Study of Revelation: The Sixth Trumpet – Kings of the East

In the first part of my study on the sixth trumpet judgment I first took a look at the view that the horsemen and “horses” we read about in Revelation 9 are supernatural in nature. Aside from the literal interpretation of this judgment, others have interpreted this army symbolically to represent a military force composed of 200 million men and relate it to the kings of the east in Revelation 16.

Often times the “horses” are also interpreted as either being tanks or other kinds of technological warfare. Although I personally don’t subscribe to this interpretation any longer, I’ll be using this post to break this viewpoint down.

Something often brought up when talking about this trumpet judgment is the use of the number 200 million to defend the prophetic nature of the book of Revelation. According to population tracking sources such as world population history the estimated world population during John’s time (1st century AD) was around 170-180 million people.

Only in recent times have national populations grown large enough to bring about an army of this size. So how does this tie into the times we’re living in? According to this view, many believe that China may just be the world power that’s capable of mustering up a force this large.

The “Kings of the East”

China’s Military Potential by Dr. Larry M. Wortzel is one such source that delves into this issue. He’s a leading authority on China, Asia, and national security as well as a commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the United States Congress. Although the information is dated (published in 1998), even at that time Dr. Wortzel believed China’s military potential could achieve these numbers given their large population.

Dr. Wortzel stated, “China’s standing armed force of some 2.8 million active soldiers in uniform is the largest military force in the world. Approximately 1 million reservists and some 15 million militia back them up. With a population of over 1.2 billion people, China also has a potential manpower base of another 200 million males fit for military service available at any time,” (China’s Military Potential).

A Christian source, the Trumpet, wrote an article in May 2018 titled Asian Nations Strengthen Military Cooperation that made the case for this interpretation in light of current events at the time. The article expounded upon the possible role of the Shangai Cooperation Organization (SCO) may have prophetically speaking. The SCO is composed of 8 nations: Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan bringing their combined population to 3.2 billion people.

The article states,

Another point made with this view is the possibility that the Euphrates river is dried up in Revelation 16 to make way for this massive army. In Revelation 16:12, the 6th angel pours out his bowl on the Euphrates river drying it up and preparing a way for the “kings from the east”. According to this interpretation, this military force from Revelation 9 created by a coalition of nations such as SCO or simply a massive Chinese army could be the “Kings of the East” – keeping in mind the geographical location of these nations.

Could China and the other 7 nations in the SCO be prophetically significant in the context of Revelation 9 and 16? John Walvoord delves into this idea as well, “There is no direct statement as to the origin of this army, but the implication is, from the fact that the angels of verse 14 were bound “in” or at the Euphrates, that the army may come from the East. A similar and later development mentioned in Revelation 16:12 following the outpouring of the sixth vial also depicts an invasion from the East. Unless the vials and the trumpets coincide as some believe, these are two different events, possibly two different phases of the same operation,” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 112).

Horses as Technology

Just as some view the army of 200 million as an army composed of human beings, they also employ the interpretation that the “horses” pictured in Revelation 9:17-21 are not supernatural in nature but are instead the advancement of technological warfare. Proponents of this view make the case that as John was seeing into the future, he was not able to comprehend what he was seeing and ascribe names to it as we’re able to (i.e. tanks) but instead described the imagery the best way he could.

Walvoord also elaborates on this point stating, “Some have interpreted the description as John’s understanding of a scene in which modern warfare is under way. Further, the heads of the horses are compared to heads of lions out of whose mouths fire, smoke, and brimstone issue. This again is a description that might be comparable to modern mechanical warfare,” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 112).

In part 1, I also noted Dr. Constable’s interpretation of these horses and horsemen. Although he mentions the view that these are humans and technology, he ultimately believes this to be supernatural in nature, “The ‘horsemen’ may be humans under the control of these four evil angels (cf. Dan. 11:44), or, more likely, they are demons.[584] The description of the horses (v. 17) argues for an angelic (demonic) army, as does its leadership, namely, four fallen angels (vv. 14-15)”.

He continues on by stating, “This added description of the horses, ‘power … in their mouths and in their tails,’ supports the conclusion that they represent angelic instruments of divine judgment other than natural horses. Some interpreters have suggested that what they represent are modern weapons that shoot both forward and backward, such as missiles.”

An Unrepentant Mankind

Despite the graphic and terrifying nature of this sixth trumpet judgment we quickly learn that this has no impact on the already hardened hearts of those who aren’t killed by it, “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts,” (Revelation 9:20-21).

These 2 verses set their focus on the “earth dwellers” (Revelation 12:12), those who have yet accepted God’s free gift of salvation. This judgment comes after the first 7 seal judgments and 5 trumpet judgments, meaning 12 divine judgments have already been executed on an unrepentant humanity. Despite this, many still harden their hearts towards God even though his existence has been made well evident to them (Revelation 6:12-17). As terrible as this judgment is, it’s through God’s grace and mercy that he only allows a third of mankind to be killed.

It’s well within his power to lay waste to the remaining two-thirds if he pleased but we must keep in mind that through these judgments many will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. It’s also a part of God’s purpose to use this as a divine wake up call to those who have rejected the possibility of a God beforehand but now come face to face with that reality. However, what we see here is a refusal to repent but instead continue in their corrupt ways.

It’s interesting to note that this is the first instance in Revelation we see mention of an obvious lack of repentance on the part of mankind as a response to God’s judgments – although those who hide themselves at the 6th seal judgment may also serve as an example (Revelation 6:12-17). We also see this same pattern of judgment and lack of repentance with the scorching of men in the 4th bowl judgment (Revelation 16:8-9), darkness of the 5th bowl judgment (Revelation 16:10-11), and finally the greatest earthquake in human history followed by massive hailstones in the 7th bowl judgment (Revelation 16:17-21).

In contrast to mankind’s reaction in Revelation 6:12-17 where they simply did not repent of their deeds whether it be idolatry, murder, sorcery, theft, or sexual immorality, the 4th, 5th, and 7th bowl judgments shows us that mankind not only doesn’t repent but also blasphemes God due to the terrible judgments.

It shows us that the hearts of mankind progressively hardens throughout the tribulation and unfortunately the severity of God’s judgments increases in like manner. It may surprise many of us how people can come to the truth of God’s existence and his judgment on them and still refuse to repent of their deeds. However the bible offers us a simple answer, it’s because “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,” (John 3:19).

Walvoord states, “Their worship of idols does not change their lives, and verse 21 indicates that they do not repent of their murders, their wicked sorceries, their fornication, nor their thefts. Though the power of satanic false religion is evident in the world, it does not have the transforming, purifying, redeeming quality found only in the power and grace of God. Though men can be made to fear God by demonstration of divine power, they are not brought to the place of repentance apart from faith in Christ and divine grace. Scott observes, ‘The two closing verses of the chapter reveal an astounding picture of human depravity,'” (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 113).

While we still draw breath, may we use the time we have now in this age of Grace to continue to share and boldly proclaim the gospel to the lost around us. It should be our hope and prayer that people will wake up to the truth and avoid the horrors of the tribulation before it’s too late.

If you enjoyed this study, you can find similar studies on the book of Revelation here including the 7 Churches of Revelation, the 24 Elders, the 4 living creatures, 4 Horseman, etc.