The book of Revelation is showing us the ultimate exodus, but this time it is not a mere nation that God is judging, but the wicked world system that is ranged against God and his people. As at the exodus from Egypt, God is going to judge the wicked world and deliver his people in response to their prayers….
So the fact that God brings on the world these judgments, which so closely correspond to the plagues on Egypt, points us to the significance of the deliverance that God is accomplishing through these judgments. As at the exodus, when Pharaoh and Egypt refused to repent, so here the earth-dwellers will refuse to repent (9:20, 21). But as with Pharaoh and Egypt, God is crushing the strong by worldly standards in order to deliver the weak by worldly standards.Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches