Revelation - Week 18

Day 1

The Four Angels

READ

Revelation 9:13-16

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. 14 And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.” 15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. 16 I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

The angels who were released must have been fallen angels who are demons. There would be no reason for unfallen angels to be bound. They were prepared for this specific time to kill a third of all the people on earth. Earlier a fourth had been killed (see Revelation 6:7-8), so this is a third of those remaining. They were accompanied by an army of 200 million mounted troops. They would be coming across the Euphrates River.

REFLECT

Think how horrible these judgments will be during the Great Tribulation. The Church, the Bride of Christ, will not be on earth at that time. It has been promised to be saved even from the time of this trouble that would come on the entire world (see Revelation 3:10).

RESPOND

Give thanks to the Lord that present-day believers in Jesus will not be on earth during this time. Pray for others to trust in Jesus as Savior so they will not be here then.

Day 2

Three Plagues

READ

Revelation 9:17-19

17 And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. 18 One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. 19 Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.

This passage describes the horses of the 200 million mounted troops. In Bible times, the horse was a military animal. Here the horses are seen as doing the destruction, which leads some to think that the horses in this passage are really demons. Whoever they are, the plague of fire, smoke and brimstone will kill a third of the remaining people on earth. They also had the power to injure as well as kill.

REFLECT

Do not be discouraged by what you don’t understand in the book of Revelation. The apostle John is describing what he saw in a vision. The description by someone else might be different but the results would be the same.

RESPOND

Thank the Lord that even though there are many things in the Bible you do not understand, there is enough you understand to give you confidence in His sovereign control. God holds all things together, as seen in Colossians 1:15-17. Read these verses to see what they say about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Day 3

Unrepentant

READ

Revelation 9:20-21

20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Sometimes it is thought that if a person experiences difficulty it will cause the individual to turn to God. Not so during the Tribulation period. The more difficulty experienced, the more they turned away from the true God to false gods. The word translated “witchcraft” is the one from which the word “pharmacy” is derived. Some translations render it as “sorceries.” It has to do with drugs. During the Tribulation the drug culture will be worse than ever, as well as sexual immorality and thievery.

REFLECT

Does this Scripture passage help you to see that difficulties do not always cause a person to turn to God? As has been said, “The sun melts the ice but hardens the clay.” Difficulties only bring out what is in a person’s heart.

RESPOND

Read Revelation 16:8-9 to see that as these horrible times continued to come on people, they still did not repent and turn to God.

Day 4

A Mighty Angel

READ

Revelation 10:1-3

1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. 2 And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. 3 And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered.

In his vision, the apostle John sees a mighty angel coming down from heaven. It has a rainbow over its head. The rainbow was the symbol God used to promise there would never again be a worldwide flood. Standing with his feet on the land and the sea is an indication of power over the entire earth. To hear one giant thunder would have been significant, but John hears seven thunders answering the mighty angel who gave a great shout.

REFLECT

Think of John’s difficulty trying to explain the vision he saw of the mighty angel. Do you wonder what the seven thunders said?

RESPOND

To see God’s promise never to send another worldwide flood and for the rainbow to remind humanity of His promise, read Genesis 9:12-17. This also reminds readers the Genesis flood was a universal one and not a local flood because there have been many local floods since then.

Day 5

Keep It Secret

READ

Revelation 10:4

4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”

Apparently the apostle John was impressed with what the seven thunders answered the mighty angels and was about to write what they said. He was instructed, however, to keep it a secret and not to write what he heard. It seems to be the curiosity of most people to want to know what they are not able to know. The book of Daniel has many prophecies, but at the conclusion God told him to seal up the book until the time of the end (see Daniel 12:3-4).

REFLECT

How is it with you? The Bible has told us many things clear to be understood. Do you spend more time thinking about that or questioning what the Bible does not tell us?

RESPOND

Human nature is seen in the first two human beings the Lord created—Adam and Eve. In the beautiful Garden of Eden they could eat of all the trees except one. Which do you think they wanted? Read Genesis 2:15-17 and Genesis 3:6-7 for the answer. Adam’s sin poisoned the entire human race because everyone born afterwards inherited his sin nature, as Romans 5:12 says.