Verse 11 of chapter 9 says, “They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon; and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.” The angel of the abyss is the beast, Antichrist, who will also come out of the pit of the abyss (11:7; 17:8) to lord it over the locusts. In Hebrew the angel of the abyss is called Abaddon, which means “destruction.” In Greek he will have the name Apollyon, which means “destroyer.” Antichrist will do much destroying (Dan. 8:23-25).
Revelation 9:12 says, “The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are yet coming after these things.” At the fifth trumpet Satan will fall from heaven to earth in order to damage the earth and persecute the people of God for three and a half years (12:10, 12-17, 6). At the same time, Antichrist will come up out of the abyss and collaborate with Satan to torment people, persecute the saints, and blaspheme God (13:5-7; 11:7). It is also in the same three and a half years, forty-two months, that the holy city of Jerusalem will be given to the Gentiles for destruction (v. 2). Therefore, the woe of the fifth trumpet must be the beginning of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21). The second woe of the sixth trumpet and the third woe of the seventh trumpet (Rev. 8:13; 9:12; 11:14) must be two parts of the most severe woes of the great tribulation. Hence, the damage caused by the sixth seal, the first four trumpets, and the three woes will be the “hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole inhabited earth, to try them who dwell on the earth” (3:10). The two woes spoken of in 9:12 are the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet (vv. 13-21; 11:14-15), which is the seven bowls (ch. 16).
Concerning the second woe, 9:13 and 14 say, “The sixth angel trumpeted, and I heard a voice out of the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” The four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates are four evil, fallen, and rebellious angels who followed Satan. “The four angels were released, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year that they might kill the third part of men” (v. 15). This means that the killing will last one hour, then one day, then one month, and then one year. The four angels will use two hundred million horsemen to kill the third part of men (v. 16). The riders on the horses will have “breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone” (v. 17). “The power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they harm men” (v. 19). The sixth trumpet must be related to the pouring out of the sixth bowl upon the great river Euphrates to dry up its water so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared (16:12). Hence, these troops will move from the east to the west, passing through the Euphrates, to come to the richest region on earth—the Middle East—and join the war at Armageddon (vv. 12-16; 19:17-21).
John also said, “I saw, out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits as frogs; for they are spirits of demons doing signs, which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth to gather them to the war of the great day of God the Almighty” (16:13-14). “They gathered them to the place which in Hebrew is called, Armageddon” (v. 16). These two hundred million horsemen from the east and armies from the north and the west will be gathered together to seize the riches of the many nations that are in that area. At this moment, Christ will come to tread “the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (19:15). “The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the bridles of the horses for a thousand six hundred stadia” (14:20). When Christ comes back to earth, He will destroy the evil armies.
The second woe of the sixth trumpet is a continuation of the serious woes of the great tribulation (11:14). However, verse 20 of chapter 9 says, “The rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, still did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship the demons and the idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.” God intends that through His judgment men would repent, but these verses show that they will not repent.