Terrible Woe of the Smoking Abyss

Revelation 9:1-12 

1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.   12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

The fifth angel of the seven churches blew his horn, and he gave a fallen star the key to the deepest and darkest abyss.  There is no end to the depth of the abyss from which burned and smoked as we imagine hell to do.  There was so much smoke coming out of that dark hole that it nearly blotted out the sunlight.  Worse yet, John witnessed huge locusts with stinging tails as scorpions come out of that terrifyingly dark hole to hell.  These only hurt people; they did not touch the plants.  This judgement on sin brought extreme pain in the stings, so much that people cried out for it all to end, even by death - but they were not permitted to die that they might feel God’s wrath on their unrepentant rebellion against Him.  Their description by John is formidable and fearful to imagine, but will be much worse for those facing them.  This tortuous attack will go on for almost half a year, making it seem to never end for those repeatedly struck and writhing in inconceivable pain.  The worst part is that this is only the first woe with two more to follow upon those rejecting the gospel of the Lamb of God who alone can take away their sin, but to whom many will still refuse to submit in confession of their sin and repentance to life in Him alone.  The hope here is for the reader and nearer of this book to believe and trust God in Christ, the Lamb of God, before these things come on the world.