13 And 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, Loose (unloose) the four angels who are bound (fastened; tied) in the great river Euphrates. 15 And the four angels were loosed, who were prepared (made ready) for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay (put death; slaughter) the third part of men. 16 And the number of the army of the horsemen (military equestrian; cavalry) were two hundred thousand thousand (200,000 to 2,000,000,000; innumerable multitude); and I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw (sighted; envisioned) the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire (shining with fire), and of jacinth (sapphire), and brimstone (sulphur); and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued (breathed; came forth) fire and smoke and brimstone. 18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20 And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues (wounds) yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons (pagan gods), and idols of gold, and silver, and bronze, and stone, and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. 21 Neither repented they of their murders (slaughters), nor of their sorceries (witchcraft; mixing of drugs; black magic), nor of their fornication (physical immorality), nor of their thefts (stealing).
1 In this chapter is found a horrible vision, a devastating visitation! We have visualized two spheres so far - heaven and earth; now a third is introduced - the bottomless pit (the abyss). Apparently this is the final assault of Satan against God, the final unfolding of the development of evil in the world prior to the millennium. Herein is the first trumpet of woes. John heard the fifth angel sound his trumpet and saw a star which had fallen (peptokota from pipto - [perfect participle]; already fallen; having fallen) from heaven unto the earth, and to the star was given the key (kleis - representing authority or power to open and close) to the bottomless (abussou - deep; unsounded depth) pit (phreatos from phrear - well; ditch). Could the star be a fallen angel? Could it have been Satan (Isaiah 14:2; Luke 10:18)? Incidentally, in the Septuagint the word Lucifer is translated "Star." Possibly so since the star takes on human/angelic characteristics. Some of the details of these events will not be known fully until the time comes. (The word abyss or bottomless pit is found seven times in the Revelation - 9:1, 2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3; the same Greek word is translated "deep" in Luke 8:31). The time of the fifth trumpet is in the middle of the week or the middle of the tribulation. In keeping with Yeager's interpretation, he states some correlative evidence: (1) the time of the fifth trumpet is mid-week of the tribulation; (2) it is the same time as the fourth seal; (3) the 'star' is Satan who at this time has been thrown out of heaven (Revelation 12:7 - 9); (4) Satan opens the shaft that leads to the abyss and frees the Beast (Revelation 9:2); (5) the Beast, thus freed reappears on earth (Revelation 11:7; 17:8); (6) he brings with him the scorpions described in Revelation 9:7 - 11 who torment the unsaved on earth for five months (Revelation 9:5); (7) the 'king of the scorpions' (Revelation 9:11) will make war with the saints (Revelation 13:7); (8) thus the fifth seal reveals these martyred saints in heaven as souls under the altar (Revelation 6:9 - 11) who are demanding judgment upon the Beast on earth who killed them and are told to wait a little while until the rest of the elect upon earth are saved and either martyred or raptured (p. 129).
2, 3 From the bottomless pit came smoke like that of a great furnace (kaminou from kaminos - an oven) causing the sun and the atmosphere to be darkened (eskotothe from skotoo - covered with darkness). The smoke contains tormentors as can be seen in verse 3. "Under the one trumpet the world is darkened through the failure of the ordained lights of heaven to shine in their due measure; under the other, and obscuring darkness ascends out of the pit itself. Satanic malice united itself with human unfaithfulness, and as the result of these two causes combined, 'darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people'" (Smith, p. 126). From the smoke came out locusts upon the earth and to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. The scorpion of southern Palestine has a dozen species; their poison is in the sting at the end of the tail. It is an emblem of torture and wrath measuring from two and sometimes exceeding six inches in length (Unger, p. 64). It is described as a small venomous reptile having a bladder full of poison. Its anatomical description gives it two eyes in its mid-head, and another two eyes toward its extremity; with two arms like claws, eight legs with six talons each; a long tail like a string of beads, with two stingers full of poison, which it squirts into the object of its sting (Wallace, p. 179). The sting of the scorpion produces violent convulsions, excruciating pain and sometimes death. The locusts could have been given the power of such a scorpion.
