Revelation 11:15-19 – Last Call

The book of Revelation could almost end at this point. The seven trumpets have brought God’s will into the world, first to urge repentance, then to punish evil and sin. God’s word went out into the world and prevailed over his enemies, who were confounded and destroyed. There’s more to come, of course. But in a sense, the rest of the book fills in the details for the overall scheme that we’ve seen up to this point. These five verses summarize the glory that will be more fully described in Chapters 21 and 22.

The seventh angel sounded the last trumpet, and in response all of heaven erupts in a proclamation of God’s final victory. If you’re a music buff, you’ll recognize the words of the song in verse 7; Händel used them for his great triumphant “Hallelujah” chorus of the Messiah oratorio. And for good reason. In two simple lines, we hear a summary of Christ’s victory. The world has become God’s kingdom, and he will reign over it forever. It’s the fulfillment of our petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Up to this point we’ve been looking a dichotomy between God’s kingdom and the powers of the world that oppose him. Good and evil, God and Satan, light and dark. The celebration here isn’t that God has won a final victory over his enemies and defeated them. His victory runs even deeper. God didn’t just destroy his enemies: he converted them into his servants! God co-opts the world and bends it to his purposes. Maybe you’ve seen it in your own life: a horrible tragedy strikes, or an awful sin cuts an ugly mark across life. But God is able to take the suffering and evil and actually make it part of his plan. I’ve seen it happen in my own life (sorry, but I don’t feel like sharing the juicy details here. Just trust me on it). I guess you could say that God is the ultimate recycler. He takes trash and turns it into treasure. Or, as the 1970’s contemporary Christian singer Keith Green put it, “He brought me here, where things are clear, and trials turn to gold.” Notice carefully what the “loud voices in heaven” declare. They don’t say “The kingdom of the world has been defeated by the kingdom of our Lord.” They say “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord.” God has transformed his enemies and the broken world they have ravaged into part of his kingdom.

This is what God has been doing for centuries, as the gospel has spread across the world (that same gospel which John was told to proclaim in Revelation 10:11, and which the two witnesses prophesied in verses 3-6). Diogenes Allen wrote about this masterfully in his book Christian Belief in a Postmodern World. As the gospel spreads and encounters rival faiths and ideologies, it does not simply roll over top of them and eliminate them. It co-opts them, and makes them part of the Christian witness. (Don’t try this at home, kids. It can easily turn into syncretism. But that’s exactly not what I’m talking about here.) Let me give you a few examples. The first is one that Dr. Allen offered himself. Stoicism was probably the most influential and widespread philosophical schools of the first century Roman world. Never heard of it? That’s because it was incorporated into the Christian witness. Or, to put it more carefully (to show that it wasn’t simple syncretism), Stoicism had something to offer which strengthened Christian theology. It wasn’t a case of “these two are pretty much the same thing, so let’s slap them together” (which would be syncretism), but more like “hey, here’s a good tool we can use to understand the gospel better.” Another example is one which occurred over the last 150 years or so in Africa, which the Christian world is still benefitting from. When the first European missionaries came, they were appalled by the drumming and dancing that was part of the African culture. because it was closely associated with the African traditional religions, the missionaries forbade their converts from engaging in it. That was a real struggle for early African Christians, because drumming and dancing was an integral part of life for them. They had to give up part of who they were in order to become Christian. Over time, wiser heads recognized that there is nothing inherently sinful with traditional African drumming and dancing. Why couldn’t it be used for Christian worship as well? Practices which had originally been devoted to pagan or pantheistic religion are now used to offer praise to Jesus Christ. Christ has taken over what used to belong to another. Here’s one more example. Christian purists point out that the name “Easter” is derived from Ishtar, a Babylonian fertility goddess and festival. They refuse to celebrate Easter (or at least, to call day of Christ’s resurrection by that name) because of this pagan association. And to some extent, they have a point. Easter bunnies and eggs are symbols of fertility. But I see this as one more example of how the gospel has co-opted and taken over elements of the world that used to be opposed to Christ. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never met a devotee of Ishtar, and I see no devious conspiracy to undermine Christian faith in the resurrection by subverting it into a fertility cult. In fact, the exact opposite has happened. The celebration of new life that Ishtar-worshipers used to observe has now become part of our celebration of the new life that Jesus brings. We Christians have changed and taken over the Babylonian practice, not the other way around. (If the name “Easter” leaves you feeling hinky, then do what Eastern Orthodox Christians do and call it the Paschal Festival.” Does the name really matter all that much?) These are just a few examples, and there are so many more: neo-Platonism, Christmas trees, guitars and drums in worship (and yes, even organs. Time was that good church-going people were offended that such a profane instrument would be used in worship. “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” is set to the tune of an old German drinking song.)

