetousness.
The Lord of hosts has sworn by Himself: «Surely I will fill you with men, as with
locusts, and they shall lift up a shout against you.»
Just as He destroyed the ancient city of Babylon, God decided to put an end to
the activities of the Church of the Middle Ages, and let Satan assail it with a human
attack comparable to a locust invasion.
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Revelation 9:7,8
And the shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for
battle; (...) and their teeth were like lions' teeth.
Joel 1:4,6
What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has
eaten (...).
For a nation has come up against My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the
teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
Locusts with lions' teeth symbolize the attacks of strangers against God's
people plunged into apostasy.
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Revelation 9:3,4
Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth.
And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
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.
The fifth trumpet aims at the same people as the preceding four trumpets: the
oppressors of God's people.
We can see that those who have the seal of God on their foreheads are spared: who are
they?
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Revelation 7:3
Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have
sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
Ezekiel 9:4,6
And the Lord said to him, «Go through the midst of the
city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh
and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. (...)
Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come
near anyone on whom is the mark.»
The seal is put on the servants of God, those who remain far from apostasy.
The seal of God will be the subject of a future lesson.
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Revelation 9:4
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.
Which events does the fifth trumpet announce?
The locusts symbolize the peoples which finally rebelled against the apostate Church,
seeing the numerous abuses of power of this very Church who was claiming to represent God
on earth.
At the end of the 18th century, the French Revolution dealt a severe blow to the Church,
killing and deporting thousands of churchmen, as a sign of the people's complete rejection
of religion.
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Revelation 9:5
And they were not given authority to kill them, but to
torment them for five months.
In 1798, French General Berthier took Pope Pius VI prisoner, thus breaking the
political power of the Church.
But the prophecy announces that this punishment would last only five months.
According to the prophetic equivalence «1 day = 1 year», these five months symbolize a
150 years period (5 x 30 days = 150 days, that is, 150 years).
By adding 150 years to 1798, we obtain 1948, leading us to the post-war era.
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Revelation 13:3
I saw one of his heads [of the beast] as if it had been
mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed.
And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
Revelation chapter 13, which will be the subject
of a future lesson, confirms the prophecy of the fifth trumpet.
In fact, after having been mortally wounded in 1798, the Roman Church was finally healed.
In 1929, the Lateran Treaty restored political power to the Church, giving it full
authority over the State of Vatican City.
Afterwards, its influence grew more and more, especially after World War II.
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Revelation 9:5
And they were not given authority to kill them, but to
torment them for five months.
Revelation 13:3
His deadly wound was healed.
And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
After the five prophetic months, that is, in 1948, the torment of the papacy
came to an end.
In fact, the World Council of Churches was founded that year, thus opening the way for the
Church of Rome's future efforts, from the Second Vatican Council onward, to unify all the
religions of the world.
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Revelation 13:12
[The beast coming up out of the earth] causes the earth
and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Another significant event took place in 1948.
That year, Pope Pius XII - the first man having visited the United States of America and
having become pope - vigorously condemned Communism, and proclaimed that any Italian
Catholic voting for Communists would be excommunicated.
Future lessons will clearly explain the prophetic significance of both Rome's fellowship
with the United States of America, and its open war against Communism.
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Revelation 9:5
And they were not given authority to kill them, but to
torment them for five months.
Genesis 7:24 to 8:3
And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and
fifty days.
Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him
in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped. (...) At the end of
the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
With the period of five months, or 150 days, the fifth trumpet also refers to
the Flood account.
In both cases, for 150 days, the deep (or bottomless pit) released a stream to punish
unrepentant men.
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Revelation 9:3,10
And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the
earth have power. (...) They had tails like scorpions.
Luke 10:18,19
[Jesus] said to them, «I saw Satan fall like lightning
from heaven.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the
power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.»
Like scorpions, the locusts obey Satan, the star fallen from heaven.
But they have no power over the faithful believers.
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Revelation 9:3,4
And to [the locusts] was given power, as the scorpions of
the earth have power.
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.
In fact, history reports that the revolt of peoples against the apostate
Church, at the end of the 18th century, spared the faithful believers, those who were
sincerely living out the faith they preached, and who, furthermore, had very often called
this apostate Church to repentance.
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Revelation 9:10
They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in
their tails. And their power was to hurt men five months.
Isaiah 9:14,15
The Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel (...).
The elder and honorable, he is the head; the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
Though bringing about the fall of the apostate Church, the French Revolution
didn't actually re-establish truth.
