We are continuing in our study of the Book of the Revelation, and this ministry meeting is dealing with the ninth chapter of the Book of the Revelation, so please let us turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter nine. I would like to read all this chapter for today and see what the Lord has for us to learn from Revelation chapter nine. And I'm reading, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit, the abyss. And he opened the abyss, the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. And the likeness of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the face of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

They had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of a chariot of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Avadon, but in the Greek tongue has his name Apollyon. One woe is past, and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet loose the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and for a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand times thousand. And I heard the number of them, and thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and jacknife, and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouth issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouth, for their power is in their mouth, and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

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 demons, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. And neither repented they of their murderers, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

And this is the conclusion of chapter nine, verses one to twenty-one. Now, it is amazing, you know, I'm so thankful, dear brothers and sisters, that we could have sang these songs just prior to the reading of this text, because when we have sang those songs, Jesus, Yeshua, name above all name, beautiful Savior, blessed Redeemer. We were singing about this Messiah, Yeshua, that saved us, that washed us, that cleansed us, that forgave our sins, just prior to the reading of Revelation chapter 9, because what we see in Revelation chapter 9 is a continuation of God's righteous indignation against men, against sin, which He's going to unleash during the seven year tribulation, which is called in the prophet Yirmiyahu, Tzarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble. Where God is going to unleash judgment here upon the face of this earth and it is going to be unleashed not upon believers, those of us who belong to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah are not going to be here, we're going to be taken out of here prior to the beginning of the tribulation, but it's going to be unleashed upon the human race who rejected God, who rejected Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

Now remember in a process of the study of the book of the Revelation, we have arrived to chapter 9, and chapter 9 we are still in the first half of the tribulation period. The tribulation that began with the opening of the seven seals by the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Lamb, who took the book from the hand of God the Father, and He began to open those seals, and He opened all the seven seals.

And if you remember in chapter 8 and verse 1 when He opened the last Seal of this scroll, which was the seventh one, when he opened that last seal, he was introducing an additional seven trumpet judgment that gonna fall upon the face of this earth. And we have already covered in chapter eight already four of the sounding of the trumpet.

Every trumpet that was sounded by an angel brought about judgment upon the face of this earth. We saw that earlier in chapter 8 verse 17 to the end of chapter 8, where we saw that there was in the first trumpet was hail mingled with fire and blood came upon the face of this earth. The second trumpet, we saw that when he sounded the trumpet that there was great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood, and we saw that many died, third part of the ship were destroyed.

And then we read about the third angel sounded in verse 10 of chapter 8, that a star, fallen star, fallen angel fell down from heaven as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and all the drinking waters, the sweet water that we use to drink, have becoming bitter, becoming as it says here, the waters became bitter. And finally, we find out in the fourth Of the trumpet, that a third part of the sun, a third part of the moon, a third part of the stars, and a third part of everything that is in the heavens, if it were that which gives us light, became dark.

And all of a sudden there was a shrinking in the timing of the functioning here upon the earth of mankind. And things have totally have changed here upon the face of this earth. And so we close chapter eight in our last ministry meeting with these expressions. Listen to this. The end of chapter eight, look what we read in verse thirteen, just before we start chapter nine. And I beheld, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven. And he's saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to come. You see, what happened when those four sounding of the trumpet was earlier done by four previous angels, then there was another angel who said, look what is going to come yet.

Whatever have happened up to this point is not the end, because right now he's going to introduce to us additional sounding of the trumpet. Three more angels are going to sound the trumpet, and those three sounds of the trumpet is going to be additional judgment. And you know the way he says this, whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabitants of this earth, because of what is yet coming. And you know, when we think about it, to make it just practical, when we just recently experienced earthquake in Haiti, tsunami in Japan, and earthquakes and all kind of events that occur today in this world, This is nothing, beloved brothers and sisters, compared to what that is yet going to come. Now you and I might be very much surprised when we look at the things such as the whole sea enter into the land. I never heard of this years ago when I was early young boy in Jerusalem, never heard of those things, at least I didn't.

