(18) By these three . . .--Better, From these three plagues were the third part of mankind slain, by the tire and the smoke and the brimstone which goeth forth out of their mouths. For the power of the horse is in their mouth, and in their tails, for their tails were like serpents, having heads, and with them they hurt (or, injure). The destructive power in this vision is in mouth and tail, in the last trumpet-vision it was in the tail only (Revelation 9:10). The devastating power is increased; the foes come swift as horsemen, strong as lions, venomous as serpents, breathing forth elements that blind and burn with deadly power. We have, then, forces which are mighty, malicious, and relentless, and which are bidden forth against mankind for their sins of worldliness. (See Revelation 9:20-21.) It is not once only in the history of the world that such powers have been let loose. The desolations wrought by invading hordes-- the force and ferocity of Turkish power establishing itself in Europe and threatening the power of Christendom--the widespread terror and slaughter promoted by the outbreak of the spirit of unrestrained violence in France, followed by reckless war, may illustrate such a vision as the present; but the main teaching of it is the never-failing truth that the spirit of worldliness provokes its own punishment, wherever it may exist, and its retribution is in a form which serves to reveal what latent power of destruction lurks behind every sin, and what hidden spiritual foes there are to intensify human passions and to increase human misery.
Verse 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;bythese three plagues (as in Revised Version)... the brimstone, which proceeded. Although the last clause technically is attached to "brimstone" only, yet the description applies to all three of the things mentioned. "The third part" again a large, but not the largest, part of mankind (see on Revelation 8:7). The locusts were forbidden to kill (ver. 5); these horsemen are permitted to do so. Each judgment of the trumpet visions appears t) increase in severity. We may here see portrayed the terrible and destructive character of the results of sin. Such results are experienced to the full by the third part of men, the large class who" repent not of their murders, nor of their sorceries," etc. (ver. 21).
9:13-21 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.
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.
By the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths; that is, by the firing of guns.