Revelation Pt 24 The Second Woe

We set the scene in Revelation, then trace what John hears and sees. A voice from the golden altar links prayer and judgment. Four bound angels at the Euphrates are released at God’s exact time. John hears “twice ten thousand times ten thousand” mounted troops. He sees horses with lion-like heads and riders in colors that match the coming plagues. Fire, smoke, and sulfur pour from their mouths. The power is in their mouths and in their serpent-like tails. We connect these images to Old Testament echoes like the Exodus plagues, Sodom’s fire and sulfur, and the Euphrates as a border of invasion. We also note the first century setting where Rome feared threats from beyond that river. 

The heart of the passage is the response. Even after severe judgment, “the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands” and they held to idols “which cannot see or hear or walk” (Revelation 9:20, ESV). They did not turn from murders, sorceries, sexual immorality, or thefts (Revelation 9:21, ESV). The lesson shows God’s sovereignty, His patience in partial judgments, and the danger of a hard heart. It calls us to pray from the altar, to abandon powerless idols, and to hear God’s warning as mercy while there is still time.