ACC ~ Revelation 9 v14

GOD WILL LOOSE AN EVIL PEOPLE FOR THE TESTING OF THE CHURCH. TYCONIUS: In these four angels that are bound at the Euphrates River we understand those adversaries that God will command to be loosed for the testing of his church. To be sure, this passage shows that the winds and the angels are the same thing, for it said that the winds were held back by the angelsand now that the angels are to be loosed by an angel. “Loose,” it says, “the four angels at the great river Euphrates.” Those whom above it said were at the “four corners of the earth” it now says are bound “at the river Euphrates.” The river Euphrates indicates a people that persecutes [the church]. In this people, Satan and his will are bound, lest he should accomplish whatsoever he desires before it is time. The Euphrates is in the land of Babylon, of which the prophet Jeremiah testifies as follows, “This says the Lord” concerning this Euphrates, “This is the day of the Lord God of hosts, so that he might avenge himself on his foes, and the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the sacrifice to the Lord of hosts is in the north country by the river Euphrates.” He speaks of sacrifice, but that of strangled animals, not of praise. And Isaiah said, “The sword of the Lord is sated on blood, it is gorged with the fat of goats and rams, for the sacrifice of the Lord is in Bosor and a great slaughter in Idumea.” Bosor and Idumea are cities of Esau, who by persecution forced his brother, Jacob, to flee from his father’s lands. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9.14.

ANGELS LEAVE THE VISION OF GOD TO PUNISH THE WICKED. OECUMENIUS: The divine Scriptures sometimes represents to us the apostate angel—by which I mean Satan and those who fell along with him—as having been bound in darkness by eternal chains. At other times it represents him as having been condemned to the depths of the sea. In his second letter Peter says, “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into Tartarus and to the pits of gloom, to be held for judgment,”and in his letter Jude said, “The angels that did not keep their own rule but left their proper dwelling, he kept in gloom by eternal chains for the judgment of the great day.” Also in the book of Job it says that the apostate was cast into the sea, in many ways speaking figuratively of the form, size and bitterness of his abode, saying also that “the angels of God make sport of him.” … But there is no tradition among us that they are bound at the river Euphrates or will ever be loosed, or that people will be punished through them. For when Jude says that they are bound by “eternal chains,” he excludes the idea that they will ever be released. … How, therefore, should someone understand the present claim that they are bound “at the river Euphrates” and that they will be released and that they themselves will punish sinners? I think that he is speaking figuratively, as is customary in visions. I think he means to say that the angels are bound to the vision of God, which gladdens the soul. For that which is divine is figuratively called a “river” by Isaiah, “Behold, I will extend peace to them like a river and the wealth of nations like an overflowing stream,” and by the prophet, “The streams of the river make glad the city of God.”And in section twenty-two of the Gospel of John, the Lord himself speaks of the Holy Spirit: “He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.” It says that he loosed these [angels] from the vision of God and sent them for the punishment of the wicked, for these have been set apart for the coming day. What kind of angels are these? Perhaps they are those mentioned in the Scripture—Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. When this happens, they went out with an army of cavalry of a great, indeterminate size. This indicates the invincible power of the angels of God, whom he compares to a very large cavalry. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9.13-19.

DEMONS WILL BE LOOSED TO TROUBLE THE NATIONS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: I think that these [angels] are the most evil of the demons who were bound at the coming of Christ and who, according to a divine command that comes from the heavenly altar (whose image was the ancient tabernacle), will be loosed by a divine angel so that they might trouble the nations. They will fight not only against the Christians but also against each other, so that while some, like ripe wheat, might be made manifest as approved and faithful and worthy of the best rewards and of the highest mansions and dwellings, others, like chaff, namely, the wicked and the gross sinners and those unrepentant, might be here justly punished but receive at the judgment an even harsher condemnation. It is not strange that they are bound at the Euphrates.For according to the ordinance of God, some [demons] were condemned for a time to the abyss, others to the swine, and others to other places, so that after the conclusion of their warfare against humankind they might receive eternal punishment. And perhaps the mention of “Euphrates” indicates that the antichrist will come from those regions. And we have no reason to doubt concerning the multitude of demons, for all the saints say that the air is replete with them. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9.13-16.

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