Please have your Bibles open to the book of Revelation chapter 9. Our text for this morning is verses 1 to 6. We'll be covering exactly one half of this section of the fifth trumpet judgment in Revelation chapter 9. Please have your Bibles open and stand with me for the reading and honoring of God's Word. Revelation 9 beginning with verse 1. Then the fifth angel sounded. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone. but to torment for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days, men will seek death and will never find it. And they will long to die and death flees from them. Amen, please be seated. I don't know if you've noticed the symmetry Between the first four seals of successive unveiling of the seals came the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And the past four trumpets in the trumpet judgments, one after the other, sequentially, but are linked together by that familiar phrase, a third, a third, a third. And so what we find in the next three trumpet judgments are characteristically and structurally different and are set apart from the first four trumpet judgments, just as the seal judgments, the first four went together as the horse and his horsemen were described and from the fifth seal on, The next three seals seem very different than the first four. So the symmetry is unmistakable here. What does that all indicate? It indicates that this is not haphazard. That God's design, order, and timing embedded into his purposes in his judgment in the tribulation period is clearly outlined in scripture. Such symmetry indicates that God is in absolute sovereign control, and he's let us know what is to happen in the future. With the fourth trumpet judgment, there was a threefold woe, woe, woe, woe, against the earth dwellers who would face a frightening judgment yet to unfold. And now we're introduced in chapter nine with the fifth trumpet judgment, where the threefold woe against the earth dwellers come not in a rapid fire judgment of the four trumpets prior, but a slow detail and lengthy description of the torment and the tormentors upon the earth dwellers. And for a specific time of five months, The Fifth Trumpet Judgment passage neatly is divided into two sections, two halves, and so we're going to be looking at the first half, verses one to six. The volume of details indicate that the Fifth Trumpet Judgment gives the sense to the reader a dread and intensified length and bewilderment. There are no other words to describe this description. In prophecy, details matter. Details are given for a purpose. This passage is difficult to interpret because it will challenge our hermeneutical system, it will challenge our hermeneutical skills, it'll challenge our interpretive skills. Some of the words that we're going to be reading will be absolutely literal. Other words and phrases we're going to be reading will be more figurative. How can we tell the difference? That's going to challenge us. This is not one of these elementary arithmetic things that most people can solve. This may be a little bit intermediate. Some of you may think this is advanced, but it really is not, I assure you. And therefore, it's very important that we study the details carefully. There's a reason why there are 12 verses dedicated to this one trumpet judgment. And so we, right away, we understand, oh, the details are quite voluminous. We need to slow down, look at the details, and try to understand what's going on here. And then from all that synthesis, we can come to a conclusion. Okay, I think we understand what God is doing. I think we understand that this is not brand new or this is not extraordinary, out of the ordinary. This is something that is related to what God has already done in the past. So the past is the answer to the future. And so let's go back to the future to understand what God has given to us. Why does God want His people in the church age to know and understand these things? Well just as God has through the Lord Jesus Christ promised that His people will not go through these things but that they will be rescued from the hour of testing that is to come. This is that period, this is the hour. Well the two-thirds of the earth dwellers in the previous four trumpet judgments were not affected as greatly as the one-third because the one-third of the Earth's atmosphere and environment was judged. But here, it says the two-thirds could have avoided the plagues since those environmental judgments on Earth and the sea and the ships and so forth did not affect the two-thirds. But in the supernatural judgment, Only those who are sealed escape the judgment. So this appears to affect everybody. So this is very widespread. Because the plague is not, as we shall see, physical. The plague is really spiritual, mental. Shall we use a secular term? Psychological torment. Have you seen people who are just out of their mind, insane? Have you seen people who are demon possessed? Have you seen people who are so drugged up, they look and talk and walk like zombies that are erratic? You don't know what they're going to do, what they're going to say in the next moment. They seem to be out of their mind. They seem to be not in control. They seem to be greatly tormented. And there are different levels of that. We've seen some of that living in a crazy environment that we are here. We see people like this quite often. And there's a psychological as well as a physical component to the torment. And what we're studying here is that this is a spiritual torment. And we're going to see the reason why God would pour out his judgment upon the earth dwellers through this torment. In this passage, we're gonna see the introduction of the tormentors in God's judgment and the identification of the tormentors in God's judgment. So let's take a look at the tormentors who are introduced in this section of