Who Are Those Four Angels Loosed From The Euphrates River?

One woe is past; and, behold, there come 

two woes more hereafter. And the sixth 

angel sounded, and I heard a voice from 

the four horns of the golden altar which 

is before God, saying to the sixth angel 

which had the trumpet, Loose the four 

angels which are bound in the great river 

Euphrates. 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. And the number of the 

army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.  

Revelation 9:12-16

     It is understandable if you get confused about all this symbolism, and references to the earth, or the Euphrates River, the winds, trumpets, and such, but do not despair you need only to go slow, think, read, pray, and do not read more into this than what Scripture allows. We do no that woes will come upon the earth. What is a woe? It is a grievous distress, affliction, or trouble. A woe is grief. There is not one woe but three and this denotes much sorrow, grief, despair, and trouble, not for all but for some, those who will not repent and be saved by Jesus Christ. 

     A sixth angel blows his trumpet. A trumpet is not an article of war but a message and this message was a voice from the golden altar that is before God. Some, depending on their theological view say that this is prayer from those around the throne, and it may be such that bring punishment to the earth but the Greek word is singular, accusative, not plural so only a voice was heard. Does man have the power to instruct angels? No! but in this case the voice, singularly, some will say that this is just as a choir sings as one voice, be as that may, this voice, this sound of the trumpet was saying to loose the four angels that were bound in the river Euphrates. What does this mean? Rather than get caught up in some historical, preterest, or futurist theological view I will simply look at this from what is known. The river Euphrates was a traditional boundary for the land of the Israelites and of the Roman Empire. The Euphrates river ran east of Israel and met with the Tigris river at Babylon. This river arises in Turkey and is 1,740 miles long, it flows across Syria and through Iraq and with the Tigris, it defines and area known historically as Mesopotamia (means land between two rivers). The Euphrates river defines the north and the east while the desert and the Red Sea, with the Sinai define the border to the south and west. These natural barriers served as a barrier to invaders from the east so then it would be good to simply say that the Euphrates river is a restraint upon the forces of evil. The loosing of angels that were bound, restrained from doing harm to God's children were evil angels and were to be used by God, not forever but for a time, an hour and a day, and a month, and a year. What this means simply is that not a minute, an hour, a day, or month for a year will this woe be stopped. This evil angels will slay a third part of man. Not all men will die only a part. These evil angels have an army, riding horses and were and if my calculations are correct this means 200 million, but the Greek simply means myriads a great indefinite number so do not get all caught up on numbers, they are many too many to count. 

     I will continue this tomorrow, Lord willing, so as not to get to bogged down in these verses. What we do know, once again, we must not be of those that are inflicted by the woes sent to them from the golden altar, by God. Build your life on the Rock (Jesus Christ) and you will not be moved by any trial that may come your way. Oh, you may feel the heat but not the final outcome. God will take you through all that come your way, that is, if you let Him.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts,

    the God of Israel, Amend your

ways and your doings, and I will

    cause you to dwell in this place.

                         Jeremiah 7:3

Stay close to God: He is your protection

Richard L. Crumb