Revelation 9: the fifth trumpet and those who are sealed

Previously: Revelation 9: the fifth trumpet of torment, but not death, part two
The first post in the Revelation series

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. Revelation 9:1-6

Now those who the armies of locusts were to torment, were those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads; i.e., those who were not, or were not to be, the bondservants of the living God, according to Revelation 7.

Some historicists say that those who do not have the seal of God are those who, according to the Mohammedans, do not have the seal of God, i.e., infidels, any who are not Muslim. But I disagree. The seal of God clearly refers back to Revelation 7, where only the bondservants of the living God were sealed. While the Mohammedans serve someone, it is not the living God.

So why do they say it is those who do not have the seal of God, according to the Mohammedans? Because the provinces which fell to Islam were formerly Christian. However, every person in those provinces, if they were not a Jew, was considered a Christian, i.e., a member of the Church and of society. When a pagan king converted to Christianity, all his men and their families were baptized as well, on his order. Did that make them all Christians, bondservants of the living God? No.

The Mohammedan was told to let alone those who were living quiet and simple lives of piety. (Barnes Notes on the New Testament.)I think the true Christians, those who were truly sealed by the Holy Spirit, went on living their simple and quiet lives, unvexed by the Mohammedans. They were content in whatever circumstance they found themselves, trusting in the Lord their God in this life, as well as the next.

To be continued …

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Update: continued in Revelation 8-9: the division of the Empire, part two