Глава IX

Vision of locusts, their emergence from the deep well at the sound of the fifth Angel's trumpet (1–2); appearance of locusts; torment from it for people who do not have the seal of God on themselves (3-10); its king Apollyon (11). The appearance of a cavalry army at the sound of the sixth Angel’s trumpet, a description of horses and their harmfulness for unrepentant people (12–21). Rev.9:1. The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven to earth, and the key to the well of the abyss was given to it. By the sound of the fifth trumpet, John sees a star falling from heaven. With the words “fallen from heaven,” the seer undoubtedly wants to say that the fifth plague also occurs by God’s permission and at the time specified by the will of God. This symbol becomes clear only from what follows. A star that fell from the sky was given the key to the well of the abyss, which is connected directly to the abyss. The very name of the abyss is an indication of the underworld, where evil spirits are condemned to dwell. The Abyss, therefore, must be distinguished from hell and Gehenna, the place of suffering for the dead. The Abyss is the seat of demons, where they are imprisoned and, as it were, locked with a key, that is, they are deprived of freedom of action. By the action of God's Providence (a fallen star), this prison is unlocked, and what is inside the abyss through the well connecting the abyss with the surface of the earth has the opportunity to appear above the earth. Rev.9:2. She opened the pit of the deep, and smoke came out of the pit like smoke from a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the vault. The smoke that came out darkened the sun. It is more correct not to attach independent significance to this feature of symbolic vision, and to consider the indication of the darkening of the sun and air as a transition to clarifying what follows. Rev.9:3. And out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given the power that the scorpions of the earth have. Rev.9:4. And she was told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any greenery, or any tree, but only to people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Rev.9:5. And she was given not to kill them, but only to torture them for five months; and her torment is like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. Rev.9:6. In those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them. Locusts came out of the smoke, and the earth had to receive what came out of the abyss. Consequently, the locusts themselves, surrounded by smoke, constituted that dark cloud that darkened the sun and the air and which completely emerged from the abyss. The similarity between the locusts of the Apocalypse and ordinary locusts does not extend further (except for the name) to the fact that both are a huge mass. The locust, then, is here only a convenient symbol, which was used by both the ancient prophets and the church writers of the New Testament. These locusts were given the power that is characteristic of scorpions, by which we must mean nothing more than the ability of scorpions to produce a sting that is very dangerous to human life and health 46 . The activity of locusts on earth is limited by the Divine will, and it is directly forbidden to cause any harm to vegetation, and is allowed to harm only people, and only those of them who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The locusts could not kill, but only cause torment and, moreover, only for five months. Taking into account that actual locusts live no more than five summer months, it is best to consider this five-month period of locust activity as an indication of a period of time that is uncertain for people, but determined for Divine Providence, which period will be needed for punishment and for intimidating sinners and for the manifestation of Divine truth before the eyes of the righteous. As an indication that both the locust itself and the disasters caused by it are instruments of execution in the hands of God, the remark is that the torment from the sting, although unbearable, is not fatal. Rev.9:7. In appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for war; and on her heads there were crowns like gold, and her faces were like human faces; Rev.9:8. and her hair was like the hair of women, and her teeth were like those of lions. Rev.9:9. She had armor on her, like iron armor, and the noise from her wings was like the sound of chariots when many horses run to war; Rev.9:10. she had tails like scorpions, and in her tails were stings; Her power was to harm people for five months. In appearance, the locusts were similar to horses prepared for war, which preparedness is limited only by the warlike nature of their species. And the crowns on their heads were nothing more than those bright yellow (golden) four tentacle-horns with which the head of an ordinary locust is equipped 47 . Obviously, as one might think, the only thing human in the heads of the locusts was a physiognomy (face), somewhat similar to a human one, but the structure of the head itself was locust-like. The locust's hair was like the hair of a woman and was the complete opposite of her actual cruel character, which is indicated by the observation that her teeth were like the teeth of a lion. Something unexpected in the depiction of the appearance of the locust is its iron armor, and also the fact that the noise from its wings is similar not to the trampling of horses, but to the sound of chariots. Rev.9:11. She had the angel of the abyss as her king; His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon. Rev.9:12. One grief has passed; behold, two more sorrows are following him. The final characteristic of the locust is that it had the angel of the abyss as its king. Here the word angel comes before the word abyss, and this latter means the seat of evil spirits. Consequently, the king over the locusts is undoubtedly the messenger of the abyss, or rather Satan himself, to whom we best apply the title of king. And his name Abbadon, which means destruction, is also obviously used here as an indication of the devil, who is destruction and death incarnate. In view of all this characterization of the locust under it, as the execution of God, one cannot understand a simple poetic and prophetic picture of human disasters. If the locusts from the abyss are under the command of Satan, then, obviously, they themselves are evil spirits, demons, inhabitants of the abyss. Evil spirits at the end of time, having been freed by God's permission (Rev. 20:7) from the place of their imprisonment, that is, from the state of being bound in their actions, will appear among people to seduce and torment them 48 . This torment will extend to those who do not have the power to drive away demons from themselves. The very torment from demons can be understood in the sense