forgiveness for their sins and eternal life rather than eternal punishment? We call this offer the good news, but to many it is anything but that. In their darkness and sinfulness, they hear the words regarding God's gracious gift of salvation and they reject it as unnecessary and undesirable. And as John will discover in today's passage, even those going through the pain of God's unrelenting judgment will continue to reject Him and refuse to turn to Him. Revelation 9:1-12 reveals the first of the three woes that are going to fall on the earth in the final days of the tribulation. Demonic activity will run rampant on the earth, with the forces of Satan tormenting all those who live on the earth who wear the mark of the beast. These will be all those who have refused Christ as their Savior. And their torment will be so great that they will wish for death and even attempt to take their own lives, but fail in their attempt to do so. They will be stuck in their misery and pain, completely unable to do anything about it. It will be foretaste of their eternal destiny, reserved for all those who fail to accept God's gracious gift of salvation made possible through His Son. But all the tribulation saints, who have refused to bear the mark of the beast or bow down to the Antichrist, will be protected by God. During the darkest days of the tribulation, they will be preserved.