But now you hear it all over again, a tsunami here, a tsunami there, an earthquake here, an earthquake, Australia or New Zealand, earthquake in the whole city being destroyed. What we really see, and this is the Bible tells us that this is nothing compared to what is yet to come upon the face of this earth. And so now, chapter nine. And in chapter nine, what we really have is the sounding of the trumpet, two more shofar or trumpet sounding by two more angels. In fact, what we see is the fifth and the sixth trumpet judgment that is going to fall upon the face of this earth. In other words, here we see some activities that are very unusual. Look at this, the first twelve verses, we have the fifth trumpet sound. First of all, we find something very unique here in verse one. It says, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Now, again, to remind you that when we are talking about the star, he is not talking about the literal star we see every evening in heaven. What he is talking about, a star in the Scripture, often times, has a reference to an angel. It may have a reference to a good angel, those who are servants of God, but it also have an application to a fallen angel. You can read it in Scripture many times that angels are often times are being represented with the word stars. In the book of Job, we have the sons of God, but here in the earlier chapter of the book of Revelation, we have the seven stars in the hands of the Lord Jesus. There are seven stars representing the seven angels of the churches. So star here in Scripture speaks of an angel. Here what we have, brothers and sisters, that there is a sound of the fifth trumpet, verse one, and a star, John said, I saw a star falling from heaven unto this earth, and to this star, this fallen angel was given the key of the bottomless pit.

Now in the Greek, that word bottomless pit is the word abyss. Now let me just say, remind you of a few things. You know in the Bible we have that expression that you and I use often times, the expression hell. It comes from the Hebrew word Sheol, and in the Greek is Hades. Sometimes we call it Hades, sometimes we call it Sheol, sometimes we call it, we say Hell.

Now Hell is a place of confinement where people who left this scene, who died, are being kept there for a season. For example, before, if you remember when the Lord Jesus the Messiah talked about in the Gospels, in Luke chapter 16, about Lazarus and the rich man. You remember Lazarus was taken to the bosom of Abraham, and the rich man went to Hell, went to Hades. And when the rich man saw, he was tormented in Hades, in Hell, and he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to me, that he will dip the tip of his finger in my tongue, he says, because I'm tormented here. Well, what we find out that Hell or Hades have more than one compartment.

There is a compartment, if you will, of the righteous one, of the believers, such as Lazarus and others, or Abraham, and there is another compartment of the unregenerated souls, individuals. I know it's difficult sometimes to grasp it, but that is the reality. You will see that in the Scripture. Many times you will see that hell, Hades, it's not the final place of the unbelievers, but it is a temporary place. When the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, died, and He was buried, and He rose, He emptied the compartment of the righteous one, and He took them to be with Him, and today every believer who died, he is absent from the body, and immediately present with the Lord, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. But Hades, as the place of the confinement of the unbelievers, is still in existence. And it's not only in existence for unbelievers, men and women and people, but Hades in itself have a place where fallen angels are being confined, are being kept.

Let me show you just two verses. If you turn to second Peter for a moment with me, take the epistle of Peter, second Peter, and let's just read a couple of verses, second Peter chapter two and verse four. Look what we read, that's Peter writing to the Hebrew believers of first century and he's saying to them, for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but he cast them down into hell, and he delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

Now those angels here that have sinned, those are the angels that we know them from earlier chapters in the book of Genesis, those are the angels that sinned against God and violated the Word of God. And we read here that God cast them down again. Notice the word hell and the Greek word here is tartaros. It's a place where angels are kept in the place of confinement when God have kept them there locked until a time where he's going to judge them. They are kept there in chain and reserved unto judgment. You notice that? Turn with me to the book of Jude and we read there in verse 6. It says there, And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Again, beloved brothers and sisters, the place where God have chained those angels that fell, that kept not the first estate, in Scripture it is called Tartaros, or as we have here in these verses of Revelation chapter 9, the abyss.

