The Fifth
Trumpet Judgment
Chapter Two
- Verse Two
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.
(Revelation
9:2)
THE PIT
The Greek word that
is translated as bottomless in the New Testament implies depthless;
bottomless; or abyss. This very same
Greek word is also rendered twice in the New Testament as deep. This is found in Luke chapter eight and again
in Romans chapter ten.
Luke 8:27-31
27 - 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.
28 - 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.
29 - (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.)
30 - And Jesus
asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils
were entered into him.
31 - And they
besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep [abyss; bottomless].
32 - And there
was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him
that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
33 - Then went
the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran
violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
34 - When they
that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city
and in the country.
In Luke 8:27
we read of Christ encountering a certain man who was possessed a long while
with demons. Jesus asked him what his
name was and he replied “…Legion:”… “because many devils were entered into
him,” verse thirty says. In verse
thirty-one we read that these demons besought (meaning they begged) Christ
that He should not command them to go out into the “deep.” As we stated,
the meaning of this word deep is translated from the same Greek word
as bottomless, and it means abyss!
These demons knew that this abyss was to be their eternal home; thus
they begged Christ not to cast them into the bottomless pit before their time
(cf. Matthew 8:29). In Matthew 8:29
and Mark 5:7 these demons use the word torment. “…have you come
to torment us before our time?”
Clearly this is eternal torment, outer darkness. Torment is another word found in Scripture
that signifies hell and damnation.
These incidents occurred before Christ went to the cross, therefore the
demons were not sealed or locked into the bottomless pit as yet. It was only after Christ defeated Satan that
they were confined into their prison.
The second and final place in Scripture where we find the word deep,
as it is derived from the same word translated as bottomless, is in Romans 10:6-7:
6 - But the
righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart,
Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 - Or, Who
shall descend into the deep?
(that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Again, from verse
seven we see that this bottomless pit, this deep is the abyss or outer
darkness itself. Christ plainly
descended into hell for our sins and endured God’s eternal wrath in our
stead. Ephesians 4:9 tells the same story:
9 - (Now that
he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
The lower parts
of the earth being the abyss; the bottomless pit; the deep - where Satan
and his fallen angels (demons) are presently being held until the time
appointed, when he is to be “loosed for a little season,” Revelation 20:3.
Pit As Seen From Old
Testament Passages -
The Old Testament displays
many references of the abyss being signified as a pit.
Job 33:30 - To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the
light of the living.
Ezekiel 26:20 - When I shall bring thee down with
them that descend into the pit,
with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the
earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited;
and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
Ezekiel 32:23 - Whose graves are set in the sides of
the pit, and her company is
round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused
terror in the land of the living.
Ezekiel 32:24 - There is Elam and all her multitude
round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone
down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused
their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with
them that go down to the pit.
Ezekiel 32:25 - They have set her a bed in the midst
of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of
them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land
of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of
them that be slain.
Psalms 40:1-3 - ¶<<To the chief Musician, A
Psalm of David.>> I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto
me, and heard my cry.
2 - He brought
me up also out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 - And he
hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust
in the LORD.
The above Psalm
40:1-3 is a beautiful spiritual picture of how one is brought up out of hell
itself (the pit) once Christ has saved him and pulled him out of his destiny in
the pit. Christ has rescued him out of
the horrible pit and set his feet upon the sure ROCK and FOUNDATION of Christ
Jesus! It is only then that the true believer will sing a new song (verse
3) and that new song is praises and praises unto our God. Cross reference: Revelation 14:3 “And they sung as it were a new song before
the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could
learn that song but the hundred and
forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”
This hundred and
forty-four thousand clearly and undeniably represent those - past, present, and
future - who have been given this new song and that can only be in reference to
Christ’s Elect: the whole spiritual
House of Israel.
Psalms 143:7 - ¶Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit
faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into
the pit.
Ezekiel 32:24 - There is Elam and all her multitude
round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are
gone down uncircumcised into the
nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the
living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
Note: The overall picture in the above verse speaks of those going
down into hell because they are uncircumcised!
Yes, God’s Word is sure and steadfast.
Those who are uncircumcised refer to all of humanity who remain dead in
their sins and trespasses and without the hope of Christ in their lives. Colossians
2:11 - “In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:”
There are many more
Old Testament verses that allude to eternal darkness as the pit.
THE SMOKE
OF A GREAT FURNACE
Revelation 9:2 tells us that upon the opening of the
bottomless pit, there arose “...a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a
great furnace.” The biblical phrase smoke
of a great furnace is descriptive of God Himself, while it is also used as
a figure of God’s divine judgment. For example, we quote Genesis 15:17-18 -
17 - ¶And it
came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between
those pieces.
