The Abyss (also called the bottomless pit) is the deep, prison-like realm where certain demonic beings are confined and from which they may be released for limited judgment under God’s sovereign control.
In the New Testament the term appears especially in Luke, Romans, and Revelation, describing a place of incarceration for evil spirits and the location from which the beast and other agents of judgment emerge.
The Abyss is not the final lake of fire; it is an intermediate place of confinement and a source of end-time torment under divine authority.
Even the powers of the Abyss operate only within the boundaries God sets and will ultimately be destroyed.
The Greek word abyssos means “bottomless” or “very deep.” In the Septuagint it often translates the Hebrew tehom, the deep waters of creation or chaos. In the New Testament it takes on a more specific sense as a prison for demonic beings. The demons who possessed the Gerasene man begged Jesus not to command them to depart into the Abyss. Paul asks who will descend into the Abyss to bring Christ up from the dead, identifying it with the realm of the dead in that context. In Revelation an angel is given the key to the shaft of the Abyss; smoke rises from it, and locust-like creatures under the kingship of Abaddon/Apollyon emerge to torment the unsealed. Later a beast rises from the Abyss, and finally Satan himself is bound and sealed in the Abyss for a thousand years before his final release and destruction. The Abyss therefore functions as a temporary holding place for evil powers, opened and closed only by divine permission, and always subordinate to the authority of God and of the Lamb.
- The Abyss is a real place of confinement for certain demonic beings and evil powers.
- It is distinct from the final lake of fire; it is intermediate and temporary.
- Demons fear being sent there and recognize Jesus’ authority over it.
- In Revelation the Abyss is locked and unlocked by angels acting under God’s command.
- Agents of judgment (locusts, the beast) rise from the Abyss only when God permits.
- Satan is bound in the Abyss for a thousand years, showing God’s complete control over the adversary.
- The Abyss serves the purposes of divine judgment and will itself give way to the final sentence of the lake of fire.
- Place of Confinement – A prison for demonic spirits and, for a time, for Satan himself.
- Divine Control – Opened and closed only by the key given by God; never independent of His will.
- Source of Limited Judgment – From it emerge the locusts of the fifth trumpet and the beast, acting under strict limits.
- Fear of Demons – Evil spirits recognize it as a place of torment and beg not to be sent there.
- Temporary Nature – Distinct from the eternal lake of fire; a holding place until final judgment.
- Satan’s Binding – The dragon is sealed in the Abyss for a thousand years before his brief release and ultimate destruction.
- Authority of Christ – Jesus and His agents hold authority over the Abyss and all that comes from it.
- Luke 8:31 – “And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.”
- Romans 10:7 – “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
- Revelation 9:1-2 – “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace…”
- Revelation 9:11 – “They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.”
- Revelation 11:7 – “And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them.”
- Revelation 17:8 – “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.”
- Revelation 20:1-3 – “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”
- Revelation 20:7-10 – After the thousand years Satan is released from his prison, gathers the nations, and is finally thrown into the lake of fire.
- Genesis 1:2 – “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep (tehom).” (Old Testament background of the deep)
- Psalm 71:20 – “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.”
- Jude 6 – Angels who did not stay within their own position of authority are kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day (related concept of confinement).
- 2 Peter 2:4 – God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment (parallel imagery).
The Abyss is a place of darkness and confinement under the absolute control of God. Demons fear it, the beast rises from it only by permission, and even Satan is sealed within it for a thousand years by a single angel with a key and a chain. Nothing emerges from the Abyss and nothing remains there apart from the will of the One who sits on the throne. The Abyss is not the final word; the lake of fire is. Yet it serves the purposes of judgment and displays the sovereignty of God over every power of evil. The same Christ who has the keys of Death and Hades holds authority over the Abyss. Those who belong to Him need not fear the powers that rise from it. Their King has already overcome, and He will shut every prison of darkness when the last enemy is destroyed.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.