In English it's called the bottomless pit. So now, I'm back to Revelation chapter 9, and verse 1, we see that a star is fallen from heaven, and we find out that this star, which is a fallen angel, he was received a key, as it says here, to the bottomless pit. It shows us now that this fallen angel, by the very fact that he received the key, that he did not have total authority, he received an authority, an allowance from God. In other words, God allowed him to have the key, so he will be able to open the abyss where those angels are confined.

Now, I want to read just one more verse in the Gospel of Luke, if you turn with me also to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, just to show you one more time, to make sure that we are clear on this, in Luke chapter 8, Yeshua the Messiah is speaking there, and we read in Luke chapter 8, where we find out that the demon, the fallen angel, was cast out of the maniac, or this person from Gadara. Notice what it says in verse 26.

And they arrived to the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man which had demons long time, and without clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. And when he saw Yeshua, he cried out, and he fell down before him, and with a loud voice he said, What have I to do with you, Yeshua, thou Son of God, Most High? I beseech thee, torment me not.

For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for often time it had caught him, and he was kept bound with chain and fetters, and he break the bands, and he was driven of the devil into the wilderness. Now notice what it says in verse thirty and thirty one. Yeshua asked him and he said, What is your name? And he said, Legion, or Legion, because many demons were entered unto him, and they besought him, those demons, besought Yeshua, listen, that he would not command them to go into the deep.

That word, the deep, is the same Greek word abyss that is found in Revelation chapter nine and verse one, the bottomless pit. You see, the demons, at the time when Yeshua was here on earth among his people Israel, those demons did not want Yeshua to send them into the abyss, into the deep. They besought Yeshua that he would not send them into the abyss, because this is a place where they are locked and they are preserved for a time of judgment. And so now, brothers and sisters, here we are in Revelation chapter nine and verse one, and here we see that fallen angel received the key, so he can go now to the abyss, to hell, and to this negative part, the evil side, to open the one part of this evil place, and to open that abyss, the bottomless pit.

Now, some suggest that this angel particular, this fallen star, that fallen, may very well be Satan himself. Now, we don't read it here, but we'll see some things that give a character to this one a little bit later on. But he received the key. And now notice in the next verse two, we see the opening of the abyss. Find out here in verse two, and he opened the bottomless pit, the abyss. And there arose smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the reason of the smoke that came out of the pit. Here we see Satan, or this fallen angel, taking the key that he received, and now he's opening the abyss, the part where those angels are being confined, or being kept. And he's opening it, and what's happening out of this place came, as it says here, like a smoke, came like a great furnace.

And you know what this shows us, dear brothers and sisters, that hell, Hades, and ultimately the lake of fire, is a place of judgment, that God is judging men, in one case, and angels who fell away, who have gone astray, that there is a place of judgment by a holy and a righteous God. Even if we remember when we read about the rich man who said, I am tormented here, Yeshua the Messiah called this a furnace of fire in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 13. And so the abyss, hail, Tartaros, is a place that there is a judgment, there is a fire, there is a burning, there is a pain, there is a gnashing of teeth.

And here, as you open it now, the smoke came in the great furnace, and notice what that occurred when this was opened, the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Here we go, it is the third time now in the Tribulation, there will be a measure of darkness upon the face of this earth.

And so he opened it, and now I want you to see that what we see next here, we see what is known to be a demonic attack that's gonna be occurring here in this universe during the Tribulation period. No wonder the angel at the end of chapter 8 says, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of this earth. No wonder he's saying such a statement because he knew what is yet coming to the human race that live here without God, that rejected the Messiah salvation. And so look, it says in the next verse three, the coming out of the demonics in appearance like locusts.

It says, and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. Now, I want you to understand, he does not talk about an invasion of locusts, of those insects here. He's talking about demonic activity. Now, yes, God has used in past history to judge. Remember in the time of Pharaoh when Israel, our people of old were in bondage to the Egyptians, God used the locusts to judge the Egyptians. He also used the locusts to judge his very own people, Israel, when he was disciplining his own people. But here, beloved brothers and sisters, we are not talking about an insects, but they have an appearance like locusts. They have a behavior like locusts, and also it says, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They have power like those snakes, scorpions, that are burning and are stinging. They have the power, these demons that came out of the bottomless pit, out of the abyss.

