Daily Devotional For June 16, 2025
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star, having fallen out of heaven to the earth, and the key to the pit of the Abyss was given to him. And he opened the pit of the Abyss and smoke came up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. Rev 9:1-2.
This section of Revelation is one of the most terrifying accounts in the book. A star from heaven receives a key to the Abyss. The opening of the Abyss results in darkness that completely blots out the sun and the atmosphere. The darkness turns out to be locusts and scorpions, agents of the Evil One, Apollyon (Rev 9:3, 10-11).
There are a couple of significant parallels to this passage in the Gospel of Luke. When Jesus was confronted by a demon-possessed man, the demons pled with Him not to send them back into the Abyss (Luke 8:30-31). Evidently the Abyss is a place where demons are confined by the power of God, a place they don’t want to go.
Further parallels are found in Luke 10:17-20. There Jesus sees Satan falling like lightning out of heaven, nevertheless, his disciples are not to be alarmed. They will have authority to tread on snakes and scorpions; the power of The Enemy. Their assurance of salvation will provide the confidence to confront Satan in the name of Jesus.
How far does demonic power go? Would it be wrong for Christians to worship in a place that once served for the worship of Satan? Is it always wrong to use forms of music that have served in pagan rituals or heathen worship?
Consider the dilemma of those who first translated the Bible into a language that was steeped in the worship of spirits, trees, and magical creatures. The translators struggled to find ways to express the sublime truths of Scripture and salvation in words and expressions that were saturated with profane and even demonic associations. Every aspect of this language was saturated with its pagan origins. But the translators went ahead anyway. I’m glad they did. That language was English.
We may feel disturbed to hear the gospel in language and musical forms that have had a checkered history. But we mustn’t forget that God chose to be incarnated in human flesh, with all of its pagan, promiscuous and perverted history. When the Word became flesh, however, He brought life and light to the human race. Wherever He went, the demons fled. It is not the presence of demons that condemns the human race, it is the absence of Christ.1
Lord, I choose to have Christ with me wherever I go. I praise You for overcoming the Evil One at the cross. May the power of Satan be overcome in my life as well.
1 Inspired in part by Ed Dickerson, “Dead Languages,” Adventist Review, March, 2004, 28-29.