Friday__Satan and the Pit

This is Truth Matters! Daily devotion with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project, whose mission is to empower men and women in the Christian faith to teach biblical truth in the culture and the marketplace of ideas, using the Bible as a sacred trust of truth in sharing the message of Jesus. Learn more about the ministry of The Truth Project at www.projecttruthmatters.com.

Hi, I'm Dr. Cheryl Davis, and thank you for listening to Truth Matters. We continue to march through the book of Revelation, studying about the tribulation, and we're in the fifth trumpet and beginning in chapter nine today. But just by way of review, we have opened all seven seals of the title deed to the earth, which secured the earth given to Jesus Christ by God the Father. And last time we were together, in chapter eight, we hear the angel or the eagle announce, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.

Let's begin with the first 12 verses of chapter nine. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth, and to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.

They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days, men will seek death and will not find it.

They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lion's teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past.

Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Let's go back to verse one. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. Verse one I like to call the unnamed personality.

This star has a personality, and it is referred to as he and him. The unnamed personality who falls to the earth in the fifth trumpet judgment is undoubtedly Satan himself. The more illustrative reading of the perfect tense of the Greek verb in verse one would be, I saw a star which had already fallen to the earth. And we find the conditions around when Satan fell from heaven in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 14, verses 12 and 15. How you are fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations, yet you shall be brought down to Sheol to the lowest depths of the pit. Also, I'd like to read Luke chapter 10, verse 18. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. So we know the history that Satan was a created being and had the sin of pride in his heart that calls him to fall from heaven. So this star is Satan who fell from heaven. In verse two, and he opened the bottomless pit and smoke arose out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace.

So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. You've been listening to Truth Matters with Dr. Cheryl Davis. Truth Matters is a ministry of The Truth Project, a North Carolina-based ministry dedicated to teaching biblical truth and sound theology to those inside and outside of the church. If you'd like to listen to these messages on demand, go to projecttruthmatters.com and click on the podcast link. Dr. Davis is also available to speak to your ministry group or church function. She can be reached by email at cheryldavisatprojecttruthmatters.com. Or if you'd like to send a letter, the address is Project Truth Matters, Post Office Box 159, St. Paul's, North Carolina 28384. You can hear Truth Matters weekdays on this radio station at 8 20 a.m. and 5 20 p.m. with a full length teaching program on Saturday afternoon at 12 30. Until next time, let's all work together to teach a biblical truth to assist, equip, edify, and encourage one another and bring the gospel to the world because truth matters.