Sermon Tone Analysis

| *Satanic Slaughter: The Sixth Trumpet*(Revelation 9:13–21) |

* *

*/Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying 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 prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.

The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.

A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.

And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

(9:13–21)/*

 

*Intro:* Mankind lies between two powerful opposing spiritual spheres, each seeking to conform people to itself.

* No one is neutral in the cosmic battle; everyone is either part of the “domain of darkness” or of the “kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son” (Col.

1:13).

* As they yield to one sphere or the other, people become the companions of God, or the companions of Satan; the companions of holy angels, or the companions of demons; the companions of saints, or the companions of sinners.

* To doubt that reality is the gravest mistake any person can make, because making the wrong choice results in eternal disaster.

* God offers people the life-giving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; Satan and the forces of hell lure people to their destruction by dangling before them the “passing pleasures of sin” (Heb.

11:25).

* The loud voices of hell have always tried to drown out the preaching of the gospel.

* There is coming a day when the siren call of hell will be so loud as to be all but irresistible.

* The people of that time will ignore the repeated, powerful preaching of the gospel and the warning conveyed by terrifying, devastating judgments from God.

* Having rejected all offers of grace and mercy, they will see death come upon mankind through the trumpet and bowl judgments, which will deliver death on a scale unprecedented in human history.

* Yet even then they will not repent; in fact, they will curse God (cf.

9:20–21; 16:9, 11).

People at that time will have made the irrevocable choice to side with the forces of hell.

* While there will be divine judgments throughout the seven-year Tribulation, they will escalate during the last three and one-half years—the time Jesus called “the great tribulation” (Matt.

24:21; cf.

Rev.

7:14).

* As has been discussed in previous studies, those judgments will unfold sequentially in three telescoping series: the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls.

* Out of the seventh seal comes the seven trumpet judgments, and out of the seventh trumpet comes the seven bowl judgments.

* Like the fifth trumpet (9:1–12), the sounding of the sixth trumpet heralds another, more severe demonic attack on sinful mankind.

This attack, unlike the previous one, brings death.

It unfolds in three stages: the release of demons, the return of death, and the reaction of defiance.

*1.

**The Release of Demons*

*Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “****Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.****”

(9:13–14)*

a.

In his turn, at the appointed moment, *the sixth angel sounded *his mighty trumpet.

b.       Immediately, John *heard a voice.*

The Greek text literally reads “one voice,” stressing that John heard a single, solitary voice.

c.

The voice is not identified, but it is possibly that of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

1.

He was pictured earlier standing near the throne (5:6), when He took the seven-sealed scroll from the Father’s hand (5:7) and broke its seals (6:1), thus unleashing the series of judgments of which the sixth trumpet is a part.

2.       Or this could be the voice of the angel whom John had seen standing near the golden altar of incense (8:3).

d.

While identifying the source of the voice is not possible, its location is:

1.        it came *from the four horns* (small protrusions on each corner) *of the golden altar which is before God.*

2.       John had already seen this altar, the heavenly counterpart to the Old Testament altar of incense, twice before in his visions.

3.        In the tabernacle and temple, this altar was a place where incense was burnt, symbolizing the peoples’ prayers for mercy rising to God.

4.       But in John’s vision the golden altar became an */altar of imprecatory intercession/*, as the martyred saints pleaded there with God for merciless vengeance on their murderers (6:9–11).

5.        Then in 8:5 it became an */altar of judgment/*, as an angel took his and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth.”

His action set the stage for the trumpet judgments, which followed shortly.

6.

The original altar of incense is described in detail in Exodus 30:1–10:

/                                                                           i.

//Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.

Its length shall be a cubit, and its width a cubit, it shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits; its horns shall be of one piece with it.

You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides all around, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding all around for it.

You shall make two gold rings for it under its molding; you shall make them on its two side walls—on opposite sides—and they shall be holders for poles with which to carry it.

You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you.

Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps.

When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense.

There shall be perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it.

Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations.

It is most holy to the Lord./

7.        As noted in the discussion of 8:4–5,  the incense altar was located in front of the veil that separated the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwelt, from the Holy Place.

i.

No one but the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies and he only on the Day of Atonement.

ii.

But the high priest was permitted to enter the Holy Place, and was commanded to burn incense on the incense altar morning and evening.

iii.

While sacrifices were not normally offered on the incense altar, the high priest was required to offer a sin offering on it once a year.

iv.

That illustrates the important biblical truth that atonement provides the basis for prayer, worship, and communion with God.

                                                                          v.

No one whose sins have not been atoned for has access to God.

8.       Shockingly, from the altar associated with mercy came words of judgment.

i.

God is a merciful, gracious, compassionate God, yet His “Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Gen.

6:3).

ii.

When this trumpet judgment occurs, the time for mercy will have passed; the altar of mercy will become an altar of judgment.

iii.

Sinful men will have finally and completely rejected God’s gracious offer of salvation.

In the words of the writer of Hebrews,

                                                                        iv.

/Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

For we know Him who said, “////Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.////”

And again, “////The Lord will judge His people.////”

It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God./ (Heb.

10:28–31)

9.       The voice coming from the surface of the altar between the four protruding corners explicitly commanded *the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “****Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.****”

*

                                                                           i.

That the *four angels are bound *indicates that they are demons (cf.

20:1ff.;

2 Pet.

2:4; Jude 6), since holy angels are nowhere in Scripture said to be bound.

ii.

Because holy angels always perfectly carry out God’s will, there is no need for Him to restrain them from opposing His will.

iii.

God’s control over demonic forces is complete—they are bound or loosed at His command.

iv.

The perfect tense of the participle translated *bound* implies that these four angels were bound in the past with continuing results; they were in a state or condition of bondage until God’s determined time came for them to be released to execute their function as instruments of divine judgment.

v.

The site of the four angels’ imprisonment is familiar—*the great river Euphrates* (cf.

Deut.

1:7; Josh.