Saturday, June 28, 2014

A SURVEY OF REVELATION, PART 9A


                     
                                                                              
The Big Picture:  Exploring the Biblical answer to “Why does something like this happen?”
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQ4A62M
 
The Right to Raise a Ruckus and Other Stories
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005UNI0L8
 
 

 
ABBREVIATIONS: 

ESV = English Standard Version;  ESVSB = ESV Study Bible;  NIV = New International Version;
NIVSB = NIV Study Bible

Scripture quotations are from ESV unless otherwise noted.

 

Chapter 9 describes the events that are initiated by the fifth and sixth trumpets (simply referred to as “trumpet five” or “trumpet six”).  The fifth through the sixth trumpets were introduced by verse 8:13, which described them as woeful to “those who dwell on the earth.”  Most commentators consider this expression (which might be shortened to “the earth-dwellers”) to be a technical term that refers to the general mass of human-kind, but not to the people of God.  The description of the trumpets five and six are each considerably longer than the description of each of trumpets one through four.  This follows the pattern of the seals, in which the description of each of the first four seals was brief compared to the descriptions of seals five and six.

The character of the plagues in trumpets five and six is different from that in trumpets one through four.  The first four trumpet blasts resulted in harm to the environment:  the vegetation, the sea, the fresh water, and the heavenly lights.  These no doubt would result in secondary human suffering.  The fifth and sixth trumpets, however, bring about torment and death directly to people.  The nature of this suffering appears to be due to the activity of demons.
 
 
Verses 9:1-2—the Abyss and hell
Verse 9:1:  The verse in a few words creates questions in our minds.  With the blast of the fifth trumpet, a star falls from heaven to earth and is given the key to the “bottomless pit.”  So, the two questions are:
·         What is this star?
·         What is the “bottomless pit”?
Angels are sometimes represented by stars.  See Revelation 12:4.  So, this star, which behaves as a person, likely is an angel.  Which angel is it?  J. S. Russell, a nineteenth century scholar who developed the Preterist school of interpretation, believes that this “fallen star” is Satan himself.  (Russell, 412-413)  However, Ladd believes one should not emphasize the “fall” of the star.  This is just angel doing God’s work. (Ladd, 130) Rist agrees that this is an angel sent from God.  He refers to I Enoch, which names Uriel as the angel in charge of the bottomless pit. (431)  A careful reading of the passage, I believe, concurs with Ladd and Rist.  The expression, “star fallen from heaven to earth,” describes what John saw.  It was, perhaps, like a “falling star.”  The geometry of the picture gets the angel from heaven to earth.  It does not necessarily describe a moral/spiritual event.  The fact that the angel “is given” the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit seems to indicate that, as Ladd says, he is doing the work of God.  The fact that demons will show up does not necessarily connect this angel to the demons.
            The angel is given the key to the “shaft of the bottomless pit.”  The word that is translated “bottomless pit” is abussos or “abyss.”  Some translations have “bottomless pit” and some “abyss.”  The Septuagint uses the word to refer to the deep sea (Genesis 1:2) or to subterranean waters (Genesis 7:11).  It is possible that it refers to the realm of the dead in some places (Ladd, 130).  In the New Testament it can refer to the abode of the dead (Romans 10:7).  It also refers to a prison for demons (Luke 8:31).  Another word is also used for this prison, which is the verb form of tartaros, in II Peter 2:4.  So, in that verse, God “tartarosed” the angels who sinned:  He, one might say, made them experience Tartarus, which seems to be an alternate word for “Abyss.”  From this study, I cannot see a justification for using the term “bottomless pit,” which, evidently, is a traditional term used in the King James Version and followed by other versions.
            If we note the word picture carefully, we see that the angel is given the key to the shaft of the abyss.  This suggests that there is a lockable door on the earth’s surface that gives entrance to a shaft that leads to the Abyss. 
Verse 9:2:  When the angel opened up the shaft, smoke rose and blotted out the sun.  Some consider this smoke to come from the fires of “hell.”  To evaluate that idea, we should pause and recognize the complex idea of “hell.”
 According to Young’s concordance, the word translated “hell” in the Old Testament is “sheol.”  It so translated in the King James Version 31 times; it is translated “grave” 31 times and translated “pit” 3 times.  I did not check many references, but those I checked in ESV used “Sheol” rather than “hell” or “grave.”  In NIV, “grave” is used.  The Septuagint uses the Greek form of “Hades.”  Sheol is defined by Simpson as follows:
The underworld, whither it was believed a man’s shade went at death to continue an existence, colorless and without significance because it was separated from God (cf., eg., Ps. 115:17; Eccl. 9:10b). (Simpson, 756)
However, this pessimistic understanding was possibly an early Hebrew understanding that experienced development over time.  For example, see Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).  This New Testament account used “hades,” which was used by the Septuagint to render “Sheol.”  In that parable/story Jesus depicts all the parties, who have experienced physical death, as being fully conscious and able to communicate.  (See more on this below.)
Wright discusses the development of the Hebrew understanding of death.  He notes at least two references to the resurrection of the body in the Old Testament in Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2.  He states:  “In keeping with the unitary view of man, this doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is the only one which would be congenial to the biblical point of view.”  He is contrasting the Hebrew conception to the Greek view, which posited an immortality of the soul, but no resurrection.  (Wright, 370-371)  This was consistent with the dualism of the Greeks.  I have observed that it is the “standard” scholarly notion that the Hebrews could not conceive of life without the body.  However, I do note that the idea of Sheol requires some sort of existence, extra-corporeal, after physical death.  I say this with a full knowledge that the New Testament consistently envisions the resurrection of the body as God’s ultimate destiny for His people.
            In the New Testament, the Greek hades is translated in the King James Version as “hell” in all cases except I Corinthians 15:55, which uses “grave.”  NIV translates hades as “depths,” “hades,” “hell,” and “grave.”  ESV translates it as “hades” or “hell.”  As I noted above, the gospel writers used hades in 16:23 as a place where the dead go.  Jesus very likely used Sheol or an Aramaic equivalent when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  Notice that hades is used in Matthew 16:18, in which Jesus declared that the gates of hell will not overcome the church founded on the rock.  Exactly what that expression means is not clear.  Probably, Jesus meant that the forces of death will not overcome the church.
One might note the reasoning of Peter in Acts 2:24-32.  He quotes Psalm 16:8-11, with special emphasis on 16:10.  Psalm 16:10 is translated as follows:
·         In the King James Version:  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” 
·         In NIV:  “[Because] you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” 
·         In ESV:  “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 
 
