1 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.

verse 1 As the fifth trumpet blasts, the first of the eagle’s woes strikes the earth. A star, symbolic of a once divine being, a premortal power of such proportion his name was “light bearer,” unlocks a terror so great that no nightmare can match it. The tense of the verb fall in verse one actually should read: “I saw a star fallen from heaven.” John did not see the star fall but knew that it had fallen. The star had become evil and twisted, partaking too long of a poison so strong it could snuff out all light and turn a “son of the morning” into the devil himself. John will have more to say of the fall of this great and terrible being in chapter twelve. For now, the John seems to have had the words of the Lord in mind, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Isaiah’s imagery also holds:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (14:12-15).

“key of the bottomless pit” According to his divine schedule, God permits the inhabitants of hell to come forth with Satan as their king (Revelation 9:11), and unleash their torment on earth’s inhabitants. Later an angel will come out of heaven with a key and a chain which he will use to bind Satan for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3).

“bottomless pit” The pit is the abyss, or the “place of imprisonment for disobedient spirits” (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 1:9, s.v. “abyss”). This is the pit identified in Joseph Smith’s translation of Isaiah 14:15, 19. The king of the abyss is Lucifer, who is also called Abaddon and Apollyon (Revelation 9:11). God, of course, has complete control over this prison (Revelation 20:1-3).

“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to the angel was given the key of the bottomless pit.” The JST has the fifth angel holding the key and opening the bottomless pit rather than Satan.

2 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.

verse 2 When the fifth angel blows his trumpet, John sees Satan turn the key which results in the complete unleashing of hell upon the earth, as the great abyss is opened and smoke billows forth onto the earth, darkening the world with great evil. Armies, many perhaps unknowingly, will be influenced and led by the devil into battle. As locusts ravage green plants and trees, the armies will scourge the men and women of the earth, save those who are citizens of Zion and who possess the seal of the living God on their foreheads (Revelation 9:4; 7:3-4). The saints, we are told in a modern-day revelation, will dwell safely in Zion (D&C 45:66-70). Joseph Smith taught: “Some may have cried peace, but the saints and the world will have little peace from henceforth. . . The time is soon coming, when no man will have any peace but in Zion and her stakes” (HC, 3:390-91).

The series of events that accompanies the fifth and sixth trumpets is to encourage people to repent of their sins and to acknowledge God as their Lord and King (see Revelation 9:20-21).

John shows that Satan leads the hosts forth upon the earth. Before this, God overmastered the plagues through the destroying angels. From this point on, Satan personally directs the operations bringing the misery that fuels hell to the surface of the earth. John reveals the Adversary at his worst – venting anger, frustration, and rage. The world will feel the full thrust of his fury.

John sees the evil pour out of the pit in the abyss. Ancient writings show this place to be the abode of Jehovah’s enemy and a kind of holding tank for fallen angels or even Satan himself. The key Satan uses to open the pit symbolizes power, authority, and ownership. But note, Satan does not own the key. He receives it. Once again, John reveals that someone acts behind the scenes, controlling and directing even the machinations of the Evil One. Ironically this potent one, for all his flaunted authority, cannot free the might of hell until God gives him the key. In this way, John shows that Perdition’s dominion starts and ends where the Lord dictates. Satan’s limits are firm – he cannot go beyond them (cf. Job 1:12; 2:6). But in the last days, because of the wickedness of men, the devil will have great power, “For I [God] am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion” (D&C 1:35).

“there arose a smoke out of the pit . . . the sun and the air were darkened” As the pit is opened, smoke billows forth and obscures the light of the sun. Darkness reigns. Through this powerful symbol, John reveals the nature of the first thrust against mankind: a blow against the light. The darkness of false philosophy and theology must first hide the truth. The Destroyer must mitigate the positive effects of the sixth seal and the first four trumpets. So, he sends forth deceptions and delusions after the pattern he has used before with tremendous success.

At an earlier time, when none could ignore the signs and many began to believe, Satan’s smoke billowed forth: “From this time forth there began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen” (3 Nephi 1:22). Yes, “Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come” (Helaman 16:22). His plan worked well. Under his influence men began to rationalize against the continuing fulfillment of the words of the prophets, saying: “Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken” (Helaman 16:16). History is about to repeat itself.

