我们往往很想略过这段启示录的经文，它的信息实在令人困扰。有一大群蝗虫从无底坑出来，这些活物外表怪诞、又无情和坚决地要尽力折磨许多的人，我们想尽办法要避开它们。
在这第五号吹响后的场景中，我认为这里使用的描述手法，与耶稣在登山宝训中衪使用的部份手法相同。这便是修辞学上的夸张法-使用夸张、但又不按照字面来解释的图像。例如，想想耶稣在马太福音 5:29-30所说的话：“若是你的右眼叫你跌倒，就剜出来… ，若是右手叫你跌倒，就砍下来… 。”我教的那班主日学其中个学生回应这段经文说：“哇！耶稣的要求真的很高。”
她其实是明白这里所说的意思。她知道耶稣不是说我们真的要伤害自己，然而她却看到，耶稣其实是在吩咐我们要抗拒罪恶。第五号的故事，提到很多关于邪恶和它带给人生命的深切痛苦，所以我们要抗拒它。依靠神的保护，我们可以做得到，然而我们必须看清邪恶的本质。圣经所说的罪和邪恶，就是我们视为“随自己的欲望、按自己的时间做事。”的这种心态。
罪恶的外表和味道像糖果，然而神要我们看到罪恶真正的腐蚀作用。要明白这个真理，最要紧的就是看看这个由从无底坑出来的、在背后推动的王的名，他的名字是毁坏者。
谁是你的王呢？
主啊，求你天天救我们脱离那恶者，就是那毁坏者。奉耶稣名祈求，阿们。
启示录 9:3-12
3有蝗虫从烟中出来，飞到地上，有能力赐给它们，好像地上蝎子的能力一样。
4并且吩咐它们说，不可伤害地上的草和各样青物并一切树木，唯独要伤害额上没有神印记的人。
5但不许蝗虫害死他们，只叫他们受痛苦五个月，这痛苦就像蝎子螫人的痛苦一样。
6在那些日子，人要求死，决不得死；愿意死，死却远避他们。
7蝗虫的形状好像预备出战的马一样，头上戴的好像金冠冕，脸面好像男人的脸面，
8头发像女人的头发，牙齿像狮子的牙齿，
9胸前有甲好像铁甲，它们翅膀的声音好像许多车马奔跑上阵的声音，
10有尾巴像蝎子，尾巴上的毒钩能伤人五个月。
11有无底坑的使者做它们的王，按着希伯来话名叫亚巴顿，希腊话名叫亚玻伦。
12第一样灾祸过去了，还有两样灾祸要来。
"The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. . . ." - Revelation 9:7
It can be tempting to skip over this section in Revelation. Its message is troublesome. The swarm of locusts rising up from the Abyss, grotesque in appearance and ruthlessly determined to torment as many people as they can, are creatures we would rather avoid.
I think this fifth-trumpet scene applies the same technique Jesus used in parts of his Sermon on the Mount. This is hyperbole—the use of exaggerated pictures that are not meant to be taken literally. Consider, for example, what Jesus says in Matthew 5:29-30 (NRSV): "If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. . . . If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. . . ." One of my church-education students responded to this passage by saying, "Wow! Jesus asks a lot."
She understood. She knew that Jesus was not saying we should literally harm ourselves, but she could see that he does call us to resist sin. The fifth-trumpet story says a lot about evil and the terrible pain it brings into people’s lives, and we need to resist it. With God’s protection we can do that, but we must see evil for what it is. What the Bible calls sin and evil is what we might define as "doing what I want, when I want."
Sin may look and taste like candy. But God wants us to see sin’s real cavity-creating rot. Perhaps this truth is best brought home in the name of the driver-king who comes out of the Abyss. His name is Destroyer.
Who is your king?
Lord, deliver us each day from the evil one, the Destroyer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
