Revelation 9:1-12: The Fifth Trumpet and the First Woe

August 10, 2026 Blaize

The deepest judgments expose not only what is broken around humanity, but what torments from beneath. The fifth trumpet is also the first of the three woes announced by the eagle in Revelation 8:13. The first four trumpets struck the earth, sea, rivers, springs, sun, moon, and stars in partial judgments (Rev 8:7–12). Now the judgments move deeper. The fifth trumpet does not merely strike creation from the outside. It opens the abyss and releases torment from below. John sees “a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth,” and the key to the bottomless pit is given to him (Rev 9:1). In apocalyptic imagery, stars can represent heavenly beings or angelic powers (Job 38:7; Dan 8:10; Rev 1:20). The fact that the key “was given” shows that this figure does not act independently. Even the abyss can only be opened by permission. The bottomless pit, or abyss, evokes the deep, the place of darkness, chaos, and imprisonment (Gen 1:2; Ps 88:6–12; Isa 24:21–22). When the abyss is opened, smoke rises like the smoke of a great furnace, darkening the sun and the air (Rev 9:2). This recalls the smoke and darkness of judgment. Out of the smoke come locusts upon the earth (Rev 9:3). Locusts were one of the most feared images of devastation in the ancient world. Locusts themselves did not cause death directly, rather the results of their destruction caused mass starvation. In Egypt, locusts consumed what the hail had left and covered the land until it was darkened (Exod 10:12–15). Joel describes a locust invasion in army-like terms, with darkness, fire, desolation, and the day of the Lord in view (Joel 1:4–7; 2:1–11). These locusts are commanded not to harm the grass, green plants, or trees, but only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (Rev 9:4). The locusts are not permitted to kill, but to torment for five months, like the torment of a scorpion when it stings (Rev 9:5). They can torment, but not kill. Scorpions in Scripture are associated with wilderness danger and affliction (Deut 8:15; Ezek 2:6). The torment becomes so severe that people seek death and cannot find it (Rev 9:6). This echoes prophetic judgment scenes where death seems preferable to unbearable suffering (Job 3:20–22; Jer 8:3).

John then describes the locusts in grotesque, composite form. (Rev 9:7–10). The imagery draws especially from Joel’s locust army. Joel says the locusts appear like horses, run like war horses, leap with the sound of chariots, and advance like a mighty army (Joel 2:4–9). Their lion-like teeth recall Joel’s description of a nation with the teeth of a lion (Joel 1:6). Unlike ordinary locusts, these have a king over them, “the angel of the abyss,” whose Hebrew name is Abaddon and whose Greek name is Apollyon (Rev 9:11). Abaddon in the Old Testament is associated with destruction and the realm of death (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps 88:11; Prov 15:11; 27:20). Apollyon means Destroyer in Greek.

For the first-century churches, the vision would have exposed what lies beneath the world’s confidence. Rome claimed order, peace, and security. But Revelation unveils a darker spiritual reality. Beneath the empire is the smoke of the abyss. The world that refuses God does not become free, rather it becomes vulnerable to powers that enslave and torment.

Lord, seal Your people as those who belong to You, so they are not overcome by what consumes the world!