Rev 9-1-2 Part 2 Of The Fifth Trumpet

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Rev 9-1-2 Part 2 Of The Fifth Trumpet

[Study Aired August 4, 2024]

Rev 9:1  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.
Rev 9:2  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.

Here are the last two paragraphs of our last study:

If you search for the phrase ‘bottomless pit’, you will find it seven times in the King James Version, and all seven are found only in the book of Revelation. The first is right here in this ninth chapter of Revelation.

We will pause our study here, and we will examine the verses which contain the words “bottomless pit” in our next study. It is very revealing to discover that the Greek, G5421, ‘phrear’ translated ‘pit’ appears in only two of these seven entries containing the phrase ‘bottomless pit’

That is what we will do in this study. We will examine the seven verses containing the phrase ‘the bottomless pit’, and Lord willing we will come away knowing what the scriptures reveal to be this bottomless pit.

Here are those seven entries:

The first is right here in this ninth chapter of Revelation:

1) Rev 9:1 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 [G12. ‘abussos’, deep] pit [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit, well].

2) Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] pit [G5421, ‘phrear’, pit or well]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit or well], as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

3) Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, [Single Greek word, G12, ‘abussos’, deep] whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon [ Hebrew- Destroyer- Strong’s number 11], but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

4) Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

5) Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep], and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

6) Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep] and a great chain in his hand.

Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

7) Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit [G12, ‘abussos’, deep], 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.

What do we see here with these seven verses containing the words ‘bottomless pit?’ What we see when we go to our concordance, is that the Greek word for ‘pit’,  [G5421, ‘phrear’ pit, well] appears only two times in these seven verses. Here once again are the only two times this word, G5421, ‘phrear’, pit, well] appears in this entire “revelation of Jesus Christ”, and it is used in conjunction with the word ‘abussos’ both times.

Let’s examine each of these entries and let the scriptures tell us what this phrase signifies. The first two entries are these first two verses of this ninth chapter of Revelation:

1) Rev 9:1 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 [ Greek, abussos] pit [ Greek, phrear].

2) Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless [ abussos] pit [ phrear]; and there arose a smoke out of the pit [ phrear], as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit [ phrear].

The Greek word for ‘pit’ in these two verses is ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421. This Greek word is also found a total of seven times in the New Testament. Of those seven entries, four of them are found right here in verses one and two of Rev 9. They are all emboldened above. It appears a fifth time translated as ‘pit’ in Luk 14.

Luk 14:5  And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit [G5421, ‘phrear’], and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?

The remaining two entries are found in…

Joh 4:11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well [phrear] is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
Joh 4:12  Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well [G5421, phrear], and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

So the only time this Greek word ‘phrear’ or ‘pit’ or ‘well’ is used in this entire book of Revelation, is in these two verses of Rev 9, which we are now considering. There is no ‘pit’; the Greek word ‘phrear,’ Strong’s number 5421, mentioned in any of the other five verses here in the revelation of Jesus Christ, where we find this English phrase “bottomless pit.” The other five times this phrase ‘bottomless pit’ appears in the book of Revelation, it is translated from the single Greek word ‘abussos,’ Strong’s number 12.

What is so interesting and revealing is that when we go to our concordance, we discover that the Greek word ‘abussos’ (Strong’s number 12, translated “bottomless pit”) appears more than seven times. This word ‘abussos’ appears nine times in scripture, and it is those two extra times where the meaning of “the bottomless pit” is made clear. Here is the first of those two very revealing entries.

Luk 8:31 And they [ the demons named legion] besought him [ Christ] that he would not command them to go out into the deep [ G12, ‘abussos’, the sea].

Before we get to the last remaining verse where the word abussos is found in the New Testament, let’s take note of what this verse in Luk 8:31 shows us about the world of demons. This verse reveals to us that demons and all false spirits much prefer to be enthroned in God’s church rather than to be sent out into the deep sea of all the uncalled masses of mankind. What newsman wants to be stuck with reporting on the lives of Chinese peasants, when he could be at the United Nations reporting on the lives of the leaders of this world. Like all of us, demons want to be where the action is, the action is where God’s people are being deceived. Demons seek rest in dry places on ‘the earth’, God’s people (Jer 22:29), which have been pushed up out of the sea. Demons really prefer to be in God’s very temple and sitting on the very throne of Christ, where Christ will give them “no rest”:/p

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry placesseeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth [ it] empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last [ state] of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Luk 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry placesseeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God [“dry places” sought by evil spirits], and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Demons “walk through dry places” simply because they do not like ‘the deep’. They very much prefer ‘dry places’ where they can find rest and feel at home, just as Christ ought to feel at home within each of us.

Now let’s look at the only entry for this word abussos which we have not yet considered. It is this entry which will reveal to us where the ‘bottomless pit’ is located.

