And the rest of the human race, those who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands in order that they might not worship demons or idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.  Such idols are not able to see, hear, or walk.  And the rest of the human race did not repent of their murders, their magic arts, their acts of fornication, or their thefts.   Rev. 9:20, 21.
 
    We set up images to honor people we admire or to extol causes we would gladly sacrifice time, effort, and money to uphold.  As human beings we honor and celebrate what we admire.  A friend's brother has spent much of his life openly proclaiming his admiration for drag racers and the magnificent machines that they create.  When he was growing up, Tom filled the bedroom he and his brother shared with pictures of dragsters.  The photographs honored the likes of the "Melrose Missile," "Jungle Jim Lieberman," and "One-hand Willie Borsch."  The photos depicted the famous racers trailing clouds of smoke as they blazed down the quarter-mile strip.
 
    When he grew up, Tom turned out to be an excellent mechanic and earned the means to erect a memorial to his favorite sport in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Today Tom's shop consists of a large metal building that houses a number of tools and memorabilia that he has collected over the years.  Almost every square inch on the walls is decked out with pictures, models, or some item from the sport of drag racing.
 
    The centerpiece of the shop is Tom's own 850-horsepower Chevy Vega that does the quarter mile in the nine-second range.  Fire up the beast, and you will hear thunder that shakes the entire building.  Friends have even nicknamed Tom's garage "The Shrine," not an inappropriate title given his obvious devotion to the sport.
 
    The images we erect are often literal: monuments, plaques, named cornerstones, and "shrines" such as Tom's fascinating celebration of American drag racing.  But for more often these images remain hidden from view, buried deep in our hearts and minds.  While many of these shrines, like Tom's, are interesting but harmless, we can erect other ones in our hearts to either great good or great evil.  The German nation idolized Adolf Hitler to its own destruction.  Youth often idolize celebrities who teach them self-defeating values.  On the other hand, "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18).  Idols not only reveal our innermost thoughts, but also help determine who we become.
 
Lord, I don't want to be like those in the sixth trumpet who refuse to give up their destructive idols.  I choose to center my life's focus on Jesus today.

  And the rest of the human race, those who were not killed by the plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands in order that they might not worship demons or idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.  Such idols are not able to see, hear, or walk.  And the rest of the human race did not repent of their murders, their magic arts, their acts of fornication, or their thefts.  Rev. 9:20, 21.
 
    This is truly an amazing passage.  The people here have endured horrendous tribulations.  Marauders numbering in the hundreds of millions have attacked them (Rev. 9:16).  Fire, smoke, sulfur, and apocalyptic horses with snakelike tails that bite have assaulted them.  One third of the human race has perished from all the various tribulations.  One would expect that the rest of humanity would be far more traumatized by these events than were New Yorkers on September 11, 2001.  Yet they refuse to repent.  Amazing.
 
    One day a chaplain received a request to visit George (not his real name) in the intensive care unit.  He learned that George was 47 years old, but when the chaplain entered the room he thought he was in the wrong place.  The patient looked more than 60, yet the charts indicated that the chaplain was in the right place, and the man answered to the name listed of the charts.
 
    George was under a sheet and talked as if he were freezing to death.  Shaking and desperate, as if every breath would be his last, he spoke the way a drowning man would.
 
    "Gonna...(pant, pant, pant) get my life together.  I wanna...(pant, pant, pant) get my life together....I wanna change."
 
    God can work so easily with people like George.  The man knew his need for God.  He was on the fifth day of detoxification for alcoholism.  His body had grown accustomed to being virtually "pickled" in alcohol.  Body, mind, and soul all resisted the detoxification process with everything they had.  George felt as if he were not going to live as he shook with pain.  People like him clearly hear the call of God to repent and set a new direction for their lives.
 
    The amazing thing about our text is that it describes a moment in earth's history when most of the human race is right where George was and yet still refuses to repent.  It is possible to ignore the call of God, and do it again and again until one reaches the place that even hitting bottom is no longer enough for the Lord to get through to us.  I'd rather pay attention to Him in the good times.
 
Lord, thank You for the many ways in which You call me to You every day.  I have set my heart to hear You and repent today.  Teach me what I need to do.

                        A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfurous fumes that came out of their mouths.  For the authority of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails.  For their tails were like snakes, having heads, and with them they did harm.  Rev. 9:18, 19.
 
