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Abaddon; king of the Abyss The word Abaddon only occurs once in the New Testament (Rv. 9:11) and 5 times in the Old Testament (3 times in Job: 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; and Ps. 88:11; Prov. 15:11) Destruction is liken to the grave; and has a number of parallels. In Job 26:6 and Proverbs 26:6 its parallel is to Sheol; Job 28:22 its parallel is to Death. Job 31:12 says sin is a fire that burns to destruction. In the Old Testament Abaddon carries the meaning of a place of utter ruin, death, desolation, or destruction. The ruler over them, called a king, who is the angel of the bottomless pit –the abyss (Rv. 9:11), whose name is given in both Hebrew and Greek. The Hebrew name is Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן), and in Greek he is called Apollyon (Greek: Ἀπολλύων), this name appears in the Bible as both a place of destruction and as the name of an angel. We can assume this is a fallen angel because of his name. It's difficult to determine why he is named this, either because he is named after the place he is king over or the place is named brcause of his nature.
Abaddon
Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. APOLLYON. a-pol'-i-on
(Apolluon; 'abhaddon,
Apolluon -- "a destroyer," Apollyon, the angel of the
abyss
(Bibles: KJV, WEY, ASV, BBE, DBY, WBS, YLT, NAS, RSV, NIV) In the book of Revelation God’s angels sound seven trumpets. Each trumpet signals the coming of a new judgment on the rebellious people on earth. In chapter 9 of the Book of Revelation, the fifth trumpet is blown, a horde of demonic type locusts is seen coming out of the abyss who are commissioned to torment the inhabitants of earth who take the mark of the Beast. They do not to kill them but torture them. Rv. 9:1-2 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 .” A horde of demonic locusts come out and are given the power to torture any person who does not have God’s seal on their forehead (verse 4) for 5 months. The pain they inflict will be so intense that recipients of it hope to die, but can’t (v. 6). Rev.9:1-12. Abaddon’s identity is debated as to whether he is Satan himself, or one the main angels of rebellion in Satan's kingdom. We know this is not Satan because he is not in hell yet and has yet to be sentenced there. John describes Abaddon/Apollyon as having the same nature of Satan, one of destruction. The New Testament mentions a plurality of evil spirits having Satan as their head, leader (Mt. 8:28; 9:34; 12:26; Luke 11:18-19), they are fallen, they have a similar nature. Scripture describes Abaddon as a destroying demon (fallen angel) and most probably in the category of the “rulers,” “authorities,” and “powers” that Paul describes in Eph. 6:12. Since he is called king of the abyss, the only angels that are there are those who formerly rebelled. It is God who sends an angel to open their incarceration to let them loose (Rv.9) Jude 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment” Abaddon may very well be an angel that was in the rebellion of Genesis 6 that was incarcerated in the abyss of whom Jude and Peter are referring as the “ king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon ” (Rv. 9:11). |
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