Revelation 8-9 (Trumpets)

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Introduction

8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar 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, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

This week we’re picking back up in our study of the Book of Revelation, specifically, chapters 8 and 9. I’m going to try to continue moving forward at a pretty good clip to avoid becoming a walking commentary on every detail of John’s Apocalypse. My hope is that we’ll continue to build on the framework of interpretation that we’ve already established in earlier messages, that you’ll end up with a biblical framework by which to interpret, understand, and enjoy the Book of Revelation. While it may be one of the most difficult books in all the Bible, we’re meant to understand it, that we might benefit from it, and I believe there is ample means to accomplishing this goal if we simply apply ourselves to the task.
If you weren’t here during our earlier messages beginning in the fall my suggestion would be that you take some time to visit our website and listen to at least the first six introductory messages of the book, because while my interpretive approach isn’t anything new, it is very different than what’s popular throughout the church today. In fact, many Christians are unaware that there have been other interpretive approaches to the Book of Revelation throughout church history. Therefore, in those first six messages my goal was to outline the primary historical approaches to the book, their strengths and weaknesses, and why I’ve chosen what’s often referred to a preterist approach to John’s Apocalypse, that the events described here came to pass in the first century, and where primarily concerned with Jerusalem, Rome, and the church.

Recap

That being said, I want to remind us where we’re at in the story of John’s Apocalypse. Chapters 8-9 are concerned, specifically, with the covenant judgments that befell Jerusalem and the Temple in the first century. In chapter 4 the Apostle John is given a vision of heaven, where the heavenly court takes its place before God’s throne in heaven, before the one who sits on the throne, the Ancient of Days. Then in chapter 5 a scroll, with judgments written on the front and back against apostate Israel, was handed down to one worthy to open its seals, a lamb who was slain, one worthy to execute its judgments.
In chapter 6 we were given a summary of those judgments as the seals of the scroll were opened, the same types of judgments described in Leviticus that were threatened if the Jews were to break the terms of the old covenant. At the end of the chapter when the 6th seal was opened John saw souls under the alter in heaven, souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne, who were crying out, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
We saw that God’s intention was to vindicate his saints from those who called themselves Jews, but who had become a Synagogue of Satan, those who had persecuted and killed the prophets. The days of God’s wrath had come, the axe had been laid to the root of the tree, and his winnowing fork was in his hand, prepared to clear his threshing floor, gather his wheat into the barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt 4:10, 12) The day of vengeance had come for those who had crucified the Lord of glory.
However, before the judgments were poured out on the covenant breakers, we were told in chapter 7 that 144,000 were sealed from the 12 tribes of Israel. That the servants of God must first be sealed on their foreheads, that the righteous wouldn’t be destroyed with the wicked, marked that God might preserve for himself a remnant, as he had always done, a remnant that would result in a great multitude that no one could number, from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Silence in heaven

Then, after God’s servants were sealed, the 7th seal of the scroll is finally opened in chapter 8 to reveal 7 angels with 7 trumpets, prepared to execute judgment against Israel, but first, there is silence in heaven for half an hour. Maybe to portray the time it took for the Christians to flee Jerusalem, or maybe to simply heighten the suspense, we’re not told why.

7 Trumpets

We read there in chapter 8, starting in verse 1,

8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The use of trumpets is all throughout the Bible, sometimes to announce kings, or as a summons to worship, or as a call to war. In this case, these trumpets were a summons to war, war against the city that had killed the prophets and stoned the messengers who were sent to it, which had culminated in the death of Jesus and the persecution of his disciples. Just like Jericho, the walls of Jerusalem would fall at the blast of 7 trumpets.
The 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls in John’s Apocalypse are meant to rehearse the judgments as they intensify, they’re not strictly chronological, but rather a rehearsal of the intensifying judgments. This is why the results of the seals is counted in fourths, while the results of the trumpets are counted in thirds, until finally the bowls result in complete destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. And this is not without precedent, the prophet Ezekiel used the same language to describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in his day at the hands of the Babylonians in Ezekiel 5:12.
These 7 trumpet judgments parallel, in many cases, the judgments that the Egyptians suffered in Exodus 7-10. The water becoming as blood, darkness over the land, locusts, and hailstorms. This is because Jerusalem had become like Egypt, and why, later in chapter 11, is symbolically referred to as Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem had become like the pagan nations around it, therefore, there would be a new exodus, a remnant sealed and protected from the plagues, who are the church.
In Deuteronomy 28 God had warned Israel that,

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting. 60 And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. 61 Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.