Let us return to the Acts passage.  Peter quotes the Psalm.  The Greek of Acts 2:27 is an exact copy of the Septuagint Greek of Psalm 16:10. Where the Hebrew uses Sheol, the Greek uses hades.  Peter makes the point that David’s body is in the grave (David is considered the author of the Psalm that is quoted.).  So, Peter says that David prophesied of the resurrection of Christ and that the words “you will not abandon me to [hades]” apply to Christ (Acts 2:29-31).  In this context, the “grave” could be a reasonable translation of hades (as it is translated in NIV).  However, when one considers all the uses of hades, it seems to me that “realm of the dead” is what is meant in all instances.  Simply using “Hades,” as ESV does seems to be the best solution.  I should state that this brief discussion does not completely solve the issue of the destiny of the dead in the “intermediate state” (the situation between physical death and resurrection, whether of the righteous or the unrighteous). 
            One question pertinent to Revelation 9 is whether Hades corresponds to the Abyss.  I cannot see that it does.  We almost know nothing about Hades except what Jesus describes in Luke 16:19ff.  He describes a place where the unrighteous dead are in torment.  He also describes how the righteous dead were in “Abraham’s bosom [or side],” which was separated from where the unrighteous were, but within sight.  Many believe that this description is the situation of the dead until Jesus’ cross and resurrection.  Since we do have a picture of the righteous dead in heaven (for example, Revelation 6:9ff), this probably is correct, though evidence is slim.  At any rate, I do not see any correspondence between these descriptions of Hades and the description of the Abyss in Revelation 9.
            We need to mention two other words that are translated “hell”—tartaros and gehenna.  I have already mentioned Tartarus (or Tartaros).  It is only used once, and then in verb form (II Peter 2:4).  The fact that it is used as a verb makes one hesitant that a place is being named.  It might be that a condition is being named.  In that verse, Peter describes the sinful angels to be chained in gloomy darkness.  The question would be whether Tartarus corresponds to the Abyss.  The two have some correspondences, but the sinful angels are chained in Tartarus.  The demons that come forth from the Abyss seem to be locked up but not chained.  The demons in Luke 8 begged not to be confined in the Abyss (Luke 8:31).  There is no description of that place, but it seemed to be a prison for at least some demons.  There are two possibilities.  One is that when the angel unlocks the door to the shaft, the angels that are in chains are released from their chains.  The other possibility is that all the demons are not chained, but some are simply kept in the Abyss under lock and key.  This would make Tartarus and the Abyss the same.
            Gehenna is the other word that is translated “hell.”  Whereas the use of Hades is ambiguous, there is no mistaking the use of gehenna.  In every instance it is a place of punishment.  It is used 11 times in the New Testament, and 10 of those times are quotations of Jesus.  In 5 of those instances fire is associated with gehenna.  And in five of its mentions, the idea of being “thrown into” gehenna is used.  The word refers to the Valley of Hinnom.  This was a valley along the southwest boundary of Jerusalem.  It had been used for the burning of refuse and was the site for child sacrifices of some of the apostate Israelites. (See NIVSB notes to II Kings 23:10 and Matthew 5:22)  There is also a connection between Mark 9:48 and Isaiah 66:24, which describes unending torment.  (See ESVSB note on Isaiah 66:24.) 
            The final place of punishment is called the lake of fire.  It seems to correspond closely to gehenna.  Both have fire.  Persons are “thrown into” both.  Both are definite places of punishment.  Both appear to be final and eternal.  People and demons do not escape the lake of fire.  They are not let out of it nor kept in prison within it.  Therefore, gehenna—or the lake of fire—is not the same as the Abyss. 
            It appears to me that images from literature, which have been combined with popular imagination, have tied together various ideas that need to be untied, as follows.
·         Hell is pictured as a place where the unrighteous go when they die.  The Bible seems to envision a place called Hades, which is a “holding tank” where the unrighteous experience torture, but await the final judgment before being thrown (body and soul) into hell.
·         Hell is pictured as the abode of Satan and his demons.  The demons delight in tormenting people who go there.  But hell is a place where Satan and demons will be punished along with the unrighteous humans.
·         The demons that boil forth from the Abyss are thought by many to be coming from hell.  They think that the smoke is pouring out of hell.  This is not a correct understanding of the Abyss, which is a separate prison for at least some demons.
I propose (to recapitulate what I have already written) the following:
·         Sheol and Hades are the same place.  Probably Sheol was divided before Christ into Abraham’s bosom of bliss for the righteous and a place of torment for the unrighteous.  Those in Abraham’s bosom were transferred to heaven after Christ’s victory on the cross.
·         Tartarus and the Abyss are probably the same place.  It is a prison for at least some demons and/or fallen angels, who await the final judgment and eternal punishment.
·         Hell, gehenna, and the lake of fire are all the same.  It is the place of final punishment after the final judgment. 
I have given the uses in the New Testament (hopefully complete) of these various terms in the tables below. (I apologize for some problems with the tables.)
 