scripture. First, we find the familiar sequential order and the fifth angel sounded. Five out of the seven. Then I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, verse one. This fifth trumpet judgment begins with a vision where John sees a star, but look at the verb, had fallen. Had fallen, that's the perfect tense. It's the perfect tense in the Greek, and it's well translated here. The verb tense is a clue to the identification of this star. which is characteristically different than the star of the previous section. For instance, Revelation 6.13, in the sixth seal judgment, it says, and the stars, plural, of the sky fell. And the verb tense there is a simple aorist, to the earth. As a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind, and a metaphorical description, or vivid illustrative description is given, so we say this must be physical stars. And then Revelation 8, verse 10, in the third trumpet judgment, we find, and the third angel sounded, and a great star fell. there it's called a great star singular but very large and then here it says fell again the simple aorist tense from heaven and then the descriptive burning like a torch and it fell on the third of the rivers and on the springs of waters so not only are those stars plural and the great star singular characteristically different the verb used to describe them aorist simply fell and here had fallen, the perfect tense of our perfect participle, different. And so when we look at the text very carefully, we'll notice those differences. And in the Greek, it just pops out at you. And it says, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. Right away, we go, okay, this is no ordinary star. This cannot be a physical star, because how can a physical star receive a key to the pit of the abyss, whatever that is? So this can't be. If it is not physical, then why is this non-physical? Has to be a being, has to be an intelligent being to receive anything. has to be a conscious, sentient, intelligent being. And so why is this being called a star? And then you go, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Ah, I know the Old Testament language. That's the language of the angels. That's when the morning stars rose up and sang together creation in the book of Job. Okay. Okay, if this is an angel, then can we identify this angel? Robert Thomas believes this to be a particular angel, but not Satan, whereas John MacArthur and others believe this to be Satan himself. Now we can't be absolutely certain, but what is certain is the passive verb here, was given, was given. So obviously the subject, the one who's giving the key must be God. And what is the key? Key is a term in the Bible for authority, access and authority. And so it's called sometimes power, because when you have authority and power to open something or close something, as the Lord Jesus said to Simon Peter, I give you the keys to the kingdom. And he says to the church, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. That's the authority, the power. That's the key. So is this a physical key? And is this a physical pit? With the door? With the lock? Is that a physical? Can you break into it? Obviously, the description will tell you no, I don't think it's physical. But it is real. So please do not mistake in your mind non-physical reality versus reality. Just because it's not physical doesn't mean it's real. Your love for your children is real. And you consider it more real than your love, if you will, for your car, or for your house, or for your job. You can lose your job, you can lose your house, you can lose your, but you don't want to lose your children. That's more real. So please don't mistake a non-physical reality like this. So a key is a key, it's non-physical, it's power, it's authority. The pit of the abyss, is this physical? Is there a pit somewhere on this planet? And if you go deep enough, maybe, could be, possibly, But let's take a look at what else goes on here. In Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12, it seems to indicate that this is the archangel Lucifer, who is in Hebrew, satan, which means enemy. The enemy, Isaiah 14, 12, it says, how you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning. There's the falling language from heaven, and there's the star language, O star of the morning, O sun of the dawn, you have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations. And if you keep reading, it's clearly describing a very powerful being who is filled with pride and who wanted to be like God. Okay, that's Satan. So this is how the Bible portrays what had happened in the spiritual realm. And this is the same heart, the heart of Satan, the heart of pride, the heart that says, you're not God, I am God. Right? Do men think like that? Yes. Yes. Many men think like this. Prideful, arrogant, blinded, self-authoring men think like this. This is the great deception from Satan. You do your own thing. Don't listen to God. Because in the day that you do your own thing, by taking your own independence, by doing what God prohibited you from doing, just that one thing, you can be like God. You can declare for your whatever, for yourself, what is good and what is evil for you. It's you. That's the philosophy of our generation. This is the attitude of Satan. Oh yeah, men think like this, because Satan is the father of all these lies, pride, originator of sin, of rebellion. And so, since the language and the concepts and the theology is embedded in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, Jesus used similar language in Luke 10, 18, and he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. There's a lot of theology here. Does Satan still have access to heaven? And we have to say yes. And it takes quite a lengthy study and to look at all the scriptures to do that. But if you read the book of Job, it's clear that Satan had