Revelation 8:1-9:21(Where Prayer Ends Up, Jeff Kliewer)

Good morning. My name is Michael Stocklin. I'm one of the elders here at Cornerstone Church, and I lead worship. We want to welcome you to our Sunday morning service virtually. And I want to be sure that if you're visiting with us.

You know that we have an online contact form that you can fill out that allows us to communicate to you. I thank you for joining us. You can go to that website and fill out the form. We won't do anything with your information, but just send you a thank-you card.

We really appreciate when you do that. The other thing I wanted to let you know is we are sending emails Pastor Jeff, the church office, the elders, about just different things that are happening. It could be a prayer request or something like that.

Just keep an eye out for emails. We may send a little bit more than we normally do when we gather. But this is a way we can communicate the announcements and prayer requests and things that are happening within the church body.

So thank you for joining us this morning, and let's look our eyes to worship.

Gather together to lift up your name To call on our Savior to fall on your grace. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Spirit. Gather together to lift up your name To call on our Savior to fall on your grace.

Hear the joyful sound of our offering As your saints bow down, as your people sing We will rise with you. Our God save Our God save.

His holy name.

Of our offering As your saints bow down As your people sing.

Good morning and welcome again to Cornerstone Church to our virtual worship service. It's a blessing to have you here with us. You're not in our seats, but I know that you're here with us because we're all in the presence of God.

Actually Jeff and I are here together because he's doing the camera. We're our social distance apart. Wherever two or three are gathered together, there am I in your midst. We know that God is here. Right now and he is also here as we come together on our Sunday morning.

So we're glad to have you we welcome you here with us. Psalm 21 is one of David's psalms, and it's actually a psalm celebrating the sovereignty of God. It's a great psalm. Now coming out of this quarantine I imagine many of you are like Sandy and I we're starting to consider.

What's it going to look like when we come out of quarantine? We started to list some things that we're excited about. We're excited about seeing our children and our grandchildren in person to be able to hold them and play with them.

We're experiencing them in zoom, but it's just not a substitute for actually being being with them. We're looking forward to seeing our church family in person and to be able To be in direct fellowship with you our church family and the rest of our friends to be able to be with them.

Sandy and I are looking forward to going out to breakfast. We love to do that. We are plans we have plans for a staycation. With our children and our grandchildren coming to our house for a week this summer.

With lots of activities and lots of things to do. I imagine you have a similar list and these are things that we're looking forward to that can bring us joy but here's the thing as Much as these are awesome and it's great to look forward them and it's going to be great to experiencing them.

We have God. And because of that we get to experience a joy and unlimited blessings. Even though we're in quarantine and at all times and here's the thing about those joys they satisfy Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in the passage.

We know is the Beatitudes. Matthew 5 verse 6 blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied. The things that we look forward to doing are going to be fun. But the things that we can do that we get to do in experiencing our Lord that is pure satisfaction.

Reading in Psalm 21 getting to verse 6 I read these words for thou dost make him most blessed forever. Thou dost make him joyful with gladness in thy presence. You know, we just celebrated Resurrection Sunday a most blessed and amazing day we as believers.

However, we get to celebrate every day all the time and we get to experience his blessings his joy. From Psalm 21 verse 6, there's two things I want to observe and I want to pay bring up. One is that the joy that we get to experience through Jesus through God is ever lasting it doesn't end just because of something can be brought to completion our joy is Everlasting and the second one is that it is pure joy.

It is his joy. That there's nothing artificial about it our presence with God. It brings pure joy. The end of the psalm closes with this phrase and it's amazing be thou exalted. Oh Lord. So we're in quarantine.

But we're with God. Pastor Jeff put down a list of things that he recommends that you make daily habits. Things like time and prayer things like time and the word. Do these things they will bring the most amazing joy you could ever experience.

Amen to that. Coming to our announcements. There's a few things I'd like to bring up the first one very important Eleanor Webster as most of you should know already. Serving as a frontline nurse in the hospital taking care of people who have come down with the kovat.

God has seen that well, she has it too. And so now she is at home she's recovering and She desires your prayers. Please bring in prayer for Eleanor that she would come Cleanly out of this thing quickly and also for Bill that he would be protected from it as well.