 
TERMS SOMETIMES TRANSLATED “HELL” IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
 
Greek
Trans-
Literation
Or
English
equivalent
KJV
NIV
ESV
Mt. 11.23
Hades
Hell
Depths
Hades
16.18
Hades
Hell
Lk. 10.15
Depths
Hades
16.23
Hell
Hades
Acts 2.27
Grave
Hades
2.31
Grave
Hades
Rev. 1.18
Hades
Hades
6.8
Hades
Hades
20.13
Hades
Hades
20.14
Hades
Hades
Mt. 5.22, 29, 10.28, 18.9, 23.15
23.33; Mk. 9.43, 45, 47; Lk. 12.5,
Jas. 3.6
gehenna
Hell
Hell
Hell
II Peter 2.4
Tartaros
Hell
Hell
Hell
Rev. 19.20
Lake of
Fire
Lake of
fire
Fiery lake
 
                      KJV                   NIV                  ESV
20.10
Lake of
Fire
Lake of
Fire
Lake of
Burning
Sulfur
 
20.14
 
Lake of
Fire
 
20.15
 
 
21.8
Lake
Which
Burns
With fire
Lake
Which
Burneth with
Fire
Fiery lake
Of burning sulfur
Lake that burns with fire
 
 
 
USE OF GEHENNA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND
ASSOCIATED IDEAS
 
 
Fire
Throw into
Destroy
Jesus said
1
Mt. 5.22
X
 
 
X
2
5.29
 
X
 
X
3
10.28
 
 
X
X
4
18.9
X
X
 
X
5
23.15
 
 
 
X
6
23.33
 
 
 
X
7
Mk 9.43
X
 
 
X
8
9.45
 
X
 
X
9
9.47
X
X
 
X
10
Lk. 12.5
 
X
 
X
11
Jas. 3.6
X
 
 
 
