The Book of Revelation 

Scholars have long understood the beast of Revelation 13 to be the "Antichrist".  A mere mention of the word antichrist and nearly the entire world understands the implications!  I'll cover, of course, the "Antichrist" and relevant passages once I get to revelation chapter 13 but, in order to understand more about this beast of Revelation chapter 9, I must of necessity, skip ahead a bit to get a few more passages.

Revelation 9:11   "And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."

Examine Revelation chapter 17 and the description of that beast.

Revelation 17:8   "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."

Revelation 17:11  "And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."

Revelation 17:13  "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast."

There are two additional chapters that deal with this beast of Revelation:  Chapters 11 and 13.  Let's briefly examine passages from those chapters.

Revelation 11:7  "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them."

Revelation 13:4   "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"

Revelation 13:8   "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

When the descriptions of the beast are read carefully and reconciled, there is no doubt the beast of Revelation 9 is the very same beast as described in chapters 11, 13 and 17!  Even the descriptions of the beasts are the same:  7 heads, 10 horns, etc.

Where is this beast now?  He is IN the bottomless pit (until the 5th trumpet sounds).  Who is this beast?  He is called Abbadon, Apollyon, the Antichrist!  He will ascend out of the pit and will rule the world!

That my friend, is very plainly what the BIBLE says!

I know there are those who do not want to see this and will not accept it, but friend, THAT is what the bible declares.  I will cover more concerning this beast in the latter chapters of Revelation, as I get to them. 

Back to Chapter 9 

No wonder the angel described this 5th trumpet as a "WOE"!

Revelation 9:12 "One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter."

When the sixth trumpet sounds, four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates, are loosed.  Verse 15 has been interpreted in several ways, some literally, some figuratively and some in a "prophetic year" type of interpretation.  Those with the "prophetic year" interpretation claim the time period references in verse 15 is specific and is equal to about 391 years (one hour being 1 year, they claim). 

Revelation 9:15  "And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."

Others have stated this was literally 13 months plus 1 day plus 1 hour.  (one year, one month, one day, one year).  Still others claim it is figurative of some other time period.

I believe when the passage is examined over the entire 9th chapter, the time period could very well be a reference to literal time, however, when considering the statement that the angels "were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year", I don't believe this represents the length of time they will be "killing" men, nor the length of time it took them to prepare to kill men, but rather that they were prepared "for this exact time" when God will allow them to be loosed. 

We use this type of terminology when referencing sporting events, great achievements,  etc.  For example we say things such as:  "This is the moment he's been training for..", or "this is his greatest hour".  Perhaps a better example would be that of our own death.  We know it is coming and we have our entire lives to ready ourselves.  We are being prepared for the exact time of our death (or ... the year, month, day and hour when it will arrive).

I believe this reference of  "prepared for" followed by the time mentioned in verse 15 is a statement that these angels will be loosed at the exact moment pre-determined by God. 

We then have a reference that doesn't give a lot of information beforehand.  Revelation 9:16 speaks of "the" army of "the" horsemen.  Since there is no prior mention of any army or any horsemen, we can really only speculate here. 

Revelation 9:16  "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."

Revelation 9:17 ties in with the understanding of being "in the Spirit".  John declared:  "And thus I saw the horses in the vision . . .".  John declares that fire, brimstone and smoke came out of their mouths, and were told in verse 18 that 1/3 of men were killed by the fire, smoke and brimstone. 

It must still be remembered that the main subject of the book, trumpets, judgments, and vials deal mainly with those in the region of the Middle East, not upon the entire world!  When the bible declares 1/3 will be killed, it does not necessarily (but COULD) mean that this comes upon the entire world!

It is quite likely that the entire world, including those upon whom this trumpet comes will not recognize this as one of the trumpets of God!  The world will likely be viewing these events and great loss of life as "war" or the "evil of men".  I say this because the next 2 verses show us the hardness of men's hearts:

Revelation 9:20-21   "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

Note the word "sorceries" used in this passage.  It should be noted that the root word means magic (sorcery or witchcraft), BUT, it also means "medication"!  The Greek word used is pharmakeia from which we get the word pharmacy!  Considering the overwhelming use and abuse of both legal and illegal drugs today and considering the drug culture, is this surprising that God would include such a term?

Let's move on to the next chapter.

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