Smoke and locusts from the abysss

Sermon for Midweek of Easter 2

Revelation 9:1-12

Let’s spend a moment reviewing the outline of Revelation. There are seven series of visions, with each series of visions essentially covering the entire New Testament period, offering different details and focusing on different things. The first series of visions was the seven letters to the seven churches, offering divine counsel to all God’s churches on earth until Christ comes again. The second series of visions was the vision of the seven seals, which taught us that the Gospel will go on, as did the rider on the white horse, even in the midst of all kinds of wars and famines and tribulations, during which time the elect are kept safe both on earth and in heaven.

We began last week looking at the third series of visions, the vision of the seven trumpets. After the first four trumpets sounded, we saw a third of all sources of life on earth damaged: the vegetation, the seas, the springs of drinking water, and the sun, moon, and stars. And it seems clear that the trumpets should be interpreted as signaling, not the destruction of natural sources of life, but of spiritual sources of life: the corruption of the Word of God and of the witness of the Church through various false doctrines and heresies.

This evening we’re going to focus on the sounding of the fifth trumpet and the events that followed.

The trumpet sounds, and a star falls from heaven to earth. But it’s not really a star at all. It’s a person or a personality. He is given the key to the bottomless pit, otherwise known as “the abyss.” The abyss is clearly a symbol of hell. And this key to the abyss isn’t to lock people in or let people out. It’s to let out this billow of smoke that darkened the sun and the air, and the grotesque swarm of locusts that came out of the smoke.

Who is the star? A few verses later he’s called the angel (or messenger) of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. (Those Hebrew and Greek words each mean “Destroyer” or “the one who brings ruin.”) And he serves as king over the locusts that came out of the abyss. There are two main interpretations of this star. It’s either Satan himself, or it’s Satan’s servant, the Antichrist.

Let’s look at a few pieces of evidence pointing to Satan as the star that fell from heaven to earth, as the angel of the abyss. Jesus once said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” There are also references in the apocryphal book of Enoch and possibly a reference from the book of Isaiah talking about the fallen angels as stars that fell from heaven. In chapter 12, which begins the fourth series of visions, the Devil is clearly identified as the fiery dragon whose tail drew a third of the “stars” of heaven to earth, and who himself was cast out of heaven to the earth, together with his angels. So this star or angel with the key to let the smoke and locusts out of the abyss could be Satan.

Or it could be the primary servant of Satan who works within the boundaries of the Christian Church on earth, namely, the Antichrist. In the first series of visions, stars represented the “angels” or the pastors of the seven churches. A star can signify a notable teacher in the Church, or a notable institution of teachers in the Church that started out “in heaven,” that is, teaching the truth of God, but eventually “fell to earth,” that is, moved away from the truth of God. This angel is called Destroyer. And in 2 Thessalonians 2, St. Paul calls the Antichrist the “son of destruction.” Historically, we have identified the Roman papacy as the Antichrist. The first bishops of Rome were good. But over the first six centuries of the Church, the bishop of Rome grew in power and influence until he became the primary teacher in the Church, not of the truth, but of error. In the next series of visions beginning in chapter 12, the devil is cast down to earth in the beginning of the series, but then the Antichrist shows up later in the visions, as this “star that fell from heaven” shows up later here, in the vision of the seven trumpets.

I favor the interpretation of this as the Antichrist. But in either case, it’s someone (or someone representing a corrupt institution within the Church) who releases false teaching into the world.

That false teaching is represented first, with smoke coming up from the abyss—smoke that obscures the light of the sun and darkens the air, making it hard to see. That’s what false teaching does. It makes it hard to see the truth of God’s Word. It makes it hard to see what’s truly good, right, salutary. It makes it hard to see clearly who Jesus is and what His will is for His people. Is it hard to find the truth of the Gospel today? You bet it is! Why? Because so much smoke has gone up from hell, making the truth hard to see and hard to find.

Smoke, and also demonic locusts. Now, in the past, God has used real swarms of locusts to plague His enemies. He did it in Egypt. He did it again at the time of the prophet Joel to the people of Israel who had turned away from God to idols. But the locusts in this vision aren’t bugs at all. You can tell that from how they’re described and from the fact that they don’t attack vegetation at all. 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. So these “locusts” don’t attack the crops. They attack people, and not all people, but only those who are not marked with God’s seal, that is, those who are not the elect children of God. They’re attacking unbelievers, or those who believe for a time, but in the hour of testing, fall away.

And they 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. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The locusts bring, not death, but torment. Sharp, stinging torment, like a scorpion sting, except these locusts aren’t stinging the body; they’re stinging the soul, to the point that people want to die to escape this torment, not realizing, of course, that death doesn’t end any torment for the unbeliever.

Hear again the description of these locusts: The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And 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. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. What can we make of this strange, impossible description? They’re like war horses, determined to race to battle and attack. They have crowns made of something like gold—they appear to be victorious and glorious, but their glory is a sham. Men’s faces, women’s hair—they don’t look entirely like monsters. There is something innocent-looking, harmless-looking about them, until they open their mouths and you see their teeth like lions’ teeth. Breastplates of iron mean they’re not able to be killed. Tails like scorpions mean they don’t only attack from the front, with the mouth, with their doctrine, but also from the back, with their poisonous practices.

The locusts represent heretical teachings and practices sponsored by demons and governed by hell. There’s a whole swarm of them, attacking all who fail to hold firmly to the Word of Christ and to faith in Christ.

Shall we list some of the heresies that sprang forth from the Roman papacy and that attacked people’s souls and consciences? Purgatory, indulgences, prayers to the saints, the pope as infallible, the pope as the head of all Christians, tradition over Scripture, tradition as necessary for Christians to follow, the sacrifice of the Mass, the inequality and hierarchy among ministers, abusive behavior by the ministers, Communion in only one kind, pilgrimages, relics, apparitions of the supposed Virgin Mary, believers being told to doubt their salvation, justification by faith + works. We could go on. For those who have been led away from God’s Word to believe in such things—it’s a constant tormenting of the conscience.

But the locusts were only give power to hurt men for five months. That’s the usual lifespan of a locust, apparently. It’s also half of ten, so, maybe, not the whole time of the New Testament period. We could suggest that the time of the Antichrist’s real and almost-universal hold on people came to an end at the time of the Reformation when the Roman lies were exposed with the light of Scripture, although the false doctrines of Rome are certainly still around today. And any number have come along since.

In any case, this is one of the three great “woes” that God said would come upon those who did not receive the love of the truth, as St. Paul says in 2 Thess. 2. And we still see the fallout of it today.

For as hard as some of these images are to interpret, the message for us in our time is really very simple. It’s no different from what Jesus told His disciples plainly: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves… He who endures to the end shall be saved. Take your Christian faith and life seriously. Take God’s Word seriously. Know that the devil will try to obscure God’s Word and poison people’s minds with false doctrine, and he will do major damage in the world. See all the many denominations and all the false teachings within Christianity, not as a sign that the Word of Christ is unclear, but as a sign that the devil is doing with it exactly what Jesus said he would do with it. And pray that the merciful Lord will keep you safe from the smoke, safe from the locusts, and able to see His truth clearly. He won’t abandon you in that endeavor. You have His Spirit. You have His promise. And you have the protection of your Good Shepherd to keep you safe from the wolf—and from the locust—who seeks to destroy you. Amen.