Mark 5:1-20
2 Samuel 13
Daniel 7
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Thoughts and Commentary on Today's Reading
Often, fellow Christians (when they learn that my husband and I teach about Spiritual Warfare) tell me that maybe Spiritual Warfare is a special ministry that we are involved with, but it isn't something they need to know about. Actually, Spiritual Warfare is critical for every follower of God. No one will make it to the Battle of Armageddon without out it. What does Armageddon have to do with Spiritual Warfare?
The Bible tells us that the
locusts with scorpion’s tails come up out of the smoke from the Bottomless Pit.
Revelation 9:1-3 "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. 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. 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."
What is the Bottomless Pit and
what is the smoke that ascends out of it? First, let’s biblically define the
Bottomless Pit, and then we can more easily identify the smoke from it.
According to Scripture, the Bottomless Pit is a spiritual place in which demons
are confined after being cast out of their human hosts. The Greek words from
which “Bottomless Pit” are translated in Revelation 9:2 are:
· ἄβυσσος - abussos (ab'-us-sos)
– Strong’s #G12 – meaning: “depthless,
“abyss” deep, (bottomless) pit.”
· φρέαρ – phrear (freh'-ar) – Strong’s # G5421 – meaing: “a hole in the ground… figuratively an abyss (as a prison):
- well, pit.”
So, the Bottomless Pit is a
spiritual place which is a depthless abyss or prison. But to discover that this
place is a prison for cast-out demons, we need to look at the Gospel of Luke,
Chapter 8. This chapter recounts the story of how Yahshua delivered two demon-possessed men in the region of the
Gadarenes. But when the demons realized they were about to be cast out, they
begged Yahshua not to send them into
the “deep,” but into the pigs, instead. The word translated as “deep” here is
the from the same Greek word as Revelation 9:2. The demons were begging not to
be sent to the Bottomless Pit!
Luke 8:31-32 "And they (the demons) besought Him (Yahshua) that He would not
command them to go out into the deep [the Bottomless Pit]. And there was there an herd of many swine
feeding on the mountain: and they besought Him that He would suffer them to
enter into them. And He suffered them."
Since the Bottomless Pit is a
supernatural holding place… the smoke from the Pit is released demons.
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The Bible associates the scorpion-tailed locusts with the smoke
ascending out of the Bottomless Pit, clearly connecting this apocalyptic
scourge to the supernatural holding place of demons. Now let’s take a moment to
analyze the smoke which ascends out of the Pit.
Since the Bottomless Pit is a
super-natural holding place in which cast-out demons are imprisoned, there is a
strong implication that the smoke from the Pit is released demons. The Last
Great Battle, sometimes called Armageddon, will spiritually be a time of “all-hands-on-deck,”
for both good and evil.
Those demons which have been cast out and incarcerated,
due to Spiritual Warfare, will be released and come pouring forth from the
Bottomless Pit in order to join the forces of Hell in the Last Battle. But
would they appear as “smoke?”
Melvern Young, in his book Eyewitness Report, recorded numerous
instances in which demons manifested with a smokey, humanoid shape. We too have
witnessed demons taking such a form, in our family’s dealings with Spiritual
Warfare. Thus, when the Bible states that the apocalyptic scorpions and
serpents are part of an army which ascends from the Bottomless Pit, we see that
these “beasts” may be technological weapons of war, but they will be
supernaturally empowered to hurt and destroy.
We like to sing about the "Old Time Religion" and how its "good enough for me". In many ways it is. But in one major way it isn't. The religion of Grandma probably didn't involve much awareness of Spiritual Warfare. And that just isn't sufficient. We need to be growing closer to Yahweh and gaining Warfare strength in Him. Grandma didn't need to prep for Armageddon. But you and I do. Thus, the Book of Mark bears special interest to us, who live in these times.
Yahshua cast out demons. He wasn't afraid of them. They were afraid of Him. And in His Name, we too are being called to make Hell shake - never the other way around. Messiah is our Example in all things. Let's look more closely at His Example in Spiritual Warfare.
