Revelation Chapters 8 and 9 – John Karmelich

1. This lesson is called, "How God Gets Our Attention". I also call it "Understanding the Thirds".

a) I'll come back to those titles in a page or two. First, let me state, I'm going to attempt to get two chapters done in this lesson. Pray for me. ☺

b) These two chapters are in my opinion the darkest in the book. They deal with demonic forces and the death of multitudes people. The hard part to grasp about this destruction is that it is not instantaneous. It is much more tortuous and painful.

2. My key point and theme of Chapters 8 and 9 is not the "how" question, but the "why" question.

a) When you read the commentaries on Revelation 8 and 9, you are going to read lots of explanations of "this word picture really means this or that". Bible commentators spend a lot of time discussing possible meanings of the text, and avoid the all-important "why" question: Why is God doing it this way? That is my focus in this lesson.

3. Let's begin by reviewing Revelation as it leads up to Chapter 8. The purpose of Revelation is to "prepare" for Jesus Second Coming. That actual event does not take place until Chapter 19.

a) In Chapter 1, John gives an overview of the book. Chapter 1, Verse 19 states in effect that Chapters 2-3 are present tense, while Chapter 4 to the end of the book is future tense.

b) In Chapters 2-3, Jesus gives John a "status report" on seven specific churches.

c) In Chapter 4, John was somehow taken up to God's throne room. In this chapter, John spent the chapter describing the scenery of this room.

d) In Chapter 5, John focuses on a key item, which was a scroll in God's hand. Jesus takes the scroll and removes the seven seals on the scroll. What is written on the scroll is not stated. What was stated is Jesus is the only one worthy enough to open it. I believe the scroll has something to do with salvation since only Jesus is "worthy" to open it.

e) Again, there were seven seals on that scroll. In Chapter 6, six of the seven seals were removed. After each scroll is removed, "something bad" happens on earth. You get the idea that this earth-judgment is an overview of the damage that is described from Revelation Chapters 6 -19. This chapter mentioned widespread death, famine and wars.

f) Chapter 7 was a break from the destruction. The last sentence of Chapter 6 asked in effect, "Can anyone be saved from this?" The answer is yes, and the answer is Chapter 7. That chapter focused on two distinct groups that are or will be saved out of this "Great Tribulation" period. One group is the144,000 Jewish-Christians and the other group is an unnumbered multitude of people from all nations.

4. This leads us to Chapter 8. We're back to the heavy destruction again. Let me give an illustration that may help to understand how God is listing these judgments in Revelation.

a) Here's the illustration: Imagine looking at a large water fountain. The top tier of the water fountain has a single source of water. That top tier then has seven separate waterfalls to a middle level. One of those seven waterfalls then separates into seven more waterfalls at a bottom level. In other words, it starts with seven waterfalls, and one of the falls splits into seven more, and one waterfall of the second group splits into 7 more falls.

b) That "waterfall effect" is what we have in Revelation. Chapters 6 mentioned the removal of seven seals. Six were removed in Chapter 6. Like the one waterfall breaking into seven waterfalls, the seventh seal "breaks" into seven more judgments, which scholars call "the trumpet judgments" because each judgment comes after an angel blows a trumpet.

c) Later in Revelation, the seventh trumpet "breaks" into seven more judgments, just as my fountain illustration as one of the seven second-tier waterfalls breaking into another seven. This last set-of-seven is called the "bowl" judgments.

d) Confused? Don't panic, we have a long way to go. ☺ Remember my cliché about how to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. Just know that in this lesson, we're focusing on the "second tier of my water fountain illustration" with seven "trumpet judgments".

e) The reason I combine Chapters 8 and 9 is six of the seven "trumpet-judgments" take place in these two chapters. We then get another "destruction break" in Chapters 10 and 11.

f) In Chapter 6, we had John standing in heaven. He is still there. He is looking back and forth between what is happening in heaven and what is happening on earth. In Chapter 6, John would watch Jesus loose a scroll in heaven, and then "something bad" would happen on earth. That process is repeated with Jesus removing six of the seven scrolls.

g) Here in Chapter 8, we have Jesus removing the 7th seal, and this leads to seven trumpets being blown. After each trumpet blast, again, "something bad" happens on earth.

