BIBLE: Revelation Chapter 9 – Headline “Lions and Locusts and Serpents, Oh My!”

Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Revelation 9 – THE TRIBULATION – THE THINGS TO COME (FUTURE)

Blue Arrow: You Are Here.

Revelation 1:¹⁹Write the things which you have seen (PAST), and the things which are (PRESENT), and the things which will take place after this (FUTURE).

CHAPTER NINE IS IN THE TRIBULATION (FUTURE0

Revelation 9

What do I need to learn from this chapter?

Locusts are not literal but symbolic because they have a king, a person.
There are reasons to believe this king is the Antichrist.
There are reasons to believe the Antichrist may be of the lineage of the Amalakites and Syrian.
The Antichrist betrays Israel in the middle of the seven year tribulation with an army.
An army typically consists of planes, tanks, helicopters and a marching army similar to locusts which invade and destroy. This attack is powerfully portrayed in Isaiah 21.
The cause of wars is hate, greed, and power.
How the Antichrist comes to power.
The meaning of Armageddon.
The first woe is the locusts from the bottomless pit.
Satan uses men to carry out his will in the same way God uses men to carry out His will.
Satan is thrown out of heaven in the middle of the tribulation.

Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

The Seventh Seal included all seven trumpets: We are now on the 5th trumpet. The fifth Trumpet announces The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit.

Gog is the king of the locusts. Gog is called “The King of the Locusts” in the Greek Septuagint (Amos 7:1 LXX: Septuagint among other translations).

Who is Gog? He is the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
His name is the same as Agag the king of the Amalakites during the reign of King Saul.
The Amalakites continually persecuted the Jews whereby God told Saul to slay every last Amalakite. Saul, however; spared king Agag. Because Saul spared his life he was able to produce a genealogical line to the time of Esther in which Haman of the line of Agag, attempted to eradicate each and every Jew.

Therefore, we can surmise the locusts are a marching/flying army which destroys and leaves devastation in the same way locusts clean and destroy the fruit of the field where nothing is left.

Each trumpet signals an event in the campaign against Jerusalem from the middle of the tribulation all the way to Armageddon. Armageddon is the “Day of the Lord” when Jesus comes with His Saints and Angels to fight the Antichrist and the False Prophet who have brought destruction to the world.

Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

The description in Zechariah 14:12 appears to be a nuclear blast and gives credence to the war being a nuclear war.

The armies of the Antichrist are one fourth of the world’s population from the surrounding Nations:

The campaign against Jerusalem begins with a so-called peace treaty. But when Satan is thrown out of heaven in the middle of the tribulation and indwells the Antichrist…All hell breaks loose from the bottomless pit of greed, hate, and power.

The bottomless pit is a spiritual term for greed, hatred and power where enough is never enough.

Isaiah 56:11 Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Genesis 27:41 So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

►Isaiah 21 details the invasion of betrayal in the middle of the tribulation.

Below: The progression of the Antichrist from being described as a “little horn (power)” to being indwelt by Satan and being synonymous with Satan.

THE PROGRESSIVE POWER OF THE ANTICHRIST:

His power is progressive:

He begins as a “little horn (leader/power)” in the book of Daniel

He grows in power among ten kings (leaders/powers)

He rises above them all, the ten kings give their power to him

He replaces three of the ten horns/kings (leaders/powers)

Sometime during this progression he makes a peace treaty with Israel

This peace treaty is the trigger that starts the seven year tribulation

In the middle of the tribulation, two events occur that change the world: 1) Satan, who has been thrown out of heaven comes down to earth and indwells the Antichrist. The Antichrist is the beast that becomes a global leader. The Antichrist has supernatural powers 2) He then betrays Israel by breaking his seven year treaty (covenant). [Isaiah Chapter 21]

He is wounded. He has a withered arm and a blind eye. He dies.

He has a miraculous man made “resurrection” mimicking Jesus’ true resurrection.

He was the 7th kingdom and is now the 8th kingdom for he was and now is. The 8th kingdom is run by the False Prophet who causes everyone to worship the “image” of the beast.

Nuclear War: Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths.

At the end of the tribulation, on the Day of the Lord, Jesus returns with His saints and angels, the Jewish remnant is saved. The Antichrist is chased down the Jezreel valley. He is slain. Both the Antichrist and the False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire.

The Progression of Satan

WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?

* GOG (AMALAKITE)

Ezekiel 38:17 “Are you he (the one) of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you (Gog) against them?

