When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, the first woe begins with a “star” falling from heaven to the earth, ” . . . and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” This “star” cannot be one of the heavenly bodies we call stars because a key could not be given to one of them. This star is called “him,” and “he” opens the bottomless pit with this key. I believe this star is none other than Satan, himself. One of Satan’s names is Lucifer, which means, “the day star, the shining one.” Now Satan’s present abode is not in the presence of God. However, according to Ephesians 6:11-13, the devil and his evil government are presently in the “high places,” or the lower heavens—and it is from this place that John sees Satan fallen at the time of the sounding of the fifth trumpet.

The bottomless pit is the pit of the abyss which we read about in Luke 8:31. In that reference, the same Greek word is translated “deep.” In 2 Peter 2:4 and in Jude 6, we read of angels that sinned and were cast down in “everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” At this time during the tribulation period, God will allow this pit to be opened, thus releasing these hordes of demons which come forth as locusts upon the earth. Yet they are different than the insects that we know as locusts. These locusts are shaped like horses prepared for battle.

Note the description of these creatures as given in verses 7-10. They are as horses, depicting great strength and boldness; their crowns depict ruling authority, and yet being crowns likegold, rather than crowns ofgold, demonstrate them as imitators of the real.  The faces of men show they have intelligence; they can think and act.  The hair as the hair of women depicts weakness in the midst of satanic glory or renown; lions teeth demonstrate ferociousness; with breastplates of iron they are impenetrable; their wings show terror-filled swiftness; their tails are like those of scorpions—terror-filled torment. These demons of terror will fill the earth, bringing fear and torment wherever they strike.

And yet their power is limited! God is still in complete control, for He does not allow them to hurt the grass nor trees, those things that locusts would normally destroy. Could this have been in Jesus’ mind when He told His disciples that He beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, and then He gave His disciples “power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10: 18) God does not allow these demon locusts to hurt the 144,000 servants of His who have the seal of God in their foreheads. Also, God limits these demons to tormentingonly, not allowing them to kill; and the torment can last only five months. God’s great mercy is seen through all of these restrictions, for remember that one-third of the trees and all of the grass was destroyed under the sounding of the first trumpet? So now God is allowing the vegetation to grow back as it should.

However, these five months will seem like an eternity to those who are being tormented in this manner. They will long for death, but God will not allow death to come for them during this time. God holds our breath in His hand (Daniel 5:23), and only when it is in His perfect timing will men be allowed to die. His ways are perfect! How much better for us to give our lives over to Him now and let Him change our hearts to follow Him completely. Proverbs 30: 27 states that the locust insect has no king, “. . . yet they go forth, all of them by bands. . .”  However, this horde of locust-like demons does have a king whose name is given both in the Hebrew, as Abaddon, and in the Greek, as Apollyon.” The meaning of this name is Destroyer (opposite of Savior), revealing him as the destroyer of both Jew and Gentile. It is easy to see why this terrible judgment is called a woe.

Then the sixth trumpet is sounded, bringing forth the second woe upon the earth. The golden altar of verse 13 is the altar of incense that we studied about in chapter 8. Every year on the Day of Atonement, Aaron would apply blood to the horns of the altar of incense in the tabernacle, thus averting God’s judgment on the people for their sins. But now, the cry is for judgment on those who have rejected Jesus’ blood. What was a place of mercy becomes a place of Judgment in answer to prayers of saints who have prayed for God’s will to be done and the world to be cleansed from sin.

The four angels that are bound are four evil angels. God’s angels would not be bound. These angels are bound in the Euphrates River, which is near the place of the Garden of Eden where sin first entered the world. This is also near Babylon, which has always been a place of idolatry and a concentration of the evil of the world. According to Revelation 17 and 18, Babylon will be the religious and commercial center of the world during the 7 years’ tribulation. So now God allows these evil angels to be loosed to bring forth even more of Satan’s destructive power.

Whereas with the sounding of the fifth trumpet, death was not allowed, the sounding of the sixth trumpet brings death to one-third of the remaining population of the world. The opening of the fourth seal caused one-fourth of the population to die, so now with the death of one-third of all who are left, the world population will be only one-half of what it was at the start of the tribulation. These evil angels have been prepared and waiting for this specific time, and now God gives consent to their being loosed to begin their slaughter.

An army of 200 million horsemen comes on the scene, but this is not a normal army, for their breastplates are of fire, jacinth (smoke), and brimstone. And note the description of the horses—having heads of lions, with fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths, and tails like serpents. Their manner of killing was from the fire, smoke and brimstone, and heads of the serpents. This is a battle of Satan’s army of evil spirits who have taken these forms and are bringing death and destruction, killing one third of the people in the world. If this were an army of humans, the people might have a chance to fight against them, but they have no power against this mighty force of demons that have been loosed to fill the earth.

We cannot imagine the terror this will bring to the entire world; and yet, instead of repenting for their evil deeds and turning to the God Who could save them, we read in verse 20 that they repented not of the works of their hands. Note the list of sins mentioned here—worshiping demons, worshiping idols, murders, sorceries (drugs), fornication and thefts. Do these sins sound familiar? There is no comparison of the frequency of these sins today with forty or fifty years ago.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy that in the last days, perilous times shall come, and they are here! Jesus said that as it was in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. In the days of Noah, we read that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence. The evil in the world is getting worse and worse, and men are going on their merry way, thinking that nothing is ever going to change. But Jesus is coming soon, and then everything shall surely change! Let us be ready for His coming, and remember what Paul told Titus in Titus 2: 11-13: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”