The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer (Revelation 8:1-5)

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Why do you think some people believe that everyone will go to heaven (that is, no one will be punished or sent to hell by God)?

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2. What did the seven angels who stand before God prepare to do? (Rev.8:6)

3. What happened when the first angel sounded his trumpet? (Rev.8:7)

4. What were the trumpet blasts that John heard? (Rev.8:7-8,10,12; 9:1,13-15)

5.What was the result when the second angel sounded his trumpet? (Rev.8:10-11)

6. What happened when the third angel blew his trumpet? (Rev.8:10-11)

7. What events followed the fourth angel’s trumpet blast? (Rev.8:12)

8. What did John see an eagle do? (Rev.8:13)

9. What did John see at the sounding of the fifth trumpet? (Rev.9:1)

10. What creature came out of the Abyss? (Rev.9:2-3)

11. What special powers did the creature from the Abyss have? (Rev.9:4-6)

12. What did the creatures from the Abyss look like? (Rev.9:7-10)

13. What events transpired when the sixth angel blew his trumpet? (Rev.9:13-19)

14. How were the few human survivors affected by these horrible plagues and catastrophes? (Rev.9:20-21)

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15. What significance is there to the plagues that will befall the world in the final days?

16. What difference does it make that we are making life more and more comfortable with better and better technology?

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17. What changes can you make in your prayer life this week because of what you have learned today?

Commentary

INTRODUCTION: The first four trumpets are described in a brief and straightforward manner; far more detail is given about the last three. The first four trumpets all deal directly with the earth. They do not symbolize political, social, or economic judgment; those types of judgment come later in Revelation. Nor do they describe any judgment that has ever happened in history in some locale or region. The trumpet judgments are actual, literal, physical events that will affect the whole earth. God will use nature to punish sinners in that day. The partial destruction described by the repeated use of the word “third” in each of the first four trumpet judgments indicates that these are not the final judgments.

The First Trumpet: The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.(Rev.8:7)

Hail is frequently associated in Scripture with divine judgment (Ex. 9:13-25; Job 38:22-23; Ps. 105:32; Isa. 28:2; Hag. 2:17), as is fire (Gen. 19:24; Ps. 11:6; Ezek. 38:22). The combination of fire mixed with blood is reminiscent of Joel 2:30, which also describes the Day of the Lord. The specific cause of the hail and fire … thrown to the earth is not revealed, but from a scientific standpoint an earthquake of the magnitude and extent of the one in 8:5 would likely trigger worldwide volcanic eruptions. Besides spewing vast quantities of flaming lava (which could be bloodred in appearance) into the atmosphere, the atmospheric disturbances caused by those eruptions could trigger violent thunderstorms that would produce large hail. Such thunderstorms would be in keeping with the imagery of Rev.8:5; after the angel hurled his censer to earth “there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning.”

Whatever the scientific explanation, this deluge of death was thrown to the earth by God with devastating effects. The shocking result was that a third of the earth was burned up, rendering the soil in which crops are cultivated unusable. Then a third of the trees were burned up, destroying fruit all over the earth. Finally, all the green grass was burned up. 

The fire falling from the sky kindled raging infernos that consumed one-third of the earth’s vegetation and forests (Ex. 9:25, which records the destruction of vegetation in Egypt).

The effects of such catastrophic fires would be widespread and devastating, including destruction of crops, death of animals on a massive scale, loss of wood for construction, and the destruction of watersheds. That is a fitting judgment for those who “exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25). Fallen mankind has failed to recognize and honor God as Creator, choosing instead to make a god out of the earth. But the environmental, evolutionary pantheism that devalues man, elevates animals, and plants, and ignores the Creator will be severely judged. “Earth Day” that year will be a gloomy and dismal affair; in a scorched and ravaged world there will be little of the environment left to celebrate. And worse judgments are still to fall.