The name “Gog” is the same word as “Agag”. Agag was the king of the Amalakites. The Amalakites were renowned for their opposition to the Jews. Haman was an Amalkite who wanted to annihilate the Jews.

Samuel‘s words to Agag: “As your sword bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women” (Samuel 1:15:33) were repeated by Israeli president Itzhak Ben-Zvi in his letter turning down Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann‘s petition for mercy before his execution. ~ Yoseph Carmel. Itzchak Ben Zvi from his Diary in the President’s office. (Mesada: Ramat Gan, 1967), 179.

Gog is a “coalition” of ten (probably part of the ten kings give their power to the Gog Antichrist for a period of one hour):

The coalition of ten includes: 1. Gog 2. Magog 3. Rosh (lower USSR) 4. Meshech 5. Tubal 6. Persia (Iran) 7. Ethiopia (Africa) 8. Libya (Africa) 9. Gomer (Turkey) 10. Togarmah (Turkey)

* SYRIAN

Daniel 8:9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. (Out of one of the four horns: Macedon, Turkey, Egypt and Syria)

Antichocus IV narrows the four down to just one: Syria

Daniel 11:30 “So he shall … show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. 31 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.
Daniel 11:16b He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power.
Daniel 11:21 In his place shall arise a vile person, to whom they will not give the honor of royalty; but he shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue. 22 With the force of a flood (army) they shall be swept away from before him and be broken, and also the prince of the covenant. 23 And after the league is made with him he shall act deceitfully, for he shall come up and become strong with a small number of people. 24 He shall enter peaceably, even into the richest places of the province; and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his forefathers: he shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches; and he shall devise his plans against the strongholds, but onl^{y for a time.}

MEANING OF “ARMAGEDDON”

Multitudes (Megiddo)

The word Armageddon appears only once in the Greek New Testament, in Revelation 16:16. The word is transliterated to Greek from Hebrew har məgiddô
har (Strong H2022) meaning “a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively): – hill (country), mount (-ain), promotion.”
This is a shortened form of harar (Strong H2042) “to loom up; a mountain; -hill, mount”.
Megiddo (Strongs H4023) “Megiddon or Megiddo, a place of crowds (multitudes).”

It dominates the Plain of Jezreel. BC The Archaeology of the Bible Lands. By Magnus Magnusson. BBC Publications 1977

Isaiah 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle.
Ezekiel 39:16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah (Literally Multitude). Thus they shall cleanse the land.” ‘

Revelation 9:1Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star (an entity) fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit (Lit. shaft of the abyss).

Jesus identifies this entity as Satan. The entity is a “him”. Satan is thrown out of heaven in the middle of the tribulation.

Luke 10:18 And He (Jesus) said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Satan has the key to the bottomless pit.

Revelation 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

The bottomless pit is a place of hatred, greed, corruption and power resulting in war.
- Isaiah 56:11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
- Out of the bottomless pit comes a war. The sun and the air are darkened because of the effects of the war.

Revelation 9:3 Then out of the smoke locusts (Gog is the king of the locusts: the Antichrist, see below) came upon the earth. And to them was given power (from Satan), as the scorpions of the earth have power (to hurt).

►“Thus the Lord showed me, and behold a swarm (a flying army) of locusts were coming, and, behold, one of the young devastating locusts was Gog, the king” [Amos 7:1 LXX: Septuagint]

Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king’s mowings.” Amos 7:1 NKJV

► Note: John, the author of the book of Revelation, gives a distinct description of this locust army from the point of view of a man who had never seen military machines. Nevertheless, the helicopters, while appearing to fit the description are still speculative.

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.

Note: They will not harm any of the 144,000 Jews sealed by God, but only those in Israel who are not sealed by God. This is an attack on the Jewish population in Israel who will be forced to run for their lives.

Revelation 9:5 And they (The locusts) were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

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.

These weapons make their victims horribly ill but the earth is not harmed.

Revelation 9:7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold (brass), and their faces were like the faces of men (through the windows).

Revelation 9:8They had hair like women’s hair (blades), and their teeth were like lions’ teeth (the grill).

Revelation 9:9And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. (The whirl of the blades)

Revelation 9:10They had tails (guns) like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.

Revelation 9:11And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is (Destruction) Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon (Destroyer).

The Angel of the Bottomless Pit is none other than Satan who is the instrument of destruction in men’s lives. He uses a multitude of armies to invade and destroy.

Locusts leave devastation:
Judges 6:1 Midianites Oppress Israel Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, 2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. 3 So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. 5 For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. 6 So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

Revelation 9:12One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates and the Kings of the East.