And so now, as they came out, their appearance is like locusts. Now, if you put your finger here for a moment, and we read earlier in the book of Joel, and I want you just for a moment go back with me one more time to the book of Joel, because there, there is the connection, the prophecy that spoke about the demonic activity that is going to occur during the tribulation period. So we are going for a moment to the prophet Yoel in Hebrew, Joel in English. We have already studied the book of Joel, and in the book of Joel, Joel is speaking about three invasions or locusts that are going to come upon the nation of Israel. The one of them is in chapter one, which have already occurred in the time of Yoel.

The locust, it says here in chapter one verse four, that which the palm worm hath left, has the locust eaten, and that which the locust hath left, has the canker worm eaten, and so on. In other words, you can see that the locusts have invaded the land of Israel, and they took all the green, all the plants, they have eaten everything up, and there was a famine, there was no food, because of the locust. But then in chapter 1 and verse 15 on to chapter 2 up to verse 11, there is another time of judgment and he also speaks very similar of this invasion, but this time it will not be locust, it will be demonic.

It will be a demonic activity that he's speaking about that's going to happen during the day of the Lord, the tribulation period. Look it says in chapter 2 and verse 1, blow the trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm in my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is nigh at hand. Then he gives us information, he says, a day of darkness and gloominess and clouds and thick darkness, and as the morning spread upon the mountains, a great people and a strong there has not been ever like them, neither shall be any more afterward, even to the years of many generations. Now he's speaking about people, but you can see as he's moving along down in Joel chapter two, that those people are really not people.

Look, it says in verse 4, the appearance of them is as the appearance of horses. As the horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariot in the tops of the mountain shall they leap. Like the noise of flame and of fire shall devour the stubble. As a strong people set in a battle of array. And then it says in verse 6, before the face of the people shall be much pain, all faces shall gather blackness, and look what we read of them in verse 7.

They shall run like mighty men. They shall climb like men of war. They shall march everyone on his way, and they shall not rake their rank, neither shall one thrust another, they shall walk everyone in his path, in whom they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. Verse 9, they shall run to and fro in the city, they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb upon the houses, they shall enter into the windows like thieves, the earth shall quake before them, the heaven shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Now brothers and sisters, I'm telling you that the Bible teaches us here in Joel chapter 2 that it is not speaking about human invasion that gonna come against Israel and the world, but it's speaking about demonic activity.

And this demonic activity are really matching with what we read here in Revelation chapter 9, where the star that fell received a key from God, God allow him, he opened, as it says, the bottomless pit, which is the abyss where the angels have been confined, and he's loosening them up. And so we read in verse 3, And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as of the scorpions of the earth have power.

And so now that they came out, we read the command that those demons, those fallen angels, have received. This is in verses four and five. And it was commended them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead.

And to them was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented for five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he stingeth a man. Now they received four things, those demons to do. You know, one thing it is important to see that why we don't believe that this is human invasion here, because look, it says here in verse four, they were commended not to hurt the grass of the earth, neither the green things, neither any tree. You know, when the locusts came, naturally the locust is destroying every green that is existing upon the face of this earth. But those locusts, those demons like locusts, are told not to destroy the green, not to destroy the trees, to leave them be.

Secondly, what they were told in verse 4 is to hurt, look at this, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead. You remember we studied chapter 7 of the Revelation, and we talked about 144,000 Hebrews which were sealed. God has sealed 144,000 Hebrews Israelis from every tribe of our nation Israel, and He has sealed them to be using them in the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom during the tribulation.

