Revelation 9:13-21 "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before G-d, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. (KJV)
A voice is heard from the horns of the altar. The altar was a place of sacrifice for sin and to the horns of the altar victims were sometimes tied (Ps 118:27). Fugitives would clasp a horn of the altar and ask for mercy (1 Kg 1:50-51). The voices from the horns would seem to signify a cry for the judgment of sin; the time of mercy has elapsed.
They refer to the sovereignty and judicial government of G-d. Four expresses universality the world over.
Four angels (fallen angels) are released from the Euphrates River.
Jude 6 "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (KJV)
We could write a book about why these demons are in chains and others are free to roam the earth today. Perhaps we will do a separate study on it in the future.
The scripture tells us that they have been reserved for "a day, and a month, and a year". This does not mean that this plague will last for 1 year + 1 month + 1 day, it means that they have been reserved for a specific time appointed by G-d.
Earlier in the 4th seal we saw 1/4 of the earth's population wiped out. Now we see 1/3 of the earth's population destroyed. In just these two judgments 1/2 of the population of the world will die!!!!!!! Obviously people will die as a result of the other judgments but no head count is given for the other judgments.
Let's look at the size of this attack force.
Rev 9:16 "And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them." (KJV)
In other words 200,000,000! All of the English translations say the same thing. The Greek says "myriad of myriads" A myriad is defined as 10,000 or an incalculable number. So it is possible that it is not exactly 200,000,000 but just a way of saying an uncountable number.
The riders (description from the Greek) "I saw the horses in the vision, and those sitting on them having breastplates fire-colored and dusky red and brimstone-like;
The horses (description from the Greek) "and the heads of the horses as heads of lions, and out of the mouths of them comes out fire and smoke and brimstone. By three these were killed the third of men from the fire and from the smoke and from the brimstone. For their authority is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes, having heads, and they do harm with them.
Wow! These guys are pretty scary sounding. As we have been looking at the various plagues in Revelation the Bible scholars all seem to think they are literal descriptions and not symbolic. Then they look at this plague and half of them think it is a literal army, and this is John's feeble attempt to describe modern day warfare. Some confuse or combine this plague with the 6th bowl judgment. (More on that plague later) Others believe these are literal creatures described by John. We believe they are literal creatures controlled by demons but certainly not ones you will see at your local zoo. (More on this later)
If you don't think demons enter animals remember the snake in "Genesis" and the "Swine" the demons entered. In Matthew, Y'shua allowed them to enter the swine instead of the abyss.
Even after this mankind's hearts will be hard and they will not repent.
Notice in verse 21. The word "sorceries", "witchcraft", or "magic arts" is used.
In the Greek the word is "pharmakeus (far-mak-yoos'); from pharmakon (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, i.e. (by extension) a magician: (KJV) - sorcerer.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
This may also mean that they did not repent from their "illegal
drug use".