What is the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1-12)?

At the sound of the fifth trumpet a star is seen, not to fall, as the common version puts it, but already fallen from heaven to earth. This seems naturally to connect thus with the apostasy under the third trumpet, nor is it likely that the apostasy of any other should be as noteworthy as his whose course is recorded here. At all events, it is an apostate, surely, that is before us, and to him is committed "the key of the abyss." The force of the words have first of all to be considered. A "pit" is in the Old Testament often a synonym for a dungeon, and every thing unites to show this to be the meaning here ; while the "abyss " is not other than the pit itself, but only a further definition of it the dungeon which is the abyss. So the demons pray that they may not be sent into the deep, or "abyss" (Luke viii. 31), and Satan is, in the twentieth chapter, shut up there. In the Old Testament parallel to the same in Revelation, it is said, "They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison." (Isa. xxiv. 22.) Here the abyss is the "pit," or prison, clearly. The key is used in this place as in the later one - here, the "key of the pit of the abyss;" there, simply "the key of the abyss." The abyss is not, however, "hell " - the "lake of fire,"- as we may see by the fact that it is, in one passage (Rom. x. 7), used in connection with the Lord: "Who shall descend into the deep (the abyss)? - that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead." Here, as the heavens are inaccessible to man for height, so is the abyss for depth. The literal meaning (" bottomless ") must not be pressed, as our own use of the word shows, and the Greek was similar ; the Septuagint use it for the "deep" upon which darkness rested on the first day. The connection of the "pit" with the state of the dead in the Old Testament is similar to that of the "abyss" here in the New. We have this again in Revelation, where the "beast," in its last phase, is said to come up out of the abyss. This seems naturally to refer to the wounding to death, and revival (chap. xiii. 3, 12, 14). Some have even contended, seeing the identification of the beast (the empire) with its last head (chap. xvii. ii), for the literal resurrection of a person in this case; but this is only a wild extravagance: for resurrection literally could only be from God, and the beast in its last form is wholly under the power of Satan. (xiii. I, 2). The rising up out of the abyss is figurative, therefore, as the beast itself is; and indeed the use of the word seems figurative throughout. Now Christ has "the keys of hades and of death" (chap. i. i8); and it is not to be imagined that He should give up into the hand of an apostate, whether man or spirit, any portion of His own authority. We must not think, therefore, (as has been done,) of a literal opening of hades, and an irruption of the spirits of the lost upon the earth. Fancies like these easily gain ascendency over a certain class of minds; and yet who could seriously maintain such an outbreak of wickedness on the part of those shut up, like the rich man in hades, to await judgment? Were it so, there would be "deeds done" out of the body, as well as "in the body," to give account of in the day of judgment. But, in fact, the locusts are not said even to come out of the pit. Nothing is said to come out of it but the smoke which darkens the sun and air; and out of the smoke the locusts come. It may be natural to think that, after all, they cannot be bred of the smoke, and that they must come with the smoke out of the pit; but naturalistic interpretations may easily deceive us, where the spiritual sense is the whole matter, and for the spiritual meaning there is no difficulty. The smoke is not, as in other places, the smoke of torment, but the fumes of malign spiritual influences which darken the air and the supreme source of light itself. Out of this darkness we can easily understand the locusts to be bred. It is quite in accordance with their origin that their power should be represented as that of the scorpions of the earth - that is, in their poisonous sting - and their distinction from natural locusts is seen in this, that they do not touch the locusts' food, but are a plague only upon men, and these the unsealed. Remembering that it is in Israel that the sealing is found, the inference seems just that these unsealed ones are Israelites, and the sphere of this plague is in the east. They do not kill - as, in general, the scorpion does not, - but inflict torment to which death is preferable; and their power lasts five months. We next find them pictured as warriors - a military power subordinated to what is their grand interest and aim, the propagation of poisonous falsehood. Thus "the shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared unto battle;" and, as in the certainty of triumph beforehand, "upon their heads were as it were crowns like gold."

