CERN is a giant particle accelerator (hadron collider) located in Geneva, Switzerland. Some believe the end result of the experiments performed there will be the opening of a portal to another dimension, namely Hell, equating this action with the opening of the Abyss during the 5th trumpet, the 1st woe, in Revelation 9. Here’s the biblical text:

Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. // Revelation 9:1-6 NASB

The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. 

The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things. // Revelation 9:7-12 NASB

Some quick thoughts:

As it says above, the Abyss doesn’t open until the 5th trumpet is sounded which happens after the tribulation starts and a bunch of very frighteningly bad things take place from Revelation chapter 6 on. We haven’t seen those thing yet.

Consider, when they do occur, I don’t believe we’ll have the time to analyze and discuss these things with each other via the internet. Those of us who will be here when they happen will barely have time to read our Bibles, if we even have one (which is why I suggest Scripture memorization).

Also, consider, the Abyss is under the same sea from whence the Beast comes, which is in the Middle East where Job lived, not Geneva, Switzerland, where CERN is.

“The departed spirits tremble Under the waters and their inhabitants. “Naked is Sheol before Him, And Abaddon has no covering. // Job 26:5-6 NASB

This is the same Abaddon or Apollyon:

They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon. // Revelation 9:11 NASB

Prophecy is full of geographic markers for our benefit. We need to take advantage of them. I submit to you that the phrase “Beast from the Sea” is describing this final kingdom’s geographic location as being near an actual sea.

Here’s the reference from Revelation:

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard (Yavan, which is Macedonia/Western Turkey), and his feet were like those of a bear (Persia, Iran) , and his mouth like the mouth of a lion (Babylon, Iraq). And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. // Revelation 13:1-2 NASB (parentheses added)

At the end, Israel is attacked by the Antichrist’s army which consists of a coalition of the surrounding nations. So, it makes sense that the Dragon is standing on the shore of the sea from whence the Beast comes that is near Israel… where the surrounding nations are.

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. // Joel 3:11-12 NASB

Perhaps this the Persian Gulf. It could also be the Mediterranean Sea for which there is also strong biblical evidence. Either sea makes little difference for now as the point is it’s in the Middle East.

This could be one reason why God gets rid of the sea after this. I don’t believe it means all oceans, just this particular sea:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. // Revelation 21:1 NASB 

Also, consider, the release of the fallen angels from the Abyss coincides with the army that comes from near the Euphrates, which flows across Turkey, Syria and Iraq, not the heart of Europe.

Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. // Revelation 9:13-17 NASB

Jesus owns the Abyss

It is here where I want to examine the most significant reason we don’t have to worry about the people at CERN opening the Abyss of Revelation and it has to do with who is opening the Abyss in the text. Notice in Revelation 9:7-12 (above) that an angel comes down out of heaven, having been given a key for the Abyss, and he opens it. There is ongoing debate about the identity of this being and there is strong biblical evidence to suggest that it is none other than Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 1 we read that John turns to see who is speaking to him and telling him to write.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades. // Revelation 1:11-18 NASB

It is Jesus who is speaking to him and who goes on to say He has the “keys of death and of Hades” after His triumph at the Cross (see also John 10:17-18).

Here He is again actually sealing the Abyss:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. // Revelation 20:1-3 NASB

Consider, this is much the same as Revelation 5:3-5 where Jesus is the only one who can unseal the scrolls.

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” // Revelation 5:3-5 NASB

No one anywhere, earth or Heaven, could open the scroll. And even if you want to say that the angel who opens the Abyss is not Jesus, Jesus owns it. It ain’t gettin’ opened until He says.

God has an ordered plan for end-time events. Can God be forced to unseal something before it’s time? Can God be forced to unseal something at all? Can Man figure out how to unseal something God has sealed? Is God powerless to keep sealed something He has sealed?

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; // 2 Peter 2:4 NASB

And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, // Jude 1:6 NASB

How is it even possible for Man to figure out how to open something God, Himself, has sealed?

So, in order for me to believe that CERN has anything to do with Bible prophecy, I have to disregard prophetic geography and the sequence of events in Revelation. I have to believe that, even though the Bible is a Middle Eastern book about Middle Eastern people, even though all of the action in the Bible takes place in the Middle East, even though Bible prophecy teaches the Antichrist will rise out of Islam and eventually rule from a revived Babylon (Zechariah 5:5-11; Revelation 18), suddenly, a small group of scientists in Geneva, Switzerland, wittingly or unwittingly, open the Abyss that God, Himself, has sealed, the Abyss that only Jesus Christ has the keys to and the authority to open, and they unleash the most extreme, hellish judgment on the world… that, suddenly, the Islamic Antichrist’s supernatural army climbs out of a portal in Geneva, Switzerland.

Doesn’t add up to me.

Now, could the whole thing blow up? Sure. Would it be incredibly disastrous? Yes. Would it puncture a hole through space-time and open a portal to Hell. No. When the Abyss opens, it will be purely a supernatural event that happens at God’s appointed time (Ecclesiastes 3:1), which is not contingent upon Man’s assistance.

An appeal to Christians

Consider studying the actual geography present in Bible prophecy like John’s geographic description of the final beast empire in Revelation 13:2, which is more than just a word picture, or the geography in Daniel 11 that tells us where the Antichrist will rise to power, or the biblical origin of Middle East conflict in Genesis 16 that is spreading around the world instead of quantum theory, wormholes, antimatter, particle beam weapons, the space-time continuum, human-hybrid genomes, and quark-gluon strangelets.

Let’s all stay grounded in prophetic geography so we can lay aside peripheral distractions and look at the area of the world we should be looking at.

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