3 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.

verse 3 “there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth” Out of this smoke of the abyss comes an appalling nightmare. The portrait of horror John describes focuses on one monstrosity: the locust. This dreaded engine of destruction ravages vegetation to such an extent that famine invariably follows. Coming out of the desert, locusts invade fertile areas in search of food. Some of their columns reach hundreds of feet in breadth and up to four miles in length. They strip the land bare of all vegetation. In Algiers, for instance, a plague of locusts created a famine that left two hundred thousand people dead. The Bible used locust plagues in a special symbolic sense that John follows: judgment against the rebellious. Pharaoh received this judgment from God because of his rebellion (see Exodus 10:4-20; Psalm 105:34-35). God told his own people that if they turned from him, he would send the locust plague upon them (see Deuteronomy; 1 Kings 8:35, 37; 2 Chronicles 7:13-14). Infestations of these swarming beasts were so dreaded that, even on the Sabbath, the shophar (the ram’s horn trumpet blown only for sacred and very special occasions) would sound the alarm.

These insect demons were often associated with darkness. This was not accidental. The cloud they form is often so compact that it obscures the light of the sun. However, John’s monsters do not cause the darkness; they result from it. According to the Doctrine and Covenants 93:39, “that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men.” The result is a frenzy of evil not unlike the feeding frenzy of the locusts.

These are not actual insects, for they sting like scorpions, strike out at mankind, have a king, and are commanded not to eat vegetation (Revelation 9:3-5, 11). These are actually wicked men and armies with power to torment all of humanity except those who have God’s seal in their foreheads (Revelation 9:4). John’s imagery of locusts is similar to Joel’s description of the locust-like armies that will “come up upon my land, strong, and without number. . . He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white” (Joel 1:4-7; 2:25). The locusts that plagued ancient Egypt and “covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened” (Exodus 10:15) are types of this great army of wicked people.

“unto them was given power” God gives agency to humankind, and he permits the wicked to destroy one another, but he sets boundaries for them.

“as the scorpions of the earth” Here and in Revelation 9:5 the locusts are likened to scorpions, which torment humans, often without killing them.

4 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.

verse 4 “it was commanded them” God controls the destiny of this army of locusts and commands them to harm only those who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.

“not hurt the grass / green thing / tree” These are the usual objects that locusts feed on in their developmental stages (cankerworm, palmerworm, caterpillar, locust). The creatures of Revelation 9 are not like the locusts that plagued the Egyptians and “did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt” (Exodus 10:15). These creatures are soldiers who seek to destroy humans.

“men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” Their objective unlike real locusts’, is men. But not all men. Only those who do not wear the seal of the living God upon their foreheads. This verse glances back at chapter seven and the sealing of God’s servants. Inhabitants of Zion (many of whom will have the seal of God) will be preserved during this time. They will dwell in the New Jerusalem, which is called “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God. . . There shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand” (D&C 45:66, 69-70). The righteous in the stakes of Zion will also have safety (D&C 115:5-6; 124:36).

Once again John does not let the reader forget that a power is moving behind the scenes, setting the limits, determining how far and how long things will go. The plague, though driven by the minions of hell, is under sovereign control.

5 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 striketh a man.

verse 5 “to them it was given that they should not kill them” The armies of locusts will not kill humans; instead they will harm and torment them. Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggests that “perhaps John is seeing such things as the effects of poisonous gas, or bacteriological warfare, or atomic fallout, which disable but do not kill” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:502). The locusts must not kill, at least not at first. God permits them initially only to cause spiritual and mental anguish. The Greek word basanisthsontai used by John and translated “torment” is from the noun basanismos, which occurs only in Revelation: twice here in 9:5, once of those who worship the beast in 14:11, and three times in 18:7,10,15 in association with the anguish of the Great Whore. In each instance, it indicates mental and spiritual suffering, not physical.

“tormented five months” Five months is the life cycle of the locust. Here five months may represent a short period and not exactly five months.

“torment of a scorpion” The scorpion’s sting rarely results in death, but it causes great pain and discomfort. Torment in this context pertains to more than war and warfare. Torment is also associated with “guilt and abominations, which doth cause [the wicked] to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment” (Mosiah 3:25). Alma spoke of both the abyss and torment when he declared: “My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss. . . My soul was racked with eternal torment” (Mosiah 27:29).

