Good morning and welcome to another study in God’s Word, specifically the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ . Today we will finish chapter 9 of Revelation by having a thorough look at the blowing of the 6th trumpet of judgement. And what a judgement it will be. Let’s take a look at the 2nd half of the Revelation chapter 9:
“Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
9:13-14 - “Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
Upon the blowing of the 6th trumpet John hears a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God. We’re not told whom the voice belongs to but more than likely it’s Jesus as He continues to orchestrate the judgements from the throne of Heaven as He has done thus far. (5:6, 5:7, 6:1) The altar here represents prayer. (8:3) The voice has great authority and commands the angel to “release the four angels who are bound.” This clearly indicates that these four angels have been bound for some time and were bound for a specific infraction. They have done some evil in the Lord’s eyes and had to be restrained. But no more. They have been bound but they will now be unleashed. It says they are bound at the river Euphrates. No reasoning is given for this location but many things have happened in this area of the world. The garden of Eden where the first sin occurred, is thought to have been here. The first murder occurred here. The first war was fought here. The tower of Babel was built here. The flood started here that decimated the ancient world. This area was the birth of idolatry and here in this same area, we see the final surge of judgement on the earth.
9:15-16 - “So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.”
The angels had been waiting for this exact moment, they were prepared to be released. And God was the one doing the releasing. Carefully notice that nothing that happens during the great tribulation is chance or coincidence, God has had it planned since He breathed the universe into existence. In fact, recall this is a book of prophecy, the only one in the entire New Testament. We are reading the future right now and these evil angels will be loosed at the specific second that God has planned for them. They were released for a very specific purpose. A purpose that was not present in the last trumpet judgement. Recall that death was not allowed during the 5th trumpet, that “people would seek death and not find it.” But this judgement will be very different. Not only is death allowed, but it will come in heavily…to 1/3 of the world.
We have already seen the 4th seal in chapter 6 claim ¼ of the earth through death and we determined that if that were to happen to today’s population, it would result in the deaths of an astonishing 2.01 billion people. Now these four angels are called to claim 1/3 of the lives left on the earth. If you calculate the new world population of the world (after the 4th seal) there would be approximately 5.96 billion people left. And ¼ of these would be an overwhelming 1.96 billion people! These 2 judgements alone will claim ½ of the world population during the tribulation. But here’s the kicker, my rough death tolls do not account for any deaths from the other massive judgements like the earthquake, fires, disease, famine etc. Folks, death in the great tribulation will be as common as taking a breath or blinking an eye.
In order to enact this type of mass genocide you will need a great killing force and the 4 angels have just that. They assemble 4 armies and the total number of soldiers is 200 million. (10,000x10,000x2) John even says he specifically heard the number stated right from the throne room. (How amazing that we sit here today getting a first hand picture of this entire event) Right now, the population of the US is 329 million so that would be roughly 2/3 of the entire population of the US going into battle. That is an amazing number of soldiers.
Not to get too morbid here, but think about this level of death and it’s ramifications. There will be such great levels of death that society will grind to a halt. How will you even process that many dead bodies? Recall that back during the black plague of the mid 1300’s that a huge part of the problem was the dead bodies and the disease they carried. The bodies could not be disposed of quick enough to maintain the health of society at large. The 6th trumpet will be one of the absolute darkest days in the history of mankind, possibly ever.
9:17 – “And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.”
John next gives us a description of what this demonic, death wielding army looked like. They were on horse-like creatures. The soldiers wore breastplates adorned with three colors. Fire is red, sapphire is dark blue and sulfur (brimstone) is yellow. These represent death by burning flame, smoke, and suffocating gas respectively. The heads of the horses were like lions. This indicates they clearly were not normal horses, but demonic creatures specifically built to bring death. Fire, smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. This mirrors the colors on the breastplates of the soldiers. These three items are mentioned twice here and as we’ll see in the next verse, they will be their primary weapons.
9:18-19 – “ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.”
There will be three ways that this army will kill over 1/3 of teh earth. The first is by fire, by burning people to death. A quick google search revealed that apparently death by being burned alive is one of most painful deaths you can experience. (it was followed by crucifixion) These horse-like creatures will exhale fire from their mouths and burn people to their deaths. Second, they will use smoke which we’re told will also be exhaled from the horse creature’s mouths. Did you know that in common household fires the largest cause of death is not the fire? It’s the smoke. Smoke inhalation is the largest cause of death for victims in home fires. As carbon monoxide is inhaled, it poisons the interior of the lungs and causes the inability to further process oxygen. Death by asphyxiation follows. The smoke during this judgement will apparently be so intense that it will claim possibly more lives than the fire. The 3rd and last will be the sulfur that comes from their mouths. Sulfur (hydrogen sulfide) is also known as brimstone, and it has an acrid, nauseous odor. (like rotten eggs) It is highly flammable and when burned, it produces sulfur dioxide which turns into sulfuric acid when it comes into contact with water. This of course will kill humans when inhaled at a large enough volume. You will gasp for clean air but will only be able to inhale polluted, poisonous air. During this judgement clean air will be a thing of the past. How will this army kill so quickly and efficiently? They will pollute and poison the very air of the earth that humans breath to live.
