SERMON ON REVELATION 9:12-21,
January 6, 2008

Dr. Marshall C. St. John, Pastor
Wayside Presbyterian Church
Signal Mountain, TN 37377

The Second Woe

Revelation 9:12-21

12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

Our English word "woe" comes directly from the Greek "ouai." Of course we understand that "woe" means sorrow, pain and grief. Hard times are coming to the earth. I believe all these tribulations we read of in the Book of Revelation will happen during the Great Apostasy that will come to pass at the end of this age, just before Jesus returns. We read of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

• 1 ¶ Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers,
• 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
• 3 ¶ Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
• 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
• 5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
• 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
• 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
• 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.
• 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
• 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
• 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
• 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

The Gospel will be preached everywhere. The Kingdom of God will spread all around the world. Most of the world will become Christian. The Kingdom is growing and will fill the earth, and the nations will come to Christ. At the end of this age there will be a great falling away and a great Tribulation, when Jesus will return in glory to destroy the Anti-Christ and establish the Millennial form of His Kingdom.

We shall learn here today that the "Second Woe" is very similar to the "First Woe." They both have to do with demon hordes invading the earth.

13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the (four) horns of the golden altar that is before God.

I think it is interesting how many numbers are referred to in this short passage from Revelation: 3 woes, 6 angels, 6 trumpets, 4 horns on the altar, 4 angels in the Euphrates, 1/3 of mankind, 200 million cavalry, and 3 plagues!

Review of the Seven Angels with Trumpets:

• 1 Hail, fire and blood thrown on the earth
• 2 Huge mountain thrown into the sea
• 3 Great star falls on rivers and lakes
• 4 A third of the sun, moon, stars are struck
• 5 Demon locusts let loose on the earth
• 6 Four fallen angels released from the Euphrates (today's lesson)
• 7 Not there yet!

Note the "golden altar" before God. The throne room set up in Heaven is the original from which the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was copied.

Ac 7:44 "Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.

Heb 8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."

Every article of furniture in the tabernacle was made of gold, the royal metal: the table of showbread, the golden lampstand, and the altar of incense. Inside the veil was the ark of the Covenant covered by the mercy seat with solid gold angels surrounding it. The mercy seat corresponds to God's throne in Heaven.

The golden altar with incense being burned there daily represented the prayers of the saints constantly rising up before God. The voice being heard here is the voice of God, in partial answer to the prayers of the martyrs, which we read of in Revelation 6:9-11

• 9 ¶ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
• 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
• 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

14 It (the voice of God) said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."

Why the Euphrates river? Why not the Amazon, or the Mississippi? The Euphrates is the river that runs through the country of Iraq, past the city of Babylon. Babylon is seen in the Bible as the great symbol of idolatry, wickedness and worldliness. Babylon was the location of the tower that was to reach to Heaven. The Tower of Babel. It symbolizes rebellion against the one true God. The major cities of the world today are similar to Babylon: New York, Tokyo, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Moscow, Jerusalem, Paris, London, Beijing, Los Angeles, Mecca, Berlin etc. etc. The pride of man makes us think that we are gods, and that we can do as we please without regard to Jehovah. But we read the following in Psalm 2...

• 1 ¶ Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
• 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
• 3 "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters."
• 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
• 5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
• 6 "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."

These four angels are fallen angels that have been kept imprisoned by God since their fall. Imprisoned fallen angels (or demons) are referred to in other Bible verses...

Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

2 Peter 2:4 God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.

15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

Note: It is God who controls the demons. It is God who sets the time table. God is in control.

Note: The work of the four angels is to kill one third of the human race. In Revelation 6:8 we read of the death of one fourth of mankind by the rider on the pale horse. So at this point in the Book of Revelation we see the death of over half of mankind, and the Book of Revelation is just getting started.

We must pause here and reconsider our view of God. The average American probably sees God has playing a role in human society, and that role is to bless and benefit all mankind. God DOES bless and benefit all mankind. Jesus says that He sends the rain and the sunshine to both the just and the unjust. But the Bible also tells us that God demands repentance, and that only fools ignore God's warnings. For example Galatians 6:7-8...

• 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
• 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

In the Book of Genesis we have the story of Noah and the great world-wide flood, in which God killed the entire human race, except for 8 people. Noah and his three sons, and their four wives.

God is not some jolly Santa Claus in the sky who can be ignored with impunity. Neither is God powerless. But He is, and has been very patient, and even in the Book of Revelation we see Him giving mankind many opportunities to repent.

