Revelation 9:2: And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

The dreaded First Woe will begin when the fifth angel of the seventh seal receives a key from Jesus Christ and uses that key to open the bottomless pit (hell).¹ In that future day, all the hosts of hell (both unembodied and disembodied spirit sons of perdition)² will be unleashed on earth with much greater power than they now possess. They will ascend from the bottomless pit in three groups³ led by Satan (the Dragon),⁴ Cain (the Beast),⁵ and Judas Iscariot (the False Prophet).⁶ John does not identify these three ringleaders by name, nor does he distinguish their followers when they are loosed from the bottomless pit in Revelation chapter 9. However, he does identify them by name when the three heads are about to lose their power on earth during Spiritual Armageddon of the Third Woe in Revelation 16:13.⁷

Many latter-day signs of the times will increase in their intensity and their fulfillment⁸ as these three groups of evil spirits rise with incredible power from the dark and benighted kingdom of Satan during the First Woe.⁹ These evil spirits will deceive many¹⁰ as spiritual darkness spreads from Satan's kingdom¹¹ throughout the earth.¹² Their powers of spiritual darkness will be like the dense smoke of a great furnace.¹³ Spiritual darkness¹⁴ will increasingly prevail during the First Woe¹⁵ as the light of truth is increasingly taken from the earth.¹⁶ People will choose darkness rather than light.¹⁷ Gross wickedness¹⁸ and massive corruption will follow.¹⁹ "Peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion" as stated in Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:35.²⁰

The increasing wickedness of the world today is a prelude to the much greater wickedness that lies ahead during the First Woe.²¹ The spiritual darkness (smoke) of the First Woe will bring the world to the brink of Armageddon that will follow during the Second Woe in Revelation 9:13-21.²² Smoke will also be prevalent during the physical battle of Armageddon.²³ However, the smoke from Physical Armageddon during the Second Woe will be literal as the smoke that rose when Sodom and Gomorrah were literally destroyed by fire and brimstone.²⁴

The spiritual darkness of the First Woe²⁵ is symbolically synonymous with the mists of darkness in Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life.²⁶ In both contexts, the spiritual darkness "blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost."²⁷ The symbolic locusts of the First Woe will wage a war on earth's human inhabitants that is purely spiritual,²⁸ and Lehi's vision confirms that many mortal souls will be lost spiritually when the hosts of hell are loosed with great power on earth during the First Woe.²⁹ The First Woe will be a time when many people, including apostate members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will become mortal sons of perdition.

During this time of great wickedness and spiritual decay, the Lord shall reign among his righteous saints in Zion.³⁰ They shall stand in holy places³¹ where they will be spiritually preserved.³² Spiritual protection will come as the hosts of heaven³³ are also given greater power on earth³⁴ from behind the veil.³⁵ The hosts of heaven will have increased power in proportion³⁶ to the increased power given to the hosts of hell.³⁷ This balance of power will help protect and preserve the righteous³⁸ in the spiritual battles³⁹ that precede the Second Coming.⁴⁰ The balance of power between the two kingdoms of light and darkness will continue on earth as it has throughout most of history.⁴¹

Given the degree of spiritual darkness that will engulf the earth during the First Woe, this may also be the appointed time when righteous saints on earth begin to have more open and direct communion⁴² with the hosts of heaven,⁴³ including members of the heavenly Church of the Firstborn and the general assembly.⁴⁴

Revelation 9:3: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

When the First Woe begins, smoke and locusts will both ascend from the bottomless pit together.⁴⁵ Some scholars believe the swarming locusts emerge from the pit in such great numbers that they become like a dense cloud of smoke that literally blots out the sun.⁴⁶ There is historical precedent for this view.⁴⁷ However, in John's vision of the First Woe, the smoke and the locusts are distinct and separate symbols.⁴⁸ The smoke represents spiritual darkness that spreads throughout the earth,⁴⁹ and the locusts symbolize the three groups of evil spirits that emerge from the bottomless pit with great power.⁵⁰ Since the locusts are evil spirits with superior knowledge of the affairs of mankind,⁵¹ they can influence, but do not represent, a false clergy or religion from the past as some suggest.⁵²

Likewise, the locusts do not represent a mortal army with physical weaponry,⁵³ although this is the view of some scholars.⁵⁴ Occasionally, the scriptures do describe actual armies as a swarm of locusts.⁵⁵ However, the locusts of the First Woe are merely a symbolic antitype for swarms of actual locusts in history. For example, the eighth plague of Egypt⁵⁶ involved the worst swarm of locusts in Egypt's history and they literally destroyed all the vegetation that remained after a destructive plague of hail.⁵⁷ A destructive swarm of crickets also darkened the skies in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848.⁵⁸ The horrible devastation from actual locusts⁵⁹ foreshadows perfectly the devastating spiritual battle of the First Woe between mortal people and all the spirit sons of perdition that will be loosed from the bottomless pit.⁶⁰

Actual locusts are like grasshoppers.⁶¹ They have a voracious appetite⁶² and they destroy virtually all vegetation in their path.⁶³ Even though real locusts do not have the poisonous sting of a scorpion,⁶⁴ the symbolic locusts of the First Woe have power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.⁶⁵ This oddity confirms that the locusts are not real, but they represent instead the evil spirits unleashed from the bottomless pit⁶⁶ with unprecedented power and a voracious appetite that can destroy people spiritually.⁶⁷

The unrelenting locusts will cause the wicked to suffer pain and torment comparable to the physical pain that accompanies the sting of an actual scorpion.⁶⁸ The torments of Job foreshadow the physical torments of the First Woe.⁶⁹ Scorpions in the Old Testament are seen as instruments of God's wrath,⁷⁰ which makes them a fitting foreshadow for the locusts that have stingers like scorpions during the First Woe.⁷¹

Revelation 9:4: And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Some scholars interpret Revelation 9:4 to mean that military commanders will order their actual armies to preserve crops in the lands where their armed conflicts occur.⁷² Others suggest that chemical or biological weapons could explain how people could be injured while the grass and trees are not.⁷³ This verse actually confirms, however, that the locusts with stingers of scorpions represent evil spirits from the bottomless pit that have no power to damage the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree.⁷⁴ Real locusts and modern armies would, in all cases, destroy such things.⁷⁵

The symbolic locusts of the First Woe have power to torment wicked people⁷⁶ that do not have the seal of God in their foreheads.⁷⁷ John previously described this protective seal in Revelation chapter 7.⁷⁸ People that lack this seal in their foreheads are those that effectively have the name of the Beast in their right hand or in their forehead instead.⁷⁹ This means they are not worthy of the spiritual protections that accompany the protective seal of God⁸⁰ and they are at risk to spiritually succumb to these evil spirits because their calling and elections are not made sure.⁸¹ Those that do not have the seal of God may also succumb to the hoard of spiritual locusts because these unsealed persons lack the power to metaphorically tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.⁸² The seagull miracle in the Salt Lake Valley may foreshadow a type of physical protection that sometimes accompanies righteous living.⁸³ In 1848, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were miraculously preserved by seagulls against an immense number of destructive crickets.⁸⁴