The Second Trumpet: The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. (Rev.8:8-9)

While the earth’s population was still trying to recover from the devastating fire falls, John saw an even more terrifying sign of doom appearing in the sky. As the second angel sounded his trumpet, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. The judgment of the first trumpet fell on the land, that of the second trumpet on the sea. God created the sea to be a blessing to mankind, to provide food, oxygen (much of Earth’s oxygen comes from the phytoplankton and algae in the world’s oceans), and water from the rainstorms on the land that is originally gathered up by evaporation from the oceans. But people have repaid God’s gracious provision with ingratitude and idolatry, revering the sea as the supposed source of their remotest evolutionary ancestors. As He had devastated the land environment, the true God judges the sea.

The massive object plunging through the sky looked to the terrified observers on earth like a great mountain burning with fire. This is evidently a giant meteorite or asteroid, surrounded by flaming gases set ablaze by the friction of the earth’s atmosphere, on a collision course with the earth. The current doomsday scenarios about an asteroid hitting the earth will come true with a vengeance. Everyone will see it, either live or on television, and as the world’s telescopes see it coming, many predictions will no doubt be made about whether it will hit the earth or not. It will hit, striking somewhere in the world’s oceans with an explosive power far greater than that of an atomic bomb. Because all the world’s oceans are connected, the devastation from that hit will spread across one-third of the ocean waters, causing a third of the sea to become blood.

Three catastrophic, supernaturally designed effects result from the collision: a third of the sea became blood, because of that effect a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died. As with the first trumpet, it is impossible to say whether the blood was the miraculous deposit of actual blood. Perhaps more likely, the death of countless billions of sea creatures as a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, could certainly account for the reddish tinge of the water. (This is reminiscent of the plague in which the waters of the Nile turned to blood; Ex. 7:20-21; Zeph. 1:3.) The reddish hue of the sun shining through the pall of smoke from the impact might also give the oceans’ surface a blood red appearance.

The impact will also generate unimaginably huge tsunamis (tidal waves). Those giant waves will destroy a third of the ships on the world’s oceans, capsizing huge ocean-going vessels and completely swamping ports. The resulting disruption of commerce and transportation will cause economic chaos.

The Third Trumpet: The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. (8:10-11)

As the third angel sounded his trumpet another flaming object hurtled toward the earth. John described this latest of the “terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:11) as a great star that fell from heaven. Astēr (star) can refer to any celestial body other than the sun and moon. The massive object that smashed into the ocean remained intact, but this object (possibly a comet or a meteor because of its fiery tail) disintegrated as it reached Earth’s atmosphere. The fact that it is described as burning like a torch supports that interpretation, since lampas (torch) was used in ancient times to describe meteors and comets. The celestial object’s fiery debris fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters, polluting the fresh water around the globe. This also is reminiscent of the polluting of Egyptians’ drinking water (Ex. 7:21, 24).

Because of its deadly effects, the star will be called Wormwood, although the text does not reveal who will name it. Wormwood translates apsinthos, a word used only here in the New Testament. Wormwood is a shrub whose leaves are used in the manufacture of absinthe; a liqueur so toxic that its manufacture is banned in many countries. Wormwood is mentioned eight times in the Old Testament, where it is associated with bitterness, poison, and death (Deut. 29:18; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; 23:15; Lam. 3:15, 19; Amos 5:7; 6:12). In three of those uses, wormwood relates to poisoned water. In Jeremiah 9:15, for example, God says of rebellious Israel, “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink” (Jer. 23:15; Lam. 3:15).

Whatever the poison represented by the name Wormwood is, it is lethal, since a third of the fresh waters became poisonous like wormwood. This is the reverse of the miracle at Marah, where the Lord made bitter waters sweet (Ex. 15:25). It is also reminiscent of the first plague on Egypt, when “all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood” (Ex. 7:20) and became unfit to drink. The repeated pattern of one-third destruction (one-third of the earth and the trees burned up, v. 7; one-third of the sea turned to blood, v. 8; one-third of the sea creatures killed and one-third of the ships destroyed, v. 9) demonstrates clearly that these are not random natural events, but divine judgments.

