Prophetic Events Seen by John in Revelation,
Occurring at the sa me
time in the Spiritual Realm
And a physical realm in which we exercise five Senses,
Are Not Uncommon Phenomena in the Book of Revelation,
And SOME Spiritual REALM Occupants HAVE Horrifying Forms!
March 15, 2009
Creatures John Saw from the Bottomless Pit
August 15, 1979
Revelation 9:1-12 – 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. [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. [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.
[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. [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. [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. [7] And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were
as the faces of men. [8] And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. [9] And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. [10] And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. [11] And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. [12] One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
I am a literal interpreter. That does not mean that I take all the inspired writings to be absolutely literal. I am very aware that certain parts of God’s Word are inspired poetically, figuratively and symbolically, but unless it yields ridiculous results, I am always more inclined to accept a literal interpretation over a figurative or symbolic explanation.
In verse one there are some points that can be made literal¬ly concerning the symbols, things, places and events described. First of all, the star is identified by the personal pronoun “him” as a masculine spiritual being that comes from Heaven.
Secondly, this masculine gender spiritual being comes to a real physical place: the planet Earth.
Now, putting these two factors togeth¬er, we have a being sent from Heaven to the physical earth. That means he is standing on the surface of what you see in fig¬ure 3, on top of these massive tectonic plates that float on top of an underground ocean of liquid rock. (Birth Pang Figure 3 is under Birth Pangs on our Web Site)
Thirdly, this heavenly visitor has been given a key which rep¬resents the authority to unlock something.
He has been sent to unlock the earth itself. The earth is the bottomless pit. There are hundreds of geometric figures that have bottoms, but the earth is an oblate spheroid and, as such, it has no bottom. If it were possible to dig through the earth you could never reach bottom for you would eventually come out on the opposite side from which you started, so the earth has no bottom.
Fourthly, I invite your attention to the Koine Greek words translated “bottomless pit,” those being phreatos tes abussou, or literally, SHAFT OF THE ABYSS.
This is a perfect scientific description of these great geological faults shown in figure 9. They are a great interconnecting shaft system that extends down through the crust into the abyss. It is this locked system that the heavenly being is sent to unlock. He unlocks the locked plate structure with the power of God symbolized by the key. (Birth Pang Figure 9 is under Birth Pangs on our Web Site)
Fifthly, please note that the interior of the bottomless pit is likened to a “great furnace.” Many scientific texts of today use this term to describe the interior of the earth.
And, lastly, please notice the results of the unlocking of the tectonic plates in verse two—a great smoke that rises up to darken the sun and the atmosphere. This is precisely what would occur if these huge tectonic plates were unlocked.
Volcanic smoke would pour upward into the earth’s atmosphere along all areas indicated by the dashed lines shown in figure 3. This smoke would most assuredly darken the sun on a world¬wide basis as it collected and advected around the earth under a great temperature inversion just above the tropopause.
The description of the creatures John described are a perfect match for the idol of the Assyrian Demon of the Tigris – Euphrates River Valley, which extends from Turkey alongside Syria through Iraq and alongside Iran. This area is called the Seat of Satan, and is notorious for having demons surface from its land and waters in Revelation. The demon god Pazuzu wears a crown, has four wings, the face of a man, skin that looks like the armor of a crusader knight’s horse, a tail that stings like a large scorpion, and what looks like a breastplate across his chest.
Revelation 9:1-3,13-21 – 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. [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. [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. [13] And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, [14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. [15] And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. [16] And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. [17] And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. [18] By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. [19] For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. [20] And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: [21] Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Revelation 16:8-14 – And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. [9] And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. [10] And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, [11] And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. [12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. [13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. [14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
There are countless numbers of fallen angels around Satan’s throne and beneath it, below the earth, and across the earth.
The accounts of the spiritual warfare, which occurs between the fallen angels and the angels that chose to remain with God, rather than to follow Lucifer when he rebelled against God, are found in Daniel.
In these accounts the fallen angels (demons) are cl assified
as being kings and princes in the spiritual kingdom of Satan in those ancient empires that affected or afflicted Israel. The spiritual seat of Satan’s kingdom has always been between and along both sides of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers from Turkey to their entrance into the Persian Gulf. Demonic creatures and massive spiritual armies of demons will be unleashed in this k
ingdom to prey on its physical occupants during the last three and one half years of the Tribulation Period.
Daniel 10:10-21 – And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. [11] And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.
[12] Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. [13] But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. [14] Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days. [15] And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. [16] And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. [17] For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my
lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. [18] Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, [19] And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. [20] Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee
? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. [21] But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
When John was given the visions of future events in Revelation he was able to see what was happening simultaneously in
the spiritual world, as well as what was happening in the physical world. We are only able to see what is happening in our physical world. If we could see what was transpiring in the spiritual world around us, it would scare us out of our wits. The creatures which John saw he described exactly as he observed their appearance. During the Tribulation Period, the men and women will not see these horrific creatures, but they will feel their sting in their flesh for the final five months before the Second Advent, as indicated above in Revelation 9:5-10. The saved will neither see nor feel the sting of these fallen angels.
I believe the terrifying beings presented in Revelation 9:5-10, 14-19 and 16:13,14, are being seen by John in the spiritual kingdom. And in that kingdom they are quite real, and appear just as John saw them. All of these creatures, along with Satan, will be confined to the bottomless pit in the interior of the earth for 1000 years after the Second Advent.
The damage they will inflict on the physical earth in the Tribulation Period will be in the form of natural disasters on mankind.