This is all good news for us, because it’s exactly what God has done in our lives. If God would say something like “anything or anyone that is opposed to me or is directed to some other form of worship or way of life and thought must be destroyed,” we’d all be toast. Instead, he has taken us, enemies of his that we are because of our sin, selfishness, desires, and pride, and transformed us into his friends. Romans 5:10 expresses this beautifully. Those who are God’s enemies have become part of his kingdom. Hallelujah, indeed.

John then directs our attention back to the 24 elders who surround God’s heavenly throne (we first met them in Chapter 4). They now offer a new song to God. In a sense, these elders are like the chorus in ancient Greek dramas, commenting on the plot development and explaining to us, the audience, the significance of what’s going on. God is now exercising the full extent of his power, which up until now had been held back a bit. The “nations,” or the human and spiritual powers of the world which resisted God, have been angry at God and have resisted him, but now God takes on his role as their judge. “The time for judging has come.” We’ll see this expressed in more detail in Revelation 20:11-15. There will be reward and blessing for those whose worship of God (or reverence of his name) reveals them to be citizens of his kingdom. Notice that: it is our worship and reverence of God that demonstrates our saving relationship with him. Not the intensity of our faith, nor the precision of our theology, nor the merit of our conduct. It is our worship, praise, gratitude, honor – whatever words you want to use – of God that demonstrate that we are his people. So, what’s your worship life like (both personal and corporate)? It’s actually very simple. If you claim Christ as your king, then he will be your king and rule over you. If not, well, it’s another story. Those who get the nasty side of judgment are labeled destroyers: “those who destroy the earth.” That, in essence, is what rebellion against God and sin is all about. You are destroying the goodness of God’s creation and his perfect will for the world. Again, it’s very simple. If you destroy, you will be destroyed. In a sense, we select our own fate. If we seek God as our king, we will be part of his kingdom. If we devote ourselves to destruction, then we’ll get what we’ve been seeking and be destroyed ourselves.

The scene ends with God’s temple and the Holy of Holies being opened and revealed. This is a reminder of what happened during the crucifixion, when the temple curtain that shrouded the Holy of Holies was ripped apart. God is no longer caged up, and we are no longer protected from his glory and power, for good or bad. The lightning, thunder, earthquake, and hail are symbols of God’s power that we’ve encountered elsewhere (such as 8:1-5) and which we find repeatedly in the Bible (such as Exodus 19). It’s a symbolic expression of verse 16: God has taken up his power.

Revelation 11:1-14 – It Pays to Increase Your Word Power

This passage begins with an echo of Ezekiel 40-42, when the prophet observes someone measuring the temple. Not the “real” temple in Jerusalem, but God’s ideal temple that it was based on. I won’t take the time to look at why Ezekiel saw the temple being measured, but the purpose for John measuring the temple is pretty clear here: it’s not to fit the temple with new curtains, but for its preservation and protection. This protection isn’t just for the building itself, but for the people in it. It’s an action very similar to what happen in Revelation 7:3, when God marked his people with a seal of protection before the trumpets sounded. The outer court of the temple isn’t included in the protection. It may be that it’s because this was the court of the Gentiles: people who didn’t really belong to begin with. Or, it may represent people on the fringes of faith: those whose names are on the roles but don’t really know Jesus. Or people who think they’re Christian because they come from a Christian family. That’s not good enough.

