The command to John in Revelation 1, verse nineteen gives the key to the book of Revelation. Understanding revelation is dependent upon using the key.
Understanding Revelation Commentary 12
Revelation 9:1 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.
The first four trumpets are pretty much self explanatory but now comes something different. The fourth trumpet darkened one third of the day and one third of the night. Now the fifth trumpet which is the first woe. Smoke from the bottomless pit with more darkness.
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.
The Locusts
3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree. But only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Shapes of the locusts
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. On their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Five months is about the life span of a locust.
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.
This is a demonic plague from the bottomless pit. The locusts have a king. Their king is Abaddon which means destroyer. The angel of the bottomless pit who is under the control of the Lord. God is in control of all of these things!
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
The Second Woe
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
Two hundred thousand thousand can be understood as two hundred million.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. The heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
Repent and Trust in Jesus
There’s no reason to imagine that these woes are anything more or less than what the text says they are. They could be this. They could be that. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we repent and trust in Jesus so that we can escape all these things. Rev. 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands; that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.