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Verse by Verse Bible Study Podcast with Randy Duncan
Bible study podcast that takes you through a book of the Bible verse by verse. This is not your typical life-lesson Bible study! If you are interested in a deeper-dive Bible study, this is an excellent option!
Verse by Verse Bible Study Podcast with Randy Duncan
Revelation 9 | Demonic Locusts & the Angel of the Abyss
The trumpets of judgment continue to sound in Revelation 9, unveiling horrors that challenge our modern sensibilities and spiritual complacency. As the fifth angel's trumpet pierces the apocalyptic air, we witness the unlocking of the bottomless pit—the abyss where evil entities are imprisoned—releasing demonic locusts that torment humanity for five excruciating months.
These aren't ordinary locusts. With human faces, women's hair, lion's teeth, and scorpion stings, they embody something far more sinister than anything in nature. Under the command of their king—Apollyon, the Destroyer—they inflict such agonizing torment that people desperately seek death but cannot find it. Yet remarkably, those bearing God's seal remain untouched, protected in the midst of chaos.
When the sixth trumpet sounds, the spiritual warfare intensifies. Four angels bound at the Euphrates River unleash a demonic cavalry 200 million strong that kills one-third of humanity. The scale of this judgment is unprecedented since the Great Flood, yet the survivors stubbornly refuse to repent, clinging to their idols that "cannot see or hear or walk."
This chapter forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about what we truly worship. Do we prioritize career, materialism, politics, or social media above our relationship with God? As the ancient wisdom states, "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts"—we inevitably become like the gods we worship.
God's judgment reveals both His justice and mercy. Even amidst the devastation, two-thirds of humanity is spared, given another opportunity for repentance. The message resonates beyond ancient apocalyptic literature into our daily lives: where do our affections truly lie? What occupies our time and attention? When we honestly examine our priorities, we often discover that "God's just not on the daily schedule."
Take this moment to consider what holds the throne of your heart. Does Christ have the rightful place He deserves, or have lesser gods quietly usurped His position? The time for genuine repentance—a complete reorientation of heart, mind, and behavior—is now, before the final trumpet sounds.
Intro music - Toby Mac
Outro music - Consumed By Fire
Well, thanks for listening in. I'm Randy Duncan, and we're about to tackle Revelation, chapter 9, which will see the remaining three woes we were warned about at the end of last chapter. Now, normally I would remind you of what we covered in the previous chapter, but we have an awful lot to cover here in this chapter, and so I'm going to forego that, except to remind you that we have seen the first four trumpet judgments, but now we're about to see those final three unfold. And so, again, a lot to cover in this chapter. So let's get right to it, beginning with the first two verses, which read and the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. And so we see, now the fifth angel blows his trumpet, which will bring us the first of the three woes that we were warned about in the previous chapter. And remember, as bad as things have already been through the first four trumpets or judgments, things are about to get much worse. But when the fifth angel blows his trumpet, john sees a star fall from heaven to earth. Now, I mentioned in an earlier chapter that this is impossible if you try to read it literally, because stars, on average, are about a million times larger than the earth, and so from a physics standpoint, this just doesn't make any sense, which is why we need to always keep in mind the literary genre we're reading.
Speaker 1:Revelation is an apocalyptic genre, and so it uses metaphors, similes and other symbolic imagery to convey its prophetic visions. And so these figures of speech, like the dragon that we'll read about soon, the seven-headed beast or the woman clothed with the sun, these are all used to express complex spiritual truths and future events, but in vivid and evocative language. So when we read that John sees a star fall from heaven to earth, we don't need to try and interpret that literally and then try to conjure up some off-the wall scientific explanation as to how that could literally happen, because scripture already gives us plenty of clues as to what's going on here, and so, for example, we already know that the stars can represent angels. If you remember, in Revelation, chapter 1, jesus explained that. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. Or in one of my favorite chapters in all of scripture, job 38, where God asked Job where he was when God was creating the earth, and when the morning stars sing together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Now, obviously stars can't sing, which again points to stars being a metaphor for angels. But here's our biggest clue John says he saw a star fall from heaven and he was given the key to the bottomless pit. So right away we should be tipped off that the star is not a literal star, but an angel. Now there are a couple of thoughts here regarding the angel.
