The Second Woe - Armies of Cavalry

 From 1919 onward, the symbolic locusts' invasion of Christendom has caused the clergy much discomfort.  They have tried to stamp out the locusts, but these have kept coming on stronger than ever.  (Revelation 9:7) And  that is not all!  John writes:  "The first woe is past. Look! two more woes are coming after these things." (Revelation 9:12) Furthermore tormenting plagues are in store for Christendom.

What is the source of the second woe?  John writes: "And the sixth angel blew his trumpet.  And I heard one voice out of the horns of the golden altar that is before God say to the sixth angel, who had the trumpet: 'Untie  the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates."' (Revelation 9:13, 14)   The angels' release  is in answer to the voice that comes out from the horns of the altar.  This the golden incense altar, and twice previously the incense of the golden bowls from this alter has been associated  with the prayers of the holy ones.  (Revelation 5:8; 8;3, 4) Therefore, this one voice represenrs the united prayers of the holy ones on earth.  They petition that they themselves be deliverd for further  energetic service as Jehovah's "messengers,"  this being the basic meaning of the Greek word here translated  "angels."  Why are there four angels?  This symbolic number seems to indicate that they would be so organized as to cover the earth in its entirety. - REVELATION 7:1; 20:8.

How had these angels been "bound at the greater river Euphrates"?  The river Euphrates in ancient times was the northeaster border  of the land that Jehovah promised to Abraham.  (Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 11:24)  Apparently, the angels had been restrained at the border of their God-given land, or earthly realm of activity, held back from  entering fully into the service that Jehovah had prepared for the.  The Eurphrates was also prominently associated  with the city of Babylon, and after the fall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E., fleshly Israelites spent 70 years there in captivity,  'bound at the great river Euphrates." (Psalm 137:1)  The year 1919 found the spiritual  Israelites bound in a similar restraintm diconsolate and asking Jehovah for guidance.

Next time: The Second Woe - Armies of Cavalry

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