We hear a lot about Islam in the news today. But we don’t hear much about what the Bible says about Islam. Where is that? It’s found in Revelation chapter 9—in the fifth and sixth trumpets. But first, lets remember the context. The seven trumpets are trumpets of war. Like the seven trumpets of Jericho, Jesus uses the seven trumpets of Revelation to bring down the fourth Empire of Rome in its two phases (Pagan and Papal) to usher in his fifth everlasting kingdom at the end of the seventh trumpet. The first four trumpets in Rev. 8 bring down the Western Roman Empire by 476 AD. John then saw the fifth and sixth trumpets in chapter 9. The rise of Islamic church/state power would deal a deathblow to the Eastern Roman Empire and check the papacy (Papal Rome) on every side. The 7th trumpet will bring down Papal Rome—Babylon the Great. So now let us look at Rev. 9:1—the first verse of the 5th trumpet—and see God’s amazing description of the rise of Islam.
“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.”
The first amazing symbol John saw was “a star fall from heaven.” In Rev. 1:20, seven stars in Jesus’ right hand represent “angels” (messengers or ministers of the gospel) to the seven churches. But this is a star that falls from heaven. Satan is the original fallen star from heaven. He fell from heaven centuries earlier before earth Creation. His fall was complete when Jesus died on the cross in 31AD, so he is not the fallen star here. But Satan is behind everything evil as he works through and inspires human beings to do evil. So this fallen star represents a fallen religious leader inspired by Satan, who is called Apollyon, the Destroyer, in Rev. 9:11. This fallen star is none other than the false prophet Mohammed, and his caliph successors.
But “a fallen star” also has an unbelievable literal application as well. What do we call “falling stars?” They are meteorites!! If they survive going through the atmosphere and hit the earth, they end up as a black stone. You ask, what does that have to do with Islam? Did you know that the center of Muslim worship is a fallen meteorite found in Mecca of Saudi Arabia? Do you realize that all Muslims all around the earth pray 5 times a day toward this black stone housed in a black cubical building there in Mecca? Did you know that all Muslims are required once in their life to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and walk seven times around this black stone and kiss it before they leave? Unbelievable, but true nevertheless!
But wait! There is something more—very interesting! Did you know that this black fallen meteorite in Mecca is in the middle of the Saudi Arabian desert? Yes, you say, but what does that have to do with anything? John saw the fallen star land in an area called the “bottomless pit.” In Rev. 20:1-3, John calls the earth a “bottomless pit” after Jesus destroys the wicked and leaves the earth totally desolate for 1000 years. Jeremiah also describes the earth after Christ’s 2nd Coming in the same way in Jer. 4: 23-27. So the term bottomless pit’ describes places on the earth today that are totally desolate, which is exactly what the Saudi Arabian desert is—in a bottomless pit condition. But old on! Mohammed was given a key there. What does the key represent? Keys in the Bible represent spiritual authority to open and to close. In the Bible the words of Scripture are depicted as good keys—they have power to open and shut heaven. They declare the conditions upon which men are received or rejected. The keys to the bottomless pit must be a false Bible, a book that claims to have the same authority as the Bible, but which has no foundation on the Word of God (thus “bottomless”). This key is none other than the Koran, the sacred book of Islam that claims to declare the perfect will of Allah.
But there is still one more amazing detail. Mohammed claimed that the words of the Koran were given to him from the angel Gabriel. And guess where he claimed to have always meet the angel? In a cave near Mecca. A cave is a dark, underground hole in the earth—a pit! Mohammed got the Koran—the key of the bottomless pit of the Muslim religion that has no foundation in the Word of God—while in a cavernous pit of the bottomless pit of Arabia! Exactly how God predicted it!
The Koran teaches many things contrary to the Word of God, but especially that 1) Jesus was not divine, 2) He was not the Son of God, 3) He did not die on the cross, 4) He did not resurrect from the dead, and 5) that the Holy Spirit is really Gabriel. Notice that “the Sun (Jesus Christ)—Mal. 4:2) and the Air (the Holy Spirit—John 3:8) are darkened” by Islam. Rev. 9:2. More on verse 3 later.
Much more could be said, but in this one verse, God has packed a lot of information and clues that not only point to the identify of Islam, but also warn us of its source and character. We will continue our study about Islam in the next issue, but dear reader, please encourage yourself in the living Word of God. Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.” John 6:63.