The Call to Turn and Repent
Revelation 9:13-21
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four[c] horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ 15 So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. 16 The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17 And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the colour of fire and of sapphire[d] and of sulphur; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulphur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they inflict harm.
20 The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
The sixth trumpet is also the second woe to be released on the earth, a third of the human beings are killed, getting their wish which was held back from them (9:6). A chapter ago at the end of Chapter 8, when the first four trumpets were blown a third of the sun, moon, and stars were destroyed, along with the drinking water. Here the trumpet announces the coming of the destruction of human beings, an end to many lives and the grief that accompanies such deaths.
The description is horrific, but I am not sure the point is to figure out what kind of fighting force John is describing – the point surely is that this huge army is unstoppable. It might be asked how fire, smoke and sulphur fit the category of plagues – but again the point is the destruction they bring. This army will do what it was ordered to do – a third of humanity dies.
But all that death, all that suffering, has no impact on human behaviour. Human beings do not stop worshipping the gods of wealth and power, gods that do not care about human beings, gods that have not come to earth to experience human life. The gods of wealth and power “cannot see or hear or walk” (vs. 20) – whereas Jesus, the Son of God, saw and heard the human experience and walked among us. The presence of death everywhere did not cause people to turn to Jesus, to turn to God, who cares and knows the reality of being human.
Even with all the devastating deaths human beings did not change their patterns of murder, nor did they stop aligning themselves with the forces of evil, not did they turn from sexual immorality, nor did they stop stealing. In other words, people did not repent even though the judgement against these patterns of life was on full display. How often are we blind to God’s call to change our lives?
PRAYER:
God of mercy, you have told human beings of your design for human life. We so often turn our backs on your way, call us again, get our attention that we might live by your pattern of life, living for you all the days of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.