Woe Is Past

Read This Week: Revelation 9

During those days, people will seek death but not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. – Revelation 9:6 & 12 NIV

Revelation 9 is a challenging read. People often comment that some Bible sections present problems in understanding and difficulty absorbing some implications and realities. This particular chapter and chapter 8 fit into this category and are unlike any we have read in the study to this point. These passages present one of the book’s significant movements involving judgment. They describe two terrifying armies liberated at a strategic time and allowed by God to judge humankind, thus presenting things to us that are hard to ingest but are part of the Lord’s redemptive plan.

The first army that John describes is from the Abyss or the pit. This Abyss is not the final and eternal place set aside for the Enemy but part of that realm under God’s authority. When the pit opens, verse 2 says that smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The smoke from the Abyss darkened the sun and sky. The smoke damages the atmosphere, but what is truly horrific is what comes out of the smoke. The Bible says it was an army of demons numbered like locusts that terrorized humankind and caused pain and agony. 

They are not locusts; however, they are described as horses prepared for battle. Their faces resembled humans, and their teeth were like a lion’s. They had breastplates of iron and tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails, they had the power to torment people for five months (v.7-10). Even though we endure exposure to many graphic images of war and violence in our day and age, we can barely comprehend this type of judgment and suffering.

The second army in Revelation 9 is from the east and was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. It was an underworld liberation army of 200 million. The number alone is scary and intimidating. This army is not unleashed to torment and harass through stinging hurt, but they are released to kill a third of the world’s population. Yet, after five months of death, distress, and unimaginable affliction to the modern mind, the people do not feel remorse for their wickedness and denial of God. Verses 20-21 provide the unfortunate response of all the rest to the judgments and chances to repent and turn toward God:

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 worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

As followers of Christ, we should be thankful that Jesus holds the keys to hell and death and possesses divine authority over Satan and his armies. We should be humbled and alerted by these words but also motivated and reaffirmed in our mission; to be used by God as vessels and mouthpieces for the gospel. To demonstrate and share the love and message of Jesus with everyone with whom we come in contact. To communicate the sobering truth of God’s righteous judgment while reflecting on the goodness of his grace and the eternality of his salvation. To express to others that woe is past when we are in Christ, and no others are yet to come.

8 Comments

  1. Javaid Ahmed on April 12, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    God wanted me to focus on Revelation 9 verses 20 and 21.

    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 worshiping 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.

    What He said to me is:
    
“Even with what one can visualize as their greatest fear arriving and giving them the chance to change their ways, there will still be those that don’t change. There will be those that don’t respond and those that simply don’t care. It is very sad to see. You have plagues in your world currently and mankind has enough leeway to destroy itself. I do not want that. I want your peace and tranquility. You have to work to get there but it is there waiting for you. Don’t be steamrolled by the ways of the world.”

    What this means to me is that I think about how easy it is to get completely steamrolled by this world and lose sight of what truly matters. God will go to whatever lengths to give us every possible chance to respond to Him and NOT succumb to the ways of the world. To worship means to adore, to admire, to love. When we worship anything but God we are giving our souls and heart to items that possess no feelings, thoughts etc neither bad nor good. When we do that we ignore God where we don’t open our hearts to Him to help us and guide us through. I urge you to take a second and any time you find yourself worshipping something other than God, take a deep breath, activate and redirect your focus on God. His peace trumps all.

  2. Trina on April 12, 2023 at 6:14 pm

    Revelation Chapter 9 Verse 2
    He opened the long shaft of the Abyss (the bottomless pit), and smoke like the smoke of a huge furnace puffed out of the long shaft, so that the sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the long shaft.

    Revelation Chapter 9 Verse 12
    The first woe (calamity) has passed; behold, two others are yet to follow.

    ~In God We Trust~

    God Is Saying To Me:
    Whoa unto me! My grace and mercy clear all things of the mind. To understand me clearly, you must rid your mind of the smoke of the world. Your mind is lying to you and will defeat you. Your mind will cloud your spirit and separate you from me, my love and my eternal plan for you. Your mind clouds you from seeing the truth. My key to the Abyss of your mind is held by me. Trust in me and I will set your mind free. Then, you will have turned a catastrophic woe into a victorious woe. Even though a coin has two sides, always remember the face side says, “In God We Trust!”

    What This Means To Me:
    God still has mercy and grace for the sinners in this chapter of Revelation. That is the woe! It’s not a solid focus on all of the destruction taking place, but rather God’s mercy and grace that’s available to sinners for the taking. The world is doomed to the mind and God is the only one that holds the key that can clear the smoke caused by sin. That key holder is Jesus! Our bottomless pit is our mind that lives in a world of sin without Christ. When we allow Christ to reside in our heart and are led by the Holy spirit, the smoke clears. Thank you God for clearing the smoke from my eyes, providing a foundation to a bottomless pit and saving me from me! Thank you for the two sided woes! One side that reminds me that you can’t and won’t turn a blind eye to sin and the other side that graciously loves all your children. ❤️✝️

  3. Heidi on April 15, 2023 at 8:24 am

    Revelation 9:20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, [a]did not repent even then of the works of their hands, so as to cease worshiping and paying homage to the demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries (drugs, intoxications) nor of their [sexual] immorality nor of their thefts.

