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 shapes 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 faces of men. And
they had hair as the hair of women, and their
teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron;
and the sound of their wings was as the sound
of chariots 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 Hebrew tongs is Abaddon, but in
the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Revelation 9:6-11
Over the years much has been attempted to give present day interpretation such words as penned in these verses. In the days of these plagues brought upon the earth, upon man causes man to suffer and desire death because they are so horrible, but they cannot die due to them, they seek death in vain. There is a difference in the wording from the Critical Text (NIV, ESV, ASV, etc. where the word "not" is a double negative meaning never, not, nothing, οὺ μὲ: the Textus Receptus, the Geneva Bible, the King James Bible uses Ούκ), now, this difference may not seem to be too much but it is for when a person is preaching or determining their interpretation then they will preach one thing which the one preaching from the Textus Receptus will preach
another. The words used in the Critical Text is to be rendered literally: not, but, or but not and the word used in the Textus Receptus means simply, not. Some will preach that due to the double negative man cannot die, but if God wanted to ensure that we understand this that way would He not have John use οὺ ε̃τι that means "no more," "no longer," "not now." What is better to say is that man will suffer so badly that they would rather die but death alludes them, they suffer so much but this suffering does not lead to death. Some allude that God is not allowing them to die, even causing them to endure much suffering, but this seems that God cause this pain to the point of wanting to die and would go against God making Him and evil god. Man causes their own pain and suffering, but God in His Providence will allow this so that man who will not come to Him and be saved will by their own hand cause this pain. God chastises but man must learn from this chastizement and turn from the sinful ways. In this case, man will not do this so they suffer.
John sees images of shapes, shaped in the form of a locust. What is this locust? First, a locust is an insect and can be eaten as with John the Baptist, and they appear as monsters being let loose by divine judgment to inflict man five months, the life of a locust. Now we have information about this time of five months as will as understanding that these locusts represent divine judgment. Many interpretations are allegorical, or some other foolish interpretation. The Golden Rule of interpretation is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture and when we see darkly to not fall into false interpretation due to our presuppositions. If we do not do this and interpret symbolism through allegory we embark upon a sea of conjecture. We do not want to jettison literal interpretation by using critical and simple thinking.
The fact that these scorpions had crowns on their head insinuates power, authority and that they were shaped like horses gives credence to this but their faces were like men. We have men today in authority, in Christian Churches who are like a scorpion misusing Scripture, their authority and many follow after them, they had hair like a woman, possibly alluding to the long wispy hair on a lion for they had teeth like a lion. Teeth of a lion tears apart their prey to devour they prey. Strong they were, and are for they had breastplates of iron for protection and they make loud noise as in a rushing chariot or horses going to battle. Thing of those "preachers," who shout and dance about trying their very best to cause emotion, not good emotion, but emotion for people to be so afraid of them that they will do what they ask. But, they have tails like a scorpion that sting and had this power to hurt. How long? Five months, so it is not forever for God will end this Himself when He comes back on the Last Day.
The name of the leader of all this suffering is Apollyon that means in Greek: Destroyer. Satan is the great destroyer of man and he does not care if he has to cause great suffering so that in his way he attempts to get man to give to him authority as if he was God.
Practical application: You, me, if we do not want this or any other plague brought upon man by Satan, then you must repent and be saved. There is no other way.
Keep silence before Me, O Islands;
and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near;
then let them speak: let us
come near together to judgment.
Isaiah 41:1
Christ The Solid Rock: Stand On It
Richard L. Crumb
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