Prayers of the saints

And we’re told that these judgments are carried out in response to the imprecatory prayers of the saints, their cry for justice. The 7 trumpets depict God’s response to his saint’s pleading for justice, which we saw earlier in chapter 6 when, “They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
And so their prayers are described here in chapter 8 as being offered with incense on the golden alter in heaven, rising before God who is on the throne, meant to depict the pleasing aroma of the saint’s prayers before him. That their pleas have not gone unheard or been ignored. Psalm 141:2 says, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you.” Therefore, we can always be assured that our prayers do not go unheard, while we may suffer injustice for a time we can take heart that our Lord is faithful and just, and that vengeance is mine says the Lord.
Then we’re told that the angel who offered the incense with the prayers took the censer, filled it with fire from the alter, and threw it down upon the earth, which is meant to depict God’s vengeance being hurled down upon the earth against his enemies. That the prayers of the saints had reached his ears, that God has heard their prayers, and had come to avenge their blood. The same fire that had consumed the incense is used to destroy the city. And with it come “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.”

1st Trumpet (hail, fire, and blood)

Then we read picking up there in verse 6,

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

One of the methods of war that the Roman army employed was a scorched earth tactic. They would destroy any crops, livestock, and water supply of their enemies. In fact, the Jewish historian, Josephus, recorded that the Romans had cut down all the trees surrounding the city of Jerusalem, stretching more than 220 yards from the city walls, he writes,
“...the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised their banks in one-and-twenty days, after they had cut down all the trees that were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, as I have already related. And, truly, the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned with trees and pleasant gardens were now become a desolate country every way, and its trees were all cut down: nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change; for the war had laid all signs of beauty quite waste; nor, if anyone that had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again; but though he were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it notwithstanding.” (Wars 6.1.1)

2nd Trumpet (mountain thrown into the sea)

Then we read in verse 8,

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

What we first have understand is that mountains typically represent kingdoms in the Bible. For instance, the prophet Jeremiah described Babylon as a destroying mountain in Jeremiah 51:25, writing,

25  “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

declares the LORD,

which destroys the whole earth;

I will stretch out my hand against you,

and roll you down from the crags,

and make you a burnt mountain.

So, when John describes a mountain, burning with fire, and being thrown into the sea, he’s referring to the nation of Israel. In fact, Jerusalem even sat on top of Mount Zion, and Mount Zion had become a symbol for the nation of Israel. Therefore, the second trumpet depicts the destruction of Israel. And more than that, John tells us that Jerusalem would be thrown into the sea, which is a symbol associated with the Gentiles. Jerusalem would be trampled by the Gentiles and its survivors scattered abroad.
We also read that the sea would become blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea would die, and a third of the ships destroyed. When the Roman army advanced it came from the north in near Galilee, and the Roman general Vespasian slaughtered the Jews as he marched from town to town, even chasing them across the Sea of Galilee in military vessels. Listen to how Josephus describes the condition of the lake,
The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 10: How Taricheae Was Taken. A Description of the River Jordan, and of the Country of Gennesareth

one might then see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped. (530) And a terrible stink, and a very sad sight there was on the following days over that country; for as for the shores, they were full of shipwrecks, and of dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted the air, insomuch that the misery was not only the object of commiseration to the Jews, but to those that hated them, and had been the authors of that misery. (531) This was the upshot of the sea fight. The number of the slain, including those that were killed in the city before, was six thousand and five hundred.

And out of the Sea of Galilee drains the Jordan River which was reportedly filled will dead bodies, and ran with blood for miles downstream, which filled the people in Judea to the south with great fear.

