REVELATION SIMPLIFIED

 

CHAPTER 9.12

Gleanings from the Book of Revelation:

A Weekly Verse-by-Verse Bible Study Series

 

The

REVELATION TO JOHN

(The Apocalypse)

                                                                           

Chapter Nine

Judgment Resumed:

The Seven Trumpets

Trumpet Number 6: Woe Number 2

 

 

6. Trumpet Number 6 (Woe Number 2) – Four angels of death are unleashed and command their armies to have one-third of mankind killed.

 

Preface

The introduction of the last half of Tribulation looms ahead. Before this study, the reader is reminded of Christ's words in John's Gospel:

John 3:16-17 - For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

From the dawn of creation, man has always been given the prospect of free will. Albeit during Woe Number 6, the depravity of man's unregenerate heart is lucidly revealed. No matter how horrific God's wrath is, evidence confirms that men will continue to reject the love of God, rather than opening their hearts to repentance and have their lives transformed by the Gospel.

 

 

 (Verse 12)

 

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

 

The duration of the First Woe fulfilled the last five months of the Great Tribulation. Verse 12 now stands as a launching pad for what is to come hereafter, i.e., after these things, the sixth Trumpet Judgment known as the Second Woe or calamity. Demonstratively, the worse is yet to come. Throughout the Third Woe, seven more devastating vial or bowl judgments shall surely come to pass.

 

 

(Verses 13-14)

 

And [then] the sixth angel sounded [his trumpet], and I (John) heard a [single] voice from the four horns of the golden altar [of incense] which is before God.

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose (release, set free) the four angels which are bound (imprisoned, prisoners) in [on or at] the great river the Euphrates.

 

Annotation has been added to the above verses to give the reader or listener full comprehension of what John is observing and hearing.

 

After, the Apostle audibly hears the voice of one of the seven angels announcing the Second Woe judgment. Shockingly following, another lone voice, standing near the golden altar of incense (cf. 8:3), makes a pronouncement to the entire world. In response to the prayers of the persecuted saints (cf. 6:10; 8:2-6) the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, gives a divine command to the sixth angel to release four evil apostate angels who are bound in chains.

 

The term used for bound in the perfect tense suggests a chained condition, that four separate demonic angels had been incarcerated at some point in time past. Now, they will be released and function as God's executioners prepared for this specific hour of divine judgment.

Unusually interesting is the place of their imprisonment - The great Euphrates River.

 

The Euphrates River

Definition

Hebrew rendering of the word the Euphrates is defined as rushing, breaking, or bursting forth. It is notoriously known as the Great River Euphrates and also the River of the East since it is the largest natural boundary between Eastern and Western Asia.

 

Origins

Along with the Pison, Gihon, and Hiddekel, the Euphrates River once flowed from the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:10 - And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah…And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

 

When God judged the earth with the Flood, the geography and topography of the land and rivers were completely obliterated. During the postdiluvian period, the survivors yet retained the names Tigris (changed from Hiddekel) and Euphrates in memory of their antediluvian counterparts (cf. Henry M. Morris. The Genesis Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Book of Beginnings [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976], 88-90).

                                           

Geography

Geographically important, the Euphrates River is the longest in Southwestern Asia. Its length is 1,780 miles and is one of the two constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates watershed system. It extends from the mountain ranges of Taurus and Ararat in the highlands of Northeastern Armenia (Turkey) --- flowing through Syria and Iraq --- and joining the Tigris River to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the water basin of the Persian Gulf.

 

Situated in a vast expanse between these two rivers configures a delta what the ancients called "The Cradle of Civilization" – Mesopotamia, the wellspring from which modern societies emerged. At one point, the Euphrates River was the dividing line between the eastern extremity of the Roman Empire and the East.

 

History

Historically, its area became the central stage of five major world powers:

1. The Assyrian Empire

2. The Babylonian Empire

3. The Medo-Persian Empire

4. The Grecian Empire

5. The Roman Empire

 

In ancient history, the Great River Euphrates is equated to the city of Babylon, which was considered the fountainhead or mother of pagan religious idolatry.

 

Significance

The River Euphrates and its surrounding area were notorious for key biblical events:

1. The place where civilization began

2. The place where evil (the sin of man) began

3. The place the first murder was committed

4. The place the Tower of Babel was erected

5. The place where the flood began and spread over all of earth

6. The place where the frontier of the promised land was deeded

a. God's unconditional covenant to Abraham as an everlasting possession

Genesis 15:18 - In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt (the Nile) unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

7. The place where the Israelites were brought into 70 years of captivity

 

Prophecy

Army legions of 200,000,000 demonic horsemen will engage in a war to destroy one-third of mankind in the proximity of the Euphrates – A prelude to the great eschatological battle of Armageddon.

