Revelation 9:1-2 A star is said to fall from heaven. The pronoun him is used to refer to this star so from this we know that this star is a person. The word star is used in its symbolic way but based on our rule of symbols they are either explained in the context or from another portion of Scripture. He is said to be a star “fallen” from heaven to earth.
“Fallen” is in the perfect tense, which in Greek emphasizes a past action with results continuing into the future. Jesus said that He saw Satan fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). Isaiah also described this event (Job 38:7; Isaiah 14:12-15). He is given the keys to the bottomless pit, that is, the abyss, the place where Scripture says the demons and devils are kept. So it seems quite certain that this fallen star or angel is Satan.
Right now Jesus Christ has the keys to the bottomless pit, but He gives them to Satan and allows him to afflict the earth so that the world will reap what they have sown. However, God restrains and limits his destruction even as He does in our day and time and as he did in the account of Job. Satan still has access to God’s presence, where he constantly accuses believers (Revelation 12:10).
In the midst of the Tribulation he will wage war with Michael and the holy angels and will be defeated and will be permanently removed from their access to heaven and cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9). Knowing that his time is running out Satan will commit all of his forces in a full fledged attack on God’s kingdom and creation. These forces include those who have been cast down with him and those who have been locked in the abyss.
The abyss or bottomless pit appears seven times in Revelation, always in reference to the abode of imprisoned demons. Satan himself will be held prisoner there during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1, 3). The demons when they are confronted by the Lord speak of this in Luke 8:27 ff. Peter speaks of this in 2 Peter 2:4 . The phrase ” cast them into hell ” is a participle derived from the Greek noun Tartarus.
Tartarus was the name used in Greek literature for the place where the worst sinners, those who had offended the gods personally, went after death and were punished. Their final doom will be Gehenna or the lake of fire, the place where all those who have rebelled against God are to be condemned (Revelation 20:10, 13-15).
Jude 6-7 describes the reason for their judgment (Genesis 6:1ff; 19:1, 4-5). The demons released by Satan at the fifth trumpet may not include those who sinned in Noah’s day (Jude 6), since they are said to be in ” eternal bonds ” (Jude 6) until the final day when they are sent to the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:10; Jude 7). Other demons imprisoned in the abyss may be the ones released. Satan will receive the key to the abyss from its keeper, the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:18), he will then open the pit and release the demons that have been held there.
When the abyss opened, smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. Smoke in Revelation may refer to holy things (Revelation 8:4; 15:8), but is usually associated with judgment (Revelation 9:17-18;14:11;18:9,18;19:3 ; cf. Genesis 19:28; Isaiah 34:10; Joel 2:30; Nahum 2:13).
