The Sixth Trumpet Judgment - Revelation 9:13-21
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we looked at the fifth trumpet judgment, the first of what some have rightly called the “woe judgments.” Moving into the final three trumpet judgments we see that there is a shift from judgments that affect the physical world like the first four trumpet judgments which affected the land, and the seas, and the fresh water, and the sun and moon and stars; to the spiritual realm which we saw last Sunday with the fifth trumpet judgment and the opening of the abyss or bottomless pit and the release of the demons which came out in the form of locusts. These spiritual creatures had one purpose for which they were released and that was to inflict pain and torment on man for five months.
As we will see with the sounding of the sixth trumpet judgment we remain in the spiritual realm as a more severe demonic attack is brought upon man, in the previous judgment death fled from those tormented by the demons, in this judgment death returns. Let’s pray and then get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles again to Revelation chapter 9. We will finish up this chapter this morning by looking at verses 13-21. Please if you are able, stand for the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Revelation 9:13-21,
“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.’ 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. 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.” (Revelation 9:13–21, NASB95)[1]
DEMONS TO BE RELEASED (Revelation 9:13-14)
Verse 13 begins with the sixth angel holding the sixth trumpet of judgment raising the trumpet to his lips and sounding a long, clear blast. John says that immediately he heard a voice, the Greek literally says that he heard “one voice.” The voice is not identified for us, it could be the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, He was standing near the throne while He was breaking the seals from the scroll. It could be the voice of the angel who had offered the incense with the prayers of all the saints up before God. It says that this one voice came from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. John has mentioned this altar twice already in his visions. The earthly version of this golden altar in both the tabernacle and the temple was a place that incense was burnt, symbolizing the peoples’ prayers for mercy rising to God. John’s vision of the golden altar in heaven is an altar of intercession, as the prayers of the saints rise before God asking God to judge sinful man on the earth and to establish His kingdom on earth. John ties God’s judgment back again to the prayers of the saints and His response is that judgment has come. Though the voice is not identified it speaks to the angel who had just sounded the sixth trumpets and commands him to, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Revelation 9:14b, NASB95)[2] The fact that these four angels are bound indicates for us that they are fallen angels, they are demons, nowhere in Scripture do we read of holy angels being bound.
Holy angels always carry out God’s will perfectly, and because they do there is no need for God to restrain them from opposing His will. Understand that God is sovereign and His control over demonic forces is complete, they are bound and released at His command. The Greek grammar used in this phrase “four angels who are bound” implies that these angels were bound in the past with continuing results; that is, they were in a state of bondage until God’s determined time came for them to be released to execute their role as instruments of divine judgment.
The fact that the definite article “the” is used here, “release the four angels” as opposed to “release four angels,” suggest that these four demons form a specific group. There precise identity is not revealed, but some scholars have suggested that they may be the demons that controlled the four major world empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. If you remember way back when we studied the book of Daniel we spoke about the warfare between holy angels and the demons that influence individual nations. If you need a refresher or a reminder I would encourage you to take the time to go back and read the 10th chapter of Daniel where Gabriel and Michael, the holy angels are fighting against the prince and kings of the kingdom of Persia, which are the demons which influenced the nation of Medo-Persia.
Whoever these four demons are that are about to be released, they are powerful fallen angels that control a massive demonic army set to wage war against sinful mankind when God releases them to do so.
DEATH RETURNS (Revelation 9:15-19)
Death which had eluded man during the fifth trumpet judgment, when man wanted to die to be relieved of the agony of the tormenting stings of the demon locusts, now returns in this sixth trumpet judgment with a vengeance. John records that these four angels that are released were prepared for this very hour, day, month, and year. God had placed these bound demons at the Euphrates river for this very moment in time that they would be released to carry out God’s judgment on sinful mankind. God in His sovereignty had all of this as His perfect plan for the end-times, nothing that will happen during those days will be by chance, but it will be all sovereignly directed by God the Father and the Lamb. God’s purpose for the release of the four bound fallen angels at the great river Euphrates is that they might lead their demonic hordes to kill one third of the remaining population left on the earth at this time. If you remember the judgment of the fourth seal was the killing of one quarter of the earth’s population. The death toll from these two judgments alone is more than half of the world’s pretribulation population. That total does not include those who died in the other seal and trumpet judgments.