The second is and I announced it last week. It was Resurrection Sunday. We didn't get to do our baptism and I want to encourage you again that if you're considering baptism. Contact myself contact pastor Jeff contact one of the elders.

We would love to talk to you and get you prepared and get you in line for baptism when we come out of quarantine. And the date will be set. We are what a great way to celebrate coming out of quarantine and coming back together in fellowship.

But with a baptism, it will be an amazing time. So if you're considering it, please contact myself pastor Jeff one of the elders. Which brings me to our need for you to be in prayer for your board this weekend.

We're going to be having our retreat. We're gonna have to do it by zoom, but we have a lot of important topics to talk about. We're here to serve you and we are here to be ministers for the kingdom of God.

Then we need your prayer. We need prayer for wisdom so that the things we talk about will be honoring to God and will be the right decisions to be made. A Week from tomorrow will be our annual meeting.

It's been scheduled. Well, we're on quarantine, so here's the plan there's three steps to it first later this week. You are going to get from pastor Jeff an email with all of the annual reports from all the ministry leads.

So that you can look at them. You can read them. It will include pastor Jeff's it will include youth. It will include children men's women's the Treasury the financial report all of it will be there. You'll have a chance to look at it then on Monday.

We will put out a zoom meeting notice. And we will do the meeting with each of the ministry leads giving their report by zoom so you can hear from them. Interact with them if you desire ask questions if you desire.

Now there will be at least one item that needs a vote that will be acceptance of the annual treasurer's report. So we're going to do that similar to what we did with the election meeting this week you will receive in the mail a ballot.

The members will receive a Ballot to accept or not accept the treasurer's report and as we did with the election meeting. We ask you to fill that out after the meeting. Mail it back in no later than Friday so that we can accumulate the results and we will have met our needs for an annual meeting.

One of the things that's going to be coming out of our retreat and specifically we ask your prayer for this. Is how do we as a church come out of the quarantine? It's it's not going to be dr Fauci said a few days ago coming out of quarantine is not going to be turning a switch from off to on.

We have to understand how to do this and how to do this in the right way. So pray that we have wisdom on how to come out of the quarantine once we're allowed to by the government. So now let me turn to prayer father Lord.

We come before you as your children. We come before you. Just amazed in the relationship that we can have with you we come before you. Celebrating your sovereign power. We come before you wanting to proclaim as David did be thou exalted.

Oh Lord. We come before you humbly. But we come before you with excitement because we know as we are here. We are empowered by your Holy Spirit and we can grow closer closer to you. Now dear Lord, we lift up Eleanor Webster.

We pray that you would help her recover quickly and completely from this coronavirus protect bill also During this time and all who are suffering from either the coronavirus or other maladies that are impacting them during this time.

A stressful time be with them be with their families and be with all the frontline workers who work with them. Father we pray for our testimony. Especially during this time our ability to see neighbors our ability to talk to family our ability to talk to friend.

I pray also for our spiritual walk. Pastor Jeff put out some recommendations for habits. What a great way to strengthen our spiritual walk. So I pray for that Lord and also for wisdom and guidance as we come out of quarantine.

With even a baptism service. We pray Lord that you would prepare the way for us to come back together directly into fellowship. We pray Lord for wisdom for our country's leaders for decisions that are going to be made in the weeks to come and Also for the protection in the future from this from this virus.

Now Lord as we come together We pray that your Holy Spirit would anoint pastor Jeff as he takes us into the land of trumpets in Revelations 8. Speak through him powerfully Lord. Let his words come into our house hearts prepare our hearts to hear that we might grow closer To you for your glory.

We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Good morning cornerstone. We are Gary and Terry Kamlin your missionaries in Portugal and we're coming to you live up close and personal from our living room our.

Main ministry is that the Portuguese Bible Institute and like is the case all over the world? We've had to adapt and make changes due to the current situation. All of our classes and events are online now.

In fact in two weeks April 24th and 25th we had a previously scheduled Bible conference and we will be doing that online and we would appreciate prayers for the Logistics of all of that because it's a new experience for all of us and we're Trying to do the best that we possibly can to help the Portuguese Evangelical community with Bible teaching during a time like this.