John records that many men died from the waters because they were made bitter. The rivers will run with deadly poison; the wells will become springs of death; the lakes and reservoirs will be filled with toxic waters. People will be able to survive, for a time, the destruction of food supplies caused by the first two trumpet judgments, living off stored provisions. But people cannot long survive without fresh water, and the loss of a significant portion of the world’s fresh water supply will cause widespread death.

 

The Fourth Trumpet: The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were smitten, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” (8:12-13)

As the fourth angel sounded, the focus of divine judgment shifted from the earth to the heavens. Still reeling from the effects of the first three ecological judgments, people will be desperately seeking answers to the crisis. There will no doubt be seminars, conferences, emergency sessions of the United Nations, discussions among scientists-all desperately and futilely seeking to cope with the damage to the earth’s ecosystems.

Amid all that frenzied activity comes a new disaster in the sky, as a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were smitten. Plēssō (were smitten) is the verb from which the noun “plague” (11:6; 16:21) derives. The heavenly bodies are hit with a plague from God so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. This partial eclipse, reminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague (Ex. 10:21-22), is temporary, as God will later increase the amount of heat coming from the sun (16:8-9). At this point, however, the loss of heat from the sun will cause temperatures to plunge drastically all over the world. That will severely disrupt the earth’s weather patterns and the seas’ tides, leading to violent, unpredictable storms and tides, the destruction of crops, and further loss of animal and human lives.

The dimming of the celestial lights sets the stage for a startling and ominous announcement. As John looked, he heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” The imagery is that of a strong bird of prey rushing to consume its victim, in this case referring to the rapid approach of God’s final vengeance (Deut. 28:49; Hos. 8:1; Hab. 1:8). Depicted in the vision as flying in midheaven, the bird would be at the height of the midday sun, thus visible to all. His loud voice assures that all will be able to hear his pronouncements. The eagle’s dire warning is that the last three trumpet judgments will be even more devastating than the first four.

While double woes are used for emphasis (Rev.18:10, 16, 19; Ezek. 16:23), the eagle’s triple pronouncement of woe, woe, woe introduces one threat for each of the remaining three trumpets about to sound (9:1-21; 11:15ff.). God’s wrath and judgment will come upon those who dwell on the earth. That descriptive phrase is used in Revelation as a technical term for those who reject the gospel (Rev.6:10; 11:10; 13:8, 12, 14; 17:2, 8). Although they will acknowledge that the disasters they have experienced have come from God (Rev.6:15-17), they will not repent. 

The Fifth Trumpet: Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days’ men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things. (Rev.9:1-12)

Each of the first four trumpet judgments affect the physical universe in some way, but with the sounding of the fifth trumpet the focus will shift from the physical to the spiritual realm. The traumatic events associated with that fifth trumpet vision unfold in four scenes: the pit unlocked, the power unleashed, the appearance unveiled, and the prince unmasked.

Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. (Rev.9:1-2)

When the fifth elite presence angel sounded his trumpet, John saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth. In his visions, the apostle had already seen several heavenly bodies plunge to earth (Rev.6:13; 8:8, 10). Unlike them, however, this star was not an inanimate piece of celestial matter, but an angelic being (Job 38:7). That he was said to have fallen to the earth suggests that this is a reference to Satan-the leader of all the fallen angels. Isaiah 14:12-15 describes his fall: How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. (Ezek. 28:12-16; Luke 10:18)

The fall of Satan described in Rev.9:1 is not his original rebellion. Though he and the angels who fell with him (Rev.12:4) were banished from heaven, Satan retains access to God’s presence, where he constantly accuses believers (Rev.12:10; Job 1:6). But during the Tribulation he and his demon hosts will unsuccessfully battle Michael and the holy angels. As a result of their defeat, they will be permanently cast down to the earth. Revelation 12:7-9 describes that battle scene:

