Seven angels take turns blowing their trumpet, resulting as plagues on the people, who have not turned to God:
When the first starts to blow, a third of the earth burns by hail and fire from heaven. (Rev. 8:7).
When the second blows, a huge mountain of fire is thrown into the sea. A third of the sea becomes blood, a third of the sea creatures’ dies and a third of the boats perishes. (Rev. 8:8,9)
With the blowing of the third trumpet, a great star from heaven falls on the rivers and springs, and a third of the waters becomes bitter and many people die of it. (Rev.8:10.11)
After the fourth trumpet, the earth is no longer illuminated for a third day and night. (Rev. 8:12)
Revelation 9:1-21 The three woes
The fifth trumpet sounds, the first woe:
A star falls from heaven to earth, who is given the key of the abyss. (Rev.9:1)
The key of the abyss is not a real key, but a competence to open, just as Peter has been given the (symbolic) keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Stars sometimes represent angels, just like Jesus called himself a morning star:
WEB (Revelation 22:16) 16 ….I am the root and the offspring of David; the Bright and Morning Star.”
Because Satan is finally imprisoned in the abyss (Rev. 20:1-3), this is also the support, that in Rev.9:1 with ‘abyss’ is meant the place (the prison) of the disobedient angels:
WEB (Revelation 20:1-3) 1 I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
‘Falling’ from heaven means, logical reasoning, cast out of heaven. This is something else as ‘descend’ from heaven as described in Revelation 10:1:
WEB (Revelation 10:1) 1 And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, ……
Although Jesus saw Satan already been cast out of heaven (Luke 10: 18), it is unlikely that this star, which is fallen from heaven, is meant to be Satan:
WEB (Luke 10:18) 18 He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.
Satan is thrown down to the earth ‘after’ the war in heaven against Michael and his angels, apparently, the previously described angel has been cast out of heaven earlier:
WEB (Revelation 12:7-9) 7 There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8 They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Angels who are thrown down to the earth, still have the freedom on earth, but Tartarus is a prison for angels, an abyss, where they have to live in darkness. According to the Scriptures, they are imprisoned in the days of Noah:
WEB (2 Peter 2:4-5) 4 For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved to judgment; 5 and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;
These angels, who are thrown into Tartarus since the flood, stay there awaiting their verdict.
Before the Flood (the Flood was about 2350 BC), these angels disobeyed God and were disloyal to the heavenly Jerusalem. It is noteworthy that Jesus has preached to the spirits in Tartarus after his resurrection:
WEB (1 Peter 3:18-20) 18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
Jesus preaching in their prison has probably the aim to make arrangements with the angels, that their judgment will be heavier if they – after opening the prison – harm the people with the seal of God on their foreheads. It is only allowed to tormenting them, who have not the seal of God. They are not allowed to kill anyone:
WEB (Revelation 9:1-6) 1 The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person. 6 In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
People without the seal want to die, but they do not get the opportunity or they are not allowed to die. (Rev. 9.6)
These angels are allowed to proceed for five months, then, they lose their power again.
Concerning Satan and his angels, they will be imprisoned later on. (Revelation 20:1-2)
It is therefore not obvious, that the already imprisoned angels belong to Satan, as is the case with the angels who will be thrown with Satan down to the earth. There is also not written in Scriptures, that these angels will again be imprisoned in Tartarus after the torment of people (5 months).
Satan and his demons will later on be imprisoned in Tartarus and finally destroyed:
WEB (Revelation 20:1-3) 1 I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
WEB (Revelation 20:10) 10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
WEB (Matthew 25:41) 41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
The angels in Tartarus also have an own king of the abyss. This will almost certainly not be Satan, again, because these angels are imprisoned in darkness, separated from Satan and his demons. Also, there is not one word written in Scriptures, that the angel who falls from heaven, is the angel or king of the abyss.
This king comes thus probably from the abyss itself:
WEB (Revelation 9:11) 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon,” but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon.”
According to various dictionaries, the Hebrew name Abaddon or the Greek name Apollyon
means ‘to destroy’ or ‘destroyer’. (Rev.9 :7-11)
Webster’s Online Dictionary Definition: Apollyon
- The Destroyer – a name used (Rev. 9:11) for the angel of the bottomless pit, answering tothe Hebrew Abaddon.
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary.
Apollyon destroyer, the name Given to the king of the hosts Represented by the locusts (Rev. 9:11). It is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Abaddon (q.v.).
These angels from the abyss are ‘symbolically’ described as locusts, with the power of scorpions.
Revelation 9:7
The appearance of the locusts is like horses, prepared for battle.
