****Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's Word****

This is one chapter of the bible that is difficult to interpret, which has lead to all kinds of different ideas and speculation. While avoiding the wild speculations, we want to grasp clear life lessons from this passage.

Before we jump into this chapter, I want to take just a couple of seconds and recap what has happened, thus far. John is taken up into heaven, and Jesus is the only worthy one to open the 7 seals. The first six seals were opened and when the 7th seal was opened we see there are 7 "trumpet" judgments, and then we see that the final 3 trumpet judgments are called "woes". Now a woe interpreted as doom to come. In this chapter we will see the first two woes.

The first woe we see is verses 1 - 11. In verse 1 we see that a star falls from heaven and is given the key to the bottomless pit. In the Greek language this is interpreted as fallen star, angels are often referred to as stars. This can lead to speculation that this may be the fallen angel, Satan, or one of Satan's demonic beings in his hierarchy. This fallen angel is granted the keys to the bottomless pit. In verse 3 - 6 we see these locust creatures that come out of the pit and they are to not touch any trees nor grass only torment those men that have not the seal of God on their forehead. Those that don't have the seal of God on their forehead are the unbelievers. They are not to be killed however they are to be tormented to the point of the men seeking death, but they shall not find death. These demonic attacks are to occur for a period of 5 months.

Lets look at the visual description that John gives us about these demonic creatures. Verses 7 - 11 give us this description. They are shaped like a locust and were like horses ready for battle with crowns of gold and the face of a man, hair of a woman, and teeth of a lion, breastplates of iron and their wings mad the sound of chariots and horses running to battle, and they had tails like that of a scorpion with stingers to torment mankind. Their king was that of the bottomless pit named Abaddon or Apollyon which translates to the word destroyer. Take a moment and ponder on this description. We can speculate what this means, but the point of this description is to give terror. This is a terrifying image, and this terrifying demonic creature will torment those unbelievers for 5 months.

Now you might think, big deal, demons attacking mankind. Some people say, well I am going to live it up for now and redeem myself later on, and others say, I will ask for forgiveness on my death bed. This is a very big deal to an unbeliever because they will suffer a great deal and later we will see that they won't repent, and it is impossible for man to redeem themselves. The bible describes these attacks as a scorpion sting, which those of you that live in the dessert are familiar with, the scorpion sting causes a lot of pain.

The sixth trumpet sounds which is also the second woe. The angel that sounded the sixth trumpet was commanded to release the "4 angels" which were bound in the great river Euphrates. These 4 angles that were bound are also part of Satan's army of demons. These angels are going to kill 1/3 of mankind.

These judgments are very horrifying, but sometimes it helps to hear the bad news first. You see we are still in the age of God's grace where we can choose to accept Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins, and can avoid these terrifying prophecies that will occur. With all the turmoil going on in the world today, we are still very blessed with God's grace. The moment God decides to remove the grace and begin judgment will be very terrifying. The destiny of mankind is dependent upon the hardness of his own heart, pride and selfishness. We are our own biggest enemy, but we can choose to accept the fact that we can't do anything to save ourselves, redeem ourselves, because God has purchased our pardon by sending His Son to die on the cross for us.

I have heard some say, that when they are on their death bed they will ask for forgiveness, or they will try and redeem themselves later in life. In my opinion that is the biggest excuse and mistake. Notice verse 20 and 21, it goes on to say that even though mankind has seen all this judgment with their own eyes, they still don't repent of their sin. Not everyone has the benefit of "having a death bed". Freak accidents happen where death comes in the blink of an eye, and off you go into eternity, either in hell or heaven. If we look at Luke Chapter 16 verse 19 - 31 we see the story of the rich man who had everything but didn't believe and went to hell, and asked if someone could come back from the dead to forewarn his family to turn to God and he is told that if they haven't heard Moses and the prophets, they won't listen to a person from the dead.

Some people say, well I just don't believe in God because I can't see Him, I want tangible proof of His existence. I don't know if these people have had their eyes closed since birth, but all you have to do is take a look around, look at the sky at the beautiful sunrise that God paints in the morning, or look at all the creatures of the sea that we find, and are still discovering, look at the miracle of life that God creates, this list can go on and on, and that is just the tangible proof. We see evidence of God answering prayers, and giving us blessings and mercy with His grace.

We must respond NOW to the grace of God, before it's too late. The world is full of Satan's works and is very powerful, it is very tempting and can consume you without you even realizing it. It is so important to accept Jesus into your heart and repent now before its too late!

posted by Ben at 8:43 PM