John MacArthur writes, “The terrible slaughter will completely disrupt human society. The problem of disposing of the dead bodies alone will be inconceivable. The sickly stench of decaying corpses will permeate the world, and it will take an enormous effort on the part of the survivors to bury them in mass graves or burn them.”[3]
The slaughter of over a billion people will require a massive and powerful force. John records that these four demons that were bound command a demonic army of two hundred million. When John gives us an exact number like this we should accept it as fact, when he speaks of an innumerable amount he speaks in broad terms, not specific numbers. John tells us that he heard the number of these armies, the number was given to him orally. It would have been impossible for him to count in this vision. The use of the plural “armies” may imply that each of the four demons released commands an army of fifty million. There are some who teach that this is a human army, but from John’s figurative language used to describe this army’s horses suggests that this is a supernatural rather than a human force.
John very briefly describes those riding the horses, in fact John only speaks of the colors of the breastplates that those riding the warhorses are wearing. John writes that the colors of the breastplates were the color of fire, of hyacinth, and of brimstone. The color of fire is red, the color of hyacinth is a very dark blue or black like smoke, and the color of brimstone, a sulfurous yellow, describing the rock which, when ignited produces a burning flame and a suffocating yellow-colored gas. These same colors and features are the features of the lake of fire where Satan, the demons, and all unrepentant sinners will one day go.
John goes on to describe the horses that these soldiers with the colored breastplates are riding. Horses are often associated with warfare in Scripture, but John’s description of these horses make it clear that these are not actual horses, but demons taking on the form of these war beasts. First, John notes that the heads of these horses are like the heads of lions. Coming out of the mouths of these lion-headed horses was fire and smoke and burning sulfur or brimstone, all three of these things picture the violent, devastating fury of hell. John tells us that the result of this deadly demonic assault was the death of a third of the earth’s human population by one of these three plagues: incineration by fire, asphyxiation by smoke and/or the deadly gas given off by the burning brimstone.
This term “plagues” will appear frequently in the remainder of the book of Revelation as a term used for the destructive final judgments. Then as if this description of these war beasts was not frightening enough John goes on to describe more about the deadly power of these demons. John made us aware of the deadly power coming from the horses’ mouths, but now he tells us that these demons have power in their tails as well. Having likened their heads to savage lions, John describes their tails as venomous snakes, which have heads and can do harm. Their tails can strike and poison their victim.
John uses commonly understood terms from the natural world to describe for us the supernatural deadliness of this demon force that God has allowed to be unleashed on the earth in His sixth trumpet judgment. The result as I already said will be the death of a third of the earth’s remaining population.
DWELLERS ON THE EARTH RESPOND (Revelation 9:20-21)
What is the response of those that escaped this demonic invasion that swept across the earth and killed one out of every three people? John writes, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands…” (Revelation 9:20a, NASB95)[4] The death of one-third of the remaining population of the earth will be the most devastating, catastrophic event to ever occur on the earth since the flood. The horror of seeing these demonic beasts destroying life should cause man to repent, but instead we read from John’s words that those who survived the plagues hardened their hearts, they refused to repent of their sinful acts, instead they chose to worship the demons and the Antichrist instead of the Lamb who had been slain for the sins of the world.