The locusts are those insects of which the Oriental countries are acquainted. They are able to strip fields and forests of all vegetation. These same locusts, either raw or roasted and seasoned with salt, were delicacies of the Oriental (Thayer, p. 24). Criswell calls the locusts infernal creatures, vile in body, malignant in disposition, terrifying in form, and equipped to afflict and torment mankind (Vol. III, p. 184). They must have been plentiful. Leviticus 11:22 gives permission to the Israelites to feast on these insects, "Even these (winged insects going on all fours) ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the beetle after its kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.) In our passage in Revelation, the locusts were given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. The scorpions were little animals resembling a lobster, which in warm regions lurk especially in stone walls; it had a poisonous sting in its tail (Thayer, p,. 579). Luke writes of the scorpion (10:19; 11:12). The scorpions from the pit, however, must be extraordinary insects, probably larger that the ones in Luke's account and those referred to in Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6.
4, 5 These locusts were commanded (errethe from rheo - were made) not to eat green vegetation as was the ordinary nature of locusts; they were commanded to torment (basanismos - torture; testing by the touchstone) the human population of the earth, who did not have God's seal in their foreheads, but not to kill them. Earlier one third of the trees had been destroyed (8:7), but now the locusts are commanded to torture men for five months. They strike (paise from paso - smite) with stings in their tails. It is implied that the locusts have the ability to kill, but they are commanded not to do so. The five months of torment is governed and limited by Jehovah God in His sovereignty.
6 Earth's human population will seek (zetesousin from zeteo - endeavor) death and even desire (epithumesousin from epithumeo -covet; lust after) death, but death will flee (pheugei from phiugo - escape; flee away) from them. "We read of 'the smoke of their torment;' of the 'weeping and gnashing of teeth;' of 'the second death,' which is still not death in any sense of ceasing to be; or the annihilation that would be so welcome" (Smith, p. 128). So desperate will be the torment that probably some will attempt suicide but to no avail.
7 - 9 The shape (homoiomata from homoioma - similitude; appearance) of the locusts were like (omoioi - similar to) horses prepared for battle (polemon - military conflict) and on their heads were as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. On their breasts were breastplates (thorakas from thorax; that is the thoracic cavity - lungs, heart, etc.; a hard shell or scales having the appearance of armor) like iron, and their wings sounded like chariots of many horses running to battle. Note John's repeated use of the simile - like; as - to try to explain some of the features of these creatures. John searches for words to explain what he saw. In Joel's day he wrote something akin to John's description. In 1:6 and 2:4 - 6, Joel wrote, "For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the check teeth of a great lion...The appearance of (the locusts) is like the appearance of horses; and like horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the peoples shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness." What else remains to be said about these horrible locusts that torment the human population of the earth?
10 - 12 John repeats the information given in verse 5. The stings (kentra - stabs; pricks) in the tails of the scorpions were painful like a bee sting only more painful. These vermin are quite beyond the features of the ordinary locust; the sacred writer shows us a plague in which devastation, malice, king-like authority, intelligence, seductiveness, fierceness and strength meet together under one directing spirit to torment mankind. They are beyond the natural; they are unnatural. He adds the fact that the locusts had a king (basilea from basileus - leader) over them who was the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in the Hebrew tongue was Abaddon (abaddon - ruin; destruction), but in the Greek tongue his name was Apollyon (apolluon - Exterminator; Destroyer). One woe (and exclamation of grief; alas) is past and, behold, there comes two more woes hereafter. Apollyon is probably the Beast of Revelation 13 and the Pale Horse Rider of Revelation 6:7, 8.
13, 14 Now the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, and a voice is heard from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God; this is the second woe. This angel speaks, "Loose (luson from luo - unloose) the four angels (magnates of evil) who are bound (dedemenous from dese - fasten; tie) in the great river, Euphrates." Euphrates is the river which "rises in the mountains of Armenia Major and flows through Assyria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and the city of Babylon. It receives the water of the Tigris and other small tributaries like the Chebar...it is sometimes called 'the flood'" (Unger, p. 328). Today the Euphrates flows from central Turkey, Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris at Basra, at the head of the Persian Gulf.