"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. 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." (vv. 1, 2.) This and the next woe are marked by their manifestly Satanic character. The fall of a star is, as before, the apostacy of some great, but subordinate, power, only here it is plainly not an earthly power, but one of the principalities and powers who rule the darkness of this world, one of the wicked spirits in heavenly places. To this baleful star is given permission to let loose infernal darkness and torment on the earth. He has "the key of the pit of the abyss," the unfathomable or bottomless pit, in which evil is restrained before receiving its final doom. It is here that "the spirits in prison" are confined (1 Peter 3:19); here that Satan will be shut up for a thousand years before his last rebellion and everlasting punishment (Rev. 10:1-3); here that the angels who sinned are "delivered into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." (2 Peter 2:4.) It is to this abode that the demons dreaded they would be sent when they besought Jesus, "that He would not command them to go out into the abyss," or deep. (Luke 8:31.) And now from this gloomy prison-house rolls forth a dense volume of smoke, blinding the heart to God's light, and polluting all healthy influences, as figured by the darkening of "the sun and the air."

But this is not all. Direct demoniacal power is let loose. "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. 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. 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 strikes a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them." (vv. 3-6.) The figure of locusts is probably taken from the prophecy of Joel, where they are called the Lord's "great army," and where their ravages are magnificently described. They are a scourge equally known and dreaded in eastern lands. The air is darkened by their vast numbers as they approach, and no green thing escapes their voracity. Their overwhelming hosts and man's utter helplessness before them seem to be the features here specially alluded to, for their action is quite different from real locusts, which inflict no torment on man, and destroy the grass and foliage which these creatures are forbidden to touch.

While resembling locusts in their overwhelming numbers and power, they have stings like scorpions, and so dreadful is their torment that men desire death. Death however "shall flee from them," for this is not a plague of slaughter and ravage, but only of intense suffering. The persons injured are "only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." Since, then, the sealing was not for the Gentiles, but merely for a select number from the twelve tribes, we may infer that it is only the reprobate portion of Israel who are subjected to the fearful, though not fatal, anguish inflicted by this army of tormentors from the, bottomless pit.

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss. And he opened the pit of the abyss; 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. And out of the smoke came locusts unto the earth, and to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, nor any tree, but the men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads" (verses 1-4).

The star fallen from heaven to earth is a dignitary in an apostate state; for a real personage is intended, as the next words show — "to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss." The allusion seems evident to Isaiah 14:12, where the king of Babylon is taunted with "How art thou fallen, O Lucifer [i.e., day-star], son of the morning? … Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Here it is not his doom, but the authority he was permitted to exercise over the abyss, which is the expression of the source of Satanic evil and misery. "He opened the pit of the abyss, and there arose a smoke out of it, as the smoke of a great furnace," the symbol of a delusion which darkens the mind of man. "The sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." The supreme power and all healthful social influence suffer pre-eminently from its blinding effects. Nor was this the sole result. "Out of the smoke came locusts," the figure of the aggressive instruments of rapine, and these clothed with a singular power of torment, "as the scorpions of the earth have power." The command given shows, I think very plainly, the error of such as apply the locusts in a literal way. They were not to hurt the grass of the earth, etc., that is, their natural food, if real locusts were meant. Men were to be the objects of these symbolic depredators — men, save God's sealed ones. And yet it was the destiny of these marauders not to kill, but to torment men five months (verse 5). It is a limited predatory chastisement, not judgment-day. "And their torment [was] as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death fleeth from them" (verse 6). Nothing on earth can exceed the agony of conscience which will be inflicted on their victims. It is a yet stronger colouring of wretchedness than that in which Jeremiah (Jer. 8:3) depicts the desolated and dispersed Jews in all the places whither they should be driven in the Lord's sore displeasure.

But there is a further description. "And the likenesses of the locusts [were] like horses prepared for battle; and [there were] on their heads as it were crowns of gold; and their faces [were] as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions. And they had breastplates as it were iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings [was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they have tails like scorpions, and stings;* and their power [was] in their tails to hurt men five months. They have as king over them the angel of the abyss; his name in the Hebrew tongue [is] Abaddon; and in the Greek tongue he hath the name Apollyon" (verses 7-11).

At the sound of the fifth trumpet a star is seen, not to fall, as the common version puts it, but already fallen from heaven to earth. This seems naturally to connect thus with the apostasy under the third trumpet, nor is it likely that the apostasy of any other should be as noteworthy as his whose course is recorded here. At all events, it is an apostate, surely, that is before us, and to him is committed "the key of the abyss."

