1. Few years ago it seems like everyone is talking about the massacre in Littleton, Colorado. I hope this tragedy draws lost sinners to the Bible and to God, but from what I can see most people are looking at this from a Biblical perspective.
2. It has been established that these teenage murderers were involved in Marilyn Manson’s "music" and violent video games.
3. If there is someone here today who is having a difficult time trying to make sense out of this horrible crime, let me remind you: the devil is real. And demons are real (cf. Rev.9:1-6).
4. Today I want for us to look at this subject from God’s perspective. In the book of Revelation, God pulls back the curtain and shows us the demonic realm. And the massacre in Colorado cannot be understood without comprehending the realm of Satan and his demons.

1. THE REALITY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
2. THE OCCUPANTS OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT
3. THE REPLACEMENT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT

1. The word "pit" literally means "the abyss." It occurs nine times in the NT, seven times in the book of Revelation. In Luke 8:31, it is translated "the deep." The demons dread this pit and do not want to go there (cf. Luke 8:26-39).
2. The bottomless pit is located in the lower parts of the earth. It is the prison house for demons (cf. II Peter 2:4; Jude 6).
3. This bottomless pit is sealed tight, and no one can escape without God’s permission. But during the tribulation, God will allow this pit to be opened and will permit these evil spirits to go out and inflict torment on unrepentant sinners (Rev.9:2-6).
4. I believe mankind is now being prepared for the release of these demons. Rock bands feature smoke coming out of a pit while they play spooky music, replete with shrieks and groans. Then there is the Dungeons and Dragons game, ouiji boards, witchcraft, the "physic channel," astrology, violent video games, body piercing and tattoos, weird clothing and hairstyles, religious cults, etc. Even the cartoons are straight out of hell!
5. When this pit is opened, it will literally be hell on earth. And the devil is preparing people now for the arrival of the antichrist.
6. I read in the paper that a vicious murderer had escaped from Creedmore. And I also read about a homosexual cannibal that may soon get released. Now imagine if all the dangerous fiends who push people in front of subways, all the rapists, all the homo cannibals, and all the most violent maniacs in all of the mental hospitals and all of the prisons were all released today. And yet that would be nothing compared to what is described for us here in Revelation 9.
7. So we see the reality of the bottomless pit. Now let us look closely at the occupants of the pit.

II. THE OCCUPANTS OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT

1. These are not actual "locusts" (9:3). Ordinary locusts eat grass but these "should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree" (9:4).
2. Proverbs 30:27 says, "The locusts have no king," but these demonic locusts have a king (9:11), probably Satan himself.
3. His name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek it is Apollyon. This name means "Destroyer" in either language (9:11; cf. margin).
4. I Peter 5:8 says: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."
5. John says he "saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth" (9:1). This is not an ordinary star because "to him was given the key of the bottomless pit" (9:1). This "star" is probably Satan himself.
6. He is given authority to open the bottomless pit and unleash the terrible devils incarcerated there. The imagination cannot picture what the earth will be like after the rapture when we are removed from the scene and God pours out His wrath upon the earth, and when modern society, corrupt beyond all measure, is handed over to the most horrible fiends of hell.
7. It will make what happened in Littleton seem like a SS picnic. In the newspapers and on the television there are countless interviews with worldly psychiatrists, who are helpless to explain what happened in Columbine HS. How will they explain these demonic locusts? (9:7-10). The world’s greatest scientists, politicians, college professors and other experts will be baffled by these creatures from the bottomless pit.
8. These demonic locusts will have power to torment unbelievers for five months. These unsaved people will prefer dying because of the unbearable pain but will not be able to die (Rev.9:2-6).
9. These demons are strange beyond description (9:7-10) and yet today we are seeing these very same images on television, in movies, T-shirts, rock and roll shows, tattoos, video games, and so on. People are being programmed by the devil to accept and even embrace these hideous creatures.
10. Not only do these horrible demonic beings come up out of the bottomless pit, but so does the beast, i.e. the antichrist (11:7; 17:8).

III. THE REPLACEMENT OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.

1. The bottomless pit is mentioned seven times in the book of Revelation, the last reference is in Rev.20:1-3.
2. After this, we hear no more about the bottomless pit because it is no longer needed. First, we are told that the antichrist and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (19:20).
3. Then after being bound for 1,000 years in the bottomless pit, the devil is also cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (20:10).
4. The bottomless pit is God’s prison house. And after the devil and his demons, the antichrist and the false prophet, and all those that have rejected Jesus Christ have been cast into the lake of fire, God has no more need for His prison house.
5. Those who have rejected the Gospel must spend eternity in a place even more horrible than the bottomless pit, and that is the lake of fire (Rev.20:15; 21:8).
6. I heard Hank Haanegraf say on the radio that the fires of hell are only figurative. Don’t believe him! Believe the Bible (Rev.14:9-11). And believe the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Mark 9:43-48; Matt.8:12; 10:28; 13:41,42; 25:41,46).

CONCLUSION:

1. I mentioned earlier the connection between demonism and rock music and how this all played a big part in the Littleton massacre.
2. In Tuesday, April 29^th’s New York Post, there was an article on this subject and I will quote from it. Keep in mind the author of this article is not a Christian.