Speaker 1:Some believe that the angel is Satan himself, and so they mention that the term falling, as in falling from heaven, is a clue, and we see possible reference to this in Isaiah 14, where a shining morning star falls from heaven. And even Jesus said in Luke 10, 18, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. But other commentators argue that this angel is a good angel sent by God, and that the language of falling is simply another way of describing an angel as descending to the earth, and so it may not have the negative connotation we often think of, and we'll see in Revelation, chapter 20, that an angel does descend from heaven with a key to the abyss, which he then locks, and so this is not a simple matter. But either way, this angel is given the keys to the bottomless pit and he's given authority to open it. Well, what in the world is the bottomless pit?
Speaker 1:Well, the bottomless pit is also translated as the abyss. In the original Greek, it's the phrase phreatos teabousu, which literally means the shaft of the abyss, and the angel is given the keys to the shaft. But in Revelation, the abyss is a place of evil and where evil entities are imprisoned. The abyss is a place of evil and where evil entities are imprisoned. In apocryphal books like 1 Enoch, the abyss is referred to as the underworld where some demons are confined. In Luke 8, 31, the legion of demons that Jesus cast into the pigs beg him to not send them to the abyss. And we also see in 2 Peter 2, 4, for God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and delivered them in chains of darkness to be kept until the judgment. And finally, jude 6 has this same idea, saying the angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling. And it's this abyss that the angel has the key to. And what does the angel do?
Speaker 1:Verse 2 told us shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Well, whatever happens next can't be good, but we begin to find out in verses 3 through 6, which tell us Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth and they were given power, like the power of scorpions on the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone, and in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. And so the angel opens the shaft of the abyss and, like I said, it isn't good because, in addition to smoke rising up out of the abyss, locusts also emerge. And so let's talk about these locusts for a moment Now.
Speaker 1:As we just saw, revelation uses symbolic language, just as with the star falling from heaven. And here we have our first clue that these locusts are not actual literal locusts, because locusts don't live in the abyss. The second clue is that these locusts are given derived power and authority. I mean, how many literal locusts have you ever seen that had real power and authority? But just like the other judgments, this one also recalls the plagues on Egypt. In Exodus, we see that the swarm of locusts was, I believe, the eighth plague, and they covered the whole land so that the land was darkened and Egypt was overwhelmed. In Exodus, the locusts devoured vegetation and brought Egypt to its knees. But here the locusts are told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree. That's the good news.
Speaker 1:The bad news is that they're instructed to harm the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Those with God's seal are spared this torment. And this reminds us of Revelation, chapter 6, where those who will be spared from the wrath of God and the Lamb are sealed and protected, and also in Ezekiel 9, when the executioners carry out God's judgment against Jerusalem. Those with the sign on their forehead are spared. And remember, in Revelation, chapter 3, jesus said Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth. And so we saw that believers will be protected and preserved in the midst of suffering and judgment. And so it is here that this judgment is restricted to the evil and the wicked.
Speaker 1:Now some people may ask if believers are raptured out before the great tribulation begins, then who are the believers that we're talking about here? If believers have been raptured out, who are these believers that need to be sealed by God? Good question, and here are a couple of potential responses. First, some would argue that there's actually no such thing as a rapture, and nowhere in Revelation do we read anything that would cause us to think that believers will not be here through the Great Tribulation. And, as we discussed in chapter 3, when Jesus said that he would keep us during the hour of tribulation, he isn't saying that he'll remove us before the tribulation begins, but that he will protect us during the tribulation.
Speaker 1:And we've seen how these judgments echo the plagues in Egypt. Well, did God remove his people before the judgments came upon unbelievers? No, he protected them during the midst of them, and that culminated with the death of the firstborn. Throughout Egypt, believers who had a mark the blood on the doorpost were spared judgment. It was only after the judgments that God brought his people out of captivity and into the promised land. And so some people would argue that revelations are the same. They point out that nowhere are we promised to escape the suffering that Christians throughout all of history have endured. Even Noah wasn't taken out prior to judgment on the whole world, but he was protected in the midst of it.
