(Rev 9:1-11 NIV)  The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.

“The star was given the key:”  Obviously this is not a literal star. 

was given:  Someone had to do the giving.  Someone with more authority than the star.

(Isa 14:12-15 NKJV)  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! {13} For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; {14} I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' {15} Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.

הילל  hêylêl

Brown Driver & Briggs Definition:

Lucifer = “light-bearer”

1) shining one, morning star, Lucifer

1a) of the king of Babylon and Satan (figuratively)

2) (TWOT) ‘Helel’ describing the king of Babylon

(Isa 14:12 NASB)  "How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!

Rev 9:2:  When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. {3} And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. {4} They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

(Rev 7:3 NKJV)  saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."

(Rev 7:4 NKJV)  And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

Rev. 9:5  They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. {6} During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

Rev 9:7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. {8} Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. {9} They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. {10} They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

How long is five months?  Is it a literal 5 months, or do we think in terms of a day as a year, and we get 150 years?  Five month would seem like an appropriate amount of time, but I know of no way of being certain.  Apparently a relatively short span of time, but when you are suffering, 5 months is not very short.

Rev 9:11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Αβαδδών  Abaddōn  Thayer Definition:

Abaddon = “destruction”

1) ruin

2) destruction

3) the place of destruction

4) the name of the angel-prince of the infernal regions, the minister of death and the author of havoc on the earth

Ἀπολλύων  Apolluōn  Thayer Definition:

Apollyon = “Destroyer”

1) the angel of the bottomless pit, the Destroyer

“They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,” – They are organized:  They have a king over them!

(Rev 9:12 NKJV)  One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

(Rev 9:13-14)  Then 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 who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

(Luke 19:41-42 NKJV)  Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, {42} saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

(Zep 1:14-18 NKJV)  The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly.

The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. {15}

Ø                        That day is a day of wrath,

Ø                         A day of trouble and distress,

Ø                         A day of devastation and desolation,

Ø                        A day of darkness and gloominess,

Ø                        A day of clouds and thick darkness,

Ø                        {16} A day of trumpet and alarm

Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. {17}

Ø        "I will bring distress upon men,

Ø        And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD;

Ø         Their blood shall be poured out like dust,

Ø        And their flesh like refuse."

{18} Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the Lord's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.

Rev 9:15  So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.

Two very important points:

It was an exact time for God: “prepared for the hour and day and month and year,”

A very significant part of the world’s population is destroyed.  “were released to kill a third of mankind.”

We aren’t really told what third will be killed.

Ø        Will it be entire cities?

Ø        Will it be entire nations?

Ø        Will it be the most wicked among people?

I think the last choice is the most reasonable, but I don’t know, but we do have additional details:

(Rev 9:16 NKJV)  Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

(Rev 9:17-19 NKJV)  And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. {18} By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed; by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. {19} For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

(Rev 9:20-21 NKJV)  But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

(Rev 9:21) And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries¹ or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

¹φαρμακεία  pharmakeia  Thayer Definition:

1) the use or the administering of drugs

2) poisoning

3) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it

4) metaphorically the deceptions and seductions of idolatry

(Isa 1:4-5 NKJV)  Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward. {5} Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.

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