6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

verse 6 Just how the locusts are able to torment the wicked is not known. But John insists that the anguish is real, for “in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them” – death shall elude them. The scene is not pretty, but it is not as though there is no means of relief; righteousness, however, is the price. For these men and women, that price is too high. Death appears much cheaper; to melt into nothingness seems more desirable. Of course, this is an illusion. Nevertheless, they will cling to it as their only hope of escape.

Again, a parallel comes from the Book of Mormon. During the final battles that destroyed the Nephite nation, as blood and carnage swept through the land, “no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft [i.e. sorceries] which was in the land” (Mormon 2:10). Everyone was out for everyone else’s wealth. As a result of the butchery and thievery, many were filled with sorrow and mourned, but “their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” (Mormon 2:13). As a result, “they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless, they would struggle with the sword for their lives” (Mormon 2:14).

Note that in both Revelation and the Book of Mormon, “it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed” (Mormon 4:5). The locusts breed their sadistic torment and pour it out upon the corrupt. God’s judgment comes fully, but God needs to do nothing. In fact, his judgment is to do nothing.

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

verse 7 “shapes of the locusts” John seems to be describing soldiers that are trained and equipped to fight on land, sea, or in the air, with their various types of uniforms and protective gear, including helmets, body armor, and protective masks; their war vehicles, including aircraft, helicopters, tanks, and dozens of other military machines; and their weaponry and artillery of many types and kinds, each designed to harm, maim, or kill humans.

He may be describing that which belongs to military units of our era, or he may be seeing that which belongs to our own future.

Joseph Fielding Smith, citing Isaiah 5:26-30, Nahum 2:2-5, and Revelation 9:6-10, opined that the ancient prophets saw “our automobiles, our railroad trains . . . the airplanes flying in the midst of the heavens, because we can read in the prophecies of these ancient scriptures many things that indicate that these things were revealed unto those ancient prophets” (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:146).

John describes the things that he envisions by using objects or creatures that were known to him in the first century after Christ: locusts, horses, crowns, hair, lions, breastplates, chariots, and scorpions. These objects and creatures create a fearsome picture of symbolic images for his audience.

“shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle” This phrase recalls Joel 2:4, which reads: “The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.” The image of locusts depicts an army of tens of thousands of warriors, an army so great that its soldiers darken the land and cannot be numbered. The phrase “horses prepared unto battle” portrays warriors wearing body armor similar to the protective body and headgear worn by warhorses of John’s day. John’s description here recalls Job’s description of a warhorse (Job 39:19-24).

“on their heads were as it were crowns like gold” This expression may refer to the soldier’s helmet, in all of its shapes and varieties. The Greek word here is stephanos (the award for athletic prowess), not diadma, “royal crown.” This is the only place where the word is associated with any other than the Lord and the saints. However, these are not crowns of permanent victory. John makes it clear that “on their heads were as it were crowns like gold,” but not the real thing: his phrase stephanoi homoioi chrus means “laurels like unto gold.” Victory of the wicked is at best only an imitation of the genuine; it is never lasting or true. The locusts, though terrifying in their appearance and crushing in their initial onslaught, cannot conquer.

“their faces were as the faces of men” This expression seems to indicate that the locusts represent men.

8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

verse 8 “they had hair as the hair of women” We don’t know what this expression means, but there is precedent in scripture for long hair on men being seen as a sign of strength (Judges 16:17).

“their teeth were as the teeth of lions” This expression describes the warriors’ ability to ravage and destroy. It also recalls Joel’s description of warriors: “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion” (Joel 1:6-7). Satan himself has been called a “roaring lion, [who] walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

verse 9 “they had breastplates” Modern soldiers’ armor and protective gear covers vital organs. It may also refer to the armor of war vehicles.

“sound of chariots of many horses” Natural locusts in flight make a fearful noise, and the reference here may be to the mingled sound of chariot wheels and the hooves of the horses (see Joel 2:5). Anciently the chariot and its horses were used for war, and in prophetic language they may be a metaphor for modern war vehicles (Ezekiel 39:20; Daniel 11:40; Joel 2:5).

10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

verse 10 “they had tails like unto scorpions” This expression could refer to any number of weapons.

“power was to hurt men five months” This particular battle, or war, will have a limited duration. It may serve as a precursor to the great war that will accompany the blasting of the sixth trumpet, when two hundred million soldiers will fight and kill one-third of humanity (Revelation 9:13-19).