18 - In the
same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I
given this land, from the
When God appeared
to Abram and made His covenant with him, His appearance was as a smoking
furnace and a burning lamp. We
also read the following account in Exodus
19:18, where God appeared unto Moses in the wilderness:
18 - And mount
Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke
of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Not only does this smoke
of a furnace portray the greatness of God, it can also typify the great
wrath and judgment of God. For example,
we read of this in Genesis 19:28:
28 - And he
looked toward
When God destroyed
Matthew 13:40-42 -
40 - As
therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the
end of this world.
41 - The Son
of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 - And shall
cast them into a furnace of fire:
there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
This furnace of
fire is representative of eternal darkness and hell itself, being
allegorically signified by fire.
Daniel’s Furnace -
In the Book of Daniel
we are given an allegory of hell, which is figuratively depicted as a fiery
furnace. Although God’s three servants,
Shadrach, Meshash, and Abednego were cast into this fiery furnace, yet this
fire had no effect upon them, as Daniel
3:27 states:
27 - “And the
princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered
together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were
their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.”
In the above
allegory of eternal hell, we discover these three servants of God being tossed
into the fiery furnace, which was “exceedingly hot.” So hot, in fact, that its flame slew those
men who were ordered to throw the Hebrews into the fire, (Daniel 3:22).
Then King
Nebuchadnezar rose in haste and was astonished, seeing his men roasted alive,
and yet these three Hebrew men were not even singed by this fiery furnace, Daniel
3:24. What is very astonishing in this
historic parable is indeed just what King Nebuchadnezar saw in this furnace, as
we read in Daniel 3:25 -
“…lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they
have no hurt [as we saw in Revelation 2:11 - “…he that
overcometh shall not be hurt
of the second death”] and the form of the fourth is like the Son of
God.”
Yes, Christ did
appear in this fiery furnace with God’s three servants to protect them from the
incinerating flames; showing forth a beautiful truth in that eternal hell holds
no power on all who truly trust in Christ for their eternal security. Daniel 3:27, in speaking of these three servants
of God, states that the fire of this furnace had no power. The following passage states the same truth
in Revelation 20:6 - “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power.”
SUN AND
AIR DARKENED FROM SMOKE
When God releases
Satan from the bottomless pit, there will arise smoke, as the smoke of a great
furnace. This is the smoke of great
spiritual destruction, which originates within the confines of hell itself - the great furnace.
“And he opened the
bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out
of the pit, as the smoke of
a great furnace…,” Revelation 9:2.
Webster’s
dictionary defines smoke this way: (1)
Any volatile and specifically any carbonaceous matter escaping from a burning
substance. (2) Something light,
inconsiderable, or unimportant; idle talk; mere words; vanity; emptiness. In the context of spiritual destruction
relating to smoke, God’s definition
can be found in the Bible:
Isaiah 9:18 - For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall
devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest,
and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
The smoke that
ascends out of the bottomless pit is in fact God’s own definition of spiritual wickedness. As Isaiah states, this wickedness shall “mount
up as the lifting up of smoke.” When Satan is released, this spiritual
wickedness will be at its height, and will have become universal, as to be
defined by God as the smoke of a great furnace…yes, the smoke of hell itself.
Revelation 14:10-11:
10 - The same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 - 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.
The figurative
smoke of all wickedness finds its home with the brightest of all fallen angels
- Lucifer himself. This is where the
smoke originated from and likewise this is where the smoke shall be contained,
as it is cast into the second death of the lake of fire, Revelation 20:14. Because Satan has been bound in prison from
the time of the cross does not mean there is no sin in the earth today. Far from it!
Unregenerate man is still unsaved humanity exercising at every
opportunity their inhumanity toward man.
When the fifth trumpet sounds this world will witness - and perhaps
already are witnessing - the full impact of Satan’s fury. If God would peel back the physical picture
and allow all to see the world today as it really is, we would most likely be
able to see absolutely nothing due to the thick dark smoke that the world is
engulfed in. This is the smoke that is released at the
sounding of the fifth trumpet.
