We have just finished up the fifth Trumpet Judgment in Revelation 9. We saw that in this judgment, the bottomless pit has been opened, what appears to be demonic creatures have come forth out of that pit, and they have gone forth to do great damage to the people on the earth that have rejected Christ. Those who know Christ and are followers of Christ have been sealed and protected from this judgment. Those who do not know Christ are suffering and they are not dying. We find in the passage that the demons that go forth are not killing people, but they are bringing great misery and pain into their lives. We find at the end of that section in Revelation 9:11 the king of this hoard of demonic creatures from the abyss is none other than Satan. He is called Abaddon and Apollyon there, but we are almost certain that this is the devil that is the king of these demonic creatures. This was the first woe according to what was being told to John. There are two more to come. In other words, there are two powerful, ugly, awful judgments still coming in the form of these Trumpet Judgments.
We pick up the scene in Revelation 9:13 with the sixth Trumpet Judgment, “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.” As this sixth trumpet judgment is sounded, we have the release of these four powerful, demonic angels, from the river Euphrates area. These angels have been bound there for this time. They had been prepared by God, for just this moment and now they have been released upon humanity. We find that they go forth and they kill a third of mankind.
Under the first Trumpet Judgment, a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. With the second judgment, we saw a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third judgment we saw the rivers and springs of water became bitter and killed those that drank from it. The fourth judgment we saw darkening where a third of the stars and moon and the sun are darkened. We had this intense darkness that was facing the earth. The fifth judgment, we had the release of these locust-like demonic creatures. Now with the sixth judgment we find that a third of humanity is killed. Under the circumstances of the five previous judgments, some may have died, but now we have a third of humanity that have died with this sixth judgment. If that happened today, upwards of two-and-a-half billion people would die under this judgment alone. However, it is not the angels directly who cause this great destruction and death . . .