    The description indicates that the plagues of the sixth trumpet have some kind of connection to those of the fifth trumpet.  The power to harm in the fifth trumpet resides in the tail, while in this trumpet the danger lurks in both the mouth and the tail.  So we observe an escalation of terror here.  The good news is that the plagues of the trumpets focus on the wicked (Rev. 9:4, 20, 21).  God is well able to protect His own.
 
    In 1944 Nazi-held Belgrade came under assault from the Red Army and Yugoslav partisans.  Martin's wife, Melanie, became sick in the aftermath of giving birth.  As the battle wound down, Martin took many risks to bring needed supplies for her.  But suddenly he felt impressed to leave his wife and go to church headquarters.
 
    Heeding the call of God, he hurried through the desolate, bloody streets.  Reaching the street where the church headquarters were located, he saw four people walking toward him.  As he drew closer he realized that three soldiers in green uniforms were escorting his pastor, Joseph Vitner.
 
    "Brother Vitner, where are you going?" he asked.
 
    "Comrades are taking me," the man replied.
 
    Martin realized that Vitner was of German descent and that the soldiers were Yugoslavs.  The pastor now faced death as a "collaborator" with the Nazis.  Instantly Martin felt impressed to plead with one of the soldiers to let him go in Vitner's place.  "He's a better man than you and me put together," he said.  The soldier said as he and his prisoner left several minutes later, "If he is a good man, not one hair will fall off his head.  But if he's not, he's going to face the firing squad."
 
    Feeling at peace about the matter, Martin assured church members that their pastor would be back in a few minutes.  And he was!  Vitner reported that the soldiers took him directly to the firing squad.  But the young soldier interceded with his commander.  "Sir, half the city of Belgrade is vouching for this man!"  The commander responded, "We need more people like you.  Go home and take care of your family."
 
    We'll never know how one man's word became "half the city," but Martin's impression to go at that moment and then say exactly what he did seems exquisitely arranged by God.  Like Pastor Vitner, we need not fear the fiery plague, because our lives are in God's hands.
 
Lord, give me confidence today that my life is completely in Your hands.

 And the number of the mounted soldiers was two hundred million.  I heard the number of them.  And this is the way I saw horses and the ones sitting on them in the vision: They had breastplates the color of fire, hyacinth, and sulfur.  The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfurous fumes.  Rev. 9:16, 17.
 
    Satan's army can be numbered only at the time of the end.  They are the counterpart of God's end-time people, the 144,000.  The wicked beg for the rocks and mountains to fall on them (Rev. 6:15-17) while the great multitude stands safely before the throne (Rev. 7:9).  Two hundred million surge forth in the sixth trumpet in contrast to the 144,000 (Rev. 7:1-4) and the two witnesses (Rev. 11:3-6).  A beast from the sea represents the wicked (Rev. 13), and remnant symbolize the righteous (Rev. 12:17).
 
    The vision of Revelation tend to blur the distinctions between good and evil.  The reason for the ambiguity in the vision is the role of deception and counterfeit in the central part of the book.  Toward the end of time the line between truth and error will be hard to distinguish.
 
    I know a man who went out one evening to raise funds door to door for charity.  At the corner of one street he noticed a large and angry-looking dog guarding the yard of a house a few doors down.  He expressed his concern to a companion and indicated that he wanted to skip that house.
 
    The companion offered a piece of advice.  "No dog will ever bite you if you stare right into its eyes.  It shows them you are the boss.  Go ahead.  Try it!  You can do it.  It isn't hard."
 
    The first man was a bit dubious about the advice, but decided to accept it anyway.  He banished his fears and approached the house.  As he passed through the gate the large dog charged toward him.  He fixed his eyes on those of the dog and followed them as the animal veered off course and circled behind him.  And he kept on staring at the dog's eyes as the creature continued circling in closer and bit him in the back of the leg.
 
    So much for the advice "No dog will ever..."  It turns out that all the facts were not in.  The dog had a brain tumor that prevented normal behavior.  Sometimes things are not what they seem.  As we approach the end, Satan will do all he can to deceive us.  Just because something is religious doesn't mean it is right or honors God.  The Word of God is our best safeguard against Satan's deceptive advice.
 
Lord, as I approach life's challenges today keep my head clear through Your Word.

 And the four angels [by the great river Euphrates], who were prepared for that very hour, day, month, and year, were released in order to kill a third of the human race.  Rev. 9:15.
 