15, 16 The four angels were loosed as commanded, and they prepared (etoimasmenoi from etoimazo - made ready) for the hour, and day, and month, and year; that is, there was a given (certain) hour, day, month and year when they were to become active; an assigned time to slay (apokteinosin from apokteino - put to death; slaughter) the third part of men over the earth. The angels mounted an army of torment and destruction; the number of their cavalry (hippikou from hippikos - horsemen; equestrians) was 200,000 (diamuriades from dis muriades - twice ten thousand; two hundred thousand; myriads; an innumerable multitude). The number of horsemen range from 200,000 to 200,000,000 (Weymouth); regardless the number is a multitude; probably larger than any cavalry in history. Scott indicates that "the largest army ever brought into the field recorded in history was that under Xerxes I in the invasion of Greece in 481 B. C. On the testimony of Herodotus it exceeded two and a half million of men (to be exact 2,641,000), as well as an equal number of engineers, slaves, merchants, provisioners, and harlots" (p. 211). Iniquity will run its course; Jehovah God in His sovereignty let it develop and continue; however, there is an hour, a day, a month, a year when God will judge it.
17, 18 In John's vision he saw (horasei from horasis - sighted; visualized) horses and riders that had breastplates of fire (shining like fire), of jacinth (huakinthinous from huakinthinos - sapphire; red in color) and of brimstone (theiodeis from theiodes - sulphur); the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; from the horses' mouths they breathed (ekporeuetai from ekporeuomai - come forth) fire and smoke and brimstone (each a separate plague). By these three (fire, smoke and brimstone) which issued out of the mouths of the horses a third part of men were killed. Yeager states, "the huakinthos is a yellow, orange, red or brown variety of zircon...(so) fiery red, dark blue and yellow - this is how the breastplates of the horses looked to John - lion's heads with fire, smoke and sulphur coming from their mouths. Obviously this will be no human cavalry unit, though they will be accompanied by a human army composed of soldiers of all nations (Revelation 16:12 - 14). This hellish horde of creatures will kill one third of all of the unregenerate who will remain upon the earth at that time" (pp. 146, 147).
These cavalrymen and foot soldiers will come from the Euphrates River valley which was the site of ancient Babylon who was Israel's old enemy.
19 - 21 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails (what horses?); for they have tails like serpents, and had heads like lions, and with their tails they do hurt. The rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues (plegais from plege - wounds) repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons (daimonia from daimonion - pagan gods), and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither did they repent of their murders (phonon from phanos - slaughters), nor of their sorceries (pharmakon from pharmakeia - witch-crafts; mixing of drugs; black magic), nor of their fornication (porneias - physical immmorality), nor of their thefts (klemmaton from klemma - stealing). In spite of the tormmentors the ungodly did not repent of their evil deeds! Unregenerates find no room to repent of their evil actions. Even though the men may be sorry because of their torment, they still do not repent of their actions. It is strange how man cannot reform himself; most never repent of their iniquities. Even in the midst of their punishment and incarceration many are still defiant. Man will never change unless he is changed by the Gospel of the grace of the Son of God.
Excursus C
Did the prophet Jeremiah see a preview of this chapter in Revelation? Hear the prophet as he writes of the marshaling the nations of Egypt and Babylon against Israel; Jeremiah 46:3 - 10 reads, "Order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; polish [furbish] the spears, and put on the coats of mail [brigandines]. Why [Wherefore] have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? And their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back; for fear was round about, saith the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the River Euphrates. Who is this that cometh up like a flood, whose waters are moved like the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants of it. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; Cush and Put [the Ethopians and the Libyans], that handle the shield; and Ludim [Lydians], that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself on his adversaries; and the sword shall devour, and it shall be filled to the full [satiate] and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates."