Instead, it encouraged the rise of other lies, like atheism and materialism, denying the
existence of God.
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Revelation 9:6
In those days men will seek death and will not find it;
they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
Jeremiah 8:3,5
«Then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the
residue of those who remain of this evil family, who remain in all the places where I have
driven them», says the Lord of hosts. (...)
«They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.»
The rise of atheism and materialism created a extremely awkward climate for the
apostate Church, which was accustomed to domination over the nations.
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Revelation 9:9
[The locusts] had breastplates like breastplates of iron,
and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into
battle.
Isaiah 36:9
How then will you repel one captain of the least of my
master's servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
By using the illustration of chariots and horsemen, closely linked with Egypt,
the fifth trumpet indicates that the locusts symbolize peoples who, out of hatred for the
apostate Church, wrongly chose to reject God.
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The chariots of Egypt are wrongly preferred to God's saving power:
«Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on
horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very
strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord! (...) Now the
Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord
stretches out His hand, both he who helps will fall, and he who is helped will fall down;
they all will perish together.» (ISAIAH 31:1,3)
«But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give
him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he
break a covenant and still be delivered?» (EZEKIEL 17:15)
«Solomon had horses imported from Egypt (...). Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt
cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty.» (1 KINGS 10:28,29)
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Exodus 5:2
Pharaoh said,
«Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord.»
Psalm 20:7
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will
remember the name of the Lord our God.
Just as Egypt rejected God and preferred relying on its military power, men, as
early as the end of the 18th century, increasingly favored human concepts and theories
marked by a total absence of the notion of God.
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Revelation 9:7,8
Their faces were like the faces of men.
They had hair like women's hair.
The human aspect of the locusts indicates the lightning rise of humanist
concepts, marked by a total absence of the the notion of God.
In fact, after the fall of the apostate Church in 1798, the world was overwhelmed with
such trends:
- atheism;
- materialism;
- rationalism;
- Charles Darwin's evolutionism;
- Karl Marx's communism;
- Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism;
- and still many others.
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Revelation 9:11
And [the locusts] 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.
1 Peter 5:8
Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
The spread of these concepts denying the usefulness or even the existence of
God is no surprise, since the king of these locusts is Satan himself.
He is given the names of «Abaddon» and «Apollyon», both meaning «destruction, annihilation», words
which perfectly describe his work.
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Exodus 10:3-5
So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him,
«Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: "How long will you refuse to humble yourself
before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into
your territory.
And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the
earth."»
Similar to the first four trumpets, the punishment of the oppressor of God's
people calls to mind the punishment of Egypt in Moses' time.
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Exodus 10:14,16-20
And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt (...).
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, «I have sinned against the
Lord your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and
entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.»
So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a very strong west
wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one
locust in all the territory of Egypt. (...) [Pharaoh] did not let the children of Israel
go.
Still similar to Egypt, the punishment inflicted on the apostate Church did not
bring it back to the path of repentance and obedience to God.
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Revelation 9:12
One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming
after these things.
Ezekiel 2:6
Do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words,
though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of
their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
So another trumpet will have to strike the apostate Church, which remains
rebellious and unrepentant.
But the faithful believers have nothing to fear: locusts, scorpions, and other deceiving
forces have no power over them.
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Luke 10:18-20
[Jesus] said to them,
«I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample
on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any
means hurt you.
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather
rejoice because your names are written in heaven.»
The fact that the power of the enemy doesn't affect the faithful believers is
certainly good news.
But, as Jesus said, our greatest cause for rejoicing must always be the salvation He
offers us.
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Let's pray:
Heavenly Father,
You said in Your Holy Word, «I will repay Babylon and all the
inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight. (...) Cause
the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.» (Jeremiah 51:24,27)
This punishment was the one You inflicted on spiritual Babylon, the apostate Church, the
persecutor of Your people.
Please always keep us away from those locusts, which have no power over those who love and
know You, faithfully following You. In the precious name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
Source of the Pictures of this Lesson
Screen 1: Photo in: «Master Clips 500,000» by IMSI, CD #16,
JJ000104.JPG. Screen 2: In: «La Révélation - le grand dénouement est
proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1988, p.138. Screen 3: In:
«La Révélation - le grand dénouement est proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society, 1988, p.137. Screen 4: BONDOL, Jean, and Nicolas de
Bataille. «The Fifth Trumpet» (c.1373-81), Tapisserie, Musée des Tapisseries, Angers,
France. In: «Revelation - Art of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press
Publishers, 1997, p.26. Screen 5: In: «La Révélation - le grand
dénouement est proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1988, p.144.
