Previously: Revelation 9: the sixth trumpet
The first post in the Revelation series
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.
Revelation 9:13-15
The historicists say the sixth trumpet is fulfilled by the Turks. In reading Wikipedia concerning the history of the Turks, we learn that there were four great Turkish states which led up to the conquering nation which came across the Euphrates River from the east. What a coincidence.
The Turks arose in Central Asia, and came to prominence after the decline of the Huns. The first state was of the Gokturks, which became a power beginning in 546. Then there was a civil war, and the Gokturks split into two states, some or both of which were dominated by the Chinese for a time. Then a second Gokturk state arose beginning in 661. Another family of Turks, the Uygur Turks then came to power, and established a third Turkish state beginning in 741. The fourth Turkish state was under the Seljuk Turks, beginning in the 11th century (the 1000s).
What happened between the third and fourth states is interesting, because it brought the Turks right to the Euphrates River. In the 8th century, the family of Turks which were to become the Seljuks migrated into the area between the Caspian and Aral seas. They began trading with the Abbasid Arabs, the Islamic dynasty centered in Baghdad, which had ended the fifth trumpet. It was from the Abbasids that the Turks learned Islam, and they renounced the Shaminist religion of their forefathers and adopted Islam with fervency. The newly Islamic Turks in 1037 invaded Persia, and the Seljuks were established as the leading dynasty over the Turks.
In 1055, the Seljuk sultan Togrul delivered the Caliph of Baghdad from a series of revolts, and became, in fact, the real power of the Baghdad Caliphate, right on the Euphrates River.
Thus we see four angels, which correspond to the four Turkish states, which had been prepared for the time, but were kept bound beyond the Euphrates until they should be released against the remaining third of the Roman Empire.
To be continued …
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Update: continued in Revelation 9: the sixth trumpet, the crossing of the Euphrates
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