5. Now let's get to my second title for this lesson, "Understanding the thirds".

a) One thing that is repeated over and over again in Chapters 8 and 9 is the word "third".

b) The word "third" is used eight times in these two chapters alone.

c) Some examples: A third of the trees are killed. A third of the ships are destroyed. A third of mankind is killed. A third of sun was struck (i.e., one-third less sunlight). A third of the moon and stars were struck (i.e., less moonlight and starlight). A third of the creatures in the sea die. Three is not the lucky number of these two chapters. ☺

d) OK, onto the big question: God is obviously emphasizing "three's" or "third's". Why?

i) Imagine you are watching cable news about all of the destruction and an "expert" comes on to point out an interesting pattern. That expert says, "We don't understand all of this destruction, but we notice a strange pattern. Everything is happening in thirds. All of the destruction is affecting one third of things."

ii) Suppose now you know God is "harming" everything, or at least the majority of the world believe it is God causing all of this destruction.

iii) There was a clue in Revelation 6:16 where people are hiding from God and from the "wrath of the lamb". Somehow, someway, people understood that lots of bad things are happening, and somehow, it has to do with God and Jesus.

iv) This leads us back to "thirds": When people think of Christianity and think of the number "three" what do they think of? (This should be easy! ☺) The answer is the third day! Even the vast majority that doesn't accept Christianity knows the basic Gospel message that Jesus rose again on the third day.

v) Christianity is the only major religion with a heavy emphasis on the number three. We believe in a three-in-one God, of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

vi) What about the third day of creation? It was the day dry land first appeared and vegetation started. An interesting bit of trivia is that of the six days of creation, the third day is the only day where God says "it is good" two times! Christians see this as a subtle clue of the blessing of the third day. In some Orthodox Jewish circles, they like to get married on the 3rd day of the week (Tuesday) because of the double blessing where God said "it is good" twice.

vii) In other words, what God wants people living at that time to associate the "third day" with Christian salvation! As Chapter 7 taught, many people get saved during this time era. Hopefully, some will see the "three" pattern and get a clue!

e) There are other reasons for the "thirds" as well: Remember the big purpose of all of this judgment is to prepare the world for Jesus Second Coming. God is giving one big, last-call for salvation. By only killing "some" people, it gives a chance for others to repent.

f) As I've stated through these lessons, those of us who see this horrible period as one, big final event can recognize it when it happens because all of these terrible judgments have a pattern of "thirds". One can pick any one of these events and tie it to some period of human history. For all of them to occur, would be a sign of "Great Tribulation" occurring.

6. This leads to my other title for this lesson: "How God Gets Our Attention".

a) One of the things to catch is that the world (i.e., nonbelievers) is somehow aware in this time period that God is in control of this action.

b) Now let's peak ahead to the final verses of Chapter 9: "The rest of mankind that 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." (Revelation 9:20-21 NIV)

i) In other words, none of this destruction worked. As hard as God is trying to "get their attention", people would rather choose a sinful life over turning to God.

ii) I am convinced the number one reason people won't accept the Gospel has nothing to do with its truth, but with the refusal to change ones lifestyle.

c) If I had to pick the one event in bible history where God worked a miracle "on a large scale", it would be the 10 plagues of Egypt. Even with the events of Jesus at the cross, only a small group witnessed the event. The growth of the Gospel message came afterwards. The 10 plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea was the one time where God directly intervened in the affairs of the most powerful nation on earth in order to draw out a "nation" for himself. The only event that is bigger in geography is flood, but and in that situation too, God drew out a nation (Noah's family) for himself.

i) What's my point here? Revelation Chapters 6-19 is a rough model of the 10 plagues that God laid on Egypt. In both time eras, multitudes are being saved "out" of this judgment-oriented period of time. (Ref.: Revelation 7:14).

ii) During those plagues, people understood that God was involved. At the same time, the King of Egypt refused to repent. Even though all of this great destruction was occurring all around Pharaoh, he refused to do God's will.

iii) At the same time, the positive aspect that came out of the destruction of Egypt and the death of the first-born was the "birth of a nation". What comes out the Great Tribulation are untold millions, billions, or more of saved people who then spend eternity with God. The Great Tribulation is God's "wrap up" plan. It is God's final call to the earth to either turn to Him for salvation or be destroyed. Just as God had a beginning for the earth, so God has an ending. We're in it, here in this book.

