Revelation 9:18

• The riders wore armor in colors matching their horses' plagues:

  • red for fire,

  • blue for smoke, and

  • yellow for sulfur.

  These are signs of judgment in Scripture (see Revelation 14:10–11; 19:20; Genesis 19:24–28; Psalm 11:6; Ezekiel 38:22; Luke 17:29).

• The horses resemble the terrifying monsters from Greek stories depicted on ancient buildings and celebrated in old dramas.

• A third: See study note on Revelation 8:7–12.

The fifth and sixth trumpets show how God's judgment affects people worldwide and highlight how worthless it is to resist God. These judgments should lead to repentance, but they do not. Sin controls people so much that they choose to worship the evil forces that harm them instead of repenting and turning to God.

• The second series of judgments involves seven trumpets. Like the first series (Revelation 6:1–8:1), it includes a pause (10:1–11:14; compare 7:1–17) and concludes with a view of God's eternal kingdom (11:15–19; see 7:9–8:1).

• The trumpet judgments are similar to the ten plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7:14–11:10). They aim to show that earthly gods (or evil powers) are powerless and to clearly demonstrate God's power and control.