Quick Return Home Page

Rev. 9:1,2: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
         The fifth angel sounds. A star falls.
         When you see a "star" fall, it is one who once had the truth who has fallen. He has the key to the pit. He is one with the other fallen stars. The devil is permitted to side with them and they create a horrible "smoke" of murmurs and backbiting, and truth even is darkened. "The air" is affected by this; everybody gives credit to the fallen star and his lies; the princes of the Church, the sun, are darkened by a crowd of these false accusers rising against these persons. Oh hellish pit, you vomit your last fire, my Master allowing this until all woes have come that are necessary. (Editor's note: Christ Jesus holds the keys to death and to hell; what is there to fear? Reference "The Purpose of Evil"  End of note).
         But we see still another meaning to this scene of a falling star.
         This woe, outwardly horrible, is the start of great happiness. The star falls; no light remains, and "the key of the bottomless pit" is given to him. A vile stench and wicked smokes are the only things that appear, the most unfortunate temptations. Here is "a great furnace" of human miseries. All these things do befall the one, in any age, who is seeking rest...and the fullness of God's truth.

Rev. 9:3,4:  And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
         Watching God in this unfolding drama, we would think  that destruction is all He has in mind. He seems to be quenching truth instead of establishing it. These are your Master's strokes, and-- as God-- He acts mostly this way.
         Oh men, how blind you are in thinking you can fathom God's dealings in souls, and in believing that-- if you do not understand something-- it therefore cannot be of God! You deal with God worse than you do with the most ignorant men. You will at least acknowledge that there are men on this earth who know about things of which you are ignorant. But you will not give this same ground to God.
         He forbids the "locusts" "to hurt," but He allows "the men which have not the seal of God" to be hurt. We ought to know that in man are two lives: One is carnal; the other bears the characteristics of God, and is sealed. The soul that is sealed by God is pure and whole in Him. But the corrupt, carnal man, the sinner, will not be spared. But if they hurt God's servants' bodies or souls, their spirit will be freer than ever when overwhelmed with plagues.

Rev. 9:5,6:  And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flees from them.
         "In those days" of desolation and trial, "shall men seek death and shall not find it." Oh God, what a comfort for such a person to die! But the soul fears to displease God more than it fears a thousand deaths. It does not want to die to end its misery but only to avoid sin. Oh, men who go through this state, suffer! And you will see that truth united with wisdom will bring all desired comforts. "Death" seems "to flee" instead of coming near because the soul is not afraid of death. However sin, which seems real, causes all grief, and death is counted to be a great gain. The more the soul asks for deliverance, the more the evil increases until that soul knows how to yield to God the rest of her life.
         Let us look at this passage, now, from another view. Can this passage also refer to the average servants of God in the Church? They are stung and wounded by poisoned tongues which create cruel crosses. Power was given to the locust to torment them five months, but will not be able "to kill" them, neither by the death to sin which will lead them to impatience, nor by natural death. Nevertheless, God will save many of His servants. He will permit them to be afflicted, to the limit...but not killed. Paul said, of himself (1Cor. 6:9): "We are chastened but not killed". The Lord says that all this is true, and must happen this way in the Church of God, and in the lives of the servants of God.

