Who is the star that falls from heaven? Study Revelation 9 with context, apologetic analysis, and cross-references.
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua Commentary · REVELATION 9 — THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS: THE LOCUSTS AND THE ARMIES
He is a personal being who is given a key. Some identify him as Satan, and others as an angel under God's command. Whatever his identity, he acts under God's authority, since the key is given to him. In the book, Satan is not given the keys of the abyss, so it is more likely a holy or at least obedient angel carrying out God's will.
They are not ordinary insects. They are demonic or supernatural forces that are described with a combination of locust and warhorse imagery. They torment and do not kill, and they act only against those who are not sealed. This shows a supernatural, spiritual judgment.
Interpreters differ. Some see a literal human army from the East, and others an army of demons, or an innumerable symbolic host. This commentary does not require identifying the army with any modern nation, and it holds that the details of the fulfillment will be clear when the events occur.
Their hearts are hardened, and they are committed to idolatry and sin. This corresponds to Pharaoh's hardening in Exodus. It shows the depth of human sin and the need for grace, and it vindicates the justice of God's judgments, since He has given warning and opportunity.
In the tribulation, those who have the seal of God are protected from the locusts. This is not a promise that believers will never suffer, since many are martyred (6:9–11; 13:7), but it shows that God preserves His people from specific judgments and that no demon acts without His permission. Believers can resist the devil in Christ (James 4:7).
Chapter 9 describes the first two of the three woes announced in 8:13. These judgments are more severe and more directly supernatural. The fifth trumpet unleashes a plague of demonic locusts, and the sixth trumpet releases a massive army that kills a third of humanity. The imagery draws on Joel 1–2, where locusts and an invading army symbolize the day of the Lord, and on the Exodus plague of locusts (Exodus 10). The pattern shows that the tribulation involves direct spiritual forces of evil, which are limited by God and used for His purposes. The most striking feature of the chapter is the response of humanity: despite the horror, they do not repent.
The Old Testament background of Joel is important, because Joel describes locusts and an invading army as the day of the Lord, and he speaks of the Spirit being poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28–32), which Peter quoted at Pentecost. John's use of Joel shows the continuity of prophecy. The mention of the Euphrates and the cavalry from the East would have had a particular resonance for John's readers, because the Parthian Empire, east of the Euphrates, was the one power that had defeated Roman armies, most notably at Carrhae in 53 BC, and was famous for its mounted archers. Rome feared an invasion from the East, and the early Christian writers took that into account. The reference to the name Apollyon, a likely play on Apollo, would have been understood in a world where Domitian presented himself as the favorite of Apollo and Minerva. The connection with demonic power fits the biblical teaching that idols represent demons (1 Corinthians 10:20).
This study preserves the hard questions, explanations, context, apologetic note, and references from Dr. Shallua's Commentary.