And so this demonic activity did not affect those 144,000 Hebrews, but it will not affect any others who have heard the message of the Gospel, and have accepted Yeshua the Messiah during the Tribulation. So here we have demons coming out of the abyss, the bottomless pit, they have been loosened, and now they're beginning to march here on this earth, and they are not to hurt the green, they are not to hurt those that have the mark of God in their foreheads, them, the 144,000, and many others who have been, must have been marked somehow, who have accepted Yeshua the Messiah. But then notice in verse 5, the next command, the third and the fourth one, it was given unto them that they should not kill them. In other words, those demonic activity, those demons are not to kill men in this judgment, but what they are to do in verse 5b, but to torment men for five months.

It says here at the end of verse 5, but the day should be tormented for five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, which he stingeth a man. In other words, they cause torment here upon the human race without allowing men to die, not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. I've done a little bit of reading, and they say that the normal lifespan of a real locust is about five months, beginning from May, June, July, August, September. For five months, usually it is the normal lifespan of a real insect, the locust.

And it is amazing how God is using the lifespan of an insect in locusts is the allowance in which those demons were allowed to torment mankind upon the face of this earth in this five month of tormentation. Not to kill them, but to be in pain, tormented. I mean, it is terrible when you think about that in verses four and five. They were to be sting, they were to be like the torment of a scorpion when it's striking a man. And so, this is four and five, verses four and five, we see the command to the demon, to the fallen angels. And so in verse six, look what's going to happen. You know, people will desire to die and they will not be able to die.

It says in verse six, in those days shall men seek death. They will want to die, they will be tormented so much by the tormentation of these demons, but they will want to die, but they will not be able to die. It says in verse 6, they will not find death. They shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. In other words, God is allowing those fallen angels, the demons, to inflict torment upon the human race. Some men would want to die, want to kill themselves, but they will not be able to kill themselves. It says that death shall flee from them. They will not be able to die. They will try, perhaps, to use any manner to just cause themselves to die. I just can't take it anymore. The pain is amazing, and they cannot take it anymore, but God will not allow them to die. Death will flee from them. They shall desire to die, and death will flee from them.

And so, in verse 7 to 10, we find out now the appearance of these locusts, of these fallen angels, of these demons. Look at the appearance of them in verses 7 to 10. It says here that the likeness of these locusts or demons were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men, and their hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. Now I can tell you these are not real locusts, these are demons. It says in verse nine, and they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings were as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. In verse ten it says, and they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men for five months.

Now, can you imagine, dear beloved brothers and sisters, what would it be like here in the tribulation period where so many demons gonna be loosened out and allowed to do, to torment here, to hurt men for five months as we have here in verse ten. You remember what happened when we just read in the Gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter eight, how these men at that time when Yeshua came to this world, some demonic activity have occurred during that time. Demons were active, were entering into men, unregenerated men, and causing them to be placed in the fire and in the water and not in chain, getting them to be in a terrible condition.

That is the condition that will prevail during the tribulation period when the church has gone out of here, when the Spirit of God, the liberty and the freedom that we have today to preach the message will be much lesser during that time, the Spirit of God's activity, though will work, yet in a different way, not in the same way that it is today. The believers are not here, there is no restraint here in this world, every man does that which is right in his own eyes. Terrible time during the tribulation period is going to happen here upon the face of this earth, only to those who rejected Yeshua, the Messiah, and not accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. And so verses 7 to 10, we have the appearance of these demons, which we can read it along with Joel chapter 2 and verses 4 on.

Now in verse 11, we see that these demons had a king, have someone who led them. You see, they had a king, in verse 11, over them, which is the angel of the abyss, the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew language is Avadon, and in the Greek his name is Apollyon. Now here's another reason why we don't believe that those are real locusts, but if you're speaking about demons, if you just read with me please a verse in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 30, look what we read in verse 27, about locusts, the real insects. It says in verse 27, the locusts have no king.

Proverbs 30 verse 27, the locusts have no king, yet go therefore all of them by bands, by groups. But they have no king. According to King Solomon, Shlomo, the king of Israel, who said, locusts have no king. But in Revelation chapter 9 and verse 11, we find out that these locusts, these demons have a leader. And this leader is called here, they have a king over them. And then notice that he is the angel that belong to or that is part of the bottomless pit.