access to heaven and so forth. But there is a point, even in this book of Revelation, that Satan no longer has access to the throne room of God. In other words, the time has come for God's judgment to be issued. And this is the judgment. So for all these reasons, I take this fallen star to be Satan. So the perfect tense of the verb indicates that he has already fallen, which means he has fallen to the earth. The activity has happened in the past, but the reality of that Satan falling from heaven to earth is real. He is the prince of the power of the air. He has certain authority and control. He rules over the sons of disobedience. But he doesn't have the keys to the kingdom. He doesn't have the control over God's people. Praise the Lord. He's fallen and he has the key. How does he have the key? It was given to him. So who's in charge? God is. He's the sovereign one. And he allows Satan to open a closed dungeon, as the context indicates. The dungeon is called the pit of the abyss, which is an interesting phrase, pit of the abyss. The word abyss, abyssos, we get the English word directly from the Greek. What is it? It just sounds like the Greek word, abyssos, directly transliterated. When you don't know something, you just transliterate that thing and then you just inject it into your receptor language and you have to try to want to define it. What is this abyss? What is abyssos? And so in the descriptive understanding of people back in those biblical times, they knew what a big hole in the ground was. And there are different depths of holes that are left by dried up wells, that are man-made, that are natural caves. So there are many pits. As a matter of fact, the entire land of Sodom and Gomorrah, as the scripture says, were places of pits. So a lot of holes in the ground. Well, the term abyss appears nine times in the entire New Testament, seven times in Revelation. This is entirely a Greek word. And so Luke 8.31 and Romans 10.7 has the only other two and seven times all of them appear in the book of Revelation. This is the first appearance of Abusos. Now the reference in Luke 8.31 is helpful. So let's go there. Luke 8.31 You see the context, demons pleading with Jesus not to send them there. Where? To Abusos, to the abyss. Luke 8.31, and they were pleading with him not to command them to go away into the Abusos, the abyss. So they know where it is, they know that there are other demons there, that's assumed from this passage, and they're terrified of going there, so they're pleading with Jesus, and they recognize that he has the power and the authority to send them there. Quite an amazing passage. All seven references in the book of Revelation to Abusas refers to the dungeons for fallen angels. Dungeons for fallen angels. Sometimes this is the word that people commonly mistake and label as hell. Hell. Well, Abusas, this hell, if you will, was designed originally as dungeon, as jail, as permanent quarantine jail cell for fallen angels. And they're locked up there. But what we find here is that at this moment in history, Indian times, they are released. Look at verse two. And he opened the pit of the Abusos, if our interpretation is correct, and the star which had fallen, who had been given the key, this is Satan, he opened the pit, because God had given him permission, to unleash his minions, if you will. He opened the pit of the Abusos abyss and smoke went up out of the pit. Now, Robert Thomas notes that in the book of Revelation, smoke can refer to holy things, but most of the time, he says smoke is a connection, is in direct connection with judgment, doom, and torment. Judgment, doom, and torment. And he cites several passages that have this word in chapter 9, chapter 18, and chapter 19, several passages there. Thomas also cites the smoke of Sodom and Sinai. In Genesis 19, 28, he says, and he looked down towards Sdom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley. And he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace." This is after God's judgment. From afar, Abraham looks, and there's smoke coming up, like the smoke of a furnace. In Exodus 19, 18, it says, now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because Yahweh descended upon it in fire, and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. And the whole mountain trembled violently. So clearly these are signs of physical smoke, something burning, right? As our idiom says, where there's smoke, there's fire. Like the smoke of a great furnace, smoke of a great furnace. The great furnace is a large smelting furnace used to purify metals. So imagine going into a big industrial compound, big warehouse where they are just burnishing. and then all these impurities are being burned and you see smoke coming out of it. So that's the imagery here. The next description gives a sense of a large volume of smoke that darkens the sun as well as the air. And the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. So, so far we have gone from the immaterial, non-physical, an angel that have fallen, with a key, non-physical key, to the pit of the abyss. We don't know if it's physical or non-physical, but here it seems that the smoke of a great furnace and sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. It appears that that's real smoke. So is this like volcano? Like a big hole in the ground that spews up smoke? It didn't talk about fire. just a lot of smoke. So there's no reason to believe that this is not physical smoke. And there's every reason to believe that this is physical smoke. If it's smoke coming out of the earth, and it's coming out of the pit of the abyss, it appears to be physical, it appears to be terrestrial. But it doesn't mean that just because it's terrestrial, it's physical, There's no demonic activity. So now we have to put our thinking caps on as we approach the next and the rest of the biblical