16 The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.

Apparently, at first glance, the four angels will bring about the death of one third of mankind by means of war and huge armies.

World population estimates: 2000 BC, about 30 million; 100 AD about 200 million. Leveled off for 1000 years, and then began to grow again. 1000 AD 250 million. 1650 500 million. 1800 one billion. 1930 two billion. 2000 six billion.

At the time of John the Apostle it would have been absolutely impossible to have an army of 200 million mounted soldiers, since there were only 200 million people in the word altogether, counting men, women and many children.

It seems quite impossible now, too, to have a literal cavalry of 200 million. But we are now reaching a population where a cavalry of 200 million is barely possible. There are over a billion people in China alone. One fifth of the population could be drafted, and give an army of 200 million people. However, it is extremely difficult to fund and feed and transport an army. Look how difficult it has been for the United States to deploy an army of only several 100,000. China's army is the largest in the world now, with about 2.5 million soldiers and sailors. To multiply that by 100 would totally bankrupt China. All the armies of all the nations at this present time would not amount to more than 5 million troops.

Question: Is this huge cavalry literal or figurative? Are these truly soldiers on horses, or are these hordes of demons, as we found earlier in Revelation 9:3ff, the locusts with scorpion tails? The rest of the chapter gives us some clues...

17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulphur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulphur.

The details about the cavalry leads us to think that once again (as earlier in this chapter) we are being given a picture of demon hordes, rather than human cavalry on literal horses.

Breastplates symbolizes strength and invulnerability. The colors are the colors of fire and brimstone, which symbolize both Hell and the judgment of God.

The heads of the horses look like lion heads. Lions symbolize strength and ferocity, the power to kill.

The horses belch fire, smoke and sulpher. Of course literal horses do no such thing, so our belief that these are spiritual, demonic powers, is strengthened. The fire, smoke and sulpher again remind us of the Hell and the judgment of God.

Parenthetical Note: What is Hell? Hell is the judgment of God. God made it. God has the keys. God decides who goes there and for how long. Satan does not own Hell, neither does he rule Hell. People who are there are experiencing the judgment of God. This assures that their judgment will be completely fair. No one will go there except those who deserve to go there. The sufferings they experiece there will be precise just and fair, and never greater than they deserve. Jesus taught in Luke 12:46-49:

• 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
• 47 "That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.
• 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
• 49 "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

This is not the picture of Jesus in the minds of most Americans. But we must remember that Jesus is who He really is, and not what we make Him out to be. He is not always "gentle Jesus meek and mild." Sometimes He is the Jesus who makes a whip, and drives out the money changers from the temple. Sometimes He is the Jesus that comes riding to battle in the Book of Revelation, his clothing splattered with blood. He is kind. He is gentle. He is merciful. He is forgiving. But He demands repentance, and those who will not repent He will punish.

18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulphur that came out of their mouths. 19 The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

The horses also have destructive tails, that look and act like snakes. Again, we are sure these are not literal horses, and there is not a literal 200 million man cavalry coming to fight and kill one third of mankind.

The difference between the demons of the first half of Revelation 9, is that those demons were not allowed to kill. They were only allowed to cause suffering. These demons on the other hand, are allowed to kill one third of mankind.

20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood-idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The primary message of this passage is the righteous judgment of God, and how He uses even the demons to do His will. The secondary message of this passage is the unwillingness of mankind to repent.

Picture YOURSELF in the world in the midst of all these horrible events of the Book of Revelation. What would you do? Would you not be on your knees, making sure that your heart was right with God? Did you not ever doubt your salvation, and fear Hell, and "get saved all over again" just to make sure?

Why did you do that? Because you are a child of God. Because God softened your hard heart, and gave you a new heart, and because the Holy Spirit gifted you with repentance and faith.

But what about people who are left to their own free will? The Bible here makes it plain, that if people are left to their own free will they will NEVER repent, no matter what awful judgements of God are going on in plain sight.

I Corinthians 1:18

• For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I Corinthians 2:14

• The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

John 6:41-44 and 6:60-65

• 41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
• 42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?"
• 43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.
• 44 "No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
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• 60 ¶ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
• 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
• 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
• 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
• 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
• 65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no-one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

Conclusion: We are not experiencing the amazing and stupefying things we read of in the Book of Revelation, but on the other hand there is plenty going on around us to show is the reality of God, the reality of Sin, the truth of the Gospel, and our need to repent. I say to you, Listen to the voice of God. Say "Yes" to the Holy Spirit. Repent of your sins, and believe in Christ. Amen.