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The Trumpet Judgments, Part 2
- Passage
- Revelation 9
- Taught
- May 4, 2025
Summary
The slides recall the first four trumpets and then warn, “Bad for sure, but wait,” because the last three are worse. They also lay out what Christians generally agree on about “the what” of the end times, such as that Jesus is coming again, God will pour out wrath, God will defeat his enemies, Jesus will reign for a thousand years, and there will be a new heaven and earth, and note that there is only slight disagreement on “the when.” The structure of Revelation is shown with John’s four vision locations.
The fifth trumpet opens the abyss and releases locusts with the power of scorpions, who torment only those without God’s seal for five months. Their king is Abaddon, Apollyon, “Destroyer.” The slides place this beside the fifth bowl of Revelation 16:10–11. The sixth trumpet releases four angels bound at the Euphrates and an army of two hundred million that kills a third of mankind, a toll the slides put at about 2.7 billion. They compare it to the sixth bowl and Armageddon, and to the battle of Revelation 19:11–21.
Both judgments end the same way: the rest of the people did not repent. The slides list divine sovereignty, human rebellion and limited destruction as themes of the sixth trumpet.
The fifth and sixth trumpets
The class read these judgments:
- 9:1–12. Fifth trumpet: the locusts from the abyss, the first woe.
- 9:13–19. Sixth trumpet: the army from the Euphrates, the second woe.
- 9:20–21. The people who survive do not repent.
Key themes
The slides draw these themes:
- Divine judgment: the locusts are instruments of God’s wrath, aimed at the unbelieving world.
- A known duration: their torment lasts five months.
- Supernatural origin: they come from the abyss, linking them to demonic forces.
- Human rebellion: despite judgment, people refuse to repent.
Questions to talk about
- Why do you think people refuse to repent even in the face of such judgment?Revelation 9:20–21.
- What does it mean that even the demonic locusts are limited by what God permits?Revelation 9:4–5.
- What do I need to repent of before it is too late?Revelation 9:20.