d) Back to my title for this lesson: "How God Gets Our Attention".

i) A classic line in Christianity is "God loves us too much to leave us alone". If one has truly committed their lives to God, and still have some "sin" in our lives, I find that Christians (myself included) goes through our own "tribulation" in order for God to deal with that sin and cleanse us of it.

ii) My point here is that when disasters occur, God usually has a plan behind it. We may be privileged to learn of that plan, and we may not. It may be designed to teach someone else something, and not ourselves. At the same time, God will sometimes use bad situations to draw us closer to Him. Grant it, the Great Tribulation is the grand scale of bad days. ☺ Still, one needs to see Revelation as a reminder to the Christian that God is capable of allowing horrible things to occur for the purpose of drawing us closer to Him for all of eternity.

iii) On that happy note, we can start the destruction process. ☺

7. Chapter 8, Verse 1: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

a) As I stated in the introduction, Chapter 8 and 9 is full of destruction verses on earth. The chapter opens with a "moment of silence" in heaven. John states it lasts for half an hour.

b) I wondered how John knew it was half an hour. Did John have a watch? ☺ The answer is John was just estimating, he didn't know the exact time.

c) This is the first of many verses where just the facts are given, without any explanation. Therefore, we have to speculate as to why this half an hour of silence.

d) Whenever we have read about "life in heaven in Revelation, we get the impression it is not a quiet place, at least at God's throne room. It is stated that the four living creatures praise God day and night (Revelation 4:8). The 24 elders then join in.

i) Here in Revelation 8, we have the first and only mention of silence in heaven.

ii) Many suggest it is a "moment of silence" as if to get everyone's attention.

iii) If one is watching some sort of entertainment event, and there is all-quiet on the main stage for a good while, this builds the anticipation. People need "stimulus" unless we are sleeping. Such silence builds tension. I believe that's the idea here.

e) Back to the text itself: John is in heaven, and he is watching Jesus opening the seventh and final seal. This event ties to Chapter 6, where John says the "Lamb (of God)", i.e., Jesus, is the one opening seven seals on a scroll. After each seal is removed, John then turns his focus to something happening on earth. Six of the seven seals were removed in Chapter 6 and now we have the seventh and final seal removed in Chapter 8.

8. Verse 2: And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

a) In Chapter 4, John described what God's throne room looked like. There was God himself in the center of the throne room. Jesus was there as well, even though Jesus appeared "as a lamb who was slain". Chapter 4 then said that guarding the throne was "four living creatures". John then went on to say there were 24 "elders" around this throne.

i) Here in Chapter 8, John mentions as a matter of fact, "the" seven angels who stand before God. It is as if we should have known that. ☺ This is the first mention of these seven angels. All we know from the text is they were given trumpets.

ii) There is a Jewish tradition that seven angels guard God's throne. Apparently, this is true based on this text.

b) The bible is full of trumpet references. Trumpets are usually given to "sound the alarm". It is the idea to call attention to something. In Chapters 8-9, each angel will give a trumpet blast. Each trumpet blast will follow with some sort of earth-based destruction. The idea of the trumpet blast is to "call attention" to the damage being done.

c) Now combine the "half-hour silence" prior to the seven trumpet blasts. The silence adds to the drama and the "volume" of the trumpet blasts that are coming up.

9. Verse 3: Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.

a) Before we start the "seven angels with seven trumpet" stuff, which is the majority of these two chapters, we also have an eighth angel in focus in Verses 3-5. This 8th angel, offered up incense to God "along with the prayers of all the saints" (Verse 3).

b) In order to understand this, first we have to remember that God's throne room is similar in look to the tabernacle as described in Exodus. (See Hebrews 8:5). The tabernacle is an indoor "tent" that is located within an outdoor fenced area. There are several pieces of furniture in this tabernacle structure. Some are outdoors and some are indoors.

i) One of the outdoor pieces is an altar for sacrificing animals. (Exodus 27, et. al.)

ii) One of the indoor pieces was an incense altar. (Exodus 30, et. al.)

a) Incense is a sweet smelling substance that works when it is lit on fire.

