Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #5 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:2:

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.

We have already seen that the smoke coming up out of the pit indicates the wrath of God.  We also saw how “the smoke of a great furnace” is descriptive language that points to God pouring out His judgment.  In Genesis 19, we read of Abraham witnessing the smoke from the fire and brimstone that God poured down from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah.  It says in Genesis 19:27-28:

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before JEHOVAH: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

There is no doubt that the word “furnace” points to the day of God’s wrath, as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is referred to by Jesus as an example of the coming of the Son of man.  We also read in the New Testament, in a couple of places, where the Lord Jesus is expounding on the parable of the wheat and the tares and He is speaking of the tares, in Matthew 13:39-42:

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

This is speaking of Judgment Day which comes at the end of the Great Tribulation.  God first judged the churches for twenty three years, but they were not cast into the fire to be destroyed until the end of that 23-year period because, obviously, up until that point there was still some hope.  They could have come out of the churches and God might have saved them, but those that remained were the tares, so once the period of warning was over and the period of God saving the elect outside of the churches was accomplished, then came Judgment Day.  And then God, as it were, gathered together in bundles every denomination in the world – here are the Catholics bundled; here are the Lutherans bundled; here are the Presbyterians bundled; here are the Episcopalians bundled, and so forth, because they did not hearken to God and they did not take heed to the sound of the trumpet.  They did not “flee to the mountains.”  They remained in the churches, so the process of separating the wheat from the tares within the churches was finished and there were only tares left in the churches; and God speaks of that final end of the tares as being “cast into a furnace of fire,” so the word “furnace” identifies with the Day of Judgment.  

The word “furnace” also identifies with the Day of Judgment a little further down, in Matthew 13:47-50:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It is also significant that as we read of these wicked being cast into the furnace of fire, there is a response of “wailing and gnashing of teeth.”  That is similar to what we read of the door being shut in Luke 13:25: “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door,” and what is the response?  There is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  That brings these two ideas together; once God shut the door to heaven on the day He told the world He would, on May 21, 2011, spiritually, the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” began.  Likewise, the “furnace” of fire was lit, in God’s anger, and the tares were cast in, just as the “bad” fish in the other parable were cast away in Matthew 13; both typify the wicked.

Let us go to one more place, where Jesus is speaking another parable, in Matthew 25:31:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another…

The word “separate” here is the same word that was translated as “sever” back in Matthew 13:49-50, where the good and the bad were severed from one another.

…and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

The process of separating “sheep” from “goats” is greatly under way, as God has already finished that process within the churches, but now He has the nations before Him and He is separating the sheep from the goats.  Remember, God saved a great multitude from every tribe, nation and tongue; and these days of judgment are also days of continuing this process in bringing about this separation; He is gathering His believers and He is gathering the wicked for (continued) burning, and then they will, finally, be destroyed at the end of this prolonged period of Judgment Day. 

Then it says in Matthew 25:41:

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Let us return to our verse in Revelation 9:2.  We see the smoke rises out of the pit “as a smoke of a great furnace.”  The smoke itself points to the wrath of God and the word “furnace” points to the wrath of God and Judgment Day.  Then it goes on to say at the end of Revelation 9:2:

…and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Once again, we are very familiar with the language of the Bible concerning the darkened sun: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days,” Matthew 24:29 declares, “The sun shall be darkened,” and many other verses support that.  God’s plan was to darken the sun immediately after the Great Tribulation.  We can pinpoint the beginning of the Great Tribulation as May 21, 1988 and we can pinpoint the conclusion as May 21, 2011 – twenty three (23) exact years or 8,400 precise days.  Then it ended, and immediately after, the “sun is darkened.”  Revelation 9 is focused upon “those days, after that tribulation,” as Mark 13:24 tells us: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.”  That reveals that it is a “spiritual” fact.  It is not the literal sun that is being darkened, because there could not be “days” after the tribulation if it were the literal sun.  It also reveals that Judgment Day cannot be a single day – it must be “days” (plural), and as we study the Bible, we have found that there is a good probability that the duration of Judgment Day will be 1,600 days.  That would work out to a period of time of four years, four months and sixteen days (and the sixteen days is 4 x 4) and we cannot help but notice all the “fours,” as the number “four” is indicative of a universal judgment – the four points of the compass.  So it is built into that number “1,600” which can also be broken down to 40 x 40, and that has to do with “testing.”  It is “testing” for the true believers that are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment.

Also, very curiously, it could relate to the fact that God will not “surpass” forty (40) stripes, as He speaks of meting out stripes in some places as an expression of Judgment Day; in the Book of Deuteronomy, God has said it is not lawful to “exceed forty stripes.”  So that teaches us that there cannot be a place of eternal damnation where (unsaved) mankind suffers for ever and ever, without end; the Law of God will not permit that.  But, perhaps, in a passing reference to that Law, as God is judging the world at this time, He has devised the number of days so that “forty” is not surpassed: 40 days times 40 days, but another day (added to that) would be surpassing “forty days,” in a sense.

But, here we find in Revelation 9:1, the “sun and the air were darkened,” and, again, we are very familiar with the darkening of the “sun,” and we understand that the Gospel Light (as Jesus is the Light of the world, typified by the sun) is out and, therefore, there is no salvation.  We have discussed this, and discussed this, and it is very obvious that this is what God has in mind, but why does it mention the air?  It says, the “the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”

I have looked at this verse many times and thought about the “air” and looked up that word before, and I have been pretty much “stumped” by it.  All I could really think of is that we breathe the air, and man needs air to live, so this is language indicating that the air would not be breathable and, therefore, life could not continue for any length of time. 

