Today is a two-for-one special on end times exegesis! Woo hoo! We looked earlier at the fifth trumpet judgment, the freaky locusts with stingers. Now we’re going to look at the sixth (and seventh) trumpet judgment – 200 Million Fiery Horses from Heaven, who will wipe out a third of the global population.

And we’re blessed with many, and I mean many, controversial verses.

Rev 9:12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

We mentioned before that there are three woes in the book of Revelation. Those woes are the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpet judgments.

Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. Rev 9:15 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. Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Exegesis

We first learned in Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. Right out of the gate, we already have a controversial verse. Whose voice is this? We’ve talked about this altar before in the seal judgment sermon. This is the golden altar before the throne, which is all about intercession for prayers. This is the altar in Rev 8:3 in which an angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, which was a symbolic representation of prayer, and this angel took the fire of the altar and the incense and put it in his golden censer and cast it to the Earth, which caused an earthquake. And here in Rev 9:13 as they are about to carry out the sixth trumpet judgment, John hears the trumpet sounding and then he hears a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God…

So this altar has a horn on each of the four corners of the golden altar and a voice is being projected out of those four horns.

Whose voice is this? Could this be God’s voice? Or the Lord’s voice?

Why should God the Father or the Lord speak through the horns on the altar if they’re both present in the throne room?

The last time we saw the Lord, He was standing in the midst of the throne of God opening each of the seven seals (Rev. 5:7, 6:1). Why would the Lord project His voice through the horns on the altar when He is presumably standing near the altar? Why would God the Father do that?

One commentary suggested that this is the voice of an angel commanding other angels. Again, why would an angel project his voice through the horns on the altar if He is IN the throne room?

Could it be that we’re hearing the voice of some soul that’s under the altar? We weren’t told in Rev. 6:9-10 that the voices of the souls under the altar were being projected through the horns at the top of the altar. I was given the distinct impression that John was seeing the souls under the altar and hearing their voices coming from them under the altar.

So whose voice could this possibly be?

I would offer a theory that makes sense to me but it’s only a theory, because there are no corresponding verses to back this up. I would suggest this is the prayer of all the Jewish believing remnant still alive on the Earth. This is A voice because they all with one voice are basically praying the same thing. They are praying what is already written in vs. 14, “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.”

The believing remnant know the book of Revelation. They know what’s coming next, and things are so bad on the Earth for them that they desperately want this judgment to happen. They want the 200 million fiery horses from Heaven to come down and wipe out a third of the global population.

So the execution of this sixth trumpet judgment is again an answer to prayer, the prayers of all the believing remnant who are still alive on the Earth and this is also a continued answer to the prayers of the souls under the altar, all the martyred saints now in Sheol. They want this judgment, and because they’re Jews in a covenant relationship with God, they have every right to ask for this judgment. Bullinger would make a similar suggestion. He’d write, “…I prefer understanding this cry from the four corners of the altar to refer to the saints’ prayerful cry from the four quarters of the world, incensed by the angel, and ascending to God from the golden altar of incense, and bringing down in consequence fiery judgments.” That makes perfect sense to me.

Rev 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

This verse is also controversial. I’m so lucky.

Bullinger, and many other commentaries, would connect these four angels to the ones Jude and Peter wrote about being chained. I’m still not persuaded by that argument. Jude would write in Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

To me, this verse refutes the idea that the four angels bound in the river Euphrates could be fallen angels. Jude said that they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness. To be chained in the river Euphrates would not be under darkness. To be in everlasting chains under darkness, to me, would have to mean that they are in Tartaros or the bottomless pit. That is literally under darkness. Not only that, Jude says, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day, meaning that these angels will not be released from their chains until their judgment, until they are standing before God at the Great White Throne. 2 Pet. 2: 4 talks about how those angels were delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Those angels won’t be released again until they are personally judged by God.

