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5th Trumpet

5th Trumpet – ‘bottomless pit’ / ‘The Fifth trumpet brings the first terror’(first woe):

Revelation 9:1 – “The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.  The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.”

The fallen star is the fallen angel, Satan.  Remember that he – the dragon – lost the war in heaven, against Michael and was hurled down to the earth.  The passage: ‘they lost their place in heaven’ means that Satan and his demonic angels are banned from heaven, permanently.  Up until that point, they did have access, to appear before the throne of God.

Revelation 9:2-10 reveals the details of the ‘locusts’ that come out of the Abyss when the Dragon opens it with the key he is given.  The Lord Jesus Christ holds the keys to death and Hades because of His work on the cross: ” ‘I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’ ” – Revelation 1:17-18 – Death and Hades are synonymous with the Abyss

Perhaps this is where our phrase – hell has been let loose – came from.

Enter the Beast (the antichrist) – at the mid-point of the 7 year Tribulation:

Revelation 9:11 – “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.”

Revelation 9:11 – it’s very interesting how this passage is numbered 911.

Apollyon means ‘the destroyer’.

The name ‘destroyer’ was used in Isaiah 16:4: “Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”  This happens while the Jews are being protected by God in the desert during the second half of the Tribulation.  This is also while the destroyer, the Beast, is persecuting the Christians, also in the second half of the Great Tribulation.

Note that the angel, aka, the Beast, is referred to as their king – ‘they had as king over them the angel of the Abyss.”

The phrase: ‘angel of the Abyss’ is very revealing and very important.  The angel – the king over the ‘locusts’ – is the Beast, Satan’s dominant, demonic angel.  The Beast is one of the principalities and powers written about in Scripture.  Ephesians 6:12 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Notice all the plural references.  There are many powerful demons at work in the world.  Beware.

Something else important to know and remember is that the Beast will have three distinct identifiers: – a man – a demon – and a world system.

The demon – Revelation 9:11 – “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss.”  It’s a demonic entity that comes from the Abyss.

The man – Revelation 13:1 – “And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.”  ‘The sea’ is a metaphor for the peoples, the masses.  The Beast will present himself as a man.

(Further in Revelation 13, the false prophet is described as ‘coming out of the earth’, which is totally different.  More on that later.)

We have all heard of demonic possession.  It is very real.  Today so many actors and singers/musicians have openly spoken about the feelings of being taken over/possessed, by ‘powers’ while they perform.  They opened themselves up to possession by making deals with the devil, drug use, witch craft and so forth.  The Bible warns against such things.

The world system will be the Beast Empire – the one world government – controlled by the Beast.

Readers: what is your opinion about Revelation 9 and the 5th Trumpet?  At the sounding of the trumpet, the Dragon is given the key to open the shaft of the Abyss.  A swarm of locusts come out of the smoke that rises from the Abyss.  The locusts torture “those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads”.  It isn’t a physical mark.  It’s a spiritual reference.  It’s referring to those who don’t repent and accept the Lord Christ Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

The Beast is king over the ‘locusts’ that comes up from the Abyss.

Another important fact to remember is that the Beast himself does come up out of the Abyss.  Scripture identifies the Beast as: ‘the angel of the Abyss’ – Revelation 9:11.  Scripture also calls him ‘Apollyon’ which means ‘destroyer’.  “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.” – Revelation 17:8.

Revelation 9 – the 5th Trumpet – is the first of three woes.

Readers: for scripture passages only, click on: Revelation 9

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