ABYSS: Rev 9:1-2. The Abusso, the bottomless pit, the place where especially evil demons or evil angels are kept. May be the same place as Tartaros, 2 Pet 2:4, Jude 6. Jesus has the keys to the Hades and the Abyss (Rev 1:18, Lk 8:31), indicating that he controls who goes there and who doesn’t as well as what happens to them while they are there. He permits Satan to release the evil angels and possibly Nephilim being held there upon the earth at the beginning of the fifth judgment, right at the midpoint of the tribulation(Rev 9:1). The antichrist is one of the evil angels who comes up to earth from the Abyss, Rev 11:7, 17:8. The false prophet also likely comes up from the Abyss since he is likely an evil spirit who spawns other evil spirits. Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet are presented as an evil trinity who each spawn evil angels in Rev 16:13-14. They may inhabit the bodies or humans on earth or they may in some way be given bodies while they are on earth during the tribulation period. This is very difficult to distinguish. This is all a part of God’s wrath upon the earth to accomplish his plan involving the Jewish people.

ABYSS, SMOKE FROM THE: Rev 9:2. The smoke rising from the alter in the tabernacle in the Old Testament was said to carry the prayers or words of the saints up to God. This smoke must have been the Holy Spirit because we know he is the one who takes our prayers to the Father, through Jesus. The smoke from the Abyss thus may be seen as carrying the words or deeds of those being held there up to the earth from the depths of the Abyss. I suspect the smoke is symbolic of the Nephilim and evil spirits that come up out of the Abyss in the fifth trumpet judgment. There will be so many of them that they will literally darken the sky. Also see “locusts.”

ALL, WHOLE: The following understanding of the way that the word “all” is used in the Bible needs to be kept in mind as the judgments of Revelation are interpreted. We will give a few examples. ... "the whole world has gone after him." Did all the world go after Christ? …"then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan." Was all Judea, or all Jerusalem, baptized in Jordan? "Ye are of God, little children" and “the whole world lieth in the wicked one". Does the whole world there mean everybody? The words "world" and "all" are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture, and it is very rarely that "all" means all persons, taken individually. The words are generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all sorts -- some Jews, some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has not restricted His redemption to either Jew or Gentile.

Taken from C.H. Spurgeon from a sermon on Particular Redemption (as presented in www.olivetree.com).

ANGELS, EVIL AND THE NEPHILIM: Rev 9:1-11. The Nephilim were an apparent intrusion of wicked angels into the sphere of humans in an attempt to produce a race of wicked giants (Gen 6:4-6). They seemed to be part human and part angel. The Nephilim were huge (Deut 1:28, 2:10). The word Nephilim originally meant fallen ones, mighty ones, earth-born, and to be cast down. The Nephilim were super-human, gigantic, violent, and very sinful. The Nephilim apparently had already arrived on earth during the time of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, since Jude 14-15 says that Enoch was talking about them and their final fate. The Nephilim were apparently the original vehicle which Satan was going to use to try to thwart God’s plan for mankind, since God’s plan was not good for Satan and his angels. Satan apparently has already tried two or three times to use the Nephilim in this way and may have at least one more attempt planned. This future plan may be referred to in the fifth trumpet judgment of Rev 9. God originally rid the planet of the Nephilim in various ways, including through the flood. They are apparently being held in the lower portions of Hades, in a place called Tartaros and the Abyss, along with the evil angels who were responsible for them (2 Pet 2:4-6 and Jude 6). They seem to be released upon the earth as part of the fifth trumpet judgment, or first woe judgment, and are responsible for much of the judgment on the earth during the first five months of the fifth judgment. These evil angels are given five months to do their work and are not allowed to harm believers during this time. Their first assignment may be to force the people of earth to take the mark of the beast. They must visit everyone on earth. If someone is a believer in Jesus they are herded into concentration camps without harming them. If someone is an unbeliever in Jesus they are asked to accept the antichrist as their God and to pledge allegiance to him. If they refuse they are tortured by the evil angels until they relent and accept the antichrist as their God. Thus all believers on earth are herded into one or more concentration camps, probably in Israel. This makes it possible for the antichrist to then kill them all at one time and have it broadcast all over the world. Rev 11:8-9 says that people all over the world see them lying dead in Israel.

