Abaddon or Apollyon the Destroyer

Good angel or bad angel?

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 fifth angel is the fifth angel of the seven that stood before the throne of God holding the trumpets from chapter eight. John then saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. This star was an angel just as the star in the fourth seal was an angel. This angel has been given the key to the bottomless pit. Christ is the possessor of this key. He holds the keys to death; Hell and the grave and it would be ridiculous to believe that he doesn't possess this key as well. He has given this key to this angel and he is in charge of the bottomless pit just as Joseph was keeper of the prison gate in Egypt.

Most of the time when the Bible speaks of something falling we picture it to mean falling from grace or a higher estate with God, such as backsliding or other such things. In this scripture this angel falling does not mean that he is a fallen angel. It is just that John saw him fall from heaven. This angel has come down from heaven the same as the angel in the third trumpet that was called wormwood to bring God's punishment upon men for their evil behavior.

We see this angel again when he chains Satan and casts him into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20: 1). He is called the destroyer because he is the destroyer of evil as a servant of God. He is one of God's angels of destruction.

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.

This describes the one who has the authority to release or seal up these locusts, to open or shut the door to the bottomless pit. He is called king over them, not because he leads them but because he has complete authority over them.

Abaddon means perdition or destruction and the name Apollyon means destroyer and is defined as being the angel of the bottomless pit. The one thing to bear in mind is that it is God that is responsible for this plague of darkness and tormenting locusts. This is not the work of Satan but of the angel that God had sent to bring this destruction. Jesus himself taught that Satan was not divided against Satan. This he taught so that we would realize that the Devil is smart enough not to divide his own house. God is not guilty of using the Devil as a hit man to battle against the forces of evil. He has His own faithful angels who will do the job. This wrath is poured out on the nations that worship the Antichrist. Satan lives in side of the Antichrist and is being worshipped by these people that have suffered this plague.

It is easier to understand when we go back to Genesis the 6^th chapter to read that God himself is the destroyer of evil if we become evil and are weighed in his balances.

Genesis 6:7: And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

God destroyed the earth with a flood; the Devil didn't do this God did. We do not see any angels during this flood but it is probable that they played a certain role in this destruction. But, we will see in Genesis how that angels do play a role in the destruction of wickedness.

After Abraham had tried to convince the angels of the Lord not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah two of the angels proceeded to go to the cities to see for their selves. After having seen the wickedness of these cities they went to Lot and his family to try and rescue them for Abraham's sake.

Genesis 19: 1: And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
12: 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:
13: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14: And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

The angels were prepared to save all of Lot's family for Abraham's sake but not all would listen to him. But, notice in verse 13 the angels said that they were going to destroy the cities. The Devil did not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels of the Lord did. Satan did play a role by convincing the people of Sodom and Gomorrah to become so sinful that God could not allow it to continue. He did bring about its destruction in this sense but he was not the destroying angel that poured out fire and brimstone to bring about the end of these people's lives.

During the days of Moses when he was helping to deliver Israel from slavery God sent an angel called the destroyer to destroy the first born of the Egyptians.

Exodus 12:23: For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

This angel could have possibly been Abaddon himself because God called him the destroyer. The destroyer was one of God's angels to execute wrath on the Egyptians because of their stubborn resistance against the will of God.

Then we see a destroying angel in the story of David.

1 ^st Chronicles 1: And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
1^stChron:21:12: Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
13: And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.
14: So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
15: And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD 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 the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.(2Sam:24:16:)

1^stChron:21:16: And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
1^stChron:21:27: And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
1^stChron:21:30: But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

In this story of David the angel of the Lord killed seventy thousand men with a pestilence. He was a vessel to pour out wrath upon those who sinned against God. Although David's sin of numbering the people opened the door for this to happen, God was already angry with Israel because of the sins they were committing against him and themselves.

Then we read of another event during the rule of Hezekiah the king of Judah.

2^ndKings 19:35: And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

God defended Hezekiah and Judah from their enemies by sending the angel of the Lord to destroy over a hundred thousand men who were prepared to do battle with them.

Revelation 20:
1: And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in hishand.
2: And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3: And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

By these things it seems obvious to me that Satan is a fallen angel who has become the destroyer of good but God has other angels such as Abaddon who are destroyers of wickedness and evil. May God cause all of His people to see and understand all of the mysteries that are hidden from our view and bring the body of Christ together in these last days.

God Bless You
Brother Tommie