3rd Trumpet (bitter judgement)

Then we read in verse 10,

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

Now, wormwood is an herb referred to frequently in the Bible, it’s known to be bitter, so it had always signified bitterness in the Scriptures. And bitterness was typically associated with judgement. One of the earliest examples of this is in Exodus 15 immediately after the Israelites had left Egypt and miraculously crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. And just 3 verses later the people are already grumbling against Moses for a lack of water. Listen to Exodus 15:22-26,

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”

Therefore, what we see in Revelation 8 at the blast of the 3rd trumpet is a reversal of Israel’s exodus from Egypt when God made the bitter waters of Marah sweet for them to drink, but now God will make their water bitter.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesied much the same thing leading up to Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians when he wrote,

13 And the LORD says: “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, 14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”

We also see this idea play out at Christ’s crucifixion. After the Jewish Sanhedrin had handed Jesus over to be crucified, and while he hung on the cross, Jesus was offered something to drink. We’re told that they offered him wine, but mixed with gall (or bitter water), so Jesus spit it out. The bitter judgment that the scribes and Pharisees had condemned Christ with, would now be poured out on them.
Therefore, the unprecedented bloodshed in Galilee would result in poisoning the waters, both the Sea of Galilee and Jordan River being filled with rotting corpses.

4th Trumpet (political upheaval)

Then we read in verse 12,

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

This is the same apocalyptic imagery that we’ve seen elsewhere, meant to depict political upheaval, the downfall of rulers and nations. Not only has the Jewish-Roman War disturbed the peace of the Roman Empire, the Pax Romana, but in AD 69 the Empire would break out into civil war. These are the circumstances Jesus had warned his disciples about in his Olivet Discourse when he described the tribulation of those days as when,

the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Not describing a literal end to the created cosmos, but of great political upheaval, and the downfall of rulers and nations. This is what is meant by the sun, moon, stars being darkened. This imagery is associated with political upheaval as the result of judgment.

Eagle (Carrion bird)

Then in verse 13 we read,

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Eagles are carrion birds, birds that feed on the carcasses of other animals. And anyone in Alaska knows just how quickly the sight of a single fish can attract the attention of eagles, within minutes one fish head can attract a dozen birds. In like manner, Jerusalem’s destruction will result in scavengers flocking to the slaughter of Israel.
Eagles are also known as birds of prey, and used as symbols of judgment in the OT. Listen to Deuteronomy 28:49-52,

49 The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young. 51 It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

52 “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you.

Therefore, this eagle in Revelation 8 is a harbinger of doom and woe to those who dwell on the earth, that 3 trumpets yet still remain.

5th Trumpet (demonic horde)

So we read beginning in chapter 9, verse 1,

9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.

12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ ministry was the casting out of demons. In Luke 4:35, while in Capernaum at the synagogue, we’re told that Jesus cast out an unclean spirit, later in Luke 11:14 we’re told that Jesus cast out the demon of a mute man. In Mark 16:9 we’re told that he had cast out 7 demons from Mary Magdalene. In Luke 8:31, while in the country of the Gerasenes, Jesus encountered a man possessed by, not one, but a legion, something like 6,000 demons, so fierce that no one could pass that way, but they begged Jesus not to command them to depart into the abyss (or the bottomless pit), but rather to enter into a herd of pigs. Jesus was so prolific in casting out demons that the Pharisees had to come up with an explanation to discredit him. They said in Matthew 12:24, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”

Casting out demons

Now, we often assume that the degree of demon possession that was typical during Jesus’ ministry must have been normative, but I suspect this wasn’t the case. Instead, we’re told in Revelation 12 that at the first coming of Christ, a great war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the Dragon (the devil), who swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth, and who was ultimately thrown down himself. In Luke 10:18 Jesus even told his disciples that he “saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Therefore, at Christ’s first coming, there was undoubtedly an uptick in demonic activity, with a focused attention directed at Jesus. In fact, Israel had seemingly become a haunt, and when Jesus comes he begins casting them out. Jesus would later describe his casting out of demonic activity as cleaning house.