The reason for the protection is clear in the rest of this passage: the “Gentiles” (for Jews, the same thing as “the nations”) or the godless people, will rise up against God, his temple, his people, and his message. But God offers sanctuary in his sanctuary. John was told (we don’t know by whom) that these forces of opposition to God would run rampant for 42 months. That’s three and a half years, by the way. In a book such as Revelation, where numbers carry symbolic importance, three and a half years means more than that particular span of time. It’s half of 7, which is the perfect or divine number. So this is part of, or half of, God’s plan. It may look like the enemies are in control, but they’re not. First of all, God has marked a limit to how far they can go. And second, their time of power is part of God’s bigger plan.

Then, after God’s enemies have had their time to destroy and cause harm, God brings in two witnesses. They do their work for 1,260 days. If you get out your calculator, you’ll see that 1260 days = 42 months = 3 ½ years. So the perfect time of seven years is divided in half. Think of it as a courtroom trial. First the prosecution has a chance to present its case, then the defense has a turn. Or, think of Presidential debates, where the moderator works hard to ensure that everyone gets equal time. The work of the destroyers and desecrators is limited. They can’t get to the sanctuary where the numbered worshipers are. (Being counted means being protected. That’s what Jesus meant about the hairs of head being counted by God.)

These two witnesses are interesting for several reasons. First, of course, is the incredible powers that they have to breathe fire and to cause drought, and then of course is their resuscitation after being killed. But the identity of exactly who (or what!) these witnesses are is where it gets really interesting, and where their powers give us some understanding.

The witnesses were dressed in sackcloth, the traditional clothing for mourning and lamentation. They came with a message of woe and doom. They were mourning because of all the bad stuff that was going to happen. No wonder the people didn’t like them! Their association with olive trees and lampstands is also instructive. First, it brings to mind Zechariah 4, where God shows the prophet a lampstand with two olive trees. He’s told that they are “the two who are anointed to serve the Lord,” and that they declare God’s power and blessing. OK, maybe that’s not as helpful as we’d like. But they can point us in the right direction. We’ve already seen some lampstands in Revelation, which indicated God’s presence. And olive trees are a sign of life and prosperity. So, despite the sackcloth and the negative response of the people, these witnesses are good and positive.

So who exactly are the witnesses? There are bunch of possible answers to that question. And, since this is symbolic language, the real answer may be “all of the above.” The first theory about the two witnesses is that they are Enoch and Elijah: the two people in the Old Testament who were taken into heaven without dying (Genesis 5:21-24 and 2 Kings 2:11-12). The problem with this is that these two men have very little in common with each other apart from that, and Enoch is (at least for us) a pretty obscure figure. (By the way, the Roman Catholics believe that the same thing happened to Mary; they call it the Assumption. But we don’t find any hint of it in Scripture, which is why Protestants don’t share this belief.) The second theory is based on the description of the witnesses with images from Zechariah: they are Joshua and Zerubbabel, the high priest and the king in Zechariah’s time that he spoke well of. This could direct our attention to Jesus, who is our high priest and king. The fact that the witnesses were killed by their enemies but came to life after three and a half days sounds pretty similar to what happened to Jesus. The third idea, which is the one that I like the best, is that the two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. Elijah was given the power to cause a three year drought. Moses was given the power to bring plagues upon Egypt, like turning water to blood. As for the fire of destruction, we find both of those in the lives of Moses (Numbers 11:1-3 and Numbers 16:35) and of Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). And what’s so significant about Moses and Elijah? Well, Moses is known as the law-giver, and Elijah is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets (even though we don’t have a book of the Bible named after him). The law and the prophets is the full sum of the Old Testament, and is often how the Hebrew Bible is referred to (Matthew 5:17, Matthew 7:12, Matthew 22:40, Luke 16:16. Romans 3:21, and so on). Perhaps the most powerful reference is John 1:45, written by the same John who recorded this Revelation. After Philip met Jesus, he went to his friend Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth.” And that’s the whole point: the law and the prophets witness to Jesus. So these two witnesses are the law and the prophets, witnessing and testifying to Jesus. And why do we need two witnesses, instead of just one? Simple: the Old Testament law required the testimony of two witnesses in order for anything to be accepted or judged to be true (Deuteronomy 17:6).