The force of the words have first of all to be considered. A "pit" is in the Old Testament often a synonym for a dungeon, and every thing unites to show this to be the meaning here; while the "abyss" is not other than the pit itself, but only a further definition of it — the dungeon which is the abyss. So the demons pray that they may not be sent into the deep, or "abyss" (Luke 8:31), and Satan is, in the twentieth chapter, shut up there. In the Old Testament parallel to the same in Revelation, it is said, "They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison." (Isa. 24:22.) Here the abyss is the "pit," or prison, clearly. The key is used in this place as in the later one — here, the "key of the pit of the abyss;" there, simply "the key of the abyss."

Accordingly, when the fifth angel sounds, we see a star fallen from heaven to the earth, to whom is given the key of the pit of the abyss, and the pit of the abyss is opened. The star is not seen to fall, as under the third trumpet. It has already fallen; and we are necessarily referred back to the third trumpet for its previous history. It is the history of an apostate. To him is given the key of the abyss, and by his means there is opened upon the earth from the pit of the abyss a Satanic influence pictured as a smoke of a great furnace, so that the sun is darkened and the air, by the smoke of the pit. The abyss, or bottomless pit, is not hell itself; nor, according to Scripture, is Satan yet there. Yet the abyss is a "pit," often in the Old Testament the synonym for a dungeon, and everything shows it to have this meaning here; for it is a key by which alone it can be opened. The "pit of the abyss" is the "dungeon of the abyss," — the dungeon which is that; an infinite deep from which nothing can recover itself, except by divine permission. So the demons pray that they may not be sent into "the deep," or "abyss" (Luke 8:31); and Satan is, in the twentieth chapter, shut up there: but the distinction between that abyss and hell itself, which is the lake of fire, is manifest in what is said in that connection. In the Old Testament, parallel to this in Revelation, it is said: "They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison" (Isa. 24:22). Here the pit and the prison are synonymous. That it is not hell proper is seen again from the use of the word with regard to the Lord Himself (Rom. 10:7): "Who shall descend into the deep (abyss); that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead?" The connection of the pit with the state of the dead in the Old Testament is similar to that of the abyss here in the New; and the beast in its last phase is said to come up out of the abyss. Here, too, the death-state is indicated. It naturally refers to the wounding to death and revival of the beast, or of the seventh head (Rev. 13:3, 12, 14). Some have even contended, seeing the identification of the beast, or empire, with its last head (Rev. 17:11), for the literal resurrection of a person in this case. But literal resurrection could only be from God, and the beast in its last form is filled and energized by Satan (Rev. 13:1-2). The coming out of the abyss, therefore, is figurative, as the beast itself is; and indeed the use of the word seems figurative throughout. Christ has "the keys of Hades and of Death" (Rev. 1:18), and it is not to be imagined that He should give up into the hand of an apostate, whether man or spirit, any portion of His own authority. We must not think, therefore, as has been done, of a literal opening of Hades, and an eruption of the spirits of the lost upon the earth. The demons, it is urged, were, in heathen account, but "the spirits of mortals when separated from their earthly bodies;" and Josephus is cited for the orthodox Jewish opinion that "demons are none other than the spirits of the wicked dead. With very few exceptions, the Christian fathers were of like opinion, … and the burden of evidence and authority is to the effect that demons are the souls of dead men, particularly the spirits of those who bore a bad character in this life. There is no such thing known in the Bible as a good demon." This does not suit, however, with that which the Lord gives us from the mouth of the rich man in Hades, who is assured by Abraham of a great gulf fixed between the two classes there (Luke 16:26), "so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." This naturally intimates that, at least without distinct permission, the spirits of the dead would not be found upon earth. God might, of course, give permission, and it is said here that to the fallen star the key of the pit is "given;" this, no doubt, from God; for if Christ be the Master of the prison-house, none plainly could break bounds without His permission. The dead are by their death removed from the sphere of earth, and those shut up to await judgment can scarcely be thought of as at the same time taking active part in that which is done upon the earth. The thought of Satan being in hell and yet taking such part as it is confessed he does, naturally leads to the thought that with regard to the spirits of the dead there may be the same thing. But Satan is not in hell, as we have seen; nor, as yet, even in the abyss. And the days of men upon earth are ended when the earthly life is. Thus we read that it is for "deeds done in the body," and not out of it, that men are to give account in the day of judgment.

