Revelation 10 The Rainbow Angel And The Little Book

In book 8,

Then Come the Four Angels and the Horses and Horsemen 

Once the locusts are done doing their thing, the sixth angel blows his trumpet. Guess what? More bad news for non-believers. Four angels of death are released. They're told to kill a third of the humans still living on Earth. I believe these four death angels are the same four angels who held back the winds at the beginning of Chapter 7. 


Then about two hundred million horses storm the Earth. They have heads like lions and breathe smoke, fire, and sulfur. Their tails are like scorpions. They also kill a whole lot more people—another third, in fact. Probably the weirdest part of all of this is that the people that are left over still aren't convinced. They refuse to repent and put their faith in Jesus. 


The symbols of this vision are also of peculiar character and drawn from different departments. We have four angels bound in the Euphrates, an immense army of horsemen, then a large number of horses with heads as of lions, and fire, smoke, and brimstone issuing from their mouths. The horses thus particularly described are evidently intended to have a definite symbolical signification, and being objects of nature, they would indicate a political or military power. The horsemen, being objects from human life, would point us to some religious body; while the angels signify the leaders that have control of these agencies. Their being commissioned "to slay the third part of men" show that they will overthrow some of the established institutions of society. We are to look, therefore, for some politico-religious power that should invade and overthrow the empire. We are, of course, directed to the Eastern empire; for the Western division was subverted under the symbols of the first four trumpets. With these specifications before us, we shall have no difficulty in identifying the power intended—the Turkish, or Ottoman, empire. Its agreement with the symbolic representations of the vision will be manifest from a statement of the facts of history. 


"The Turks were of Tartar or Scythian origin, from the northern regions of Asia. They took possession of Armenia Major in the ninth century, where they increased, and in the space of two hundred years became a formidable power. The horsemen possessed breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone; while out of the mouths of the horses proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone. There is evidently a special design in distinguishing between the horses and their riders. These symbols, being drawn from different sources—the former from the natural world and the latter from human life—point out the two characteristics of the Turks as a politico-religious power. The symbolic description of the two is almost identical. The horsemen had breastplates of fire, jacinth (purplish or reddish blue), and brimstone. This describes the character of the Turks as a religious system. Out of the horses' mouths proceeded fire, smoke, and brimstone, which represents the Moslems as a political power. The only difference is that the smoke is substituted for the jacinth, but they very nearly agree in color. We are thus brought to the conclusion that the political and the religious power of the Turks is in harmony and agreement with each other— united in the closest manner possible, like a horse and its rider, and both animated by the same spirit. That spirit is perhaps their fierce, fanatical, aggressive, intolerant character. 


The tails of the horses were like serpents with heads, their power being in their mouth and in their tails—the one a lion, the other a serpent. It was by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone that came from their lion-heads that the third part of men was killed, or their conquests were made; then with their serpent-like tails would they torment or "hurt" all those who would not adopt the Moslem faith, being in this respect like the scorpion locusts. Their lion- heads would denote their invincible strength and courage; and their serpent-tails, the tormenting sting inflicted upon those whom they subdued but who would not accept their religion. It is not said that the riders were the direct agents of destruction—not the Moslem faith as a religion—but it was the horses that accomplished the deadly work—the Ottomans as a political body. This was the power that extended conquests and established their empire, although it was accompanied by the religious system, working in perfect harmony. These ‘horses’ with stings in their tails have been borne out of history to be the invention of the Cannon Ball. This huge weapon was attached to the horses’ tails and fired with fire and brimstone and were able to tear down the greatest fortified walls of the Romans. In fact, it is through this weapon that the Roman Empire was overthrown and conquered by the Ottomans. 


It is said that the "rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues" repented not. This expression doubtless signifies the Western, or Latin, church. They saw these judgments of the triumph of the Moslem sword and faith (the woe fell as a judgment upon the Eastern church); still, they continued as before in their abominable idolatries, by which is probably meant their worship of the virgin Mary, saints, relics, and images. There was no reformation. Error, superstition, and ecclesiastical usurpation prevailed as before. 


The Turks obtained their first victory over the Christians of the Eastern, or Greek, empire in A.D. 1281. Within ten years the Latins who inhabited Palestine were entirely overthrown (see Gibbon, Vol. VI, p. 47), and the way was now clear for Turkish aggression against the Greek empire. Before the end of the century the Turks combined into one consolidated empire under Osman (corrupted by Europeans into Ottoman) and from him took the name which it still retains—the Ottoman empire. From the time they were let loose, the Turks continued their aggressions until A.D. 1453, when Constantinople fell before their victorious arms, and the Eastern empire, with the last of the Constantines, sunk to rise no more. "The Turkish sword and the religion of the Koran were enthroned in the Christian metropolis of the Roman emperors; and the proud Moslem had the Christian dog completely under his foot." 


The Ottoman power, however, continued to grow and make new conquests until the year A.D. 1672, when they conducted a successful campaign against Poland, in which forty-eight towns and villages were ceded to the Sultan. The power of the Ottomans to extend their conquests and to add to their empire, ended with the victory over the Poles in A.D. 1672. 


Calculating now the time during which these horsemen were prepared to extend their conquests—"an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year"—we find according to prophetic, or symbolic, time—thirty days in a month, three hundred and sixty in a year—that it signifies three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days. This is exactly the period of time that elapsed between their first victory in A.D. 1281 and their last conquest in A.D. 1672. I cannot verify the fifteen days, because no history at my command states the exact days of the month on which these victories occurred. 


One more point of importance must be considered before we conclude this chapter, and that is the continuance of the Ottoman power. The first, or Saracen, woe had power to torment men "five months," or one hundred and fifty years, during which time they continued their ravages. The second woe began when the command was given to loose the four angels, or the beginning of the Ottoman conquests. "An hour, and a day, and a month, and a year," or three hundred and ninety-one years, marked the time during which they were "prepared" to extend their conquests. But it is not stated that the woe itself, or the Ottoman power, would then cease; for it is not represented as ending until after the death and the resurrection of the Two Witnesses (chap. 11:14), immediately following which the coming of Christ and the general judgment, or the third woe, is described. Verses 15-18. The Turkish power has made no advance for centuries, but has been on the news as the group called “ISIS”. They actually declare themselves to be the revived Ottoman Empire, but they will only endure for their allotted time. This furnishes us a way-mark by which we can determine our position along the pathway of time; for when the revived Ottoman Empire fails, we may rest assured that the coming of Christ is imminent.