Speaker 1:On the other hand, those who hold to a pre-rapture eschatology argue that believers will be raptured off the earth prior to the Great Tribulation. Well, if so, then who are the believers that we read about needing to be sealed so that the locusts don't harm? Haven't believers already been raptured? Well, they argue that the believers mentioned here are people who will be saved after the rapture of the church during the Great Tribulation. And so many believers connect those sealed here in Revelation 9-4 to the 144,000 servants of God that we discussed in Revelation 7. And if you remember, those are identified as 12,000 individuals from after the rapture and they serve as evangelists during the tribulation and they're seen as being divinely protected to carry out God's work in the midst of those judgments.
Speaker 1:Now, one problem with that particular theory is that we're not given any sort of indication here in Revelation that the judgment is restricted only to non-believing Jews. The most straightforward reading of this is that the judgment is poured out on all unbelievers. And also, remember we discussed that the 144,000 that John heard in chapter 7 can also be interpreted as a symbolic number representing the entirety of saved believers. And if that's the case, then this interpretation loses a little bit of ground. Now, if you haven't listened to chapter 7, I would encourage you to go back and listen to that because, depending upon your eschatology or your end time beliefs, that'll sort of color your interpretation of some portions of Revelation, and different denominations have all sorts of different eschatological views about the rapture, the great tribulation, the second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the thousand year reign and those sorts of things the thousand-year reign and those sorts of things. But regardless of which camp you're in, remember that your belief about the rapture is in no way a salvation issue. You can be completely wrong about the rapture either way, and as long as you've placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you've asked for forgiveness and you've personally accepted what he did for you on the cross, your thoughts about the rapture don't matter. A Bible teacher I used to listen to several years ago. He always said hey, if you don't believe in the rapture, that's fine, don't worry about it, I'll explain it to you on the way up.
Speaker 1:But let's set the rapture aside for now and get back to the text at hand. We're told in verse 5, talking about the locusts, that they were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. So let's first talk about who or what these locusts are, and I think we're safe to conclude that they're not normal grasshopper-like locusts. As I mentioned, real locusts don't live in the abyss and they don't have power or authority. And we'll see in verse 11 that these locusts, they have a king, and so I think it's safe to say that these locusts are demonic. It says that they were given power, like the power of scorpions on the earth, but the pain they inflict on humans transcends what humans would normally experience with a scorpion sting.
Speaker 1:I think it's also interesting that in Luke 10, where Jesus is talking to 72 of his followers at the time is talking to 72 of his followers at the time, it says the 72 returned with joy, saying Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And so we see this symbolic link between scorpions and the demonic realm.
Speaker 1:In verse 20, we'll see that the locusts inflict judgment on people who worship demons. Interesting, the book of Wisdom, which is an apocryphal book, says in Wisdom 1116, one is punished by the very things by which one sins. And maybe another way to say that in our day is that they receive poetic justice. Now we've mentioned how these judgments echo the plagues on Egypt. And think about it the Egyptians, they worshipped animals and they were plagued by locusts and frogs. But again, verse 5 tells us. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And so we see that these demonic locusts inflict harm on people who do not have the seal of God. They can harm those people, but they're not allowed to kill them, which tells us that their power and authority is given to them from someone else, but permission is not granted for them to kill anyone. This power comes from God, and God is not allowing them to kill at this time. He limits the demons so that they can't kill even those who have rebelled against God. And this reminds me of Job, where Satan is allowed to test him. God allows Satan to inflict tremendous suffering upon Job. He's allowed to do anything he wants to Job, but he is not allowed to take his life. So make no mistake, god is the one in control, and even Satan and his minions are limited in what evil they can carry out.
