And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. (Revelation 9:15)
Now begins the proverbial “worst nightmare,” on top of what has been one bad dream after another. It’s perpetrated by four angels (demons, angels are not bound), prepared for timed release, and a third of all humanity on earth at the time is killed by fire or smoke or brimstone (considered three separate but simultaneous perpetrated plagues). By the way, the population has already been reduced by a fourth (see Revelation 6:8). These weapons of mass destruction are released by an army 200 million strong, who are described by John as follows:
And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. (Revelation 9:17)
This makes modern imminent threats seem like irritating swattable gnats. It’s unlikely to be an invasion of hordes of Chinese soldiers as earlier apocalyptic writers predicted, but demonic machinations akin to what John actually saw. We can do a “hard stop” on what he has described and know for certain that they are terrifying, have been prepared for this moment, are 200 million strong, and come from the east.
One would think that those left on earth will finally “tap out” and submit to God, but the opposite is true; they become more hardened and sinful.
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; (Revelation 9:20)
This is a society without the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit, but for the very small subset of 144,000 witnesses and their converts. This certainly does not reflect nor describe the active presence of a persistent evangelical Church throughout the tribulation. You can banter back and forth with eschatological terms like “pre trib” or “mid trib” or “post trib,” keeping your feet firmly planted in midair, but from what is starkly presented here, the former position appears to be the most convincing, but do we really have a say in the matter? Truth said, a good read through Revelation argues strongly and unequivocally against the other positions.
As an aside, notwithstanding the absence of all Christians at the start of this 7-year reign of terror, given today’s global population of an estimated 8.2 billion people, where we stand at this juncture in the story, half of this number will have been killed, or a bit over 4 billion human beings. We can’t even fathom this many lost souls! During COVID we heard of a handful who died in our spheres. It is estimated that 15 to 20 million succumbed worldwide. In this case, with persons standing on your right and left, one will drop dead, and so on, and so on. But sadly and unbelievably…
they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. (Revelation 9:21)
(Revised 7/18/26)
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