As will become evident, the severity of these judgments increases as the trumpets (woes) unfold.
9:13 Someone near the four horns (symbolic of power) of the golden altar in heaven, probably the angel identified with it in 8:3, gave a command after the sixth angel blew the sixth trumpet (cf. 8:2, 6). Instead of seeing something (cf. v. 1), John now heard something.
9:14 This angel instructed the angel who had blown the sixth trumpet to release the four angels who were bound at the Euphrates River. These are evidently four angels that John had not seen before. They must be fallen angels since good angels are not bound (cf. 20:1-3; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6). God had a purpose for them to fulfill and ordered their release to accomplish His will (cf. vv. 1-11). Scripture does not record when or why God bound these angels, but evidently He restricted them as punishment. Perhaps He imprisoned them when Satan rebelled against Him.332
The Euphrates River undoubtedly refers to just that. This river, including the whole Mesopotamian region that it drains, had been the border between Israel and its enemies to the northeast, namely, Assyria and Babylonia. It was also the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in John's day.
"In the first century people would have thought of the Parthians, the world's most dreaded cavalry, for they came from this region and filled men with foreboding."333
The Parthians were the only warriors the Romans could not and did not defeat.
9:15 These angels were ready for a specific assignment at a specific hour in history (cf. 12:6; 16:12; Matt. 25:34, 41; Mark 10:40; Luke 2:31; 1 Cor. 2:9).
"One article governing all four nouns shows that duration is not in view, but that the occasion of each one of the time designations is one and the same: the appointed hour occurs on the appointed day in the appointed month and in the appointed year. . . . Once again, this sounds the note of divine providence that recurs so often in this book (e.g., deiin 1:1, melleiin 1:19) . . ."334
Their task was to put one-third of those who dwell on the earth (i.e., earth-dwellers) to death (cf. 8:13). This will result in approximately half the population of the earth alive at the beginning of the Tribulation being dead at the end of this judgment. One-fourth died under the fourth seal judgment (6:7-8), and many more died as martyrs and for other reasons (cf. Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21-22). However, it is only the earth-dwellers, those in rebellion against God, who suffer death as a result of this woe (cf. 9:20).
9:16 The "horsemen"may be humans under the control of these four evil angels (cf. Dan. 11:44), or more likely the horsemen are demons. The description of the horses (v. 17) argues for an angelic army as does its leadership, namely, four angels (vv. 14-15). Most interpreters take their number as meaning innumerable, but their number could be literal even if these are human warriors.
"Years ago Red China claimed to have an army of 200 million (cf. Time, May 21, 1965, p. 35)."335
The combined Allied and Axis forces at their peak in World War II totaled about 70 million 336An angelic army of 200,000,000 demons is not hard to imagine.
9:17 Now John saw what these horsemen looked like. Horses were swift implements of war in ancient times. Red, blue, and yellow breastplates covered both horses and riders. This was apparently their only armor, and it is defensive armor. Hyacinth is a flower that is most commonly blue, and brimstone is sulfur that is yellow. Lion-like horse heads could be very different from those of ordinary horses or just heads of horses that appear exceptionally bold and majestic. Lions are terrifying (cf. 10:3), fierce (cf. v. 8), and destructive (cf. 13:2). Natural horses do not breath fire, smoke, and brimstone. This verse suggests that this army is probably something other than a human army of cavalry, probably an angelic army (cf. v. 9).337
9:18 Fire, smoke, and brimstone are natural elements that God used to bring judgment in the past during similar conditions (cf. Gen. 19:24, 28). He may use them again, or they may represent other agents of destruction. "Plagues"recalls the plagues in Egypt (cf. Exod. 11:1 LXX; Rev. 9:20; 11:6; 13:3, 12, 14; 15:1, 6, 8; 16:9, 21; 18:4, 8; 21:9; 22:18). The repetition of the definite article "the"in the Greek text (tou) indicates that these are three distinct plagues. Together they will be responsible for the largest death toll in human history so far (cf. v. 15).
9:19 This further description of the horses supports the conclusion that they represent angelic instruments of divine judgment other than natural horses. Some interpreters have suggested that what they represent are modern weapons that shoot both forward and backward, such as missiles. The locusts had the power to injure like scorpions with their tails (v. 10), but these horses have power to kill like serpents with their tails, which is worse (cf. v. 15).
9:20 These three severe judgments (fire, smoke, and brimstone, vv. 17-18) will not move the remaining unbelievers as a whole to repent (cf. Exod. 7:13, 23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 35; 10:20; 11:10).
"In all cases in the apocalyptic portion of the book, the word about repentance is negative as here."338
"Metanoeo ek(I repent of') in Revelation denotes a change of mind in rejection of something that is anti-God (cf. 2:21, 22; 9:21; 16:11)."339
Elsewhere in Scripture the phrase "the works of their hands"refers to idolatry (cf. Deut. 4:28; 27:15; 31:29; 2 Kings 19:18; 22:17; 2 Chron. 32:19; 34:25; Ps. 115:4; 135:15; Isa. 2:8; 17:8; 37:19; Jer. 1:16; 10:3, 9; 25:6, 7, 14; 32:30; 44:8; Hos. 14:3; Mic. 5:13; Hag. 2:14; Acts 7:41). Idolatry is ultimately worship of demons (cf. Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:37; 1 Cor. 10:20), an understanding that John reflected here. Ironically, these earth-dwellers refuse to stop worshipping demons who are responsible for their misery under this sixth trumpet judgment. In his day people fashioned idol images out of the materials that John mentioned. Today objects that people venerate made of these same materials can be bought in stores. John reminded his readers of the helplessness of these idols (cf. Deut. 4:28; Ps. 115:5-7; 135:15-17; Isa. 44:12-20; Dan. 5:23).
9:21 These unresponsive people will also continue in their moral sins: murders, sorceries, immorality, and stealing (cf. 21:8; 22:15). Idolatry violates the first and second commandments, and these sins are violations of the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments. The Greek word translated "sorceries"(pharmakon) implies the use of drugs. The English word "pharmacy"comes from it. The Greek word can refer to poisons, amulets, charms, magic spells, witchcraft, or any other object or practice that makes someone susceptible to sin (cf. Exod. 22:18; Lev. 20:27; Deut. 18:10-12; 1 Sam. 28:7; Acts 8:9; 13:8; 19:13-15).
These trumpet judgments, as the seals, will grow more intense as they proceed. Most people living on the earth during these days will be so hard of heart that they will not turn to God in repentance. Nevertheless some will become believers in Jesus Christ (ch. 7). Perhaps the salvation of most of them will take place in the earlier part of the Tribulation before these more severe judgments fall.