 

Prophesied:

Isaiah 11:15 - And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian (Red) sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river (Euphrates), and shall smite (as in drying up) it in the seven streams (the Nile Delta) and make men go over dryshod (on foot or sandals).

 

Isaiah 44:27 - It is I who That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers.

 

Jeremiah 51:36 - Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs (which form rivers) dry.

 

Realized:

One day the enemies of God will cross the dried-up Euphrates River to engage in the final battle of Armageddon in the proximity of the ancient battleground of Megiddo.

Revelation 16:12-16 - And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared…the spirits of devils…go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that Great Day of God Almighty…And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

This great battle will be highlighted and detailed in Revelation sixteen's study.

 

 

 (Verse 15)

 

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

 

Hell's Angels

And so, the Lord sovereignly commissions four hellish angels, prepared for this day temporarily unbound, to command armies of horsemen to wreak havoc and kill by slaughtering one-third the earth's population.

 

Points to consider:

1. The number four refers to creation, earth, or the world

 

2. Angels: The aforementioned are identified as demonic fallen angels. In this case, each major general angel is assigned to one of four portions of the world, respectively east, west, north, and south

 

 

3. Loosed translated means are loosened from their bonds or chains

 

4. The verb "were" is an indication that preparation had been made or been prepared aforetime

 

Question:

Why are these angels specifically bound at the Euphrates River?

Answer:

The literal region of the Euphrates is representative of spiritual Babylon (the root of paganism) and its vicinity, namely east of Palestine - The East.

 

Judgments will spring up God's wrath victoriously at a convenient predetermined time and significant place spanning four corners of the earth. For an undetermined period, four executioners of Hell's Angels, especially restrained by spiritual chains, will lead an invasion on a world filled with idolatry, sorceries, fornication, theft, and murder (cf. verses 20-21).

 

An hour, and a day, and a month, and a year

The wording in this phrase is very exact. At an appointed time, God prepared the exact hour, day, month, and year on His future timetable for this occurrence.

 

Evidence of God's times, mathematics, and measurements are always exact and precise:

As Seen In the Old Testament

1.  Of the Ark (Genesis)

2.  Of the Tabernacle (Exodus)

3.  Of Israel's Holy Days (Leviticus)

 

As Seen In the New Testament

Paul's conversion experience was similarly met with particular specifications. Following his fall and being blinded by the Light of the World (Jesus), Paul was told to go with his friends to the city of Damascus and wait for further instructions. Then, after three days and three nights, God instructed a godly disciple named Ananias to baptize Paul, remarkably, at a specified address:

Acts 9:11 - And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.

 

Carefully notice: Paul was given the name of the city, the street, and the home address of Judas.

 

Likewise, the appointed year, day, and hour corresponds with God's sixth trumpet judgment. Punishment on man will be numbered, severe, and serve as a foretaste of further damnation for those who refuse repentance.

 

Also noteworthy is the fact that these fallen angels have no power to act either one hour earlier, or one hour later. A commander knows that preciseness is the essential surprise element of any military operation.

 

To slay (kill) the third part of men

As the Hell's Angels are deployed, their assignment is not to hurt, but literally, kill one-third of the world's inhabitants - A massive slaughter of human beings. You recall, in Revelation 6:8 one-fourth of mankind was killed by the fourth seal judgment. Now, an additional third would bring the global death toll to more than one-half of its population. This will not be a natural disaster, but a massive unprecedented slaughtering holocaust far exceeding the loss of lives during Noah's Flood.

 

 

 (Verse 16)

 

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

 

Unlike the numbering of Revelation 5:11 and 7:9, but similar to the counting of the Israelites that were sealed on their foreheads in Revelation 7:48, an army of horsemen described in this passage is exact in number. Some scholars believe this is an innumerable undetermined amount.

 

However, even though the human mind cannot remotely mathematically comprehend their sum figure, in the spiritual realm John had entered, he was capable of not only seeing (cf. verse 17) but also acutely hearing their apportioned amount in its entirety.

 

The following study will provide a glimpse of an army from Hell in which the four major generals command.

 

 

QUESTIONS:

1.   What is distinctly different between the First and Second Woe?

2.   When does the Second Woe begin?

3.   What specifically follows the Sixth Trumpet Judgment?

4.   Why are there four commissioned demonic angels?

5.   Why are they bound in chains at the Euphrates River?

6.   What is their effect on mankind?

7.   Explain the main purpose of God's wrath?

 

 

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