The Unleashing Of Hell
Sermon Notes
Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Revelation, and it’s a series about finding peace in a world of chaos. The text we’re studying today is about Satan and the demonic. It’s about Satan and the demonic being unleashed at the end of history. Most skeptics and believers would agree there’s evil in the world. But we’ll disagree on the spiritual influence Satan and the demonic have on the evil in the world. It’s because skeptics, atheists don’t believe in Satan and the demonic. They believe evil exists in the world, and they believe people can do evil things in the world. But they don’t believe in the spiritual influence Satan and the demonic have on the evil in the world. They don’t believe there’s a spiritual world that influences the physical world, instead they believe everything that’s happening is the result of our natural evolution in the physical world.
But if that’s true, then how did humans first come up with the concept of evil?...How did humans first recognize something was evil?...How can we recognize something is evil, if it’s just a part of the natural physical world?...I mean the natural physical world doesn’t care about what’s good or evil, what’s right or wrong, it only cares about doing whatever is necessary to survive. A lion doesn’t care if eating a zebra is right or wrong, they don’t consider being a vegetarian. They only care about doing whatever is necessary to survive. The natural physical world isn’t about good and evil, it’s about survival. So if you believe in the concept of good and evil, you didn’t get that concept from observing the natural physical world, from observing a lion eating a zebra. In fact if the natural physical world is the only thing that exists, it means we can’t claim anything in life is good or evil. It means life isn’t about good or evil, it’s about doing whatever we can to survive without any moral conscience, just like a lion. But deep down inside both skeptics and believers know evil is reality. We know evil is more than a concept, it’s a reality, and so are the spiritual forces behind that reality. Evil, Satan, the demonic are real, and today’s text teaches us what happens when Satan and the demonic become unleashed at the end of history. So let’s turn to Revelation 9 and check it out. You’ll find Revelation in the back of the bible, it’s the very last book of the bible, and we’ll be in Revelation 9:1-21. Title of the message is The Unleashing of Hell. The big idea of the message is hell starts to become unleashed, when God’s restraining grace is released...Hell starts to become unleashed, when God’s restraining grace is released...
Here’s your context. The book of revelation is about the 2nd coming of Jesus, and what will happen at the end of history when he finally returns. We divided the entire book into four major sections based on four major visions Jesus gives to John the author, and right now we’re in the 2nd vision which is of Jesus and the Cosmos. It’s of Jesus ruling over the entire cosmos, and his wrath being poured out against sin and evil. In ch 8 we learned that John heard 7 trumpets, which implies there’s 7 stages to God’s final judgement. It won’t happen all it once, it’ll happen in 7 stages, and today we’re studying the 5th and 6th stages, which is when hell becomes unleashed. Let’s check it out.
Revelation 9:1-21, “The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him.” This is the 5th trumpet, the 5th stage in God’s final judgement, and in this stage John sees a star had fallen from heaven to earth. He isn’t talking about a literal star, he’s talking about a person. He says the key to the abyss was given to him, meaning it was given to a person. The person we’re talking about here is most likely Satan, because he’s considered a fallen star, a fallen angel, king of the demonic and the abyss. The abyss is the deepest part of the underworld where the darkest demons are incarcerated. In this 5th stage of final judgement Satan will be given the keys to the abyss, and he’ll unleash these demons and other demons. He’ll unleash hell on earth. John Phillips states, “Picture what the world would be like if we opened the doors to all the penitentiaries on earth, set the world’s most vicious and violent criminals free, giving them full reign to practice atrocities on mankind. Something worse than that is coming for the world. It’s Satan cast out of heaven, permitted to summon the most diabolical villains in the abyss, to bring mankind to the footstool of the Beast.”