passage here as the Bible gives greater description and shows the instruments of the torment so that we can identify who are these tormentors. So we saw the introduction. It's very difficult for us to understand and comprehend. But when we look at the identification, it becomes more and more clear. First, let's take a look. With the smoke, out of the smoke, it says, verse three, came locusts upon the earth. Now notice, John did not say they look like locusts. John did not say they were as locusts. They say, out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth. This is the difficult part. So if we're committed to a literal hermeneutic, our first hunch would be, well, they must be physical locusts. But what kind of locusts come out of the pit of the abyss? I mean, locusts, the physical locusts, they lay eggs. they usually scatter over a wide field where they have plants to eat. They lay eggs and out of those eggs come baby locusts and when they grow, they eat and eat and they grow and they become swarms. So something doesn't make sense here and that's good. That's how we know that we're asking the right questions and we're making good observations and we are making good deductions. So these locusts at first glance may be physical locusts because the eighth plague in Egypt were physical locusts in Exodus 10. Also in the book of Joel, if you know, there's a massive locust plague there that was sent by Yahweh to devastate the land. So we know that God used physical locusts for judgment. We know that. That's established in the Old Testament. And interestingly in Joel, the great locust plague is a harbinger of the end time locust plague of Yom Yahweh, the day of the Lord. So could Joel be referring to the physical locust plague that all the ancient Near Eastern people were so familiar, could that be a harbinger or a prelude to the greater and the greatest locust plague that they will ever experience? What happens when swarms of locusts come into your field that you have worked hard all year? And they come during the harvest time. They're smart. They know when to come. They know when there's plenty of food to eat. And they don't just stay around for a day or two or a couple of weeks. And as the ancient Near Eastern people know, surprise, surprise, the locust plagues usually last five months. And so here, the five-month interval that we read about is an indication that there is a connection between the locust plagues that the ancient Near Eastern people and the biblical people understood very well and something that's going on here in the fifth trumpet judgment. So keep that in mind as we proceed and try to understand since the Bible identifies these locals plague. In the next verses, greater description of what they look like and what they do are given. But since we are introduced to them and we identify them here, it'll be much easier to understand what's going on in the latter half of this very difficult passage. All right, so the details are given about these locusts, which lead to our interpretation. This is a non-physical reality, but there's some physical things going on here. Physical locusts, first of all, have no leader, as can be easily observed. You see a whole bunch of locusts. If you've seen video footages of locust plagues, you see them moving in any way, orderly fashion. and waiting for the commands of their leaders? No, this is what the scripture says. Proverbs 30 verses 27, the locusts have no king, yet all of them go out and rank. It's quite interesting. It's just like there is an immediate recognizable symmetry and cooperation and coordination that goes. They don't attack each other, they attack the food. and they eat as much as they can, they come all together and they leave usually together. And there are a few stragglers, but they seem to have no visible leadership, but they act in tandem sometimes in great destruction. Now these particular locusts do have a leader. That's the difference. Look at chapter nine, verse 11. It says, they have a king over them, The angel of the abyss. Wow. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in the Greek his name is Apollyon. Interesting, isn't it? Both Hebrew and Greek names for this leader. This demonic angelic leader is given. See, that's how we know that this is not real locust. Then why does John say locust came out of the smoke? Because to him, at first glance, it appeared to him like locusts. You see, he's trying to muster up vocabulary that he knows and the experience that he has had to describe what's happening here. And this is the best description. This is the human limitation, but this is the best description. Because in many ways they act like locusts, but they are not locusts physically. That's why he gives so much description. The details matter in understanding biblical prophecy. This is why we're going through this. And so these particular locusts have a leader. The leader's name is mentioned for some reason. And we're going to get to that. But first, these locusts act very differently than physical locusts. Physical locusts are bent on destruction, eating all the vegetation indiscriminately. by consuming them. That's how they destroy them. But these locusts, these particular ones that came out with the smoke, have a particular authority or power granted to them, which is not to destroy plants or vegetation, but only attack men, which the locusts don't do. Locusts don't come in swarms and start attacking people. No, they do the opposite. They go and they go for their food. They go for the plants and vegetation. But it's just flipped, reversed. So right away, another clear description. These aren't regular locusts. And power was given to them. The power or authority that is given to these particular locusts are the power of scorpions, which have the power to sting in their tails. You know, scorpion venom, just like