b) A piece of coal was taken from the sacrificial altar and placed on the incense altar in order for the incense smoke to be lit.

c) The point is "the incense altar" is a model of prayer. Just as the sweet-smelling smoke of that altar rises up in the sky, it is a model of our prayers rising up to heaven. The coals are taken from the sacrificial altar. It is a model of the necessity of the blood sacrifice in order to approach God in the first place. The coal was transported from "Point A to Point B" via a container called a "censer".

d) This leads us back to the text here in Revelation 8. This "8th angel" transfers some incense "mixed with the prayers of the saints" to the golden altar. This altar is where the incense is burned. The idea is the "prayer of all the saints" is being offered up to God.

e) Why doesn't the text just say, "Everybody prayed something"? ☺ Why have this "incense" word-picture? The idea is to understand how God is approached: Just because we pray something, doesn't mean God says "yes" to our prayer request. We can only approach God through the blood sacrifice of Jesus paying the price of our sins. In an Old Testament "word-picture" sort of way, that is what is in focus in these verses.

f) OK, so what is everyone praying about? If the text says this incense is "mixed with the prayers of the saints", what is that prayer? Don't know. The text doesn't say. The best we can do is read this in context of the verses. The rest of the chapter is lots of "bad stuff" happening on earth. Whatever this prayer is, if it is answered, the answer is judgment on the planet earth.

i) This leads to the conclusion that the prayer is about getting the world ready for Jesus Second Coming. Remember all of this "bad stuff" is in preparation for the return of Jesus. Why is it necessary? In order for Jesus to rule over the world, God first has to get "everyone's attention". The purpose of Jesus Second Coming to judge the world of its sin. This great negative period of time called "The Great Tribulation" in Chapter 7 is God's last-call out to anyone to be saved.

ii) Some Christians believe "The Great Tribulation" is a word-picture of the 2,000 year and counting history since Jesus. It is God's call to the world to be saved prior to one's death or Jesus Second Coming. The alternative view is that it is a specific final cluster of time where God gives one last chance to the world to repent prior to Jesus coming back.

iii) So when did you and I ever be a part of this prayer? It occurs every time we pray "Thy (Your) Kingdom Come" as part of the Lord's Prayer. (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2). It is a prayer for Jesus to come and reign on earth. It is a prayer for the Jewish Messiah to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies of a "promised king" to rule over the entire earth. It is that prayer Christians pray when everything is going wrong and we want Jesus to come back and "straighten it all out".

iv) That is why the text says, "much incense". It is a word-picture of lots and lots of people praying for Jesus to come back. That prayer is answered, but judgment of the world must precede the actual event of Jesus return. God, out of His love for people wants to give nonbelievers "one last chance" to come to Him.

10. Verse 5: Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

a) Reading this verse in context of the surrounding verses, we had prayers and incense mixed together. Here in Verse 5, some of the fire from the sacrificial altar was taken (via this censer, a bowl-like tool) and was thrown to earth. In the next bunch of verses, a lot of destruction takes place on earth.

b) I state this because we don't know what Verse 5 means all-by-itself. All it says was this fire was thrown at earth and then came, "thunder, rumblings... lightening… earthquake".

c) Again, let's go back to the opening verse of a half-hour of silence. Then we get a trumpet blast. Now we get all of the noise of thunder, lightening, earth shaking, etc. Whatever this is, it does not appear to be good. ☺ One can see the "drama tension rising" with each occurring verse in Revelation 8 to this moment.

d) It is almost as if God is going from "silence to rage" in a matter of verses through these word-pictures. The idea is God saying in effect, "I expect you people to live by My standards. I won't lower My standards just because you failed to live up to them. I have provided My son to take your punishment. If you refuse, punishment is coming." In these verses, we are seeing the tension build up prior to the beginning of the punishment.

11. Verse 6: Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

a) The trumpet blasts have not happened yet. That is the remainder of Chapters 8-9.

b) All God is doing so far is "preparing" us for that event. We've had dramatic silence. We've had angels given these trumpets. We've had about-to-be answered prayer requests of "thy (your) kingdom come". We've had the rumblings of thunder and lightening. All of this dramatic tension is building up to these trumpet blasts.