So the two witnesses are the testimony of Scripture to the identity and authority of Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful witness: one that can destroy its opposition. At the same time, however, we need to avoid the danger of “Bible-idolatry.” The Bible is a reliable and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ, but it’s not the center of our faith. I always feel uncomfortable when someone describes themselves as a “Bible-believing” Christian. I suspect what they mean is that they believe the witness of the Bible, and that’s great. But when we elevate the Bible to the point where it is what matters the most to us, then we’ve replaced our Lord with the thing that testifies to him. It’s always important to remember that the only reason the Bible matters is because of the way that it connects us to God.

The power of the witnesses’ testimony only lasts so long. The power of evil (introduced for the first time here in Revelation), embodied in the beast that rises up out of the Abyss (the same one that the locust army came from) attacks and kills them. Satan does his best to destroy the power of God’s word. And this is something that we find echoed throughout history. A few centuries before the time of Christ, Antiochus Epiphanes burned the Jewish Torah scrolls. Hitler burned Bibles. When Romania was under Communist rule, there were two items of contraband that they looked for at the borders: pornography and Bibles. Evil does its best to shut up the testimony of Scripture.

For a limited period of time, God’s enemies appeared to have won. They gloated and celebrated their apparent victory. Leaving bodies unburied is a form of disgrace. And it’s one that our nation has grieved to see a couple times in the past. After the “Blackhawk Down” tragedy in Mogadishu, we were outraged to see the bodies of the fallen Marines dragged through the streets. And when the Blackwater contracted security guards were killed in Fallujah, the insurgents strung their bodies up on a bridge to belittle them.

However, their celebration was short-lived. In a clear echo of Easter, God brought life back to the slain witnesses. And like the Ascension, he brought them up into heaven. The earthquake may be a reminder of the earthquake that Matthew tells us about at the crucifixion and resurrection.

Telling the truth with get you in trouble, and God’s enemies will try to shut you down. But in the end, God protects and vindicates his own. Are you doing your best to be a witness testifying to God? If so, not all of the problems you’re facing are simply a clash of personalities or bad luck. Evil may be attacking you as well. And for a while, they may appear to win. But God has the final victory.

Revelation 10:1-11 – A Spoonful of Sugar

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that we’re almost at the end of another series of seven in Revelation. First was the letters to the churches, then the seals being opened on the scroll, and now the trumpets being sounded by the angels. Before the seventh seal was opened, there was an interlude to make sure that God’s people were preserved, as they were given God’s protecting mark and gathered before the throne of heaven. In the same way, we have another pause before the seventh angel sounds off. But this time, it’s God’s witness and not his people who are being preserved in the face of evil.

There’s something about scrolls and mighty angels in Revelation. This is the second time that we see a mighty angel holding a scroll (the third mighty angel shows up in Chapter 18, but that’s another story). The first mighty angel and scroll came in the beginning of Chapter 5, when the angel asked if anyone was able to open the scroll that was sealed up and contained God’s plan for the world. This scroll is a bit different. It’s not God’s designs for the world, but his message to the people. Maybe that’s why it’s a “little scroll:” not the entire overall plan, but a particular part of it.

(By the way, there’s another possibility: it’s the same mighty angel each time, performing a different task. And there’s a chance that the scroll was little only in comparison to the angel.)

The might of the angel is a reflection of God’s might because the angel acts as his representative. Roll that thought around in your brain for a moment: when you act as God’s representative, you reflect him as well. It’s an awesome responsibility, but even more importantly, it’s a reminder that what you do does not depend upon your power but upon the One who is acting through you. Your role is to be the best representative of God as you can. Get yourself out of the way as much as you can, and let as much of God flow through you as you’re able. The angel is a reflection of God; are you?

As God’s agent, the attributes of this angel echo his majesty. The cloud and fire associated with him remind us of how God led the Israelites through the wilderness with a pillar of smoke by day and fire by night. It is a symbol of God’s divine presence. The rainbow over him evokes the divine mercy demonstrated by God’s promise to Noah after the flood never to destroy the world by water again. His feet on the land and on the sea and the fact that he came down from heaven show that the angel’s message is universal: for all people.

