The Revelation of John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 9 of 22 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
9:7-10:5
[9:7] And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as men’s faces.
[9:8] And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
[9:9] 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 rushing to war.
[9:10] And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months.
[9:11] They have over them as king the angel of the abyss: his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon.
[9:12] The first Woe is past: behold, there come yet two Woes hereafter.
[9:13] And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,
[9:14] one saying to the sixth angel that had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.
[9:15] And the four angels were loosed, that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.
[9:16] And the number of the armies of the horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand: I heard the number of them.
[9:17] And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates as of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone: and the heads of the horses are as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceedeth fire and smoke and brimstone.
[9:18] By these three plagues was the third part of men killed, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths.
[9:19] For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails are like unto serpents, and have heads; and with them they hurt.
[9:20] And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk:
[9:21] and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
[10:1] And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, arrayed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire;
[10:2] and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth;
[10:3] and he cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth: and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.
[10:4] And when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
[10:5] And the angel that I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven,
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The strong angel in 10:1 has 'his face was as the sun' and 'feet as pillars of fire' with a rainbow upon his head, depicting an uncreated luminous quality of the divine in direct visionary encounter.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
The passage depicts a final collective cosmic judgment event: the loosing of destructive angels, the killing of the third part of men by fire and brimstone, and the condemnation of the unrepentant remnant.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The seven thunders utter their voices and the seer is explicitly commanded to 'Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not,' a direct instance of esoteric content reserved and concealed.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage is saturated with non-physical beings (angels, locusts, the angel of the abyss) that interpenetrate and affect the physical world, killing the third part of men and causing plagues.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
Specific numbers carry structural and revelatory weight: six trumpets, four angels, three plagues, the third part of men, twice ten thousand times ten thousand, seven thunders, five months.