12. Verse 7: The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

a) Now the action really begins. John sees a trumpet blast at God's throne room in heaven, and then John turns his attention to describe what is happening on earth.

b) It stars with "hail and fire mixed with blood" coming to earth.

c) We now have the start of the "third" references. We have a third of the earth burned up, a third of the trees and a third of the grass.

d) As I've stated in the introduction, there are volumes of books speculating as to what this "really" means. Some tie it to events in human history. Some compare the trees to people and grass to other people. Some talk of microscopic red germ-like substances that come from the dead ocean-like life. Whatever it is, it is not good.

e) Remember this is the first of seven "trumpet blast" judgments. In Chapters 8-9, we have six of the seven separate trumpet sounds going off, followed by six of the seven specific "bad things" happening on planet earth.

f) My personal view is I take this literally. If John wanted to say, "the trees represent people", he would do so. In fact, in Verse 8, John states a third of all living people die from the events of another trumpet blast. Given that, I tend to take this literally. I believe John is talking about literal trees and plant life burning up. Some bible scholars see this as word-pictures of people judgment, but I take it more literally, based on context.

g) OK, why punish the earth (land), the trees and the grass? They are not the ones sinning, people are! (That is why many people see this as symbolic). My answer leads back to the title of this lesson: It is God trying to get our attention. As they say in the Navy, "Fire a warning shot off the bow"!

h) Let me put it another way: People won't turn to God if they can "depend" on other things. Often, we don't pray to God for help when we have lots of money in the bank. We trust in our resources first, and God last. There is nothing wrong with having resources and God has often blessed us with such resources in preparation to use them when the bad times come. My point is the danger of trusting in "things" and not God.

i) This leads back to the "why" question of the first trumpet-judgment. God is going to harm our natural resources in order to get our attention. It is God's way to get people to fully trust in Him during this time era.

13. Verse 8: The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

a) First, notice the words "something like". John says that after the second angel blew this second trumpet, something like a fire-mountain was thrown in the sea. The sea then turned to blood. A third of all sea life died and a third of the ships were destroyed.

b) Again, the commentaries are full of speculation on the "what is it" question: Some say it is a meteor. Some say it is a nuclear weapon.

c) Another debate point is the size and scope of the damage. Notice the words "the sea" at the end of Verse 8. Some think it just refers to the Mediterranean Sea. In the bible, the word "sea" often just refers to the Mediterranean. Some see it as referring to all ocean life.

i) Whatever it is, it is not good. It causes a third (there's that word again!) of the sea life to die and a third of the ships to be destroyed.

d) Let's go back to the first judgment: People could see this hail-fire like substance and try to explain it away as a natural phenomenon. They could say, "Well the earth is just having a bad day. ☺ We don't know for sure God is behind it."

i) Now comes "Judgment #2". A big comet or "something" comes out of the sky and destroys a lot of sea life. Hopefully a lot of people might think at this point, "OK, something's up. This is more than a coincidence".

ii) Hopefully the cable news network reporting all this will report the "strange coincidence" of how everything is being destroyed in "thirds". When bad things happen, people look for explanations. Hopefully the many "third" references get people to understand God the Father and God the Son are behind all of this.

e) Again, God is doing enough damage to get everyone's attention. If God only "zapped" say, 10 people, most of the world would shrug its shoulders and not care. By doing things in "thirds", God is getting the world's attention and trying to get people to repent.

14. Verse 10: The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- ¹¹ the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

a) Here we have the third angel's trumpet blast and the third "bad thing" of this chapter: In this judgment, fresh-water is targeted. In the second angel's judgment, the target was the sea and sea life. Here in Verse 10-11, we have a "great star" that fell on rivers and springs and a third of the waters turned bitter. The idea of bitter is poisonous. In the Middle East, there is a bitter plant called "wormwood" that is poisonous. That is the name of whatever it is that harmed the fresh water supply.

b) Again, the commentaries are full of speculation on this one. Some say it is a meter storm. Others say it is a nuclear bomb exchange. Some say it is a destructive angel. Whatever it is, it causes damage to the fresh water supply of the earth.