serpent venoms, can have various different effects. Not all of them are physical, as we shall see. John says, as the scorpions of the earth have power. What kind of power do scorpions of the earth have? Dread, fear. Once you're bitten by a scorpion, you have a lifelong PTSD. Even looking at a picture of a scorpion would make you panic. That's great power, power of fear. So far, great temptation to interpret these locusts as human armies, right? Are there since they have a king and they have powers? And guess what some Bible translators or interpreters have tried to do? Turn them into human armies going to war. And that's why I remember my first reading, I remember, oh, what did they fly? What is this? And there's fire that comes out and what is this? And they have hair like women and, and their teeth were like teeth of lions. And what is this crowns of gold and faces of men and what in the world is this? And, uh, As I'm bewildered, soon as I turn to, okay, can somebody help me understand what these are? And you have a hundred different options, right? Some of them say, oh, these are soldiers inside of a helicopter. Some of them are female soldiers. Whoa, really? That's why they fly. And they have a crown. They have ranks. This is what John saw, and he couldn't describe a helicopter, attack helicopter, so that's what he's describing. It's people going to war. I thought, well, that sounds really reasonable. Why? Because I wasn't taught how to approach the Bible literally, read it in its context, and analyze more carefully. That doesn't make sense. And there are several reasons why it would make sense. And we'll get to that when we get to the next section of scripture, when we go through these details together. Remember what we have concluded in prophecy, details matter. Do not skip over these details. Do not broad brush these details. They're given for a purpose. First, they're introduced as and identified as creatures because they're created by God. As scorpions of the earth have power, they have power to bring death and fear, fear and death, and illness, great suffering. Poisonous snakes and scorpions don't always kill. since many are saved from it. Most scorpions bites or shall we say stung, stings do not kill, but people suffer depending on how much venom they have been injected. But we might fight this temptation and search for a better interpretation since the scriptures provide ample details for us. Praise the Lord, verse 4. And they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree. Notice how specific it is. Not just the grass, not just any green thing, herbs, not just any tree. we can safely eliminate physical locus here because the details of a leader assigned to them who has a name in verse 11 and the power of scorpions given to them they don't eat grass They don't touch herbs or trees, unlike physical locusts, in the eighth plague judgment. Let me read the account for you in Exodus 10 verse 15. So they cover the surface of the whole land so that the land was darkened. And they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees, and that hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. That is the judgment of the eighth plague of the locusts. So God sovereignly controls the limits of these particular locusts to only hurt men. So these are non-physical and we conclude they are demons or fallen angels. Now that opens up a huge can of angelology, demonology, satanology. But that's not what this passage should lead us down to the rabbit hole. That's for your own personal study if you are interested in those things. I pray that you would not be covered or filled with morbid curiosity just to know for the sake of knowing or have a big head and nothing much else. but that your study would lead you down to a greater understanding of the sovereignty of God and his purposes for allowing even the fallen angels to be incorporated into his global and great future agenda, his glorious purposes, and to marvel at the sovereignty of God, how much he's in control. And those of you who are suffering with control, you know, you OCD type of people, people you think that you can control or manipulate things and you can make things happen, that will be a great medicine for you. The greatest issues of life are not under your control or mine, but it is under God's control. It can relieve you of so much of your expended energy and effort to make things to go a certain way or expect things to go a certain way once you study these things. So there's great benefit to these studies, not for morbid curiosity, but for personal edification and for the edification of others. So here in the book of Revelation, we have a hint. Let's look at chapter 16. Verse 13. This little hint will clarify why John used this term. And can give us assurance that just because the text says this, instead of using a simile or metaphor, we can say, ah, this is non-physical. Revelation 16, 13, then coming out of the mouth of the dragon, it's a real dragon? Big flying dinosaur? Or is a symbolic portrayal of a great being? The serpent of old. The dragon. The archangel Lucifer. Satan. Is this the same being? And we conclude it is. Coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast. Beast. Is this a real literal beast or is this a personage who's called a beast? and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Well, we know that that's got to be a human being, right? False prophet. Unholy Trinity right there, dragon, Satan, the beast, Antichrist, and the false prophet. Three unclean spirits like frogs. Three beings, three spirits. Okay. All right, so we see that like frogs, you know, the slimy, unclean creatures that the Jews detested, which were also used as part of the 10 plagues against the Egyptians. or unclean creatures, unclean spirits, slimy, gross, unclean spirits. This is the description of the scriptures. So