The Sixth Angel Blasts His Trumpet
The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 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. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
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. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 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.
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. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Revelation 9:13-20)
Two more woes from the released Dragon are yet to come. So what we will see come upon mankind is not from God but from the Devil.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.” (Revelation 12:12)
We saw at the trumpet blast of the sixth angel that the Dragon was released from his prison of 1000 years. Smoke rose up out of the Abyss.
This smoke was smoke out of the Dragon’s mouth. This smoke represents a spirit (lies, utterances, deception) that pollutes the air in a spiritual sense.
The Dragon is very angry and goes out to destroy what Christ established on the earth (in people and the literal earth) and to take a stand against what must come down out of heaven to exact the final blow to this enemy.
But the Dragon needs a human army to fight the coming spiritual battle alongside his angels. So what does he do? He enlists human agents to do his directing, bidding, and enforcement of his throne on earth (beast). These human agents are represented by the locusts that come out of the smoke.
The Dragon established his throne. He gives power and great authority to it and he also gives power and authority to these locusts who are the 10 kings we read about in Revelation 17:12.
The Dragon’s agenda is to deceive the entire inhabited earth to worship him through the image representing his throne. Once he has exacted the allegiance (worship and support) from the masses, he can prepare them to fight against what is coming down from above. The Dragon, through his Beast and locusts, will convince the worshipful masses that what is coming threatens their peaceful and secure existence under his rulership over them.
Note: The Dragon is an invisible entity. The people will never see or hear the Dragon speak to them directly. The Dragon speaks to them through the Beast, its image, and the locusts (a collective false prophet).
So, the stage is being set for a spiritual battle between two kingdoms: The Dragon’s kingdom and the one that will come down out of heaven, God’s kingdom.
Jesus warned at Matthew 24:7 …
Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. (Notice no plural)
The woes (distressful times) over the earth are events leading up to the battle that will take place on the place (the earth) called Armageddon. Armageddon is not a war, it is the place where the war will be waged. Later, in the series, you will learn the importance of this. (Revelation 16:16)
The Dragon is preparing his mighty army. Now, the Most High God will prepare Him through his champion, Michael, the Archangel who is also the glorified and ascended Jesus Christ.
The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 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. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number. (Revelation 9:13-16)
When the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God issues a command to release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates. Who is this voice?
Back in Revelation 5:6-8, we see the lamb of God in the center of God’s throne. The lamb is depicted as having seven horns. This lamb is the only one worthy to open the seven seals and look at its contents. (Thus, a Revelation From Jesus Christ That God Gave Him).
The voice is that of the lamb of God. He issues the command to release the angels bound at the great river Euphrates.
These angels are not released to literally kill a third of mankind. Why?
Because all of mankind would have been resurrected from the dead at the beginning and during Christ’s 1000-year rule over the earth. It would make no sense to literally bring death upon them again. When resurrected from the dead, one cannot die again. They can only perish – not exist – at this time. (John 5:28-29)
No, this is another type of killing or death.
Since this is a spiritual battle that will be waged, the killing or death of a third of mankind is with a view of The Lake of Fire Which is the Second Death mentioned in Revelation 20:14.
Michael’s Angels are also messengers. The Dragon’s angels are messengers, too!
Michael’s angels bring forth a message, a command, a warning to the third of mankind that if they do not return to worshiping their God and rebel against Him, they will go into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death. In other words, they will cease to exist. This is the killing of a third of mankind.
I will cover this in more detail later, but you can read what is written about this in Revelation 20:7-10
The Dragons army will be composed of his invisible angels and visible human agents (Gog and Magog). But Michael’s army will be angels only. Notice in the description below, they do not have the appearance of humans because they are not humans, they are the Dragon’s angels outfitted and prepared for a great battle.
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. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 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.
What is striking is where the power of the heads of the horses is. It is in their mouths and in their tails. That their tails were like snakes shows that they are from the Serpent and these heads speak lies to the masses.
The injury they inflict is not a literal physical injury, it is an infection. A virus of the mind in the masses. A collective psychosis to deceive and prepare them to join horses and their riders in the battle.
A third of the earth’s population in those days will be infected with this collective mass psychosis, which is simply demon infection and possession.
God allows this to happen.
The Apostle John continues to write what he sees in Revelation 9:20-21:
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. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Notice the use of the word, plagues. A virus. A virus of the mind. I could use an analogy to help one visualize what this is: Think of Nazi Germany. Think of the mindset of those loyal to Hitler and his vision. That mindset was shared by a collective. It was a collective psychosis.
Two-thirds of the earth’s population will not have yet been infected and affected at this point in time; however, they continue to be unrepentant, nor stop worshiping demons, idols, murdering, practicing magic, sexual immorality, and thefts.
Two more woes for the inhabitants in those days are yet to come.
The first woe passed at the end of the fifth trumpet blast. (Revelation 9:12)
The second woe begins at the sound of the sixth trumpet blast. (Revelation 9:13 – Revelation 11:14)
The third and final woe begins at the sound of the seventh and last trumpet blast. (Revelation 11:15 – Revelation 12:12)
Let’s now move on to Revelation Chapter 10 and learn about the angel who has a scroll in his hand. Some of you may already recognize who this angel is.
