The teaching resumes with the sixth trumpet in Revelation 9:13. A voice proceeds from the four horns of the golden altar as a cry for mercy, for no sacrifice remains that can obtain mercy. Four angels bound in the great river Euphrates are released. These gather a two-hundred-million army. The description employs first-century terminology for modern warfare rather than literal horses, which famine would have consumed. Breastplates appear as fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. Fire, smoke, and brimstone issue from their mouths, and these three plagues kill a third of mankind as the army advances. Earth-dwellers do not change their minds concerning senseless slaughter, religious superstition and practices, fornication, or theft, though they recognize that God is bringing this wrath. The events occur roughly one month before the close of the Tribulation.
Chapter 10 opens a parenthesis that interrupts the trumpet sequence to supply additional revelation. The first event of the parenthesis occurs at the point of interruption, just before the Battle of Armageddon while the armies gather. The mighty messenger who possesses intrinsic strength is God the Son; this specific term is used only of the second Person of the Godhead. God the Son currently holds all authority except over the Father (1 Corinthians 15:25–28). He appears clothed with the glory cloud (distinct from atmospheric water clouds), a rainbow covering the top of the head (recalling the Genesis 9 promise never again to destroy the earth by flood and the emerald rainbow of Revelation 4:3), a face like the sun, and feet like pillars of fire indicating readiness for judgment. The word translated “angel” means messenger; this is the Angel of Jehovah, God the Son manifesting Himself.
He holds a little open scroll in His hand and sets His right foot upon the sea and His left foot upon the land, thereby claiming the earth. The little scroll is the title deed to the earth. Christ has not yet claimed the earth or asked the Father for the nations. He presently exercises authority over principalities and powers, and the heavens rule over the earth, yet His direct reign upon the earth has not begun. Psalm 37 states that the meek will inherit the earth while the wicked are cut off. This inheritance belongs to Israel in the Millennial Kingdom; the Church’s promises are heavenly. Israel is the salt of the earth that preserves the earth (Matthew 5); the Church is never called the salt of the earth. The Genesis 15 covenant grants the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. Israel has never occupied the full extent of this land because of unbelief. Psalm 2 records the decree in which the Son is declared to hold the position of Son and then asks the Father for the nations. The messenger cries with a loud voice as a lion roars, identifying Him as the Lion of the tribe of Judah who deals with Israel.
Seven thunders utter their voices, yet John is commanded to seal what they say and not write it. The surrounding context indicates that Christ is asking the Father for the nations and receiving them. There is no more delay. The messenger raises His hand to the third heaven and swears by Him who lives into the ages of the ages—the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea and all that is in them—that there will be no further delay. Because the second Person of the Godhead created all things (Colossians 1:16), He swears by Himself.
Between verses 6 and 7 the narrative advances one thousand years. In the days of the sounding of the seventh angel the mystery of God is finished, as declared to His servants the prophets. The seventh trumpet sounds at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 11:15), when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. The mystery is the gathering together of all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth, in the dispensation of the fullness of times (Ephesians 1:9–10). This mystery was revealed to New Testament apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:3–5). After the Great White Throne judgment the Son delivers the kingdom to the Father.
John is instructed to take the little scroll and eat it. It is sweet as honey in the mouth because Christ is about to reign, yet it becomes bitter in the stomach because he must prophesy again concerning many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. The session closes by noting that the next portion returns to the middle of the Tribulation—the times of the Gentiles trampling Jerusalem—and anchors the timeline with the two witnesses who prophesy for three and a half years at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, when Satan is cast out of heaven, the war of Gog of Magog occurs, and the man of lawlessness is slain and then resuscitated.
