Death Takes a Vacation Revelation 9:6

As John the apostle continued to share about the “tribulation” that was to come upon the earth, he shared concerning the first six seals Jesus removed from the “scroll” in God's right hand. He wrote about what happened when Jesus, “had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets … And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first, second, third and fourth angels sounded” their trumpets, and John “beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! John continued, “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. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And 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 strikes a man.” In chapter nine and verse six John saw how “death shall flee from them” where we read:

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it;

and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

The verse reads, “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it;” John began with the words, “and in those days” which means “and at that time and period” “shall men” or “will people both male and female” “seek death” which means “will strive after, require, demand and crave dying and the loss of their lives” “and shall not find it” which means “and these people will not come upon, discover, understand, recognize or detect death”. John saw how the people who were “tortured” by the “locust that ascended in the smoke from the bottomless pit” would not be able to die though they shall earnestly look for death.

The verse continues, “and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” John added the words, “and shall desire” which means “these affected people will want, crave, covet and lust after” “to die” or “death or loss of their lives”, “and death” which means “and dying or loss of their lives” “shall flee” or “will seek safety by flight, vanish and escape” “from them” or “away and separate from the people who were tortured by the locusts”. Though the people who are tormented by the “locusts” shall desire and seek after “death”, they shall not be able to die.

When we consider John's words in this verse, we see how ominous this judgment is upon the people who are “tortured” by the “locusts from the bottomless pit”. “Death” would be a comfort for these people who shall endure “five months” of “torture”, but it will not come for them. They shall remain in suffering, and no one will give them relief. God desires to “save” people from this horrific judgment, and only those who refuse to receive His Son Jesus Christ as “Savior and Lord” shall know these things. Let all who read these words take heed...death will take a vacation, and those who suffer from the “locusts” shall not find any relief.

Next time John shares, “shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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