Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

Islam and the 5th Trumpet of Revelation

by Philip Mauro

There is a pause after the sounding of the fourth trumpet and the action is interrupted at that point by the vision of an angel (or, as the best manuscripts have it, an eagle) flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" (Revelation 8:13).

This vision of the flying eagle serves not only to prepare us for events of a yet more disastrous nature than those previously revealed, but also to set off the first four trumpets in a distinct group from the rest. This tends to further confirm the view that the events pictured in that group are both closely related to each other, and are also separated by a substantial interval of time -- possibly quite a long one -- from the events now to be pictured at "the voices of the trumpet of the three angels that are yet to sound." Notice Revelation 9:1-11:

"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. 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. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

"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. 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.

"And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 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.

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

Writes Howard B. Rand --

"We have in the locusts a perfect description of the Saracens in a most remarkable blending of the literal and the figurative. These horsemen of the desert are well typified by the locusts for a country overrun by them was literally infested as by a plague of locusts. Moreover they came from the land of the locusts and confined their attacks to five summer months each year. Five months is also the time-period during which locusts perpetrate their annual depredations" (A Study in Revelation, Destiny Publishers, Merrimac, MA 1985, p. 90).

The era of the fifth trumpet is one of the great events found in the Book of Revelation. This not only appears from the space given to it, but also from the nature of the symbols found therein. It also seems that the era here foretold ("those days" v. 6) is one of considerable length, for it is described as a period of torment to last, as time is measured in this book, for a period of "five months" (vv. 5, 10). It appears that the plague, though great and prolonged, was not complete and final.

The first action that immediately follows the sounding of the trumpet is the fall of a star from heaven to earth. That this star represents a mighty spirit-being is confirmed by the next words: "And to him" -- evidently a person -- "was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit." None but a mighty spirit could do that.

This spirit-being is, however, of lesser dignity than the one that fell from heaven at the sounding of the third trumpet; for that one is described as "a great star, burning as a lamp."

Out of the pit arose dense smoke, as the smoke of al great furnace. This recalls one of the signs that are to precede the great and terrible day of the LORD namely, "pillars (or columns) of smoke" (Joel 2:30). Why, however, does an army of locusts represent an army of Muslims? About 900 years before John’s Revelation, the Prophet Joel symbolically described an invading, attacking army as a swarm of locusts. Any large, invading army might be compared to a swarm of locusts, but the Arabs and Muhammad have a unique connection to the locust: “In the Bedoween romance Antar, the locust is introduced as the national emblem of the Ishmaelites [one of the ancestors of the Arabs]. And it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Muhammad, bearing on their wings this inscription -- ‘We are the army of the Great God.’”

As we saw a Muslim writer unwittingly connected Islam’s beginnings to the Abyss; here we see Muslim writers unwittingly connect Islam to the locusts that come from the Abyss.

Clearly this smoke is spiritual. "And there came out of the smoke locusts; and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power." All these and other symbols and figures supply us with clues to the meaning of the vision.

The army of locusts came forth from a dark cloud of smoke that rolled out of the bottomless pit. The “bottomless pit” in Greek is abussos (abussoß), the source of our English word abyss. Some English Bibles simply translate it as “the abyss.” It is remarkable that Abul A’la Mawdudi, one of Islam’s most prominent scholars of the 20th century, used the very word "abyss" when writing about the beginnings of Islam.

In a book written to introduce English-speaking people to the basics of Islam, Mawdudi tells his readers that Muhammad and his message came out of “Arabia -- the Abyss of Darkness.” These are his exact words, and they appear in bold print as a sub-heading in his book. It is no mere coincidence that this outstanding Islamic author unwittingly identified Islam’s source, in bold print no less, as “the Abyss of Darkness” -- using the very same word that appears in Revelation.

According to Howard B. Rand:

"The Bottomless Pit, or Abyss, symbolically represents the abode of darkness and evil, the antipathy of heaven, the source of light and power. From this abode of darkness and evil comes a monster that is able to accomplish what Papal Rome was never able to do....The king over the Saracens is called Apollyon (meaning destruction, destroyer) and is the angel of the Bottomless Pit. Thus again Mohammedanism [Islam] is identified with the Saracens who compelled men to accept the authority of the Caliphate or suffer destruction..." (A Study in Revelation, p. 136, 93).

One other feature will be noted at this preliminary stage of our study. It is found in the last statement in the passage, namely, that these "locusts" have a king over them, "which is the angel of the bottomless pit," whose name in Hebrew and in Greek signifies "Destroyer." Thus it is plainly stated that this great host of locusts is ruled by an invisible king, a mighty one among the evil spirits.

In the Book of Joel the armies of Assyria which were to overrun the land of Israel were figured as locusts; and there too, as in the above passage, it was said, "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horsemen" (Joel 2:4). So it is plain that the locusts are conquering armies, sweeping over the earth in dense ranks.

