Tag: Fifth Trumpet

Rev 9:1-12  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.  (2)  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.  (3)  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.  (4)  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.  (5)  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.  (6)  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.  (7)  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.  (8)  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.  (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 running to battle.  (10)  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.  (11)  And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (12) One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

Good morning from beautiful Virginia, not too far from the Blue Ridge Mountains. I feel so blessed to live close to the Lord’s creation! We can visit any time we want and behold all its beauty. But there is coming a day when this beauty will either be destroyed or the ability to travel where and when we want to will no longer be a privilege. We saw what happened when Covid struck. Our freedoms to travel where we wanted were restricted. Even our religious freedoms were attacked.

Satan and his demonic forces will be coming into play in the next two judgments. There are references made to:

• stars,
• locusts,
• scorpions,
• Abaddon/Apollyon,
• angels who are bound, and
• an army

All these terms describe the evil powers which will be released from the pits of Hell during the Tribulation. We know the star mentioned in verse 1 is not referring to an actual star in the heavens because John uses the personal pronoun here to describe that keys to the bottomless pit will be given to “him”! This is a reference to Satan.

Torment is coming during this trumpet judgment and it will be allowed by God in an attempt to snap people into reality of Who He really is. As I’ve written in prior posts, sometimes it takes a harsher reprimand (chastisement or spanking) from the Lord to get our attention. During the Tribulation, mankind’s hearts are going to be a lot more cold and evil. This type of judgment is what God must allow in order to prick their hearts so they can realize their need for repentance from their sins. The torment to be imparted will take place for five months, but they will not result in death. In fact, people will seek death but death will evade them.

Scripture says that a star will fall from heaven to earth and this star will have the keys to the “bottomless pit.” (Revelation 9:1, Revelation 9:2, Revelation 9:11, Revelation 11:7, Revelation 17:8, Revelation 17:8, Revelation 20:1, Revelation 20:3) Isn’t it interesting that these words are found only seven times in the King James Version of the Bible and they are all in the Book of Revelation?! The bottomless pit actually defines itself; it means without depth. So imagine yourself free-falling into this bottomless pit. You would never reach the end!

We can also see that the bottomless pit is associated with demonic forces. (Revelation 11:7, Revelation 17:8) It’s clear that whatever enters or leaves this pit is absolutely grotesque and evil. Take note that the first thing that happens when the pit is opened is that smoke arises like a great furnace. As a result, the sun and the air are darkened. What can this represent? I really don’t know but I can use my imagination. Maybe some will think a storm is on the horizon. Yes, it will be a storm alright. This is a storm consisting of locusts but not like any locusts we’ve ever seen at any time in history! These locusts will be given supernatural powers from Satan and will be more like scorpions, as we see in Revelation 9:7-10. It also says that these Tribulation locusts have a king – real locusts do not have a leader. So they can’t be locusts as we know them.

These locusts will be different because locusts normally eat grass and trees; but these won’t. Their goal will be to inflict pain on unbelieving mankind, not the planet. However, just as it was during the first Passover of the Old Testament, those who have the seal of God won’t be affected (the 144,000 Jews and Tribulation Saints). These 144,000 are the Messianic Jews (12,000 from each tribe of Israel – see Revelation 7:4) who will preach to the world. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is rare that adults die from scorpion stings; children seem to have the more severe reactions. However, these locusts have scorpion abilities but not those that have ever been seen before. These locusts are from the pits of Hell and their power is from Satan; much different from what we are accustomed to today.

This power will be so great that when people are stung, they will want to die but won’t be able to. Because Revelation 9:7-10 reads like something out of a futuristic war movie, many believe that this represents a war and possibly helicopters shooting. One can only imagine but I don’t think this will be the case because these locusts have the following characteristics:

• like horses prepared for battle
• what appears to be crowns like gold on their heads
• they have faces like those of men
• they have hair like women
• they have teeth like those of lions
• they wear breastplates like iron
• their wings make a sound like chariots of many horses going to battle

I don’t know about you, but this does not sound like war-type machinery. But let’s remember where these locusts are coming from – the very pits of Hell. These demons could possibly have these characteristics! Just because we’ve never seen anything like this doesn’t mean that they won’t exist. Think about it – the world could possibly claim that they are aliens from another planet??? I know this may seem out of character for me to write, but we must remember that this is the Book of Revelation and it characterizes events which will occur in the future. We need to trust the Word of God and leave the future to Him. For right now, we believers are looking forward to the Rapture and not these events. The reason I write about these events is to give the believers information so they can reach the lost. I write about these events so if by chance someone who is not saved reads these posts, they will be alerted.

This trumpet’s horrors are brought to you by the king of these demons, the king of the bottomless pit. What is his name? We are told that his name in Hebrew is Abaddon and Apollyon in Greek. Both refer to Satan, the destroyer. If you are skeptical of this series on Revelation and really can’t wrap your head around getting saved before the Tribulation, let’s take a look at how the Bible describes Satan. This list is certainly not all of the descriptions for the devil. Once you see these references about him and his character, you can presume he will be doing the same in your life unless you are saved and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.

Lastly, dear reader, this is just the first of the three woes. (Revelation 9:12) Stay tuned for more to come.

Friend, it is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!