Introduction: With my way of doing things – doing roughly a week of each an OT book, Psalms, and a NT book – when I come back to one of them it is possible to have forgotten the context of where I start rewriting! I think of chapters 4 to the end of this book being like a millenia long video basically extending from Christ’s First Coming until time, as we know it, is wound up and the human experience of eternity becomes established. Like all good videos you can break for a bit and go back and explain things which are happening concurrently or sometimes with a more detailed account of what has already been seen in the ‘video’! If you go back and look at the 30th of July’s devotion it summarizes to where we are today! Having had the 7 seals of the scroll broken stage by stage, each to reveal a further scene of the time pageant passing before us, we now have the 6th trumpet blown. As the sixth trumpet is blown a new scene opens up!
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; (ie 200,000,000) I heard their number. And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
– An army of 200 million is possible with a population of 8,000,000,000 people as only one in forty would have to be involved in the army. As of now, there is no country, that I know of, which has a breastplate, colourwise, designed like this. But do the colours stand for something like destruction, suffering and death? We are told that four angels (good or demonic?) well prepared are released and kill a third of mankind! As there were no mechanized war machines, such as are available these days, is it possible that modern machines are described as ‘horses’? The description of them may be of planes, tanks, drones or much available terrible war equipment available these days! And who knows what the future will bring?
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
In conclusion: Perhaps this end portion of the passage contains the most important fact for us to note carefully and take to heart! Those still alive didn’t repent of the things which replaced God as ‘gods’ in their lives! Is this comment relevant to how people these days are ‘hell bent’ to self centred happiness? Certainly living lives which are self satisfying and not God-centred – certainly not setting goals to please, to worship, to serve the True and Living God?
Proverbs 28: 13,14 – Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
Prayer: Please help me to keep very short accounts with You, O Almighty God.