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| Photo of Jon Tracy, by Jim Tracy |
1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
This star is the nation Israel and this is not the literal throne room of God but the Church.
Throughout Revelation (and much of the Bible) “heaven” stands for the Church of God, at first the Jews, (until the Cross), and then the Christian Church. Stars represent tribes of Israel, the ministers in the church or the church itself.
When Israel rejected Jesus it opened up the pit of destruction to their own harm.
2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Smoke is a blinding agent. It caused confusion and blindness to the truth. The Jew’s rejection of Christ caused many, if not most, of them to fall into one or another radical belief system that prevented them from surrendering to the Romans, thus causing their total destruction. They couldn’t even see “Heaven,” God's truth.
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
This fallen star released a great danger to the Jewish people; their own radical beliefs caused them to rebel and Rome to attack them.
Scorpions have the power to hurt people; large ones can even kill. Locusts can fly and jump great distances. They are much more mobile than scorpions, and if they were poisonous, they would be much more deadly.
Titus’ army was dedicated to the god Apollo whose symbol was locusts. They likely had locusts on their banners as they marched. And the segmented Roman armor would have resembled the locust’s body.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Locusts are plant eaters and can devastate an entire country in a very short time by consuming crops (see Exodus 10).
However these locusts were told not to eat plants, but to hurt the Jews who didn’t believe in God.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
The Roman Army devastated the country of Israel, destroying the entire population. They laid siege to Jerusalem from April 14, 70 to September 8, 70- five months. During this time they only killed those who tried to escape the city. The rest of the deaths were inside Jerusalem at the hands of one of the warring factions of Jews.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
During the siege, there were three major warring factions inside the city who killed each other and anyone who wouldn’t join them.
Many people starved to death.
Many died from the diseases that ran rampant through the city.
Many were killed by the Romans while trying to escape the city.
Parents resorted to eating their own children.
There were many who wished for death to come quicker so they could quit suffering. Many of these committed suicide, murdering their own parents, spouses, and children first to spare them from suffering any more.
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
The Romans rode horses and had the authority (crown) of the emperor, yet they were men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
History tells us that the Roman army on the march was a horrifyingly beautiful sight; as beautiful as women. But they were as dangerous and cruel as a hungry lion.
I have also seen pictures of some Romans with long, hairy plumes coming out of their helmets and cascading down the back of their heads. I wonder if Titus’ army were among those with this fashion.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
The state-of-the-art battle armor of the time was “breastplates of iron,” which the Romans made full use of. They were also very efficient in their use of war chariots.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
The Romans had a weapon that would shoot arrows in rapid fire- like a machine gun. It was called “The Scorpion.”
Again, the siege lasted five months.
11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Abaddon means “a green plant.”
Apollyon means “a destroyer.” It is derived from the Greek word “Apollo,” the Roman god Titus’ army was dedicated to.
This ruler of the pit is destruction.
The Jews did not recognize the coming army as their destroyer (just another green plant, another in a long line of armies to march on Jerusalem,) but the gentiles and Christians saw exactly who he was (the destroyer). The Christians fled Jerusalem before the siege (as Jesus told them to in Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14, and Luke 21:20), but those “without the seal of God,” the unsaved Jews, stayed behind and went through a torture worse than death.
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.”
The Romans had four legions of soldiers guarding the eastern border of the empire- the Euphrates River. Titus called these troops to help him in Jerusalem. (Josephus Book V, Chapter I, Section 6
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
The Romans employed troops from many different parts of their empire. Not all, (in fact, not the majority) of their soldiers were Roman. Josephus tells us that the actual four troops that marched on Jerusalem were originally from the Euphrates region.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
I don’t think this is the literal number of soldiers who marched on Jerusalem (Josephus says Titus had 80,000 men). The number could easily be symbolic of “A WHOLE BUNCH.”
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
The Romans killed a good third of all Jews alive at the time, though this may well be a symbolic number.
19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
The small number of Jews who were not killed still did not repent. The Jewish leadership made a deal with the Romans that they would offer sacrifices in their temple "for" the Emperor instead of to him. This kept them in better favor with Rome until this rebellion. God saw it as idolatry.
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
None of these horrors caused the non-believing Jews to repent and turn to God.