A Study On Revelation 9 Series

In Mel Gibson’s movie, “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST”, there was one detail that most people missed. That one detail said so much about whom it was that actually punished Jesus. That detail was that we never got to see the man’s face who hammered the spikes into Jesus’ hands.

His face was only a reflection. It was a reflection of sin; of all sin throughout the ages; and it was a reflection of the sin that we carry today, too. In essence, it was a perfect reflection of us today.

It was not just the Jews, or the Romans, or even the Pharisees that nailed our Savior to that Cross. Sin nailed Him to it. And that sin has run rampant throughout the ages, and can even be found in our lives today. So, it wasn’t the nails that kept Jesus on the Cross; it was sin.

COLOSSIANS 2:13-14 tell us that even when we were spiritually dead in our sins, we were made alive and whole through the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He loved us enough to forgive us, and through His death, He turned around and nailed our sin to that Cross.

And so, as we sit on holy ground this morning, let us remember the sacrifice that He made for us. Let us remember that it was the sinful nature found in people that hammered the nails. And let us also remember that He continues to love us enough to totally forgive us when we surrender our prideful wills to Him and ask Him for that forgiveness.

Let us resolve once again to put Him as Lord in our lives; as Master of our will; and as the Savior of our souls. Let us bow in humility to the Son of God, as he reaches down to touch us with His amazing grace and unending love.

LET US OPEN THIS MORNING’S SERVICE IN PRAYER.

In chapter 8, we discussed the first four trumpet judgments. They were: The judgment by FIRE (vs. 7); the judgment upon the SEA (vs. 8-9); the judgment of WORMWOOD (vs. 10-11); and the judgment of absolute DARKNESS (vs. 12).

We ended in verse 13 by learning there were 3 more “woe’s” yet to come, and each of these would not only be worse than any prior judgment, but each woe would be worse than the one before it.

Now, we are seeing the beginning of God’s purest wrath, and it gets worse with each passing step. Starting in verse 1, we see that the 5th.trumpet judgment is about to begin.

In VERSE 1, John says:

“The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. The key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.”

Who is the star that fell? Typically, in the Bible, a fallen star refers to an angel who has been told to leave heaven. Most theologians consider this fallen star to be Lucifer.

Jesus remarked that He had seen Lucifer fall in LUKE 10:18.

“I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.”

When this angel fell, the keys to the abyss were given to him and his sole purpose was to unlock the shaft.

(Some theologians believe this star was Jesus, but I think if it had been Jesus, John would have indicated such in his writings. Other theologians believe it was an angel of God. Again, I do not see any indication that the fallen star’s purpose was anything other than opening the pit so the smoke from it could cause chaos on this world.)

The “shaft of the abyss” refers to a bottomless pit. That word is the Greek word “abussos” which occurs nine times in the New Testament; seven of which are in the book of REVELATION. It refers to a place of imprisonment for supernatural beings. It is also a place of absolute anguish and torment.

In MATTHEW 8:29, we read about the story of the demonic man who lived in the cemetery. Christ drove the demons out of him, they entered pigs, and the pigs rushed off a cliff into the waters and drowned. In this account, we also see where the demons asked Jesus, “… have you come here to torment us before the time?”

The abyss and the time of torment are clearly connected. The demons are aware of this future time, and judging by the above verse, they are afraid of it, too.

VERSE 2 –

“He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke came up out of it like the smoke from a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.”

When the smoke came up, it darkened the sun and blinding the eyes of men by putting out light and knowledge, and promoting ignorance and error. It also darkened the air, which shows it polluted the world and acted to confuse men. And from this great smoke, instruments of God’s wrath appeared and began to be unleashed upon men.