October 29: FIFTH TRUMPET ENDS
They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. Revelation 9:10
A great importance was placed upon military standards carried in parades and into battle: poles with horsetails attached in a circular fashion carried by designated riders. They served as potent symbols of power and authority, and indicators of official rank. High-ranking generals and the Sultan himself would be preceded by standard-bearers whose poles bore multiple tails (up to nine). They believed that the bravery of the animals from which the tails were taken was divinely infused into the fighting soldiers during battle.
From the time of Mohammed’s death (8 June 632) until the late 1200s, the Mohammedans were split into numerous factions, each with a different leader. There was no central umbrella of government over them. But Othman succeeded in consolidating them under his leadership, in what came to be known as the Ottoman Empire. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. (v.11) These names, respectively, mean place of destruction and destroyer, and serve to characterize the Ottoman leadership and government. The government founded by Othman, the messenger or angel of the bottomless pit, became a single grand monarchy with a widespread reputation for ferocity. Remember that these are the descendants of Ishmael, a wild donkey of a man [whose] hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers (Genesis 16:12 NIV).
The five months is repeated from v.5 for emphasis. This period began with the first incursion against the eastern leg of the divided Roman empire (the Byzantine segment) under consolidated Islam on 27 July 1299, thus launching the five months or 150 literal years. These tormenting attacks were overarched by the restraining hand of God, and though the Mohammedans by this time were known throughout the world as the fiercest and cruelest of bandits, they were divinely withheld from killing and conquering during the entirety of the prophesied five months. A relentless, continuous series of surprise attacks in various cities and villages occupied by the idolatrous church, including repeated advances against the walls of Constantinople proved to inflict much pain and mental anguish, causing the unrepentant nominal Christians to live in bitterness and stinging misery, regarding death as better than life (v.6).
In brief review of chapter 9 thus far: The Christian church’s departure from Biblical truths plunged the world into the Dark Ages. The smoke of their image worship obscured Christ’s mediation as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary and the work of His Holy Spirit in the hearts of the people. Divine judgements resulted: locusts, in the form of the Mohammedans who became God’s army to address the apostasy. Those Christians who were sealed in their foreheads* by the Holy Spirit were not subjected to the punishments of the trumpets (v.4).
One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. (v.12)
*God’s seal is described in the midst of the Ten Commandments and visible to the onlooking world. See Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; 6:8,24; Isaiah 66:23; Jeremiah 31:33; Ephesians 1:13-14; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16; Revelation 14:1; 20:4; 22:4