Today’s reading is Revelation 9.
The Two Armies
The fifth and sixth trumpets in Revelation 9 are actually quite similar. When the trumpets are blown, two armies march forth to wreak havoc on those who are not sealed by God. The creatures who make up the armies are beyond frightening.
In the first, we find locusts with human faces, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, breastplates of iron, and tails like scorpions. These locusts are not to attack the grass and the vegetation, but only the unsealed people. However, they are not to kill any of them. They only make the people wish they were dead. In the second army, we see soldiers with breastplates the color of fire and sapphire and sulfur riding horses with lions’ heads and serpents for tails. From the mouth of the lion heads come fire, smoke, and sulfur. This army does kill, wiping out a third of mankind.
A Subtle Reminder of the Exodus
Perhaps I’m making too much out of a subtle detail in these pictures. However, we are obviously to recall the plagues on Egypt and the Exodus as we read the plagues caused by these seven trumpets. Darkness, hail, locusts, water turned to blood. Obviously, the vision shown John borrows from God’s judgment on Egypt to promise judgment on the enemies of the seven churches (and on the churches themselves if they fall from faithfulness or refuse to repent).
Because my attention is already directed toward the Exodus, my imagination is caught by the descriptions of the creatures in the two armies. While one is a locust, it has a scorpion sting for a tail. While the other is a horse, it has a serpent head for a tail. Bringing these two creatures into parallel reminds me of an ancient promise from God to Israel following the Exodus as Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land.
Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.” You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after others gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God (Deuteronomy 8:11-20, ESV).
God brought Israel through the wilderness with serpents and scorpions. Also, notice also the parallel of a lack of good drinking water. But God provided Israel with water to drink.
A Subtle Warning for the Seven Churches…Again
You may be sick of hearing this, but do you see the warnings to the seven churches in that passage in Deuteronomy?
As Israel was warned not to forget the Lord or the works He had commanded, Ephesus was directed to remember the works of devotion and submission it had done at first. As Israel was warned against following after other gods, Pergamum and Thyatira were warned against listening to teaching that would lead them into idolatry and immorality. As the Israelites seemed to be blessed with life, but were pursuing a course of death and destruction, Sardis had a reputation of life but was dead. As Israel had great wealth and would allow it to cause them to forget God and forget their wealth truly came from God, Laodicea was enamored with the wealth it had and had forgotten to actually get the wealth it needed from God. As the Lord had tested Israel in the wilderness, Smyrna was going to be tested for ten days. Finally, while Israel would boast in its power as the means of its wealth, Philadelphia would only have a little power but would use it to be faithful.
A Subtle Promise to the Seven Churches
Revelation 9 clearly points out the armies only attack the unsealed masses on the earth. The sealed saints will be protected from these terrors. In case they struggled to believe it, these two armies carry that subtle reminder of how God brought Israel through the terrors of the wilderness, specifically fiery serpents and scorpions.
Of course, some people fell in the wilderness to these terrors. Those who would not listen to God and stand against the cities of men. Those who fled in terror from the Promised Land. Those who grumbled and complained. But in the end, those who faithfully followed the Lord entered the Promised Land even if that only included two from the original generation: Joshua and Caleb.
God subtly promises with this reminder of scorpions and serpents that He knows how to preserve His people from the terrors of the wilderness. He knows how to provide for His faithful when others are falling and dying. He knows how to preserve His people from plagues. But, He allows His people to face terrors and testing “to do you good in the end” (Deuteronomy 8:16, ESV). Praise the Lord!
One More Subtle Reminder
In like manner to this reminder of Deuteronomy 8:11-20. The reminders of the Exodus and its plagues calls to mind Psalm 105, in which the Psalmist praises the Lord for protecting Israel and bringing them out of Egypt by using plagues to destroy and judge the enemy.
Two things stand out in the psalm. In Psalm 105:24-25, the psalmist claims the reason Egypt began to persecute and oppress Israel is because God “turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants” (ESV). As awful as that sounds, the purpose was so He could bring judgment on the enemies and deliver Israel into something far better than they had even though they were in the best land Egypt had to offer. It may be a bit much to claim God had turned the heart of the Asian cities against His people. But the reminder is whether God specifically caused it or not, God is in control.
At the end of the Psalm, God “brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 105:43-45, ESV). The promise in that reminder is plain. Yes, the trek through the wilderness is terrifying, but the Promised Land on the other side is worth it.
These trumpets are horrific. And while the sealed saints are preserved and protected, they are still present, walking through the wilderness full of these scorpions and serpents. Keep this in mind as you read of these trumpets and warnings. But the Lord knows those who are His. He knows how to test those who are His to do them good in the end. He knows how to preserve and protect those who are His. He knows how to bring us out on the other side of the wilderness with joy and singing so we might be with Him.
Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 9.
PODCAST!!!
PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 9 prompt or improve your hope in God?
Read the Bible 