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Revelation 9:10
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10 And [kai] they had [echo] tails [oura] like [homoios] unto scorpions, [skorpios] and [kai] there were [en] stings [kentron] in [en] their [autos] tails: [oura] and [kai] their [autos] power [exousia] was to hurt [adikeo] men [anthropos] five [pente] months. [men] KJV-Interlinear
10 And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. NASB
Remember that John uses phrases such as ‘like’ and ‘appear’ and ‘as it were’ to describe the demons. Nowhere do we have an exact description of them. John in his description is attempting to use things that are common to his knowledge, to approximate a picture for us, of how these demons look and operate. And needless to say, their appearance and nature, is way beyond bizarre.
The last attribute is a tail. One that apparently curls up like that of a scorpion, and having a stinger of some type.
We assume from the context that they will use their stinging abilities, as well as their biting abilities from their teeth, to torment people.
Their purpose? To hurt men. And more specifically as we have already studied, to hurt unbelievers, not believers in Christ.
How they will be able to differentiate between a believer and an unbeliever, we are not told, but needless to say, God is the referee, and there will be no foul or transgression of the rules that God has laid down for these demons.
The purpose? To shake unbelievers to their senses, and get them to see truth, putting aside the lies that they have made out of their lives, and believe in Christ and therefore be saved from eternal condemnation.
To hurt, ‘adikeo,’ means to be unjust, to do wrong, to injure, to take, to make suffer, to be treacherous. And therefore, we know that the demons will use all of the resources at their disposal to torment unbelievers, to take away their dignity, to drive them to the point of emotional frenzy.
Remember, that people will be driven to the point of wanting suicide, rather than continuing with the torments, and likewise rather than believing in Christ.
For the hard core unbelievers, their common sense and rationalization will be anything but practical. Their reasoning will be absurd.
This event will not be something that they will hear about, or read about, occurring somewhere else. It will not be some unusual anomaly that is here one day and then gone. This event is going to exist across the entire planet, and will affect nearly every person on the planet, and it will last for a full five months.
No one (unbelievers) is exempt, not rulers, not celebrities, not peasants, no one.
The mere unusual nature of this event, should be enough to convince everyone that they are on the wrong track as far as God is concerned. But as we will see, most will not only hold on, to their negative attitude toward Christ, they will become even more defiant.
And the lesson for us is simple. Even in the most extreme cases, people will stubbornly reject truth, when it should be the most easy to turn toward truth. So how, much easier is it to reject truth now, when the pressure is not near as extreme?
Regardless of what kinds of pressures you have or might have in life, if you simply ignore your God assigned obligation to study doctrine (that is, learn from a legitimate instructor of truth), and far too many people have a very passive and subtle attitude toward their spiritual life, then you will never achieve the maximum potential that God has prepared for you.
Nearly everything in this world, gives us examples of the various characteristics of the spiritual life. You can be in absolute poverty, or you can be a trillionaire. Which would you prefer if you had the choice?
And God has given you a choice of just those two extremes for your next life. Remember your next life will last forever, not for just a few decades. So being in the upper category would be extremely advantageous, don’t you think?
Make a quick review of Psalm 1. Happiness’s (plural) go to whom? The one who wants it. The one who really, really, really, wants it. Not to the passive, not to the indifferent, not to the one who thinks that they have already arrived.
But to the one who ‘studies [doctrine from instruction] to show themselves mature [complete].
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