Smoke Out of the Bottomless Pit Revelation 9:2

As John the apostle continued to share about the “tribulation” that was to come upon the earth, he shared concerning the first six seals Jesus removed from the “scroll” in God's right hand. He also wrote about what happened when Jesus, “had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets … And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” Cataclysmic events occurred upon the earth as the first, second, third and fourth angels blew their trumpets, and when the fifth angel sounded his trumpet John saw, “a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” In chapter nine and verse two John saw what happened when this angel “had opened the bottomless pit” where we read:

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.

The verse reads, “And he opened the bottomless pit;” John began with the words, “and he opened” which means “and the angel opened up” “the bottomless” or “the unbounded, abyss of immeasurable depth” “pit” which refers to “a well or hole in the ground such as a cistern”. John watched as the “fifth angel” “opened” up the “unbounded and immeasurable hole or well” in the earth.

The verse goes on to say, “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.” John added the words, “and there arose” which means “there ascended, sprung and roused up” “a smoke” or “smoke as from something burning” “out of the pit” which means “from the origin of the well or hole in the ground such as a cistern”, “as the smoke” or “like the burning smoke” “of a great furnace” which means “pertaining to a massive and large burning earthen ware”; “and the sun” or “and the solar light of the day” “and the air” which means “the atmospheric region” “were darkened” which means “were deprived of light and made obscure” “by reason of” or “out of, from and away from” “the smoke” which means “the smoke as from something burning” “of the pit” or “pertaining to the well or hole in the ground such as a cistern”. John saw how “smoke” like a “burning furnace” ascended from the “bottomless pit” when it was opened, and the “atmosphere” became “obscure and dark” because of the “smoke”.

When we think through John's words in this verse, we see this ominous beginning from opening the “bottomless pit”. The “smoke” that arose from the “pit” was so thick it blocked the “atmosphere” with darkness. God desires to have people avoid all this horror through a relationship with His Son Jesus, and because He has given this warning in advance concerning this “bottomless pit”, everyone who reads these words should take heed and yield their lives to Jesus Christ as “Savior and Lord” today.

Next time John sees how, “there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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