• Star = Usually a symbol of an angel (Job 38:7). There are both good and evil angels. In the context of Chapter 9, a demon or Satanic power is responsible for opening the bottomless pit. Working through Muhammad and Islamic leaders.
• Sun = Righteousness of Christ (Malachi 4:2)
• Air = Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2-4; John 3:8)
• Smoke = Effects of idol worship (Hosea 13:2-3)
• Flying Locusts = The Arabic army of Islam, accompanied by horses and a foreign army, marched swiftly to judge the Papacy (Joel 1:4-6; Joel 2:1-4). In the Old Testament, when Israel obscured the truth and worshiped idols, God sent the Chaldean army to punish Israel and take them captive. They did it in stages, as the different locusts do in Joel chapter 1. However, Nebuchadnezzar was good to Jeremiah and others, like Daniel and his friends, who were faithful to God. In the New Testament, God sent Islam against the Papacy.Â
• Women's hair= Characteristics of the army of Islam at its commencement. The men had long hair.
• Crowns of gold = Turbans on Arab heads
• Breast plates = Their horses were protected/covered with armor plates
• Flood = Enemy attack (Revelation 12:14-16, Isaiah 59:19)
• One king over them, Abaddon (destroyer) = Mohammad and his destructive teachings in the Quran controlled Muslims even today. Therefore, the verse says that "Muhammad" is the angel of the bottomless pit. It is in fact Satan, the fallen star, who works through Muhammad, giving him visions.
• Bottomless pit (abussos) = Unbounded/chaos/without the Holy Spirit, there is darkness – Without law, void of Christ, who is the foundation (Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6, Ephesians 2:20). Bottomless means there is no foundation, which means is no Christ. This was the situation during the Dark Ages.
In Revelation 20, Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, into chains of darkness and chaos. We saw that the bottomless pit is a place of emptiness, formlessness, and satanic activity. Before creation, the earth was missing light, air, and the sun. The Dark Ages were marked by spiritual darkness, emptiness, and satanic activity.
• Key = Control/Allowing entrance or exclusion (Revelation 1:18) - Jesus has the key of death and hades. God gives Satan the key for the bottomless pit (God allowed Islam to punish the Papacy).
Jesus blamed the leaders of Israel for taking away the key for the entrance into the everlasting kingdom, which is faith (Luke 11:52; Matthew 16:19).Â
The Papacy took away God’s Word from the people and, consequently, their faith. Faith comes from hearing the Word (Romans 10:17).
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Further reading:
Why Would a Church Ban the Bible? - Link
Similarities:Â
- Both have large numbers of creatures (horse-like locusts and locust-like horses).
- Both have specialized tails (scorpion like and serpent like).
- Both have time slots and time prophecies (five months and an hour, day, month, and year).
- Both emerge out of specific locations (the bottomless pit and beyond the Euphrates).
Differences:
- The tails, times, and places are not identical.Â
- In the 5th trumpet, the locusts only torture, while in the 6th trumpet, the horseback riders are commanded to kill a third of mankind.Â
- In the 5th trumpet, the locusts fly, but in the 6th trumpet, they are in an immature state of youth.
- There is progression: the number of the army increases, and the destructiveness increases from tormenting to killing.
- The 5th and 6th trumpets represent a two-phase invasion by fierce Arabic and Turkish armies, respectively.
- Only in the 6th plague do the riders use fire, smoke, and sulphur (brimstone) to kill.