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2. The Seven Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8:7 - 9:21)
The Sixth Trumpet Sounds - With the Second Cry of Woe
REVELATION 9:12-16
12 The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this. 13 The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had one trumpet, “Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” 15 The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind. 16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.
The Voice From the Horns of the Altar of Prayer: When the sixth angel blew into his trumpet the golden altar of incense, which was before the throne of God and His Lamb, began to speak through its four gold-plated horns. The prayers of the saints of all ages for those persecuted for Jesus' sake (Revelation 8:3-5), along with their worship, confession, petitions and intercession, presented at the altar of incense, had filled the room before the throne of God. The altar could do nothing other than to clearly speak out the answer of the thrice holy God!
The measure of blasphemy, hatred against Jesus, and the suffering of His followers, had reached to overflowing. The age of grace was nearing its end. The judgments of God were not to be put off. The prayers for the saving of the oppressed, and for a change of heart of the lost, brought about the judgment. The persecutors of Christ's followers had shown they didn't want to be saved. They had rebelled and hardened themselves continuously against God and His Lamb. Just as long ago in Egypt the full measure of God's warning judgments was reached with the 10th plague and the death of the first-born (Exodus 11:1-10), so now, the profusion of the prayers at the altar brought an end to the time of God's grace. The angel of the sixth trumpet was now commanded to initiate the judgment of death. The one who continuously rejects the substitutional atonement offered in Jesus must bear his own punishment. That is true for individuals, for followers of a religion, as well as for entire nations. Whoever throws out God and His Lamb, invites the devil and his destructive forces in, to accomplish their destruction.
The Four Storms From the Euphrates: The angel of the sixth trumpet received the order to not only blow into his trumpet, but also to release the four destructive storms, long held back at the Euphrates, yet ever ready to appear. We read in Revelation 7:1-3 that four angels, standing at the four corners of the earth, were holding back four storms, to prevent them from breaking loose before the full number of Christ's believers from among the twelve tribes of the children of Jacob had been sealed. Now the four judgment angels had been released from their duty. The devastating storms went forth raging.
The four destroying storms break over all people, but especially over Israel. The number four is, first of all, an indication of the global working of the destructive forces. The sealing of the 144,000 and the naming of the Euphrates are closely associated with Israel.
The Euphrates, on whose shores Babylon and Ur had rested, flows today through four countries. Turkey can, because of their water dams in the Taurus Mountains, cut off the water from the lower lying lands at any time. Syria has made a great man-made lake behind a dam on the Euphrates. The longest section of this Biblical river is in Iraq. Iran also borders the river, from the convergence of the Euphrates with the Tigris, at Shat el-Arab, to its flow into the sea.
It is not to be supposed that these four named countries presently represent one of the four destroying storms that will break forth over Israel. But, in consideration of the given situation, it is certainly conceivable that as a result of the bottled-up and unsolved tensions in these four countries of the Middle East many nations from the east and west will be stirred up and drawn into this devastating cyclone.
Oil reserves in the drainage area of the Persian Gulf, which can be considered a lengthening of the Euphrates, together with the shortages of fresh water in this region, make up an explosive mix, capable of mobilizing the armies of many nations. The unavoidable question, “oil or Israel?” will, together with the shortage of drinking water, force many countries to ascertain and fight for their areas of influence and national interest. The increasing tensions in this crisis region will force them to pay a high price for oil, water and Israel.
The time for the bursting forth of this devastating world war, announced by the sixth trumpet, is not in the hands of governments, neither in developing nor in developed countries. Much more, it has been exactly determined, down to year and day, month and hour, by the foreknowledge of God. This global war stands under the “have to” of the divine prescience. Just as compelling will be the breaking forth of Gog of Magog, as seen by Ezekiel, with her allies, (Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, etc.) against Israel, only to be finally shattered upon the mountains of the Holy Land (Ezekiel 38:1 - 39:12). Some suspect that the prediction of Ezekiel and the vision of John are events related to each other.
Huge armies are reported of in Revelation 9:13-16, whose troop strength is at least ten thousand times ten thousand times two, thus making up an army of more than two hundred million fighters. Against this sinister number in this world war of destruction, stand the number of the heavenly host, who worship the Lamb of God at His enthronization (Revelation 5:11). The number of the angels, however, stands far above the number of those representing the evil one.
Behind the given number of rider squadrons may stand an army of demons, let loose in the invisible world, to cause the troops of the godless nations in the visible world to trample each other, and thus kill off one-third of mankind with their ABC weapons.
We do not know what the predicted killing of a third of mankind exactly means. The term a third is mentioned 14 times in Revelation. According to human logic, these details cannot be harmonized with each other. But the historical fact that the population of world Jews was, on several occasions, decimated by one third, gives us occasion to think. The first time came during their banishment from Europe, following the unfounded suspicions during the Crusades and the plague epidemic that followed. This catastrophe overtook the Jews a second time in the concentration camps of Hitler. We should, therefore, not be hasty in making this number from Revelation symbolic, but instead, in view of the massive death toll, have pity for both our own countries and for Israel, accompanied by repentance. We have all earned nothing but wrath!
The existence of atomic, biological and chemical weapons, along with the planned attempts to turn loose gene-manipulated biological weapons on certain enemies, makes devastating catastrophes conceivable and doable. It is not the Creator, thereby, who allows unrepentant humanity to be killed. But He does bring them to the place where they will mutually destroy each other. The one who leaves the spiritual place of God and His Lamb's protection falls into the hands of demons and their destructive power (Romans 1:18-32).
PRAYER: Wise Lord, we thank You from the bottoms of our hearts because You taught us that the countries around the river Euphrates are in the last days the start point of a destructive world war, in which the whole world participates. If the four evil angels were released, please lead us to sincere prayers, to firm faith without trouble, and to love services that we may overcome spite and hatred with Jesus' kindness.
QUESTION:
- When did the last war in Iraq begin?