Divine restraints.
"It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them."
Revelation 9v4-6
Imagine the stories of the demon possessed people in the time of Jesus, but multiplied many, many times. Quotations like "coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way;" and again "one who had his dwelling among the tombs and no man could bind him no not with chains..... neither could any man tame him." These stories and others from the gospels are but a faint picture of what is here. Powerful, untamable beings, ready to vent their anger wherever they can. Faced with a scene like this we have the delightful truth inserted here that whilst no man can tame these, they are under the restraint of a sovereign God. Here in one of the darkest episodes of human history we have clearly presented the restraining hand of God. All may seem to be chaos and uncontrolled but they are under the restrictions placed by God which are described as follows:
- He restricted their sphere of operations. They were not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree. These are the very things that natural locusts would attack and so we know that these are not literal locusts.
- Their target is to be the people of the earth, but with a definite prohibition; they are not to touch the sealed servants of God.
. Once again we see the sovereign control of God, because in their vicious quest they are enabled to distinguish between God's people and those who are not. It is a source of great wonder that the evil in this world is under divine restraint.
- He limits the extent of hurt that they can administer. They are not allowed to kill A similar thing is stated in Job chapters 1&2.
- He limits the time period of their operations to five months only. This is unique because five months if the average life span of a natural locust, and so the picture is made perfect. They will not be able to maraud beyond this time.
The object was to inflict pain like the sting of a scorpion, apparently a very painful experience. Those of us living in Europe have probably never felt anything like it, but the pain is considerable and the poison spreads to all parts of the body. Therefore over a five month period these creatures will inflict pain on humanity to a degree that people will be crying out for death to relieve them of their pain but this will be denied. All of this of course would be considered barbaric in a world with a fixation of human rights rather than human responsibilities. God is going to teach this world differently in these times.
The picture of people in so much pain, that they cry out for death as the only way out, is, indeed, very vivid. By some supernatural power in those days men will not even be able to take their own lives. This fact brings before us the awesome picture of what the lake of fire will be like for all eternity. In Revelation 20v10 it says that the devil and the beast and the false prophet shall be "tormented day and night forever and forever." This five month period of torment without death is but a precursor to the eternal torment in the lake of fire. God is illustrating here His ability to withdraw death as a relief for torment. This is about the closest I can come to the awful truth of eternal punishment. For all eternity rejectors of God will be conscious in a state of torment. In the words of Jesus in Mark 9 v 43-44, a quotation from Isaiah 66v24 "Gehenna, the fire that shall never be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." This truth may well be unpalatable, but it is the truth.
Oh sinner seek His grace, whose wrath thou canst not bear,
Flee to the shelter of the cross and find salvation there!
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