THE FIRST WOE JUDGMENT; THE FIFTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT (Rev 9:1-12)

The fifth seal judgment does not list a means for accomplishing the fifth trumpet or first woe judgment. Instead we have a description of a group of redeemed believers who have been killed, resurrected and then raptured to heaven apparently about five-six months after the midpoint of the tribulation period. We know they had been resurrected and raptured since they are described as being “souls.” A soul is described in Genesis 2:7 as being a spirit inhabiting a body, meaning that they must have been resurrected. From the descriptions it appears that the two witnesses were killed about five-six months after the middle of the tribulation period, resurrected and raptured to heaven. It is likely that those seen in the fifth seal judgment in heaven are the two witnesses. We do know that about 25% of the people on earth had just been killed in the fourth judgment. Those raptured soon after that in the fifth judgment had been killed and appeared to be an uncountable multitude of people who had become believers. This likely included the two witnesses.

We can conclude from a study of Rev 11 that the two witnesses were a combination of all of those who had become believers during the tribulation. This includes all believing gentiles (one of the two lampstands) and all believing Jews (the other lampstand including the 144,000), Rev 11:3-4. They seem to be led by two individual leaders, referred to as the two olive trees, who do their work in the spirit of Elijah and either Moses or Elisha (Rev 11:5-6). These two witnesses did their witnessing for Jesus on earth for 3 ½ years and were then killed by the beast, resurrected after 3/1/2 days and raptured to heaven. This appears to be the same event as the rapture described in the fifth judgment in Rev 6:9-11 and in Rev 7:9-17. We will next examine that.

The timeline for the rapture of the two witnesses is apparent from a careful study of the fifth seal judgment in Rev 6:9-11, the great multitude rapture in Rev 7:9-17, the rapture of the two witnesses in Rev 11:6-14, the fall of Satan to earth in the third trumpet judgment in Rev 8:10-11 and Rev 12:1-12, the release of the evil angels from the Abyss in Rev 9:1-12 and the pursuit of Israel by the evil angels and their return to the Abyss in Rev 12:13-17. An analysis of these passages to determine this timeframe follows.

The evil angels who were released from the Abyss were allowed to operate on the earth for five months (Rev 9:5, 10). They were not allowed to harm believers (Rev 9:4). It seems that for five months they were torturing the unbelievers of the earth, with the exception of those unbelieving Jews who had sought refuge in Bozrah. We conclude this from Rev 12:13-16. Here we find that Satan spews out a river to overtake the Jews who are in hiding in Bozrah. This river is symbolic language for a torrent of spirits. The timeframe and other contextual factors lead us to believe that these spirits are the evil angels who had been released from the Abyss. We see that when they begin to pursue the Jews in hiding they are sent back to the Abyss; figuratively speaking the earth swallowed them up. Thus we conclude that these particular evil angels were only given five months total to torture the unbelievers on the earth, not including those unbelieving Jews in hiding in Jordan, Rev 9:5, 10. We conclude that the Jews hiding in Bozrah were unbelievers from Rev 12:17 which says that Satan was enraged that he could not engage the Jews in hiding so he went off to make war against those who had accepted Jesus as their Savior. This attack could not include these evil angels from the Abyss, since they had just been sent back and since they were forbidden from harming believers. However, it did include the beasts that came up from the Abyss (Rev 11:7). This beast includes the antichrist and the false prophet (Rev 13:1, 11). They represent and lead several nations of the earth as we will see later. Thus we see that the attack that led to the death of the new believers involved several nations of the earth led by the antichrist (and Satan). Remember, this attack was just after the evil angels from the Abyss were sent back to the Abyss. Also, the evil angels from the Abyss were doing their work for five months in the fifth judgment. Just what was the work that these evil angels were doing? The clues seem to indicate that they were assisting the false prophet in implementing his program to force everyone to earth to take the mark of the beast, Rev 13:16-17. They were apparently interviewing everyone on earth and trying to get them to accept the program of the antichrist, to take his mark, the mark of the beast and pledge allegiance to him as God. If an unbeliever in Jesus refused, they were tortured until they accepted. If a person was a believer in Jesus they were not allowed to torture them, but they apparently herded them into camps in Israel so they could be dealt with later by the antichrist. This program took five months.

