Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Revelation
Book: Revelation
Chapter: 9
Overview:
The fifth trumpet is followed
By a representation of another
Star as falling from
Heaven and opening the bottomless
Pit, out
of which come swarms of locusts.
(1-12) The sixth trumpet is
followed
By the loosing of four angels bound in the great
River
Euphrates.
(13-21)
1-12 Upon sounding the fifth trumpet, a
Star fell from
Heaven
to the
Earth. Having ceased to be a
Minister of
Christ, he who
is represented
By this
Star becomes the
Minister of the
Devil;
and lets loose the powers of
Hell against the churches of
Christ.
On the opening of the bottomless
Pit, there arose a
great smoke. The
Devil carries
On his designs
By blinding the
eyes of men,
By putting out
Light and knowledge, and promoting
ignorance and error. Out of this smoke there came a swarm of
locusts, emblems of the
Devil's agents, who promote
superstition,
Idolatry, error, and cruelty. The trees and the
Grass, the true believers, whether young or more advanced,
should be untouched. But a secret
Poison and infection in the
soul, should rob many others of purity, and afterwards of peace.
The locusts had
No power to hurt those who had the
Seal of
God.
God's all-powerful, distinguishing
Grace will keep his people
from total and final apostasy. The power is limited to a short
season; but it would be very sharp. In such events the
Faithful
share the common calamity, but from the pestilence of error they
might and would be safe. We collect from
Scripture, that such
errors were to try and prove the Christians, 1Co 11:19. And
early writers plainly refer this to the first great
Host of
corrupters who overspread the
Christian Church.
13-21 The sixth
Angel sounded, and here the power of the Turks
seems the subject. Their time is limited. They not only slew in
War, but brought a poisonous and ruinous religion. The
antichristian
Generation repented not under these dreadful
judgments. From this sixth trumpet learn that
God can make one
enemy of the
Church a scourge and a
Plague to another. The
Idolatry in the remains of the eastern
Church and elsewhere, and
the sins of professed Christians, render this
Prophecy and its
fulfilment more wonderful. And the attentive reader of
Scripture
and history, may find his
Faith and
Hope strengthened
By events,
which in other respects fill his
Heart with anguish and his eyes
with tears, while he sees that men who escape these plagues,
repent not of their evil
Works, but go
On with idolatries,
wickedness, and cruelty, till wrath comes upon them to the
utmost.