 
Verses 9:3-6—the role of the locusts
Verse 9:3:  The brief scenarios of Revelation, though bizarre and phantasmagoric, follow a definite story line.  So, we have the opening of the (implied) door to a shaft that leads to the Abyss.  Smoke pours out of the shaft.  Then, we are able to make out locusts that are swirling in the smoke and then emerging from the smoke and landing on the earth.  Then, we are jarred by a new notion:  these locusts have “power like the power of scorpions.”  The word that is translated “power” (egzousia) is often translated “authority.”  “Power” and “authority” overlap in their meanings.  For example, a king has authority over his subjects, and that authority enables him—gives him the power—to demand that they do certain things.  The old story about the drill sergeant is appropriate.  He said to the recruit:  “I cannot make you do anything, but I can sure make you wish had.”  His authority consisted in two things:  the authority to give orders to the recruit and the authority to give additional orders to others that would make the recruit wish he had obeyed.  In a sense, the second authority is a form of power that can bring about physical harm (if nothing other than throwing someone in a holding cell). 
The other word for power in the New Testament (dunamis) is more on the order of raw physical power.  It can include the display of miraculous power.  We would think that the power of the locusts, if it is comparable to the power of scorpions, would be a dunamis kind of power.  However, when we consider verses 9:20-21, we can see that the power of the locusts was an authority to coerce people through their torments in order to bring them toward repentance.
Ladd considers that the comparison of the locusts to scorpions is not only because of their ability to inflict scorpion-like stings (which may not be physical stings) but also because scorpions are used as symbols of demonic forces.  See Luke 10:19.  (Ladd, 131) Rist and Ladd see Old Testament parallels to the plague of locusts. (Rist, 432; Ladd, 129)  The eighth Exodus plague was of locusts (Exodus 10).  The whole book of Joel is built around an invasion of locusts.
Verse 9:4:  These locusts, of course, were very different from the Old Testament locust plagues.  First, of all they did not behave as ordinary locusts, which can strip a field bare of vegetation.  Their orders were to leave the vegetation alone and to inflict their harm on people—those people who had not been sealed by God (see 7:3).  We see here a differentiation among people.  Ladd (132) believes that these plagues of the trumpets will take place during the Tribulation, which is the last seven years before the Second Coming, especially the latter half of that period.  He considers that, from God’s point of view, this period is a “beginning of the wrath of God on rebellious society.”  The people of the church, who have been sealed to mark them as belonging to God, will not be harmed by the wrathful plagues.  This does not mean that they will not suffer persecution from the evil society of that day.  This persecution is especially brought out in chapter 13.  It is not considered “politically correct” to differentiate among people in our time.  Yet, the Bible consistently makes distinctions—between Cain and all others, between Noah and the rest of humankind, between Israel and “the nations” (the goyim), between those who confess Jesus and those who do not, between the sheep and the goats, between those who are saved by grace through faith and the dead in transgressions and sins, and so forth.  So, the locusts were to distinguish between those who were sealed and those who were not.
            Incidentally, Metzger’s understanding is that the target victims are the persecutors of the church in John’s day. (Metzger, 65)  This does not mean that Metzger does not have somewhat of a futurist understanding of Revelation, but that he considers that John understood the Second Coming would be taking place shortly.  Thus, the persecutions that are described in Revelation, Metzger believes, reflect the time of Domitian.  (Metzger, 15-17, 18)
Verse 9:5:  The locusts were allowed to torment their victims, but not to kill them.  Their form of torture was not what a locust can inflict (a locust can bite, but it can hardly be felt), but the sting of a scorpion, which is very painful.  And they were limited to a period of five months.  Metzger (65) and Ladd (132) point out that locusts of that area typically flourished during the five warmest months of the year, so this might be part of the reason for the limitation of five months.  At this point we should pause and understand some things (with which the commentators all concur):  These are not ordinary locusts.  Most likely they are demonic spirits that torture their victims, possibly with psychological/spiritual suffering or possibly with physical pain or possibly some combination of the two kinds of harm.  Thus, though the naturalistic background that commentators give is interesting and may have some relevance, we recognize that John’s vision is not a naturalistic phenomenon. 