Thus it seems that this attack of the two witnesses and their death, resurrection and rapture occurred at about five-six months past the beginning of the fifth judgment. But when did the fifth judgment begin? We will next try to determine the answer to that. At the midpoint of the tribulation period, the antichrist goes into the temple in Jerusalem and declares himself to be God (Dan 9:27), thus breaking the seven year peace treaty that he had established with Israel at the beginning of the tribulation period (Dan 9:27). Jesus told the Jews that when they saw this happening they should immediately leave the country and head for the mountains (Matt 24:15-20). Prophecy seems to indicate this mountainous hiding place is in Bozrah (Petra) in Jordan (Isa 33:16, 34:6, Jer 49:22; also see Rev 12:13-14). Thus we see that many Jews headed for the mountains at the mid-point of the tribulation period. Next, we see in Rev 12:12-17 that when Satan was thrown down to earth he was filled with fury and went off to pursue Israel. Verse 14 describes Israel’s flight to Bozrah and we see that she would be there for 3 ½ years. This clearly establishes the fact that the antichrist goes into the temple at the exact mid-point of the tribulation period to tell the world that he is God. Israel went to Bozrah at the exact mid-point of the 7 year tribulation period so she stayed there until the end of the 7 year period. Satan pursued Israel after the evil angels from the Abyss had been on earth for 5 months, for we see that they were sent back to the Abyss when they began pursuing Israel while she was in hiding.

Rev 11:3 tells us that the two witnesses, which included the 144,000 believing Jews, would do their work on earth for 3 ½ years. We saw a discussion of the sealing of the 144,000 in Rev 7:3-4. This obviously takes place near the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period. A person is sealed at the instant that they become a believer in Jesus. This certainly would have started almost immediately after the general rapture and the beginning of the period of wrath on earth. The 3 ½ years in which the two witnesses did their work on earth would thus have ended shortly after the mid-point of the tribulation. Also they would have felt somewhat safe while they were under the 7 year peace treaty established by the antichrist. This ended at the exact mid-point of the tribulation as we saw above and the two witnesses would no longer be safe in witnessing for Jesus. Thus it seems that the fifth judgment begins at the mid-point of the tribulation period. We have the confluence of two 3 ½ year periods moving from opposite directions, with each ending at the middle of the 7 year tribulation period. Rev 11:7 says that the antichrist killed the two witnesses as soon as they finished their work. They finished their work at the midpoint of the tribulation period. It then took five months to round them up. This five month period was the fifth judgment. This roundup process could not start until they had finished their work. Thus the fifth judgment started at the midpoint of the tribulation period. The timing of the fifth judgment is presented in greater detail in Identifying where the seven judgments fit in relation to the midpoint of the tribulation in the section titled A study of the judgments described in Revelation. It is also presented in under great multitude in the dictionary of symbology.

The believers that Satan and his henchmen, the antichrist and false prophet, make war against and kill are the two witnesses since they are the only believers on earth at the time of the attack. In Rev 11:7-12 we see that they are successful in killing the two witnesses, who then lie in the streets for three and one half days and are seen by peoples all over the world. They then are miraculously resurrected and raptured to heaven. This rapture is described in the fifth seal judgment (Rev 6:9-11). The timeframe of this rapture of tribulation believers coincides exactly with the rapture of the two witnesses. They are the same event. This rapture is also described in Rev 7:9-17. Those in heaven suddenly see a great uncountable multitude of souls appear in heaven wearing white robes, just as those in fifth judgment in Rev 6:11 wore white robes. We see in Rev 7:14 that this great multitude was those believers who had been killed and had come up to heaven out of the great tribulation.

This woe judgment begins with a reference to the “star” that was thrown from heaven to earth in the third trumpet judgment. We understand from Rev 12:4, 13 that this star is Satan. We also see that he has brought one third of all angels with him as his followers. Satan is given the keys to the Abyss and he releases some very strange creatures from the Abyss. The Abyss is also referred to as the Abusso or the bottomless pit, and is the place where especially evil demons or evil angels are kept. It may be the same place as Tartaros, 2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6. Jesus has the keys to the Abyss, possibly meaning that he controls who goes there and who does not go there, and what happens to them. He allows Satan to release the evil angels being held there upon the earth (Rev 9:1). This is all a part of God’s wrath upon the earth to accomplish his plan involving the Jewish people. Dan 8:10 may also be speaking of this release of evil angels on earth.

