Revelation 9:12 Commentary and Bible Study

These words are enough to make men quake. After the horrors described in the fifth trumpet, can there be anything more to come? Yes, this is only the first of three such woes. This next is going to be about war. Although it is terrifying, it is also interesting because war has already been dealt with in the book. War was the subject of the fourth seal. But when we met with war before, it was to tell us that there will be wars all the way through this gospel age. Somewhere in the world there will be a war; they will not stop. There will be wars and rumours of wars, as Christ said. Wars constantly going on in the world will arise, and one after the other in turn there will be trials for believers. But previously war was dealt with as a trial for Christians. Now this is a different type of war. This is worse; this is more sinister. This war is a great warning from God. It’s one of the warnings to repent, and it will be intensive at the very end of time. The four angels are loosed; the number of the army is given. The sixth angel gives his signal. Immediately a voice is heard from the four horns of the altar. Like the altar of burnt offering, the altar of incense had four integral horns, but unlike the altar of burnt offering which was overlaid with bronze (Exodus 27:2), it was overlaid with gold (Exodus 30:3). It is this altar that seems to be referred to here. The blood of the offering was to be placed on the horns of the altar of incense by the high priest, once a year on the Day of Atonement (Exodus 30:10). The horns on this altar stand for the power of God to respond to the prayers of his people. Those prayers were offered on the altar at the start of this vision and the trumpets came in response to that prayer. This fact is re-emphasised at this point.The angel cannot begin to act until he receives instruction from the Lord. Again, how can acts of such great importance, whose consequences even an angel cannot begin to trace, be initiated without the instruction of heaven? What is the significance of the Euphrates? Unless the symbols of the Book of Revelation are self-explanatory or are explained in the book itself, their explanation is always to be found in the Old Testament and not in some arbitrary interpretation of the reader. The Euphrates marked the extreme eastward border of the land given by God to Israel (Genesis 15:18). This was territory actually occupied by Israel during the reign of Solomon (1 Kings 4:21). Beyond it were the traditional enemies of Israel, the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon, nations with vast expansive ambitions, which had launched terribly destructive invasions on the nations around them. This trumpet is about the unleashing of war which results in vast numbers of deaths.