    In the larger picture of the sixth trumpet these four angels call up an "army from hell," dressed in red, blue, and sulfurous yellow.  The angels and their army have one purpose and one purpose only--to kill human beings in massive numbers.  You could say that they are the ultimate agents of mass destruction.  The powerful weapons they direct, emanating from the mouths and tails of 200 million cavalry horses, kill a full third of the human race.  In the background of all this destruction lurks the "angel of the abyss" (Rev. 9:11).  The urge to kill and destroy ultimately arises from the proud and vengeful heart of Satan himself.
 
    A friend of mine, Gordon Retzer, tells the story of Frank Taitague, who knows this from personal experience.  A resident of Guam, Taitague was a teenager when the Japanese army took control of Guam during World War II.  In an attempt to gain complete control of the island, the occupiers decided to kill all the residents.  Taitague managed to escape to the hills, but not before he saw his 8-year-old niece thrown to the ground and brutally kicked.  When the war ended and the Americans liberated his country, he remained a prisoner of hatred, determined to get revenge.
 
    Taitague carried a rifle with him wherever he went.  Like the four angels of Revelation he had a set purpose, and that was to kill.  One day he came upon some Japanese soldiers who had not been able to leave the island when the war ended.  Immediately he took aim, prepared to kill without remorse.  But before he could pull the trigger someone grabbed his arm.  It was perhaps the one person who could have stopped him at that moment--his father.  A dedicated Seventh-day Adventist Christian, his father reminded Frank that he had always dreamed of being a pastor.  The set purpose of the pastor is to bring life, not to kill.  Together they decided that Frank would leave the island and go to Pacific Union College to study to become a minister.
 
    But God was not finished with Frank Taitague.  When he arrived at the college, the men's dormitory dean assigned him to a room and informed his that his roommate had already arrived.  Frank reached his room and knocked on the door.  A Japanese student opened the door!  Instinctively Frank raised his fist, prepared to do serious damage.  But God worked a miracle in his life.  He and his roommate became the best of friends.  God's purpose to love and give life replaced Satan's purpose to hate and kill.
 
Lord, You are the giver of life.  You are the one who can change the way I think about others and behave toward them.  Help me to see others through Your eyes of love.

 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.  It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,"Release the four angels who are bound by the great river Euphrates."  Rev. 9:13, 14
 
    Our world is know as the blue planet, because of its extensive reserves of water. It covers three fourths of the earth's surface.   Unfortunately, 98 percent of this surface water is in the oceans, with only 2 percent accessible as fresh water.  To make matters worse, 90 percent of the fresh water supply  is either at the poles or remains under the ground.  So human beings have direct access to only a small fraction of 1 percent (.26) of the earth's water supply.
 
    The availability of fresh water supplies is one of the defining keys to a nation's success.  Most of the "developing nations" occupy the world's arid or semiarid regions.  Europe, on the other hand, contains half the running surface water in the entire world.  So it is no surprise that the region has played a dominant role in recent world affairs.  As earth's population increases, wars over scarce water supplies will increasingly break out.
 
    In the Bible lands fresh water has always been in short supply.  In such a place the abundant fresh water of the Euphrates River guaranteed power and wealth for those who controlled it.  In this passage the river symbolizes the great power and resources of the final opposition to God in this world.  His people, in ancient times, lived in a land with only on major source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee.  They had to rely, therefore, on heaven to provide moisture when they needed it.
 
    Strong parallels exist between the sixth trumpet and two other scenes in the book of Revelation.  Revelation 7:1-4 has four angels, a form of restraint, and the comment "I heard the number."  So the 200-million-strong army of Revelation 9:16, 17, stands in contrast with God's end-time people, the 144,000.  Also we observe parallels to the sixth bowl, in which you also have the river Euphrates, military language, and a demonic hoard (Rev. 16:13-16 ).  So the sixth trumpet portrays the gathering of Satan's end-time army for the battle of Armageddon.
 
    The book of Revelation contains many scenes of war.  But it is less interested in the affairs of nations than it is in the progress of the gospel on earth.  The war that truly matters to God is the battle going on in our minds every day.  As we approach the end, even the smallest decisions of life have eternal consequences.
 
Lord, I feel the power of the battle that rages in me.  I have no strength to defeat the overwhelming power of the enemy.  Help me today to trust completely in the power of the cross for victory.

   The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound by the great river Euphrates."  Rev. 9:13, 14. 
 