When Satan opens the Abyss we see something called locusts, as thick as smoke, coming out (Rev 9:2-3, Jer 51:14). From the description of the locusts we can conclude that they are evil angels. First they sound somewhat like descriptions of angels given in the Old Testament; they had faces resembling human faces, they had hair like a woman’s hair, they had other features resembling lions and other creatures, and they had wings (Rev 9:7-10, Ezek chapter 1). Finally they had a king over them and that king was an angel, implying that they too were angels. The king was king of the Abyss implying that he was an evil angel, further implying that the locusts were also evil angels (Rev 9:11).

Most evil angels are obviously still in heaven today, as is Satan. They are spirits and are engaged in spiritual warfare with God’s angels over the spirits and souls of people on the earth (Eph 6:12-17). That being the case, who are the evil angels being held in the Abyss? 2 Peter 2:4 says that God has placed certain evil angels in gloomy dungeons in Tartaros (likely the Abyss) awaiting their judgment. Jude 6 tells us the same thing, that God has placed certain evil angels in darkness awaiting their judgment. This may also be referring to the Nephilim of Gen 6:4, who were apparently part of a scheme by some of Satan’s angels to engineer a hybrid angel-man and thus thwart God’s ultimate plan for mankind. These Nephilim were killed in the flood, but were returned to earth after the flood and God had to have them killed by other means. These creatures may be being held in the Abyss along with the angels who engineered them.

We will take a closer look at the Nephilim. They were an apparent intrusion of wicked angels into the sphere of humans in an attempt to produce a race of wicked giants (Gen 6:4-6). The Nephilim were huge (Deut 1:28, 2:10). The word Nephilim originally meant fallen ones, mighty ones, earth-born, and to be cast down. The Nephilim were super-human, gigantic, violent, and very sinful. The Nephilim apparently had already arrived on earth during the time of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, since Jude 14-15 says that Enoch was talking about them and their final fate. The Nephilim were apparently the vehicle which Satan was going to use to try to thwart God’s plan for mankind, since God’s plan was not good for Satan and his angels. Satan apparently has already tried at least two times to use the Nephilim in this way and has at least one more attempt planned. This future plan may be referred to in the fifth trumpet judgment of Rev 9. God originally rid the planet of the Nephilim in various ways, including through the flood. They are apparently being held in the lower portions of Hades, in a place called Tartaros, along with the evil angels who were responsible for them (2 Pet 2:4-6 and Jude 6). The antichrist may be a Nephilim since Rev 17:8 and 11:7 say that the beast came out of the Abyss. Rev 17:8 further describes him as one who once was, now is not, and will yet be. That certainly could apply to a Nephilim.

Verse 4 says that these strange creatures were only allowed to harm those people who did not have the seal of God on them. They were not given the power to kill, but only to torture for five months.

The leader of these strange creatures is called Apollyon, or destroyer, in Rev 9:11, and he may play some important role in the three woe judgments.

Now we will discuss how this fifth trumpet judgment relates to the fifth seal judgment that we described earlier. Remember that the fifth seal judgment described the rapture of the two witnesses and those believers killed in the first half of the tribulation period to heaven. We see this description of the fifth trumpet judgment describing the release of the evil angels and Nephilim out of the bottomless pit or the Abyss. Guess what? In Rev 11 we see in verse 7 that that it is the beast who is released out of the Abyss who finally overcomes the two witnesses and kills them. Amazing how the pieces of the puzzle fit together if we are diligent in searching for the right answer.

THE SECOND WOE JUDGMENT; THE SIXTH TRUMPET JUDGMENT (Rev 9:13-21)

The means for the sixth seal judgment is described as a great earthquake, the earth being somehow knocked off axis causing catastrophic consequences, stars falling to earth, etc. The stars falling to earth may be missiles with nuclear warheads raining down upon the earth. I understand the Russia may have nuclear weapons powerful enough to knock the earth off axis if multiple warheads are used together.

The stars falling from heaven in the sixth seal judgment in Rev 6:13 may also be the evil angels that are described as being thrown out of heaven and down to earth in Rev 12:9. They may thus be the 200,000,000 mounted troops seen in Rev 9:16 and the vehicle for executing this judgment.