At the sound of the angel’s lion-like roar (another demonstration of his power; remember that the lion is the symbol of Judah), the seven-fold thunders speak in reply. I’m not exactly sure what the seven thunders are, but I suspect that it’s the seven-fold Spirit of God that we encountered in Chapter 1. But at this point, we run into an interesting mystery. John is about to record what the thunders say, but God orders him to seal it up: that is, to keep it under lock and key. He’s forbidden to write it down so that others (like us, who are reading John’s record) will know what the thunders have spoken.

Why the mystery? If the whole purpose of Revelation is to reveal, to show us what God’s doing in the world and what the future will hold, why is this message so different? I have a couple of theories. First, even in the midst of God’s revealing of himself to us, there are things that he holds back from us. Job never really got an answer for why he suffered so much. According to Mark’s gospel, the people who encountered Jesus during his earthly ministry never really quite understood him. Moses never made it into the Promised Land. There is always mystery when it comes to God, always something that we don’t know or understand. Perhaps it’s because we would never be able to grasp the whole picture because it’s incomprehensible to our little pee wee human brains. It may be that so much knowledge, a full exposure to God’s glory, would undo us. Or it may be a reminder to us that we worship and serve an undomesticated God. If we fully understood him, we could predict him. And that’s just one step away from controlling or manipulating him. Then we’d be the masters and God would be the servant. And wasn’t that the original sin: eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? It’s denied us for our own protection. There are times when we run into this situation when it infuriates or confuses us. We see God’s hand at work in the world around us, in the circumstances that our loved ones face, and we don’t understand why God would do such things. One of my favorite fantasies about heaven is that the time will come when God will explain it all to me and I’ll recognize how his plan was at work in ways that I couldn’t comprehend. This passage makes me wonder, however, if I’ll ever get to live out my fantasy. I hate to admit it, but I suspect that even in heaven God will be a mystery to us. We’ll see him face to face and revel in his glory, but there will still be things that are sealed up.

(There is another theory about what the seven thunders spoke which was sealed up. By sealing up their words, God prevented them from taking place. Perhaps the thunders spoke words of judgment that will not happen, maybe because it’s the voice of accusation against those whom Christ has redeemed.)

In my reflections on the sixth trumpet, I wondered how much longer God would inflict agony upon the people of the earth before he would start to bring things to a final end. It appears that now is the time. The mighty angel declares that the delay of God’s plans in order to woe or warn people away from their sin is over. The final plan of God was going to come to pass. It’s an answer to the martyrs’ demands in Chapter 6 for their suffering to be avenged. If you want to spoil the surprise, look ahead and you’ll see that the final consummation of God’s plans on the scroll is for his universal authority and worship. It’s about God, not us.

While it may be about God, we are privileged to play a role in the cosmic drama. It’s an honor and a humbling prospect, both at the same time. John is pulled away from his role of observer and recorder to become an active participant in God’s plans. Up until now, John has been detached from the action, apart from the comfort that an elder gave him in Chapter 5 and a question that an elder (the same elder?) asked him in Chapter 7. A voice from heaven (obviously the voice of God himself) instructs John to go and take the scroll from the hand of the mighty angel, who is beaming with the glory of God and straddling the foundations of creation. We, like John, are not passive observers of what God is doing. We are instructed to play our role in God’s plans. Like Moses and so many of the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles, we may feel utterly unworthy for the role God has for us. But it’s a false, even demonic, humility that prevents us from taking on those roles. Remember the mighty angel? His majesty and glory and might were not features of his own attributes, but refections of the majesty and glory of God. We, like the angel, are to allow God to work through us. In the process, we are transformed. There’s no place for us to sit back and let God or someone else take care of things. We all have our tasks to perform.

