Revelation 9:1: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.

The First Woe of the seventh seal will begin when the fifth trumpet angel sounds.¹ During the First Woe, the unembodied spirits that followed Satan in the premortal existence² will have incredible power on earth³ to torment unrepentant people⁴ and to make misery their doom.⁵ Satan has sought to make mankind miserable like unto himself since the time he spiritually fell during the grand council in heaven as recorded by John in Revelation 12:4.⁶ Revelation 12:9-10, records Satan's fall from heaven to this earth with a host of unembodied spirits when they were defeated at the end of the premortal war in heaven.⁷ Satan's historical fall from heaven with a large number of unembodied spirits is the logical starting point to understand their future activities on earth during the First Woe.⁸

Satan is the metaphorical star that fall[s] from heaven unto the earth⁹ in Revelation 9:1.¹⁰ Satan's name was Lucifer in the premortal existence, which means light bearer.¹¹ Several Bible translations describe the fall of this star in the past tense. The New International Version of the Bible states, for example: "I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth."¹² Essentially, in Revelation 9:1, John symbolically saw Satan cast out of the premortal spirit world for rebellion¹³ as a historic event¹⁴ at the time of the earth's physical creation.¹⁵

When Satan fell from heaven, one third¹⁶ of the unembodied spirits¹⁷ in heaven fell with him¹⁸ to become a demonic army of seducing spirits¹⁹ on earth.²⁰ The fallen angels²¹ that joined Lucifer's rebellion in premortality²² are called sons of perdition.²³ Perdition is another name for Satan,²⁴ and it means utter loss and destruction.²⁵ Those that love and choose darkness rather than light²⁶ have Satan or Perdition as their spiritual father,²⁷ and are called sons of perdition for that reason.²⁸

When Satan and the unembodied spirit sons of perdition fell from heaven, they were cast down to this physical earth,²⁹ which became for them the depths of hell.³⁰ Their hell on this physical earth³¹ is also called the bottomless pit,³² the pit of the abyss,³³ or simply the abyss.³⁴ This part of Satan's kingdom³⁵ exists in the unseen ambient areas³⁶ of the earth.³⁷ The bottomless pit is Satan's abode or habitation³⁸ and the seat of his throne.³⁹ From here, Satan rules as a king⁴⁰ over unembodied evil spirits in the bottomless pit,⁴¹ and directs their hellish activities⁴² on earth.⁴³

Satan and his unembodied followers have been empowered to test mankind⁴⁴ and to wreak havoc on this earth since they were cast down from heaven.⁴⁵ Christ encountered these evil spirits (called devils or unclean spirits)⁴⁶ multiple times during his mortal ministry,⁴⁷ and they were subject to his commands.⁴⁸ Since these evil spirits do not have mortal bodies⁴⁹ they try to possess the bodies of others⁵⁰ to enhance their power and influence on earth.⁵¹ Fortunately, unembodied spirits cannot enter and obtain mastery over the physical body of a mortal person unless that person is a willing and consenting victim.⁵² When mortals increasingly yield themselves to temptation they increasingly consent and give evil spirits mastery over them.⁵³

Historically, unembodied spirits on earth have had relatively limited powers.⁵⁴ However, in the latter days more and more consenting victims yield themselves to the powerful influence of Satan's unembodied sons of perdition.⁵⁵ This means that these evil spirits have more and more power on earth.⁵⁶ During the First Woe their powers will significantly increase, which is symbolically depicted by the images of locusts released from the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:3.⁵⁷ Their enhanced powers will continue until the seventh Vial Plague of the Third Woe when they will be defeated⁵⁸ and collectively bound in the bottomless pit with the Dragon (Satan) for the duration of the millennium in Revelation 20:1-3.⁵⁹