As John concludes this chapter he lists for us five sins representative of the defiance of those who refuse to repent. John begins with their refusal to repent from the work of their hands worshiping other gods and demons, false religion and the worship of false gods and demons will increase in this time, there will be a resurgence of idols made of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood and people will cling to these as their gods and cry out to them and worship them, and John reminds us that these idols cannot see, nor hear, nor walk. In other words, they are powerless to help you. Second, violent crimes like “murders” will be widespread and unchecked. Without any sense of morality, unrepentant mankind will imitate the demon horde that just swept through and killed, by killing with the same murderous blood lust of the demons. Third, John mentions “sorceries” The Greek word translated “sorceries” is the word from which we get our English words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceuticals.” Drug use is bad now, but it will even become worse and even more connected with the religions of the day, it has always been believed that drugs induce a higher religious state of communion with deities, spirit guides, etc. Fourth, John lists immorality. A Greek term that is a general term that can include any sexual sin. Indescribable sexual perversions will be rampant in that day.
Finally, John says they will refuse to repent of their thefts. Like morality, honesty will also be nonexistent, as people compete for the increasingly scarce supplies it will be nothing to steal from someone who has something you do not have, basic things like food, clothing, shelter and medicines. During the tribulation this world will descend lower than ever before, morality will no longer exist, every man will do what he believes is right in his own eyes, false religion will abound, murder, sexual perversion, and crime like never before in human history. But the end is not yet here, more judgment is coming and in the end the glorious return of the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ. This is the promise that we believe God will be faithful to fulfill. As we consider the truth of God’s word and understand that the day of God’s judgment is coming, we as believers, those of us who have put our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross have a responsibility to faithfully proclaim the gospel to unbelievers today so that they too may have the hope that we have in Christ.
CONCLUSION:
As I finish up here this morning I want to point out two attributes of God that have been clearly displayed over the past few weeks as we have been looking at God’s judgment on unrepentant mankind. First, is the attribute of God’s sovereignty. This word sovereign means that God is in complete control of everything and that He does all that He pleases. God’s sovereignty is a fundamental doctrine of the church, if God is not sovereign than who controls what happens in the universe. In our Scripture reading this morning Caleb read: “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19, NASB95)[5] Both last Sunday and this Sunday we have seen God’s sovereignty over His creation—even over those who rebelled against Him. The demon locusts last week and the demon armies and their demon commanders this week had to carry out God’s judgment on unrepentant, sinful, Christ-rejecting mankind. They had to carry it out in God’s way and in God’s timing which He had set the hour, day, month, and year in which it will happen. Though those demons may be in rebellion against God, they cannot reject His authority or sovereignty over them, God’s purposes will be fulfilled by those who have been appointed to fulfill it.
Secondly, I would like to point out the attribute of God’s faithfulness, another fundamental truth of the church is that God is faithful to keep His promises. Throughout the Old Testament He promised to judge mankind and bring in a reign of peace on the earth and fulfill all the promises made to the nation of Israel. Revelation is the foretelling of the judgment of sinful mankind which will culminate in the return of Jesus Christ and the setting up of the kingdom of peace and the fulfillment of all the promises made to Israel. God is faithful and He will do it, we know this because He has proven His faithfulness to us in the past by promising to send a Savior, one who could redeem us from sin, and Jesus Christ did that at His first coming, and God continues to show His faithfulness to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, when we agree with God that we are sinners deserving His full wrath, but believe that Jesus took our punishment for us and died for our sin, and we believe that He was buried, and three days later rose from the dead proving He had paid for sin and triumphed over the death penalty forever, then we are saved from God’s wrath, and our sin is forgiven and we become a son or daughter of God. God is faithful to save those who turn to Him in faith believing that what God’s Son did for them is the only way their sins can be forgiven and they can be allowed into heaven.
When we understand God’s sovereignty and God’s faithfulness our hearts should erupt in praise like the psalmist in our Scripture reading this morning, his voice lifted in praise to God in the end of Psalm 103, listen to his words: “Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!” (Psalm 103:20–22, NASB95)[6]
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]MacArthur, John F., Because The Time Is Near. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 2007
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995