And so we can see, and that's why some suggest that this angel, who is the leader of all those fallen angels, are none else but Satan himself. Who is the leader? Who is the one that had been the initiate, the sin that came into this world, that after he fell, others have gone and follow after him, disobedience to the God who created them. These are fallen angels. Demons are fallen angels, angels that kept not their first estate. Angels that have sinned, that God judged them. And demons' activity have occurred throughout the ages.

And here we find out that the king that lead them, he is the one, the angel of the bottomless pit, his name in Hebrew is Avadon. You know the word Avadon in Hebrew simply mean destroyer, destruction. When a person is lost, he's destroyed. When a person is unregenerated, an unbeliever individual is heading into eternal destruction. And the one that led this man is the God of this world who have blinded the mind of them that believe not. This is Satan who is causing men to follow after him. He's the enemy of the people of God. He's the enemy of the human race. His name in Hebrew is called Avadon and in Greek his name is called Apollyon. Basically the same meaning, a destroyer which lead to destruction.

We as believers have to be always watching ourselves because one of the greatest enemy out of the three enemies that we have is none else but Satan himself. And Paul said to the Ephesians in chapter six and verse eleven, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And then he said, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities and power, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies, in high places.

And so no wonder that the believers are called to watch themselves now and to put the armor of God against the wiles of the devil, because our wrestle is not against flesh and blood. Can you imagine what's going to happen here during the Tribulation, where there will be what is called demonic activity upon the face of this earth?

And amazing. And the leader is none else but Satan himself. And he is called the destroyer. You know, Yeshua said that when he was here on the face of this earth, you remember what he said? Yeshua said in John chapter 10, and he's speaking actually about Satan himself. He said in John chapter 10, but the thief comes to destroy.

And he's really speaking about Satan, who is only causing destruction. He causing destruction today, in the past, and in the future, when the tribulation period gonna be here, and the church has gone to be. This is John chapter ten and verse ten. And so his name is in Hebrew Avadon, in Greek is Apollyon, and he is the one that is the king, the one, that fallen angel is the king, the one that lead the rest of the demons into activity upon the face of this earth during the tribulation. But it doesn't end up here, brothers and sisters. It's not an easy chapter to teach and to speak about, it's not an enjoyable chapter to deal with, but nevertheless it is the word of God, and we're gonna just continue here in the second demonic activity from verse thirteen on.

You see, after he said that the name of this angel, called Avadon, Apollyon, he says in verse twelve, one woe has passed, and behold, there cometh two woes more hereafter. There are two more trumpets to be sound by the angels, which will bring additional judgment upon the face of the earth, and again, he's calling it woe. It's an amazement. It's going to be a terrible time upon the face of this earth. And so, in verse thirteen on, we have the second demonic activity, and this time is not only tormenting, the demons will not only torment for five months, this time, in verses thirteen to the end, they actually came to kill and to destroy. Look at this, what it says in verse thirteen and verse fourteen, the angel here sounded the sixth trumpet sound. In verse thirteen it said, And the angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river of Euphrates.

Now here we find out that sixth angel was called now to loose, now again I want you to notice, why do we believe that this is the fallen angels? Because it says loose them. Well, they were bound, and they had to be loosed. And so in verse fourteen, you see, it says, loose the four angels, these are the four fallen angels, which are bound in the great river of Euphrates. Now, something we kinda don't know, why does he use the word Euphrates here in this passage? The river of Euphrates, you know, the first time that river of Euphrates is found in the Bible is in chapter two of the book of Genesis, Bereshit, in the beginning of the scripture. Where in verse fourteen, we find out those rivers that come out of the Garden of Eden.

And so those rivers that come out, the Euphrates River, it's in the area of Mesopotamia. And if you remember, it is from there that Father Abraham, the father of the Hebrews, the father of the nation of Israel, came out of Mesopotamia. In fact, the Euphrates River was one of the borders of Israel. If you read in Genesis chapter fifteen and verse eighteen, you will notice that the borders that God had promised our Father Abraham, one of the portion or one of the borders was the Euphrates River.