The second half of
Isaiah chapter nine (as we read above) centers on the apostasy of ancient
From verse two in
our study of Revelation chapter nine, we see that the sun and air were darkened
as a direct result of this smoke ascending from the bottomless pit. Since the context of Revelation is strictly
spiritual in nature, we must compare these verses with the rest of Scripture to
determine its Biblical meaning. In
citing another example, let us refer to Isaiah
14:29-32 -
29 - Rejoice
not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken:
for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit
shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 - And the
firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I
will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
31 - Howl, O
gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come
from the north a smoke,
and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
32 - What
shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded
Notice that verse thirty-one
states where this smoke originates from…it comes from the north. Upon closer
examination of the word north, as used in relation to God’s divine end-time
judgment, one will discover that in many cases “north” is a symbolic synonym
used in describing Satan’s domain. Isaiah 14:13 states that Satan
will “…sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.” Ezekiel
39:2, with reference to the latter years, states “…and will
cause thee to come up from the north
parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of
Sun and Air Darkened -
Revelation 9:2
declares that the air and sun were darkened by reason of the smoke. When we look closely at this word sun in Scripture, we find that
it is often times used as a representation of Christ Himself. For example, Christ is unquestionably the
focal point of Malachi 4:2,
which reads:
2 - But unto
you that fear my name shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; …”
The above verse
focuses upon the coming of Christ who will heal His people of their sins (with
healing in his wings). Notice
particularly in this passage that Christ isn’t referred to as “son” of
righteousness, but He is said to be the SUN
of righteousness. The word sun in the
Hebrew means to be brilliant; as a brilliant ray of light, and is used many times in referring to the very sun
itself. The following verses mention the
sun in reference to God:
Psalm 84:11 - For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give
grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Psalm 89:36 - His seed shall endure for ever, and
his throne as the sun before
me.
Matthew 17:1-2: ¶And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain
apart,
2 - And was
transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
Saul of tarsus
encounters Christ in a vision on his way to
Acts 26:12-13:
12 - ¶Whereupon
as I went to
13 - At
midday, O king, I saw in the way a light
from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
Why is Christ
likened to the sun? Because He is the
bright and morning star, (Revelation 22:16).
It is His light that came into the world (John 1:9). It is His light
that shineth in a dark place (II
Peter 1:19). It is the light of
Christ that penetrates many that dwell in the land of the shadow of death (Isaiah 9:2). Christ, the Son of God, is the light
of the world (John 9:5). “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should
not abide in darkness,” (John 12:46). Again in Revelation
1:16 we read: “And he had in his
right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shineth
in his strength.”
Revelation 12:1 -
“And there appeared
a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
stars:”
This woman can only
be the bride of Christ: the true Church.
She is clothed with the SUN;
that is she is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. This woman is God’s
instrument for penetrating spiritual darkness, and we do this by reflecting
God’s brightness. To be clothed with the sun is a
precious gift and honor that the riches of this world can never buy. It is the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46). This woman is God’s own representative or
entity on the earth. To be a part of this
woman, we must be dead to our old sinful nature, and our lives must be hid with
Christ in God. “For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ
in God, (Colossians 3:3). That is
not to say to hide from being a Christian, contrary we are to let our light
shine before men while our hearts are sealed and hidden with Christ.
In studying Revelation
chapter nine, we saw from verses one and two the preparation being made for the
releasing of Satan and his angels. As
the world is being made ready for this cataclysmic event, it is first engulfed
and inundated by smoke barreling from this bottomless pit, to such an extent
that the sun and the air have even become darkened as a result. This phenomenon is taking place in the
spiritual realm mainly, in which a great majority of self-confessing Christianity
will today refuse to believe. They would
insist that this is a physical occurrence, and to spiritualize it robs the
church of its importance in teaching and preparing for the end of the age. On the contrary, the very opposite is
true. Let us consider 1 Corinthians 2:10-14:
10 - But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God.
11 - For what
man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even
so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 - Now we
have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 - Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but
which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual.
14 - But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
God is opening up
Scripture in these last days that formerly have been sealed and remained hidden
until the end of the age. Much of the
visions given to the prophet Daniel are synonymous with the visions given in
the Book of Revelation. Daniel himself
was told by God that these visions would not be understood until the appointed
time, and that the words would be closed and sealed until the time of the end.
Daniel 12:4, 9:
4 - But thou, O
Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
9 - And he
said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the
time of the end.
In our study thus
far, we have seen the opening up on the bottomless pit. As smoke pours from this pit, the sun and the air are darkened as a direct result of the denseness of this
smoke. The true and pure Gospel of Jesus
Christ; the light of the world; the sun (of righteousness) has grown dim at the
opening of this pit. The word darkened in the Greek implies
the process of being obscure. The
preaching of the Gospel of salvation, to the saving of souls, has now become
very obscure. We see this same word darkened
used in Ephesians 4:18, which
reads: “Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart.”
Romans 1:21 gives us this same information:
“Because that, when
they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; and
their foolish heard was darkened.”
Throughout
Scripture, darkness always signifies animosity toward God, with a few
exceptions such as dark sayings, which actually carries the meaning of hidden. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet God will
unleash His judgment first upon the corporate church, just prior to the
judgment to this ungodly world. As the
smoke glooms across the world, one congregation after another will fall victim
to this spiritual eclipse of the sun of righteousness. NOTE: The growing apostasy within the worldwide
churches today isn’t and will not be a sudden event. Although Satan is loosed for a little season
at the end of time, yet the apostasy or falling
away has been transpiring now for many decades.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 -
“Let no man
deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition;”
We plainly see
“that day,” meaning the day of Christ or the last day, will not come until the
falling away is fulfilled. There is no
indication that this falling away will transpire during the Great
Tribulation. To the contrary, it is at
the height of this falling
away - when the apostate church is ripe for judgment - that Satan will
be loosed as God’s instrument of judgment.
