The Fall of Constantinople

In this verse, John prompts us to take a closer look at what is spewing from the horses’ mouths: “the fire and the smoke and the brimstone.” These are the means by which the Ottoman army killed; in other words, these were their weapons.

What kind of weapon was coming to the forefront when the Turks were rising to power? The Chinese, who are credited with its invention, called it a “fire-spurting lance.” Nowadays, it is commonly known as a firearm. Anyone who has ever seen a gun fired knows how accurate the apostle’s description of “fire,” “smoke,” and “brimstone” is.

But it wasn’t only guns; it was whatever gunpowder could propel—such as a cannonball. When a master artilleryman defected from the Roman to the Ottoman Empire, the young sultan Mehmed II tasked him to create a huge bronze cannon that could fire a 600-pound cannonball, the largest known in the world at that time. Within months, the weapon was ready; and Mehmed, whose eyes had long been set on Constantinople, advanced his newly fitted army upon the hapless city.

On April 6, 1453, the Ottomans laid siege to the capital, and in six weeks, claimed victory. Of note was the city’s famous triple-layered fortification, a set of stone walls and moat constructed during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine and improved upon over time. By the end of Mehmed’s siege, the great walls lay in ruins, with multiple segments having been entirely demolished.

With the fall of Constantinople—and the death of its emperor in the fray—came the final collapse of the Byzantine Empire, a kingdom that had existed for over a thousand years. Significantly, however, John reminds us that this destruction was still only “a third of mankind.” The Ottomans had amassed huge swaths of land, yes, but only in Eastern Europe. There was still a dark power growing in Western Europe; there was still a remnant that had shapeshifted from the secular Western Roman Empire into the Roman papal power. And by the fifteenth century, it had become a terror.

Merciful Creator, while humanity continues to build weapons of mass destruction, we thank You for the great commission of salvation that we are to take to the world (Matthew 28:19, 20).

For Further Study: Daniel 8:10; Revelation 8:7; 12:4

Key Bible Texts

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. (Revelation 9:18 KJV)