the three unclean spirits, which are demons, fallen angels, portrayed as frogs, which are creatures God used to judge Egypt. So there seems to be a connection here. These are not physical locusts, but they appear to John as spiritual pests. which John mentions here, locusts and scorpions, the two pests that the ancient Near Eastern people could do without, especially swarms of locusts and certainly scorpions who sting. And there's a theological parallel of the locust judgment upon Egypt in the eighth plague with this fifth trumpet judgment. And so the limitation is very clear, by God, the only men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The 144,000 Jewish evangelists are secure from these demonic locusts. They're untouchable. And this is what New Testament theology, if you're scared of being demon possessed, what does the New Testament teach? Greater is he who is in you than he is who is in the world, right? Yes, believers can be affected by demonic attacks, but not by internal demonic possession. So that should calm people who don't understand the scriptures or who teach wrong theology. But the rebellious earth dwellers will be demonically possessed and they will be tormented by demons. How do we know that? How do we know that God will separate his people who are sealed and he will allow Well, he's already done it in Egypt, right? In the Exodus event. So let me read several passages for us. God protected his people while punishing the Egyptians. In Exodus 8, verse 22, it says, but on the day, on that day, I will make a distinction for the land of Goshen, where my people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I, Yahweh, am in the midst of the land, and I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow, this sign will happen. That's a frightening judgment. Your people, the Egyptians, because you rebel, you're gonna get the flies. But my people in Goshen, they're not gonna get it. I will make a distinction and I will show you who I am. This is what God says. In Exodus 9 verse 4, but Yahweh will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt so that nothing will die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel. Huh. He will make a distinction even for their property. their possessions. Exodus 10, 23, they did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their places of habitation. How did God do this in this ninth plague? Darkness over all the Egyptian territory, but where the Jews lived in Goshen, they had light. Supernatural. And so verse 5, we see the limitations that God could do this. They were not permitted to kill anyone. Just as God prevented Satan from taking Job's life and limited his power of torment to Job only, Job's property, Job's children, so these demons are placed with strict limitation not to take the lives of men. They cannot kill. That's another sign of the absolute sovereignty of God. Only God has the power to put to death and make alive. So relax. You and I will go when it's time for us to go. Not earlier, not later. You won't die because you think you will. And you won't live because you work really hard. We don't have that power, God does. So here, they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. The period of torment is specifically given. That's the normal period or the locust plague from about May to September, which is about our time and their harvest season, which is common knowledge to ancient near Eastern peoples. So there's no reason to take this period of five months in a non-literal way. This is another thing that we can use in our toolbox of interpretation. What's literal and what's figurative or spiritual? There's no need for figurative interpretation in this case. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion. Notice it says, torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. Anybody here been stung by a scorpion? Okay, we have one. Okay, two, all right. Interestingly, both of our brethren have lived in Mexico where there are plenty of scorpions. So during lunchtime, go ask them about their personal experience. When stung by a scorpion, there's an immediate pain of burning feeling or electric shock. Of course, I've done this research because I've never been bitten by or stung by a scorpion. I'm just telling you, that's why I ask you to go and talk to them. The area bitten swells up, reddens, hot to the touch, and over the next few minutes, the throbbing pain intensifies. Mild stings can last from 1-3 days of discomfort. Moderate to severe stings can last up to a week with more venom injected into the nervous system. Nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms and paralysis can occur giving a sense that one has no control over his or her body. The heart rate rapidly increases, breathing gets difficult, confusion and even hallucinations start with blurred vision followed by fear and panic. Of course, fear and panic of death. Most people who are stung by scorpions survive, as our two witnesses are here today with us, our brethren. But they immediately become phobic and suffer some PTSD from it. Now imagine this great suffering, this extreme suffering and symptoms lasting for five months. Why such a long time? Because it's God's grace to cause repentance just as the progressively intensified judgments upon Egypt was really an act of mercy calling them to repent, calling them to submit to the word of God, calling them to free his people. That's all that they needed to do and his judgments would have stopped. But take a look at what the scripture says. The desire to escape misery is marked by a strong word. This is the Greek word epithumia. Sometimes in the Bible that's translated as lust, when you have a strong desire. They have a strong desire for death, but death will be elusive and will evade those who passionately seek it. They will long to die, that's the epithumia