Apocalypse Rising: 19 The Fifth Trumpet: The Rise of Antichrist

The last three trumpets (the fifth, sixth and seventh) form a group of their own which is distinct from the first four. They are called ‘the three woes,’ and specific references to the beginning and ending of these woes are used clearly as narrative markers to distinguish these three trumpets. Table 19.1 below shows these narrative markers:

The Final Three Trumpets – The Three Woes

‘As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”’ (Rev. 8:13)

‘The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.’ (Rev. 9:12)

‘The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.’ (Rev. 11:14)

Fifth trumpet

The first woe

9:1-11

Sixth trumpet

The second woe

9:13 – 11:13

Seventh trumpet

The third woe

11:15 – 19:10[1]

Table 19.1 The narrative markers of the three woes

The use of such narrative markers therefore suggests that these three trumpets are chronologically consecutive to each other as they play out in history, rather than being contemporaneous (or being several distinct parts of one event, as was the case with the first four trumpets). The first woe is followed by the second, and this is then followed by the third. This is clear from the wording used in the narrative markers (9:12, 11:14).

However, there is a common theme which runs through the events of these last three trumpets and which therefore groups them together, and that is the theme of Antichrist: his emergence and rise to regional power, his establishment on the worldwide stage, and the worldwide but short-lived Beast system (which is followed by his eventual demise at the Second Advent of Christ).[2],[3],[4] This common theme is summed up as a three-fold woe declared prior to the blowing of the fifth trumpet (8:13). Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth who are caught up in the time of Antichrist: it will prove to be a terrible, terrible time!

Reading: Revelation 9:1-12

The rise of Antichrist

Perhaps some believers do not realise that the rapture will trigger a sudden and significant shift in the spiritual life and atmosphere in this world. When the restrainer – the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the believing Church – is removed, this will immediately create a partial spiritual vacuum in the world. This vacuum will then be filled quickly by the powers of darkness when they realise that the restraint that was upon them has been removed.

So spiritual life in this world after the rapture will not be anything like what it was before. There will be a significant increase in the overt expression of evil and wickedness, much more so than at present while it is still restrained. Evil spirits which afflict and oppress people will take possession of them and freely express their evil nature through them. The world will be filled with despair and a lack of hope, but again much more so than at present.

On a wider global level, the new world order (NWO) will have complete sway in the world, and there will no longer be the see-saw battle between conservative and left-wing liberal values in the political sphere in the West, simply because the conservative forces will no longer be numerically strong enough to resist the onward march of liberalism. The time of the rule of darkness will finally have come, and the way to the rise of Antichrist will be made open (with all the widespread spiritual deception and delusion that this involves). The powers of darkness will then have free reign for a period of time over the lives of unbelievers everywhere.

The rise of Antichrist will also come about through the global crisis caused by the devastating events of the first four trumpets (which were described in the previous chapter). The absence of restraint over the powers of darkness, and the disruption and chaos of this global crisis combined together will bring about the rise of Antichrist. And, of course, this will be on top of all the increasingly stronger and regular birth pains which will be going on around the globe.

The principle of bringing order out of chaos, ordo ab chao, has been proven many times in the political sphere of human life. There are several notable examples of extreme and evil political regimes and systems which arose out of a period of chaos. Any student of history or geopolitics will recognise the examples given below. What is proclaimed, promoted, and even fought for in the hope and belief that it will bring about greater freedom and prosperity for humanity than that which presently prevails, often turns out in practice to bring quite the opposite and, in fact, brings something even worse. Human beings are very often deceived into putting their hopes and reliance on a particular sociopolitical-economic system, only to eventually suffer disappointment and disillusionment.

For example, Nazism arose in Germany out of the bitterness and disillusionment of the post-WW1 years, and out of the economic chaos and political instability which then followed during the 1920s – 1933. Many German people looked upon Hitler as the man who could save their nation. His rhetorical ability captivated and deceived millions, so they supported his rise to power. However, the evil within Nazism was increasingly displayed for all to see between 1933 – 1945, with millions of Jews being slaughtered in the Holocaust, and tens of millions of other European people killed in the devastation of WW2.

Similarly, Soviet Communism rose to power in Russia in November 1917 during the chaotic years of economic hardship and weak military leadership of WW1, spurred on by hatred of the opulent despotism of tsarist rule which had embittered the masses. Marxism-Leninism was embraced by many as a new sociopolitical-economic system that would be able to put the world’s wrongs to right, but, with the rise of Stalin to power in 1923 after Lenin’s death, it was not long before this new totalitarian system demonstrated its evil nature. Freedom of thought, expression and movement were soon curtailed, and millions of citizens were eventually purged, languishing or dying in prisons and the Gulag labour camps. The leadership and influence of the Russian Orthodox Church was decimated. Communist regimes have proven to act in similar ways wherever they have risen to power.

