Revelation 9:15

And the four angels were loosed that had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, that they should kill the third part of men.

The hour and day and month and year ... means the precisely exact date. "This is not to be taken to imply the duration of the plague,"[67] but applies to the exact historical moment when this development will occur, or perhaps "when the conditions in human thought are exactly right," for such things to happen. Inherent in this is the thought of God's having an exact timetable and schedule for the accomplishment of all of his purposes. Jesus often referred to "my hour," meaning when the exact moment for God's will to be done would arrive; and Paul mentioned the same thing in Acts 17:26. Such expressions as "the times of the Gentiles," "the fullness of time," and "the fullness of the Gentiles" are all connected with the thought here. God has a plan and a time schedule for all things; and at the exact moment his plans will be executed. It hardly needs to be said that people do not know this timetable but God does.

Beckwith was incorrect in speaking of this time factor to attribute it to "non-canonical literature."[68] The whole New Testament has this conception. As Morris said, "It is clear that John is speaking of a divine plan. God has a purpose, and it is worked out. It is a purpose of judgment; and, upon this occasion, the third part of man were to be slain."[69] There is a vast difference between Revelation and the apocalyptic writings of those approximate times, as pointed out by Mounce:

The latter always envision foreign invasion, an attack against the people of God by pagan hosts, while John sees the invasion as a divine judgment upon a corrupt civilization.[70]

They should kill the third part of men ... The limitation should be stressed. If Satan were completely free to work his wicked plans, the entire populations of earth would not survive for thirty days, but would be utterly and ruthlessly destroyed, the same having been the invariable purpose of the devil from the Garden of Eden until this very instant. When Satan tormented Job, he could go only so far, and no further. The same restraint is operative here.

[67] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 579.

[68] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 567.

[69] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 134.

[70] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 201.