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, and said, Go and take the little scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. 9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little scroll. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat (devour) it up; and it shall make thy belly (stomach) bitter, but it shall make thy mouth sweet as honey. 10 And I took the little scroll out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter (upset; disagreeable). 11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again about many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
1 The material beginning with 10:1 through 11:14 is a parenthesis just like the parenthesis in 7:1 - 17). Also, observe that there is thee longest interlude or parenthesis (10:1 - 11:14) between the sixth and the seventh trumpet. John saw another (usually of the same kind) mighty (ischuron - strong; powerful) angel come down from heaven; this angel was clothed (peribeblemenon from periballo - arrayed about) with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as though it were the sun, and his feet like pillars (stuloi from stulos - columns) of fire. From the description this may have been the Lord Jesus Christ Himself or another angel of the same kind that had previously been mentioned; needless to say, it is the symbol of majesty, and he does have an aura of divinity about him. The Revelator had already written (1:7), "Behold, (Christ) cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, Even so, Amen." Our Lord also appeared overwhelmed by a cloud at His Transfiguration in Matthew 17:5, "While (Jesus) yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed (Moses, Elijah and our Lord); and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."
2, 3 This angel had in his hand a little scroll (biblaridion - a little book), not sealed this time but open (eneogmenon from anoiga), and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars, and when he had cried out seven thunders (brontai from bronte - thunderclaps) uttered their voices. Was this the same book as the sealed book in chapters 5 - 7? Possibly this book is different! The book here is a diminutive scroll - "booklet" or "pamphlet" (bibaridion the diminutive of biblion). The angel spoke with such volume that John likened it to the roar (mukatai from mukaomai - of a lion or the sound of a cow lowing). John is again thoroughly impressed. What does the scripture mean when the angel set one foot on the sea and one foot on the dry land? This probably indicates that this angel is in control, or he is showing his authority; after all, Jehovah God is still sovereign! Jehovah God spoke to Israel concerning the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 11:24), "Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your border [coast] be." God made a kindred promise in Joshua 1:3, 4.
4 When the thunderclaps had died down, John was about to write down something, but he was forbidden by a voice saying, "Seal up (sphragison from spharizo - set a seal to forbid entrance) or 'Do not write even one word' those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not." John indicated that 'he was in the process of making preparations to write.' What was John not permitted to write? Lange understands the little book to be "the book of the world's end, the revelation of the events of the approaching end of the world" (Smith, p. 141). Will we ever know what the seven thunders said? Thunder is God's voice in judgment, the expression of His authority therein. When the Israelites were victorious at Ebenezer (I Samuel 7:10), "...the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and routed [discomfited] them, and they were smitten before Israel." (See also: Psalm 18:13; and Job 26:14).
5 - 7 So the angel that John saw standing upon the sea and the dry land takes center stage and lifted up his hand to heaven and swore (omosen from omnumi - gave an oath) by (the authority of) God that lives forever and ever, Who created (ektisen from ktizo - made; brought into existence out of nothing) heaven and the things that are in it, and the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things which are in it, that there should be delay no longer (chonos oukete - no more time remained); but the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery (musterion - a thing hidden; secret) of God should be finished (etelesthe from teleo - accomplish; fulfill), as he hath declared to his servants, the prophets. The "little while" referred to in Revelation 6:10 is now fulfilled; that is, no more time remains. The martyred saints need not wait any longer for their revenge. Smith writes, "It is the ever-living, the mighty, the faithful God Who thus declares, through the lips of his messenger-angel, his purpose to now fulfill that which was promised" (p. 144). The day that Peter writes about in II Peter 3:9 now is fulfilled, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The time has now arrived.
