1. Revelation 9:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What escaped from the opening of the shaft?

Revelation 9:2 (ESV)

2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

John sees that “from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace.” In this case, the smoke arising from the abyss was comparable to the smoke of a great furnace. We are to picture billows of smoke piling out in great clouds and then rolling across the landscape.