But that is not really what the Bible is saying.  When we look up the word “air” in the Bible, it does not lead us to that idea of “air” that we breathe.”  We do not find any link in that direction.  Then what does it mean? 

As we study the English word “air” in the Bible, we find, for instance, if you look in your Strong’s Concordance, you find the word “air” listed 22 times in the Old Testament; and 21 times it is Strong’s #8064.  Of those 21 times, 18 times that word is translated as “fowl of the air,” and only two times as “bird of the air,” and one time as “eagle of the air.”  But, in every case, it is a flying bird of some sort – a fowl, a bird or an eagle.  And the only other time the word is used in the Old Testament, it is the word “spirit,” as it was used in the Book of Genesis.  But, the word that is translated 21 times as “fowl of the air,” is a word that is also translated as “heaven” or “heavens,” so we do not really find too much help in the Old Testament, concerning this word.

When it comes to the New Testament, we find that there are two Greek words that are translated as “air,” just like there were two Hebrew words translated as “air.”  In the New Testament, the first word that is translated as “air” is Strong’s #3772, and it is used ten times and, in each case, “birds of the air” are in view, so that would relate to the Hebrew word, Strong’s #8064; it is the equivalent New Testament word, and that word is also translated as “heaven,” “heavens” and “sky,” elsewhere in the New Testament.  So that word has to do with where the birds fly or the heaven above that and also with the sky. 

But the word that is translated as “air” in our verse in Revelation 9:1 is Strong’s #109 and it is translated as such seven times.  We are going to look at some of these references to get an idea of how it is being used.  Let us first go to Acts 22:21-24:

And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.

Here, we see that these Jews were exceedingly angry at the Apostle Paul and they were angry because they believed he had brought Gentiles into the temple.  When Paul mentioned Gentiles, that was the last straw and they said, “It is not fit that he should live” and they “threw dust into the air.”  That is the first reference to “air,” and it really does not seem to help us too much, but it is something we should keep in mind as we are trying to learn what this word “air” means (this particular Greek word, which is Strong’s #109).

Now let us to 1^st Corinthians.  It is found a couple of times here, but we are only going to go to one place, in 1^st Corinthians 14:8-9:

For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

This is interesting and helpful.  This is a chapter that is trying to clarify “tongues,” and, remember, the Apostle Paul is saying that he would rather speak words that are understandable, as it says in 1^st Corinthians 14:2-5:

For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

So the contrast is made between someone speaking in a tongue, which was a legitimate gift from God at that time, as God was still bringing divine revelation; at times, it came in the form of a tongue and that meant someone would speak in an unknown language (it was not an earthly language) and, yet, it was from God.  No one understood it unless someone else had been given the gift to interpret that tongue.  But on the other hand, “to prophesy” is set against that, and it simply means to speak what you have learned from the Bible in a clear way.  So these are the two things that are set against one another, and are being compared to one another, and that is why it went on to say in 1^st Corinthians 14:8-9:

For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.

So it is better to “prophesy” so that people can understand you, rather than to speak in an unknown tongue which people could not understand; people could not take warning from the trumpet sound if you spoke in an unknown tongue.  Then God says that speaking words that are not understandable is like “speaking into the air.”  That is an expression, I think, that some people still use today: “He is speaking into the air,” or he is gabbing along and making no sense, or people do not understand him; they are dozing off and “He is speaking into the air.”  It comes right from the Bible and it means to speak in a way that is not understandable.  Basically, when we think about what is being spoken here, it is not a “good thing.”  It is a negative thing.  It is a bad thing to “speak into the air,” rather than to speak in an understandable way.

Let us go to another verse and this verse will be much more helpful to us.  It is in Ephesians, chapter 2, and I think many of us are familiar with these verses.  It says in Ephesians 2:1-3:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Here, in verse 2, we read, again, of a reference to the “air.”  In this case, it is “according to the prince of the power of the air,” and this is an obvious reference to Satan, as it goes on to say, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”  So it has nothing to do with God, as the Lord Jesus is the Prince of Life; if it were His Spirit, it would be working in the children of obedience, not the children of disobedience.  But this is referring to the devil, the enemy of God and the one that is “anti-Christ,” and he works in the unsaved to foster disobedience.  Is that not interesting how these ideas are set one against the other?  God does say the flesh is “contrary to the spirit,” and the one is against the other, so when we look at the spirit that is in the child of God, that spirit moves the child of God in the direction of obedience; they are given an ongoing desire to do the will of God and to obey the commandments of the Bible. 

The spirit that is operating in the rest of mankind (the unsaved people of the world) works in a way that develops and fosters disobedience.  It is, of course, why man is so rebellious against God; it is his nature and that nature is nurtured and stirred up by “the prince of the power of the air,” by Satan himself who is mankind’s spiritual father.  They take after him, but the elect take after the Lord Jesus Christ and they begin to develop obedience. 

That is why it is so extremely important that we do examine ourselves to see how we are doing in relationship to the Word of God, the Bible.  If we have a tendency to go against God’s Word and to be disobedient to God’s command, that spirit does not come from Him.  That is something that we should be frightened and terrified of, if that is true of our life.

Here, we read that Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air.”  This is something else that has always been unclear.  What does it mean that Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air” and what does it mean that the “air is darkened” in the Day of Judgment?  It has been unclear in the past, but I think we are going to be able to understand this a little bit more, as we continue to look at the Book of Revelation and as we look at this word, in particular.  We may find something surprising and interesting, as we understand Revelation 9:2 better, as well as other references to “air,” such as 1^st Thessalonians 4, where it says we will “meet the Lord in the air.”