As the second woe judgment begins we hear a voice from heaven telling the sixth trumpet angel to release four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. In Rev 9:13-14 we see these four angels being released and allowed to kill one third of mankind. They are released to do their work in the sixth judgment just before the Second Coming. Rev 9:15 says that they had been kept ready for this very hour.

These four angels seem to be evil angels since they are described as being “bound” and “released.” They may then lead the army of 200,000,000 mounted troops in an assault on the people of the earth. They would be allied with the antichrist since he is a cohort of Satan. Satan is the leader of the antichrist and the army of evil angels. In fact in Rev 16:13-14 Satan, the antichrist and false prophet are presented as an unholy Satanic trinity.

The language in verses 17-19, “three plagues of fire , smoke and sulfur,” sounds like a nuclear war being described, especially when we see the huge number of people being killed. Verse 20 says that in spite of the great destruction and death, those remaining alive still did not quit worshipping demons and false gods.

In the beginning of the fifth judgment we saw that there were people on earth who had become believers, people who were sealed by God, that the locusts were not allowed to harm (verse 4). By the end of the sixth judgment we saw that there were not any people left on earth who were believers. The believers either had to have been part of the one third of the people on earth who had been killed in the sixth judgment or else they had been part of the gleanings rapture.

The means described for the sixth seal judgment sounds like extremely powerful nuclear weapons and the effects described in the sixth trumpet judgment sounds like the effects that such weapons might have. Both are described as earthquakes. Of course this means may be some sort of natural disaster or some combination of natural disasters and nuclear wars. We may also be seeing a reapplication of all of the judgments on earth.

CLUES TO THE IDENTITY OF THE ARMIES IN REV 9

• The army of locusts in Rev 9:1-12 may be an army of angels (their king was an angel, Rev 9:11) or an army of men (Israel’s army was called God’s army in 2 Sam 1:12). They are said to be like a huge plague of locusts because they consume the earth. This army of locusts in Rev 9:1-12 certainly seems to be an army of evil angels since they came up from the Abyss. The army of locusts in Rev 9:13-21 also seems to be an army of evil angels since they were led by four angels who had been “bound” at the Euphrates River for a long time and were “released” to kill one third of mankind. I don’t know why God’s good angels would need to be bound. It is also possible that this second army is an army of unredeemed men who were possessed by evil angels. Angels are spirits and may need to possess bodies in order to be able to see, speak, hear, taste, etc. in the physical world.
• The descriptions of the army of locusts in Rev 9 likely represents two separate armies of angels. That is verses 1-12 is composed of the evil angels from the Abyss. They only have power on earth for five months and are then sent back to the Abyss. Those in verses 13-21 are likely the evil angels who were thrown down to earth in the third, fourth or sixth judgment, Rev 6:13, 8:10, 12.
• The description of the army of God in Joel 2 parallels the description of the armies in Rev 9:1-21. Both are called locusts and both are under the control of God. Joel 2 certainly parallels the events of the great tribulation given in Revelation very closely and completely. The army described in Joel 2 seems to be God’s army of good angels since God is said to be at the head of the army, Joel 2:11. Rev seems to indicate that God’s angels do not come to earth until the Second Coming when Jesus returns, Rev 19:14, 2 Thess 1:8. Before that, in the sixth judgment, God is apparently using Satan’s angels to do his biding. The following table compares the fifth-seventh judgment descriptions from Revelation with Joel 2..
• The presumption that the armies in Rev 9 may be angels may possibly be confirmed in Isa 24:18-23. This passage is clearly speaking of the great tribulation. Verse 21 is very enlightening in that it says that both the angels in heaven and the kings of the earth will be shut up in prison following these judgments. This sounds very much like the Abyss. Rev 20:1-3 says that Satan will be bound in the Abyss after Jesus Second Coming and will remain there during the 1000 year millennium. Apparently Satan’s angels who are currently in heaven will be in the Abyss with him. Verse 22 goes on to say that at some later time the evil angels will be punished. Rev 20:7-10 says that Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire after the millennium. Since the lake of fire was prepared for Satan and his angels, Matt 25:41, that means that the evil angels will be thrown there also.
• All of this strongly implies that Satan’s angel’s are deeply involved in the tribulation. This involvement includes evil angels from the Abyss in the fifth judgment and those in heaven above in the later judgments

COMPARISON OF THE FIFTH-SEVENTH JUDGMENT DESCRIPTIONS FROM REV WITH JOEL 2