11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

verse 11 “And they had a king over them” A single king drives the frenzied host. Though not identified specifically as such, he is the fallen star, Satan who is the angel of the abyss. John gives him both a Hebrew and Greek epithet. In the Hebrew, he is called Abaddn. The name is derived from abad, meaning “to perish,” and the noun meaning “he who causes to perish,” or “the destroyer.” The Greek Apollun means “destroyer” as well. No matter what the language is, the message is the same. Satan, an unseen general, pushes the horde forward. They are his minions, aping his nature, being led by his demonic inspiration. Their rise and torment constitute the fifth trumpet blast and the first period of woe.

12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

verse 12 “one woe is past” The first woe occurs when the fifth angel sounds his trumpet (Revelation 9:1-12); the second woe will begin with the blowing of the trumpet by the sixth angel (Revelation 9:13-21). There are still two more woes to go. The sixth trumpet blast is about to sound.

The second woe brings great anguish upon humankind, for two hundred million warriors battle in war and destroy, ultimately causing the death of one-third of humanity. John uses descriptive and symbolic terms in describing this great conflagration, including fire (three times), brimstone (three times), smoke (twice), lions, and serpents. The sixth trump announces these events, but it is Satan and his angels who set them in motion through their evil influence and guidance. The events recall numerous other historical time periods when “Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed” (JST Genesis 6:13).

The purpose of these events that accompany the blowing of this trump is to encourage humankind to repent of their many grievous sins, which John lists as idolatry, murders, sorceries, fornication, and thefts. Sadly, they do not repent of their wickedness.

13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

verse 13 The second woe begins here with the blowing of the sixth angel’s trump but is not completed until Revelation 11:14, in which John writes “the second woe is past.”

“voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God” The voice here could be that of the angel identified in Revelation 8:3-5, who was located near this altar.

An alternate explanation for the voice comes from the horns of the altar might be that in some way the second woe is connected with or a result of the prayers of the saints, for the voice that commands the infliction comes from the very place, the altar, on which their prayers were offered (see Revelation 7:3-4).

14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

verse 14 “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates [bottomless pit]” The “bound” angels may belong to that group of “angels that sinned” and thus who God “cast . . . down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness” (2 Peter 2:4; see also Jude 1:6). They will be set loose to prompt and persuade the wicked to kill one-third of humankind during the great war described in Revelation 9:15-19.

“Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the bottomless pit.”

15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

verse 15 “prepared for an hour / day / month / year” The time mentioned here does not indicate how long the four angels will be loosed, but it does say they will be loosed at a specific, divinely appointed time. The Jerusalem Bible reads, “These four angels had been put there ready for this hour of this day of this month of this year.”

These angels have been prepared specifically for this moment, for they had been kept ready (see verse 15). Here the Greek participle hoihtoimasmenoi (a reflexive perfect passive) is “those having been prepared,” or “those having been made ready.” The use of the perfect tense heightens the idea of their purpose. At an exact moment, and not a second before, Satan will release the demonic tetrad. But the destroying angels do not have complete reign.

John once again uses the symbolic number one-third to show that there is a limit to what they can do. God continues to hold sway even at this moment.

“for to slay the third part of men” The army of two hundred million individuals (see commentary on 9:16), with their modern weapons of destruction, will kill one-third of the earth’s inhabitants. It is unclear whether the figure “one-third” is to be taken as literal or symbolic.

16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

verse 16 “number of the army . . . were two hundred thousand” The number of fighting men that John “saw’ (JST) was two hundred million, twice the number of the angels who were worshipping God in the celestial kingdom (Revelation 5:11). The numerical figure is likely symbolic, intended to represent great hosts of warriors: “And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I saw the number of them.”

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

verse 17 “I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them” John describes this scene of horses using various images and symbols; he makes threefold repetition of “fire” and “brimstone” (the Jerusalem Bible says “fire” and “sulfur”) and twofold repetition of “smoke” and “horses” in verses 17-18. Fire, smoke (see commentary on Revelation 9:2), and brimstone may describe the bombs and destructive devices associated with present- day or future warfare. Horses often represent war vehicles (see commentary on 9:9).

18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

verse 18 “by these three was the third part of men killed” Fire, smoke, and brimstone are the weapons of this mighty army that will destroy one-third of humanity.

19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

verse 19 “power is in their mouth, and in their tails” The fire-breathing capacity of these lion-headed horses symbolizes “the torment of hell and [underscores their] diabolical nature.” (Draper, Opening the Seven Seals, 108.) Like the scorpions in Revelation 9:10, there is destructive power in the horses’ tails. In fact, the tails are snakes with heads, another evidence that they are sent from the devil (Mounce, Book of Revelation, 197).

