After all those who will be sealed are sealed, demons are loosed to torment the reprobate. The first woe is past. John sees a sixth angel preparing to blast the next trumpet, which symbolizes both God’s wrath and deliverance through the proclamation of the Gospel.

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.

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.

The horsemen revisited (v. 13-16)

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.”

The sixth angel blasts his trumpet and a voice comes from the altar of prayer (cf. 6:9-10; 8:3-6). John reminds us that these trumpets are being blasted because of the prayers of the saints and the testimony of the cherubim about the wretched condition of the world (cf. 6:1-17). The trumpets signify God’s just judgment. The voice is that of Jesus, who is the Lamb standing near the altar (cf. 6:9, 11). Jesus commands the sixth angel to release the four angels who are bound at the great river, Euphrates.

Who are these four angels? We receive conflicting clues. They are angels. These angels are bound, which described demons in the previous pericope. They are bound at the Euphrates, the edge of the land promised to Abraham (cf. Genesis 15:18)—which could mean either that, as demons, they could not harm Israel or that, as angels of light, they defended Israel until they are released to make war. John describes them as horsemen, which previously described the heavenly patrol of God (cf. 6:1-8). If these angels are demons, we may find it difficult to explain why they wield the wrath of God on Christ’s behalf. If we identify them as the heavenly patrol from Chapter 6, we find John’s imagery a little more coherent—which we will discover as we move through the remainder of the text.

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.

These four angels were prepared for the time represented by the sixth trumpet—whether part of Christ’s perpetual judgment or the final judgment. They are loosed in order to slay one-third of humankind, the unholy third. They do not murder everyone who is unholy (cf. v. 20) or one-third of all humankind. On-third is an apocalyptic fraction, meaning these angels are to kill many from among the unholy population of the earth—those who are not in Christ. Since Satan likely would not stand against Satan, these angels are more likely angels of light dealing the wrath of God—like the angel of death in Exodus. Their armies number 200,000,000. 2 is the number of required witnesses needed for judgement. 10 is fulness or completeness. 8 is the apocalyptic number of resurrection or circumcision. 10⁸ represents the fullness of those who have been resurrected. 200,000,000 is a number much like 144,000—the great multitude coming out of the great tribulation. Only, this multitude is now being numbered as resurrected witnesses against the unholy third of the world. Notice, the army is not killing—the four horsemen are. Demons have not testified against the world, but they are the ones being witnessed against. The army John describes symbolically is a righteous army of witnesses who have been raised to life in Christ.

The plagues (v. 17-19)

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.

The riders’ armor matches the fire that their horses spew. Their horses have the heads of lions, the meaning of which is difficult to discern since Jesus is the lion of Judah and Satan prowls around like a roaring lion. The horses spew fire, smoke, and brimstone. Fire, smoke, and brimstone marked God’s fatal judgment throughout the Old Testament (Cf. Genesis 19:24, 28; Deuteronomy 29:23; 2 Samuel 22:9; Isaiah 34:9-10; Ezekiel 38:22). Once again, John is describing past plagues, fatal plagues that have been commissioned by God throughout redemptive history as just judgment against human sin. Throughout the remainder of John’s Revelation (cf. Rev 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8), fire and brimstone signify everlasting punishment in either Hades or the Lake of Fire. In Chapter 14, verses 9-10, John will write:

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

There the unholy third is sentenced to torment with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, supporting the idea that these four horsemen are the holy patrol of the earth and affirming that the rider on the white horse (cf. 6:1-2) is indeed Jesus—who conquers the earth. Hellfire, smoke, and brimstone, here, mean Hades or Hell. Those who die apart from Christ taste the everlasting torment. In fact, it is Hell by which they die.

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.

Here, we see a picture of a righteous army of resurrected witnesses testifying about Christ and about the vanity of living apart from Christ. We see people ignoring the message of the righteous witnesses, choosing to continue living their hell on earth—longing to die but life continues (v. 6). They eventually die in their hellish lives and find themselves in torment forever. They never listen to the witnesses. They die in their sin. Around the world today, there is an army of witnesses who have been raised to new life in Christ testifying about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Many ignore or contest the message. 

The horses’ tails are like serpents and have heads. The harm they do is worse than that of the demons who oppress. Their venom kills.

The human response (v. 20-21)

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.

The rest of humankind, those who are not witnesses and who have not yet died as a result of their hellish lives, do not recognize the warnings, the dull lives they live and the taste of Hell they have on this earth. They do not repent. They don’t have eyes to see the fire and brimstone or ears to hear the army of witnesses. They cling to their objects of worship, which can’t do anything for them. They cling to their own lives and the things they identify as important. The very things by which they feel they must live are the things killing them and damning them to everlasting Hell.

Contrary to popular eschatology, the people of God are winning according to John. The unholy are the ones who suffer as a result of the trumpet blasts. Christ’s resurrected army of witnesses marches forward with the testimony of Christ—which we are doing today. In the final judgment, it is the unholy who will be totally removed from the earth—not the resurrected witnesses. The unholy will be removed at the hands of Christ and His holy angels, not the witnesses. We do not make violent war. We testify and leave everything else to God. Vengeance and vindication are His.