“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” (Revelation 9:11).
Abaddon and Apollyon are words that convey a similar meaning: destruction, or destroyer. This has led some to speculate that a single demonic entity governs the Abyss and directs these locust beings to inflict pain and suffering upon their human victims.
“One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’
So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them” (Revelation 9:12-16).
The Euphrates River is a lengthy waterway that traverses a significant portion of the Middle East. This body of water flows from the mountains of Turkey through the nations of Syria and Iraq and later joins the Tigris River before it reaches the Persian Gulf on the Iranian border. The Euphrates River once formed the eastern boundary of the ancient Roman Empire for several centuries, as well as the land God promised to Abraham’s descendants, the Jewish people (see Genesis 15:18).
Other ancient civilizations that controlled portions of the Euphrates river valley included the Hittites (the modern day inhabitants of Turkey), the Assyrians (modern day Syria), the Babylonians (modern day Iraq), and the Persians (modern day Iran). These people groups brought considerable adversity upon the nation of Israel during the Old Testament period. In addition, the Biblical book of Daniel chronicles the account of an angelic being who had been intercepted by a spiritual adversary who was identified as “the Prince of Persia” (see Daniel chapter ten, verses thirteen and twenty).
Therefore, it should not surprise us to learn that four demonic beings have been incarcerated within this area. And even though the locusts that were released from the Abyss were truly horrific, they only possessed the capability to inflict suffering and torment upon their victims. In contrast, the angelic beings seen here in Revelation 9:12-16 are executioners who hold the power to act upon their murderous intent.
Image Attribution : Alen Ištoković, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