See at this point in history everyone on earth is experiencing what theologians call God’s restraining grace. It’s God restraining or holding back Satan, demons, human sin, and evil from being fully unleashed in the world. Right now God’s allowing us to have free will with a seatbelt, free will with an airbag of grace. What’s the point of a seatbelt and an airbag? It isn’t to prevent you from getting into a wreck, it’s to prevent you from being fully harmed when you’re in a wreck. God’s restraining grace is free will with a seatbelt, it’s free will with an airbag of grace, preventing us from being fully harmed by Satan, demons, human sin, and evil. Without his restraining grace in our world, Satan, demons, human sin, and evil would be unleashed to the fullest extremes. It’d be a world without any laws, without any law enforcement, without any militaries to restrain evil. Without God’s restraining grace on Satan, demons, human sin, and evil, it’d be hell on earth. Johnathan Edwards states, “In hell God lets the wickedness of wicked spirits have the reins, to rage without restraint. It would be a great measure on earth as it is in hell, if it wasn’t for God restraining the wickedness of the world.” We should be thankful for the restraining grace we’re experiencing now, because when Satan unlocks the abyss and unleashes his demons, it’ll be hell on earth. Hell starts to become unleashed, when God’s restraining grace starts to become released.
Vs. 2, “He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace, so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth.” The locusts are a symbolic description of the numerous demons being released from the abyss. John uses locusts to describe these demons because locust swarms are known for being very destructive and too numerous to count. For example in 1889 a locust swarm by the Red Sea covered over 2,000 square miles. In 1951 the worse locust swarm in modern times destroyed nearly every green field and growing crop in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, for hundreds of thousands of square miles. What John’s saying is these demons being released from the abyss, are very destructive and far too numerous to count. He says they have power like a scorpion, meaning humanity will feel tremendous pain and agony from the sting of their attack.
Vs. 4, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion’s sting.” Notice the amount of torment they can cause is limited, and it’s limited in three ways. First, it’s limited on who they can torment. They’re told they can only torment those who don’t have God’s seal through faith in Jesus, meaning they can only torment those who aren’t Christians. Second, they’re limited on how they can torment. They’re told they can torment people, but they can’t kill them. Third, they’re limited on when they can torment. They’re told they can torment people, but it can only be for five months. Their torment is limited to who, how, and when. The point is God’s so powerful, that his restraining grace is keeping Satan and demons on a leash. We don’t have to fear this Satanic and demonic invasion, because our savior Jesus has Satan and demons on a leash. But those who aren’t Christians won’t find any relief from the torment, unless they repent and turn to Jesus for salvation. John MacArthur states, “God, in His mercy, will give people torment for five months during which they cannot die, and they will be given the opportunity to repent and embrace the gospel. The five months will be for many people, their last opportunity to repent and believe before they die.” So the five months of torment is actually an act of God’s mercy, because he’s giving people a chance to wake up to the reality of hell before going to hell. He’s giving them a chance to experience hell on earth, so they don’t have to experience hell in the deepest part of the abyss. He’s giving them a chance to repent and turn to him, before it’s too late.
Vs. 6, “In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. 7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. Something like golden crowns were on their heads; their faces were like human faces; 8 they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth; 9 they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; 10 and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months.”What John’s describing is the appearance of the locusts, the appearance of Satan’s demonic army prepared for battle. These descriptions aren’t meant to be taken literally, which is why John uses the word like 8 times in these verses. He doesn’t say they are these things, he says they’re like these things, and each description has symbolic implications. For example when John says their faces were like human faces, he’s saying they’re intelligent beings like human beings. When he says they have teeth like lions teeth, he’s saying they’re fierce and powerful in their attacks like lions. When he says they had chests like iron breastplates, he’s saying they’re heavily protected. All of this is John’s way of trying to describe what Satan’s demonic army is like. He’s saying Satan’s demonic army is intelligent, fierce, powerful, heavily protected, and ready for battle. They’re ready for a battle we can’t win, without the restraining and saving grace of Jesus.
Vs. 11, “They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.” Some scholars say their king, the angel of the abyss, is a highly ranked demonic leader in Satan’s army. Others say it’s Satan since he’s considered the king of the abyss. Regardless the point is Satan’s army has a leader who’s leading the way in causing torment and destruction to humanity. In fact John says this leader’s been given the names Abaddon and Apollyon, which means destruction. Both names mean destruction, destroyer, one who destroys. It’s an appropriate name for the leader of this demonic death squad that’s coming from the abyss. It’s possible John’s also using these names as a creative dig against the Greco Roman god Apollo, especially due to the heavy persecution Christians were experiencing during this time under the Roman Emperor Domitian, who claimed he was the reincarnated Apollo. Either way John ends this 5th trumpet, this 5th stage of final judgement, by reminding us there’s two more stages of final judgement left.