And also all of our classes are online as I mentioned and next week We actually start two new courses that we're opening up and offering to the general Christian public. One is Christian Christian social ethics and the other is evangelism and discipleship.

The response to these has been very good and Again, we would appreciate prayers for this for the professors involved that we might be able to serve The general Christian community in the best possible way.

We'd also appreciate prayer for our church ministry. Our church is online and we prepare Sunday school lessons as well as our morning worship online and the Advantage to a to this is that we are seeing people Attend church who normally wouldn't be there.

We're seeing family members who are unsaved who are listening in with the rest of the family and hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. For us to this online ministry of churches Like you have has been a blessing because we are now able to be a part of cornerstones Morning worship and that has been so great for us to to join in with you.

Thank you so much for your ministry for your support for your prayers and We appreciate it.

And a lot of the fact that Easter just passed and we had a great celebration. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. I would just like to leave you with one verse from Romans 5 1 that talks about the Privileges that we have in the result of our great salvation.

It says in Romans 5 1 therefore since we have been justified through faith We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it wonderful to know in times like these that the biggest question has really been answered We have peace with God.

Thank you cornerstone and God bless you all.

Bye.

Everyone needs forgiveness Kindness of the Savior The hope of.

Nation.

My God is mine is mighty to say author of salvation. He rose and conquered the great Jesus conquered all my fears. Everything I believe I surrender Mountains. My God is my shine your light. My God is my chorus where he says forever the author of salvation.

He rose.

Conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the grave. Let's pray together.

Lord.

We are humbled to come before you this morning. We come with our voices and we come with our hearts ready to receive from you what you want to teach us. We're ready with our voices to sing praises to your name.

Your name is powerful and mighty. You're able to raise from the dead and you are seated on the throne Waiting for that day that perfect day when you will come and make everything right. I want to worship you Continually in our hearts is a truth.

Older than the troubles He's standing in the fire our Father in heaven.

We ask that you would teach us this morning how to pray. Motivate us to pray. Remind us how much it pleases you when we seek your face and call upon your name. We pray that you would stir up in your church the desire to pray.

Give us times of refreshing that we would call upon your name and See mighty answers to prayer Lord. We see the day approaching and We ask Lord that we now would be vigilant in prayer in Jesus name. Amen.

In World War two my grandfather was a runner whose assignment It was to take a message from one station to another on the front lines of the battle in The Battle of the bulge which was probably the most intense fighting of all of World War two the American troops were pushing through the German lines and at that point in time the fighting was fierce obviously and ferocious as the Germans were trying to hold on.

My grandfather was given an assignment to run from one post to another with a message. Which he did and he saw much death. He saw Casualties on both sides as he delivered that message. When he got home from the war, of course as all families did there were Amazing celebrations the whole family coming together that Billy Wagner has come home.

He made it home safe, but there was one thing that uncle Fred wanted to do Before the party could go on. He said Billy get your journal and Meet me here in the living room. And so uncle Fred went and got his journal and came back and he said I need to know What you were doing on one particular day.

It was night in America. It was day in Europe that day of Bill Wagner's run in the Battle of the bulge the most intense fighting that he saw throughout the duration of World War two. Was the same night?

That uncle Fred Was awakened in the night and began to pray for Bill Wagner. He prayed from Midnight all the way until the break of dawn and then he felt peace and took a nap. They compared journals and saw that it was the precise time that Bill was at his greatest danger.

God uses prayer and I wonder how many times have you and I Been rescued by the prayers of someone we know without even knowing it. Just a couple of months ago. I went to pick up a prescription at CVS.

And I think I was a little more stressed out than usual. I tend to be a kind of a laid-back person. I don't get Really stressed out, but I think my stress level was a bit high that day and as I was sitting there waiting on the prescription I noticed the blood pressure machine off to the side so I Went over and just thought I'd take my blood pressure.

See how things are going and the blood pressure said 144 over 80. Which on that little scale that they put on the machine is very high. That's like hypertension like extreme Hypertension not good level two kind of thing.

So I thought that's not good. Let me sit here for a minute. Take some deep breaths. Try again. Well, I kept taking my blood pressure and throughout the time of waiting on that prescription. My blood pressure was up in the 140s the top number so problem problem.

