Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #25 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:11:

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Of course, this is referring to the locusts and they are the one that have a king over them and, as we have been going verse by verse through Revelation, chapter 9, we see that the locusts represent the true believers.  They typify God’s elect in the Day of Judgment.

But now this verse tells us they had a “king over them,” and that king is said to be the “angel of the bottomless pit,” and the God gives the king a name: in the Hebrew it is “Abaddon” and in the Greek it is “Apollyon.”

Now one of the first things that we need to keep in mind when coming to the Bible is to be on guard for “traditional meanings” or understandings that have been handed down through the centuries.  The churches, of course, have been operating for almost 2,000 years and they have spent a great deal of time teaching just about every Book of the Bible, including the Book of Revelation.  There are also theologians that have developed commentaries that comment on just about every verse of the Bible. 

When it comes to Revelation 9:11 and when we read of the “angel of the bottomless pit” whose name is “Abaddon” and “Apollyon” we have to be on guard in another area as well, because there have been fictional books written by John Bunyan, one of which was called “Pilgrim’s Progress.”  It is one of the most widely circulated works of fiction that the world has seen and that means that a great many people have read it or heard about it.  One of the main characters in that work of fiction is taken from this verse in Revelation 9:11, Abaddon and Apollyon, and it is said to be “Satan.”  Satan is this “destroyer” and he is the one that comes after Pilgrim.  That is, once again, a book of fiction.  That is not the teaching of the Bible, but theologians have agreed with that understanding, for the most part.  Even today, there are many that read this verse and they think it refers to Satan and, yet, as we have studied this chapter, we have seen the locusts are referring to the true believers and that Judgment Day is a day of God’s judgment upon the wicked, including Satan.  Satan is not some monster that is destroying the wicked in the Day of Judgment; God is not using him that way at all.

So let us look at this verse with an open mind and an open understanding and we will see what the Bible has to say.  First, they (the locusts) had a “king over them.”  Since the locusts represent the true believers, they do have a King and that King is the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus is said to be the King of the Jews – He is the King of all God’s elect.  We read in Revelation 15:3:

And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

The saints are a reference to those made holy by Christ – all that God has saved.  This is significant because we know that in the Day of Judgment, Christ Jesus comes with ten thousands of His saints.   He is the King and His subjects are the people of God.  So it is no problem for us to read that these locusts in Revelation 9 have a king over them.  Of course, we do.  We are servants of the Lord Jesus.

Then it says: “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit.”  Now here is where people begin to go astray in their understanding – as soon as they read of this “bottomless pit,” and one reason is that Satan does have some identification with the “bottomless pit.”  We know that in Revelation 20, he was bound by Christ and cast into the “bottomless pit.”  We also know it says in Revelation 11:7:

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Satan, who is here called the “beast,” was loosed and ascended out of the bottomless pit.   Yes, he was bound in it and upon the action of Christ in loosing him, he ascended out of it, but does that make him the angel of it?  Remember the word “angel” is a word that means “messenger.”  Many times we read in the Bible of the “angel of JEHOVAH” or the “angel of the Lord,” like we read in Matthew 1:20.  That is someone who is representing and serving the Lord.  Of course, the “angel of the Lord” is Christ Himself.  It is another name for God.  Since He is an “angel of the Lord,” He completely identifies and relates to the Lord. 

We read of Jesus in Malachi 3, where it says he is a “messenger,” and that is a translation of the same Hebrew word that is often translated as “angel,” so we could say He is the “angel of the covenant.”  Christ identifies with the covenant of God – the Word of God – so He is said to be an “angel of the covenant.” 

We also find this language “angel of” connected with Satan, in 2 Corinthians 11:13-14:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Here, as Satan is attempting to impersonate Christ, who is light, Satan is said to be “an angel of light,” because he is trying to be like Christ. 

So we see an “angel” completely identifies with what he is said to be an angel “of.”  In our verse, it is the “angel of the bottomless pit.”   The bottomless pit was where Satan was placed for his judgment, but, actually, it is the Lord Jesus Christ that was originally cast down into that pit from the foundation of the world; it was the Lord Jesus Christ who rose victoriously from out of that pit, also before the world began.  It was, therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the one who has come into the pit and gone out of the pit and even possesses the keys to the pit itself: He has the keys to “hell and death.”  Remember at the beginning of this chapter, it said in Revelation 9:1-2:

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 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.

This “star” that fell from heaven is referring to Jesus.  He is the “angel of the bottomless pit,” or the “messenger” of the pit.  He is the one that identifies with this pit, in the sense that He has endured it; He has overcome it; He is the one who placed Satan, bound, in the pit; He is the one who loosed Satan from the pit; and He is the one who possesses the key to open it in the Day of Judgment to bring the effects of “hell” upon the earth and to bring judgment upon mankind.  There is no one that completely identifies and relates to the “bottomless pit” more than Jesus and He is, therefore, the “angel of the bottomless pit.” Let us continue on in Revelation 9:11:

… whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

“Abaddon,” the Greek word here, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word.  It is Strong’s # 3 in the Greek and it is a translation of the Hebrew word, Strong’s #11.  “Abaddon” is probably a good transliteration of the Hebrew word and it is used six times in the Old Testament.  It is a word that relates to “hell” and “death.”  For instance, it says in Psalm 88:10-11:

Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

The word “destruction” is this word “Abaddon.”  Notice it is speaking of “death” and the “grave,” and the grave, of course, is “hell.” 