Furthermore, from Daniel 10:13, 20, it appears that the great empires of earth each have a presiding angel over them; so this pictures the coming upon the scene of a mighty nation, which was to have a supernatural origin, rising up mysteriously out of some obscure region, and which was to pursue a career of conquest, pouring over the earth in dense armies, composed largely of horsemen -- a nation that was to have over them a spiritual head whose name signifies "a destroyer."

But this conquering people was to be unlike the Assyrians, the "locusts" of Joel's vision, in that it was to have spiritual power, as well as large physical power. The repeated reference to "scorpions" (vv. 3, 5, 10) emphasizes this. Moreover, the statement of verse 10 is illuminating: "And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails." This may be read in the light of Isaiah 9:15 as indicating the deadly power of false prophecy, or some special form of destructive falsehood. For according to that Scripture "the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail."

Briefly then, the various symbols presented here all point -- and in no uncertain way -- to that marvel of history, the empire founded by the false prophet, Muhammad. This was an empire of vast dimensions that was established and extended through an unprecedented combination of stupendous military forces and mighty evil spiritual energies, which was the secret of its amazing potency.

For Islam is a mystery of the darkest character. It defies explanation on any natural basis. Its origin is so utterly unlike that of all the other empires as to leave no doubt that it originated supernaturally, and its career is just as difficult to explain upon natural grounds as its origin.

It is clearly a designed counterpart of Christianity, for its visible source was in a personal leader, who claims to be the sole representative and prophet of YEHOVAH God, and in a book that is venerated by its adherents as the word of YEHOVAH God.

It has, moreover, the supernatural power to inspire multitudes, of stern, fierce, and bloodthirsty men, with a most extraordinary degree of religious fanaticism, rising at times to the pitch of frenzy. In this form it is without any parallel in the history of mankind.

The above facts are matters of common knowledge. Keeping them in mind while studying the visions of Revelation 13, two conclusions force themselves upon us:

First, that the symbols of verses 11-18 of that chapter correspond with a remarkable degree to the outstanding features of Islam, and

Second, that there is nothing else in the whole range of human observation that in any way answers to those symbols.

Indeed the history of Islam is so unique, so manifestly supernatural, and corresponds, moreover, so exactly with the symbols of these visions (fifth and six trumpets) that able expositors of the futurist school fully admit the close agreement between them. Some of them even go so far as to suggest that, in Islam, these visions have a "germinant," or anticipatory, fulfillment. Thus it is stated by one of the ablest of that school that:

"Mohammedanism [Islam] has a superman and a book. It is a satanic imitation of Christianity. It has spread over a great part of the Christianized world. At this time it embraces in its curse over 200 millions of souls. [Today, approximately 1.9 billion or 25% of the global population.] Its founder was, without doubt, devil inspired. Mohammed, the fallen star, opened the pit and let loose the darkening power of Satan; and he flooded the eastern part of the Christianized earth, and considerable portions of the western also, with doctrines which can justly be termed hellish in their nature and effects."

In other words, the facts of Islam agree exactly with the meaning of the symbols shown in these visions. What conclusion must we then draw? The fulfillment of a prophecy is proved, and the divine character of the latter is established, by the coming to pass of the thing prophesied.

One extraordinary fact in the history of Islam calls for special notice: that its career has been in two distinct stages. Its rise was in the Saracenic form, and is dated from the "Hegira" (the flight of Muhammad) in A. D. 622. The Caliph Omar led his conquering armies of Saracens into Syria in 632; the Roman armies were annihilated; and in 637 Jerusalem was captured. But the spread of Islam was arrested by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, A. D. 732, after which ensued a long period of stagnation. But it then had a marvelous resurrection, under the ferocious Ottoman Turks.

These, strangely enough, were not Muslims at all, but began their conquering career against Islam. Later however, for political advantage, they formally embraced Islam, such as the emperor Constantine had formally embraced Christianity, and in A. D. 1076 Jerusalem was captured by the Turks, and an era of cruel oppression began, "which filled all Christendom with sorrow and indignation" (Green's Church History). This led to the Crusades.

In marked agreement with this division of the career of Islam is the two-fold picture presented by the fifth and sixth trumpet visions, which are connected closely together, while being separated from the preceding group of four trumpets, and also from the seventh which stands by itself.

Turning now to the details of the vision of the fifth trumpet, enough has been said concerning the star, the darkening of the sun and air by the dense smoke from the pit, and the locusts with their scorpion-like tails. But further concerning the abyss, or bottomless pit, it may be noted that the abyss appears in the New Testament as the home of the demons, the source of the evil spiritual agencies that exercise their influence upon men. This is made evident, for example, by the desire of the wicked spirits whom the Messiah cast out of the man dwelling in the tombs, that he should not command them to depart into the abyss (Luke 8:31).