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

With his theater of operations now restricted to the earth, and his time running out (Rev.12:12), Satan will seek to marshal all of his demonic hosts-those already on earth, those cast to earth with him, and those incarcerated in the bottomless pit (literally “the pit of the abyss”). Abussos (bottomless) appears seven times in Revelation, always about the abode of incarcerated demons (Rev.9:2, 11; 11:7; 17:8). Satan himself will be held prisoner there during the Millennium, chained and locked up with the other demonic prisoners (Rev.20:1, 3).

Scripture teaches that God has sovereignly chosen to incarcerate certain demons in that pit of punishment. Second Peter 2:4 says that “God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment.” God has imprisoned certain fallen angels in such a place of severest torment and isolation. They remain in that place, awaiting their sentencing to final punishment in the eternal lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 13-14).

The “spirits now in prison” in the abyss are those “who once were disobedient … in the days of Noah.” They are the demons who cohabited with human women in Satan’s failed attempt to corrupt humanity and make it unredeemable (Gen. 6:1-4). The demons released by Satan at the fifth trumpet may not include those who sinned in Noah’s day (Jude 6), since they are said to be in “eternal bonds”(Jude 6) until the final day when they are sent to the eternal lake of fire (20:10; Jude 7). Other demons imprisoned in the abyss may be the ones released. So, the pit is the preliminary place of incarceration for demons from which some are to be released under this judgment. After Satan received the key to the abyss from its keeper, the Lord Jesus Christ (Rev.1:18), he opened the bottomless pit and released its inmates. 

Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days’ men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. (Rev.9:3-6)

Out of the vast, billowing, ominous cloud of smoke that darkened the sky and caused panic among earth’s inhabitants John saw a new terror emerge. Vile demons, taking on a visible form resembling locusts, swarmed out of the abyss to plague the earth. The destructive power of locusts is noted in several Old Testament passages (Deut. 28:38; 2 Chron. 7:13; Ps. 105:34; Joel 2:25; Nah. 3:15); locust swarms consume all vegetation in their path.

But these were not ordinary locusts, but demons, who, like locusts, bring swarming destruction. Describing them in the form of locusts symbolizes their uncountable numbers and massive destructive capabilities. The fact that three times in the passage (vv. 3, 5, 10) their power to inflict pain is compared to that of scorpions indicates they are not actual locusts, since locusts have no stinging tail as scorpions do. Sadly, even the horrifying experience of this demon infestation will not cause many to repent (Rev.9:20-21), if any.

Strict limitations were placed on the activities of this demonic host. This judgment, unlike the first four trumpet judgments, is not on the physical world. In fact, they were told (probably by God, who gave the angel the key to the pit in Rev.9:1, and who controls everything for His purposes) that there were limits. God forbade the locust horde to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree (Rev.8:7). The demons’ business is not with vegetation, but only with men-not all people, but only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Believers will be preserved, just as God sheltered Israel from the effects of the Egyptian plagues (Ex. 8:22ff.; 9:4ff.; 10:23). Those who have the seal of God include not only the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (7:3-4; 14:1), but also the rest of the redeemed (Rev.22:4; 2 Tim. 2:19). 

Even what the demons can do to the unregenerate is limited. Although Satan has the power of death (Heb. 2:14), its exercise is subject to God’s sovereign will and power, thus these demons were not permitted to kill anyone. God, in His mercy, will give people torment for five months (the normal life span of locusts, usually from May to September), during which they cannot die but will be given the opportunity to repent and embrace the gospel. That five-month period will be one of intense spiritual and physical suffering inflicted on unbelievers by the judgment of God through the demon horde. The five months will be for many people the last opportunity to repent and believe, before they die or are permanently hardened in their unbelief (Rev.9:20-21; 16:9, 11).

