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Trumpet No. 6  

Thoughts on the Passage

Again this trumpet releases a disaster upon the earth – this time it is death through wars and plagues. Again the number killed is 1/3 of mankind so it again means the same thing as what we saw in the first four trumpets – a cleansing that is not meant to totally destroy but to instead allow for renewal. 

A couple of keys thoughts from here.

First, it comes from the altar where the incense was burning. It is clear that the prayers of God’s people release this trumpet. This trumpet releases angels that withhold great armies. The Euphrates river is quite symbolic – most of the great invasion of the land of Israel came from this region – Assyria, Babylon, Mede-Persia. They brought incredible destruction to the land and the people. It is telling us that great empires will be able to cause great destruction in the future. What do our prayers, release? It is releasing God’s Kingdom – and the nations of this world must accept and submit to this Kingdom. They do not want to do it. They would rather fight.

Second, It gives a number of people in these armies – 200,000,000. The Greek language does not have a number this big – their biggest number was 10,000 (they used the term – myriad for 10,000). So it is not likely an actual number that is being described – just the fact that the number of people involved is way, way beyond our ability to count.

Third, the death of all these people did not cause the remaining 2/3 of the people to repent. They choose to suffer, rather than give up the worship of their gods and to repent of their evil. They would rather keep their wicked behaviour and suffer, rather than turn to God and His Kingdom. Still, we have to see it as God giving them a chance to repent.

Prayer

Father, how do we pray in Your kingdom when the people are unwilling to come under Your rule? In our democratic thinking, we must let them choose. The truth is that You do let them choose! They will either come into Your kingdom – or they will be removed from Your kingdom. That is not the choice that they want, but it is the choice that You give them. They do not know the cost of living outside of Your kingdom – so You give them a taste of it. There is death, pain, no hope, no joy… still they choose it. You give them a choice, You give them a taste of the alternative, and You give them time to evaluate and change their minds. You could have brought Your kingdom in immediately, but, as we saw before, You want heaven filled. So we pray “Your kingdom come….” This is what is part of Your way of making people choose. I accept it and pray for it to bring people into Your kingdom. In Jesus Name. Amen.