Demonic horde

However, the removal of demonic activity in Israel wouldn’t last long, and would ultimately lead to a worse state than before. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 12:43-45, shortly after being accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan,

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

Jesus described his casting out of demons as the kingdom of heaven coming upon them, yet so many in Israel still rejected his ministry, therefore, when Jesus departed, the demonic activity that had been cast out would eventually return to find the house empty, swept, and put in order, so they’ll go and bring with them more spirits more evil than themselves, and they’ll enter and dwell there, and the last state of that generation will become worse than the first.
This latter state is what’s portrayed here in the 5th trumpet, a demonic horde, as prolific as a swarm of locusts and as tormenting as that of scorpions, is released and sent against Jerusalem, intended to torment them, not to kill them, though many would long for it. The demonic horde held under lock and key away in the abyss (the bottomless pit), will be released.
They’ll be a prolific as a swarm of locusts, yet they will not devour the greenery, intelligent like men, yet like women with an effeminate transvestism, formidable as those with iron breastplates, ferocious as that of lion’s teeth, who approach like an army of chariots rushing into battle, filled with venom and malice like that of a scorpion’s sting, and lead by their king, Abaddon, the devil himself, the destroyer.
Listen to how Josephus describes the frenzy inside Jerusalem during the last five months of the seige, describing one of the Jewish factions, he writs,
The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 9: That Vespasian, after He Had Taken Gadara, Made Preparation for the Siege of Jerusalem; but that, upon His Hearing of the Death of Nero, He Changed His Intentions; As Also, concerning Simon of Gerasa

their inclination to plunder was insatiable, as was their zeal in searching the houses of the rich; and for the murdering of the men, and abusing of the women, it was sport to them. (561) They also devoured what spoils they had taken, together with their blood, and indulged themselves in feminine wantonness, without any disturbance till they were satiated therewith; while they decked their hair, and put on women’s garments, and were besmeared over with ointments; and that they might appear very comely, they had paints under their eyes, (562) and imitated, not only the ornaments, but also the lust of women, and were guilty of such intolerable uncleanness, and they invented unlawful pleasures of that sort. And thus did they roll themselves up and down the city, as in a brothel house, and defiled it entirely with their impure actions; (563) nay, while their faces looked like the faces of women, they killed with their right hands; and when their gait was effeminate, they presently attacked men, and became warriors, and drew their swords from under their finely dyed cloaks and ran everybody through whom they alighted upon.

Not only would the Jews be tormented by those on the outside but from within.

6th Trumpet

And, finally, we reach the sixth trumpet there in verse 13,

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar 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, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

Rome’s 10th Legion (which amounted to something like 21,000 men) was stationed in Syria at the Euphrates, north and east of Israel. This was the direction from which the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians had come when they attack Israel in the past, but this time it was the Romans, again, invading from the north. The Roman army was the largest army the world had ever seen, therefore the number, twice ten thousand times ten thousand, was meant to describe an innumerable company, an enemy of unimaginable size, translated literally 200 million. In our common vernacular we might use the word bazillion to express what John meant here.
This is the abomination of desolation that Jesus described in his Olivet Discourse, or as Luke puts it in Luke 21:20,

20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Jesus had predicted that these events would take place in his disciple’s own generation.

Would not repent

Then, as we wrap up and reach the end of chapter 9, we read beginning in verse 20,

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Remarkably Josephus described the circumstances similarly, he wrote,
The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 13: The Great Slaughters and Sacrilege that Were in Jerusalem

while the seditious, who saw it also, did not repent, but suffered the same distress to come upon themselves; for they were blinded by that fate which was already coming upon the city, and upon themselves also.

The Apostle Paul talks about the mystery of lawlessness in his second letter to the Thessalonians, and we see that lawlessness represented here, we see just how senseless our sin fundamentally is.

Conclusion

The extent and severity of these judgments might lend one to think, “surely by now, these judgments would cause any man to repent,” but here we see the mystery of lawlessness at work, that “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
When men are finally cast into hell don’t think that they will at once regret their sin, or immediately plead for forgiveness, no, rather their hatred for God will deepen. They will not repent of the works of their hands or the worship of idols. And the truth is, neither would we, had the Lord not been so gracious to us. For while we were yet sinners, haters of God, Christ died for the ungodly. Had we not been born again and raised to spiritual life we too would be blind to the kingdom of God, but our eyes have been opened, and we have been raised to spiritual life. Therefore, there is no heart too hard, no soul too lost, for nothing is impossible with God.
In 2 Timothy 2:24-26 the Apostle Paul wrote,

the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

In other words, if we are willing to be faithful witnesses, God may yet grant our opponents repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.

Prayer

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