Key To The Bottomless Pit
CHAPTER 9:1-21
KEY TO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
1 And the fifth angel trumpeted. And I saw a star out of the heaven falling onto the earth. And the key to the pit of the abyss was given to it. 2 And he opened the pit of the abyss. And smoke went up out of the pit, like smoke of a great furnace. And the sun was darkened, and the air, by the smoke of the pit. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came forth to the earth. And authority was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have authority. 4 And it was said to them that they should not harm the grass of the earth, nor every green thing, nor every tree, except only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
5 And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they be tormented five months. And their torment is as the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. 6 And in those days men will seek death, and they will not find it. And they will long to die, yet death will flee from them. 7 And the likenesses of the locusts were like horses having been prepared for war; and on their heads as crowns, like gold; and their faces like the faces of men. 8 And they had hairs like the hairs of women; and their teeth were like those of lions. 9 And they had breastplates like iron breastplates; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running to war. 10 And they have tails like scorpions, and their stings were in their tails; and their authority is to harm men five months.
11 And they have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. 12 The first woe has departed; behold, after these things come two woes.
13 And the sixth angel trumpeted. And I heard one voice out of the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels, those having been bound at the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were released, those having been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men. 16 And the number of the armies of the cavalry was two myriads of myriads; and I heard their number.
17 And so I saw in the vision the horses, and those sitting on them, having fire-colored breastplates, even dusky red and brimstone-like; and the heads of the horses as heads of lions; and out of their mouths come fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three were killed the third part of men, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone coming out of their mouths. 19 For their authority is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes, having heads, and they do harm with them. 20 And the rest of men, those not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they will not worship demons, and “golden idols, and silver, and bronze, and stone, and wooden idols, which neither are able to see, nor to hear,” nor to walk. Dan. 5:23; Psa. 115:4 -7; 135:15-17 21 And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts.
Review Chapter 9
A. 5th Trumpet – Stars out of Heaven falling onto the earth with keys to the abyss and opened the abyss. Sun and air darkened. Locusts with the authority as scorpions only harm those who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads and to torment them 5 months. Men will long to die but will not be able to die. They have a king over them called Abaddon or Apollyon. THIS IS THE FIRST WOE.
B. 6TH Trumpet – Order given to release the 4 bound angels at the River Euphrates. Order given to kill 1/3 of men with smoke, fire and brimstone. Their authority is in their mouth and in their tails. Those not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the work of their hands, and did not repent for worshiping demons, golden idols, silver, bronze, stone, wooden idols. They did not repent of their murders, sorceries, fornications, or thefts.
LESSON:
We are now in the heart of the tribulation period, and things are starting to get more and more confusing as each trumpet sounds. The star that falls out of Heaven in the 6th trumpet is the “Destroyer”. He is one of Satan’s angels. He and his evil spirits will torment men 5 months. Men will seek death and will not have the satisfaction of dying.
When the sixth trumpet sounds, the four angels bound by the Euphrates River are set loose to kill men with smoke, fire, and brimstone because they still would not repent.
One thing we need to understand is that although most will suffer during the tribulation, the tribulation needs to take place in order for God to get rid of the evil here on this earth. How we act and respond during this period will show where our true hearts belong. We only have two choices we either belong to God, or we belong to Satan.
1The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethu’el. 2Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? 3Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. 4That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
5Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. 6For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. 7He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. 8Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn. 10The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languished.
11Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. 12The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. 14Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD.
15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 16Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. 18How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. 19O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. 20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
God will make everyone know that HE IS GOD! If after all of these torments, people refuse to repent, they never had the heart to love God. Those who do not repent during this period are walking in complete darkness with hearts full of the lusts of this world, not knowing or believing that they are headed for the lake of fire and about to go into perdition. These are self-willed unbelievers who would say “How could God let this happen?”
They do not realize that it is because of them that God has to bring judgment to this earth. God will not be mocked. God will not be patronized. God will not allow those who go around judging what they have no knowledge of and who profess to speak on His authority, yet deny His very words through their doctrines, continue to deceive His children. God will cast all false shepherds in to the lake of fire unless they repent because they are the very ones responsible for leading so many of God’s children astray, because they themselves are ignorant of the Word of God.
Although some profess to follow Christ, they have not followed His teachings, they pick and choose what they want to believe and leave the rest out. Christ did not go part of the way to the cross. He went all of the way. And anyone claiming to represent Christ must first get to know Him, and believe that his teachings are the truth, and that if you accept Him, you must accept all of his teachings or else you are a liar and do not accept Christ.
Chapter 9 Test
- How many angels were bound and where were they bound?
- What was the third part of men killed by?
- Where was the pit, and what came up out of the pit?
- Who were the locusts allowed to harm?
- What will men seek in those days and not be able to find?
- How long will men be tormented?
- In which trumpet was the key to the bottomless pit given
and who was the angel over the pit? - How many horns were on the altar of God?
- Why were men tormented?
- What was the first woe?