Day 157

“AND IT WAS GIVEN TO THEM (THE LOCUST/SCORPIONS) THAT THEY SHOULD NOT KILL THEM (THE UNSEALED) BUT RATHER THEY SHOULD BE TORMENTED FIVE MONTHS, AND THEIR TORMENT WAS LIKE THE TORMENT OF A SCORPION, …” read. REV. 9:5,6. 

At the age of 20 (1974), I had recently moved to Australia to work on a degree in Theology. I had flown in a 4 seater plane with a group, to a place called Lake Cargelligo, to do some church work. In front of the church was a mound with large ants coming and going. In my Kiwi ignorance, I procured a stick and was poking it down the hole. Almost instantly bull ants started streaming up the stick and around the ground. I hastily retreated, brushing off those ants that had made it to my hand. I was spared what is apparently a painful bite.  

The basic message of the text is that those under Satan’s control secular people may think they have real freedom but in reality they have subjected themselves to a tyrant that makes Hitler or Putin appear as moderate. The torment of stinging insects illustrates how enslavement to Satan sucks the joy out of life and will eventually make even death seem an attractive option. 

Revelation 9:1-12 (The 5th Trumpet) outlines the devastating work of satan during the Dark Ages. This passage draws heavily of Deut 28: 25,42, Joel 1:4 / 2:25, and 2Chron 6:28-30. Isa 14: 12-13 and other passages. satan is the “star fallen from heaven”. If you read a parallel passage in Joel 1 & 2 you will see the locust plague in Joel 1 was meant to lead to a deeper insight into God’s universal plan. Joel relates the plague to the national crisis and then to their spiritual condition. The locusts have left nothing that could be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord. In Chapter 2, Joel (which means Yahweh is God), did not spend much time making an analysis of the people’s failings. He was interested far more in dwelling on the cure as prescribed by Israel’s Divine Physician. (Read Joel 2 if you have time)