Rev. 9:7 -11:  And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
         God takes pleasure in the description of these locusts, so wondrous. Whether we look at this scene as the world as a whole at the end time, or whether we view it as a thing which happens to individual believers and God's designs in their lives...regardless, there is nothing here to frighten us. These who are to torment God's servants are "like horses prepared for battle," for it is certain that they are fighting the most terrible war that will ever be. There is no stronger war than that which is going on between the forces of darkness and the interior one.
         Such have been their ways through the centuries.
         "Their hair," "as the hair of women," signifying that these persons have an artificial sweetness, catching the innocent in their net, and winning the "lookers on" to their strange viewpoint. But they have teeth of lions, teeth not seen until it is too late, and with which they heartlessly tear the innocent.
         We see "breastplates of iron;"  they cover themselves with pretexts which make them unconquerable. They attack, wound, knock down without fear of being hurt. "The sound of their wings"-their fame, flying everywhere, winning for them many people-- is ''as the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle"; it seems to everyone that these people are equipped with zeal to defend the cause of God, proclaiming loudly their success, the defeat of others, the advantage of siding with their interests which are (they
say) God's. They point to their success as proof. But if their face seems human, "their tails," which are not seen so long as they only show their face, are like scorpions'. How dangerous! What damage! Yet God gave them their power in order to sanctify His servants.
         But though these beings have power from God, he who stirs them and makes them act is the angel of the bottomless pit. He wants to make an end of the servants of God, perceiving that God wants to use them to extend His kingdom and destroy Satan's kingdom. He does his best to remove them from the face of the earth. But instead of doing away with them, he removes, in them, what is opposed to God.

Rev. 9:12: The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
         Who would not believe this is the end at the sight of  these evils? How happy we would be if they ended there! You are indeed mercilessly cruel, oh God. Your cruelty appears; but the more it appears, the more it hides an infinite mercy. What seems sweet holds a tail full of poison, but what seems most cruel is full of sweetness.

Rev. 9:13-15: And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind.
         The sixth herald is that of death. All that has happened till now has been prepared for death, but death has not arrived. Without this death, truth will never be manifested to men. The voice giving the command comes out of the golden altar where the last sacrifice must be made, the most terrible and strange of all sacrifices.
         Oh righteousness of God, how cruel you are! You want only death. But how sweet and kind You are to this one who has no other interest than God's only, who has no more self interest, who being placed in this reality as an experience - worships, blesses and loves this apparent cruelty, given for so great a benefit. Your approach is rough and cruel, but Your cruelty afterward changes into floods of delight. Oh, mystery of cruelty! Mystery of love and sweetness! Who will understand these? He whom Thou hast spared least is often the happiest. Oh Righteousness, we fear You because we do not know You. You are cruel only to those who oppose the Kingdom of pure love; but You are kind and gracious to the one who, having no more self-love, cannot oppose pure love. How far from the purity of love is the one who still fears Thee! Oh Righteousness, whoever does not love You with the most extreme passion is not yet free from himself, though he may think he is. You are only in the hearts for which divine righteousness, in its most extreme severity, has only charms and sweetnesses.
         There are believers for whom love has sweetnesses; they think they are well dealt with; there are others who have only hardships and they think they are to be pitied. The greatest sweetness of love is receiving none!
         All the afflictions that have come up to this time could not cause death because "these angels were bound." Up to now, abandonment has always survived with vigor and strength; that is, all the soul gained through suffering was its surrender without reserve. The soul wanted death and became resigned to die or not to die. The soul resigned to die when she feared death; then it resigned not to die when death was welcomed. She thinks she is delivered. The soul is surprised to see that all this served to prepare it for another fight which is so much harder because it has tasted the sweetness of rest and quiet.
         It is a very surprising thing for a believer to realize that the duration of suffering makes suffering bearable. One gets used to it. But God, to harden us, causes suffering to cease when we get used to it! He gives much rest so that the return to suffering will be all the more effective. The first loss of abandonment is imperfect. It contains spite, anger, and rebellion, till the soul realizes it makes them worse by resisting them. As the believer yields, they diminish and end; abandonment becomes then stronger and broader. When abandonment is without measure, the soul may even be delivered of its pains.
         There is however a greater abandonment!
         This greater abandonment is like a river which carries you without mercy, but which also leads you! This river is as a ship going into the deep from which you dive to drown and die. Without this abandonment, we never leave self; we always remain proprietors. Without the loss of conscious abandonment, we never get perfectly lost in God. We sail  on this immense ocean with abandonment but we are not fully lost in God unless we lose this abandonment of which we are conscious.
         Fortunately, the loss of this abandonment does not cause the griefs and anger of old. The Lord must give a special power to lose sight of our abandonment. But how? And when?
         "In the day, hour, month and year" which God has appointed for this. My God, how beautiful these words are and what great things they contain! They show us the most wonderful providence that ever was. A soul that is led unreservedly by its God will find this wonderful providence, causing that soul to do everything at the right time, according to God's will and the desire of the soul. All dangers in the spiritual life come because we want to grow without the help of God. All must be done by God, in His appointed time; He knows the state in which we are and reveals this to the soul. We must then patiently wait for the hour, the time, the moment.
         Thus the soul loses its conscious abandonment and enters into true death.

