The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

The teaching in the vision under consideration is similar in some respects to the one in the
sixth vial. The literal river Euphrates was evidently represented in the vision. In both cases
the river Euphrates is symbolical and stands for "peoples" and all they represent in the
way of influence and support. (Rev. 17:15.) Thus the four angels bound at the river
Euphrates are understood to be symbolical of the four agencies or instrumentalities which
for a time were restrained, held back from operations, at the symbolical waters of the
Euphrates, that is, at those countries or "peoples" which are outside the lands where the
judgments were to fall; then in due time when the command came, the hindrances were
removed and the four agencies were one after another permitted to go forth and inflict
certain judgments. In the sixth vial (which will be considered in its order) the drying up of
the river depicts judgments that prepare the way for the armies of Christ and His glorified
saints to reign over the earth. In this sixth trumpet the loosing of the angels bound at the
symbolical Euphrates, will also loose armies, but as we shall endeavor to show, of a very
different kind. It is evident from the fact that the river Euphrates is used in the symbolism,
that we are to have described in this sixth trumpet symbol, a terrible woe--judgment on
the apostate Church communities.
"And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a
month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the
horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them."--Rev.
9:15,16.
While St. John calls these strange appearing, weird creatures horses and horsemen, it should
be kept in mind in applying the symbols that they were not horses and horsemen in
reality. The Apostle seems to give them this name, because he could think of nothing in
the natural world that they so nearly resembled. If they were real horses and horsemen, as
we understand these terms, they could not symbolize real horses and horsemen. This
would conflict with the law of symbols. His designating them such, however, enables us to
discover the correct application of them to great cavalry armies. We will not need therefore
to search the Scriptures to discover what real horses and horsemen symbolize.
It will be remembered that in our exposition of the vision of the fifth trumpet, we found
the "locust army" to be a symbol of the devastating conquests of the Saracens under
Mohammed, and the Caliphs, his successors. In these conquests many of the apostate
Christian communities were laid waste. This was called the "first woe"; and it was indeed
a woe to those peoples; yet notwithstanding their terrible severity, the votaries of this
idolatrous form of Christianity continued to engage in their God dishonoring worship,
that is, such of them as were not, through fear, compelled to embrace Mohammedanism.
The Saracen Empire reached the zenith of its power one hundred and fifty years from the
time Mohammed began his conquests. It existed for a much longer period, but at this time
it began to be divided, and finally broke in pieces. Another power, however, which had
embraced the same religion (the Mohammedan) succeeded it, and unto this day it has
been known as the Turkish or Ottoman Empire. It began its rise about the middle of the
eleventh century. It derived its origin from the Tartar tribes of Asia. This great power was