            I should also point out that, in these early verses of the passage, John is describing the role or mission of the locust-demons.  In the latter verses of the passage, he explains that the locusts have scorpion-like tails and stingers.  This explains how they inflict their pain. 
Verse 6:  Perhaps no other verse so vividly portrays the horrors of the plagues of Revelation than this verse:  “And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.”  This statement, I think, tells us two things.  First, it is a portrayal of the horror of the plagues.  Second, it is a portrayal of the spiritual condition of the people.  Suicide is one of the saddest and extreme traumas that can come to a family.  One reason for that is that suicide is just the opposite of the whole course of life.  We grow up with an instinct for life.  Self-preservation is as natural as breathing.  Sometimes, life can push our morale to the brink, but most of us, even without God in our lives, have resources, including our support system, that help us through those times.  Thus, when someone reaches such a low estate that he or she contemplates suicide, the spiritual condition of that person is quite desperate.  I do not mean to say that we should judge such a person as to their salvation.  I simply mean that suicide is the outcome of a very dark spiritual time. 
            I have observed in the last several years what seems to be a suicidal tendency among people which takes an especially demonic turn.  I am referring to the epidemic of mass killings.  As one observes and learns of the background of these individuals, it almost always obvious that their central intention is to die in the midst of their murderous attacks.  It is the nature of suicide to strike out at what is loved and dear in a horrific perversion of love.  Generally, that is accomplished through the taking of one’s own life—an act that the perpetrator knows will be devastating to his or her loved ones.  But we see also that same type of thinking in the mother who kills her children, the father who kills his family, the mass slayer who takes the lives of strangers as a prologue to his (they are almost always males) own suicide.  Although some regulation of firearms is pertinent to the discussion of these mass slayings, I think that discussion is beside the point.  What our secular society cannot fathom is the spiritual dimension of these killings.  The mass murderer screams to us all:  “We are utterly destroyed in our spirits!  We have no hope, no love, no future!  Death is our only friend!”  This is a Satan-inspired collapse of the spirit, which we see in the extreme in the mass-murderer, but that is symptomatic of who we are as a society.
            I believe that this emptiness and darkness of the hearts of people is a prelude to the Tribulation period.  When these horrific plagues begin to take place, people are predisposed to seek death.  Jesus said that “the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)  In every era of church history, what has been called for is endurance.  I remember a preacher’s words shot like an arrow into my heart many years ago:  “The temptation is to quit!”  In this time in which we live, we need to deepen and strengthen our relationship to Jesus as never before.  The times now call for endurance, and the time to come will call for even greater endurance.  As people are seeking death all around us, let us proclaim the life that is in Jesus Christ.
REFERENCES:
Crossway Bibles (2009-04-09). ESV Study Bible. Good News Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Ladd, George Eldon.  A Commentary on the Revelation of John.  Grand Rapids:  William B.
            Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1972.
Metzger, Bruce M.  Breaking the Code.  Understanding the Book of Revelation.  Nashville: 
            Abingdon Press, 1993.
Rist, Martin.  “The Revelation of St. John the Divine” Exegesis.  The Interpreter’s Bible.  Vol. XII.
            Nolan B. Harmon, Ed.  New York:  Abingdon Press, 1957.  
Russell, J. S.  The Parousia, A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our
            Lord’s Second Coming.  (Google Internet Book)  London:  Daldy, Isbister
            & Co., 1878.
Simpson, Cuthbert A. “The Book of Genesis” Exegesis in The Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. 1.  Nolan B.
            Harmon, ed. Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1952. 
Wright, G. Earnest. “The Faith of Israel” in The Interpreter’s Bible. Vol. 1.  Nolan B. Harmon, ed.
            Nashville:  Abingdon Press, 1952. 
Zondervan NIV Study Bible.  Grand Rapids:  Zondervan Publ., 2002