But I just prayed and went home. The amazing thing is the next day I called my parents and I could hear my mom talking to my dad in the background and I was speaking to my father on the phone and What she wanted to know was how my blood pressure was.

I had never told anyone that my blood pressure was elevated. I don't think I had checked my blood pressure for years except for maybe at a doctor's checkup but somehow she had been awakened in the night and prayed through the night for my blood pressure and Was wanting to know if it came back to normal.

Of course, I went back over to that CVS tested my blood pressure and it was a hundred percent back to normal. She prayed through the night and I don't know how she could have known apart from her relationship with God.

She does have the same kind of spiritual gifts of prayer that uncle Fred had. But how many times have we been rescued? By the prayers of someone who loves us. Without our even knowing it. Well, we don't know do we if we knew that then then we would know but we don't know the power of prayer God knows and God is pleased to answer prayer today.

We're talking about prayer and turn with me if you will to Revelation Chapter 8 we pick up and the main idea that will the sermon will be about today is the end of prayer. Not when prayer comes to an end because later on in the book You'll still see salvation and presumably believers are praying.

But what is the end to which we pray? What are we praying to what end are we praying? Well, first of all, we are always praying on behalf of people anyway for their rescue and for their good. We're not praying for their condemnation.

Even our enemies we we pray for their salvation. So we're praying for the good of people the salvation of human beings made in the image of God. We're praying for rescue but there is another end to which we pray that we learn about in Revelation chapter 8 and that is the condemnation of the wicked we will see God turn and use prayer as one of the basis is basis of condemnation of the wicked.

So we'll see that I think we saw some of that in the story of Sodom. With Abraham as he pled for the city if there's even 50 people in the city spirit and then 45 and 40 and 30 20 10 each time God answered that prayer and said yes if there's even 50 or Even 40 30 20 if there's even 10 people in this city, I will spare it.

But when the angels came there were not even 10 and the prayer the intercession of Abraham became part of God's basis of condemnation of this Wicked city in a similar way the prayers of the Saints here become fuel to the fire as God unleashes wrath on the earth.

It's a terrifying passage of Scripture. Not really a bedtime story and it's increasingly so as we go through the seven trumpets, but let's read it Chapter 8 verse 1 and 2 and the big idea here is prayer.

We're looking at today prayer as a rescue for sinners. But then God using prayer as condemnation of the wicked. But finally and ultimately that prayer is the pleasure of God we pray toward the end of Pleasing God that is the ultimate that is the main reason why we pray.

So you'll see this in the cloud of smoke this aroma that pleases God. Let's read it Revelation chapter 8 verse 1 when the Lamb opened the seventh seal. There was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. So before the seven trumpets are opened are blown their silence. It says there was silence. Imagine if I held this pause for 30 minutes.

You would never forget this sermon if I stood here for 30 minutes that would feel like an eternity just staring at the camera. You just see this preacher just looking at you for 30 minutes that is the solemnity of the moment it is a solemn Serious moment because the judgment that's coming on the earth is unspeakable.

It's a moment of silence. For 30 minutes which in the midst of the heavenly worship that goes on day and night that that's a stark contrast. From the hallelujah that was happening in Revelation chapter 7 with these revival fires that have brought in the the masses to worship God now everybody is just quiet and The seven angels prepared to blow their trumpets now the seven trumpets are kind of like within the seventh seal.

So in chapter 6 we saw the opening of six seals of judgment. The seventh seal would presumably be the end but instead of it bringing everything to conclusion as we would hope instead. It opens up seven trumpets and when the last angel blows the seven trumpets.

It looks like that's what opens the seven bowls of wrath. So it's kind of like a marionette doll that within one doll. There's a smaller doll and a smaller doll and a smaller doll. You keep opening it up and that's how it is here with the trumpets as they're they're blown.

So what happens before they blow their trumpets verse 3 to 5 another angel? So this is not one of the seven trumpets yet. It's another little interlude and It's about prayer. Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and He was given much incense to offer.

