The Second Woe of the Ottoman Empire

The sixth trumpet is also known as the second woe. Like the first woe, this trumpet also represents divine judgment poured out against apostasy—again via the Ottoman Empire.

Remember “the golden altar” in Revelation 8:3? This is that same altar, the altar of incense in the sanctuary, placed just on the other side of the veil from the ark of the covenant, atop which God sits on His throne. Recall that the altar of incense is in the Holy Place of the sanctuary and that Christ moved from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place in the year 1844.

The voice John heard we take to be none other than our High Priest, Jesus Christ, who has been working in the sanctuary. Thus, the fact that the voice initiating the judgment of the sixth trumpet is coming from the Holy Place must mean that the sixth trumpet takes place before 1844, before Christ moves into the next compartment. In the next verses, we’ll discover that history proves this to be so.

As for “the four angels,” we have seen a similar depiction: “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth” (7:1). As we have read, their purpose is to allow destruction. While these four angels of the sixth trumpet are in a different localized area—not over the whole world—their purpose is the same: destruction.

Appropriately, these angels are kept “at the great river Euphrates.” The Euphrates is a prominent landmark and symbol throughout the Bible. Historically, it marked the Turkish western boundary. Symbolically, it represents an invasion. The prophet Isaiah described the Assyrian invasion as “the waters of the River, strong and mighty, [which] … will go up over all his channels and go over all his banks [and] …. will overflow and pass over” (Isaiah 8:7, 8). The Euphrates is an apt illustration of what the Ottomans did to the lands they conquered.

Heavenly Priest, I praise You for both Your precious mercy and Your righteous judgment, which are for our deliverance.

For Further Study: Isaiah 17:12, 13; Jeremiah 46:7, 8; Revelation 16:12

Key Bible Texts

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, (Revelation 9:13 KJV)