Revelation 9:1-21
Some commentators have put forward the most fanciful interpretations of these chapters, trying in particular to relate the prophecies to modern day events. Let us remember therefore that all of this third part of John’s vision takes place in the future. It deals only with that interval of a few years which separates the coming of the Lord for His Church and the commencement of His millennial reign.
The 5th trumpet, or first woe, releases a swarm of hideous locusts from the bottomless pit, direct instruments of Satan, which inflict on the ungodly Jews a moral torment worse than death. At the same time the stings in their tails similar to those of scorpions (v. 10) or serpents (v. 19) represent deceitful and poisonous doctrines, treacherous weapons which Satan will use more than ever (cf. Isaiah 9:15). At the sound of the 6th trumpet fantastic horses appear, breathing out fire, smoke and brimstone, leaving death in their wake. Their horsemen are wearing breast plates (vv. 9, 17), a picture of hardened consciences (1 Timothy 4:2).
Using a trumpet to announce these judgments indicates that they are warnings to men. Yet men’s hearts are so hardened that even those unprecedented disasters will not lead them to repentance (vv. 20, 21).