When John approached the angel and asked him for the scroll (imagine the courage it would take to do that!), the angel gave it to him and told him to eat it. The angel told him that it would be sweet going down, but would give him an upset stomach once he swallowed it. No; this doesn’t mean that the scroll was like too much Halloween candy. The scroll was God’s word to be proclaimed to the world. It’s sweet because it is the word of God, but it is bitter because of the judgment contained in it. Here’s another way to put it: the only way to the sweet victory of the resurrection is through the bitterness of the cross. On one wall in my office I have a picture of Christ seated in the glory of heaven. But on the other wall is a picture of his agony on the cross, surrounded by people from the past, present, and future. You can’t get to glory without agony.

The best way to understand the meaning of John eating the scroll is to look at the story of Ezekiel’s call to become a prophet, which this passage strongly echoes. God gave Ezekiel a scroll, upon which was written his message of “lament and mourning and woe” for the “obstinate and stubborn” people who had rebelled against him. Ezekiel, like John, was told to eat the scroll. Eating the scroll represents “internalizing” God’s message; really taking it to heart and letting it become part of you. but it also means that you must speak the word of God to others. Ezekiel’s scroll was sweet to the taste, like John’s was. But for Ezekiel, the words that he swallowed were difficult ones. Not only would they be harsh for the people he would speak them to, but their reaction would make Ezekiel’s life difficult. He would need God’s blessing to strengthen him so that he could withstand it.

When we are like Ezekiel and John, we receive God’s word and take it into our very selves. It is sweet and wholesome for us, but it’s not easy. It’s a harsh, bitter message that we receive and share. The gospel is literally “good news,” but it won’t always win you friends. Nonetheless, we share Ezekiel and John’s commission to share it with the world.

Revelation 9:13-21 - “Turning up the Heat”

The sixth trumpet intensifies the distress caused by the first five. In fact, it almost seems like overkill, after the events heralded by the first trumpets. How much more distress and calamity can God rain down upon the earth? And why does he want to?

First, a quick review. The trumpets began to sound after the scroll containing God’s will had been opened. We’ve seen that each of the trumpets announces another part of God’s plan taking place. But so far, the plan has been pretty gruesome. The first four trumpets destroyed a third of the major elements of the world: the land, fresh water, ocean, and sky. The fifth trumpet unleashed tortuous suffering upon the people who hadn’t been sealed by God. Everything that the trumpets brought about has been suffering and destruction.

The sixth trumpet announces even worse devastation. After it sounds, a voice from the altar issues a command. This altar, by the way, is the one that is before the throne of God in heaven. We’ve seen it a couple of times earlier. In Chapter 6, the souls of the martyrs were under the altar, demanding retribution for their suffering. In Chapter 8, the prayers of the faithful were presented to God on the altar, and were mixed with fire from the altar so that they could return to earth with the power of God. So the altar appears to be a connection between God and his people. And it’s where God’s power issues forth upon the world. The voice from the altar is the voice of God, announcing his will to be done.

The voice from the altar commands that God’s four avenging angels be released to attack the sinful people of the world. The number of angels indicates that they go about the entire world (to the four corners). Their location by the Euphrates River can indicate several things. And since this is symbolic language, it probably means all of them! First, Genesis 2:14 tells us the that the Euphrates was one of four rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden. And Genesis 3:24 describes an armed angel who guarded the entrance to the garden after Adam and Eve were kicked out. Perhaps this angel, the first indication in the Bible of God’s wrath against sin, is one of the four that now travels throughout the earth to attack that sin. Second, the most devastating military blow to people of God was the attack of the Babylonians against Jerusalem. Babylon was along the banks of the Euphrates. And according to Old Testament books like 2 Chronicles and Habakkuk, the Babylonian army was sent by God to punish a sinful and rebellious nation. The angels here are continuing the work that the Babylonians began. It was bad enough before; it’s going to be even worse now. Third, in the days of John and his first readers, the Euphrates River marked the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire, beyond which was fearful lawlessness and violence. In particular, the Parthians would stage raids from across the river into the Roman territory. The Parthian raiders were known particularly for their mounted archers, who would shoot arrows at you as they approached, and then could turn around and shoot again from behind as they left. This may be part of the inspiration for verse 19’s comment about the horses who attacked with both their mouths and their tails. Put all three of these images together, and you get the sense of terrifying destruction coming from God to punish the sin of the world.