So intense will be the torment inflicted on unbelievers that in those days (the five months of v. 5) men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. All hope is gone; there will be no tomorrow. All attempts at suicide, whether by gunshot, poison, drowning, or leaping from buildings, will fail.

The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. (Rev.9:7-10)

Having delineated the devastation, the locusts (demons) will cause, John gives a more detailed description of their appearance in the vision. They are described as locusts because they bring massive, devastating, rapid judgment from God (Ex. 10:4-5, 12-15; Deut. 28:38; 1 Kings 8:37; 2 Chron. 7:13; Ps. 78:46; 105:34; Joel 2:1ff.; Amos 7:1), but their exaggerated, terrifying features reveal them to be unlike any locust, scorpion, or any other creature ever before seen on earth. John can only give an approximation of what this formidable spiritual army looked like, as the repeated use of the terms like (used ten times in this passage) and appeared to be indicates. To describe the supernatural and unfamiliar demon horde, John chooses natural and familiar analogies.

The general appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. They were warlike, powerful, and defiant, like horses straining at the bit and pawing the ground in their eagerness to charge forward on their mission of death. Joel 2:4-5 describes a locust plague in similar terms. On their heads John saw what appeared to be crowns like gold. The crowns they wore are called stephanoi, the victors’ crowns, indicating that the demon host will be invincible, unstoppable, and all-conquering. Men will have no weapon that can harm them and no cure for the terrible torment they inflict. That their faces were like the faces of men indicates they are intelligent, rational beings, not actual insects. Having teeth like the teeth of lions (Joel 1:6), they will be far more fierce, powerful, and deadly than lions, ripping and tearing apart their victims. 

Breastplates of iron, designed to protect the vital organs and preserve the life of the soldier, here symbolize the demon horde’s invulnerability; they will be impossible to resist or destroy. In a further metaphor drawn from the battlefield, John, like the prophet Joel (Joel 2:4-5), compares the sound of their wings to a moving army, noting that it was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle. There will be no escaping their massive, worldwide onslaught; nowhere to run or hide. The threefold comparison of the demons to scorpions (vv. 3, 5) stresses that their sole mission is to hurt men. The nature of this full-scale demonic torment that drives people to seek death and not find it, to pursue death and not catch it, is not described. For five months they will do such to a whole world of ungodly sinners. The reiteration that the demons will be permitted to torment people for a limited time stresses God’s sovereign power over the duration of their assault. Eventually, He will return them to the abyss with their evil master (20:1-3) and then send them to the lake of fire (20:10).

They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things. (9:11-12)

Unlike real locusts (Prov. 30:27), the demons had a king over them. John gives his title as the angel of the abyss. Some identify this angel as Satan, but his domain is the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12), where he is the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). He is not associated with the abyss until he is cast into it (20:1-3). This angel is better viewed as a high-ranking demon in Satan’s hierarchy. John notes that his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon. John uses both names to emphasize his impact on both ungodly Jews and Gentiles. Both words mean “destroyer”-an apt name for the head of the devastating army of demons that rises from the abyss. Abaddon is used in the Old Testament to describe the place of eternal punishment (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 15:11; 27:20), thus further reinforcing this angel’s connection with the abyss and hell. Apollyon comes from the Greek verb apollumi, which means “I destroy.” These terms identify this leader as the king of the demonic death squad.

Having described the first woe (Rev.8:13; the fifth trumpet judgment), John cautions that God’s wrath has not run its course. Two woes (the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments, including all the bowl judgments) are still coming after these things, so there will be nothing more than a brief sigh of relief before still more fearful judgments follow on those “who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”(Rom. 1:18).

