What is the meaning of Revelation 9:20? Now the rest of mankind • Chapter 9 has just described the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments. A vast portion of earth’s population has been tormented (Revelation 9:5) and a third has been killed (Revelation 9:18), yet there are still multitudes alive. • Scripture often distinguishes a “remnant” that survives calamity (Revelation 6:15–17; Joel 2:32). Here, however, the remnant is not righteous; it is merely spared—for the moment. • The wording reminds us that physical preservation is never the ultimate issue; spiritual response is (Luke 13:4-5). who were not killed by these plagues • The judgments are literal plagues unleashed by God, echoing the Exodus pattern (Exodus 9:14). Each trumpet intensifies His call to repent before the final wrath (Revelation 8:13). • God’s mercy is seen even in restraint: He could have destroyed all, yet He limits the damage to prompt repentance (2 Peter 3:9). • Survival, then, is opportunity. What will the spared do with it? still did not repent of the works of their hands • Repentance means a decisive turn from sin to God (Acts 3:19). The phrase “works of their hands” highlights deliberate, manufactured rebellion (Isaiah 59:6). • Earlier letters warned, “I gave her time to repent, but she is unwilling” (Revelation 2:21). The same stubbornness is now worldwide. • Judgment exposes hearts: some soften (Joshua 2:11), others harden (Romans 2:5). These choose hardness. They did not stop worshiping demons • Behind every false god stands a real demonic power (Deuteronomy 32:17; 1 Corinthians 10:20). Idolatry is not harmless symbolism; it is spiritual treason. • Even after seeing God’s superiority, they stay loyal to the unseen powers that ruin them (Psalm 106:37). • This fulfills Paul’s warning that in the last days people will “follow deceiving spirits” (1 Timothy 4:1). and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood • The list matches Daniel 5:23 and Isaiah 2:20; idolatry spans history and technology—ancient statues, modern materialism. • Humans craft gods in every price range: gold for the wealthy, wood for the poor, but all equally empty. • The works of their hands become the chains on their hearts. which cannot see or hear or walk • The living God mocks lifeless idols: “They have mouths, but cannot speak” (Psalm 115:4-7; Habakkuk 2:18-19). • By contrast, the Lord “hears,” “sees,” and “walks among” His people (Leviticus 26:12). • Choosing mute idols over the speaking Creator (Acts 17:29-30) reveals the darkened mind of unrepentance. summary Revelation 9:20 shows that even cataclysmic, literal judgments will not automatically bring sinners to repentance. Those spared after the trumpet plagues persist in handcrafted, demon-backed idolatry, preferring lifeless objects to the living God. The verse warns that hard hearts can waste divine mercy, and it underscores the urgency of genuine repentance while time remains. |
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