there, and death flees from them. This passage exposes the hardness of men's hearts toward repentance. One would think that such torment and pain would lead men to turn to God and cry out for forgiveness. But the fact is that people would rather desire to die than to repent indicates that repentance, even though it is offered, it is rejected. They want to just let their pain and the discomfort cease rather than to turn their heart over to God and acknowledge His righteous judgments and their sin and rebellion against Him. All of you parents, you have experienced this if you have a stubborn child or your child says, no, I'm not gonna listen to you. And you see the sense of rebellion in them in a clear instruction. that is designed to help them and to bless them. Now if you multiply that a million times into a hardened heart of an adult, all these judgments and the message from the believing community of the two witnesses, 144,000 evangelists and the people who did repent are all around them. The evidence of God's judgment is all around them and yet their heart is hardened. God hardened Pharaoh's heart. This is what the scripture says. In the beginning, when God talked to Moses, he assured him, I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that I may multiply my judgments upon him and Egypt, and they will know who I am. And then, this is what the scripture says, in Exodus 7 verse 13, Notice what it says, as Yahweh has spoken. What did God predict? God predicted exactly this. Because why? God knew Pharaoh. Because God knows the frame and fabric, the inclinations and the desires, and the imaginations of men. He knows everything. He knows. So, Exodus 7.22, God told Moses this would happen. Why? Because God knows how Pharaoh would respond. He knows. So he's going to multiply his judgments so that Pharaoh and all of Egypt and all of humanity will know who God is. Exodus 8.15, then Pharaoh saw that there was relief and he hardened his heart with firmness and did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken. Exodus 8.19, and the magician said to Pharaoh, this is the finger of God. But the Pharaoh's heart was hardened with strength and he did not listen to them as Yahweh had spoken. Now the same magicians who did their own little tricks to convince Pharaoh to look, you don't have to capitulate, your majesty. And he says, okay, okay. The plague is averted. I will withstand. God told Moses this is exactly what would happen. Because this is the kind of man Pharaoh was. Does God know Pharaoh? Absolutely. Absolutely. Exodus 8, 32. Then Pharaoh hardened his heart with firmness this time. Also, he did not let the people go. Did God know that? Yes. And why did he command Pharaoh to let his people go? See, if God knows that people are going to reject him, why does he command us to proclaim the gospel? It's the same logic. and it's the same spiritual dynamic. Take a look. Exodus 9-7, and Pharaoh sent and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead, but all of his livestock, his property devastated overnight. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened with firmness and he did not let the people go. So now you're probably asking the question, how far can this man go? There's the answer to why these people, after being tormented by demons for five months, refuse to repent. Because why did God say five months and not six months? Or indefinitely? That's the limitation of the sovereign power and control over even of his judgments. That's mercy of God. That's to induce people to repent. And yet the scripture says they didn't. Now I want you to look at Exodus 9, verse 12. Exodus 9, 12. See if you skipped all that and you just read this verse, You would foolishly and sinfully be blaming God. Would you not? Yes, yes. And you hear fools misinterpreting, misquoting, and doing this all the time. Exodus 9-12, and Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart with strength. Did you follow? Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart. And then what? then Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart with strength. And he did not listen to them just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses. Just as he predicted. And here, why does it say Yahweh hardened his heart? It's too late. It's too late. This is God's justice. It's too late. You say, how can that be? It's never too late, right? Read the Bible. Don't speculate. Don't use your human sensitivities to inject that. Yes, God is loving. Yes, He's merciful. Yes, He's kind. Yes, He's benevolent. Yes, He's long-suffering. But do you see what the scripture testifies? There's a limit to God's mercies, isn't there? Limit to the opportunities for repentance. Yeah. You've learned to fear the Lord, not presume on his grace. Says Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart. Okay, you're going to harden your heart against me, I will harden it for you. That's what we're seeing here. Five months of demonic torment, and yet they would rather die than to repent. It's the stubbornness of sin, of man, and the hardness of heart. Have you sensed some of this hardness in your heart? I know your parents, you've seen it in your children. But have you seen it in your heart? Who's going to soften that hardened heart? Your prideful, sinful, arrogant, self-authoring heart. Says, no, my way. Not going to listen to that. Not going to do that. Not going to humble myself. Who's going to soften that heart? It's gonna cause your hardened heart to be softened and your will to be malleable so that you will say, oh Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. It's gonna stop you from comparing, I'm better than most people. Stop that hardness and say, oh Lord, I'm the worst of sinners like Paul did. This is the problem of man. We are not sensitive to our sin. And when we see the hardened hearts of