It also says in Proverbs 15:11:

Hell and are before JEHOVAH: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?

Then it says in Proverbs 27:20:

Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Again, it refers to “hell and destruction,” and remember what we learned when Jesus opened up the bottomless pit on May 21, 2011, and began Judgment Day – the earth took upon itself the characteristics of “hell and death.”  Remember the forth horsemen on the pale horse: “and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.”  They are said to be ruling during this period of time.  It is the time of God’s wrath upon the unsaved and, of course, destruction has everything to do with “death and hell;” that is, the final judgment of God is to be destroyed and to die forever – to never live again and never have conscious existence again. 

Continuing on, it says in Revelation 9:11:

…but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

“Apollyon” is Strong’s #623 and it is from Strong’s #622 and it is a word that is often translated as “destroy,” so it basically means the same thing as “Abaddon.”  It is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word which means destruction. 

Let us look at a few places where the Greek word “apolluon,” Strong’s #623 or “apollumi,” Strong’s #622 (from which #623 is derived) are used.  It says in Matthew 10:28:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Now notice this, because this is important.  We are reading of the angel of the bottomless pit who is the king over the locusts and his name identifies with a particular characteristic, and that name is “Abaddon” or “Apollyon.”  And that name is “Destruction,” and does that name relate to God in Judgment Day?  Of course it does.  Matthew 10:28 says, “Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”   That is not referring to Satan.  Can Satan destroy soul and body?  Who is the destroyer of both soul and body in the Day of Judgment?  It is God only.  Only God is the One that brings that kind of destruction.

Look at Matthew 21:40-41:

When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?  They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

This is an explanation of a parable and the Lord of the vineyard is Christ and notice, again, that He will “destroy those wicked men.” 

Or, we can look at another parable in Matthew 22:6-7:

And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Once again, if we took time to look at the entire parable, we would see that the king is a reference to God.  Who is doing the destroying of the wicked or those who have set themselves against the king?  It is the king who will destroy those murderers.  This is what God does when He comes in judgment, so we should not be surprised.  We should not be shocked that the king over the locusts is Christ; He is the “angel of the bottomless pit” whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon (or destruction) or in the Greek tongue is Apollyon (to destroy).  After all, what is the context or setting for this statement?  It is final judgment of the mankind.  Is it a time for God to emphasize His love, His mercy or His grace?  No – it is a time when He is destroying.  It is a time when He is causing the wicked to perish and to be no more.  So, of course, the name of God (as God gives Himself many names in the Bible) in this case is a name that identifies with the “task at hand” and it completely relates to God’s purpose toward the wicked in the Day of Judgment, which is to destroy them.

Let us just look at one last thing before we end our study.  Keep in mind, again, that this is said to be the “angel of the bottomless pit.”  Let us look at a couple of references to the “angel of the Lord.”  One is in 1 Chronicles 21:14-15:

So JEHVOAH sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, JEHOVAH beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of JEHOVAH stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

The “angel of JEHOVAH” is another name for God, another name for Christ.   In this instance, the angel is doing the work of a destroyer.  He killed 70,000 Israelites due to their unfaithfulness.  Of course, we can see how this relates to Revelation 9, as the angel of the bottomless pit whose name is “destruction” or the “destroyer.”  We can see what God is doing in Revelation 9 in the Day of Judgment is not something foreign to Him – something He has not done before. 

Look at Isaiah 37:36:

Then the angel of JEHOVAH went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

The “angel of JEHOVAH” destroyed the enemy army of 185,000 men in one night. 

Let us look at one last place in Genesis 19, where we read of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Do you remember who it was that went to Sodom to destroy it?  It was two angels.  It says in Genesis 19:1:

And there came two angels to Sodom at even…

We know from reading the previous chapter, from Abraham’s reaction to the three angels that visited him that those three “angels” or “messengers” were a figure or representation of Eternal God Himself. Then two of the angels go to Sodom and then we read in Genesis 19:12-13:

And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of JEHOVAH; and JEHOVAH hath sent us to destroy it.

The “angels of JEHOVAH,” or God Himself, were sent by God to destroy Sodom.  Sodom can be a picture of the world at the time of the end.  When God destroyed the world of Noah’s day with a flood or when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, He gave historical examples of what He would do in the Day of Judgment.  That is exactly what He is doing now; God is the “angel of the bottomless pit” and He has taken to Himself the names of Abaddon and Apollyon: God is the Destroyer.