More recently, the short-lived Caliphate of ISIS arose in Syria/Iraq during 2013 – 2019 out of the power vacuum created by the failed Arab Spring uprising in Syria and the chaotic multiple-sided fragmentation and war which followed. Many thousands of Muslim people embraced this Caliphate and moved to its territory to live and fight under its rule, believing it to be the longed-for resurgence of the age-old Islamic Caliphate of the Middle East. However, many testimonies emerged regarding the evils that ISIS was perpetrating within the territories it controlled, including genocide. These evils resulted in the formation of the international military coalition which eventually defeated ISIS in Syria/Iraq.

Given over to the destructive consequences of human sin

One of the basic biblical principles to do with human sin, is that a wilful lack of repentance ultimately leads to us being given over to our sinful desires and to their destructive consequences. To be given over to sin, and for it to then enslave and destroy us, is an expression of God’s wrath (Rom. 1:18-32). In his wrath, God gives our stubborn and unrepentant hearts over to sin and its consequences.

So, because of humanity’s refusal to repent and turn to God, because of its rejection of God’s grace freely offered in the gospel of Christ, and because of its stubborn insistence on trying to find solutions to its problems only within the parameters of humanism, humanity will ultimately be given over to what it worships and craves. The result will be the rule and reign of Antichrist with all its terrible consequences. As someone once said, the sin of man will ultimately culminate in the reign of the man of sin, Antichrist. This will be an expression of the end-time wrath of God. The triumph of humanism will be the enthronement of self, the enthronement of man in the place of God. And it is this enthronement of man which will usher in the end-times reign of Antichrist.

The fact that the ‘ten kings’ of the new world order will willingly give Antichrist their power and authority, clearly implies that Antichrist’s rule will initially be sought after and embraced by many people, just as in the three historical examples given above (Rev. 17:13). He will initially appear to many to be the needed saviour for the world’s global problems. However, what global humanity turns to, to seek to save it, will actually turn out to enslave and destroy it. The rise of Antichrist, and to be given over to his evil rule, will be the woe that has been prophesied and long expected for humankind.

The world has known many evil totalitarian systems and brutal dictators in its history. As well as the three examples above, one could think of the Roman Emperors Nero, Domitian and Diocletian who each persecuted and killed many Christians; take Chairman Mao whose rule and disastrous policies resulted in the deaths of multiplied tens of millions of Chinese people in the time of the Great Leap Forward and Great Famine of 1959 – 1961, and during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 – 1976; take the bestial cruelty of Genghis Khan; think of the way in which Napoleon was lauded and cheered in post-revolutionary France, and then consider where his madness eventually led everyone. The list is endless…

These men certainly provide examples of the kind of person that Antichrist will be. Indeed, some commentators believe that every generation has had a candidate who could have potentially fitted the bill to become Antichrist. More people suffered, were impoverished, imprisoned and/or killed under these kinds of authoritarian regimes than anyone would ever have imagined before they came to power. They ended up bringing untold misery to hundreds of millions of people. As Epperson puts it: ‘History is strewn with the carnage of those who wanted to rule the world.’[5]

However, bad and evil through these regimes were, the reign and rule of Antichrist will prove to be even worse. C.E.B. Cranfield believes that these historical incarnations of antichrist, bad and evil though they were, were merely ‘foreshadowings of the last supreme concentration of the rebelliousness of the devil before the End.’[6] The time of the Great Tribulation, when Antichrist reigns on earth, will prove to be a time of distress for the world the like of which has never been seen or experienced before (Matt. 24:21). Take all the despots and dictators of human history, and Antichrist will ultimately prove to be worse than them all!

The spiritual power base undergirding the rise of Antichrist

The fifth trumpet describes the letting loose of demonic hordes from the Abyss together with their leader, who is called Apollyon (or, the Destroyer):

‘They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.’ (Rev. 9:11)

John’s description of these demonic spirits as looking like hordes of hybrid locusts brings to mind the locust plague of Joel’s day which devastated the land of Israel (Joel 1:2-12, 2:25).

