Revelation 9:2 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.
Smoke from this pit comes up so
thick that the sun is darkened even more by it. Locusts come through the smoke
that have the power to sting like a scorpion. They are not to hurt anything
except all of the people on earth other than the 144,000 Jews. They aren’t to
kill them but just make them suffer for five months. Men wanted to die, the
suffering was so horrible, but could not.
The description of the locusts
shows that they are not ordinary locusts but creatures with faces like men,
long hair, and lion’s fangs, wearing breastplates of iron, with wings that
sounded like chariots and horses coming to battle. You can imagine the great
noise of hooves and wheels this would create. The king over them, the angel of
the bottomless pit, is named Abaddon in Hebrew and Apollyon in Greek. But, it
is not necessary that men should see them physically as we already have read of
a star being not an astronomical body but a spiritual being.
Remember how Satan is referred to
as a king over all the children of pride
when God likens a dragon, the Biblical word for our modern dinosaur, to him in
description?
Job 41:34 He beholdeth all high
things: he is a king over all the children of pride.
Satan is the prince of the power
of the air, the prince or ruler of this world, and the god of this world.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:
John 12:31 Now is the judgment
of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them.
Paul warned that our warfare is
against powers above us, which is typically associated with space, not with
earthly rulers.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.
Both the names Abaddon and Apollyon mean destruction and destroyer, according to Strong’s
dictionary. Paul referred to the Hebrews in the Exodus.
1Corinthians 10:10 Neither
murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Remember who God unleashed on the
firstborn of the Egyptians.
Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will
pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the
lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will
not suffer the destroyer to come in
unto your houses to smite you.
Are these locusts visible to
mankind or are they spiritual creatures?
John is seeing the spiritual world in a way that we cannot.
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