(13) And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, (14) Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. (15) And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. (16) And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. (17) And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. (18) By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. (19) For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. (20) And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: (21) Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
Here we have the opening of the dispensation under the sixth trumpet ushered in with this solemn preface: One woe is past; and behold, there come two woes more hereafter! Reader! let us attend to what is here said, and ponder it well. For most certain it is, the present time-state of the Church is now under it. And when it will finish, and the two woes in it be accomplished, who shall say? Great events are involved in it, and which must come to pass before it will end; these things are most certain. It hath already run on to many hundred years; and the hour, and day, and month, and year allowed to it, are not yet fulfilled.
One point concerning this sixth trumpet, most clearly proves that it refers to the East; namely, in that the river Euphrates is by name mentioned. And the establishment of the empire of the impostor Mahomet, and his successors, over the East, is no less a proof that his is the delusion meant. Indeed, the propagating his imposture by sword, and with the army almost incredible, as here described, is a full confirmation.
I take great pleasure in calling the Reader's attention once more to the sealing of Israel, as represented Chapter 7 who occupied those parts, where the impostor's sword was to make great ravages. And, I beg the Reader never to lose sight of it, as often as he calls to mind the vast territories Mahometanism and Paganism still occupy in the East, and will occupy, until that blessed period shall arrive, when the Deliverer shall arise out of Zion, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. In the mean time, it is a rich and full consolatory thought, the Lord's sealed ones are saved ones. Jesus hath marked them as his own; and it is his province to gather them out of all places, whither they are scattered in the cloudy and dark day, Ezekiel 34:12
One of the most interesting parts in this whole book of God, and which meets us more or less, everywhere through it, and in all directions, is the presence of Christ, giving commands, and guiding the whole events of his Church. This the Prophet Ezekiel learnt, in that vision which he saw, and from whence he was enabled, and directed to teach the Church, Ezekiel 1:26. And John, in like manner, in these visions he here relates, is observing the same thing.
When the sixth Angel sounded, John saith, he heard a voice from the four horns of the golden Altar, which is before God. Several very interesting views arise from hence.
First. It could be no other than Christ that John heard, for the golden Altar is the propitiatory, or mercy-seat, for intercession. So that, a voice from hence, must have been Jesus speaking. He is the only Mediator, and High Priest, Exodus 30:1-10
Secondly. It is blessed to recollect he is always there. The opening of this trumpet dispensation, opens with this view of him, carrying on the office of his everlasting, unchanging priesthood, Hebrews 7:21-28
Thirdly. His command to the Angel, to loose the four Angels, proves no less, that he is a Priest upon his throne, and whom all the angels worship and obey, Zechariah 6:12-13; Hebrews 1:3-6; 1 Peter 3:22
Fourthly. The sameness of Christ, in his Person, in his Royalty, in his government, and watchful eye over his Church, is sweetly set forth on this occasion, as in the instance before, when he ascended from the East to seal his servants. There, the four Angels were commanded by him, to hold the winds till he had sealed them. And here, the four Angels, now the Lord had sealed his servants, were to let loose the ravages of the army on the Euphrates, for the carrying on the purposes of his government. Reader! what a mercy it is to have such an High Priest, such an Head, and Husband of his Church and People! Whatever events yet remain to be accomplished, under this sixth trumpet dispensation, oh! for grace to call to mind Jesus is at the four horns of the golden Altar before God! Oh! for faith to hear his gracious voice, as John heard, and to have our souls made blessed as John's was, in the grace and faith that is in Christ Jesus!
