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

The sixth trumpet angel will sound during the seventh seal¹ to begin the Second Woe. This Woe corresponds to the seven-year physical battle of Armageddon.²

The golden altar mentioned in this verse refers to the altar of incense³ located before God in the heavenly temple that John first saw in Revelation 8:3.⁴ From this golden altar Christ will symbolically offer prayers and make intercession for the saints⁵ during the half hour of silence when the seventh seal opens.⁶ From this same altar⁷ Christ begins to answer the prayers of martyred saints with his judgments during the Second Woe.⁸ The prayers of saints will be answered as Christ's voice decrees judgments upon the wicked⁹ through the four horns of the golden altar.¹⁰ John sees the image of Christ speaking through the four horns of the golden altar¹¹ because the horns symbolize Christ's universal power and authority.¹² The altar of incense located inside the temple, and the brazen altar located in the temple court, were both constructed with four horns on their corners¹³ to represent the worldwide reach of Christ's great power.¹⁴

Anciently, on the Day of Atonement,¹⁵ sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the four horns of the brazen altar¹⁶ to reconcile the Israelites to God.¹⁷ The horns were also a sanctuary or safe haven for malefactors and criminals that held the horns securely after the discovery of their crimes.¹⁸ The horns did not provide sanctuary, however, in cases of premeditated murder¹⁹ because the law of Moses specified death as the punishment for that crime.²⁰ These ancient practices are a type for the judgments of death that will be poured out on the wicked during the Second Woe of Armageddon.²¹ Instead of reconciliation or sanctuary from the horns of the brazen altar,²² the four horns of the golden altar of incense will bring death to the third part of men.²³ The horns (and the corresponding New Testament symbol of the cross)²⁴ cannot save people that are ripe in iniquity²⁵ because they are mortal sons of perdition who knowingly sin²⁶ as premeditated murderers knowingly kill.²⁷

Revelation 9:14: Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Christ directs the sixth trumpet angel to loose the four angels²⁸ to begin the Second Woe at a specific moment in time.²⁹ The angels are four in number to symbolize the worldwide scope of their destructive mission.³⁰ These four angels from the great river Euphrates are not the four restoration angels previously identified in Revelation 7:1,³¹ who cause worldwide destruction at the end of the sixth seal in the modern era.³² Furthermore, they are not the first four trumpet angels of the seventh seal that destroy plants and other parts of the earth before the First Woe begins.³³ The four destroying angels of the Second Woe from the Euphrates³⁴ differ from the prior group of four good angels in Revelation 7:1. This latter group of four wicked angels in Revelation 8:14 will be loosed from the great river Euphrates only when the Second Woe begins.³⁵

The image of the great river Euphrates is highly symbolic.³⁶ This image alludes to Babylon,³⁷ the worldly city³⁸ built near and over the Euphrates River anciently.³⁹ The Euphrates River was also the historical border between ancient Israel and her wicked enemies to the east.⁴⁰ The river Euphrates is mentioned in this verse and again in Revelation 16:12. In the latter verse, the Euphrates River is symbolically connected to the future Third Woe, when the evil spirits of Spiritual Babylon will be removed from the earth during the spiritual battle of Armageddon in Revelation chapter 16.⁴¹ Thus, the great river Euphrates symbolically connects the four angels of the future Second and Third Woes with the wicked citizens of Modern Babylon.⁴² Some scholars incorrectly connect the image of the Euphrates River to battles from the ancient past.⁴³

In Revelation 9:14, the four angels loosed from the great river Euphrates represent all unembodied and disembodied spirit sons of perdition (devils)⁴⁴ that will be loosed from the bottomless pit (hell) to exercise their great power when the Second Woe begins. These evil spirits will be given power to influence the armies of Armageddon to destroy the third part of mortal men.⁴⁵ This is even more power than these same evil spirits will possess during the First Woe when they can only use their influence to torment mankind, but not kill them.⁴⁶ After reaching the climax of their power during the Second Woe, these evil spirits will lose their power completely during the Third Woe,⁴⁷ when the spiritual battle of Armageddon will occur.⁴⁸ During the Spiritual Armageddon of the Third Woe, all disembodied sons of perdition will be cast alive into the lake of fire and brimstone forever with the Beast (Cain) and False Prophet (Judas Iscariot) at their head in Revelation 19:20.⁴⁹ The unembodied sons of perdition will be bound in the bottomless pit for the 1000-year millennium with the Dragon (Satan) at their head in Revelation 20:1-3.⁵⁰

Significantly, the Joseph Smith Translation changes the great river Euphrates in Revelation 9:14 to say the bottomless pit.⁵¹ This change confirms the identities of the four angels as evil spirits because the pit or abyss is the domain of both unembodied and disembodied spirit sons of perdition.⁵² The early Christian fathers and Jews referred to disembodied spirits of the dead as demons,⁵³ but this word also describes unembodied spirit sons of perdition.⁵⁴ Therefore, when the Second Woe begins, the four angels, who represent a great army⁵⁵ of seducing spirits⁵⁶ and demons,⁵⁷ will be loosed from the bottomless pit with even more power than they will possess during the First Woe. Their additional power will include the control of mortal people who command the mortal armies that destroy the third part of men during Physical Armageddon of the Second Woe.⁵⁸