4 They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.
not to hurt the grass, nor any green thing, nor any tree – the grass, as in Rev 8:7 represents the men of the world generally, any green thing is any other life, and the trees represent those in the Kingdom of heaven.
the seal of God on their foreheads – this is entirely a spiritual attack on all those in the kingdom of the beast, those who are not sealed by the Holy Spirit (Rev 9:4, Eph 1:13).
The fifth trumpet, and bowl of wrath is not against “the lawlessness of the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of the beast are now fully separated. The Angels have finished their job of separating the wheat from the chaff, and those who remain are being given over to total destruction.
There is now no protection for those outside of the Sanctified Church. There has been a progressive revelation of the truth, and the tolerance is completely taken away for those who do not obey the truth. God is allowing all the power of demons to torment them. The fifth bowl of wrath describes it in this way: “they (in the kingdom of the beast) gnawed their tongues because of the pain” (Rev 16:10).