    In the fifth trumpet a demonic plague brings humanity to the point at which a great number of people seek death but cannot find it (Rev. 9:1-6).  The sixth trumpet grants a third of humanity their wish.  As horrible as the sixth trumpet is, the passage begins with a voice from the four horns of the altar.  Scripture presents the horns of the altar as a place of mercy.
 
    When David reached about 70 years of age, his health deteriorated and his control over the kingdom diminished.  Instability threatened as his sons jockeyed to take his place as king.  Adonijah, next-oldest son after Absalom, gained the support of Joab, head of David's army, and of Abiathar the high priest.  Since both men had been loyal to David during Absalom's rebellion, Adonijah seems to have assumed that he had David's support.  But key people in the army and among the priests did not join in Adonijah's  "coronation" outside Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:5-10).
 
    Nathan the prophet conspired with Bathsheba to get David involved (they alone seem to have known David's preference for Solomon, his son with Bathsheba).  David decided to transfer the throne to Solomon immediately.  So Zadok, the second-high priest, anointed Solomon king, and, to great celebration,  Bathsheba's son sat on David's throne in Jerusalem.  After a blast of trumpets a mighty crowd chanted, "Long live King Solomon!" (verses 11-40).
 
    The noise of this rival coronation drifted south to where Adonijah and his followers were also celebrating.  "What's with all this noise coming out of the city?"  Joab demanded (verse 41).  At that moment Abiathar's son arrived with the news of David's action.  In an instant Adonijah's guests fled for their lives.  Left alone, Adonijah could think of only one thing to do.  He went directly to the sanctuary and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, invoking God's protection on his life.  Solomon respected the action and let him live, on condition of good behavior in future (verses 42-53).
 
    As horrible as the sixth trumpet is, mention of the horn of the altar puts a touch of mercy into the plague.  The door to salvation has not yet closed.  As the earth slides into the final stages of self-destruction, it is still possible to hear the voice of Jesus and to repent.  When life causes us to hit bottom the way Adonijah did, the only sensible thing to do is hang our helpless souls on the mercy of God.
 
Lord, "nothing in my hand I bring, simply to They cross I cling."  I choose today to lay aside pride, achievements, status, and success.  I look to You for all I need.

 The first woe has gone away.  Behold, two more woes are coming after this.  Rev. 9:12.
 
    Revelation 8:13 announced that three woes would fall on those who live on the earth.  The fifth trumpet followed.  Now in Revelation 9:12 we learn that the first woe has "gone away"--it is now past.  Since a similar announcement occurs in Revelation 11:14, after the sixth trumpet, it seems clear that the three woes of Revelation 8:13 are the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets.
 
    I received a major reality check about 15 years ago when I heard a particular preacher for the first time.  He had an incredible impact on me.  Whenever he spoke, my heart would burn within me.  It was as if he could read my soul.  But he was neither a prophet nor a mind reader, a point he made extremely clear.  He was just an ordinary Christian speaking from the heart.  And yet his words had prophetic power.
 
    What was it that made his preaching so powerful?  Ninety percent of his illustrations came from his own personal experience.  And when he did speak from his own experience, he almost always talked about his failures and not his successes.  That led me to think about my own sermons.  When I gave illustrations from my own life, I always talked about my successes and almost never about my failures.  It was a total reality check.  I came to realize that I was using the pulpit to polish my image.
 
    The church I serve also received a major check some time ago.  Trying to understand better how to reach the lost, we learned that Hispanic congregations in southern California were doubling in numbers every three years or so.  Assuming that they must be doing something the rest of us weren't, we wanted to apply those strategies to the broader situation in the United States.  But investigation revealed a startling discovery.  During a 10-year period not a single third-or fourth-generation (in America) Hispanic was baptized.  Growth was there, but only immigrants and their children were baptized.  It was clear that the success among Hispanics was not transferable to the mainstream situation in the United States.
 
    Each part of the Bible is useful for teaching (2 Tim. 3:16), but different passages apply to different circumstances.  Passages such as the fifth and sixth trumpets do not particularly comfort the bereaved or encourage the lonely.  But they are quite useful for shaking people out of their complacency.  These trumpets provide a reality check.  They summon us to face the illusions that relative prosperity can bring.  We can all benefit from a reality check.
 
Lord, I find that I fall so easily into the trap of complacency.  Although I prefer for life to be peaceful, I need a serious reality check every so often.  When it comes, give me the courage to learn and not to resist.

   They had tails like scorpions and stingers.  And with their tails they had the authority to harm the human race for five months.  They had a king over them, the angel of the abyss.  His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is Apollyon.  Rev. 9:10, 11.
 
