The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
Upon the sounding of this trumpet, the things to be observed are, 1. A star falling from heaven to the earth. Some think this star represents some eminent bishop in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do not agree.
Commenting on Revelation 9:1-12
One woe is past,.... One of the three woe trumpets, the first of them; that is, in the vision which John had of it, not the thing itself designed by it: and behold there come two woes more hereafter; under the blowing of the sixth and seventh trumpets.
Continuation of Barnes Notes on Revelation 9:11: (d) Their commission was expressly against "those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads." . That is, they were to go either against those who were not really the friends of God, or those who in their estimation were not.