Again, I would ask the question, “Why would Satan or any of his fallen angels do God’s bidding here and commit an act of self-sabotage by killing a third of the population who likely would’ve been part of his antichrist kingdom here on Earth? Why would Satan or any of the fallen angels undermine their own one world system and kill a third of the unbelievers who are likely already followers of the antichrist?”

Not to mention the fact that there are different definitions of bound. This could be bound in the sense of obligation. I’d suggest these are heavenly angels created for a purpose – to destroy a third of all mankind at this moment in the tribulation. They are bound to their assigned roles and powers until this appointed time in the Tribulation. They are duty bound by God for this one moment in time.

Notice how vs. 15 says these four angels “were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” They were created and designed to slay a third of mankind for a specific hour, day, month, and year. We have an appointment here by God of when this massacre will take place.

Bullinger would write, “They are reserved for the particular appointed moment; the moment of this their loosing. There seems to be little doubt as to the meaning of the period of time. It does not imply the duration of the judgment, but the preparation for the particular moment which has been appointed by God.” Totally agree.

Vs. 15 is about the preparation for a particular moment in time. It takes a lot of preparation to coordinate the assault of 200 million angels on horses! Not only that, but the rest of the chapter seems to indicate that these four angels are amassing and leading this army of over 200 million horsemen who will slay the third of all mankind.

I have to ask, “Since when would the heavenly host and God’s heavenly horses following the leading of four fallen angels?” Never. I’d argue that these four angels were kept in the river Euphrates because they are duty bound to carry out God’s judgment in this one moment in time.

So we might ask, “Why are these heavenly angels IN the River Euphrates?”

I have a theory: Euphrates was one of the four rivers in the Garden of Eden. It forms the boundary of the Promised Land in the northeast, which the Lord mentioned when He made His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 15:18). They may have been there ever since man fell into sin. Their presence in the river has always been visible to Satan and the demonic realm, always lying in wait, always ready to bring about God’s judgment upon the Earth, which serves as a constant reminder to Satan and his demons of their coming doom when God will bring about the restitution of all things. So then God answers their prayers in Rev 9:15 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. He’s talking about how those four angels were prepared for this single epic moment in time.

Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

“Thousand thousand” in the Bible is “myriads of myriads,” which is a million. God sends two hundred million angels on horses of fire.

Rev 9:17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

Bullinger would write that “When Israel would trust in the horses of Egypt they were warned that their riders and horses were flesh and not spirit’ (Is. xxxi. 3). Here we have horses that are spirit, and not flesh.” These heavenly horses of fire are not without precedent in the Bible. To quote Paul Sadler, “You will recall that in the days of the prophet Elijah, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire that transported him to heaven (II Kings 2:11). Years later, when the Syrians discovered that Elisha, the prophet who troubled them, was in Dothan, the King of Syria sent his army to surround the city. When Elisha’s servant rose early the next morning, he was barely awake when he saw that they were in imminent danger of losing their lives. The servant anxiously turned to his master and essentially said, ‘We’re goners!’ Elisha calmly pointed out to the young man that ‘they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, L ORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha’ (I Kings 6:16,17). The moment the Lord lifted the veil of the spiritual realm, the young man was amazed to see that the Syrians were the ones surrounded— surrounded by a heavenly host of horses and chariots prepared to do battle.”

I would also point out that we mentioned in my previous article how the freaky locusts with stingers had in Rev 9:9 …breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron. They had breastplates. Those breastplates had the appearance of breastplates of iron even though they weren’t breastplates of iron. They only looked like that. But here, both the horses and them that sat on them, had breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. They had three breastplates of three separate types: fire, jacinth, and brimstone.

First, what’s the difference between fire and brimstone? Fire is the flame whereas brimstone is sulfur. Jacinth is a precious stone that’ll form one of the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem in Rev. 21:20. I read that the expression, “of jacinth,” is descriptive of a dark-purple color. It may be possible we’re looking at a representation of the triune Godhead. Fire, the Holy Spirit. Brimstone, God the Father. Precious stone, the Lord Jesus Christ. This judgment upon the world comes from the entire triune Godhead.

