Revelation 9:13-21
Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates
13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The sixth sounding by the angel to the seven churches and all who are alive at the end as the hoofbeats of judgment approach was heard by John as to what will come at that time when time nears its end and eternity will come to earth. The voice of the LORD came from the throne and told that angel to set loose four terrible avenging angels as when Satan tempted king David to number God’s people and an angel of destruction was sent to deal with Jerusalem in 1 Chronicles 21:15-16 for his sin of not trusting the Lord. These in the end of times who likewise do not trust the Lord whose Son was sent for their obedience through repentance and faith will suffer the sword of the LORD from heaven once more, but this time it will not be held back. An entire theirs of the people not sealed as God’s in the Lamb (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30) will be killed by the destroyer. These avenging angels will lead an immense army of two hundred million on horseback to lead the assault and their very mouths and tails will add to the carnage with fire, smoke, brimstone, and serpent-like tails with heads to attack and kill. Those who survive this onslaught and lived through the plagues will harden their hearts because they have not been sealed as belonging to God (Revelation 7:3, 22:3-4) and remain unrepentant and doomed to their judgment for their idolatry of sorceries and sexual immortality with accompanying immoral murder and thievery. This glimpse into the end of time should move men and women to turn from their sins of immorality and idolatry of disobedience and disbelief to trust in the Son of God whose is the Lamb slain to take away (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 1:29, Hebrews 9:26) their sin’s just (1 Peter 3:18, Romans 3:19, 23-24, 6:23) due. This is our trumpet call to repentance through faith in the work and righteousness of the Son of God, the Lamb slain in our place so God can pass over our sins (Psalm 89:14) in justice and mercy. This Lamb of God was slain in our place to reconcile us with our God and set us free from the just judgment we all deserve.
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