The Sixth Trumpet: Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Rev.9:13-14)

In his turn, at the appointed moment, the sixth angel sounded his mighty trumpet. Immediately, John heard a voice. The Greek text literally reads “one voice,” stressing that John heard a single, solitary voice. The voice is not identified, but it is possibly that of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was pictured earlier standing near the throne (Rev.5:6), when He took the seven-sealed scroll from the Father’s hand (Rev.5:7) and broke its seals (Rev.6:1), thus unleashing the series of judgments of which the sixth trumpet is a part. Or this could be the voice of the angel whom John had seen standing near the golden altar of incense (Rev.8:3).

While identifying the source of the voice is not possible, its location is: it came from the four horns (small protrusions on each corner) of the golden altar which is before God. John had already seen this altar, the heavenly counterpart to the Old Testament altar of incense, twice before in his visions. In the tabernacle and temple, this altar was a place where incense was burnt, symbolizing the peoples’ prayers for mercy rising to God. But in John’s vision the golden altar became an altar of imprecatory intercession, as the martyred saints pleaded there with God for merciless vengeance on their murderers (Rev.6:9-11). 

The voice coming from the surface of the altar between the four protruding corners explicitly commanded the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” That the four angels are bound indicates that they are demons (20:1ff.; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), since holy angels are nowhere in Scripture said to be bound. Because holy angels always perfectly carry out God’s will, there is no need for Him to restrain them from opposing His will. God’s control over demonic forces is complete-they are bound or loosed at His command. The site of the four angels’ imprisonment is familiar-the great river Euphrates (Deut. 1:7; Josh. 1:4). It is the river over which the enemies of God will cross to engage in the battle of Armageddon (Rev.16:12-16).

And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. (Rev.9:15-19)

Death now returns with a vengeance. The four angels (the ones bound at the Euphrates River; v. 14) who had been prepared by God for this exact hour and day and month and year (Matt. 24:36) were released. At the precise moment in the predetermined year, the month, and the very day and exact hour called for by God’s sovereign plan, He will release these four high-ranking demons so that He can use them in His ongoing judgment of the world.

The shocking, terrifying purpose for the release of these demon leaders and their hordes was so that they would kill a third of mankind (“those who dwell on the earth”; Rev.8:13). The judgment of the fourth seal killed one quarter of the earth’s population (Rev.6:8); this additional third brings the death toll from these two judgments alone to more than half the earth’s pretribulation population. That staggering total does not include those who perished in the other seal and trumpet judgments. The repeated emphasis throughout the trumpet judgments on one-third (Rev.8:7-12) demonstrates convincingly that these are controlled, precise divine judgments and not mere natural disasters.

Before describing the horses, the actual agents of destruction, John briefly described those who sat on them. He noted that the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone. The color of fire is red; that of hyacinth, dark blue or black like smoke; that of brimstone, a sulfurous yellow, describing the rock which, when ignited, produces a burning flame and suffocating gas. Those are the very colors that paint a terrifying picture of God’s wrath poured out on the sinful world by these demons. These colors are reminiscent of the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the nearby cities (Gen. 19:24-28).

Horses are frequently associated with warfare in Scripture (e. g., Ex. 14:9ff.; Deut. 11:4; 20:1; Josh. 11:4; 1 Sam. 13:5; 2 Sam. 1:6; 8:4; Ps. 33:17; Prov. 21:31; Isa. 5:28; Jer. 6:23; Ezek. 23:23-24; 38:4, 15; Dan. 11:40; Hos. 1:7; Joel 2:4; Nah. 3:2-3), but it is clear that these are not actual horses. Using the descriptive language of his vision, John noted that the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. Like lions these demon forces fiercely, relentlessly, determinedly stalk and slaughter their victims. John noted three ways that the demon horses killed their victims, all of which picture the violent, devastating fury of hell. They incinerated them with fire and asphyxiated them with smoke and brimstone. John saw that the devastating result of this deadly demonic assault was to be that a third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.