We’re also told here that these horses have heads of lions, which is likely a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ because in Rev. 5:5, Christ was described as “the lion of the tribe of Judah”, not just the king of creation but also descriptive of the fierceness and cunning of His wrath when He attacks His enemies.

We also have the description here that coming out of the mouths is fire, smoke, and brimstone.

Rev 9:18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. Rev 9:19 For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

We learn here that the day these 200 million angels on fiery horses assault unbelievers, they will be killed by all that shoots out of the mouths of these lion heads on the horses: fire, smoke, and brimstone. This image is as glorious as it is terrifying.

Just imagine, New York City, Hong Kong, London, Moscow, everywhere on the planet, millions of angels on these horses of fire flying through the streets and the buildings. The people see that terrifying site coming toward them. There’s no where they can escape them because they’re spirits. Then fire shoots out of the mouths of the horses and incinerates some of them. Others nearby die of air poisoning because of the sulfur or asphyxiation because of the smoke. Others are deeply hurt from being bitten by the snake for a tail. Cities will burn to the ground. What a terrifying moment.

Just consider everything that came before this moment, the earthquakes, the burnt grass and trees, the bloody beaches, the poisoned waters, the five months of freaky locusts with stingers, all designed to break them and seriously consider coming to a saving faith in God.

And now death has come in this horrifying event of angels atop horses of fire.

You’d think they’d finally repent (change their mind) and give up the past to become reconciled to God, but they won’t.

Rev 9:20 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Rev 9:21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

It’s interesting to me that John writes how these men repented not of the works of their hands, which is understandable. They repented not of the evil deeds done by their hands, like murder. Then, John says that they should not worship devils, which is again understandable. There’s a lot of worshipping of devils even today. But then John also adds, and the worshipping of idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.

Do people today worship idols made of gold, silver, brass, etc.? John’s not talking about a symbolic idol, like a love of money. He means a literal idol because he says which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk, meaning they believe that dead idol is a god of some kind. Do people do that today? I don’t know of any.

So it would seem that in the tribulation, people in their desperation will revert back to silly idol worship. The people will cling to any superstitious idea apart from God to help them get through all the calamities of these first 13 judgments of God.

A lot of articles have been written as of late on Christian news sites about vs. 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries… They’ve pointed out that the Greek word for sorceries here is pharmakeia, and they’d suggest that this means that people aren’t repenting of the awful things they’re doing today related to drugs. I’d suggest that what is meant here is sorceries in the sense of witchcraft, which during the Tribulation means that these are miracles done by people are carried out through demons. We already know that many people of the world will be deceived through the sorceries done by the antichrist and the false prophet and many leaders of the antichrist’s New Babylon. We’d read in Rev 18:23, “…for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”

People will be deceived through the sorceries, or witchcraft, or the demonic miracles, which are done by the antichrist and the false prophet. And we know there are a lot of miracles being done by people through demons. Remember what the Lord said in Mat. 24:24, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” The thing is that these people doing witchcraft and signs and wonders through demons, they know deep down it’s evil. They know they’re messing around with Satanic forces. And yet, in the face of God and His heavenly host, they will still refuse to repent, to change their course and be reconciled to God.

But there’s more.

The Little Book

Rev 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, Rev 10:3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. Rev 10:4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, Rev 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. Rev 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

Exegesis

Let’s try to tackle these passages verse by verse. Look again at Rev 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

There is some debate as to whether this is, in fact, another angel or the Lord Jesus Christ. David O’Steen in his study notes on Revelation would make the case that this angel is Christ. He’d point out, for example, that this angel clothed with a cloud is similar to what was said of Christ in Rev. 1:7, which said, Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him…

Love ya, David, but I don’t see the connection. This angel was clothed with a cloud, but Christ came with clouds. There’s a difference. If the Lord was clothed with a cloud, how could every eye see him clearly?

