The Sixth Trumpet
13Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God 14saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
17Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and brimstone. The heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone that proceeded from their mouths. 19For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes with heads to inflict harm.
20The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
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“Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates”
Currently, somewhere in the region of the Euphrates River, there are fallen angels who are spiritually bound, who have been kept there for a specific time and purpose to be released for the sole purpose of killing a third of mankind. We know that they are bound some how, because the angel who sounds the sixth trumpet is told to go and release them. The purpose of the fifth Trumpet was only to torment the inhabitants with stings like that of a scorpion, so much so, that they will seek death, but death will elude them. However, here at the sixth trumpet its purpose is not to torment, but to kill a third of mankind. Just to recap, there will have already been a fourth of the earth’s population killed as a result of the first four seals. With just the fourth seal and the sixth trumpet, a fourth and a third, repectively, that would be well over half the earth’s population killed, and that is not including the uknown amount of fatalites as a result of trumpets 1, 2 and 3 nor of the fatalites that will result from the seven bowl judgments.
“And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.”
Obviously, after these four evil angels are released, according to John they go and gather an army of 200 hundred million. Previously at the sounding of fifth trumpet, an angel having the key to the Abyss opens it, releasing those demonic locusts. Consequently, there is no mention of the Abyss being locked back up at that time, and therefore will remain open until Christ returns to the earth to end the age where it is then locked back up after Satan is thrown into it, as stated in Rev.20:1-3. Therefore, I believe that it is quite possible that the Abyss is where these four angels recruit their demonic army of 200 million from.
Somewhere, at some time, someone interpreted this army of 200 million as representing the kings of east, who come across the Euphrates after it is dried up at the sixth bowl judgment, and everyone followed suit with this belief. However, there is nothing in the contex of either the sixth trumpet, or the sixth bowl judgment, that would tie these two together as being the same. The only thing that they have in common is that, the four angels are bound at the Great River Euphrates, and the kings of the east come across the Euphrates after it has been dried up, and that’s it. As we shall see, this will not be a human army.
Note: Because of the length of this blog, I had to split it up into two parts, as you can only used 10,000 characters per blog. See part II for the continuation
http://christianchat.com/blogs/ahwatukee/
13Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God 14saying to the sixth angel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15So the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
17Now the horses and riders in my vision looked like this: The riders had breastplates the colors of fire, sapphire, and brimstone. The heads of the horses were like heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone that proceeded from their mouths. 19For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; indeed, their tails were like snakes with heads to inflict harm.
20The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21Furthermore, they did not repent of their murder, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates”
Currently, somewhere in the region of the Euphrates River, there are fallen angels who are spiritually bound, who have been kept there for a specific time and purpose to be released for the sole purpose of killing a third of mankind. We know that they are bound some how, because the angel who sounds the sixth trumpet is told to go and release them. The purpose of the fifth Trumpet was only to torment the inhabitants with stings like that of a scorpion, so much so, that they will seek death, but death will elude them. However, here at the sixth trumpet its purpose is not to torment, but to kill a third of mankind. Just to recap, there will have already been a fourth of the earth’s population killed as a result of the first four seals. With just the fourth seal and the sixth trumpet, a fourth and a third, repectively, that would be well over half the earth’s population killed, and that is not including the uknown amount of fatalites as a result of trumpets 1, 2 and 3 nor of the fatalites that will result from the seven bowl judgments.
“And the number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.”
Obviously, after these four evil angels are released, according to John they go and gather an army of 200 hundred million. Previously at the sounding of fifth trumpet, an angel having the key to the Abyss opens it, releasing those demonic locusts. Consequently, there is no mention of the Abyss being locked back up at that time, and therefore will remain open until Christ returns to the earth to end the age where it is then locked back up after Satan is thrown into it, as stated in Rev.20:1-3. Therefore, I believe that it is quite possible that the Abyss is where these four angels recruit their demonic army of 200 million from.
Somewhere, at some time, someone interpreted this army of 200 million as representing the kings of east, who come across the Euphrates after it is dried up at the sixth bowl judgment, and everyone followed suit with this belief. However, there is nothing in the contex of either the sixth trumpet, or the sixth bowl judgment, that would tie these two together as being the same. The only thing that they have in common is that, the four angels are bound at the Great River Euphrates, and the kings of the east come across the Euphrates after it has been dried up, and that’s it. As we shall see, this will not be a human army.
Note: Because of the length of this blog, I had to split it up into two parts, as you can only used 10,000 characters per blog. See part II for the continuation
http://christianchat.com/blogs/ahwatukee/