And so it is amazing, it's not a coincidence that right from the border of Israel, during the tribulation period, the angel that sounded the six trumpet sound, he was called by the other angel saying to him, loose, four angels which are bound in the great river of Euphrates. It's right bordering the people of Israel, the nation of Israel, it is out of the beginning of the creation, it happened right of the Garden of Eden, this river came forth and it in a sense representing to us of God dealing with his people Israel and through his people Israel to the rest of the nations of the world. And so now this angel, as it says in verse 14, he was called to loose those four angels from the great river of Euphrates.

So what does he lose, what's happened with him? Look, when he does this loosing, in verse 15, look what those loose demons are doing. They are preparing now to do something. The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, for a day, for a month, for a year, for to slay the third part of men. Here those four demons came out of the river of Euphrates, loosed by this angel of God, and they are preparing themselves now to slay men, to kill people. And you notice it says here, one third of the population upon the face of this earth, they are preparing to kill. We have already studied earlier that they were already before one fourth had been slain. Can you imagine, by the time that these fallen angels are going to do their activity, there will be nearly half of the population of this world going to be totally destroyed.

Look, verse 16, the quantity of their army that they have to follow after them, in verse 16, it says here, and the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand times thousands, and I heard the number of them. If you will take two hundred times thousand times thousand, you'll find the number two hundred million. Two hundred million. You do the calculation, thousand times thousand, and then multiply it by two hundred, you'll find two hundred million. Now, I know that Bible teachers discuss these numbers, and some of them think that it may be an army that come from China, because of the population in China, there's a great population in China, but the point is, dear brothers and sisters, I would like to suggest that it doesn't speak here about human activity, but a demonic activity.

It is not speaking about any human army here. Later on, we'll have the human army of the Antichrist that are going to come against Israel. But here, specifically, in the fifth angel sound and the sixth angel sound of the trumpet, it is demonic activity that occur here upon the face of this earth. And so, it says here, in verse 15, that they prepare themselves to slay men, one third part of the human race, for an hour, for a day, for a month, for a year. And those expression, an hour, day, month, and year, shows us that there is a timing. God is going to deal with this world. There is a timing, there is a season, there is order in what God is allowing to happen in this world. In other words, they are subject to hours and days and months and years. They are subject to a time schedule that God will allow them to be active here.

So verses seventeen to nineteen, here's the appearance of these demons. It says here in verse seventeen, Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and jackaneth, and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouth issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three, this is, was the third part of men killed by fire, and by smoke, and by brimstone, which issued out of their mouth. Verse nineteen says, For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails. For their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

Again, you can see that the appearance of these demons, it looks like horses, and it's speaking about here like a scorpion. It's speaking about here about various ways in which the Scripture present these fallen angels before us. Their power is in their mouth and in their tails, and therefore those ones are none else, but demons that are going to be allowed by God to be active here during the Tribulation period. Now, to close this, to sum it up, this difficult passage to speak about is found in verse 20 and 21.

What's happening when this thinks this activity is going to be here? Look what's going to happen here in verses 20 to 21, those last two verses. There is even when God judged this world, you'll see men still refuse to repent. And we are amazed, we sometimes wonder, how come people don't repent, don't turn to God? What is it the reason that they're hardening their hearts?

We have family members that don't change, don't turn their ways to God. We have people we love and we care and we shared the word of God with, and they know that they live wrong and they need to turn to Yeshua the Messiah, but they carry on, they do their own will until judgment is going to meet them one of these days. Well, look, it's the same here, brothers and sisters, during the tribulation. In verse 20, those men are worshipping demons and idols in the middle of what's happening here. It says in verse 20, And the rest of the men which were not killed, in other words, one third of the human race died, but the rest of them, those that were not killed by those plagues, they did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.