Speaker 1:I think there's an important lesson in that story of Job and how it's related to suffering. As people who are reading the story, we're given a sort of a peek behind the curtain and we know what's going on and what's playing out, but as someone in the midst of the suffering, job is not aware. And one thing to keep in mind is that even in the end, job never learns. He never receives an answer to his question of why. At the end of the day, job learns that God is God and he is not. It's okay to wonder and ask and to be honest with God about our emotions, even our anger and confusion Abraham and David and others sure were. But that doesn't mean we'll always get an answer In the end. Sometimes all we can do is learn to trust in God's plan and His goodness and His mercy and that, as we're told in Romans 8.28, and we know that, for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. Anything beyond that, we're in danger of trying to play God ourselves. All things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Anything beyond that, we're in danger of trying to play God ourselves and, trust me, that never works out too well.
Speaker 1:But we see here that the wicked are tormented, and this torment is likened to the sting of a scorpion, but obviously goes well beyond what we would normally associate with a scorpion sting. And how do we know that? Because we're told in verse 6, and in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. And so this goes well beyond anything a scorpion can inflict. The torment inflicted by these locusts or demons is agonizing, and those who are being tormented are in such agony that they will seek death. But death doesn't come. The suffering is so great that people will prefer death over the agony of living. But death will elude them. They seek death but cannot find it. There's no relief Sort of a picture of hell, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Except that hell lasts forever. One commentator has mentioned that this is a picture of the spiritual death of man, where you have this profound torture, anguish, despair, schizophrenia, complete depression and delirium. And this sort of anguish and sorrow, schizophrenia, complete depression and delirium. And this sort of anguish and sorrow, it's unique to unbelievers, because they have no hope. And there's this thought about the torture and punishment in hell that it's in fact not all about punishment and torture but also torment. And this concept of hell suggests that the suffering experience is not only a punishment imposed by God but a natural consequence of a person's rejection of God. But this torment, it doesn't come from regret over rejecting God, because many people have never wanted God in their lives and certainly had no relationship with him, but it stems from the profound absence of his presence, because God is the source of all goodness and love, and so on this view, hell is also the eternal consequence of a soul's choice to sever itself from God, resulting in sort of this complete deprivation of his divine attributes goodness, joy, peace, beauty and love. And this separation creates a void where no goodness can exist, leaving the soul in sort of this desolate state of torment, not just because of external punishment, but because it's cut off from the very source of all of those attributes. And so that also contributes to the source of unending suffering.
Speaker 1:But we continue with the description of the locust in verses 7 through 11, where it tells us In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, their faces were like human faces, their hair like women's hair and their teeth like lion's teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots, with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek he is called Apollyon. And so we now get a closer look and description of these locusts.
Speaker 1:And remember, john says here that the locusts were like various things, telling us again that John is using similes, suggesting that we shouldn't take this literally but symbolically. And what we see is that there's some sort of this collage of humans and animals and insects, and the description is full of comparisons. They had gold crowns on their head, which suggest and symbolizes power and authority. Their faces were like human faces, which may symbolize the intelligence of the demons. Now, don't ever think that you could outsmart or outthink a demon. As humans, we have no chance at success against a demon, apart from the grace of God and the power of Christ. But their hair is like women's hair and their teeth like lions, which may point to their destructive capacity. But it also says that they had breastplates like iron, which symbolized their impregnability. They have no soft spots where they could be attacked. But the bottom line, humans have no chance to withstand or overcome this demonic invasion. And it also tells us that the noise of their wings were like many chariots and they have tails and stings like scorpions.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to mention a completely different interpretation of these locusts, just so you're aware. But there are some people who believe that what's being described here are modern military helicopters, fighter jets or swarms of drones. Now, this is a speculative interpretation held by some who see this imagery the locusts like horses prepared unto battle, the faces of men which could be the pilots or the breastplates of iron, the sound of their wings, the sting in their tails, all of that all as resembling advanced military technology. And John is describing those things in the best way he knows how, using the symbolism of his day. And if you ever wonder what swarms of drones sound like, just look up videos of swarms of Chinese drones and listen. And if you were John in the first century, how would you have described them? But again, this view is not universally accepted and, given the apocalyptic and the symbolic nature of Revelation, most scholars still interpret the passages symbolically representing demonic forces rather than literal modern machinery.