So this fifth trumpet reveals to us the unseen but nonetheless very real power base of spiritual darkness which undergirds the rise and emergence of Antichrist. When the Abyss is opened, and Apollyon the Destroyer then gathers, organises, and leads his army of demonic scorpion-locusts, a very dark spiritual power will begin to arise in this world, centred around the man who will become Antichrist.[7] Apollyon the Destroyer will possess this man.[8] Being that by this point, the system and structure of the new world order will already have been set up, the rise of Antichrist will become the central focus of these powers of darkness. This dark spiritual power will not only fill the partial vacuum created by the rapture, it will also ultimately prove to be darker than any evil spiritual power on earth which has ever preceded it.

This Destroyer from the Abyss is also referred to in Revelation 11:7 as the Beast from the Abyss, when, as we shall see in the next chapter, he attacks Jerusalem and kills the Two Witnesses:

‘Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower them and kill them.’ (Rev. 11:7)

It is self-evident that the person being referred to in this verse is actually Antichrist. The unseen spiritual world is being superimposed on the physical world of flesh and sense, and they are seen indivisibly as one. The man Antichrist (who is possessed by this spiritual beast) is the one who actually attacks, conquers and kills the Two Witnesses. And as we shall see in chapters 20 and 21, it is after this that he will then set himself up in the temple of God in Jerusalem to be worshipped.

Similarly, this Destroyer is identified later on in Revelation with the Beast of chapter 13 who empowers Antichrist:

‘The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction.’ (Rev. 17:8) [9],[10]

It is important for us to recognise that, in Satan’s dominion, every human kingdom or empire (together with their kings and rulers) has an unseen but very real evil spiritual power base which undergirds and empowers it. The spiritual realm is just as real as the physical realm which we can see and touch!

We can see an example of the superimposition and interweaving of the physical and spiritual realms in Ezekiel ch.28 where, after the Lord has delivered a stinging prophetic rebuke to the self-worshipping human despot of the city-state of Tyre, he then addresses another prophetic message to the evil spiritual being behind the scenes who was empowering the rule of this man. This evil spiritual being turns out to be none other than Lucifer himself. Lucifer’s self-deification and self-worship are reflected in the character of the human despot he possesses (Ezek. 28:1-19).

The apostle Paul also touches on this when he makes plain that our warfare as Christians in advancing the kingdom of God in this world is not against flesh and blood, i.e. human beings, but against spiritual principalities and powers, the evil forces of darkness and wickedness in high places behind the scenes which control human socio-political structures, and which blind, deceive and enslave human beings (Eph. 6:12, cf. Col. 1:16). Paul affirms the fact that behind idols are unseen spiritual demonic beings which empower such idols and cause people to fall into the bondage of worshipping them (1 Cor. 10:20, Ps. 106:36-37). However, he also adds that our weapons in this spiritual warfare are not carnal but spiritual, and they are mighty through God to be able to pull down evil spiritual strongholds (2 Cor. 10:3-4).

Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant, was privileged to have had a glimpse into this unseen spiritual realm. He saw the angels of God with their chariots of fire surrounding Elisha, ready to protect them against the Syrian army that was seeking Elisha (2 Ki. 6:15-17).

The establishing of the local power of Antichrist

This vision of the fifth trumpet with its description of hybrid scorpion-locusts is dressed in the language of human conquest (9:7-9). This suggests again that we are being presented with the superimposition of the spiritual realm with the physical human realm. The rise of the one corresponds to a development in the other, and so we are seeing both at the same time in this vision. The rise of Antichrist is empowered by Apollyon the Destroyer with his hordes of demon scorpion-locusts, and, in the physical human realm, this brings about the conquering aspect of Antichrist’s rule.

So, in the light of what happens later in the narrative of Revelation in the sixth and seventh trumpets, and which are described in the next two chapters, it would be reasonable to interpret the events of this fifth trumpet as describing the establishment of the authority and power of Antichrist on a local level, as a ‘little horn’ (Dan. 7:8). This is what we would expect whenever a new political-military power arises. It first becomes established locally, then regionally, and then, if it does expand further, on a much wider scale.

However, it is clear from the narrative that this initial rise and establishment of Antichrist’s power involves limitation. The demonic hordes are told that they cannot harm the environment, nor are they allowed to harm those who have the seal of God on their foreheads (which we can assume from Revelation 7:3-8 is referring to Jewish believers). They are allowed to torment and harm only unbelievers, but they cannot kill them. Furthermore, we are not told exactly what form such harm and torment take.

So this period of five months during which Antichrist arises and establishes his authority and power on a local level, although it does involve limitation, yet it is a time of crisis, suffering and torment for those who are unfortunate enough to come under his rule. Many of these people will long to die, but death will elude them (9:5-6,10).

