Christ and His Army: part of a bigger picture - Part 1

Pick up a Greek concordance to the New Testament, for example The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament, and look up the word αβυσσος, abussos, Strong #12. Here is what the entry looks like in The Englishman's Greek Concordance of the New Testament, 6th ed., London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1870, page 1.

Now look up the word, στράτευμα, stratūma, Strong #4753. Here is that entry from The Englishman's Greek Concordance, p. 700.



Look at the occurrence/distribution of both words in the book of Revelation. Doesn't that look odd? Here is what you will see.


αβυσσος: vss. 9:1,2,11
στράτευμα: vs. 9:16
αβυσσος: vs. 11:7
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αβυσσος: vs.17:8
στράτευμα: vss. 19:14,19
αβυσσος: vss. 20:1,3

This structure is called a chiasm. Lest you think this is a coincidence look up Revelation 9:1,11 and 20:1

1 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. ... 11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

(The angel of verse 11 is the star of verse 1. You can see this is so by Revelation 1:20 and also by the chiastic structure of verses 9:1-11.)

 1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

So an angel coming from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit! Now look up Revelation 11:7 and 17:8.

7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 

A beast that ascends from the bottomless pit! Coincidence I think not!!

To be continued...