“And I looked, and I heard one eagle flying ⌊directly overhead⌋, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who live on the earth, from the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow the trumpet.!“ Rev 8:13
“And the fifth angel blew the trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the shaft of the abyss was given to him. And he opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke went up from the shaft like smoke from a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. And out of the smoke locusts came to the earth, and power was given to them like the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was told to them that they should not damage the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, except those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. “ Rev 9:1-4 (Lexham English Bible)
We have previously remarked on the pattern that sets apart the initial 4 judgments ( each from the seal, trumpet and bowl ) from the last three. While this pattern is not explicitly called out in the seal and bowl judgment sections, we see it here explicitly called out at the end of Rev 8 by an eagle ... not an angel ... but what was a ritually (OT) unclean bird of prey.
Three woes are predicted , and the first one follows immediately on the heels of the announcement. These woes are different from the previous 4 calamities in that we see them inflicted by evil spiritual agents, as opposed to the purely physical calamities ( hail, volcano, asteroid collision, change in the sun and moon ) of the first 4 trumpets, and the very first one merits very careful attention.
The agent of the first woe is “ a star fallen to earth “. The Revised Version and other careful translations ( like the Lexham English Bible used this week ) accurately render it as “fallen” (past tense) and not “fall from heaven” ( present tense) as in the KJV. This is important as this indicates that this star had been thrown to earth in the past, and only now is being -given- a key to “the abyss” , which key if you recall, now belongs to our Lord. “I have the keys of Hades and Death...” ( Rev 1:18 ).
This "star" is special. He is the King of the abyss ( or bottomless pit ) and of the locusts ( Rev 9:11 ) and the Apostle gives us his Greek and Hebrew names - Abaddon and Apollyon. Abaddon can denote both a place ( Psalm 88:11 ) and person in Hebrew ( means destruction ). The Greek name derives from apolluo - again meaning “to destroy”. He is also called an “aggelos” - angel or messenger - of the abyss. His opening of the pit unleashes not only these “locusts”, but also enables the “beast” or the last king on earth to ascend from there.
We are shown this later in the book in Chapter 17 where we see a woman sitting on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and are told - “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and --shall ascend out of the bottomless pit/abyss--, and go into perdition:”. This beast that ascends out of the abyss is the one that kills the last two Witnesses...”And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” Rev 11:7
[ HUMBLE PIE TIME : Two posts ago we had mistakenly said the two witnesses were killed by this "star", in fact, the text clearly says that it is the "beast" that kills them - our apologies for the mixup - this does not change the fact that the beast is unlocked and unleashed by this star/angel - so in a way we were sort of right, but want to set the record absolutely straight - very important when discussing this book ]
This pit is also the destination of Satan - called a dragon and serpent in the book - “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/abyss, 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. “ Rev 20:2,3. This fate is different from the fate of the "beast" and "false prophet" - "these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." - Rev 19:20 Satan will join them there after a while ... "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" - Rev 20:10
Therefore, we are of the opinion, that this “star” is indeed Satan himself - the one who comes to steal, kill and DESTROY (John 10:10). A star, when used metaphorically, symbolizes a great power - it was applied to Christ Himself in prophecy ... "A star shall come out of Jacob" Num 24:17 - and we see it applied as a mirror image here. Satan was thrown to earth when Christ ascended, and only at this time is he given permission to open the gates of his domain to usher in the final conflict.
It is interesting to see Satan under the control of God - even his subjects (the locusts) are under God's control in that they are not permitted to hurt the greenery of the earth (as normal locusts would) but only those men which DO NOT have the seal of God in their foreheads. The forces of wickedness are used in judgment against the wicked!
Our God is amazing and all powerful! Hallelujah!