After these evil angels complete this work in five months they are lead by Satan to the desert to attack the Jews who are in hiding. God supernaturally causes them to be swallowed back up into the Abyss, Rev 12:16, because this is not in God’s plan. The antichrist may be a Nephilim since Rev 17:8 & 11:7 say that the beast came out of the Abyss. Rev 17:8 further describes him as one who once was, now is not, and will yet be. That certainly could apply to a Nephilim.

ANGEL, A MIGHTY ANGEL OF GOD: Rev 10:1, 5:2, 8:3. In Rev 10:1 John sees a mighty angel coming down from heaven with several messages from God. These messages all relate to Jesus Christ and the details of his coming to earth. There is a mighty angel that we have seen in the past whom God has sent with messages about the coming of Jesus. That angel is Gabriel. He was sent to Daniel in Dan 8:15-26 & 9:20-27 with prophecies about the future Second Coming of Jesus. Just as the angel in Rev 10:4 told John to seal up the words that had been given to him, so too did the angel Gabriel tell Daniel to seal up the words that had been given to him. That same angel, Gabriel, was sent to Zechariah and Mary with messages pertaining to the first and second coming of Jesus in Luke 1:11-33. The similarities lead me to believe that this great angel in Rev 10 is Gabriel. We have seen a similarly described angel in Rev 5:2 and 8:3 who makes special pronouncements and does special things for God in relation to the coming of Jesus. Again, I suspect that this angel is Gabriel. This sounds so much like Jesus himself that it is easy to assume that it is him. However, in Rev 1:1 we are told that Revelation is “The revelation of Jesus Christ,” and that “he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.” So we see that this is Jesus’ special angel.

ANGELS, THE FOUR ANGELS: Rev 7:1-3, 9:1-6, 16:12. In Rev 7:1 we see four winds being held back by four angels. In Dan 7:1-3 we see four winds churning up the sea, representing the mass of humanity all over the world. These four winds represent powerful forces that affect all of humanity on the earth. Daniel sees these powerful forces causing four great beasts or four great empires to arise out of the mass of humanity on the earth. The four winds in Rev 7:1-3 are four powerful forces on earth that are going to churn up the people on earth resulting in great beasts or empires once again arising out of the mass of humanity on earth. This time two great empires or beasts are going to arise, led by the antichrist and the false prophet. The four restraining angels mentioned in Rev 7:1-3 may be the restrainer mentioned in 2 Thess 2:5-10, who holds back the antichrist from doing his work until God’s proper time. Rev 9:1-6 describes a restrainer who prevents the Nephilim and evil angels who are apparently released from The Abyss and Tartaros from harming those who have been sealed by God. This happens just at the beginning of the fifth trumpet judgment, Rev 9:1, which appears to be right after the mid-point of the tribulation period. In Rev 9:13-14, 16:12 we see four different angels being un-throttled and allowed to kill one third of mankind. They had apparently been waiting for this very hour at the Euphrates River for thousands of years. They are released to do their work at the end of the sixth judgment just before the Second Coming. See Wind, Four Winds for additional discussion on the four angels.

ANTICHRIST: This term means “in place of Christ,” and refers to a Satanic counterfeit of Christ. See “beast out of the sea” and “first beast” for more discussion on the antichrist.

APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE: A term used to describe literature about the end times. It uses symbolic imagery to describe God’s ultimate triumph over evil. The book of Revelation falls into this category.

ARMAGEDDON: Rev 16:16. A symbol of the ultimate battle between God and the forces of evil. Some believe that it may take place in the plane or valley in Israel where the city of Megiddo was located. Megiddo was located a few miles south of Nazareth.

ASSYRIA: Originally the area of land just north of Babylon. The Assyrian Empire later included Babylon, as Assyria and Babylon battled back and forth over the centuries between 500-2300 BC. Israel had several conflicts with the Assyrians. Israel was finally conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC and 27,000 Israelites were exiled to various parts of the Assyrian Empire and never returned. The Assyrians were conquered by Babylon in 626 BC. Their chief city was Ninevah (see Jonah). They worshipped objects of nature including the sun, moon, stars, created objects (idols), etc., just as did the Babylonians. Their chief god was Asshur.