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In John’s vision of the end times, God’s judgments come in three waves. The judgments of the second wave are each heralded by an angel sounding a trumpet (Revelation 8:6—9:21; 11:15–19). The penultimate trumpet judgment releases four destroying angels who lead a lethal attack on humankind:
The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number.
The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. (Revelation 9:13–19)
The command to release the angels and the devastating horde emanates from “the four horns of the golden altar that is before God” (Revelation 9:13). There are several noteworthy details about this object that deserve scrutiny:The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. (Revelation 9:13–19)
The altar is golden. The ancient Jewish tabernacle and, later, the temple, had two altars: the altar of sacrifice in the courtyard outside, and the altar of incense in the Holy Place. Only the altar of incense was overlayed with gold. In his vision, John sees the golden altar of incense in the celestial temple.
As Scripture states, the tabernacle on earth was “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8:5), and that is why Moses had to build it exactly as God directed (see Acts 7:44). The golden altar that John sees in heaven is the archetype of the altar in the wilderness tabernacle that Moses built.
In the earthly tabernacle, incense was to “burn regularly before the Lord” (Exodus 30:8). In several places, the Bible links the rising smoke of incense to the prayers of God’s people (see Revelation 5:8; Psalm 141:2; Luke 1:10). Later in Revelation, John sees an angel with a golden censer who stood at the golden altar. “He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:3–4). Again, prayer is associated with the fragrant incense from the altar.
The altar is before the presence of God. The placement of the golden altar of incense in the earthly tabernacle is important. It stood directly in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. It was as close to the ark of the covenant and the presence of God as anything could be. The altar of incense was called “most holy to the Lord” (Exodus 30:10). In the heavenly vision, John sees that the golden altar is “in front of the throne” of God (Revelation 8:3).
The altar has four horns. The significance of the horns at the corners of the altar is not explained in Scripture. We know that, in general, horns often represent strength and authority (see 1 Samuel 2:1; Psalm 75:10; 92:10). Some commentators see the horns on the golden altar as symbolizing God’s strength—Israel’s prayers were directed to God Almighty, El Shaddai. Other commentators suggest the horns signify the four corners of the earth—God hears prayers offered from all over the world.
The altar is the source of the voice pronouncing judgment. Revelation 9:13, translated literally, says that John “heard one voice” (Berean Literal Bible). There is only one who is worthy to judge the world —God the Father “has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (John 5:5). Only the Lion/Lamb in heaven “is able to open the scroll” of God’s judgment (Revelation 5:5).
The only one worthy to issue the command to judge the world is also the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). The prayers of the saints have for centuries been offered to the Father in the name of the Son who makes intercession for them. One of the most oft-repeated of those prayers is “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10, KJV). That is the prayer being answered in Revelation 9. The prayers of God’s people, symbolized by rising incense from the golden altar, are heard and acted upon by the Mediator and Judge—Jesus Christ, who stands in the midst of the altar of incense. The Lord hears the cries of His people, and He saves them:
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)
he delivers them from all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)