Speaker 1:But verse 11 provides another detail regarding these locusts when it says they have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek he is called Apollyon, and so the idea that these locusts are demonic in nature it's given more credence in verse 11, because we learn that they have a king over them and their king is the angel of the abyss. In other words, these locusts or these demonic creatures are under the rule of the angel that rules the abyss, and the name of this angel in Hebrew is Abaddon, the angel prince of the abyss, the minister of death and author of havoc on earth. And the name Abaddon is rendered in Greek by the name Apollyon the destroyer. Now, we don't know the identity of Apollyon the destroyer for certain, but a good and a reasonable guess is that it's the dragon Satan himself. If it's not Satan, then the reference is to another powerful and evil angel, possibly the angel of death. But the most likely reference is to Satan who rules over demons. But the bottom line of what we're reading here is that these locusts, or these demons who come up out of the abyss, most likely represent angels of judgment, and this judgment will be horrifying and people can turn to God by accepting Christ and be protected, or they can prepare to face those horrors.
Speaker 1:But we continue with verses 12 through 15, which read the first woe is past. Behold, two woes are still to come. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind. So after reading what we have already read, you forget that, as bad as it will be, that it's only the first of three judgments that are coming. We still have more woes to go, and here we see the sixth angel blow his trumpet. But we also need to keep in mind that all of this is unfolding according to God's plan and His will. But we see here the second woe and the sixth trumpet start.
Speaker 1:John hears a voice from before God's throne which tells us that the voice is most likely that of an angel, and the voice commands the angel to release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. Now this sort of reminds us of the four angels who were restraining the four winds from the four corners of the earth that we discussed in chapter 7. But these aren't the same four angels, because these angels have been bound, suggesting that they're demons that have been prevented from unleashing their havoc on the world Until now. Because we're told that they've been prepared for this hour, day, month and year, and they're now released to kill a third of mankind. And it's interesting, the demons are unable to act without permission from God and the timing of this onslaught has also been arranged and we see that these demons have been prepared and in holding for not only this year or this month, but for this very day and hour. And the heartbreaking effect is that one-third of mankind is to be killed. Now we saw in the earlier judgments that it was one-third affected One-third of the water, the green grass, animals, trees and so on. But now this one-third will impact humanity and as I record this episode, there are about 8.2 billion people on the planet. A third of that number is about 2.7 billion people. Let that sink in. And for a bit of perspective, if you wiped out every person in the United States and China, you would still be 1 billion people short of that number. Just unimaginable destruction and suffering.
Speaker 1:But after describing the destruction that they would inflict, john continues with his description of the locust, or these demons, beginning in verse 16, where he says the number of mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000. I heard their number and this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode on them. They wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur. They wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. And so we now see the agents responsible for the slaying of mankind are specified.
Speaker 1:The angels release a massive army, a cavalry that exceeds any other cavalry, and the way the Greek is constructed. Here John is likely referring to mounted soldiers, and the Greek phrase that's used here, dis miriades miriaton, suggests several units of 20,000 multiplied by 10,000. Now some of your Bibles may translate this simply as 200 million, which is the correct math, but I'm not sure we should push this too literally, because the point is that the number is an almost incomprehensibly large army, an especially terrifying, demonic army, and it's an army that is so great in number that it defies counting. Now for those who interpret this invading army as a literal human army being sent to judge humanity, they'll point to the 200 million and suggest that, look, the only country capable of amassing such a large army is China. And so they'll link this with some of the kings of the east verbiage in Revelation 16, and then they work that into their eschatology. But the actual text here it doesn't specify that and we'll tackle that when we get there. I just wanted to go ahead and mention it in case you're wondering.