We’ve also pointed out in our angelology series that clouds can sometimes mean angels. Christ came with His angels.

O’Steen would also connect the rainbow of this mighty angel to the rainbow around the throne, except for the fact that that is God the Father’s throne, not Christ’s.

John said the angel’s face was as it were the sun and O’Steen would compare that to Rev. 1:16, which said of Christ, his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. The problem with that comparison is that the angel’s face was as it were the sun. It was like the sun, but it wasn’t the sun. On the other hand, Christ’s countenance was as the sun itself. Whereas the angel’s face was like the sun, Christ WAS the sun.

John would say that this angel’s feet was as pillars of fire. O’Steen would compare that to what was said of Christs feet in Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace… Christ’s feet weren’t on fire. They were like brass that had been burned in a furnace.

You get the idea.

Now for the record, in a few minutes I’m going to sing O’Steen’s praises a couple of times for some wonderful thoughts he had in his study notes. So don’t think I’m picking on O’Steen. I love the guy. This is strictly about accurate exegesis.

I think John means another angel, and when he says “another” he means another of the same sort. It’s a different angel but it’s of the same type in that it’s mighty like the previously referenced mighty angel, which was probably the strong angel mentioned in Rev. 5:2, who proclaimed with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

Another reason I think this is an angel is because this angel descends from Heaven onto the Earth and stands with one foot on the Earth and one in the sea. He’s colossal in size. There’s no way that Christ will return to the Earth before His Second Coming, not even in a vision to John.

This is an angel acting on God’s behalf.

We’re also told that this angel had one foot on the Earth and one in the sea. Bullinger wrote. “The setting or planting of this feet on sea and land is the formal taking possession of both; or the formal expression of the purpose to do so… A judgment-summons has been issued (Rev. v.), and now, at length, execution is to be put in. The right to execute this judgment has been established in the fifth chapter; and here we have the assertion of that right, and the expressed determination to enforce it.” Love that.

Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.

This little book is not the book of Seals but a new book, and Bullinger would make the point that this probably “continues the same prophecy of judgment, but introduces new details connected with that judgment; and new subjects and phases of it.” Totally agree. He would also write, “The book opened, or which had been opened… seems to show that nothing now remains but to sound the seventh and last Trumpet. This, the angel says (in verse 6), shall take place without further delay. The sealed book has been opened; and now the little book, not sealed, discloses new directions.”

Rev 10:3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. Rev 10:4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

What are the seven thunders? We know they were voices that sounded like thunder, which has led some to suggest that this is the voice of God Himself because of passages like John 12:27-28, in which God the Father’s voice is heard and the people said that it thundered. The problem for me with that thought is that John wrote, “seven thunders uttered their voices.”

More than one voice spoke that sounded like thunder.

I’m inclined to think that these thundering voices are the four beasts around the throne. Remember how we read in Rev. 6:1, “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” So John was about to write what those seven voices said, but he’s told to write them not. Even though I picked on O’Steen earlier, I’ll happily give him credit for this wonderful thought here. He wrote, “What the thunders uttered were sealed up, but I think they were revealed later in the book as the seven last plagues. By the end of Revelation nothing is sealed.” And he cites Rev 22:10, “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” That makes a lot of sense to me. John is merely saving for later in the book the final seven bowl judgments, which the four beasts had articulated here.

When the book Revelation is complete, nothing has been sealed.

Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, Rev 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

These passages are pretty straightforward. I would just highlight that this angel says, “that there should be time no longer.” This does not mean that time will end at the midway point when the seventh trumpet is sounded. In the next verse, we’ll read, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel.” Clearly, time is continuing as it had been. Time no longer means that there will be no more delay in executing the final judgments. Again, I’ll give O’Steen some more credit for some great thoughts here. He wrote, “The mighty angel lifts up his hand to heaven and swears with an oath that there should be time no longer. This does not mean that from this point on there will be no more time because the Kingdom Age is marked by time as a thousand years. This means that the time will no longer intervene to answer the cry of the martyred saints for vengeance (6:9-11). The seven last plagues will fall when the seventh angel sounds his trumpet (begin to sound implies it will a drawn out thing).”