From verse 4 of Revelation 9 we learn that protection was to be given, during the time of this plague, to the true people of YEHOVAH God ; for it was to fall only upon "those men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads." Here again is seen the efficacy of the prayers of the saints, sent up to the throne of YEHOVAH God by the Messiah as the Minister of the heavenly sanctuary.

Verse 7 states that the shapes of the locusts were like "horses prepared unto battle." In Judges 6:5 we read that the children of the east came up like locusts (not "grasshoppers") for multitude; and in Jeremiah 46:23, YEHOVAH God speaks of the armies that were to overwhelm Egypt, saying that "they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable". Thus we learn that the term locusts signifies armies of immense numbers.

The words "horses prepared unto battle" point to the readiness, fearlessness, and swiftness of those armies in making war. That they wore crowns marks them as a sovereign people, distinguishing them from the mercenary armies of Rome.

Further it is said they had faces like those of men, and hair as the hair of women. Therefore they represent a virile people, notwithstanding the long hair, which in Bible times was the mark of a barbaric people (see 1 Corinthians 11:14, 15). Historical references from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries mention that Arabs wore beards (“faces of men”) and long, uncut hair (“as the hair of women”). Quoting again from the Arab poem Antar, we see a reference to beards, shoulder-length hair, and turbans on Arab men: “He adjusted himself properly, twisted his whiskers, and folded up his hair under his turban, drawing it from off his shoulders.”

In regard to the long hair, Ernst W. Hengstenberg's comment is also illuminating: "One who permits anything on his body to grow as it will, virtually makes himself known as one who gives free scope to his lusts and passions, who will allow no hindrance to his natural desires."

This seems to point clearly to one of the most conspicuous features of the Islamic religion, that which allows, in this life, unrestrained indulgence of the animal passions of men (to the great degradation of womankind), and which promises the most unlimited delights of sensuousness in paradise. It was in order to subdue men, that appeal was made to what is basest in the nature of man. This is grossly demoniacal.

The breastplate (or coats of mail) speak of their preparedness for battle, and the reference to "horses" again in verse 9, testifies anew of their eagerness to engage in warfare.

Verse 12 reads: "One woe is past; and behold there come two woes more hereafter." This puts a definite end to the spread of this plague, corresponding with the fact that Islam, in its Saracenic form, was definitely arrested at the Battle of Tours and turned back -- and this abatement lasted for a period of centuries.

This verse also recalls the three-times-repeated "Woe" of 8:13, reminding us of the specially calamitous nature of the scourges that are symbolized under the last three trumpets.

Grattan Guinness remarks that,

"Mohammedanism is one of those great movements which have impressed a new and lasting character upon a vast number of the nations of the world. No power known to history has ever wielded the scepter over a wider sphere than this has done."

And the historian Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) remarks concerning the successors of Muhammad: --

"They reigned by right of conquest over the nations of the East, to whom the name of liberty was unknown, and who were accustomed to applaud in their tyrants the acts of violence and severity that were performed at their own expense. Under the last of the Ommiades the Arabian empire extended two hundred days' journey from east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India, to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean."

It is not, however, because of the amazing spread of Islam in so short a time, or because of the absolute and tyrannical character of its rule, that special note is given it in these visions of YEHOVAH God. Rather is it because by it the judgment of YEHOVAH God was executed upon those parts of the earth which had been illuminated by the gospel from its beginning, but which had turned that heavenly light into a darkness worse than that of Paganism, and of which it might well be exclaimed in the words of the Messiah, "How great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).

In the words of Dr. Green, "It is needful to remember the character of that 'Christianity' which called Mahomet and his followers to arms." He quotes the following description by Isaac Taylor --

"What Mahomet and his caliphs found in all directions whither their scimitars cut a path for them, was a superstition so abject, an idolatry so gross and shameless, church doctrines so arrogant, church practices so dissolute and so puerile, that the strong-minded Arabians felt themselves inspired as God's messengers to reprove the errors of the world, and authorized as God's avengers to punish apostate Christendom."

For it must be remembered that YEHOVAH's judgment upon those who have not received the love of the truth, when it has been presented to them in the gospel of His grace, is first of all to give them over to a "strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11; see also Romans 1:25-28). And this, we believe is what is just now coming to pass in our own day in these who, having "received not the love of the truth that they might be saved," although they have all their lives been within the reach and influence of YEHOVAH's Truth, are now being given over to the "strong delusion" of the evolutionary theory, in which the foul and degrading doctrine of the ape-ancestry of man is the central feature.

The 6th Trumpet

Notice, now, Revelation 9:13-21:

"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from thei four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 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.

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

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

"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: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."

