So far we have seen the first 5 trumpets blast. We have seen 1/3 of the vegetation of the earth destroyed, 1/3 of the water supply, the sea life, and the shipping and fishing commerce of the world. We saw the demonic-like plague of locusts. They were like scorpions, inflicting injury and agonizing pain on man but not killing man.
Now the sixth trumpet is going to sound and another horde of demons come forth. This time there is a difference. These are military demons, and they will take their toll on human life. An enormous number of the ungodly and evil of the world will die under this woe judgment. READ 12-15
The 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpets announce the woe judgments. These are the judgments that zero in on afflicting the bodies of the ungodly. We see in 13-15 that there are four fallen angels set loose. Four facts are seen about their being set loose.
1. They are set loose by a command coming from the golden altar. This is the altar of incense where the prayers of God’s people are kept. This symbolizes that God launches this judgment to vindicate the millions who will be slaughtered in the holocaust of the antichrist. The very prayers of the golden altar cry out for the name of God to be vindicated against those who laughed, mocked, and rejected God.
2. The four released angels are bound at the great river Euphrates. Note that the definite article THE is used. The four angels. They are four specific angels. Why would they come from the river Euphrates? Once again, we are not told but theologians say there are two likely reasons.
a. The head or spring of the Euphrates River flowed out of the Garden of Eden. It was there where Satan first tempted and overthrew man. The first sin of the human race took place there. It is where the first organized rebellion against God took place.
b. The Euphrates was the western boundary of the promise land that God promise to Abraham.
3. The four fallen angels were loosed and they prepared to execute a judgment upon the earth; the judgment of slaying 1/3 of the ungodly and evil population of the world. Literally millions will be slaughtered.
4. The fourth fact is seen in verse 15. God has already set the time for this judgment. There is an exact year, month, day, and even hour that this judgment is to fall upon the ungodly and evil
READ 16-19. Now we see the military horsemen and their ugly horses. 3 things are said about this demonic horde.
1. There will be an army of two hundred million. Imagine an army of two hundred million demonic spirits let loose upon the earth. This will be the army that the four fallen angels will command, an army such as the world has never seen before.
2. The riders will have breastplates that are red, blue, and yellow. These breastplates symbolize that they will be indestructible, protected and defended as they go to war against the ungodly of the world. Man will not be able to stop them.
3. The horses will be horrible and add terror upon terror on the ungodly.
- Heads like lions – ferocious, fierce.
- Mouths that spit out fire, fire of a hellish nature.
- They will kill 1/3 of the ungodly and evil upon the earth by the plague of fire smoke and brimstone. Note that the actual weapons of these demons are not mentioned, but the fire, smoke, and brimstone sounds like an atomic explosion.
- Their power is in their mouths, heads, and tails. The head shows intelligence, the mouth symbolizes deceptive speech and a hunger to consume and destroy, and the snake-like tails symbolize poisonous strikes and deadly wounds.
You hear people all the time saying that they don’t understand the book of Revelation. All you have to do is believe. Then read it. If you simply believe and read it, it is very clear. The problem with those who say they don’t understand it is that they really don’t believe it.
So, at this point, 1/3 of the population of the world is killed. Remember that ¼ of the world’s population had already been destroyed under the fourth seal. READ 20-21.
The ungodly and evil survivors of the earth still don’t repent and turn to God. 2/3 of the population will survive because God is merciful. Even in the midst of judgment, God is still merciful. He will give the ungodly of the earth another chance to repent, speaking to them through the judgments, but they will not repent.
You say, “How can they see all this devastation and killing and still not repent?” Well, it’s happening and has been happening on earth for years. I like the way Lehman Strauss put it. He said,
“God has never delighted in the death of the wicked. In the midst of His severest judgments, He delights to be gracious to the guilty. But the death of one billion people in the earth, with all the accompanying grief and the confusion which must follow such a disaster, finds the residue of people not willing to repent. Such is the human heart, deceitful about all things and desperately wicked. After two world wars, and one hundred lesser wars in the past 50 years, the world is more wicked than ever. Instead of repentance, sin increase.”
He’s right, isn’t he?
There are several gross sins for which the ungodly need to repent. These sins exist today but they will be greatly intensified in the end times. These sins are listed here.
1. There will be an increase in the worship of evil spirits and the worship of idols. The devils are said to be behind the worship of idols. Just think about how much worship of evil spirits and idols is going on today. How much is going on in the cities of the world at any given moment?
Scripture declares that the worship of all gods except the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the worship of an evil spirit or idol. Scripture says that covetousness is idolatry. Because a person has set his heart on something other than God Himself, and man owes his first allegiance to God.
Idols can’t see, hear, or walk. They can’t answer a single prayer, give a single ounce of strength, lift a single finger to help extend life a single minute, or carry a person one single inch toward heaven. Idols can’t give one moment of eternal life to a person.
And idol is lifeless. It can do nothing for man. But the evil spirits behind the idols can damage and destroy a person’s soul forever. And that is what will cause so much idolatry and worship of evil spirits in the last days. God hates idolatry and demands that man turn away from it and the worship of evil spirits.
2. There will be an increase in the sin of murder. Remember back in chapter 7 all the martyrs that John saw in heaven. It was a countless multitude that had been slaughtered by the antichrist. The antichrist has his followers all over the world and they will support his murderous moves against the believers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. There will be an increase in the sin of magical arts or sorcery. Let me say part of that again. There will be an increase in sorcery. This is not what you think. What do you think of when you think of sorcery? The Greek word used here for sorcery is pharmakon. We get our English word pharmacy from it.
There will be an increase in pharmacy. What does that say? Magical arts or sorcery includes all kinds of witchcraft, the use of drugs or of evil spirits to gain control over the lives of others or over one’s own life. So the use of drugs will be greatly increased. We see that today.
J. Vernon McGee believed that during the Great Tribulation Period the use of drugs won’t be controlled. Drugs will play a large part in the lives of the unsaved and will serve several purposes.
Drugs will enable them to bear the judgments of the Great Tribulation. When a person gets stung by one of the unnatural creatures, he will turn to drugs to reduce the pain.
He believed that drugs will also play a big part in religion in that time. There will be a regular drug culture and drug religion in the days of the Great Tribulation. People will resort to anything that will deaden the pain or lift them out of the trouble of that time.
But sorcery includes astrology, palm reading, séances, fortune telling, crystals, and other forms of witchcraft.
4. There will be an increase in immorality. The Greek word used here is porneias. We get our word pornography from it. It’s a broad word including all forms of immoral and sexual acts. It is pre-marital sex and adultery, it is abnormal sex, all kinds of sexual vice. It is alarming the way that adultery is being practiced in the U.S. You see homosexuality actually receiving acceptance in our land. Well, it was also the accepted alternative lifestyle in Sodom and Gomorrah. But God put them out of business. And if you think God is going to allow mankind to enter into eternity as an unnatural creature, you are wrong. The fire and brimstone that was rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah was nothing compared to what the people will experience during the Great Tribulation.
5. There will be an increase in thefts. The Greek word here is klemmaton. It means to cheat and steal, to take wrongfully from another person, either legally or illegally.
Tonight we will stop here. We are now between the 6th and 7th trumpet. It is time for an interlude.
But I believe that the gospel will go out to every creature before the Rapture, and certainly each one is going to hear it during the Great Tribulation Period.
The moment a person rejects the gospel and shuts their heart to God, they are wide open for the big lie when it comes. This is the reason so many today fall for everything that comes along. Someone once said that those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.
And that is where the world is today. Those who are not standing for the Word of God are easy prey for the cults.