Rom 10:6 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]:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep [ abussos]? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Christ has just informed us that both ‘heaven’ and “the deep”, the ‘abussos’, are within us… “even in thy heart and in thy mouth…”

Now notice how this Greek word ‘abussos’ or ‘deep’ is translated when we go back to the Old Testament and read the verse from where Rom 10:7 is quoted:

Deu 30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.
Deu 30:12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
Deu 30:14 But the word [ Christ] is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

So where is the abussos? Where and what is this thing referred to as “the bottomless pit?” The ‘abussos’, the bottomless pit, just like ‘heaven’, is not way out beyond the milky way. Neither is it in the depth of the physical oceans and physical seas. The ‘abussos’, just like heaven, is within each of us, “In your mouth, and in your heart.” That is where “the bottomless pit” is located and that is from whence comes the smoke to “darken the sun and the air” in this fifth trumpet judgment which we are to “read, hear and keep.

When we read in Rev 20 that Satan is cast into the ‘abussos’ and is imprisoned with a great chain, he doesn’t ‘go’ anywhere. He is simply restrained and is under ‘house arrest’ until the time appointed to be released from the ‘abussos’ and be commissioned to go forth and deceive the nations again. According to Deu 30, both the abussos and heaven are “very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart.”

What does this great furnace signify?

7) The seventh symbol is the smoke of “a great furnace.” What is this great furnace? It happens to be “a furnace of both iron and earth,” as we will see. Both are types of the image of the first man Adam. It is in this “great furnace” that the fire of God’s Word does its purifying work of burning out all that will burn, and it is in this “great furnace” that God’s words are being purified and lived out. Here is the simple Biblical definition of this “great furnace.”

Gen 15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
Gen 15:13  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Gen 15:14  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Gen 15:15  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
Gen 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Gen 15:17  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.
Gen 15:18  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

“When the sun went down and it was dark” signifies the “darkening of the sun and the air.” It is then that we enter into that “great furnace” that “a horror of great darkness, falls upon” us all because we begin to see with “a burning lamp” that we are mere slaves in Egypt and we begin to cry out to the Lord for deliverance:

Exo 2:23  And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

Exo 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

It is during this time in our “experience of evil” when this ‘great furnace’ generates the smoke which darkens the sun and the air and keeps us in bondage to “that nation whom we shall serve”. But at the predestined, appointed and due time, “when the iniquity of the Amorites” is filled up within us, “at the time appointed of the Father”, we will no longer be in bondage to the elements of this world, and we will come out of Egypt and do so “with great substance”.

It is no coincidence that “a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, are the symbols of both the third and fifth trumpets of the revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

Rev 9:2  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.

Here is the “iron furnace” from which “smoke darkens the Sun and the air” through which we all must pass before we can become the children of light and the sons of God.

Deu 4:20  But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Iron is the symbol of the legs and feet of the great image of Nebuchadnezzar, which image was destroyed by the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands. The mystery of the bottomless pit, is no mystery at all when we know what the furnace is, out of which the smoke that darkens the sun and the air, comes. Great heat and a fiery combustion in a “furnace of iron” must precede the spiritual process of purification. The whole orthodox Christian world recognizes that Egypt symbolizes the world within us, and it is only through that “furnace of iron” and being made to “cry out to the Lord” that we are delivered from that world within.

Here is what a furnace accomplishes in our lives.

Pro 17:3  The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

Now notice where God’s fiery words are said to be purified.

Psa 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

We are that “furnace of earth” and every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God will be purified within us even as it purifies us through the seven seals, trumpets and vials of His wrath. Here is this same message in the parable of the sower and the tares.

Mat 13:37  He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [ one];
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. [G65, ‘aion’, age]
Mat 13:41  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;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

We are the furnace of iron through which Egypt is burned up and destroyed. We are the furnace for the gold through which God tries our hearts. We are the furnace in which those tares are burned up. And we are the great furnace which produces “smoke, by reason of the pit”, the “smoke of a great furnace [which] darkens the sun and the air” which are also within us.

What is the air?

9) Finally, the ninth and last symbol of the first two verses of this fifth trumpet is the air that is also darkened by the smoke of the pit. What scripturally is the air? I wondered for many years what this verse meant:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Meeting the Lord in the air sounded fine. But shouldn’t we go somewhere and do something after that? “So shall we ever be with the Lord,” just sounded a bit anticlimactic, and indeed, if we dwelt with the Lord in the literal ‘air’ that really would be anticlimactic.

There are two words translated as ‘air’ in the New Testament. The word here in Rev 9 is the Greek word ‘aer’, Strong’s number G109. The other, far more common word is ‘ouranos’, G3772, heavens].

Here is how that word ‘ouranos’ is used by our Lord.

Luk 13:18  Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
Luk 13:19  It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air [ ouranos, heavens] lodged in the branches of it.

To understand the true Biblical meaning of “the air” and the air being darkened by the smoke from the bottomless pit, we must as always, place line upon line and precept upon precept.

With that principle in mind let’s look at Eph 2:2, and notice that the Greek word ‘aer’ is translated into our English word ‘air’ in this verse.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [G109, ‘aer’, air], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

So “the prince of the power of the ‘aer,’ is “the spirit that works in the children of disobedience.”  If we now carry the concept that the children of disobedience, are subject to the prince of the power of the air, over into the parable of the sower, we will find that it is “the wicked one” who “catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.”

