Revelation 9:21

and they repented not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Murders ... sorceries ... fornication ... thefts ... This list, like many other similar lists in the New Testament, is not exhaustive, but typical. Two of these words are particularly interesting:

Sorceries ... Vine tells us that the primary meaning of this word ([@farmakeia]), from whence we have pharmacy, "signified the use of medicine, drugs and spells."[78] The drug culture of current times immediately comes to mind.

Fornication ... All the other words in this list are plural, but this is singular. Cox commented that, "Other crimes are perpetrated by men at intervals; but there is one continual fornication within those who do not have purity of heart."[79]

"When men turn from the knowledge of God, the path leads downward to idolatry and immorality (Romans 1:18-32)."[80]

And they repented not ... This trumpet (the sixth) has revealed the world in its final impenitence."[81] What comes next? The final judgment of Revelation 11:14-19; but before that is described there will be an interlude as there was before the opening of the seventh seal; and the purpose of the interlude here (Revelation 10) is to show God's holy purpose of continuing the witness of the truth to people by means of preaching the gospel. Apart from that interlude, "The Apocalypse has now reached the verge of the final catastrophe."[82]

THE GREAT RIVER EUPHRATES

This mighty river so prominently mentioned in the text which stresses the loosing of "the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates" in Revelation 9:14 is almost invariably stressed by scholars as a reference to the eastern boundary of the Roman empire; but, although true enough, we do not believe that this river's connection with the empire of the Romans is the important thing here. It is the prior connection of it with the garden of Eden and the fall of mankind which makes the mention of it significant in connection with the awful judgment recorded in this passage. That river, in the midst of the garden of Eden, is where all the woes of mankind originated. That is where the rebellion of people against God began; and this passage depicting the final falling of the cumulative wrath of God upon the human race is actually the fulfillment of God's truth that, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). Thus, John T. Hinds' remarkable pronouncement that the mention of this river demands that it be understood as a reference to "some great historical movement"[83] is profoundly true. That great historical movement, however, was no obscure invasion of the ancient Roman empire by the Parthians or any other such military incursion against Roman authority, but a far greater historical movement of the whole human race away from their Creator, a movement which began at the Euphrates in the dawn of human creation.

And what about the four angels being "loosed" here, indicating a long restraint previously? They represent the judgment of God upon Adam and Eve for their rebellion, a judgment that was not executed at once, in order not to frustrate God's purpose of redemption, but a judgment that was not cancelled, merely deferred until the day when the avenging angels would be "loosed" and there would finally fall the promised judgment. A very similar thing is revealed concerning the long deferred judgment against Jerusalem, a judgment which was not cancelled, but only deferred.

[78] W. E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), Vol. 4p. 51.

[79] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 66.

[80] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 204.

[81] R. C. H. Lenski. op. cit.. p. 309.

[82] James Moffatt. op. cit.. p. 411.

[83] John T. Hinds. op. cit.. p. 138.