Real Darkness.

It does not strike the earth or poison the waters, but with the key to the shaft of the Abyss (v. 1) opens a pit into the very heart of the earth. From the pit, or Abyss, comes smoke like the smoke from a gigantic furnace, darkening the sun and sky (v. 2). "Then from the smoke," John writes, "came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth" (v. 3 NRSV). The situation is exactly the reverse of Luke 10:19. Instead of humans having "authority to trample on snakes and scorpions" and protection from "harm" or injury, the "authority" or power is that of scorpions (v.