13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plaguesa third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.
Years ago in Hal Lindsey’s Book the Late Great Planet Earth, he identified the army in Revelation 9: 15-19 as China’s because China’s population was so large their army numbered 200 million and no other army in the world was that large. But, China makes no sense because we see China entering at the end at Armageddon. Revelation 16: 12 confirms:
Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.
China also does not make sense to launch a military strike during the Tribulation because the Beast the Final World Empire is going to be so powerful that there would be no reason for the Chinese to come out of nowhere and invade the world when the Antichrist will have such a firm grip. What does make sense is for China along with Russia and the nations of the world to come against the Antichrist when he is in Jerusalem. They will be on their way to the battle of Armageddon to defeat the Antichrist because at that point he will need to be defeated.
Remember the Antichrist raises the EU to its pinnacle of power and nations trade with his empire and there are good relations. It is at midway during the Tribulation when he steps into the holy of holies and declares himself as God and this begins the Great tribulation. He then institutes the Mark of the Beast, which he will have power to do. At that time his empire will hold the world’s reserve currency. The Antichrist’s empire will have the leading say in world institutions and will be the strongest economically,politically and militarily. The world will have to go along with his policies to benefit financially, remember all the nations are now connected economically.
Once the Great Tribulation begins the Antichrist goes forth to conquer with great fury to conquer.
We are told in Isaiah 10:14, And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathered eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
We know the Antichrist will control the Middle East region and some of this area will be won during this conquest. Egypt will come into his hands during this time. When the Antichrist sets himself up in the holy of holy’s as God, at that time he seeks to annihilate the Jews and all religion upon the face of the earth.
This is good reason for the armies of the world to decide to come against him at the battle of Armageddon. So who is the army in Revelation 9? It is the army of the Beast.
In the four horsemen of Revelation 6 we are shown the four horsemen and the first horse is the prince on a white horse who goes forth to conquer. While we know it is not China, there are two possibilities of what it can be. It can be a demonic army or can possibly be the army of the Antichrist. The heads like the heads of lions compares to the Beast in Revelation which tells us that the beast as a mouth like a lion. The colors hyacinth blue and sulfa read are the colors of the EU military flag. There is also red in the breastplate and the Hebrew word for red is pyrinos and it means shining like fire. brimstone sulfurous, Jacinth
The smoke, fire and brimstone with power and the mouth and tails sounds like a belt fed rifle. When a gun fires we see fire and smoke. What is worth noting is that while the three elements are related, in the Bible they are referred to as 3 separate plagues. Rev. 9:18 states, “By these three plagues was a third of mankind killed-by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which came out of their mouths.” The next verse sounds like a belt fed rifle or machine gun. It reads, “For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. The heads is describing the actual bullets that make up a belt fed rifle. I mean I’m sorry that make up the ammo belt.
The reason for the army’s attack is probably going to be when the abomination of desolation takes place. Antichrist sets himself up as God, he then goes to annihilate world religion or anybody that believes in religion throughout the world. We are also told that as the time draws closer to the end the Antichrist goes forth with great fury to conquer and destroy.
In Revelation 9 we see that the Antichrist’s army is 200 million men and is one of the plagues of God. The four angels accompany this army and lend it their strength. One-third of the world’s population is killed by this army. When we go back to the four horsemen of the Revelation we see that war is also part of that campaign, but this one is different and separate. We do know that Daniel describes the Beast as dreadful and terrible with great iron teeth and it has crushing power.
In conclusion, I want to say it is my view if in fact this passage is talking about an army, it is not the Chinese army but the EU’s army, Today the EU has 505 million citizens, during the Tribulation we know that some of the Middle East countries will be in its sphere of influence including Israel. Its population will be greater than it is today and can possibly produce an army of 200 million men.
Today the EU has the world’s largest standing army when you take the military of each of the member countries and add them together. While the European Union does not officially have a military, the provision for one was laid out in the Lisbon treaty. The next treaty, the one that may be negotiated this year, might give the EU a full defense arm.
The horsemen of 200 million can be the number of heavenly horses that are released and do not correspond with the number of the army, but my hunch is that they do. Right now the European Union Military staff exists and when you ad all of their forces together you come up with about 5 million men, this is personnel age 17-45, active, reserve and paramilitary. So during the Tribulation if this army is in fact the EU army it will greatly expand.. This brings us to another question, how big will the EU Empire become, that is the topic for another commentary.
I can you that the EU is going to be monolith, it is going to be huge and we know that because its going to have control of all of Europe, Middle East region, North Africa probably will go into, will extend a bit into India as well or go into India and we still do not fully know where the US is going to be in prophecy. And I have entertained the idea that the US may join with the European Union or I know will definitely be in a close alliance with.