THE FIFTH OF THE TRUMPETS

The Fifth of the Trumpets of Judgment   9:1-11

"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." "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." "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." "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." "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." "And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." "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." "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." "And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months." "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."

The Origination of These Locusts  9:1-3

The Star

This star does not fall, but is already fallen. RV. 1 Greek (pemptoV).
This is not a natural star, as the personal pronouns and actions indicate.
Stars refer to angels as already pointed out in this book, cf. 1:20.
This must be an angel in charge of the pit. cf. 20:1-3.
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand." "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."

This angel is not Satan, for Satan's work is to torment the righteous and not the wicked as the locusts turn out to do (4-5). 12:17

"Fallen" taken in the moral sense means this angel is forced to obey God.

The Abyss 1-2

The AV reads the bottomless pit, while the RV is more accurate, reading the "pit of the abyss." Gr: the well of the Abyss. This must be the lower part of the Abyss (tou jreatoV thV abussou).

This may be the place where wicked spirits are confined and is the same as lower Sheol or lower Hades or Tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4).
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;"

Satan is confined in the Abyss for 1000 years (20:1-3). Demons also are tormented in this place (Luke 8:27-31 "deep").
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand." "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
"And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs." "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not." "(For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)" "And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him." "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep."

It is the place of the dead, as indicated by the reference to Christ (Rom. 10:7).
"Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)"

The Smoke 2-3

The smoke came out of the place called the well or the pit. It was a great smoke that darkened the sun and air and was as the smoke of a great furnace (2).
The smoke was not the locusts, for the locusts came out of the smoke (3).
The smoke doubtless has reference to the torment these creatures suffer. In other places it speaks of "the smoke of their torment" (14:11; cf. also Luke 8:27-31).
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
"And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs." "When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not." "For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)" "And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him." "And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep."

The furnace refers to the place of torment where judgment is being meeted out (cf. Rev. 18:9-10, 15, 18; 19:3; 20:10; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6-7).
"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning," "Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come."
"The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,"
"And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!"
"And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever."
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;"
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

The Locusts 3

Out of the smoke come the locusts upon the earth.
Power is given to them such as scorpions have power.

The Intention of These Locusts 4-6

The realm of their power is unsaved men. 4
They must not hurt grass, green things, or trees.
They dare not hurt men with the seal in the forehead.
They may hurt men without the seal in their foreheads.

The Extent of Their Power is Limited  5

The limitation of time is five months.
The limitation of force is not to kill.
The limitation of kind is like a scorpion.

The Result of Their Power is Tremendous  6

Death shall be sought by the tormented and they shall not be able to effect it.
They shall desire to die, and death shall always elude them.

The Description of These Locusts  7-11
The Shapes  7

This was probably assumed like angels. To say the least, the description is grotesque and gruesome.
Like horses prepared for battle. 7
Crowns of gold seemed to be on their heads. 7
Their faces were like men's faces. 7 4g. Their hair was like that of women. 8
Their teeth were like lions'. 8
They seemed to have breastplates of iron. 9
Their tails were like scorpions. 10

The Sound  9

The sound of their wings was like that of many chariots in the rush toward battle.

The Stings  10

Their stings were in their tails and with these they tormented men like a scorpion.

The Sovereign  11

His dominion is over the locusts.
His designation is that of an angel.
His domain is the bottomless pit. Abyss.
His distinction is marked by his names.

In Hebrew: Abaddon, meaning destruction. In Greek: Apollyon, meaning destroyer.

The Species

These are not ordinary locusts as indicated by the place from which they come, the things they do not eat, their shapes and description, and their purpose.
These are not ordinary, for they have a king, and ordinary locusts do not.(Prov. 30:27.  cf. also. Ex. 10:14.)
"The locusts have not king" (Prov. 30:27).

The Explanation of These Locusts  9:20-21

We reserve the explanation until we come to the close of chapter nine, believing that the fifth and sixth trumpets loose plagues exactly alike upon the world of wicked men.