c) Now let's get back to my discussion of "Trusting in our resources as a priority over God". In "Trumpet Judgment #2", the focus was on sea life. Here in Verses 10-11, we have "Trumpet Judgment #3" which focuses on fresh water. In other words people can think, "OK, well our sea water was harmed, but at least we still have our fresh water supply". In other words, people won't turn to God as long as they have something else to depend upon. That is why I call this chapter "How God Gets Our Attention".

i) God will go to incredible lengths for us to do His will. It is often progressive, although not always on this massive of a scale. ☺ The point is God loves us too much to leave us alone and that can mean letting our life become more increasingly difficult in order for us to surrender our will to His will.

d) In the introduction, I compared these judgments to God's plagues on Egypt. One can see the comparison of a "mass-scale judgment" on a location. The purpose is to get that location to realize "God is the true god" and greater than anything we depend upon.

e) Meanwhile, back at destruction headquarters: ☺

15. Verse 12: The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

a) Here we have fourth angel and the fourth judgment. In this one, the sunlight decreases by one-third, the moonlight and the starlight also decreases by one third.

b) Notice that the first four trumpet-judgments all focus on nature. In other words, God isn't directing His "lightening bolts" at humans, although human life is suffering due to all of this ecological damage. Again, God is working in "thirds" to get our attention.

c) How does the sun and moon give a third less light? The most logical answer is some sort of debris gets in the atmosphere that diminishes the light. Like the other judgments, we can speculate all day long as to its meaning. The key is to focus on what the text does say.

d) The main point is the "why" issue: To get the world to focus upon God. It is the "last call" for salvation and God is trying to get the world's attention.

i) If all of this sounds harsh, remember God's purpose is to save as many as possible to eternal salvation. God cannot ignore sin and lower His standards. This "last call" destruction process is God trying to tell as many as possible that eternal damnation waits for those who refuse to turn to Him. This great set of judgments is God "turning up the volume" to get the world's attention before its end.

ii) When we get to the end of Chapter 9, we get the impression the world is aware God is behind all of this, but still refuses to change. Some people would rather live an immoral lifestyle, no matter what the eternal consequences. Another point of all of this destruction is to show "us" that no matter how extensive of God's warnings to the world, some people refuse to change.

16. Verse 13: As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"

a) Here was John, watching all of this destruction happen on earth. All of a sudden, John is "distracted" by a talking eagle! (I'll spare you the debate on whether or not this was a literal eagle. ☺) The eagle was flying in the air warning the inhabitants of the world of the last three angels (we've had four so far) are still to come.

b) Part of me is wondering, "Three woe's for what is to come? What about the "woe's" that have already happened?" Let me put it another way: Suppose a doctor says to you, "You have a really bad disease that is going to get more and more painful every day. It will get increasingly painful until you die. Then the doctor says, "And now, let me give you the bad news!" ☺ After all of the destruction that happens so far, now we are getting a warning of even worse things that are about to happen!

c) Notice the phrase, "Inhabitants of the earth". This is not all of humanity. It is warning to those who are not saved. Jesus said to His followers that our true home is in heaven. This is implied in John 8:23 and John 18:36. The idea of "inhabitants of the earth" refers to those who want to make the world their home and don't desire to join God in heaven.

d) One last thing: The word "woe" is repeated three times. It is done for emphasis. It is like when we say, "This food is very, very, very good!" There are three "woe's" given as there are three more trumpet blasts and three more judgments coming.

17. Chapter 9, Verse 1: The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

a) We're on a new chapter, but we're on the same topic: There are still seven angels giving trumpet blasts one at a time. After each trumpet blast, something bad happens to the earth. Chapter 9 covers trumpet blast #5 and #6.

b) While trumpet blast #1 through #4 are focused on nature (i.e., damage to trees, the earth, water supply, etc.), blasts #5 and #6 focus on people and demonic creatures.

c) Again, this is God's attempt to get the world's attention. The damage to the environment didn't get people to repent. God is now going for the jugular. ☺

d) Onto the verse itself: In this verse, we have a star falling from the heavens (the sky) to the earth. This star was given a key to the "Abyss". I'll discuss the Abyss in a moment.

e) First, we know that this star is not a literal star. This star is given a key. If you recall back in Revelation 1:20, the term "stars" ties to angels. One of the keys to understanding Revelation is the word-pictures are consistent throughout the book.

f)