Sunday School Notes: Revelation 9:13-16

¹³ And the sixth angel trumpeted and I heard a single voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel, the one who has the trumpet, “Loose the four angels who have been bound at [or next to] the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were loosed, in order that they might kill a third of men. ¹⁶ And the number of the cavalries [literally troops of cavalry] [were] twenty thousand [times] ten thousand–I heard the number of them.

We returned to our study of Revelation this week after the Christmas break (and some church business over the past couple of weeks). Following a brief recap, we picked up where we left off: the sixth trumpet.

I want to break this section into three parts:

1. The summoning of the angels on horses (9:13-16)
2. The description of the horses (9:17-19)
3. The hard-heartedness of the surviving unbelievers (9:20-21)

First a couple of textual notes. My translation of verse 13 refers to a “single voice” coming from the “four horns” of the golden alter. A number of translators simply go with “a voice,” which is a legitimate translation of the Greek. The text actually says phonên mian, “one voice,” but the word for the number one can also be used for the indefinite article (“a” or “an”). Strictly speaking, there isn’t an indefinite article in Greek, only definite (“the”). The absence of the definite article before a noun often (but certainly not always) suggests the noun should be translated as indefinite. Because of the lack of the indefinite article, some Greek writers filled the gap by using the number “one” before a noun. This could be what John is doing here, and it seems many translators think that’s the case. It strikes me, however, as an unusual use of “one” for John. So for him to then utilize “one” the same unusual way twice within a few verses (see 8:13, in reference to the “single eagle” flying overhead) is, therefore, particularly noteworthy. Perhaps it means nothing, or perhaps John is telling us that the ultimate source for the eagle’s voice and the voice from the altar is the same: God.

Not all manuscripts of Revelation have the number “four,” indicating explicitly the number of horns on the altar. And some translators render the word for “horn” here (keras) as “corner.” This may be because this altar is clearly meant to be symbolic of the golden altar in Exodus 30, which had horns on each corner (at least we can assume that’s where the horns went by comparison with the bronze altar in Exodus 27:2). By association, therefore, the horns were corners, and there were four of them. So “four” is a little redundant except that the number four in Revelation is often used to represent the fullness of creation. In this context, however, such symbolism is unnecessary. So it really is of no consequence to our understanding of the passage whether or not John originally wrote “four horns” or just “horns.” I think the textual evidence leans more toward not including “four”, but, again, it’s doesn’t make any difference to the meaning of the passage one way or the other.

As I mentioned above, Exodus 30 describes the making of the golden altar for the tabernacle. This was an altar of incense on which Aaron was to make frequent incense offerings. No other offerings were to be made on it, except once a year, when Aaron would make the offering for atonement on the horns of the altar. The atonement offering was, of course, a blood offering. We’ve noted this before in reference to the altar under which the saints gathered in Revelation 6:9, the fifth seal, and the symbolism of the saints taking refuge under the blood atonement made by the Lamb on their behalf. All this, including the fact that the altar is “before God,” points to the divine nature of the voice from the altar. God is issuing commands to the angel with the trumpet.

The voice refers to four angels who have been bound at, or next to, the great river Euphrates. Notice there are four angels. Here, I think, the symbolic meaning of “four” can apply: these four represent the whole created order, as in the four “corners” of the earth, the four points on the compass. Whatever power these angels have, it’s global. Further we note that these angels are bound, that is, they have been bound–passive tense. Someone bound them. Who? No doubt God. As we will see, the mission of these angels is to kill, but only at a specific point in time. Until that time, they are restrained from doing what they have been commissioned to do. You could even go as far as to say these angels were created for that murderous purpose (like the giant locusts in the fifth trumpet). In Romans 9, Paul reminds his readers that God raised Pharaoh up for a specific purpose: “that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (9:17). Pharaoh’s intentions toward God’s people were by no means good. But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart that He might show His power over the Egyptian “gods,” and lead His people out of the land in a way that foreshadows Christ leading God’s people from slavery to sin by means of blood sacrifice.

So the fact the angels are bound, as we will see Satan bound in chapter 20, and as God restrains the evil in this world, indicates that these are not kind, benevolent angels. We need to remember that not all angels in Scripture are looking out for our best interests. The murderous intentions of these beings is one reason we can be sure they are demonic. Another indication is where they are bound: near the Euphrates. If you know your geography, you’ll recall the Euphrates River runs through Syria and Iraq, joins the Tigris, and empties into the Persian Gulf. In Scripture, the Euphrates was one of the great rivers flowing from Eden (Genesis 2:14). More importantly for our discussion, it ran through Babylon. As we’ve already seen, in Revelation the city of Babylon is symbolic of corrupt civilization at its worst. It was Rome to John’s readers, but it could be any city where the forces of evil are obviously in control. The fact the Euphrates runs through Babylon, and John notes that these angels are bound near the Euphrates, presents us with a kind of guilt by association. If we look at the way the Euphrates (“the River”) is spoken of in the Old Testament, we see the connection between it and God’s judgment against Israel and Judah via the Assyrians and the Babylonians (see, for example, Isaiah 7:20, 8:7-8; Jeremiah 1:14-15, 46: 4, 6, 10, 13, 22-23). We will also see the Euphrates mentioned again when we get to the sixth bowl of God’s wrath in Revelation 16.

God’s sovereign hand is at work here. He is restraining these angels until His appointed hour, day, month, and year, when they will be loosed to enact His just judgment on sinful man. There are commentators who question whether these angels kill one third of men in the literal “taking life” sense, or if the word “kill” is meant to encompass all kinds of severe physical injury, not just death. Perhaps “kill” is only intended in the spiritual sense? We’ll discuss this in the next part.

The fraction “one-third” has come up before, and not only does this, again, show God’s sovereign hand over the acts of the angels (who told them how many to kill, or when to stop?), but it also tells us that this is not the final judgment. This is just a foretaste. That final judgment will be global. But this supernatural demonstration of God’s power and authority serves two judicial purposes:

1. The exacting of just punishment on those not covered by the Lamb’s blood
2. The demonstration of the blindness and hard-heartedness of the unbelievers, which only proves that their coming punishment is just.

In verse 16, John tries to quantify the demonic army in the same way he attempted to enumerate the angels around the throne in 5:11, and the number of the sealed in 7:4 and 7:9. (The number in 7:4 is a specific number for symbolic reasons, as we discussed back then. The number in 7:9 is the fullness of those sealed, from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.) How should we treat these very large numbers? Are there literally 20,000 times 10,000 of these cavalry, or is this just expressing an extremely large number, as with the saints in 7:9? It seems when John gives us a precise number, like 4, 7, 12, 24, 144,000, or 666, that number is conveying some deeper meaning (4 = fullness of creation; 7 = completion, perfection, spiritual fullness; 12 = twelve tribes of Israel/12 apostles; 24 = combination of the 12 tribes and 12 apostles–the church in her fullness; 144,000 = the huge number of all the saints (12x12x1,000); 666 = … we’ll see when we get to chapter 13!). When we get a numeric amount expressed in mathematical terms (e.g., “thousands times ten thousands”), it seems John is simply trying to convey an inexpressibly large number. Too many to count noses and give an accurate tally.

So the sixth trumpet signals the four angels to let loose an incredibly large demonic cavalry, with the purpose of killing a third of all people on Earth. This is all under the sovereign hand of God, Who is bringing just judgment upon rebellious, sinful mankind. But this is only the beginning. This is not the final judgment, just a prelude. There’s more to come.