The origin of this "woe" was in the region beyond the great river Euphrates." It was from that quarter of the world that the Turks made their appearance, and even until today there is a mystery as to the precise part of the East from which they came.

We have already referred, as corresponding to this vision, to the astonishing resurrection of Islam after centuries of stagnation, resulting in the Ottoman Empire, which continued to our own time to be the inveterate foe of the gospel -- and a curse to all the nations that have been blessed by the gospel's beneficial influences.

Briefly, the important facts concerning the Ottoman Empire are these:

"The Ottoman Turks came originally from the region of the Altai mountains in Central Asia....In the 13th century they appeared as the allies of the Seljukian Turks against the Mongols, and for their aid received a grant of lands from the sultan of Iconium, in Asia Minor. Their leader, Othman, became the most powerful Emir in Western Asia. In the year 1300 he proclaimed himself Sultan. Thus was founded the Empire of the Osman or Ottoman Turks in Asia.

"Osman's successors, princes of great courage and enterprise, who were animated moreover by religious fanaticism, and a passion for military glory, raised it to the rank of the first military power in both Europe and Asia (1300-1566). In the reign of Soliman II, the Magnificent, 1519-1566, the Ottoman Empire reached the highest pitch of power and splendor. From his time the race of Osman degenerated, and the power of the Porte has declined" (The Standard Dictionary of Facts).

To this we would add that Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453, which date is marked in history as the last end of the old Roman Empire.

Returning now to our chapter, from verse 15 it appears that the destroying angels had been already in preparation for a certain period of time, but were held in restraint. This is according to the revealed ways of YEHOVAH God. His judgment upon the Amorites was delayed for four generations, because their iniquity was "not yet full" (Genesis 15:16).

And so to the end; for even now He is holding back the day of Judgment (though men scoff at His warnings) because "the long suffering of our God is salvation," and because He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all [of Israel] should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:3, 4, 9, 15).

Concerning the specified period of preparation, "an hour, and a day and a month, and a year," Jacques Bossuet remarks that, "The time being so exactly marked by the prophet, lets us see how exactly God determines the periods."

The number of the armies was myriads of myriads, a number so great that it is only now possible with the number of Muslims in the world reaching the approximate number of 1.9 billion. John says, "And I heard the number of them," else he could not have known it.

The description of verses 17-19 shows us the conquering power of lions, the swiftness and fearlessness of horses, the destructive agencies of fire, smoke, and brimstone (whereby "the third part of men" were killed), and the poison of serpents in their tails. This is so largely a repetition of the symbols of the fifth trumpet as to assure us that the same people are again brought to view, but with differences which indicate that the identity is not complete. This judgment was not to be final, for it was to affect fatally only "a third part." Johann Bengel aptly remarks upon this removal of a third part by death:

"In the present day also there is a great corruption among unbelievers and nominal christians, in all parts of Christendom, and in all conditions of men; but if we could see what in former times has been taken away, we should find that God has continually saved out of the corrupt mass a good portion to remain for seed. Those portions that have been extirpated have been for the most part a bad commodity....It is therefore necessary for the holy angels to blow with their trumpets, that men may learn to fear the LORD, and not be forever contending against Him."

Verses, 20, 21 show that this woe had a remedial object, that it was a call to repentance to "the rest of the men that were not killed by these plagues." But they profited not by the warning; for it is twice stated that they "repented not." And to this agrees the voice of history, which shows that the nations which suffered under the Saracenic and Ottoman scourges did not repent of their evil works, their idolatries and their worse than Pagan practices. We may well compare this with the hardness of heart manifested by Pharaoh and the Egyptians of old; and recall the words of the prophet: "For the people turneth not unto Him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 9:13).

In addition to calling our nation to repentance, we need to educate people. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” YEHOVAH said (Hosea 4:6). Most Americans’ knowledge of the Scriptures is very superficial and shallow -- or totally non-existent. Sadly, this is often true even among church people. As a result, people are ripe for deception. One deceptive lie that is currently making great headway among many Americans is the notion that Islam is “a fine, noble religion.” Unfortunately, even our President has used these words to describe Islam. While there are some fine, noble Muslim people, the religion of Islam is a counterfeit faith that has as its source the bottomless pit -- the Abyss of Darkness.

It is not popular to say that Islam is a counterfeit faith that should be renounced, rejected, and abandoned by Muslim people. The spirit of this age is pushing for an all-inclusive, New Age view that sees all religions -- even Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism -- as legitimate faiths. Our proclaiming that all non-Biblical faiths are illegitimate will not make us popular, but we are not in a popularity contest. The Scripture speaks of only “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5), “the faith that was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Our proclaiming this one faith, the faith described in the holy scriptures, will set us apart from the mainstream, but it is the only hope for our nation.

-- Edited by John D. Keyser.