An Invasion Of Demons
AN INVASION OF DEMONS
REVELATION 9:1-12
We read here of the torturing and destructive effects of demonic influence on humanity.
Efforts to identify the scourge here described with some known nation past or present have carried little conviction, but an application of symbolism may help us. The “star fallen from heaven” (9:1) will be as symbolic as in 8:12; in the light of 12:9, Luke 10:18, it may well be Satan that is meant. He does not possess the key to “the shaft of the Abyss” (NIV)—which is better than the rendering “bottomless pit,” which is probably justified neither by the Greek nor by common sense—it is given him, obviously by the Lamb. However much Satan may wish to wreck God’s work, he is the agent of his will (Job chapters 1–2).
Those that rise from the abyss are obviously demons, but the demon has seldom, if ever, power over nature as such—they are not to harm the grass or trees (9:4)—but over evildoers whom they enter and control. They cannot therefore hurt those with God’s seal. The predominant impression they create is of the beast—“horses” (9:7)—for the demon-possessed is always essentially subhuman, even where this is not immediately clear. He claims to rise above human limitations, therefore the “crown” (9:7). The reference to “women’s hair” (9:8) may be to remind us that the inrush of evil is almost always linked with an apparent glorification of sex, which always leads to its debasement. They are pictured as an army. There are many periods when evil puts on the mask of goodness, even as Satan may appear as an angel of light, but there are others, and we are passing through one now, when evil is in embattled opposition to God. We find ourselves in the position of Ephesians 6:10-18, when we may be thankful, if we have been able to do no more than stand our ground. “Abaddon”: see Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20, means, like “Apollyon,” “destruction,” and is another name for death or Sheol. Demon influence tortures humanity first of all, and in the end destroys them.
Of special importance is the mention of “five months” (9:5,10). This is the first of numerous passages where a fixed number is mentioned. It is not the interpretation of the period that is important, but that we realize that the apparent triumph of evil is God-permitted and controlled, its very beginning and ending being fixed in advance.