The Seventh Trumpet Judgment

Rev 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

This verse opens with this curious expression, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound…” The way this is written makes me inclined to agree with others that the sounding of the seventh trumpet carries over into all 3 ½ years of the final half of the Tribulation. It begins to sound at the midway point and will continue until the mystery of God should be finished, which is the fulfillment of all His judgments.

Bullinger would write, “And in the days when the seventh angel shall sound they [final seven judgments] will be completed, for his sounding calls for the pouring forth of the seven Vials which will fill up the cup of Divine Vengeance, and answer the cry of the martyrs’ blood.”

The mystery of God here has nothing to do with Paul’s mystery. This has to do with the unsealing, the unveiling of the judgments only hinted at in the OT now to be fully revealed here.

But I suspect the mystery of God is even more than this. This also includes the fulfillment of all His prophecies, which culminates in the unveiling of God Himself to the world. So I think the mystery of God here isn’t just the unveiling of the judgments only hinted at in the OT now fully revealed but it’s also the fulfillment of all His prophecies, and concludes with the unveiling of God at His Second Coming.

Rev 10:8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. Rev 10:9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

Bullinger would write, “The eating of the book has its counterpart in Ezek. ii. 9 and iii. 3. Ezekiel ate the roll of the book given to him, and it was in his mouth as honey for sweetness. The bitterness he describes in verse 14, saying, ‘I went in bitterness and in the heat of my spirit.’ ‘Eating’ is a Hebrew idiom for receiving knowledge; just as we idiomatically use the word digesting of considering what we have learnt. Ezekiel ate that he might speak of God’s words (Ezek. iii. 4). So in John vi., the eating and drinking of Christ is explained as believing on Him… In Ezek. iii. 10 it is explained as receiving in the heart… If any prefer to take it literally, there is no reason why they should not do so. It is better to err on that side, than to have the responsibility of erring on the other. In either case, the result is the same. There was sweetness in the assurance that the prayers of God’s Israel, who had ‘cried day and night unto Him,’ were about to be answered. There was bitterness in the solemn announcements of the awful judgments which were to form that answer.” Exactly.

The Big Twist

Rev 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

What are we to make of this verse? Does this mean that after John is done with this vision, after he’s written this book of Revelation, that he will go on to prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings? How would that work if the age of grace had already begun? We don’t read of John doing any more prophesying in the book of Acts.

Or maybe this means that by writing this book, John, will in fact, be prophesying again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings? That, to me, doesn’t really fit either. The angel said, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples…” He would personally be prophesying face-to-face with people all around the globe.

There’s a third possibility.

After the two witnesses are killed and they ascend into Heaven, John himself may well be resurrected onto this Earth and he will personally continue where they left off, to witness to the world in their stead, to prophesy once again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. One of the great twists of the Tribulation may be that the world will see the apostle John after they kill Moses and Elijah.

What an irony that would be, the son of thunder prophesying to the world during the Tribulation. If this is true, God wouldn’t leave John be a lone witness. He always sent out the disciples two-by-two. Who would be the other witness?

If you consider the Olivet Discourse, particularly Matt. 24, the Lord spoke to the disciples as if they would all be going through the Tribulation.

It may well be, that not just John but perhaps all twelve of the Lord’s disciples will be resurrected to carry on where Moses and Elijah left off and minister to the believing remnant while they endure to the end through the worst, most awful, judgments of God the world has ever seen.

Of course, there’s a fourth possibility.

That verse may mean that John will be doing lots of prophesying in the kingdom, but I prefer the third possibility because it’s way more exciting.