Worship Message No. 26, March 01: Revelation Chapter 9
Scripture: Revelation 9:1–21
[Introduction] The Flow from Chapter 8 to Chapter 9
In the previous Chapter 8, along with the sound of trumpets that seemed to shake the Tateyama Mountains, we saw the natural world being struck one after another.
That was a warning from the “outside,” so to speak—a message that “this world is not eternal.”
However, in Chapter 9, which we read today, the stage shifts from “heaven” to “underground,” namely, to the “depths of our hearts.”
Of the three woes shouted by the eagle at the end of Chapter 8—
“Woe! Woe! Woe!”—two of them become reality today.
Here, the scene takes a turn.
It changes from disasters falling “from heaven to earth” to disasters welling up from “underground = the bottomless pit.”
Rather than natural disasters or wars, this is depicted as a judgment where
“demonic forces” come to the fore, eating away at the inner lives of humans and the internal aspects of society.
To all of you in Kurobe, Uozu, and Nyuzen who are walking through the “afternoon hours” of your lives:
In the midst of the responsibilities of work, family worries, and the creeping shadow of old age,
do you ever feel an anxiety as if a “bottomless hole” has suddenly opened at your feet?
Today’s passage is a message that sharply approaches that very “hollow of the soul.”
I would like you to listen to this not as a story about ancient monsters or myths, but as the reality of our souls.
[What is Revelation? — Let’s First Spread the Map]
Before entering the main subject, let’s organize things a bit.
Revelation was written in the 90s AD, during a period of intense Christian persecution by the Roman Empire.
The author, John, was an elderly apostle exiled to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea.
What he wrote down was the “vision” he saw—that is Revelation.
However, a word of caution is needed.
This is not a “codebook for future predictions.” This is a letter of encouragement to people who are suffering.
It is a powerful declaration that “no matter how dark the era, history is in God’s hands.”
The “trumpets” appearing in Chapter 9 symbolize the gradual unfolding of God’s judgment. Today, we will look at the visions of the fifth and sixth trumpets. It is a very tense scene where the warning finally steps into our “inner selves” and “society.”
Precisely because you are people who have known both the sweets and bitters of life, you should be able to sense the “human psychology” behind these symbolic descriptions.
[Textual Divisions and Sermon Structure]
- Part 1: The Fifth Trumpet — Locusts from the Bottomless Pit (v. 1–12)
- Part 2: The Sixth Trumpet — The Euphrates River and Two Hundred Million Mounted Troops (v. 13–19)
- Part 3 (Application): Human Tragedy — The Hardness of a Heart That Will Not Repent (v. 20–21)
[Part 1: The Fifth Trumpet — Locusts from the Bottomless Pit (v. 1–12)]
9:1–2 The “Bottomless Pit” and a Darkening World
“Stars” are often used in the Bible as symbols of spiritual beings (angels or fallen angels) (cf. Isaiah 14:12, Luke 10:18).
Here, a “fallen star”—an evil spiritual being—is given the key to the “Abyss (bottomless pit).”
What is important is that the key was not taken arbitrarily but was “given.”
No matter how terrifying the evil, it cannot move a single finger without God’s permission.
This is the consistent message of the Bible.
Smoke rises from the “bottomless pit,” and the sun and sky are darkened.
This is a symbolic description of spiritual darkness covering the world.
9:3–6 Five Months of Suffering from Locusts
From out of that smoke comes a swarm like “locusts.” These locusts are completely different from the locusts in the Book of Exodus.
These “locusts” have specific characteristics:
- First, they do not harm the “grass or trees (nature)” but spiritually attack “only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
- Second, they do not “kill” but “torture them for five months.”
- Third, people will so suffer that they “long to die, but death eludes them.”
The agony is described as being like the “sting of a scorpion.”
Does this not strike a chord in the hearts of those of us living today?
“People will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.” This is a description of the height of despair.
What is more painful than physical pain is the “emptiness of the soul”—losing the meaning of life, seeing no exit, and being unable to die even when wanting to.
In Japan, too, many people spend empty days saying, “I don’t know what I’m living for.”