Revelation 9:13Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

The four horns of the altar: symbolic of the four roles of Jesus in the four gospels.

Revelation 9:14saying to the sixth angel (messenger) who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels (messengers) who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

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

See Topic: Euphrates River Drying Up

Revelation 16:12 [Sixth Bowl: Euphrates Dried Up] Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

News article below: The drying up of the Euphrates:

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are Drying Up NASA studies recently have indicated that the Fertile Crescent region in the Middle East is losing fresh water at a rapid rate. The water flow in the important Euphrates and Tigris Rivers has decreased as a result of this trend and formerly arable land in the area has become cracked and dry.

Revelation 9:¹⁶Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

Revelation refers to this army as “The Kings of the East.” Rev. 16:12

Daniel 11:44 But news from the east (Persia/China) and the north (Russia) shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.

Revelation 9:¹⁷And thus I saw the horses (military tanks?) in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

If these are military tanks, John witnessed the fire, smoke, and brimstone of 200,000,000 tanks firing their missiles.

^{Isaiah 21:3 Therefore my loins are filled with pain;
Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor.
I was distressed when I heard it;
I was dismayed when I saw it.
4 My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me;
The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.}

He saw breastplates of red, blue and yellow. Look at China’s flags: There are flags of red and yellow. Alongside the red and yellow flags are a line of white and blue flags.

Chinese Tanks

John saw the entire two million.

►On Sept. 11, 2001 We (Lee and Barbara Grover) published “The Fax Times,” a media which published three times a week to 12,000 businesses and 40,000 people. After the muslim attack on the twin towers, the Pentagon, and the airplane crash in Pennsylvania in the U.S., we pulled information together as fast as it came in, trying frantically to put a factual story together.

In the progression of events the US became embedded in fighting international terrorism in Arab countries when a bulletin came in from UPI (United Press International): The Chinese army was coming through the mountains into Afghanistan where American troops were stationed.

Was there going to be a war with China? On whose side were they fighting? What was happening!!!???

In frenzy we called various news stations for confirmation of this news piece (even though it shouldn’t be necessary since it was released by UPI). But this was an international story charged with potential explosive fallout.

It wasn’t just us; every media was calling every other media, all promising to call back if they discovered more news. Then … something strange happened. Apparently the Chinese army had turned back and the story remained unpublished. Since then, not one explanation for this turnabout of events has come to the surface. Perhaps it waits for another year. This illustrates the sleeping dragon waiting to be woken on the other side of the world on the day, month, and year perhaps prepared by prophecy.

Revelation 9:18By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths (military).

The three are military war: fire, smoke, and brimstone.

Revelation 9:19For their (lions/tanks) power is in their mouth (the gun in front of the tanks) and in their tails (machine guns in the back of the tank); for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

Revelation 9:20But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works (change their ways) of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

Men certainly worship gold, silver, brass, stone and wood or anything that makes a profit.

Do we also worship demons?

Revelation 9:21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Those who make their own moral laws make their own religion – rejecting the one and only God.

MURDERS	SORCERIES	SEXUAL IMMORALITY	THEFTS
Betrayal	Drug Addicts	Pornography	Stealing assets by white collar crimes
Realistic Video Games	Man made Viruses	Adultery	Home robberies
Hatred in the heart toward the desire to kill	Manipulating DNA crossing species	Bestiality	Immoral Taxes
Violence	Illegal drugs	Homosexuality	Interest Rates
Poisoning	Calling on Spirits	Necrophilia	Casinos
Torture	Witchcraft	Rape	Stealing at gunpoint
Taking the life of another in-defensively	Mediums, Spiritualist, Astrology	Incest	Taking anything that doesn’t belong to you
Abortion	Tarot Cards, Voodoo	Fornication	Scams

Murders, Sorceries, Sexual Immorality, Thefts

► The Greek word for “sorceries” is the same word as the word we use today which is “pharmacy”.

g5331 pharmakeia translated “sorceries”

Pharmakeia Example: Creation of new forms of viruses…

Whether a Chinese army or another army from the east, Israel is always the focus.

►Story with a moral: The Sunday school teacher asked her class, “What does it mean to repent?” One little girl said, “It means to be sorry when you do something wrong.”
But another little girl was waving her arm wildly, so the teacher then called on her.
“It means,” the second girl grinned, “to be sorry AND to do different.”

► To Repent: “Make a YOU-Turn”.

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