We need to face a very uncomfortable fact about Revelation. It is, in many ways, a gruesome book. Of course, it is not gratuitously gruesome, like some Hollywood slasher flick with scene after scene of pointless violence and gore. Oh no, Revelation is an intentionally gruesome book. The violence serves a point—several points, really.
The first point is that God is just and those who disobey him get what they deserve. The second point is that God is merciful, offering people a chance to repent over and over again, even on their very deathbeds. We see both points—paradoxically related, I admit—at work in Revelation 9.13–21.
Note the gruesomeness first of all. A two-hundred-million-man cavalry emerges from around the area of “the great river Euphrates,” hell-bent for destruction. The number is not literal; instead, it represents an incomprehensibly vast, seemingly invincible horde. Interestingly, it is not these millions of mounted troops that inflict carnage but their mounts: “the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.”
The mention of fire, smoke, and sulfur helps us interpret the passage correctly, for these are the very elements of hell. Robert H. Mounce astutely comments: “The plague anticipates the eternal torment that awaits the devil (20:10), his demonic cohorts (19:20), and all who bear the mark of the beast (14:10).”[i] God’s judgments in the course of history, in other words, are foretastes of his eternal judgment of sin.
And yet, despite experiencing these hellish conditions, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols…, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” By adding these words at the end of the sixth trumpet, John lets us know that mercy—the offer of yet another chance for repentance—has been God’s purpose all along.
Some people learn best by positive reinforcement. They are induced to change behavior because they see the benefits of change. Others, however, change only through negative reinforcement, that is to say, by experiencing the costs of a failure to change. So, depending on their learning style, God uses either the carrot or the stick. Unfortunately, it seems, some people simply never learn. Nothing—either positive or negative—can induce them to change. Those are the people we read about in this passage.
Now, I must admit that I would be far more comfortable without all the Bible’s talk about sin, death, judgment, and hell. You probably would be too. But our comfortable feelings are not the issue; reality is. And reality is not all goodness and light. There is a heaven, of course—which is all goodness and light—but there is also a hell, which is neither. Where you go depends on how you respond to God’s offer—whether positively or negatively reinforced—of a second chance.
Will we take it, or will we pass it by?
[i] Ibid, 196–197.
GeorgePWood.com 
George, hope all is going well.
The Daily Word I am now receiving does not include audio. Did I miss a change in the
format?
Dave:
Unfortunately, my audio software has gone kaput. I need to uninstall and reinstall it. But I can’t find the software, and I don’t want to repurchase it. I hope to have the problem fixed by the end of the week.
George