seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 9:13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And 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. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
17 The 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. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19 The 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.
20 The rest of mankind who 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. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Here's the link to the commentary where I found today's study notes.Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates: These four angels have no necessary connection with the four angels of Revelation 7:1. They may be the same four angels or they may not be. Whoever they are, they are prepared for the hour and day and month and year of the unleashing of this judgment.
Were released: “Most of Satan’s angels are yet free — being the principalities against which we wrestle, but some terrible offenders of high rank have been bound.” (Newell)
This assumes these are “bad” angels; they may or may not be, but they probably are evil angels. No matter what, they are servants of the divine purpose.
Were released to kill a third of mankind: The demonic locusts described earlier in the chapter were restricted to tormenting mankind. But these four angels have the authority to kill on a massive scale.
These angels have a specific sphere of activity (a third of mankind), and are only activated in God’s timing. They execute God’s will in God’s timing.
The number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million: Is this number literal or symbolic? “It is possible that the number is not to be taken literally, but simply suggests an army that is impossible to count and is greater than anything mankind has ever seen.” (Hocking)
The army of the horsemen: Does this speak of a natural or a supernatural army? Is this an army of men or an army of demons?
If this describes a natural army of men, then the weird description may speak of modern, mechanized warfare. It may be John simply describes modern machinery in the only terms he can, and the result is this weird, grotesque, terrifying account.
But, a human army this size has never been seen. The total size of all armies — on both sides — at the height of the Second World War was only 70 million. In 1965 China claimed to have an army and militia of 200 million, but this claim was doubted by many. Even if such an army was assembled, and marched towards the west, it is hard (but not impossible) to see such an army killing a third of mankind (perhaps 2 billion or more).
But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent: In general, mankind showed no repentance, despite the presence of some pretty overwhelming signs and wonders.
The first couple of times I studied these verses in church, I admit, I read the descriptions and didn't see the whole picture. The sixth angel blew the trumpet and an army of 2 million wicked beings are let loose to kill a third of mankind. There are about 8.1 billion people on earth today. A third of that is well over 2 billion.
I did a search on Bing. It turns out, there are about 2 billion Christians on earth today.
Nearly one-third or 31.2% of the world's population is considered to be Christian. The term Christian encompasses a broad range of denominations, with Roman Catholicism comprising the largest group made up of around 1.3 billion adherents. Protestants, Evangelicals, Orthodox, Anglicans, and many other sub-denominations are included in the count.
So, if the population is about 8.1 billion and about a third is Christian, and about a third is to be murdered by these funky looking troops on the funky looking horses.... The rest would go on just worshipping whatever they choose. I wonder, will those funky troops single out "Christians" for slaughter? Will those funky troops just kill anyone that comes in their path? Since the Atheists and the Satan Worshippers are not on "God's team" will they be spared by the army of funky troops? Should we carry cards identifying ourselves as Christian or Pagan?
OR.... are the humans slaughtered by the funky troops, newly converted Christians, due to the quakes and plagues and other warnings?
We just read there were more humans in Heaven than John could count. So, if the humans John talked about in Revelation 7 are not on earth.... and God is waiting for everyone who will believe is safe from the final battle, then wouldn't it make sense that funky troops were like the gleaners in the field, picking up the last of the harvest?
2 million funky looking troops are allowed to slaughter a third of mankind.
2 million funky looking troops will take out roughly 2 billion humans.
These verses are about the slaughter of 2 billion.