The “Abyss (bottomless pit) αβυσσου” is the very cavity of the heart separated from God.
People try to fill that hole with something: work, money, entertainment, alcohol, or relationships.
However, that hole has no bottom.
The more you pour in, the deeper the thirst becomes.
What John saw was the smoke of such futility.
9:7–11 Abaddon the Destroyer
The appearance of the locusts is described with horrific images: horses prepared for battle, human-like faces, golden crowns, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, iron breastplates, and the sound of wings like thunder.
This symbolically represents how the power of evil can be attractive yet simultaneously destructive and terrifying.
Verse 11:
“They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon αβαδδων and in Greek is Apollyon απολλυων(that is, Destroyer).” (Revelation 9:11, NIV)
“Abaddon” means “destruction,” and
“Apollyon” means “one who destroys.”
The essence of this force is “destruction.”
The final goal of evil’s rule is not “to make people live” but “to destroy them.”
Life has moments like a “bottomless abyss.” The collapse of the bubble economy, the Lehman shock, COVID-19.
Or a family member’s illness, the breakdown of relationships at work, or the fear of one’s own aging.
The sensation of one’s life being stirred up by something invisible is something experienced by people of every era and every country.
To those reading this passage for the first time, it might sound like a story from a science fiction movie.
However, this is a mirror reflecting the psychological and spiritual truths we face.
[Part 2: The Sixth Trumpet — The Euphrates River and Two Hundred Million Mounted Troops (v. 13–19)]
When the sixth trumpet is blown, the four angels who were bound at the great river Euphrates are released.
An army of two hundred million mounted troops appears and covers the earth.
They breathe out fire, smoke, and sulfur from their mouths, destroying a third of mankind.
Historically, the Euphrates River was a symbolic boundary of eastern threats for Israel (Assyria, Babylon, and Parthia once attacked from there).
“Who were bound” is an important expression.
Even these destructive forces are “bound” by God and cannot move without God’s permission until the “appointed time.”
No matter how chaotic the world appears, God holds the final reins.
[Part 3: The Greatest Tragedy — The Hardness of “Not Repenting” (v. 20–21)]
The conclusion of this chapter is so cruel that one wants to cover one’s eyes.
Despite receiving such calamities, the survivors did not stop worshiping “what their own hands had made (idols)” and would not repent.
Humans cannot let go of their fixations, pride, and visible idols (money, status, one’s own sense of justice).
Even when they know these things will not save them, they still cling to them.
The older people get, the harder it becomes to negate their own way of life.
The “repentance (metanoia)” the Bible speaks of is not about blaming oneself.
It is about admitting, “I can’t do it by my own strength anymore,” and making a positive turnaround—”redirecting the direction of one’s walk toward the light.”
[Conclusion: Do You Have the “Seal” That Protects You?]
Why would a God who is supposed to be full of mercy show such a terrifying vision?
It is not to scare us.
It is to inform us of the fact that “at the end of that path (idolatry), there is only ruin,” before it is too late.
Everyone, what should we rely on to live?
In the darkness of Chapter 9, the only light of hope is the people who have the “seal of God” mentioned in verse 4.
They alone were not harmed in their souls even amidst the smoke from the bottomless pit.
This “seal” is not a visible mark. (The seal is in Chapter 7, verse 3).
It is the soul’s sense of security:
“I was created and am loved by God,” and
“I am forgiven of my sins through Jesus Christ.”
This is the only antidote to the scorpion’s venom (futility and despair).
A person who has this conviction will never be broken, even if society shakes and the bottom falls out of life.
Just as the hot springs of Unazuki warm a cold body, the words of the Bible have the power to warm and regenerate our hearts, which have grown cold in this chaotic world.
Please, loosen your hardened heart just a little and try knocking on this “gate of hope.”
Beyond this “terrifying prophecy,” “hope” always awaits.
I truly hope that you will knock on that gate of hope.
Prayer
“O God, who brings light even to the bottom of the deep abyss.
You know the heavy burdens and anxieties of each person gathered here today.
Please, may we break through the shell of our hardness and flee into the true refuge that is You.
We pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
コメント （手動承認）