Table 19.2 below gives a summary of the events of this fifth trumpet:

The Fifth Trumpet – the First Woe (cf. 8:13, 9:12)

Rev. 9:1-11

The Abyss is opened, releasing many demonic scorpion-locust spirits onto the earth. Their king is called the Destroyer. This is the spiritual power base undergirding the rise of Antichrist.

These spirits torment people, but they are not allowed to kill those who do not have the seal of God. This torment lasts for 5 months.

The spiritual and physical realms are seen as being superimposed upon and interweaved with one another.

Table 19.2 A summary of the events of the fifth trumpet

Is Antichrist alive somewhere in the world today?

History is now fast closing in on the time when the Abyss will be opened, the demon locusts will pour forth, and Antichrist will be allowed to rise. As I showed in chapter 5, the spirit and influence of antichrist is already present in this world, but it is being kept in check by the greater presence and power of the restrainer.

However, if the rapture is as close as I and many others believe, then this would imply that the man who will become Antichrist is probably even now alive somewhere in the world. This begs the question: is this man alive somewhere right now as I am writing this chapter, or as you are reading it? Is he alive but still unknown, perhaps a child and growing up, or studying at university, or has he perhaps matured as an adult and is already active locally in the political sphere?

And this thought also begs one further remark: if the time for the rise of Antichrist really is close, and if he is indeed alive somewhere in the world, then this implies that the ‘ten kings’ who will support his rise to power must also presently be alive and operating in the world (cf. Rev. 17:12-13). So who might they be? This is very interesting food indeed for thought and discussion!

Copyright Notice

[1] Commentators differ as to when the seventh trumpet / third woe ends, depending on whether they include the seven bowls of wrath as part of the seventh trumpet. These bowls are certainly part of the Great Tribulation, and they are poured out towards the end of it. Therefore, some commentators give 14:20 as the end of the seventh trumpet, others give 16:21 or even 19:10 (so taking it right up to the Second Advent of Christ).

[2] The concept of a godless ruler who will arise in the final generation of this age, and who will be the primary human adversary of God and Jesus the Messiah (a so-called ‘Eschatological Antagonist’), is found in Jewish prophetic and apocalyptic teaching, especially in the book of Daniel (see Dan. ch.7, 11:36-39). It is not therefore a specifically Christian teaching.

[3] The reader would perhaps find it helpful at this point to review chapter 5 and refresh their mind on what it says about the man of lawlessness, Antichrist. The word ‘antichrist’ means someone who is opposed to Christ, or someone who usurps and stands in the place of Christ, and who is therefore a false Christ.

[4] Antichrist is referred to in several different ways in the prophetic Scriptures, including the following: the Beast (Rev. 13:1 etc.); the man of sin/lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:3); the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3 AV); the lawless one (2 Thess. 2:8-9); the little horn (Dan. 7:8); the king of the north (Dan. 11:36f), and the eighth king (Rev. 17:11).

[5] See Epperson, Chapter 23.

[6] See the relevant footnote in chapter 6.

[7] It is interesting that in the Septuagint version of Amos 7:1, the king of the locust swarm was called Gog.

[8] The Greek word apoleia refers to utter destruction or ruination, not in terms of extinction, but in terms of loss of well-being. It therefore highlights the depth of evil character which will be displayed by Antichrist, and it also suggests the lamentable state to which the world will be reduced by the end of his rule during the Great Tribulation. The use of this word in the phrase ‘the son of destruction/perdition’ in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 to describe Antichrist again suggests his evil character, but, in this verse, it also shows his final and deserved destiny: he is doomed to destruction in the eternal lake of fire.

[9] The Greek word apoleia rendered as ‘destruction’ in verse 17:8 is rendered as Apollyon in verse 9:11, so verse 17:8 could well be translated in the following way: ‘The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go into Apollyon.’ This would then imply that the man who becomes Antichrist is spiritually possessed by the Beast (a fact that many commentators would accept as being true anyway), and such a rendering would sit well with the following verse (17:9).

[10] Furthermore, some commentators believe that the name Apollyon used in verse 9:11 suggests an indirect connection with Apollo, the very popular sun god of Greek mythology and the son of Zeus, the main deity of the Greek pantheon. If this is true, then it would imply that the man whose rise is being empowered in the fifth trumpet will become Satan’s diabolical counterfeit of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e. he is none other than the end-times Antichrist. As with all other Greek gods, Apollo had a capricious character, and he would sometimes send plagues or destruction. This would be supported well by the imagery of hybrid locusts in the fifth trumpet.

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