of constant discontent, anxiety and the search for something better, which, being instilled in people from demons (the sting of locusts), will make human life unbearable (Rev. 9:6). The torment of the spirit will be combined with material misery, which will become a global misfortune of the last time. Pious people, sealed with the seal of God, will find their grief in world sorrow and in the consciousness of the death of sinners tempted by the devil. These disasters will not end until the second coming. The expression: “the first grief has passed” does not mean that after five months the future harmful activities of the devil and demons will cease. No, these disasters will not end until the second coming of the Lord. John meant only himself and only insofar as he was a seer of Divine revelation. He speaks of the cessation of the first grief only in a vision, or, in fact, of the cessation of the vision of the first grief. He needed to say this, since he proceeds to describe the next vision, which he characterizes in advance as two griefs, one after the other in their sequence. Rev.9:13. The sixth angel sounded, and I heard one voice from the four horns of the golden altar that stands before God, Rev.9:14. He said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: release the four angels bound by the great river Euphrates. A new woe strikes the world at the sound of the sixth trumpet. Under the golden altar, like Rev. 8:3, is of course the altar of incense, which was located in the sanctuary of the tabernacle; and the four horns mentioned by John are supposed to resemble the horns of that altar (Exodus 27:2). Horns, which generally serve as a symbol of power, being located at the altar, indicate the mercy of God. The four angels bound by the Euphrates River mean the evil angels, and the river. Euphrates is an imprecise geographical name for a historical area, since it does not correspond to the ethereal nature of angels, but it is a symbol. Evil angels - demons after the suffering of Jesus Christ were bound by the command of God in their evil activities. The reference to the Euphrates River as the place of their deprivation of freedom suggests that here, first of all, the freedom of their activity should be manifested; here, and not elsewhere, they will reveal their evil actions. At the Euphrates, in the wicked and depraved Babylon (Rev. 16:19, 18:10) or in a city (and area) similar to it in its wickedness, the evil angels for the first time before the end of the world will receive their complete freedom among the wicked who have fallen away from the Christian faith and its saving power. Rev.9:15. And four Angels were released, prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, in order to kill the third part of people. Rev.9:16. The number of cavalry troops was two thousand; and I heard his number. The evil angels will be released then, at that exact hour of the day, month and year in which this release is appointed by Divine predestination, that is, when wickedness among people of the last time reaches the highest degree of its development. This time will also be the time of the coming of the Antichrist. Then, due to the action of evil spirits, terrible disasters will begin, which will entail the death of many people - a third of them, according to the expression of the Apocalypse. Even the chosen Christians will be subjected to these end-time calamities along with the wicked (Matthew XXIV:13, 21-22). Disasters will come from a countless army, for which the four evil angels will be only secret inspirers, not excluding their ordinary natural leaders. Moreover, the specific number of this army - two hundred million - is taken not in the sense of the exact number of individual warriors, but in the sense of a vague indication of its enormity. Rev.9:17. So I saw in a vision horses and their riders, who had armor of fire, hyacinth and sulfur on them; The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. Rev.9:18. From these three plagues, from the fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths, the third part of the people died; Rev.9:19. for the strength of the horses was in their mouth and in their tails; and their tails were like snakes, and had heads, and with them they did harm. These troops, of course, are not a groundless fantasy, not a symbol of the abstract concept of the destructive influence of the power of hell, but a real army, an army of the future, and it is unusual only insofar as the attributes with which John sees it are unusual. The multi-colored armor of the horsemen seemed to him to be changing rapidly and as if changing from one color to another. This brightness of brilliance is a reflection of that hellish flame, which was a mixture of fire, burning brimstone and smoke, flying out of the mouths of the lion-like heads of horses. And it becomes completely clear how so many people could be killed 49. A third of all people will be killed. A definite number instead of an indefinite number - in accordance with fire, smoke and brimstone - these three weapons of killing, which were used by the horses of a large army. After all, horses had the opportunity (power) to harm people (directly killing them) not only through their mouths, but also through their tails, although harm to people through snake-like tails was, so to speak, only a precursor to murder and death. – How to understand this execution of the sixth trumpet? – This army, like the locusts, is the army of the last time, the time of domination over the world of the Antichrist, the messenger of hell and demons. These are the internecine wars that the Savior understood (Matthew 24:7) and that will be allowed by God to test the world before the final judgment of it. Rev.9:20. Other people who did not die from these plagues did not repent of their deeds, so as not to worship demons and gold, silver, copper, stone and wooden idols, which cannot see, hear, or walk. Rev.9:21. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their theft. John says that other people, that is, those who survived after the executions, did not repent. Here we are obviously talking about only the wicked, but nothing is said about the righteous. But it is kept silent only insofar as they did not need a call to repentance, however, they too could be subjected to some effect of executions, just as the Jews and the Egyptians were subjected to executions. – Idolatry is mentioned among the sins. Is it possible in the last days, when the Gospel will be preached to all creation? It's certainly possible. Then there will be a departure from the faith, then, under the influence of evil spirits, new idolatry, new idolatry will begin, then new deities will be invented and new idols will be built for worship. Then the first and more widespread idol will be the idol of the Antichrist (Rev. 13:14). Ebrard, Suller, Kliefoth. You might be interested in: