REVELATION 9.13 The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, 9.14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” 9.15 The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.
9.16 The number
of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of
them. 9.17 Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them,
having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the
horses’ heads resembled lions’ heads. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke,
and sulfur.
9.18 By these three plagues were one third of mankind
killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their
mouths. 9.19 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
harm.
9.20 The rest
of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works
of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and
of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can’t see, hear, or
walk. 9.21 They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries,
drunkenness, their sexual immorality, or their thefts. -WEB Bible.
The ancient text of Enoch describes how some of the fallen
angels were bound and locked up until the last days of earth. Well, that
time has come. The four angels are not good characters; they are fallen
angels and they are powerful. Apparently, these reprobate angels waste no time
putting together a massive army, such as no one has ever seen before. This is
the army of Armageddon.
St. John's vision of the fire-breathing horses is about ground
warfare. Ancient artists did their best to illustrate what John described,
but they didn't see his vision, and the things they are trying to draw are many
hundreds of years ahead of them in time: so of course, they have absolutely no
experience to go by. It wasn't until modern times that we could picture it.
The image of battle tanks is from a World War II poster.
By the time Armageddon actually happens, the fire-breathing vehicles will
likely be very different from WWII tanks, but this image gives us an idea of it.
Notice that the four fallen angels were kept ready for
this precise time. We think that earth rambles along in its own
haphazard fashion, but God has not left anything to chance. There is a plan.
Eventually God will put an end to evil. No lie will stand unchallenged and no
corruption will go unpunished. Even the fallen angels cannot escape it.
For all those people who have wondered, "Why does
God allow evil?", the book of Revelation tells us that God is furious about
the evil that has corrupted earth, and he's going to put an end to all of it,
permanently.
The Sixth Trumpet is the second Woe.