The horse creatures will also have an additional weapon, their tails. Their tails will be like snakes that bite and inject venom and it will kill as well. This demonic army has been equipped to be perfect killing machines and during the 6th trumpet they are released to do what they have been created to do, extinguish human life.
9:20-21 – “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
These 2 verses shouldn’t surprise me, but they do. I still loosely hold onto the belief that there is good in most people and it wants to be discovered, to be grown and loosened. But alas, people just will not repent to God, even in the midst of the single biggest catastrophic judgement to ever befall the human race. What a true display of the human heart. Our sin nature runs deep and our rebellion towards our creator is unshakable.
We’re told here of six sins that represent the utter and total defiance of those who refuse to repent to God.
1) Did not repent of the works of their hands. This is doing evil. Not thinking or considering, but the physical act of your hands engaging in evil that offends God.
2) Did not give up worshipping demons and idols. There will still be people during this period worshipping the antichrist. They will still be clinging to the false hope there will be world peace. In their rebellion they will chose to believe what they want, not the truth. It’s like the old saying, “if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.” There are folks like that today too, by the millions. They believe what they want to believe and if what God says doesn’t agree with their beliefs, they drop God and His laws like a hot potato. Human nature will never change. They also will not forgo their idols. Idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood. All of these are ‘Earthen’ materials. People will worship the earth, what they can see, feel, hold and touch. First and foremost, their hearts will be ready worshippers of those false idols, not the true God.
3) They will not repent of their murders. Murder and killing will be at the highest rate of any time in human history. Killing will have little meaning and little penalty as almost all law enforcement will have broken down by this point. With little food, water and life giving provisions, the battle for life will result in people murdering with little thought or consequence. This will have a ripple effect in society as it is not just tolerated but even seen as a necessity or rite. In these murders people will feel little remorse and therefore will not repent to God for this egregious sin against all life which He has created.
4) Their sorceries. The word “sorcery” is a Greek word from where we get our word “pharmacy” and “pharmaceuticals.” This means drugs, lots of drugs. Drug use will be at the highest rate ever seen. People will be self-medicating at an all time high as they deal with the stress of life during the great tribulation. The physical and mental suffering involved with this period will have drug abuse and addiction running rampant. And where there’s drug abuse, all other sins accompany. Dealers, extortion, greed, abuse, sexual immorality, murder, selfishness, death, stealing.
5) Their sexual immorality. “Immorality” is a Greek word that in its general form includes any sexual sin. Indescribable sexual perversion will be rampant in this day. People will embrace any and all sexual preference and it will be tolerated by all. Adultery, prostitution, sex out of wedlock, homosexuality, polygamy, incest, it will all be rampant.
6) Their thefts. Stealing will be uncontrollable during this period. It will be a way of life. As a result, it will become normal and commonplace. We think theft is bad today, just imagine living during this time.
The one commonality of these 6 sins is the lack of repentance. We can all personally fall prey to these sins today. But the question God asks is, “where is your heart?” Are you sorry for what you did? Will you confess your sin to God and genuinely ask for His forgiveness? And then will you repent? Will you turn from that sinful behavior and move towards God? God knows our heart and He looks for repentance in our lives. If you hope to enjoy lively and true fellowship with God, you must be able to confess your sins to Him daily and ask for His forgiveness. He is rich in mercy and grace and wants nothing more than to have a deep, rich, and honest relationship with you. But without honesty, that relationship, just like any other, will suffer and be broken. The people described here in this verse had hearts as hard as granite. They were self-serving, arrogant, evil, and wicked. And God knew it. How crushing to read this. It’s so true in our world today too. There are people who live, work, and even go to church right beside us, that have these same hard hearts. God sent His Son here to die for them and they not only reject Him, but they live lives full of rampant sin and refuse to acknowledge or apologize to God for sinning against Him. For these folks, just as these pictured today in chapter 9, if they don’t repent, judgement is coming.
Thanks for joining me again today for another study in Revelation. I’ll be back tomorrow as we start chapter 10 which is our “informational” chapter break before the 7th trumpet is blown in chapter 11.
Have a blessed day and don’t forget to make God the center of it.
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