Demonic Locusts From the Abyss (Revelation 9:1-12)

Terrorizing only the ungodly with unimaginable pain without the release of death for five months is Satan unmasked, revealing his malevolent intentions upon his own in the Fifth Trumpet Judgment. “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:1 KJV). The game is up and the hand of the wicked one is forced by the Almighty, incentivizing repentance 
to those previously not so inclined in this latter part of the Tribulation Week, but why then not sudden and total mass defection from the wicked one? The chains of bondage to sin go to the depths of humanity’s normal inaction in the face of divine displeasure. The hidden curses upon all has piled up, where ‘every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,’ as observed by Abraham Lincoln (March 4, 1865), who further declared, “The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Psalm 19:9). Father, it is our unimagined delight to so petition You with this affection of Your parentage. We have such tangled webs of curses ensnaring us, we find it bewildering to address. Abba Father, deliver us! Show us Your glory! In Jesus’ sin delivering name, we pray. Amen and amen.