With the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and Threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder rumblings flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

So the first thing to notice is this is some kind of priestly Ceremony in the throne room where the angel is acting like a priest and brings incense and prayer To the altar and what would happen is when incense say frankincense was thrown on the fire of the altar it would create a giant poof a giant cloud of smoke of incense filling the throne room and That smell was pleasing to the King to God.

God delighted in the fragrance that's released from the incense. So this is the picture here. It is one of pleasure to God and that brothers and sisters is the ultimate reason for prayer. When you wake up in the morning Before your kids and you go downstairs and you kneel in the solitude of That moment you please him when you're alone in your prayer closet Talking with him your father.

He's pleased He sees what is done in secret and he delights in the prayer of his people. He's pleased with prayer and so it rises to him like incense every prayer you've ever prayed as You cry out to him as a genuine cry of your heart Redeemed in Christ.

This is the the prayers of Saints. A saint by the way is is not one of the extra special Holy ones that say a different church would recognize as being set apart from the rest of us ordinary Christians.

No Saints are ordinary Christians. We're those who have been declared righteous on the merits of another the merits of Jesus Christ and Therefore we are Saints. We're holy declared holy and we're becoming holy as he sanctifies us and one day will be glorified and be with him in heaven without Sin any longer and therefore be his holy ones.

We are Saints and He delights in the prayers of the Saints. You know, he also delights to answer prayer all through the Bible. We see that God is the God who delights to answer prayer. He shows himself to be the living and true God vis-a-vis the idols of the nations that are carved of Wood and made of stone that cannot hear and cannot answer prayer.

God is the God who answers prayer. He loves to answer the sinner's prayer and I know people have pointed out there is no sinner's prayer in the Bible God. I admit I'm a sinner. I Repent of my sins. I believe in Jesus who died and rose now come into my heart.

Take away my sins and save me that prayer that script that we kind of go through is not in the Bible. But don't make too much of that point because all through the Bible we see sinners crying out to God for salvation if If that's what you mean by the sinner's prayer, it's all over the Bible.

Psalm 119 verse 94. The sinner says I am yours save me. That's the cry of the sinful heart me a sinner saying to God I am yours save me. Romans says anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

If you know yourself to be a sinner you Recognize that you are wicked that you are guilty of theft and sexual immorality and sorceries and murders even if you've never Physically killed someone that the attitude of your heart with anger and hatred toward another is murderous.

If you recognize that and you say God have mercy on me save me because of Jesus Jesus save me he hears that prayer. He delights to save in fact He promises to do it. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

So dear listener. I Want to tell you something about our God the Christian God Hears the sinner's prayer. When you call to him Save me he promises to do it. Now you've got to come with a genuine heart has to be genuine and believing in Christ the Savior.

But looking to Jesus the one who died and he bled on the cross for sinners like us. You call to him and he saves you. Look to him and be saved all you nations of the earth. So this is how God is with prayer, but notice the transition here in verse 5.

Now at the end of time after all of these months and years and decades of our lives Christians calling out for our mother to be saved our father to be saved. Some have prayed for 20 years for a loved one.

All of these prayers have risen like incense to God and he's delighted to save so many now in the last seven years. Here as the tribulation is intense God is beginning to pour wrath on the earth and Prayer becomes part of his judgment.

Verse 5 the angel took the censer and filled it with Fire from the altar the censer is like a fire pan with a long handle. So he he scoops up fire from the altar and kind of like a lacrosse player he hurls it throws it down on the earth and There were peels of thunder.

Rumblings that word in the Greek for rumblings is phone. I Phone I is used here and a few other places in Revelation Usually with the peels of thunder and the flashes of lightning the King James version of the Bible Translates that word phone.

I rumblings as voices. It's almost like many voices melded together.

Eerily.

Rumbling I think it's the prayer of the Saints. Every little girl who said daddy My father in heaven please heal my mom. Or the little kid that says God please stop daddy from hitting mommy. Or the one who calls out in pain God my body is broken Rescue me.

Every prayer offered through the years is echoed together in this Chorus these voices that are resounding in the earth. The reason I do think that voices is an appropriate Translation there is the of the only other place where that word phone I is used is in Luke 23 23 and it's the group voices coming to Pontius Pilate saying crucify him Crucify him crucify him.