Vs. 13, “The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, I heard a voice 14 say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15 So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race.” This is the 6th trumpet, the 6th stage in the final judgement, and in this stage John says a third of the human race was killed. The four angels in this text represent four fallen angels, four demons, and what makes these demonic warriors different than the ones we just studied is they’re allowed to take human life. They’re allowed to take a third of the human population. If we combine these deaths with the deaths in the previous chapters from global wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. If we combine all that with these demonic attacks, over 50% of the human population will have died. It would be a lot higher than that, if it wasn’t for God’s restraining grace. It would be a lot higher than that, if it wasn’t for God setting limits on the amount of destruction these events can cause. I mean we’re even seeing God’s restraining grace again here with this 6th trumpet. His restraining grace is preventing these demonic warriors from being able to do whatever they want whenever they want. Vs. 15 says they can’t do anything until the prepared hour, day, month, and year. They’re being restrained up to the very last hour! But we also see his restraining grace is limiting the amount of people these demonic warriors can kill. They can kill a third of the human population, but they can’t kill the entire human population. For that third of the human population their time to repent and turn to Jesus is up, but God’s restraining grace is still allowing a little more time for the rest of the human population to repent and turn to him. His retraining grace still has Satan and these demonic warriors on a leash, and they’ll remain on that leash to the very last hour.
Vs. 16, “The number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17 This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails resemble snakes and have heads that inflict injury.” Again these descriptions aren’t meant to be taken literally. John’s simply describing the army he's seeing in this 6th trumpet, this 6th stage, but this time he mentions the massive size of this army. John says there’s 200 million warriors! This isn’t an unrealistic number considering how many nations would form alliances in a time like this. I mean at one point China alone reported they had over 200 million soldiers. So this is a massive army, but it isn’t an unrealistic army. The 200 million could be demonic warriors, human warriors influenced by demonic warriors, or a mixture of both. Either way it’s a massive army, and their intentions are to kill many.
Vs. 20, “The rest of the people who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.” Notice John repeatedly says the remaining human population did not repent. They didn’t repent for the sins they were clinging to. Their hearts are so prideful they’d rather cling to their sins, than cling to the savior. They’d rather suffer torment from the demons, than receive salvation from the Savior. C.S. Lewis once wrote, “The choice of every lost soul can be expressed in these words, ‘Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven.’ There is always something they insist on keeping, even at the price of misery...You see it easily enough in a spoiled child, that would rather miss playing and miss supper, than say sorry.” His point is some people would rather suffer, than say sorry to the Savior. Some people would rather serve themselves and suffer, than serve Jesus and be saved. C.S. Lewis states, “I willingly believe that the damned are successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked, from the inside.”
The big idea of the message is that hell starts to become unleashed, when God’s restraining grace is released...Deep down inside both skeptics and believers know evil is a reality. We know evil is more than a concept, it’s a reality, and today’s text teaches there’s spiritual forces behind that reality. Evil, Satan, the demonic are real, and today’s text teaches what happens when Satan and the demonic become unleashed at the end of history. For those who are Christians, we can find hope in knowing our savior has Satan and demons on a leash. We can find hope in knowing God’s restraining grace, will put Satan and demons in their place. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jesus has a glorious plan and future for those who put their faith in him.
But for those who don’t, a time is coming when his restraining grace will be released, and it’ll be hell on earth. In the words of John MacArthur, “No one is neutral in the cosmic battle; everyone is either a part of the kingdom of Jesus or the domain of darkness. As people yield to one sphere or the other, they become the companions of Jesus or the companions of Satan; the companions of holy angels, or the companions of demons. To doubt that reality is the gravest mistake a person can make, because making the wrong choice, results in eternal disaster.” Satan, demons, and evil are real, but so is the savior. So is the savior, who has them on a leash. Jesus is that savior, and he offers salvation, restoration, relief, a hopeful future to anyone who turns to him. Do you need salvation?...Do you need restoration?...Do you need relief from your struggles in life?...Do you need a hopeful future?...There’s hope in the savior, so let’s turn to the savior.