Rev.9:16-19:  And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision of the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads; and with them they do no harm.
         The evils which come to overwhelm these souls are multiplied endlessly. An army comes which grows bigger every day. The troubles surround, increase and multiply like the sand of the sea, outside and inside; each day sees the birth of a new one. People who are contrary to them increase and multiply. Nature, hell, and men are set against the souls that are abandoned to God. Those who arrived for the fight have "breastplates the color of fire" because they are dressed with anger, fire which they pretend is godly zeal.
        These breastplates have the color of "hyacinth" because they wrap themselves with righteousness. The devil is "the horse" they mount, and he has "the heads of lions." He is full of strength and fury, stirring people to destroy the men who serve God. This fire and brimstone are a strong persecution which can come from hell only; the smoke is the noise of persecution. "Their tails are like serpents"; because they use, with skill, crafty devices to hide the blows they give.
         The soul is surrounded by all evils, deprived of all benefits. The fury of hell seems uncontrolled. Oh God, where can we go? There is no place to flee to.
         Oh, happy are those who then are without help and stay! They truly die. Those who are sustained and helped lose much. Oh, if we knew the wrong done to the soul which is not completely left in the hand of God! Instead of saving it, we lose it.

Rev.9:20-21: And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass.
         Certainly all these things will in time come to pass. Here two things are referred to; one is the conversion of sinners, the call to the godless to faith; the other is the destruction of ____. [ An untranslatable word follows here, the French word "propriete." This word-- ownership of self-- is used often by Madame Guyon. It has a broad meaning--  referring to a desire to possess things].  To stop this call the devil strengthens the idolaters, hardens the sinners and creates a fight against spirituality (godliness). As he opposes righteousness, evil increases and the godly are fought and destroyed. More strength is acquired by the wicked till the set time when God will put an end to the troubles given to the saints, and to the crimes of their adversaries. (Editor's note: Again, "where sin abounds  Grace doth much more, [super abundantly] abounds").
         Men who do not come into truth through their sufferings do not repent of their doings and of the works of their hands. These are not troubled. They will see frightful wars, strange sufferings, and horrible famines; yet most of them will be hardened. Those held by "ownership of self " are strengthened in their carnal ways through the persecution of the saints.
         (It is certain you must die to self to lose the sense of carnality and enter into truth, otherwise you remain more attached to your own works; you take credit for things which belong only to God. You build everything on your works; you become an idolater because you love yourself. You prefer yourself to the interests of God; you prefer a lie to the truth. This is the worship of demons).
         Some hold on to money, others to honor, others to themselves, others to an imagined and unreal virtue and to idols which can neither hear nor instruct nor lead them.
         We see that the world will not repent. Oh God, what corruption! Have mercy on Your Church! Voices are raised against those who worship God in their heart; they are fought against, persecuted and not one voice is raised against those who have in their heart impurity, envy, adultery, hatred.
         Are some even canonized? Esteemed? Applauded? And those disgraced and considered as the worst of men are, on the contrary, burning with pure love, shun glory, honor, esteem of men, looking only to God- their only aim!
         Evil is become good, and good,...evil!
 _________________________________________________________________________________________
^{(1) Guyon, Mme. Jeanne, CHRIST OUR REVELATION, Gardiner, Main, Reprinted 1987 Christian Books Publishing House ( Book in now out of print)}

Return to top of page  Exit to Introduction Menu  Return to Revelation Menu Pg.
Back to Library List  Return to Book of Revelation Index - by Guyon