Listen to what God tells us in Daniel
8:23 - “And in the latter time of their kingdom, when
the transgressors are come to the full,
a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.”
When the
transgressors are come to the full, or in other words when their sins have
peaked, topped out, or reached full fruition.
Then Satan will stand up within the global congregations and be
worshipped as God. We see then very
clearly that sin abounds upon this earth even while Satan is yet bound in
spiritual chains until the Great Tribulation.
THE AIR
DARKENED
Not only will the SUN be darkened, which we saw
was a synonym for Christ, the light of the Gospel, but the AIR will likewise be darkened and obscured, by reason of the
smoke ascending from the bottomless pit.
How then are we to understand this word air? Will the earth’s invisible atmosphere take on
a noticeable change at this time? The
answer is no. Not until the judgment at the last day will the appearance of the
heavens be changed (II Peter 3:10). We
see from verse two of our study that the air is darkened right along with the
sun, thus the air must be affiliated spiritually in some way with the
sun. Since the sun and the air are both
darkened by this smoke, we know that these two terms must have similar meanings
to them. There are two different Greek
words in the New Testament that are translated in English as air. One usage of this word means the sky, or heavens. For example, “…as the fowls of the air…” The second word that is translated air means: to breathe; to blow; atmosphere. It is this definition from the Greek that is
applied to the word air in our study.
From this definition alone, we know that a much more spiritual meaning
is suggested, than the literal sky being smoke filled and darkened. This particular word is used as air
seven times in the New Testament.
Going back to the
Old Testament we find the Hebrew translation of air being breath and/or
breathe, with basically the same meaning as air has in the New Testament
context of our study. The Hebrew defines
this word as wind; breath, and
figuratively meaning life. Again, we see that this word carries the
same meaning as did the air defined in the New Testament. Wind; atmosphere; to breathe; to blow;
breath; all carry the same meaning. Breathe
in the Old Testament carries the same meaning as does air in Revelation 9:2. In the Old Testament we read the following
accounts:
Genesis 2:7- And the LORD God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Psalm 135:15-17 -
15 - The idols
of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
16 - They have
mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
17 - They have
ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
Psalms 150:6 - Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise
ye the LORD.
II Samuel 22:16 - And the channels of the sea
appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the
LORD, at the blast of the breath
of his nostrils.
Ezekiel 37:5 - Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these
bones; Behold, I will cause breath
to enter into you, and ye shall live:
As Ezekiel states
here in verse five, the breath that God gives to His elect, that is the whole
house of Israel, is eternal life which is given to the spiritual and heavenly
house of Israel, that is to say Christ’s “Israel of God,”…all who come into
salvation. Likewise, the breath that God
gave to Adam when he was created was the breath
of eternal life. In going back to
our study, we should clearly understand precisely what this AIR represents. It would
seem to represent the breath of eternal life and can only come from the
Lord Jesus Christ and the saving power of His Gospel. In the natural realm, we must breathe in
order to live. We also must also have
God’s breath of life in order
to live eternally, and that breath (AIR)
of life is the Gospel of Salvation. In Revelation
9:2 we saw that the air and the sun were darkened by reason of the smoke of
the bottomless pit. The air being
translated as breathe or breath of life is of course a symbol and
synonym for the Word of God, along with the sun being representative of the
true Word of God.
God will allow
Satan to deaden and silence His Word as judgment upon the apostate church and
the unbelieving world, shortly before His return to judge and dissolve this
earth and the universe, as we know it.
In speaking of this time, Daniel
8:24 declares the following: “And his power shall be mighty, but not
by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and
practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.” Satan’s power shall be mighty, but not by his
own power. Why? Because God gives him the power as His
(God’s) instrument of judgment upon the earth.
Recall in Revelation 9:1 we saw that it is God who allegorically gives Satan
the key to the bottomless pit, releasing him from his prison. Satan will be mighty, but not by his own
power.
We are told in John 6:29 that the work of God is to believe. “Jesus answered and said unto them, this is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” A
direct parallel to this statement concerning this work during this time
of spiritual darkness is found in John
9:4, where Christ states: “I
must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can WORK.” The night spoken of in much of Scripture is
the time of great spiritual darkness, when no man can work…that is to say when
no man can believe on Christ as John 9:4 says.
This is very strong evidence that seemingly would support the teaching
that none, or few, will be saved during this time of Great Tribulation.
End of Chapter Two