At their heads is something like crowns of gold. The crowns are not literally golden crowns, but give the impression of gold ..
Their faces are as the faces of humans.
Revelation 9:8
They have long hair like women’s hair.
They have teeth like lions.
Revelation 9:9
They have breastplates of iron. They are standing ready like horses, equipped for battle.
The sound of their wings is as the sound of a huge number of chariots.
Revelation 9:10
They have tails like scorpions.
In their tails is their power to torment people, but they may not kill people.
Revelation 9:11
They have a king over them, Abaddon or the Greek name Apollyon
Their outfit with – what seems – golden crowns, human faces and women hair tells something about their behavior.
With their crowns they seem to be of important origin, like princes, with their human faces they look like understanding people and with their female hair they seem to be as lovingly as women.
In reality, they possess fearsome teeth like lions and venomous tails like scorpions.
In the Scriptures, there is frequently spoken of destroyers. However, they all have performed a divine task, such as the death of the firstborn in Egypt:
WEB (Hebrews 11:28) 28 By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
The star that falls from heaven (Revelation 9:1) has no divine command, after all, he is cast out of heaven.
He is just like Satan, a rebellious angel, perhaps with enforced permission to open the abyss.
That this demon uses the angels of the abyss, to torment ‘his own’ human worshipers, it doesn’t matter him, apparently. He has an interest that God’s plan of salvation is not working:
WEB (Revelation 9:20) 20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.
The sixth trumpet sounds, the second woe:
Four angels are released and make it possible, that a very large group of riders can kill the 3rd part of the people. (Rev. 9:15)
The rest of the people did not repent of their transgressions and refuses to call out the name of the heavenly Father, their only salvation (Rev. 9:20,21):
WEB (Acts 2:20-21) 20 The sun will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 21 It will be, that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Revelation 10:1-11
An other angel descends from heaven. According to the context, this angel is not the same one as the previous angels, this angel has a face like the sun (like Jesus in Rev. 1:16), and with a little opened scroll in his hand. It is obvious that this angel is an image of Jesus, also because this angel roars like a lion. Jesus is the Lion of Judah:
WEB (Revelation 5:5) 5 One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.”
When this angel speaks, voices are sounding of 7 thunders of which the message should not be written. This angel speaks out, there will be no more delay. (Revelation 10:1-7)
When the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret of God according to the good news that he has disclosed to the prophets, is brought to an end.
This sacred secret concerns the intention of God, to have a government at the final end, where people from all nations will be part of:
WEB (Ephesians 1:8-10) 8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;
WEB (Ephesians 3:4-6) 4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; 5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel,
The apostles form the foundation stones, and Jesus is the chief cornerstone of the New Jerusalem. The 144,000 saints act as pillars in the New Jerusalem:
WEB (Revelation 21:14) 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
WEB (Ephesians 2:19-20) 19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, 20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
WEB (Revelation 3:12) 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
The New Jerusalem has no temple, because God Almighty with the Lamb are its temple:
WEB (Revelation 21:22) 22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
Only those who are written in the scroll of life of the Lamb shall be in the city. The 144,000 will reign with Jesus:
WEB (Revelation 21:27) 27 There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
WEB (Revelation 22:5) 5 ….They will reign forever and ever.
That the sacred secret is brought to an end means, that the rigging of the New Jerusalem is ready, Jesus, the apostles, the 144,000, the great multitude and the staying of the heavenly Father in the New Jerusalem.
Then, John gets the instruction to measure the temple, the altar, and those who worship therein. (Rev. 11:1) The forecourt may not be measured. This measuring of the temple can not be the measuring of the literal temple, because this temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70.
This measuring is meant symbolically and represents an inventory of those who participate in the pure worship, which is compared with the symbolic altar of incense. This altar of incense stood in the inner sanctum of the temple before the entrance of the most holy.
In Rev.8: 3.4 the golden altar of incense is associated with the prayers of the saints:
WEB (Revelation 8:3-4) 3 Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
The altar of the burnt offering stood in the forecourt of the temple, but John was not allowed to measure this forecourt.(Rev. 11:2) This (symbolic) altar of the burnt offering is intended to give everyone the opportunity to accept the perfect sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son.
It is therefore logical that John must inventory the approved saints, prophets and Christians in the (symbolic) temple. The nations (non Christians) will trample the (symbolic) forecourt with the (symbolic) altar of the burnt offering for 42 months:
WEB (Revelation 11:2) 2 Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the gentiles. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.