20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

verse 20 As amazing as it seems, those that are not killed continue to worship the very forces that worked for their destruction. They refuse to give up their materialistic idolatry. Their hearts continue to crave gold, silver, brass, and other material objects that, as John points out, “neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” Though their world is collapsing because of it, these wicked souls sell themselves as the lackeys of the Never-living and the Destroyerdoomed-to-destruction. Thievery, murder, and fornication, specifically prohibited in the ten commandments, all continue apace.

“rest of the men . . . repented not” The “rest of the men” speaks of those who are not sealed (Revelation 9:4) and who survive the warfare described above. The purpose for the blowing of the sixth trumpet is manifest here: to encourage the wicked to repent, for they are idolaters, devil worshippers, murderers, fornicators, thieves, and sorcerers (Revelation 9:21). The great war, however, during which one-third of humankind is destroyed, does not succeed in bringing the wicked to repentance; they “repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols,” writes John.

“works of their hands” This expression seems to refer to idol worship (Psalm 115:4-7; Isaiah 2:8; Jeremiah 1:16), which consists both of images and statues created by human hands and of all the evil deeds and actions of humanity that replace one’s righteous desire to serve the true and living God.

“that they should not worship devils” Humanity continues to worship devils, even after the great war that destroys so many. Devil worship has long been a gross evil conducted upon the earth (Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37; 1 Corinthians 10:20-21).

“idols of gold” Nephi warned, “Yea, wo unto those that worship idols, for the devil of all devils delighteth in them” (2 Nephi 9:37). In our dispensation we are told of those who “have strayed from [God’s] ordinances, and have broken [God’s] everlasting covenant; they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall” (D&C 1:15-16).

21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

verse 21 To the list John adds sorcery. The Greek word he uses is pharmakeia, from which the word pharmacy is derived. Pharmakeia indicates the use of drugs, elixirs, and contraceptive potions associated with the occult. When freely accepted, these narcotics addict, desensitize, and deceive the nations, resulting in blindness and the inability to change. The use of drugs, simple and potent, is the same means by which the Mother of Abominations is able to deceive the nations (see Revelation 18, particularly verse 23).

John’s two images in chapter nine combine to reveal the nature of the latter-day nightmare, give the reader a feel for the horror that Satan will free against the wicked. The vision creates a picture composed of the most horrible images that can be imagined; not so much to detail what actually will be but to give the reader, through the use of powerful metaphors, a feeling for the reality behind what will be. But the real horror is neither the horses nor the horsemen. It is those men and women who will live through the evil day and not be humbled, who will continue to cling to their idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood. Inanimate objects, which neither see, nor hear, nor feel, will become masters and bind to themselves these demented souls. Thus, these people practice the most blatant form of idolatry – placing material things before God – even in the face of the reality that their idols do them no good.

And all this will “be accomplished after the opening of the seventh seal, before the coming of Christ” (D&C 77:13). The second coming of the Lord does not usher in the millennial era. The woes pronounced by the trumpets do. Let me emphasize, Christ will not appear in glory as the millennial day dawns. Instead, Satan’s inferno-creating horses and sadistic hoards “having fiery breastplates, dusky red, and sulfurous” will.

The Millennium, for the purpose of this study, begins at the time the Savior commences his reign on the earth. But to begin his rule, he does not have to have appeared to the world. His reign begins as he collects the keys he has given to the prophets through the ages and directs affairs personally. Daniel gives a hint when this will be. Speaking as though it had already happened, he notes that war was made against the saints and that the wicked had power to prevail “until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21-22). The prophet appears to have had in mind the great future gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman. At that time, Adam, the Ancient of days, will appear, as will the Savior. An account will be given to the Lord, and he will then begin to personally orchestrate all events from that point (see D&C 116). Very likely the events in Revelation 8 and 9 will take place after this event.

How long after the Millennium begins will it take for the Lord to come? “The hour and the day no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor shall they know until he comes” (D&C 49:7). But it will likely be some time after the seventh seal is opened. For the present, we of the sixth seal are to watch for the signs the Lord has given and wait in faith. In this way, we prepare ourselves to receive the Savior’s mark, because of which we will have no need to fear the millennial-day horrors.