What are these Locusts that come out of the Bottomless Pit in In Revelation 9: 7-10?

Question

Is this a description of modern day weoponry? If so, what could it describe?

Revelation 9
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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Answer 1

plauges are a symbol of Gods judgement. Also could represent being over whelmed by a large and powerful army.
in regards to this verse, it could be literal locusts that are very intelligent and invinceible. It could be demons from hell, or a literal army.
Or it could represent something now adays such as,
sounds like a war zone
having human faces: intelligent people/army
armor made of iron: in war uniform
wings with roaring sound could be helicopters
so it could be modern weapontry or a pretty bad end time war. Either way, i hope to not be there!

Answer 2

The heads of some locusts are shaped like trhe heads of horses, thus the comparison here.
The horse is a warlike creature, swift, strong, and courageous, Job_39:21. Locusts sometimes have appeared in the form of armies. This part of their description may denote the wars of the Saracens, and the rapidity, force, and power with which they overran a great part of the empire; and as it may be applied to the western locusts, the disputes, contentions, and quarrels raised by the Catholic clergy.

Answer 3

“The Locusts Resembled Horses Prepared for Battle”

The magazine GEO reports that in 1784, South Africa was hit by “the largest swarm [of locusts] ever registered in recorded history.” The swarm covered an area of two thousand square miles [5,200 sq km], which is about five times the size of Hong Kong. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says that the locust “commits terrible ravages on vegetation in the countries which it visits.”

In his God-given revelation of things that would take place during “the Lord’s day,” Jesus used a vision of a swarm of locusts. Concerning them it was said: “The locusts resembled horses prepared for battle.” (Revelation 1:1, 10; 9:3-7) What was the significance of this symbolism?

Jehovah’s Witnesses have long understood that the locusts of Revelation chapter 9 portray the anointed servants of God on earth in this century. These Christians have been assigned a particular job—to preach the Kingdom message earth wide and make disciples. (Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20) This calls upon them to overcome obstacles and to stick to their work. What could better illustrate this than the indomitable locust?

Though little more than two inches [5 cm] in length, the locust commonly travels between 60 and 120 miles [100-200 km] per day. The desert locust may even stretch this to 600 miles [1,000 km]. GEO explains that “its wings wave 18 times per second and for up to 17 hours a day—something that no other insect manages to do.” What an immense task for such a tiny creature!

As a group, Jehovah’s Witnesses are steadfast in spreading the good news of the Kingdom. They now preach in over 230 lands. These servants of God overcome many difficulties in order to have a share in carrying out the work. What sort of problems do they face? Prejudice, legal restrictions, illness, discouragement, and opposition from relatives are just a few. But nothing has managed to stem their advance. They stick to their God-given work.

Answer 4

If they are coming out of a bottomless pit then they must be some sort of flying war machines that the mole-men will use against us. The only way you could really have a bottomless pit is if the "Hollow Earth" theories are actually true.

I don't know of any modern day weaponry that has hair that is like the hair of women. Although I suppose soldiers MIGHT start gluing wigs onto their assault weapons, I really don't think its likely.

Answer 5

They're not locusts. I know that much. This is an analogy with metaphors. Try not to take it so literally. Man was given the power over all creatures on earth. More than likely this is a description of a human with metaphors used to describe their faults. An anology of modern day Christians comes to my mind when reading this.

Answer 6

As their king is the angel of the bottomless pit, Apollyon, as stated in verse 11 of the same chapter, these locusts are actual demonic beings who will be given power to torment those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Answer 7

The locusts are the Roman army.

"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"

This is men riding horses, wearing armor.

"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."

This is chariots, rather obviously.

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

The foot forces that follow the main assault via horse and chariot.

The mystery of Revelation geos away when you realize it's about the past, rather than the future.

Answer 8

Many scholars identify the power depicted in Revelation as referring to Islam and its prophet, Muhammad.
It is a power which is instructed to hurt only those who have NOT received the “seal of God”. “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those of mankind who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads; . .” Islam did, in fact, respect those Christians maintaining a pure monotheistic faith, but did “hurt” those whose faith had become corrupted with idolatry and polytheism.
Its leader is called “the angel of the bottomless pit”. The Greek work “angelos” for angel, means “messenger”. Bottomless pit here can be understood as a desolate place, the desert. If, in fact, we take this to refer to Islam, it would be logical for this to be identified as Arabia. Their leader then is known as “the Messenger of Arabia”. It's in the Bible, the Injil, Revelation 9:11, RSV. “They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.” To the Hebrews and Greeks, whose religion had not remained pure, he is known as “destroyer”.
The purpose of this power was to lead people to the worship of the one true God and away from their idolatry and evil. But most of mankind did not repent of their evil. “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot either see or hear or walk; nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts.”

but that doesnt mean islam is right, its like a plague/demon that makes the unsure christians fall.

Answer 9

Seems a bit unlikely. It appears that this refers to a natural occurrence that was elaborated upon over time by primitive superstitious people.

Locusts spend the first part of their life cycle as grubs underground. When they are ready for their adult stage they emerge en masse, moult, and can form huge swarms - or plagues, if you want to be biblical.

Early farmers, seeing these swarms apparently emerging from the ground and destroying their crops, could be excused for believing it to be a supernatural phenomena. The additional details (lions' teeth etc) is simply myth built around the framework of a natural event.

Answer 10

It's symbolic and the meaning is = the power of god manifest in a great multitude of people doing the door to door witnessing that is going on now. Yes, it will increase many times what it is today.
You can't go anywhere in the world that a Jehovah's Witness won't knock on your door and attempt to be friends.
So the swarm of locusts is as a swarm of Witnesses sent to you by GOD.