Revelation 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. BY THESE THREE. A B C 'Aleph (') read [ apo (G575) for hupo (G5259)], 'From:' the direction whence the slaughter came; not direct instrumentality, as "by" implies. A B C 'Aleph (') add 'plagues' after "three." BY THE FIRE, [ ek (G1537)] - 'owing to the fire.'...

13-21 The sixth angel sounded, and here the power of the Turks seems the subject. Their time is limited. They not only slew in war, but brought a poisonous and ruinous religion. The antichristian generation repented not under these dreadful judgments. From this sixth trumpet learn that God can make one enemy of the church a scourge and a plague to another. The idolatry in the remains of the eastern church and elsewhere, and the sins of professed Christians, render this prophecy and its fulfilment more wonderful. And the attentive reader of Scripture and history, may find his faith and hope strengthened by events, which in other respects fill his heart with anguish and his eyes with tears, while he sees that men who escape these plagues, repent not of their evil works, but go on with idolatries, wickedness, and cruelty, till wrath comes upon them to the utmost....

Verse Revelation 9:18. _BY THESE THREE WAS THE THIRD PART OF MEN KILLED_] That is, By these was great carnage made....

BY THESE THREE - Three things - explained immediately as referring to the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone. WAS THE THIRD PART OF MEN KILLED - See the notes on Revelation 8:7, on each of which verses we have notices of calamities that came upon the third part of the race, of the sea, of rivers, etc. We are not to suppose that this is to be taken literally, but the description is given as it appeared to John. Those immense numbers of horsemen would sweep over the world, and a full third part of the race of people would seem to fall before them....

EXPOSITION REVELATION 9:1 AND THE FIFTH ANGEL SOUNDED, AND I SAW A STAR FALL FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH; _a star from heaven fallen unto the earth _(Revised Version); not _saw a star fall. _(For the distinctive character of the last three judgments, see on Revelation 8:2.) "A star" sometimes signifies one high in position. Thus Numbers 24:17, "There shall come a star out of Jacob;" Daniel 8:10, "And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground." In Revelation 1:20

AND BY THESE THREE WAS THE THIRD PART OF MEN KILLED,.... The Alexandrian copy, and some others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, read, "by these three plagues": as the western Roman empire is in the preceding chapter frequently expressed by the third part of several things, see Revelation 8:7; so here the eastern Roman empire by the third part of men; vast numbers of the inhabitants of which were destroyed by the Turks, through the use of guns, out of which issued fire, smoke, and brimstone; and Constantinople, the metropolis of it, was taken in this way, as before observed, with the taking of which the empire ceased. BY THE FIRE, AND BY THE SMOKE, AND BY THE BRIMSTONE, WHICH ISSUED OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS; that is, by the firing of guns....

CHAPTER 9 Revelation 9:1 . The remaining three trumpets have a “woe” attached to each. This is announced in the last verse of the preceding chapter, where the word angel should be “eagle.” An eagle, the bird of prey, proclaims the threefold woe. He acts thus as a herald of great judgments (Matthew 24:28, Revelation 19:17). The fifth trumpet is a special judgment upon apostate Israel: because those who suffer are they “which have not the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4). The great tribulation in the second half of the week, comes now into prominence. If we turn to...

THE SIXTH TRUMPET OR THE SECOND WOE. The loosing of the four angels of death, and the slaughter of a third part of the human race. REVELATION 9:13. THE HORNS: the corners. THE GOLDEN ALTAR: _cf. Revelation 8:3_. Revelation 9:14. Loose the four angels: these angels are kept bound in the river Euphrates (_cf. Revelation 16:12_) waiting for the day of vengeance. There is a striking parallel in a Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra, Let these four kings be loosed which are bound near the great river Euphrates which shall destroy a third part of mankind. Many commentators see in this refere

2 The term here used for year is not _Kairos,_ the prophetic year of twelve months, or 360 days, but _eniautos,_ the regular solar year of 365. days. Hence the period named in the text would be 365. plus 30 plus. plus 1-12 equals 396 4-12 days, or in years, 306 years and four months.. The origin of this singular badge of power among the Turks is said to be that in one of their early battles their banner was captured by. charge of the enemy, whereupon their leader out off the tail of his horse, hoisted in on. spear, and called on all to follow that banner into the conflict. Under this banner they fought and won this battle.. It is taught authoritatively in the works of canonized Romish Saints, works accepted as of canonical authority, that if. priest marry he shall be excommunicated. but that if he keeps. concubine he shall only be fined.--_ Works of St. Liguori, Doc. Mor. p._ 444....

THE UNLOCKING OF THE ABYSS (Revelation 9:1-2) _ 9:1,2 The fifth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet, and I saw a star failing from heaven on the earth, and to him there was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss; and he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up from the shaft like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss._ The picture of terror mounts in its awful intensity. Now the terrors coming upon the earth are beyond nature; they are demonic; the abyss is being opened and superhuman terrors are being despatched upon the world. The picture will become clearer if we remember that John thinks of the stars as living beings. This is common in Enoch where, for instance, we read of wandering and disobedient stars being bound hand and foot and cast into the abyss (Enoch 86:1; 88:1).