The Revelation Explained / An Exposition, Text by Text, of the Apocalypse of St. John

by F. G. Smith

13. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

The later editions of the Greek New Testament give the word eagle instead of angel—denoting a messenger or angel flying with the swiftness of an eagle. This messenger doubtless is not intended to be symbolic; for it is not one of the seven angels, but a messenger possessing a warning, and that warning is given "to the inhabitants of the earth," as if they were addressed directly. It simply announces that the three trumpets yet to sound will possess greater calamities to the people of earth than those that have preceded, by reason of which they are called woes. The manner, also, in which the woe trumpets are spoken of afterwards confirm the statement that the announcement is literal and not symbolical. "One woe is past, and, behold, there come two more woes hereafter." Chap. [9:12]. "The second woe it past: and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly." Chap. [11:14]. These announcements are evidently literal, and serve to explain the passage before us. Accordingly, the last three trumpets are generally referred to as the woe trumpets.

CHAPTER IX.

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 striketh a man.

6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

9. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The symbols of this trumpet are of a very peculiar character and peculiarly combined. They are not drawn entirely from the natural world, showing that we are not to look for their fulfilment in political events alone; neither are they drawn from human life in any such way as to indicate events in the religious history of the church. The leading characters in it, however, are living, active agents of such a destructive nature as to entitle them to the designation of a woe.

The first object presented in the vision is a "star" fallen to the earth. Our translation conveys the idea that this star was in the act of falling; but in the original it is different, being there represented as having fallen, its dejection from heaven to earth being complete. The only place that it appeared in view was on the earth, and there it is described as fallen. A star is a symbol either of a civil ruler or of a religious teacher, the symbols in connection deciding whether it is set in the political or the ecclesiastical firmament. But this was not such a star as He who walketh in the midst of the golden candle-sticks holdeth in his right hand, but it was a fallen star, indicating that it was the propagator of a false faith.

To this star was given a key. In the Gospels the same figure is employed, where the ministers of Christ are represented as possessing the keys of the kingdom of heaven, showing that they acted in his name and by his authority. How appropriate, then, is this symbol as applied to a false teacher, who possesses, not the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but, instead, "the key of the bottomless pit"! Thus, under the symbol of the star and the key, we have the teacher and his authority set forth. Armed with this authority, this false teacher "opened the bottomless pit; and there rose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." In the Scriptures Jesus is represented as the Sun of righteousness, while "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ" illuminates the world. But here we have something of the opposite character—a dense smoke eclipsing the sun and darkening the heavens. Have we not here a fit representation of a delusive faith proceeding from its true source, "the bottomless pit"? And is not a fallen star an appropriate symbol of its propagator?