13The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.
17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
20The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Dig Deeper
Years ago I, while I was coaching high school basketball, I had a team one year that was quite good. Early in the season, there was another team that was actually in a higher division than we were, but probably not as good. The coach of this team felt that his team was too cocky and not nearly as good as the players thought they were. He set up an early-season exhibition game with our team but he had one purpose in mind. He actually was hoping that the team from our very small school of one-hundred students would come in and defeat his team from a large school of over three-thousand students. In fact, our team responded quite nicely and pounded this team rather easily. To some this may have seemed like a horrible thing for a coach to do, but the reality was he knew that this was needed for his team. So, he used another team to humble his team and put them in their proper place.
Those who are familiar with the Old Testament know that God did similar things throughout the Old Testament. He would use the enemies of God, pagan nations primarily, to discipline and humble His own people. He would, in other words, allow those who were inspired by evil to carry out their evil desires so that His ultimate purposes might be fulfilled. We see this same sad scenario being played out in this passage. God has removed His protection from His people and the pagan hordes from Rome will soon be fully unleashed. They will, in the most ultimate sense, however, be fulfilling God’s purposes rather than their own evil intentions. The fact that God can unleash evil and allow it to be used for His divine and righteous intentions speaks all the more to His unrivaled sovereignty. There was one major difference between those being judged here and that basketball team. After they were defeated, they were humbled and re-dedicated themselves to working hard. The people here, though, refused to repent and thus, demonstrated their unbelievable arrogance before the one, true God.
9:13 - The sixth angel sounds the sixth trumpet which corresponds to the second woe of this section. John hears a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. (The original text actually says "four horns." The NIV is the only of the major translations that does not contain "four". Two early manuscripts leave out "four", but it seems more likely that this was a copyist error and should be included). The voice reminds the reader that the desolations sent by God to the earth are on the behalf of His people. God’s action in history has proceeded from His altar where He has received the prayers of the saints.
The significance of the voice coming from the horns or projections of the altar would have been clear to first century Jews. It was invoking the symbolism of the purification offering. The purification offering dealt with pollution caused by sin. If sin had polluted the land, it defiled God’s dwelling place as well. The sins of the nation of Israel were atoned for by offering a sacrifice on the altar, then smearing the blood on the horns of the golden altar of incense (Lev. 4:13-21). This in turn purified the altar so that the incense could be offered with assurance that God would hear their prayers. God’s command is spoken from the four horns of the golden altar, indicating that the sins of His people have been covered and will not block the access they have to God. It is worth mentioning again the nature of the prayers of the saints, which were for the destruction of the enemies of God and his people. One identifier of a godly man in the Psalms is hatred for God’s enemies and prayer for their downfall (Ps. 5:10; 10:15; 35:1-8, 22-26; 59:12-13; 68:1-4; 69:22-28; 83; 94; 109; 137:8-9; 139:19-24; 140:6-11).
9:14-16 - The sixth angel is commanded to release the four angels who are bound at the great rive Euphrates. The Euphrates River formed the boundary both literally but even more so symbolically between Israel and the pagan armies which God used as a scourge against His rebellious people. This border was the northern frontier of Palestine, so John’s words here invoke all of the Scriptural warnings about an enemy from the north (Jer. 6:1, 22: 10:22; 13:20; 25:9; 26; 46:20, 24; 47:2; Ezek. 26;7; 38:6, 15; 39:2). Both the glory cloud and God’s agents of vengeance are often depicted in the Old Testament as coming from the north (Ezek. 1:4; Isa. 14:31; Jer. 1:14-15). This great army from the north that has been released is God’s army, being used for his purposes, but is demonic and pagan in nature. God is not literally leading this army, He has merely removed the protection against Israel and will allow them to come in judgment on Israel.
At the same time it could be said that the angels were released to kill a third of mankind, because God is sovereign and when His agents allow something on His behalf, God is, in some respects responsible for it. Even still, the pagan hordes will be judged for their evil actions even though God has allowed them to work for His overall purposes. The intent of the hordes was still evil in their own heart and they will be judged for that. The angels that removed the protection had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year. The time had been set long ago for the outpouring of God’s judgment, although no one but Him knew the day and the hour. This demonstrates the difference between apocalyptic events, which are already decided and prophetic events which can be avoided by repentance. John hears the number of the mounted troops which the NIV translates presumtively as two hundred million. The text literally reads "myriads of myriads." The point was that it was a large, but indefinite and incalculable number. It indicated that a vast host comprised this army.
9:17-19 - The characteristics of the horses include the fact that out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur are meant to remind us of the Dragon. These creatures are repulsive and not from earth, they are, in the results of their work, from hell. This innumerable army advancing from the place of God’s traditional enemies is a hostile, demonic force sent by God in answer to the prayers of His people. It is the fulfillment of the warnings of the law and prophets of the punishment that would be sent to covenant breakers.
9:20-21 - Despite all of this, the rest of mankind that were not killed, still did not repent. The Bible is quite clear that since the Old Testament times, demons, the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim, have masqueraded as and been worshipped as false, pagan gods (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 106:36-38; 1 Cor. 10:20). The Jews had not repented, and had, in fact, ignored the clear signs from God during the year of 66 AD that the time was near. These include, as Josephus reported, a bright light that emanated from altar and all through the Temple for half an hour; the east gate of the inner sanctuary opening by itself (it took over twenty men to open it); apparitions of "chariots. . . and armed battalions speeding through the clouds and encircling the cities," which had been witnessed by thousands; the twenty-four priests on duty at the feast of Pentecost reporting that they heard a voice from the court of the Temple declare "We are departing hence.", and there was a star that looked like a sword that rested over Jerusalem for the entire year. They continued to reject God’s clear warnings, clinging to their false version of God and telling themselves that everything was okay.
Devotional Thought
Have you ever considered the fact that, although God does not create evil, He will allow it and use it for His purposes to bring about His perfect will? Spend some time today meditating on the fact that God is so powerful that He can release evil to do what it will, and is still sovereign and able to use that evil for good. That is a powerful and awesome God.
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