He Reigns
Bible reading
1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
– Revelation 9 (NIVUK)
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stings, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulphur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulphur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulphur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Devotional
Every single year the Canadian Parks officials place signs all over the National parks warning people that there are bears in the area, that indeed, the people are walking in bear territory. Each sign gives a list of rules, regulations, and safety precautions, not to anger or control people, but to keep them safe.
Bears are real and they do attack! And every single year a handful of visitors to the National Parks die from bear attacks. Most attacks were foreseeable and avoidable, if only the person had paid attention to the warnings! What surprises me even more than ignoring all the warnings, is that other tourists keep doing the same thing including ignoring the death of fellow tourists. One after another, people provoke bears, are attacked and die… and then comes another and another… no one seems to learn!
We have the same type of mentality in Revelation chapter 9. The chapter opens with the fifth trumpet being sounded and we are given a picture of the scary nature of judgment. There have been warning signs all over the New Testament, but people refuse to pay attention. They keep living their lives as if nothing will ever happen. Then one day, things start to happen. One third of the population is destroyed by the trumpet judgments and still, at the end of the chapter, those who remain refuse to repent and stop doing what they are doing; the exact things that caused other people to die.
How are we living? Do you see the warning signs around you? Are you living dangerously thinking that no one notices, no one cares, and no one will do anything about it? Don’t provoke God. Take this time to confess and repent, to turn back to God, and receive His forgiveness. His love is waiting to receive you and restore you.
– Connie Main Duarte
This devotional is part of a series that helps us navigate the texts of the book of Revelation with fresh eyes. A new devotional every Saturday.
These devotionals are available in Portuguese and in English.