Screen 6: «The fifth angel sounding the trumpet» (15th century), Bruges,
Belgium, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. In: «Revelation - Art of the Apocalypse»
(GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.28. Screen 7: «Locust».
In: «Deluxe Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia CD - 2000 Edition», Compton's Home
Library, 1999. Screen 8: In: «The Bible for Children - Retold by Bridget
Hadaway & Jean Atcheson», London, Octopus Books Limited, 1973, p.63. Screen
9: In: «The Bible Story, volume 6» (MAXWELL, Arthur S.), Pacific Press
Publishing Association, 1955, p.54. Screen 10: «Fall of the Star of
Satan» (13th century). Bibliothèque Municipale, Cambrai, France. In: «Revelation - Art
of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.26. Screen
11: In: «La Révélation - le grand dénouement est proche», New York, Watch
Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1988, p.145. Screen 12: In: «The
Watchtower» magazine (April 15, 1987), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.10.
Screen 13: CONVERSE, James. In: «God Cares, volume 2» (MAXWELL, C.Mervyn),
Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1985, p.291. Screen 14: «Taking
the Pope prisoner». In: «Our Day in the Light of Prophecy» (SPICER, W.A.), Review and
Herald Publishing Association, 1918, p.139. Screen 15: In: «Awake»
magazine (February 8, 1989), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.1. Screen 16: Photo
by Mirror Syndication International Ltd, London. «Pope John XXIII - Opening of Vatican
II». In: «John Paul II» (EDWARDS, Patrick), Bison Books, London, 1995, p.19.
Screen 17: «Pius XII». In: «Life» magazine (December 13, 1954), Time Inc.,
front cover. Screen 18: In: «The Illustrated Children's Bible»
(CHRISTIE-MURRAY, David), Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1978, pp.18,19. Screen
19: RAPHAEL. «The Vision of Ezekiel», Pitti Palace, Florence. In: «Great Bible
Stories and Master Paintings» (RACHLEFF, Owen S.), New York, Abradale Press Publishers,
p.221. Table of Screen 19: First picture: VERLEYE, J. In: «The Catholic
Children's Bible» (THEOLA, Soeur Mary), The Regina Press, 1983, p.54. Second picture: In:
«La Tour de Garde» magazine (April 15, 1990), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.10.
Screen 20: Photo in: «Master Clips 500,000» by IMSI, CD #17, 33350053.JPG.
Screen 21: «The Citizens' Departure». In: «Robespierre», Collection «Les
Grands de Tous les Temps», Dargaud S.A. Editeur, 1965, p.20. Screen 22: STEEL,
John. In: «The Triumph of God's Love, volume 1» (WHITE, Ellen G.), Pacific Press
Publishing Association and Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950, p.222.
Screen 23: In: «The Watchtower» magazine (March 1, 1994), Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society, p.9. Screen 24: «Departure for the exile of Collot
d'Herbois» - Engraving of the period. In: «Robespierre», Collection «Les Grands de
Tous les Temps», Dargaud S.A. Éditeur, 1965, p.76. Screen 25: In: «The
Children's Bible, volume 3», Golden Press, 1981, p.165. Screen 26: In:
«The Watchtower» magazine (September 1, 1994), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, p.3.
Screen 27: «Charles Darwin» and «Karl Marx». In: «Deluxe Compton's
Interactive Encyclopedia CD - 2000 Edition», Compton's Home Library, 1999. Composite
picture by Cyberspace Ministry. Screen 28: «The Fifth Trumpet», from
Lambertus, «Liber Floridus» (c.1448), Musée Condé, Chantilly, France. In: «Revelation
- Art of the Apocalypse» (GRUBB, Nancy), Abeville Press Publishers, 1997, p.27.
Screen 29: MONTERO, José Pérez. In: «The Children's Bible Story Book» (DE
GRAAF, Anne), Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992, pp.64,65. Screen 30: BARALDI,
Severo. In: «The Bible for Children» (Retold by JENNINGS, Phillip S.), New York, Barnes
& Noble Books, 1994, p.57. Screen 31: In: «La Révélation - le
grand dénouement est proche», New York, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1988,
p.143. Screen 32: ZINGARO, Charles. In: «Votre Bible et Vous» (MAXWELL,
Arthur S.), Press Publishing Association, p.125. Screen 33: Photo in:
«Master Clips 500,000» by IMSI, CD #16, HI065.JPG.
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The test of Lesson 44 is waiting for you!