Introduction:
a local station in Pennsylvania. He is eager to beat a hasty retreat, but when a freak snowstorm strands him in Punxsutawney, he wakes up the next morning with the strangest sense of déjà vu: he seems to be living the same day over again. The next morning it happens again, and then again. Soon, no matter what he does, he’s stuck in February 2, 1992; nothing will allow him to escape this day. In desperation he tries suicide again and again but he always wakes up uninjured and facing February second all over again. The nightmare continues and it seems nothing can get him out of the loop. Now that was a movie, it is not real but there is a time coming when men will attempt suicide again and again like Phil in Groundhog day but all attempts will fail. For five months men will seek death but death will escape them. Can you image the horror; can you even image how bad things will be that men would take such measures?

Summary… Last week we looked at the fifth trumpet judgment and looked at the terror of the Dreadful Locust. Out of the smog of the abyss comes a swarm of dreadful locust and scorpion- like creatures? They are locusts unlike anything we have ever seen. These “locusts” have been imprisoned for centuries and are prepared for battle. They have the power of a scorpion but hundreds of times larger and more venomous. They are fallen angels…2 types.
They will be shaped like locust, likened unto horses that have faces like men, hair like women, and teeth as lions. These creatures have breastplates of iron and their wings are as “the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle”. They also possess stings in their tails like scorpions. This morning we continue with…

I The Torment of these Locust Vv.4-6

1. These spiritual beings unleashed become some sort of mutant locust and given power to smite their own evil co-hordes. Remember angels can appear in various form even ministers of light. Locust in the Bible attacked vegetation such as in the eighth plague on Egypt but these are given direct instruction not to hurt anything green but to attack mankind with the exception of the sealed of God.

2. Notice their target is any man vv.5 or woman that is not God’s! In Revelation 9:4 we are told that the creatures were instructed to only sting those that did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. This means that just like the plagues in Egypt, God’s people are not harmed during this judgment. Note chapter 7 of Revelation and verse 3:12, it tells us that the overcomer, the true believer is going to have the name of His God written on him. This seal indicates that He belongs to God, also, Revelation chapter 22:4 they shall see His face and His name shall be on their foreheads.

a) They have the power to inflict excruciating pain on the inhabitants of the world. They have the sting of a Scorpion. Suffering caused by these demonic’ is compared to that of a scorpion sting. When capturing a victim with its claws, the scorpion inflicts a disabling sting with its tail. In most species the sting is painful, it delivers a disabling sting, but not fatal, to humans, although the sting of one species found in the United States has proved fatal to young children and is potentially fatal to adults.

b) When a person has been stung by a scorpion, the part around the wound swells and becomes very painful, the hands and feet become cold, the skin is pale, and there is a feeling as though there were needles in every part of it. Research proves that when someone is stung by a scorpion and gets the full blast of their poison, they will roll on the ground in agony, foam at the mouth and grind their teeth in pain.

3. These creatures will not kill those who they sting. The sting will torment them for five months. The torment and pain is so great and excruciating that they will wish they were dead. Death will flee from them; the word Pheugō means to escape safely out of danger. People will want to die but will not be able to! During these five months people will attempt suicide, they will seek death. They’ll be devising all kinds of means and ways. Maybe bodies won’t drown or sink. Maybe they’ll drink poison but it won’t kill them. Bullets won’t be fatal. Falls won’t crush them. Either they just won’t die or maybe still they suffer the trauma they inflict but death flees from them as per our introduction.

4. This judgme
In the classic film Groundhog Day … Bill Murray played Phil, a TV weatherman working for nt is one of mercy. It is also a severe judgment to those who don’t repent. There’s no relief, there’s no way out. This has a tone of grace and mercy does it not?
Possible the reason they will not die is so that this will get some of their attention and they will submit to Jesus Christ as Savior. God is a God of second chances!

II The Characteristic of these Locust Vv.7-11

1. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.” They are warlike. They are defiant. They are armed. They’re powerful. They’re bent on destruction. Their heads are crowned like gold, that is shining and sovereign. They have the crown, stephanos, the victor’s crown. They are invincible, there’s no cure for the sting. They are dominant. They are sovereign. Their faces are like the faces of men. What does that mean? They are intelligent beings. They are rational beings.

2. Their hair like women, perhaps they are seductive, with luring abilities. Their teeth are like the teeth of lions, fierce and powerful and deadly. Their breastplates are invulnerable and sensitive and they are strong like iron. The sound of their wings is like chariots, many horses rushing to battle. They are inescapable. There is no place for refuge. They’re fast, they’re mobile, and nothing stops them. Then again they have tails like scorpions and stings in their tails … their leader is Satan himself!

Note verse 20… I have always been amazed at how stubborn and prideful man can be!
With all of this destruction and with all the pleading of the Lord, people still won’t repent!

Henry Nelson, of Wilmington, Delaware, was a veteran of WWII. He had served as an instructor in the Army Chemical Warfare Department, yet he ignored a warning by the superintendent of his Housing Development. The apartment he lived in was being fumigated with hydrogen-cyanide gas. A neighbor saw him remove the sign and barricade and went in the building after two blankets. Neighbors called the Development office but when employees arrived it was too late. Nelson lay sprawled on the living room floor with two blankets in his arms. Despite both written and verbal warnings, and despite his training in the Army, he had gone to his death.

Conclusion:

For many millennia’s the heavens have declared the glory of God and has shown forth His handiwork. And now the heavens are declaring His wrath. When you come to the end of those first five trumpets you wonder how the earth could ever survive.
Ezekiel 33:11 says, “God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” I suppose that’s why there are over six hundred warnings in Scripture about hell. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He is always eager to warn the lost about judgment to come. God will not force His changes upon us; neither can we bring about lasting change in our lives apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.