It may be noted that the word plagues will appear frequently in the remainder of Revelation 11:6; 15:1, 6, 8; 16:9, 21; 18:4, 8; 21:9; 22:18 as a term for the destructive final judgments. As if the description he has already given were not frightening enough, John sees more about the deadly power of the demons. He is made aware that not only is the power of the horses in their mouths, but also in their tails. Having likened the horses’ heads to savage lions, John notes that their tails are like deadly, venomous serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. The horse’s tails were not actual serpents, because the horses were not actual horses. The horse was anointed with war force, the lion with vicious, deadly power, the serpent with deadly venom. These images describe the supernatural deadliness of this demon force in terms that are commonly understood in the natural realm. Unlike the scorpion stings inflicted during the previous demonic assault (9:5), the snakebites inflicted by this host will be fatal.

And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. (Rev.9:20-21)

The death of one-third of the earth’s remaining population will be the most catastrophic disaster to strike the earth since the Flood. Yet in an amazing display of hardness of heart, the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent. It is unimaginable that after years of suffering and death under the terrifying judgments from God, coupled with the powerful preaching of the gospel by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Rev.7:1-8), the two witnesses (Rev.11:1-14), an angel in the sky (Rev.14:6-7), and other believers (Matt. 24:14), the survivors will still refuse to repent. Like those who rejected Jesus despite seeing His miracles, hearing His powerful preaching, and the preaching of His resurrection, they will “fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Tragically, they will choose to worship the dragon and the beast (Antichrist) instead of the Lamb (Rev.13:4-8).

 As he concludes his account of this amazing vision, John lists five sins representative of the defiance of those who refused to repent. 

• First, they did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk (Deut. 4:28; Ps. 115:5-7; 135:15-17). Ever since the Fall, men have practiced idolatry, worshiping the works of their hands. That phrase is used throughout Scripture to refer to idols (Deut. 27:15; 31:29; 2 Kings 19:18; 22:17; 2 Chron. 32:19; 34:25; Ps. 135:15; Isa. 2:8; 17:8; 37:19; Jer. 1:16; 25:6, 7, 14; 32:30; 44:8; Hos. 14:3; Mic. 5:13; Hag. 2:14; Acts 7:41). 
• As a result, in addition to idolatry, violent crimes like murders will be rampant. Bereft of any sense of morality, evil, unrepentant people will imitate the demon horde’s murderous blood lust. Believers in the true God will no doubt be their prime targets, as they lash out seeking revenge for the disasters God has brought on them.
• John describes a third sin his vision revealed will characterize that tragic time as sorceries, a Greek word from which the English words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceuticals” derive. Drugs were and still are believed to induce a higher religious state of communion with deities. Pharmakōn can also refer to poisons, amulets, charms, séances, witchcraft, incantations, magic spells, contacting mediums, or any object that is tied to pagan idolatry to elicit lust or to seduce. People will dive deeper into the satanic trappings of false religion.
• The fourth sin from which the unregenerate will refuse to turn away is immorality. Porneia (immorality) is the root word of the English word “pornography.” It is a general term describing sexual sin of every variety, including fornication, adultery, rape, and homosexuality. Indescribable sexual perversions will be running rampant in that day.
• Finally, people will refuse to repent of thefts. Like morality, honesty will be nonexistent, as people compete for the increasingly scarce supplies of food, clothing, water, and shelter.

THINK ABOUT THIS: If only people could see the demons behind the so-called pleasures and privileges of this world, they would shrink back and cry out in horror. Behind the beautiful hair of the seductress or the gleaming gold crown of the conqueror is a locust with the teeth of lions and the sting of scorpions. Pray for God to enable you to see the evil of sin, not just in its consequences but also in its hatred against God, so that you might thoroughly repent of sin. 

Though wars and disasters may bring temporary surges of attendance at worship services and prayer meetings, often people quickly slide back into their sins. Why does mankind so stubbornly cling to its idols and sins? What is wrong with us?

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100 Bible Verses about Testimony Of Jesus Christ