Revelation 9:13

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,

And the sixth angel sounded ... Here begins the second woe, actually a development of the first. This is the locust story, Phase II.

This is the last appeal for people to renounce their evil ways and turn their hearts to God. This woe, coming in close proximity to the final judgment, could indicate that far greater sufferings and death than anything previously seen upon earth may come as the immediate prelude to the Second Advent and the final judgment. Significantly, the prophet here did not foretell any wholesale conversion of the Jews or of anyone else, no restoration of fleshly Israel, no millennium (so-called), nor any other of the fanciful utopias which people have sometimes imagined as taking place before the end. No! "They repented not" (Revelation 9:21)! "In each series, there are seven, and yet they are one. Any characteristic thought that appears in one, may be carried through all its members."[53]

A voice from the horns of the golden altar ... Frequently in Revelation we encounter this voice of authority, always indicating the will of God himself. The fact of the voice's coming in this instance from the horns of the golden altar shows that the prayers of God's people are an important factor, and that they have a definite relationship to the great events foretold.

Rist was correct in the discernment that "The sixth trumpet seems to be a variation of the fifth."[54] He also noticed the resemblance to the red horse vision in the seals (Revelation 6:1-8), one of the numerous indications throughout Revelation of recapitulation in the successive series of seals, trumpets, and bowls. The aim of this vision was thus stated by Carpenter:

It is to exhibit the death-working power of false thoughts, false customs, false beliefs, and to arouse men to forsake false worship, worldliness and self-indulgence into which they have fallen.[55]

Concerning the mysterious words of the last half of this chapter, Barclay said, "No one has ever been able fully to explain its details.[56] Summers said of the "horses" that, "The combined efforts of P. T. Barnum and Robert Ripley could not produce such an animal";[57] and Eller said of the locusts, just described, "These are locusts the way Picasso would have painted them."[58] Despite the mystery of this symbol, however, we believe that the central message comes through loud and clear.

Regarding our interpretation of this sixth trumpet, our own view is stated in the words of Carpenter, above; but other meanings are proposed by various scholars. Summers wrote: "The whole picture presents the Parthian cavalry."[59] Ellicott, Barnes, and others refer the fifth and sixth trumpets to the two great Muslim invasions culminating in the fall of Constantinople in 1453.[60] We do not at all despise such interpretations. The events mentioned did fulfill what is here prophesied; but so did the events of two great world wars fought within the lifetime of this writer. Furthermore, it cannot be absolutely ruled out that supernatural events never yet seen on earth may be indicated, an opinion held by Lenski.[61]

[53] Charles H. Roberson. op. cit.. p. 61.

[54] Martin Rist, op. cit., p. 435.

[55] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 577.

[56] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 52.

[57] Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1961), p. 159.

[58] Vernard Eller, op. cit., p. 109.

[59] Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 159.

[60] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 300.

[61] Ibid.