Now Christ has "the keys of hades and of death" (Rev. 1:18); and it is not to be imagined that He should give up into the hand of an apostate, whether man or spirit, any portion of His own authority. We must not think, therefore, (as has been done,) of a literal opening of hades, and an irruption of the spirits of the lost upon the earth. Fancies like these easily gain ascendency over a certain class of minds; and yet who could seriously maintain such an outbreak of wickedness on the part of those shut up, like the rich man in hades, to await judgment? Were it so, there would be "deeds done" out of the body, as well as "in the body," to give account of in the day of judgment. But, in fact, the locusts are not said even to come out of the pit. Nothing is said to come out of it but the smoke which darkens the sun and air; and out of the smoke the locusts come. It may be natural to think that, after all, they cannot be bred of the smoke, and that they must come with the smoke out of the pit; but naturalistic interpretations may easily deceive us, where the spiritual sense is the whole matter, and for the spiritual meaning there is no difficulty. The smoke is not, as in other places, the smoke of torment, but the fumes of malign spiritual influences which darken the air and the supreme source of light itself. Out of this darkness we can easily understand the locusts to be bred.

The bottomless pit is evidently the place from which come the darkening spiritual influences that affect men in this world, which bring delusion and sorrow upon those who are affected by the diabolical teachings of those who are the agents of Satan. It is evident from Revelation 9:1 that Satan has not control in an absolute way to do his will, for the key of the bottomless pit is not in his hand. The star that fell from heaven was given the key for the time being, but the key did not belong to him. For a limited time this star, some great intellectual or spiritual dignitary, was allowed to bring up from the infernal regions influences that would bring delusion and trouble upon those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads.

The sounding of the fifth trumpet discloses “a star fallen from heaven:” it is already fallen (v. 1). This is the same star that fell under the third trumpet (Rev. 8:10). Thus the false prophet, the Antichrist, is given the key to the pit of the abyss. His opening it (v. 2) releases a smoke that darkens the sun and the air. This is the darkening and polluting of the very atmosphere of people's existence by satanic doctrine that will also pollute their minds.

Rev. 9:2. — “And there went up smoke out of the pit as (the) smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the pit.” A satanic delusion bred in the abyss, and characterised by its moral blinding and withering effect is here intimated. Probably the same delusion to which Christendom will be given over referred to by Paul (2 Thess. 2:11-12). The effect of the smoke or darkening influence and power of Satan will be to blight the supreme government (the sun), and darken and corrupt the whole social life and principles of men (the air). The air denoting moral influence occurs twice in the Apocalypse, under the fifth Trumpet (Rev. 9:2) and in the pouring out of the seventh Vial (Rev. 16:17).

The fifth angel sounds (Rev. 9); and one who should have been by position the instrument of light and governmental order over the earth was seen as having lost his place; and the power to let loose the full darkening influence of Satan was given him. He opened the bottomless pit — the place where evil is shut up and chained; not where it is punished, that is, the lake of fire. Supreme authority, and all heavenly light over the earth, and healthful influence of order, were darkened and made to cease by the evil satanic influence which was let loose. Nor was this all: direct instruments of satanic power came out of this evil influence in numbers; crowds of moral locusts with the sting of false doctrine in their tail. But it was not to destroy temporal prosperity on the earth, but to torment the ungodly Jews; not to kill, but to harass and vex them. This was to continue five months; for it is not the final judgment. The torment was worse than death — pain and anguish of heart. But they had the semblance of military imperial power, crowned, and with masculine energy, to those that met them; but they were, if seen behind and the secret disclosed, subject and weak: their faces were as the faces of men, their hair as the hair of women. But they were armed in a steeled conscience. They were the direct instruments of the power of Satan, and under his orders. The angel of the bottomless pit — he who rules the depths of Satan's wiles, as the ruler of the power of darkness — led them. We are too unbelieving as to the direct influence of Satan in darkening men's minds when permitted, when men are given up to his darkening influence. Cruel harassing torments, worse than death, with darkening of their minds, become the portion of the once beloved people. One woe was past.