Revelation 9:13-21

13          Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.

14          And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.”

15          Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on the earth.

16          I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

17          And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.

18          One-third of all the people on earth killed by these three plagues – by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.

19          Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.

20          But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood – idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!

21          And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The altar in the Temple had four projections: one on each corner, referred to as the horns of the altar. The angels mentioned in this passage refer to the fallen angels (demons). These demons are exceedingly evil and destructive. They don’t have the power to release themselves and do their evil work on earth. Instead, they’re restrained by God and can only be released when God allows them too. This might make you question: “Why is God doing this?”

The answer is, “We don’t know.” God is doing this for the good of the creation, for God does not act with an evil intent. It means that God is allowing these angels to create the evil and destruction for the good of our people. The good is the movement of all of God’s creation to follow him for a place of eternal life. The struggle is seeing the chaos and destruction, and it will hit more severely to those who do not believe in God. Believers will face similar fates of chaos and destruction, there is a layer of protection that will keep us safe into eternal life.

I mean, this terror states that 1/3 of the world’s population will perish. Earlier in Revelation, ¼ of the world had died, so now over ½ the people in the world are dead during this time of God’s great judgments. Even more would have been if it wasn’t God’s limits on the destruction. Is the destruction happening in these terrors justifiable? It’s hard to say. God gives us many opportunities and has ample patience for us to get right with him and accept a relationship with him as our Lord and Savior so that we can ensure our eternal life. The more we represent him in this world, the more people might accept a relationship with him, and the more we can guarantee into eternal life.

In John’s day, this number of mounted troops in an army was inconceivable; but today many  countries and alliances could easily obtain this number of soldiers. This huge army, led by the four demons, will be prepared to destroy 1/3 of the earth’s population. 200 million people in one fight feels lopsided. 200 million people fighting evenly is an intense battle. The battle of destruction against innocent people is hard to understand. We’re seeing intense battles go on in Pakistan, Türkiye, and Ukraine – where people who are not operating out of love and compassion are taking the lives of people who had no skin in the fight in order to obtain the earthly treasures that they wanted.

These people were so hard-hearted (think about Pharoah and the plagues in Exodus) that even the plagues didn’t drive them towards God. People don’t usually fall into immorality and ungodly ways suddenly – there’s a slip up here and there until it becomes consistent. They hardly realize what has happened, they are irrevocably mired in their wicked ways. Any person who goes out and intentionally commits these sinful actions will fall into these lifestyle choices.

Temptations entertained today, becomes a sinful behavior tomorrow. It can turn into a habit and can lead down a path of self-destructive behaviors for your entire life. When you think that you could never go against the teachings of God, you have made the first step toward a hard heart. It’s us going through and justifying the behavior that intentionally goes against the teachings of God, even if it is something small. The more we ignore the conscience in us that is trying to warn us of the behavior we’re doing, the more we’ll find ourselves separating from who God truly is. The more we separate, the more chaos we’ll face during these times of judgment.

Next part: The Trumpet Sounds – Part 7

Associated Scripture

Revelation 9:14          Genesis 15:18

Revelation 9:15          Revelation 8:7-12, 9:18, 20:7

Revelation 9:17          Job 41:10-12

Revelation 9:20          Deuteronomy 4:28, 32:17; Psalm 115:4-7; Micah 5:13; Acts 7:41;
1 Corinthians 10:19-20; Revelation 2:21

Revelation 9:21          Revelation 16:9, 11, 21