Verse 15 is very specific. God had the angels’ release planned to the very hour, day, month, and year to begin their dreadful work. History is in God’s hands, as he controls the events that take place when and how he plans them.

The army of 200 million is not something different from the angels; it is the same deadly force perceived in a different way. The four angels are a universal spiritual force, and the massive army is an earthly reflection of that force. Even by today’s standards, an army with 200 million soldiers is inconceivable by human standards. Imagine what it would have meant in John’s day; historians estimate that entire population of the world at that time was about 200 to 300 million! The population of the entire Roman Empire at the time was about 55 to 60 million. So this is no ordinary army; it can only come as a component of spiritual activity. 200 million is also a symbolic number: 4 (all of creation) X 5 (not total) X 1,000 X 1,000 (a vast number). Put these numbers together and you get a description of the army: a vast force unleashed upon the entire world, but not one that will cause total destruction.

John provides some interestingly specific details about the horses and their riders. Their uniforms were red, blue, and yellow. Sorry, but I don’t know what these colors mean! The best I can do is look at the three “plagues” that the army produces: fire, smoke, and sulfur. Fire is red, smoke can sort of be blue, and sulfur is yellow. Maybe it’s nothing more than that. The horses have elements of lions and of snakes: fierce and dangerous animals, to be sure. Some commentators wonder if the snake-tails are meant to evoke images of Satan the serpent.

The locust army we saw in verses 3-10 was bad enough. But there was a limit to what it could do. The locusts could torment but not kill. That restriction is lifted for the army of the four angels. They slaughter a third of the human population, a number that echoes the one-third destruction of creation caused by the first four trumpets.

We’ve seen the previous destruction caused by the trumpets to be a summons for repentance from sin and the consequences of not leaving it. That summons is intensified here. But the response of the survivors of the army’s attack is not one that leads them to God. Rather than being “scared straight,” they continue in their sin. And unfortunately, this is a common feature of the human condition. Even when we see the nasty consequences of what we’re doing, we do it anyway. Everyone in our country knows that smoking kills, and that it’s a hard habit to break. And the “sin taxes” on cigarettes make them more and more expensive. And yet, people continue to start smoking. We know that fatty, greasy food will clog our arteries. For the first time in human history, life expectancy has dropped because people are eating too much food. We know that eating too much food, and the wrong kinds of food, is bad for us. But we do it anyway. And here’s the craziest statistic of all: violent crimes are higher in states that have capital punishment than in states with no death penalty. You’d think that people would be less likely to commit crimes when they know they could be executed for them. But that’s not the case. The Dutch have a great word for this human characteristic: eigewiest (I’m sure that this is totally misspelled, since I never learned to read or write the language of my forebears). The closest we get to it in English is “stubborn.” Or maybe “contrary.” A refusal to get with the program, for no other reason than that you don’t want to. Even if it will cause grief for yourself. Something like biting your nose to spite your face is part of it all. It’s part of our sinful human nature. Even when we see the deadly results of sin, we continue in it.

Why? Well, there can be all sorts of reasons, just as there are all sorts of sins and sinners. The description in verses 20-21 of the sins that people continue in suggests a few of the reasons. In the face of calamity and destruction, people don’t turn to the Lord who can save them, but all sorts of other things (demons, idols, etc) that they think can help them. And it’s still true today. Don’t get me wrong: technology is great. But do we put our trust in electronics, medical breakthroughs, and engineering marvels when they really can’t give us the help we need? We murder to get rid of people who anger us or who stand in the way of what we want. Sexual immorality and theft are two expressions of self gratification: getting what you want, and what makes you feel good. Even if it’s wrong and others may suffer as a result.

So what brings about repentance? Ultimately, it’s God’s work in the person’s soul. The survivors of the army of 200 million had hardened hearts, just Pharaoh after the plagues devastated Egypt but he continued to defy God. This is where we Presbyterians see predestination at work. If God touches a person, nothing can ever get in the way of their faithful devotion to him. But unless God calls that person by name, nothing will ever bring them into the fold.

Which person are you?