Death is the inevitable reality that all men on earth will have to face. It is also the one thing that men are most afraid of. Men do not know the exact time that they will die. Only God knows. He is the Giver and Taker of all lives on earth. In Revelation 9:13-21, a third of the earth had already been destroyed and God is about to unleash the sixth trumpet judgment, in which a third of men’s population on earth will die. This sixth trumpet judgment will make sinful men on earth realise the reality of the spiritual realm (i.e. God) and ought to make men want to receive the God that they have been rejecting.

Source of Death (Rev 9:13-15)

God told His sixth angel, “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates…for to slay the third part of men” (Rev 9:14-15). These four angels which are bound are the demonic beings that God will use to execute His judgment. God will determine who will die and how they will die, in accordance to His sovereign will. Men have no say at all. This reveals God’s omnipotence, and ought to cause men on earth to believe that God is the Creator, Sustainer and Taker of their lives.

Method of Death (Rev 9:16-19)

The four demonic beings will send an army of “two hundred thousand thousand” (Rev 9:16) horsemen riding on fearsome-looking and mighty horses to destroy men via “fire and smoke and brimstone” (Rev 9:17). Men will be killed by fire, choked by the hot smoke and have heaps of coals crashing upon them (Rev 9:18). This gruesome death should instil the fear of God in men so that men will take God seriously, and run to Him for mercy for the sins that they have committed against Him. It is God’s mercy that He will be telling men to seek and come to Him, who can destroy both the body and soul, and not to the Antichrist, who can only destroy the body but not the soul.

Results of Death (Rev 9:20-21)

Despite destroying a third of men’s population, there are some who will not care to repent of their sins, but will purposefully go against God by continuing to worship idols and indulge in sin (Rev 9:20-21).

We must never assume that we are saved, but must always check and make sure that we fear God, obey His Word and live our lives according to His will. When death comes, will we die in sin or will we die in Christ?