unbelievers, the evil unbelievers, Satan following, beast worshiping, and God blaspheming, even God gives them opportunities to repent again and again and again. Even through what? Unleashing the demonic hordes in the end times, which he has locked up. We see that God's judgment upon the earth dwellers of the future will be far more than just physical pain. It's going to be deep, spiritual, mental, emotional, psychological torment that they've never, ever experienced before. Like the pain and the suffering of a scorpion sting for five months of demonic activity. the spiritual tormentors, which when unleashed will cause great havoc upon mankind, which is fitting, because they have rejected the peace of God, the love of God, the mercies of God, the tender, forgiving powers of God. They've rejected God's people, the people who come to them, who appeal to them, who reason with them, who speak kind words to them, Look at the world now. Look at the people that's living in the world now. They're progressively hardening their heart. It's amazing that God can save anybody. It's amazing that God can save you. And that God could save me. It's amazing that He did. There are people who are committed to following lies of Satan. to reject the truth of God, whether religious or irreligious. Only the blessed Savior can deliver them from the onslaught of these demonic tormentors. Satan is controlling the minds and the powers of men, and of governments, and of peoples, of individuals. through vast networks of media, narratives, philosophies, religions, cultures, peer pressures, relationships, et cetera, et cetera. Satan is in control. When things get haywire and awry, we take notice and say, oh, that looks demonic. Then you miss the whole picture. The whole world is under the bondage of Satan. The demonic powers are primarily deceptive. That's why scripture says, Apostle Paul says, do not participate in the deeds of darkness, rather expose them. So since our Lord Jesus has rescued us from the bondage of sin, of darkness, of demonic activity, of deception and lies, And since the Lord Jesus is coming for his church and preparing us and sanctifying us and getting us ready for the rapture and the millennial kingdom and the eternal age, since some of our friends, our family members, and our neighbors, relatives, people that we care about are under the same satanic bondage and are progressively hardening their hearts, God has placed you there to proclaim and witness to them. Will they repent? Or will they continue to harden their hearts? Is that up to you? Or is that up to me? Can we engineer the salvation of people by working hard and being convincing? Or are we, as well as they, under the same Judgment of God and we deserve it as much as they do So how in the world? Did we get say? We don't meditate enough on God's incredible love and mercy toward us We we are we're so insensitive to our own sin That we can see the logic in this. Oh, yeah, they deserve all this judgment, but we don't sense it in ourselves, that's how prideful blinded we can be insensitive we can be. We belong to the same fallen humanity as these people. And yet God shows them mercy and desires that none should perish for all to come to repentance. But he knows their frame of error. He knows how they will respond. Just as he knows Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Just as he knows Americans and you and me. He's in control. He is the judge. your desires, your standards, your values, they don't matter to God. This is what he says he will do. What have you learned about the character and the purposes of God from this revelation? He's not to be trifled with. You're messing with the wrong being. If you think that you can come an hour and attend a religious service and say, I'm okay with God. You're lying to yourself. Don't trifle with God. Don't trifle with worship. Fear Him in reverence. Worship Him with gratitude and thankfulness. Praise Him and serve Him and live for Him, given this very short opportunity He has given to you. He loves you because you love Jesus. He has sent Jesus to die in your place and to take the wrath and deal with the penalty of sin so that you don't have to go through this hell on earth. He called us to be witnesses so you and I have a responsibility to live our lives in a certain way so that we don't give a false testimony to the world of who God is. not to save them, that's God's business, that's God's power. But we're left here as witnesses, as the 144,000 will be in the tribulation period. And so we need to be better witnesses, don't you think? I think so. So let's thank the Lord for his great rescue plan through the Lord Jesus Christ. but also at the same time, let's go before the Lord and let's ask the Lord to make us better witnesses, humble servants, and that we would continue to love and serve one another. For it's too late. Let's pray. Father, thank you for reminding us of who you are, our awesome and sovereign Lord. Father, forgive us for our belittling you in the ways that we approach you in worship and service and how we live our lives, not for your great name and glory and for your great purposes, but for our foolish ends. Father, thank you for rescuing us from the domain of darkness and uniting us with Christ. Would you continue to encourage your people and fill their hearts and well them up with a sense of joy, thankfulness, and gratitude as they live their lives for you. And to be sober-minded and to live in this world in a way that they represent Jesus Christ. So this is our prayer, that we as your people on this side of the judgment of the tribulation period, that we will be your witnesses, better witnesses, and that we would testify to the world of who our Lord Jesus Christ really is. Thank you for your great mercy and your kindness even to us in Jesus Christ. It's in his precious name we pray. Amen.