Jehovah God has now saved all who will be saved. The mystery of God is finished which God declared to His prophets. What is the mystery? Yeager (p. 160) refers to Ephesians 3:1 - 11, and more specifically verses 4 - 6 which read, "By which, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel,..." The Second Coming of Christ will have as its harbinger the completing of the church (the saved), the selection of all the personnel of the Body of Christ from before the foundation of the world. "Pretribulation rapture teachers must deny that the 'mystery' here means what Paul meant in Ephesians 3:3, 4, 9, since the seventh trumpet comes at the end of the week. But their problem arises from their assumption that the rapture is at the beginning, rather that at the end of the tribulation week. If the mystery of Ephesians 3:3, 4 - 9 is the mystery referred to in Revelation 10:7 then the Gentile Body of Christ will be complete and the rapture will follow immediately (Yeager, p. 161). Criswell thinks the 'mystery of God' is the long delay of our Lord in taking the kingdom unto Himself and in establishing righteousness in the earth. Sin and Satan and death have run riot and held sway long enough; there is a barrier, a boundary, a dike beyond which and over which the flood-tides of iniquity shall not roll. There is a sovereign will, an eternal will - God's will (p. 199, 201). Some think the mystery is the mystery of iniquity (II Thessalonians 2:7), others the mystery of godliness (I Timothy 3:16), or the mystery of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:32), or the mystery of God (Colossians 2:2), or the mystery of the seven stars (Revelation 1:20), or the mystery of the woman and the beast (Revelation 17:7), or the mystery of Israel (Romans 11:25). Whatever the mystery is "it has been declared to his servants the prophets." 8, 9 A voice spoke to John ordering him to go and take the little scroll which was open in the hand of the angel who stood upon the sea and upon the earth. John is now a participant (a representative actor) in the drama as it unfolds. John went to the angel and told him to give him the little scroll, which he did. The angel then told John to take the scroll and eat (kataphage from katesthio - devour) it up, and it shall make your belly (koilian from koilian - stomach) bitter, but it will make your mouth sweet (gluku from glukos, our word glucose) as honey. The Psalmist wrote (119:103), "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." Furthermore, Ezekiel (2:8 - 3: 3, 14) was admonished to "...Open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a scroll [roll of a book] was in it; and he spread it before me; and it was written within and without; and there was written in it lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat what thou findest; eat this scroll [roll], and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that scroll. And he said unto me, Son of man, eat, and fill thy stomach with this scroll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness...So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me."
10, 11 John followed orders as the angel had commanded him, and he found the little scroll in his mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as it had been eaten it truly was to his belly very bitter (disagreeable; upsetting). And the angel told John that he must prophesy again about many people, and nations, and tongues, and kings. Yeager states, "The remainder of the Revelation concerns the fortunes and misfortunes of the human race, described here as 'peoples and nations and tongues and kings.' (John's) message will be 'about' them, and it will be for the advantage for some and for the disadvantage of others" (p. 167). John the Revelator and Ezekiel as well as every God-called messenger must preach (deliver) some messages that are unpleasant; however, we must be true to the One Who called. Smith relates, "How often those to whom the gospel message, before other messages more strictly prophetic in character, was committed, have found what was sweet and precious in personal experience an occasion of sorrow, trial, temptation, and indeed keenest pangs of suffering while communicating it to others, is a familiar fact" (p. 147).
Was not this the burden on the prophet Isaiah (6:9 - 12)? Jehovah God told Isaiah, "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land." The king of Israel, Josiah, must have felt the same burden when the Word of God (II Kings 22:8 - 13) was discovered, and he read it, tore his clothes in grief and wept because of the message, "...For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the word of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us." The blessings upon Israel would be sweet, but the apocalyptic judgment upon God's people would be bitter as wormwood. Paul states in II Corinthians 2:15, 16, "For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other, the savor of life unto life." To the saved God's Word is sweet smelling, to the unsaved it may have the smell of death. The Gospel is sweet to those who hear and respond, thus being guaranteed eternal salvation as the free gift of God. It is bitter to those who reject it, however, for the same Gospel that guarantees salvation to those who receive it, guarantees judgment and damnation to those who reject it.
| Introduction & Bibliography | Rev. 1-2 | Rev. 3-4 |
| Rev. 5-6 | Rev. 7-8 | Rev. 9-10 |
| Rev. 11-12 | Rev. 13-14 | Rev. 15-16 |
| Rev. 17-18 | Rev. 19-20 | Rev. 21-22 |
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