The Sixth Trumpet

The SIXTH ANGEL sounded, and I heard a voice from the
four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates {Rev. 9:13, 14}.
This is done, and they are prepared for a limited time, not to torment, but to slay the third part of men. Two hundred millions of wicked agents are employed in slaying men —
two hundred thousand thousand {Rev. 9:16}.
It seems Satanic agency, because of the fire, smoke, and brimstone which issued from their mouths; and the region may be in the east.
By these three, that is, by the
fire, smoke, and brimstone,
was the third part of men killed {see Rev. 9:18}.
But, as we have seen before, all these judgments do not lead men to repentance. One might have thought that these solemn interventions of God might have caused those who were spared to turn to God. But we are told,
And the rest of the men which were not killed by those 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: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev. 9:20, 21).
How sunken and incurable is the heart of man! How every part of his history — past, present, and future, illustrates the Divine verdict, that
the carnal mind is enmity against God, that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be {Rom. 8:7}.
Seeing that such terrible things are coming upon the earth, and we know not how soon, how prayerful and earnest should we be in seeking to win souls for Christ. May our gracious God most mercifully work, by the power of His Holy Spirit, through the gospel of His grace, to the salvation of multitudes of sinners now so zealously posting their way toward
the wrath to come {1 Thess. 1:10}.