WEB (Hebrews 10:10) 10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
That the nations trample this altar for 42 months can mean nothing else, than that for 42 months no person can join Christianity on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus. The great multitude of Christians is – as the saints – in the temple (sanctuary – naos) itself, to perform service to God:
WEB (Revelation 7:15) 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.
In the temple of Herod was provided in an inner forecourt (for Jews only) and an outer forecourt. John speaks only of ‘forecourt’, making no distinction, thus referring to the – under Divine inspiration built – temple of Solomon.
Then there is an announcement, that during the tribulation two witnesses of the Lord will be on earth for 1260 days (Rev.11: 3), or the aforementioned 42 months Rev. 11:2 (each 30 days)
The two witnesses:
The two witnesses will work for 1,260 days and are dressed in sackcloth. This means that their coverage entails a message, where repentance will fit.
The work of these two prophets witness will be a testimony to all nations, the last chance to repent and show faith in the Heavenly Father and His Son:
WEB (Matthew 24:14) 14 This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The two witnesses are compared with two lamp stands and two olive trees. (Rev.11: 4) This imagery can also be seen in Zechariah 4:11-14, where these lamp stands are an indicating of the two anointed ones:
WEB (Zechariah 4:11-14) 11 Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?” 12 I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?” 13 He answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
Moses and Elijah are among the anointed prophets:
WEB (Numbers 11:25) 25 Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him (Moses), and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.
WEB (1 Kings 19:16) 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah shall you anoint to be prophet in your room.
They are also the two prophets in the transfiguration of Jesus:
WEB (Luke 9:30) 30 Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah,
Jesus is depicted in Acts as the greater Moses and John the Baptist is the anti-typical Elijah:
WEB (Acts 3:22) 22 For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.
WEB (Matthew 11:12-14) 12 From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.
The two witnesses have the authority to shut heaven, that no rain falls, to change water into blood and to strike the earth with all sorts of plagues. (Op.11: 6)
As prophet Elijah had received the authority that no rain fell:
WEB (1 Kings 17:1) 1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
As prophet Moses had received the authority to change water into blood and to carry out the plagues in Egypt:
WEB (Exodus 7:20) 20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
In all probability Moses and Elijah are these two witnesses.
Will Elijah and Moses appear personally in the end time?
That is not to be expected, because in the earlier appearance of Elijah, there was not said that John the Baptist would literally ‘be’ Elijah, but that he would have ‘the spirit and power’ of Elijah:
WEB (Luke 1:17) 17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. (Revelation 11:7)
The article “ world powers 9. The woman and the scarlet colored wild beast “shows, that this ‘scarlet’ beast from the abyss (Rev. 17:8) means a financial system, the 8th kingdom, that has a firm grip on the New World Order, the political power . This beast from the abyss, this financial system, will kill the 2 witnesses on command of the 10 kings:
WEB (Revelation 17:8) 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present. (Financial power)
WEB (Revelation 11:7) 7 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.
Their bodies will lie in the broad street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Revelation 11:8
This great city is an image of the situation of “Jerusalem” in Jesus’ day, claiming to worship God but became sinful as Sodom for fornication and became part of idolatry like Egypt. It is an image of unrepentant people, who do not have faith in the Messiah, the Son of Man:
WEB (Isaiah 1:8-10) 8 The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a hut in a field of melons, Like a besieged city. 9 Unless Yahweh of Armies had left to us a very small remnant, We would have been as Sodom; We would have been like Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
WEB (Zechariah 13:1-2) 1 “In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. 2 It will come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.
The people on earth are cheerfully about their death, but after 3.5 days they will be resurrected and ascend into heaven. Revelation 11:9-12
A major earthquake follows, whereby seven thousand people are killed. Revelation 11:13
The seventh trumpet sounds, this means the third and final woe:
After God has taken the kingship to himself, along with his Messiah, the 24 elderly give an enumeration to John of the events that subsequently will take place:
WEB (Revelation 11:15-18) 15 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!” 16 The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned. 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
The 24 elders tell in the vision of John, that the dead will be judged, about the giving of rewards and also about the reward of themselves as God’s servants, the prophets.
The already resurrected prophets, saints and the great multitude receive as a reward – as we shall see later in this article – their installation in the New Jerusalem, each with its own task.
Next, the sanctuary in heaven is opened, and the ark of the covenant is seen, so the access to the holy of holy is opened. Rev. 11:19. During the opening of the temple sanctuary, an earthquake and great hail followed.
When Jesus died, the curtain separation between the holy and the most holy tore in half as a sign that Jesus offering had opened the access to the most holy place:
WEB (Matthew 27:50-51) 50 Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 51 Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
Read more at: end time 5. Revelation; the pregnant woman