The close of this Chapter is very awful. It is said, that amidst all the persecutions which these enemies brought against the Church, and with which also they oppressed the world, the innumerable murders they committed, the sorceries they practiced, their fornication and thefts, they felt no sorrow, neither repentance. Reader! this is a sad but true representation of man, in his fallen, unrenewed state, and universally becomes true, not only in the instance of those here spoken of, but of the whole earth. There can be no true repentance, but from the grace of God. There can be no grace, but by regeneration. Without the new-birth, the heart remains hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin; yea, the spirit is dead in trespasses and sins, Hence, amidst all the studied reforms of men, all the fastings, and penance, and alms-giving, and stripes, pilgrimages, and vows, which the world hath set up, not an individual of the human race, from Adam downward, ever truly repented, unless a work of sovereign grace by regeneration, is wrought in the heart, to bring the sinner to God. Till God takes away the heart of stone, and gives the heart of flesh, there is no alteration of the old nature. If all the devils now in hell were liberated from their chains, devils they would still remain. And the damned spirits of the dead now there, must be everlastingly the same, since no repentance is given them. Think then, what an unspeakable mercy it must be, in the person and every instance of the Lord's people, when the Lord calls them by his grace, from the power of darkness, and translates them into the kingdom of his dear Son! Colossians 1:12-13
I must not close this Chapter, without first observing, that what is here said of worshipping devils, and idols of gold and silver, and of their murders and sorceries, and the like, seems to be much more suited to the Western heresy, than to the Eastern. We do not find in the fabled religion of Mahomet, and his imposture, anything like what is here said of the worship of idols, though abounding, as his infamous doctrine doth, of fornications and adulteries, and uncleanness, which the false prophet grants to his followers, yea, making the future paradise, which he holds out to them in another world, to be made up of the fullest gratification of all their sensual lusts. But the worshipping idols, in praying to crucifixes and the images of pretended saints, these things belong to the Western heresy under the Pope, and indeed very clearly define that character. She also, no less than Mahomet, hath her allowances of fornication, and uncleanness, and murders innumerable in her inquisition through all ages, even to the present hour, and is said to be drunken with the blood of the saints, Revelation 17:6. And what can it be more properly called than sorceries, the exorcisms and pretended holy water, which are used to amuse and deceive the credulous? And what less name than thefts can it be called, the immense sums which in all ages have been gathered by the Pope and his priest's, in pretending to pray souls out of purgatory, and putting up masses for the dead? These things, which are the notorious traffic of the Western heresy, plainly define the character here meant. So, that though the former part in the opening of the sixth trumpet began at the river Euphrates, in the Turkish dominions, and most evidently alluded to Mahomet and his imposture, yet this latter part, as plainly refers to the heresy in the West, and points to the Pope, and his imposture. And there can be no impropriety in considering both. For the sixth trumpet includes in its operations, a period of many hundred years, and is not yet finished, neither will indeed, until in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the Prophets, Revelation 10:7. Reader! pause over the contemplation, as we behold both these horrible delusions, which have been permitted as the scourge of the Church, for so many ages and generations. And while meditating on the subject, look up for grace, and you will find some very sweet and precious instructions arising therefrom, if so be the Lord is your Teacher.
As first, T he opposition from hell, to Christ and his kingdom, hath been all along permitted for the greater glory of God, and the good of his Church. The serpent's head when bruised, to intimate in due appointed time, his total and everlasting destruction, was to be accompanied with the bruising the seed of the Woman in the heel. Christ eminently proved this, in his unequalled sufferings. And all his redeemed, from the first martyr Abel, down to the present hour, and so on to the end of time, prove the same.
Secondly. The conflict though painful, hath a sure issue. The God of peace will bruise Satan under the feet of all his redeemed shortly. Satan having by his temptations overcome our nature, and involved the Church, as well as the world, in the ruins of the fall, hath made even Christ's mystical members, his lawful captives. For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage, 2 Peter 2:19. But the head of those members hath overcome him, and therefore the Lord thus speaks. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the lawful captive be delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine, and all flesh shall know, that I the Lord am thy Savior, and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob, Isaiah 49:24-26
Thirdly. In the mean time, God's sealed ones, are all saved ones. No weapon formed against them shall prosper. Their enemies may be permitted, to persecute, yea, burn, destroy, or kill the body. And martyrdom is blessed, when it is endured for Christ's sake. Prophets, Apostles, and Saints have waded through blood to the kingdom. Yea, Jesus himself, pre-eminent in all things, was in preeminent in suffering. But the end is peace. Fear not little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom, Luke 12:32
Lastly. When the sixth trumpet is fully run out, and all the woes to the Church are ended, then comes the Church's everlasting triumph. Then that event will take place, and which all the redeemed shall see, and they whose souls are now under the Altar calling for judgment, shall all rejoice together, when the devil that deceived the world, and the beast, and false prophet shall be all cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, and shall be tormented day and night forever. Amen!