Speaker 1:But keep in mind that John first hears the number of Calvary coming and then he sees the Calvary and he describes them in verse 17, when he said that they wore breastplates like the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. But the difference between these creatures and the ones that we read about earlier is that these invaders kill. The previous ones were limited to only torture, but these have the power to execute judgment on the world in the form of death. And John continues in verses 18 and 19 saying by these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths, For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads and by means of them they wound. Now, outside of the flood, the killing of a third of the world's population is simply unparalleled in human history. But the creatures described are surreal. They may have even reminded people of the mythical creatures in the Greco-Roman world, like the chimera, since it had the head of a lion, a snake for a tail and also breathed fire. And the reference to fire and sulfur echoed judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah Because, remember, god rained down fire and sulfur when those cities were destroyed. And so, just like the locust, these horses described by John are most likely not real horses but demons, because fire, smoke and sulfur don't emit from the mouths of real horses.
Speaker 1:But we finish now with the last two verses of the chapter, with verses 20 and 21, where John tells us the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or the sorceries, or their sexual immorality or their thefts? And so what we've seen with this sixth trumpet judgment is that one-third of human beings are killed and, amazingly, those who remain still don't repent of their evil deeds and continue to worship false idols. And I say it's amazing because those who escape being killed should have seen firsthand what happened to unbelievers, and so they should have responded with remorse and repentance. But they don't. They refuse to repent, and the failure of human beings to repent underscores the justice of God's judgments. God allows one-third of humanity to die, but he spares two-thirds to invite repentance. But, just like Pharaoh during the plagues of Egypt, they refuse to repent.
Speaker 1:In Luke 13, 3, jesus said that I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. You see, repenting is the problem, and the biblical idea of repenting involves a sincere turning away from sin and a turning toward God, and it's marked by a change of heart and mind and behavior, because it's rooted in the recognition of your wrongdoing, your genuine sorrow for it, and then an ongoing commitment to align with God's will. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word, often translated as repent, means to turn or return, and it implies a physical and a spiritual reorientation, like returning to God from a path of disobedience. In the New Testament, the Greek word metanoia is used, meaning a change of mind or a transformation of thinking. Acts 3.19 says repent metanoia, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 7 10 tells us, for godly sorrow produces a repentance, metanoia that leads to salvation. And so what this tells us is that it's not just about a one-time asking forgiveness of sin and then continuing to live and practice sin just like you always were. It involves a change of mind and heart and yes, behavior, a behavior that's in line with God's will. And we see here that not only do the people not repent, they continue to practice idolatry and the works of their hands, and all of this idolatry or value in other things above God simply reflects a broader rejection of God, because people prioritize materialism, their own ideologies or sometimes even spiritual deception over God, and these people who continue to consistently violate God's commands show that they've not repented and so they're deserving of punishment.
Speaker 1:I remember reading one time and it may have been Marcus Aurelius, but it went something like the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts, and to put that into a more religious context, we might say that we become like the gods we worship. And if there's truth in that and I believe there is then the question becomes what or who are you worshiping? And we often go astray in what we worship or what we devote our time and our attention and our affections to, because we confess with our tongues that God's the most important thing in our life, but then we betray that by how we actually live day to day, and whether that's our career or materialism, addiction, social media habits, politics just fill in the blank. And there's nothing inherently wrong with any of those things. It's about priorities. I mean, how much time per day do you spend mindlessly doom scrolling on social media or digesting propaganda from your favorite news outlet versus spending time with God? And how do you feel afterwards? Refreshed, renewed, encouraged? Yeah, probably not. Far too often. God's just not on the daily schedule. On the long list of business for the day and the things that we have to get done, jesus doesn't even make the cut.
Speaker 1:And as we see all of the destruction and death here in Revelation 9, it should awaken us to examine our own hearts, areas in our own lives where repentance might be needed, because this message of repentance is not only for the world, but also for people who profess to be Christians but who may have gotten too comfortable with the values of the world that are not in line with God's will. And so my prayer for you is that you prioritize what truly matters and endures in life, and that you not let the distractions and the fleeting things of this world prevent you from having a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God. Give Christ the rightful place he deserves in your life and in your heart. No, I don't want to chase what the world does. How we want you, how we want you. First things first. I seek your will, not my own. Surrender all my wants to you. Keep the first thing first. Thank you, to keep the bursting burst. To keep the bursting burst, all my desires re-burst. To keep the bursting burst. To keep the bursting burst, thank you.