The phone I the rumbling all the voices melded together. Now this falls on the earth in Revelation 8 5. It's eerie. But it's appropriate to what comes next because it's part of God's Wrath that having been prayed for this is kind of an end to prayer in the sense that All of the Christians who have prayed throughout the generations now the people who are left don't have them any longer.

This is the world when prayer has fallen silent. This is judgment now verse 6 and following now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets Prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood.

And these were thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up. And all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and A third of the sea became blood.

It's kind of like in the days of Pharaoh and the plague on Egypt when the the Nile River became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. A Third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven blazing like a torch in it.

Mark that word it for later. Fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. Which means bitter. A third of the waters became Wormwood and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter.

The fourth angel blew his trumpet and a third of the Sun was struck and a third of the moon and a third of the stars so that a third of their light might be darkened and a third of The day might be kept from shining and likewise a third of the night a lot of thirds here.

Well in Progress judgment is coming on the earth and one-third of the light of the world is.

Darkened.

Two-thirds remaining people are still able to live in these conditions with two-thirds of the vegetation still alive. Two-thirds of the drinking water two-thirds of the seas still teeming with fish that that people could pull out for food.

People can still live under these circumstances. It looks like these are Natural disasters whatever the star that looks like a mountain that falls into the sea and ruins the seas. It looks like like it's some kind of natural thing.

Maybe it's man-made some kind of weapon. Some kind of nuclear bomb or something. We're not really sure when Chernobyl melted down there is a an etymology of that word that connects with Wormwood and so people thought that this was the trumpet blow of Revelation 8 11, but unlikely.

More likely it's something that's future. Because we're we do take a futurist interpretation to this fourth angel. He strikes the Sun the moon the stars in other words things become dark. So the first four trumpets are devastating, but there's a marker here at verse 13.

Where things are not only devastating going forward they become? Increasingly supernatural the demonic becomes manifest. Now we live in a time where? Demons are active around us, but they mask themselves and hide like submarines underwater.

They don't tend to come up to show themselves. So the ordinary demonic is around us all the time when sexual immorality is taking place there. There's demonic activity going on with that and you can see that manifest at times in certain ways with the drag queen story hours and the growling and Really bizarre things that you'll see at some of the parades like that you'll see demonic activity.

But there's an ordinary demonic that we're used to when someone steals something that theft is demonic. When someone murders that rage and that killing the taking of a human life made in the image of God.

That's a demonic act, but it's an ordinary demonic. It looks natural. But from this point forward in the text Things become very supernatural. So parents this would not be the best place to go for bedtime, okay?

Chapter 9. Not night-night material here. In fact notice in verse 13 where we are revelation 8 13 the eagle is talking. He's not just screeching some eagle sound he's speaking English or probably Greek.

He's speaking in the language of the people below. This is getting very supernatural from this point forward, and I think that's the marker there the talking eagle. I was over at Michael's dropping off the camera and He told me about an eagle.

That they have bald eagles that fly around and circle their house. Michael. Hope that's okay for me to share. It's awesome. You see these body. They told me one time a bald eagle had grabbed a turtle but the turtle defended itself and bit the eagles leg and.

So the eagle had to drop the turtle and it went off. Screeching into the tree in it for a period of time half an hour an hour it just screeched and how. Basically saying woe is me. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.

The eagle is screeching, but from our perspective all we hear is it's anger angry screechy sound. This angel is actually Speaking. I'm sorry this eagle is actually speaking. Whoa not whoa is me whoa whoa whoa to those who dwell on the earth.

Okay, you need to take notice if you see something like that. This is a marker that things are getting very supernatural and things are gonna go downhill real quickly for the people of earth. It's meant to be a warning it's meant to be somber.

Verse 1 of chapter 9. The fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star fall fallen from heaven to earth and He was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. Now earlier in chapter 8 verse 10 a star fell from heaven, but it wasn't described with the personal pronoun.

He.

It was described as it. This is some natural thing that looks like a star. But it's not a demon. Because here in verse 9 the star that falls from heaven is called he. Compare that with 18 the it star.

He was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit, so this is a demonic being we're gonna learn. His name is Abaddon or Apollyon whether using Hebrew or Greek. But here in verse 1 he was given the key to the to the shaft of the bottomless pit.