The First Woe

The Pit Is Opened.

Some preliminary notes about the eagle in the OT.

Deut.28:49 “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,”

Jer.4:13 “Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles— woe to us, for we are ruined!”

Lam.4:19 “Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.”

Hos.8:1 “Set the trumpet to your lips! One like a vulture is over the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.”

Hab.1:8 “Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour.”

The eagle is used in OT passages to show swift and overwhelming judgment.

While it’s tempting to focus in on the appearance of an eagle, really we should note what he announces — a 3-fold woe. Woe is a horror, an interjection of grief or a denunciation. Further, the fact that it is repeated three times certainly serves as a contrast to other 3-fold cries we’ve seen already in Revelation. Just as glorious and utterly other God is in His holiness, so is the terror invoked by His judgment.

Further, the cry is made against those who dwell on earth, people who throughout Revelation refer to those aligned with the enemy, those who are not sealed for God. This point will come up again when we get to vs.4.

The trumpet sounds and a star falls from heave to earth. Some argue this is a demon, a fallen angel, or even Satan himself, but it’s odd he’d be given the key to his own prison. Often, star does refer to an angel, so this may best be understood as an angel sent to do God’s will. This may be the same angel with the same key who locks up Satan in the abyss (Rev.20v1). The fact that the angel receives the key (presumably) from God shows that all that follows and flows from the unlocking of the pit happens at God’s will.

The shaft is the image of a narrow vertical tunnel, and the bottomless pit would stretch down to an unfathomable depth under the earth, opposite of heaven. In other words, what springs forth is the opposite of God and all that surrounds Him. When Revelation uses this term, it refers to a place of torment or imprisonment.

Smoke can be associated with divine wrath and the DOTL, particularly in Joel 2:30 (““And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.”) Further, the image of smoke, which would come from a fire, and the great furnace conjures up imagery from Gehenna, the Grk. word for Hell used in the gospels.

Again, we see the darkened skies. That took place in the trumpet judgment, but it also keeps Joel 2:30 in mind, the fact that God will do wonders in the sky.

The Torture Is Horrendous.

The image of what comes forth is meant to be terrifying. After all, remember Heb.10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” You have locusts spring forth from the demonic underworld, and they have the power to sting like scorpions. But then, there’s their appearance…they wear faux golden crowns and have teeth like lions but faces like men but hair like women but they appear like horses. They have breastplates made of iron but they can still fly with their wings. Seriously, it sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Let’s get in to it a bit…see if we can make a little sense.

Joel 2 is particularly instructive with these verses. We’ve seen Joel imagery already, and it continues throughout. Joel 2:1 begins with an interesting note — a command to blow the trumpet. And, we find ourselves in the middle of what judgments? the trumpet judgments. There is the picture of a coming attack. And, what does God use as a picture of judgment in Joel? Locusts. What arises from the pit? Locusts. But, these are much more terrifying, coming straight from the pit of Hell. According to Joel1:2-2:11, the great locust plague is a harbinger of the DOTL. Here, we have a culmination oof locust plagues in the Bible where “demons in the guise of locusts” come, following their king who we will meet, Abaddon or Apollyon.

It seems there is a parallel between these locusts and the beast that rise from the bottomless pit later in the book. However, the locusts are only given permission to harm those without the seal of God, where the beast will wage war on all.

It is perhaps a comforting note to know that these demon locusts can only do what is allowed by God, and theologically we should remind ourselves that God will use the wicked to bring judgment. This isn’t to say God is the source of evil, only that He uses the expression and unleashing of their evil to fulfill His purpose.

Scorpions were symbolic of God’s punishment in 1 Kings 12:11-14 (“And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’ ” So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.””) and Jesus used them as a symbol of demonic forces in Lk.10:19 (“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”)

The Locust uses the power of the scorpion too inflict pain, intimidating, demoralizing, and terrorizing those who dwell on the earth. They torment the earth-dwellers, meaning they subject them to unbearable pain. Notice that it only lasts five months, and there is debate as to whether that’s a literal five months or symbolic…regardless, a significant but shortened amount of time, and the suffering is so bad they…long to die (see Job 3:21 “who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,” and Jer.8:3 “Death shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family in all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.”).

Imagine the unthinkable horror of:

Suffering so severely you long to die, but

Are unable to die, only remaining alive to suffer, and

Still refusing to repent (vv.20-21).

In general, man is driven by self-preservation, but here, rather than turning to the one thing that could bring relief, they still refuse to repent.

The Battle Is Spiritual.

These Locusts look like horses prepared for battle. They wear crowns that are like gold, not real gold. They’re pretenders and their rule is false and their victory a facade. The have human faces, but their hair looks like that of a woman. Some scholar believe this points to the seductive nature of the enemy and his minions, parading as angels of light.

They have lions’ teeth. They seek to catch and kill and tear apart and devour their prey (see Joel 1:6 “For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.”). If we take a conservative date of 586 for Joel, then the nation he refers to is Babylon who conquers and ransacks Israel. Babylon is the DOTL for unrepentant Israel, even though Babylon receives its own DOTL for her wickedness. And again, we see these themes at play!

They wear breastplates…like iron. The typically Roman soldier at the time wore a breastplate of leather and bronze, so even this gives the demonic locust horde an invincible appearance. The sound of their wings beating is like many chariots…rushing into battle. This picks up on imagery from Joel 2:4-5 (“Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.”) and Jer.51:27 (““Set up a standard on the earth; blow the trumpet among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her; summon against her the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz; appoint a marshal against her; bring up horses like bristling locusts.”) which speak of Babylon being judged after the trumpet blast.

Finally, their terrifying appearance is only surpassed by their torturous actions as they have tails and stings like scorpions. The word for sting is kentra, and it’s the name given to the sting of a scourge (remember Christ’s suffering at the end of the cat of nine tails).

Finally, they do the demonic bidding of their king, Abaddon or Apollyon. He’s the king over them…the angel of the bottomless pit. His name means death and destruction, and that is his domain for that is what he personifies.

We see that these demonic forces are organized and terrifying and powerful and filled murderous contempt for mankind. Let us not quickly forget that there is a real enemy that exists in this world, and one of his greatest tactics is to keep us all-too-convinced that he’s not really there.

The Sealed Are Protected.

As we wrap up, I want to circle back to two ideas.

First, the demonic locusts are only allowed to harm their own, but as soon as God allows it, they spring forth to torture and kill their own followers. These are the people who have forsaken allegiance to the true king of the universe in order to cast their lot with creation and the lord over it, and the enemy turns like a rabid and ravenous dog on his own. It’s as if Jesus is saying to us, that part about the enemy only coming to kill, steal, and destroy…I meant that.

But second, those who belong to God need not fear. The sealed are protected, and the enemy has no sway over them. Similar to how Israel was protected during the times of the plagues, so too are believers protected from this terrifying warfare waged by the enemy. And in this, we can see once again how praise can spring forth from judgment.

We remember, Christ is mine and I am His, what else is there to fear?