    I was a pastor in New York City during the year 1980.  One of the perks of living in the big city is access to world-class culture.  Our favorite part of that was the Museum of Natural History on the west side of Central Park in Manhattan.  The museum has wonderful dioramas of scenes from all over the world, thousands of gems and minerals, and gigantic dinosaur skeletons that fill the eyes of children with wonder.
 
    My wife and I enjoyed the place so much that we decided to become members, which introduced us to another level of New York culture.  Members of the museum received special invitations to lectures and classes.  Another perk was the opportunity to see special showings of new exhibits before they opened to the public.
 
    On one occasion the museum hosted a display of artifacts from the ruins of Pompeii.  It scheduled a members-only showing one evening.  At a reception beforehand we rubbed shoulders with New York City's elite.  Then, after viewing the exhibit, we were treated to a screening of the 1935 movie The Last Days of Pompeii.  It absolutely stunned me.  The movie was a powerful story of the gospel and its effect on the value of people in the first century, nothing like the secular fare Hollywood produced in the seventies and eighties.  I realized for the first time what a powerful effect secularization has had on the Western world.
 
    That impact multiplied at the conclusion of the movie.  As the lights came on, the moderator of the program came to the podium and said in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Well, we've just received a lot of moral instruction, haven't we?"  I was amazed at how far we had wandered away from Christian values in just 45 years!  The interesting thing is that we hardly noticed.  Like a frog in a kettle, we experienced secularization's gradual increase in heat and never noticed when God ceased to play a major role in our lives.
 
    The fifth trumpet warns us not to succumb to the flashing lights of materialism and technology.  A life without God results in torment and anguish (Rev. 9:5, 6).  It leads to a loss of meaning and direction and a frenzied emptiness that people may notice only in the still of the night.  Although he hides behind the mask of fun and games, the angel of the abyss is a hard taskmaster.
 
Lord, help me recognize my own drift away from You.  When I get too busy to read Your Word, too busy to pray, the current of today's world carries me where I don't want to go...

 They had tails like scorpions and stingers.  And with their tails they had the authority to harm the human race for five months.  They had a king over them, the angel of the abyss.  His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is Apollyon.  Rev. 9:10, 11.
 
    The fifth trumpet contains many images that would have been familiar to readers in the time of John.  Darkness is the opposite of light.  In the New Testament it would represent a philosophy that denies Jesus and the gospel (John 3:18-21).  The abyss is a place in which God confines demons (Luke 8:30, 31).  And the tail is a symbol of lying prophets (Isa. 9:15).
 
    While many parts of this trumpet remain mysterious, the "plague" is a spiritual one that torments the followers of Satan but does not harm those who are sealed (Rev. 9:4-6).  It leaves the wicked in suicidal anguish (verses 5, 6).  The sun of God's Word is eclipsed but not destroyed (verses 2, 3).  The symbolism fits well with the effects of secularization in our world today.
 
    Secularization is a process by which people become less and less attached to religious organizations.  Not atheists, secular people just don't make time for God and/or religion.  Such secularization isn't all bad, however, as it often sets the stage for a deeper appreciation of human rights and religious liberty.  The secular commitment to universal education also gives people the tools to search the Word of God for themselves.  Bible societies, scientific progress, and archaeology are hard to imagine in a world without freedom of thought and faith.  So the secularization of the Western world has had its positive points.
 
    But secularization, of course, has also had a negative impact.  Through the French and Russian revolutions it opened the way for Communism, which made the practice of faith extremely difficult in Communist countries.  Secularization has also paved the way for the wrong kind of ecumenism.  All other things being equal, Christian unity would be a good thing.  But a certain type of ecumenism impoverishes faith and steals away certainty, implying, "Don't be a fanatic.  It doesn't really matter what you believe!"  Also secularization has led to unbridled materialism.  Particularly if you believe there is no God, then life at its fullest is mainly about shopping and eating.  People with such beliefs usually become obsessed with the things of this world.
 
    Ultimately, secularization is a trend that God has used to judge oppressors and free up His people to serve Him without restraint.  And the beauty of the fifth trumpet is that it does not harm those who know God.  A bumper sticker I saw a while ago states the ultimate Christian response to secularization: "God is not dead--I talked to Him last night."
 
Lord, in a world that ignores You in its pursuit of possessions and pleasure, keep me focused on Your living presence.