Bless you brother and thank you for your kind welcome
Revelation 9:13-21
The key verse is 9:16
9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
In Christ's Love
OK, so here's some clues to the 200 million.
First, it does not say 200 million, not at all. It actually says something closer to the ESV rendering.
The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
So what's going on here?
Well, we've got to remember what book this passage is in. Any book that says Jesus has 7 eyes and 7 horns and that there are 7 spirits of God and only 144 thousand people get into heaven, well, let's just say we have to be careful with numbers in this book! Numbers here often seem to be more about making a point than counting, like if I said I couldn't fit in any more Christmas pudding because I'd already had a "thousand turkey wings".
The Jews often used numbers like this, especially the number 1000. See below for more. However, 2 times ten thousand times itself again? That's just saying 'numbers beyond counting'. I doubt many scholars would read John as saying there were actually going to be 200 million cavalry riding into battle!
Also, the Parthians were an Empire down the Euphrates who were feared for their cavalry. It took Rome a long time to defeat them. They ran a few rebellions and wars against Rome during John's lifetime, and were well known for their war-horses! Here they are featuring in a Roman scenario computer game!
Read the description of these cavalry!
And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire[a] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were(H) like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
It looks like John has described them as mixed with some of the demons that escaped from the pit. Overall this passage is about the spiritual torment of those who have not yet moved from Satan's kingdom to the safety of God's Kingdom, and part of that spiritual oppression is confusion and eternal vulnerability should war come. We are eternally safe, even if killed in some horrible war.
Parthian Empire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
***more on 1000 in the bible***
The number 1000 is not used literally in the bible. There ARE times when multiples of a thousand indicate an actual, 'close enough', literal number, such as when describing how many men went into battle or how many people they captured. This is clear from the specific context.
EG: 1 Chronicles 5:21
They seized the livestock of the Hagrites—fifty thousand camels, two hundred fifty thousand sheep and two thousand donkeys. They also took one hundred thousand people captive,
However these are usually in the multiples of 1000.
The USUAL usage of the actual symbol 1000 is anything but an actual number. It's like us saying 'about a gazillion' to modern ears. It's about exaggeration, not accuracy; it's about making a point, not counting.
Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
Joshua 23:10
One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.
Job 9:3
Though they wished to dispute with him, they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
Job 33:23
Yet if there is an angel at their side, a messenger, one out of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright,
Psalm 50:10
for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
(Are you REALLY going to read this literally and therefore conclude that God does not own the cattle on the gazillion other hills on planet earth?)
Psalm 84:10
Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Ecclesiastes 7:28
while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”
Ezekiel 47:5
He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross.
2 Peter 3:8
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
If you have half an ounce of literary prowess, you'll see that 1000 means 'a really big round number' here, or in the case of 2 Peter 3, 'a really long time'. Both Peter and John are picking up on this Jewish number symbolism when they write 'a day is like a really long time' or 'they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a really long time'.