I mean, can you imagine how that possible? When you see that a third of the population have been killed, and the rest that remain, instead of turning to God and saying, God, have mercy on us, God, acknowledge my sins, God, I repent, I ask you to forgive my sin, I'm turning to you, but instead, dear brothers and sisters, these individuals are worshipping the very same demons who are inflicting upon them all these plagues.

It says in verse 20, they repented not of the works of their hands. They continue on with their lifestyle without repenting, and that they continue to worship. Notice the expression, to worship. Who do they worship? Demons? Idols of gold? Idols of silver? Idols of brass? Idols of stone? Idols of wood? They are worshipping idols, worshipping demons, but not repenting. Is it wonder for us when we see today that men does not turn to God? If at that future day they will continue in their activity, look what happened today in the day of grace, where God's appeal to men, where the preaching of the gospel is going forth, and the human heart is hardened. Instead of turning to the Lord Jesus, hearts are hardened. God has to plow the hearts in the power of the Spirit of God. God had to work in a conscience to turn men to Himself.

You and I are turned to the Lord only by the grace of God, otherwise we would just, like these individuals, reject the Messiah and not accept Him, and they end up to continue to worship. You know, in the Bible so many times, John said to the believers, in 1 John chapter 5, he said to them, little children, keep yourself from idols.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 19 to verse 21, the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians that they have to be careful not to be idolaters, just like what the time where people Israel had been in the time of the way out of Egypt, all the way to the Promised Land, there was a time they were worshipping idols. There is a warning against worshiping idols. And here these men are still worshiping idols. And not only that, the idols that it says here, they cannot see, they cannot walk, and they cannot hear, and they still worship them. Just quickly, if you turn with me to Psalm 115 for a moment, look at that Psalm. I'll read just a couple of the verses in context that will have it before us.

Not unto us, the, the psalmist says, not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and thy truth's sake, why should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heaven. He has done whatsoever he has pleased. But their idols are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have mouth, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they hear not. They have nose, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. They have feet, but they walk not. Neither they speak, they through their throat.

They that make them are like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them. You see, the psalmist of Israel was saying to our people of Israel a long time ago, listen, he said, God, don't give us the glory, take it to yourself. How different is the true and living God from the gods of this world, which are idols, which cannot move, which cannot walk, which cannot talk, which cannot produce, cannot handle, cannot speak. And yet these men, during the Tribulation period, after the judgment of one third of the human race destroyed by those wicked demons, the rest of the human race does not repent, does not turn to God. And so the verse that conclude this chapter, we see here what they do continue to do. It says in verse 21 of Revelation 9, they didn't repent of what? Of their murderers, of their sorceries, of their fornication, and of their thefts.

They continue on with sorcery, with fornication, with murderers, with thefts, they continue on. And they did not submit to the challenge of God, to the punishment that came on this earth during the tribulation period, only, beloved, only proved to us that in the human heart, the sinful nature that we have, unless God does something there, men still like to remain in darkness. John tells us this in the Gospel, men love darkness rather than light. And every one of us here today who belong to Yeshua the Messiah, I can assure you, dear brothers and sisters, and you and I came to the Lord Jesus the Messiah only because He wooed us, He drew us unto Himself, He plowed our conscience, He showed us that we are sinners and need forgiveness.

And we have turned to Him because He has touched our hearts, and we have accepted Yeshua the Messiah as our Lord and as our Savior, and those men by nature rejected Him, continued to worship idols and demons, and they did not repent until the next judgment is going to fall. Now, we concluded with this chapter nine, and now when we continue in the will of the Lord from chapter ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, and when we're gonna get to the next chapter fifteen, we're finally going to find out that He's having the last trumpet sound, and from chapter fifteen and sixteen, we have this final blow of the trumpet, which will open another seven judgment.

And those seven judgments gonna be the final judgments. Those judgments gonna be the judgment of the vials or the bowl judgment in the second half of the tribulation period. So from chapter ten on to chapter fifteen, we are in the middle of the tribulation period and we can learn some of the events that going to occur in the middle of the seven year tribulation period. But we're gonna have to wait for this for the next meeting. Can you say amen to that? Amen.