So now we know that whether the Greek word behind the English word ‘air’ is the word ‘aer’ or the word ‘ouranos’, it does not matter, because “the wicked one” is, at this time, in both the ‘aer’ and the ‘ouranos.’ We know that to be true because of this verse and many others which confirm this to be so.

Eph 6:12 for it is not ours to wrestle with blood and flesh, but with the sovereignties, with the authorities, with the world- mights of this darknesswith the spiritual forces of wickedness among the celestials [ Greek, epouranios, the heavens].

The single most common phrase in scripture, containing the word ‘air’ in both the Old and the New Testaments, is the phrase “the fowls of the air.” Here is the first appearance of this phrase “fowls of the air” from both the Old and the New Testaments respectively.

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Mat 6:26  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

While the dove is a “fowl of the air” which brings the olive leaf back to the ark and descends from heaven and rests upon Christ, nevertheless, what is it that Christ Himself tells us “the fowls of the air” generally represent? If we can discover the meaning of the fowls of the air, then even though there are two Greek words for ‘air’, we should be able to understand what “the air” that is darkened by the smoke of the bottomless pit, means, because Eph 2:2, among many other verses, has tied both of those Greek words together.

Here now is what Christ tells us “the fowls of the air” signify. It is found in His interpretation of the symbols which He used in the parable of the sower. Notice what Christ says happens to the “seed that falls by the way side.” Here is the part of that parable which mentions the fowls of the air.

Mat 13:1  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Mat 13:2  And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Mat 13:3  And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Who does Christ say the fowl of the air symbolize?

Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Mat 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

By Christ’s own words “the wicked one” is signified by the fowls of the air.

But what is the air itself? To whom has the “air” of this present world been given? Here are those who have been given the power of the air at this time.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

The last vial of the seven last plagues, is not poured out into our earth. Instead it is poured out “into the air”.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [ and] so great.

It is in the air, the realm of the spirit, that the most permanent changes are affected. It is in the air that we are ever with our Lord, because, as we have seen, “the four winds of the heavens” are nothing less than the air in motion, so that the air and the wind are both the symbols of the spirit world. That world, at this stage of our walk, is darkened by the smoke that ascends up out of the bottomless pit.

Summary

We have seen that the symbols of the first two verses of this fifth trumpet are:

1)      The angel that sounds the trumpet. We have seen the scriptures which demonstrate that these seven angels which “stand before God of heaven” are defined by scripture as seven priests which blow the seven trumpets in Jos 6 and are the same seven angels that are in Christ’s right hand and are the same seven angels who are our brothers who keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

2) The second symbol is a star that falls from heaven to the earth and is given the key to the bottomless pit. Once again, we saw that this star is a spirit from heaven which darkens our understanding of spiritual matters and darkens our sun and air.

3) The third symbol is the heaven from which the star falls, and we have shown in depth that the heavens are the hearts and minds of the people of God, where every word of all the sayings of this prophecy must be read, heard and kept.

4) The fourth symbol is the earth to which the star from heaven falls, and we have demonstrated that wherever we see the word ‘earth’, we are talking about the people of God who are called but not necessarily chosen.

5) The fifth symbol is the key to the bottomless pit, and we saw that this key is the means by which the smoke that darkens the sun and the air is released out into our heavens. This ‘key’ is given us to keep us from receiving the “key of knowledge” before we are able to receive that life saving knowledge.

Luk 11:52  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

A ‘key’ both locks away, and reveals what is locked away. When the “key of knowledge” is taken from us, that is signified by giving us the key to the bottomless pit which will serve to darken our sun and our air.

6) The sixth is the bottomless pit itself., and we saw that the bottomless pit is simply the sea of our flesh, and the flesh of mankind as the first deceived and rebellious Adam who cannot hear the words of Truth. We saw that the imprisoning of Satan in that bottomless pit is nothing more that restraining him within us during the thousand years, with a rod of iron. We all have our own “rod of iron experience” as we rebel against the things of the spirit as “carnal babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4).

7) The seventh symbol is the smoke of a great furnace, which we saw was the fiery trials that are even now coming upon the house of God, as we are being brought out of Egypt, which is called “the furnace of fire” within us. We saw that this furnace of fire is a necessary part of our walk if we are counted worthy of being judged now instead of being judged at the great white throne (Rev 20:11-15).

8) The eighth symbol is the darkened sun, which is darkened by the smoke of the pit. The darkened sun is that time of our lives where we prefer lies over truth and the word that has been planted has been snatched away by the wicked one.

9) Finally, the ninth symbol is the air which is also darkened by the smoke of the pit, and we saw that the air typifies the struggles we must endure in the realm of the spirit. We saw that it is mentioned last simply because it is that spiritual struggle “against the powers and principalities of the heavens” which follows our struggles upon the earth. Each struggle is a matter of life and death, but we saw that our Father prepares our hearts for every trial into which He leads us.

Next week, Lord willing, we will examine more of the symbols connected with this fifth Trumpet which is also called ‘the first woe’ which we are commanded to read, hear and keep.

Rev 9:3  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.
Rev 9:4  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.
Rev 9:5  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.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.