    God was showing me and saying that He is always looking at our hearts
    The heart is a symbol of Love ❤️

    I AM always trying to get your attention because I love you.
    Until the end I will continue to call out hoping people will have a change of heart and want to be in a relationship with us because I Am the way to truth.
    When you come and ask for our help, you will get what you need and then you will have peace and you won’t need to be fulfilled from the things that causes harm!
    My arms are wide open for you anytime because I love you ❤️

    What this means to me is their is always something trying to get our attention all God wants is for us to come get what we need from Him!
    Today is a new day!
    I remember my life without Father God, the past, I remember being stubborn. Stubborn is often a sign of insecurity. Stubborn people are afraid of change they don’t think they can do it! You can’t do it alone you have to do it with God so their can be a everlasting change and you have to want to to or you’ll keep going back to the things that are not good for you or you’ll keep saying things that are not good either!
    Idolatry is giving the glory due to God to someone else or something that can’t help you, your trusting something other than God. That’s a faith issue
    So Go to Father God to get what you need, spend time with Him, keep asking and read your Bible because that’s where you’ll learn How much He loves you and wants to hang out with you!
    Thank you Father God, Jesus and Your Holy Spirit for Your Love and guidance, I love you ❤️
    I pray for those who don’t know you, that they will want to repent (have a change of heart) to want to know you and feel Your Love ❤️

    • Kathy on April 18, 2023 at 6:30 pm

      Great job Pastor Heidi. I especially loved what you said here:

      Stubborn people are afraid of change they don’t think they can do it! You can’t do it alone you have to do it with God so their can be a everlasting change and you have to want to to or you’ll keep going back to the things that are not good for you or you’ll keep saying things that are not good either!
      Idolatry is giving the glory due to God to someone else or something that can’t help you, your trusting something other than God. That’s a faith issue

      You are so right, we can’t do it alone. We do need God and His strength, to make lasting changes.

  4. Heidi on April 15, 2023 at 8:31 am

    I love this song
    The first time I heard it it did wreck me in a good way I did weep and weep because this is what love is!
    Thank you to my friend Terri who shared this with me my sister in Christ

    Arms Wide Open
    Misty edwards

    “What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been pondering
    “What does love look like?”
    “What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been asking of You
    I once believed that love was romance, just a chance
    I even thought that love was for the lucky and the beautiful
    I once believed that love was a momentary bliss
    But love is more than this
    All You ever wanted was my attention
    All You ever wanted was love from me
    All You ever wanted was my affections, to sit here at Your feet
    Then tell me
    “What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been pondering
    “What does love look like?”
    Then I sat down, a little frustrated and confused
    If all of life comes down to love
    Then love has to be more than sentiment
    More than selfishness and selfish gain
    And then I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me
    I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me
    He was looking at me, looking at Him, staring through me
    I could not escape those beautiful eyes
    And I began to weep and weep
    He had arms wide open, a heart exposed
    Arms wide open; He was bleeding, bleeding
    Love’s definition, love’s definition was looking at me
    Looking at Him, hanging on a tree
    I began to weep and weep and weep and weep
    This is how I know what love is, this is how I know what love is
    And as I sat there weeping, crying
    Those beautiful eyes, full of desire and love
    He said to me:
    “You shall love Me, You shall love Me
    You shall love Me, You shall love Me”
    With arms wide open, a heart exposed
    With arms wide open, bleeding, sometimes bleeding
    If anybody’s looking for love in all the wrong places
    If you’ve been searching for love, come to Me, come to Me
    Take up your cross, deny yourself
    Forget your father’s house and run, run with Me
    You were made for abandonment, wholeheartedness
    You were made for someone greater, someone bigger, so follow Me
    And You’ll come alive when you learn to die

  5. reachchurch on April 16, 2023 at 12:18 pm

    This Week in the Life: Revelation 9

    For the best experience, we suggest you listen to the first song, the message, and the second song.

    1. Sunday Worship – First Song: https://reachchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-0416-Worship1.wav
    2. Sunday Message: https://reachchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-0416-Message.wav
    3. Sunday Worship – Second Song: https://reachchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-0416-Worship2.wav

    Join the Party Line Live – Schedule: https://reachchurch.org/connect

  6. Alma on April 16, 2023 at 2:27 pm

    This week in revelation chapter 9 I got a song

    Worship
    We worship you, we worship you we are worshiping you our Lord, you are the light the light of the world You are the true you are the way from the beginning to the end we all are in a battle a battle with the ones who don’t believe so let’s come together, standing up for the truth, becoming stronger in our faith being the light for the ones in darkness, showing the truth is the way with our Lord he is our comforter he is our healer he is our everything we believe yes we believe and know the truth, we worship you we worship you we are worshiping you our Lord Amen

    We are so blessed to know the truth and know we have eternal life with him. We have to stay strong and stand up for what we believe. Thank you God

  7. Kathy on April 18, 2023 at 6:21 pm

    In reading Revelation 9, this is what God was saying to me. In this chapter, the key is given to a being. It is given at a certain time and for a specific purpose, that furthers My plan. The abyss is a prison for certain demons. This is the same place as the bottomless pit. The locusts represent the hordes of demons loosed upon the earth. Those who have My seals on their foreheads are protected, but none other are. This is an inescapable judgement of Mine. This torments purpose of all this is to bring repentance. Death will offer no escape from this torture. Now is the time of repentance, to escape from sin, and be restored. The golden altar was the altar of incense, which represents the prayers of My people. The locusts were restricted to tormenting mankind. The 4 angels released, have the authority to kill on a massive scale. They execute My will, in My timing. The heads of the horsemen, were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouth comes fire, smoke, and brimstone. A human army this size, has never been seen. This is like a demonic army invading earth. After this, mankind showed no repentance, despite the presence of overwhelming signs and wonders.

    What this said to me was God continues to give people, chances for repentance. We as Christians, need to continue to draw closer to God, repent and stay in His word, and obey Him, in order to be protected.

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