The First Four Trumpets
The Seventh And Final Seal
Verse 1: When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
There was a pause in the opening of the seals with chapter 7. Now the break is emphasized by this silence at its start. It demonstrates this was a sobering moment. All of heaven was awestruck by the judgments to come. About half an hour doesn’t seem like a very long time, but in the context of heaven, which seems to be a pretty noisy place, thirty minutes probably felt like a very long time. Imagine if a preacher were to stop his sermon for thirty minutes while the congregation sat in silence.
Seven Angels
Verses 2-3: And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
Jewish tradition is that seven angels stand in God’s presence. Based on this verse, that traditional idea was accurate. In the Old Testament, trumpets sounded the alarm for war and threw the enemy into a panic. Trumpets were also used to call an assembly of God’s people. These seven trumpets will sound as God’s battle alarm during the great tribulation.
Some see the eighth angel as Jesus because the Old Testament references Him as “the Angel of the Lord.” On the other hand, some see it as just another angel because the Greek word for another means “of the same kind.” Also, we know it is Jesus who is holding the scroll with the seven seals.
Verses 4-5: The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Prayer and incense are often associated with each other in the Bible. The idea is that just as incense is pleasant and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers. So, before the opening of the seventh seal, we see the prayers of God’s people come before God. The angel doesn’t present the prayers, he presents the incense, and with it, the prayers go up. The ascending incense shows the prayers and offerings accepted by God.
All matters will not be resolved on this earth until judgment comes, and when the prayers of God’s people come back to earth, they bring the surge of judgment (thunder, lightning, an earthquake).
The prayers of God’s people will set in motion the coming consummation of history.
More potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.
Torrance
The Day Of The Lord
2 Peter 3:10-12: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and everything in it will be burned up. Therefore, since everything will be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
These verses in 2 Pet. give us the sense that we can hasten Jesus’ return by our holy conduct and godly lives. But here, in Rev. 8:4, we see that we can also speed His coming through prayer. We should also pray, ‘Even so, come, Lord Jesus!’ (Rev. 22:20)
Something To Think About
One other thing we could take from the 2 Pet. verses; both the heavens and the earth, and everything in it will be destroyed…by fervent heat…by fire…the elements will melt in the heat. Sometimes I get the sense that as Christians, we’re supposed to scoff at the idea of “global warming.” Yet, don’t these verses (and the Bible contains more) tell us it’s going to happen? Knowing this, shouldn’t we agree with science that they prove what the Bible has always told us?
But on the other hand, should believing this exempt us from caring what we do to God’s creation? What does the Bible say on the matter? Here are a few verses to read: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; Numbers 35:33-34; Deuteronomy 11:12; Jeremiah 2:7; Job 12:7-10.
God created this earth and everything in it. Our job is to take care of it. Rev. 11:18 tells us there are destroyers of the earth. “The nations raged, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.” There is nothing random or by chance about it. The nations are angry with God, and He responds with wrath; those that destroy the earth will be destroyed themselves.
If we believe the Bible, we believe the world will heat up and melt away. It’s inevitable, nothing we do will stop it from happening, but that does not excuse us from taking care of our planet. If we are to take the Bible at its Word, then we know we must work to preserve God’s creation. His gift to us. Nothing will stop the destroyers of the earth, but they will know God’s wrath for it. As Christians, if we ought to be living holy and godly lives, shouldn’t that include respecting our God’s creation?…think about it.
Seven Trumpets
Verses 6-7:
So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
The opening of the seventh seal does not bring the end immediately in John’s vision. Instead, it set in motion seven trumpets that will sound upon the earth. Are the seals, trumpets, and bowls, John describes, the same events with different details? Or are they sequential? Does the seventh seal contain the seven trumpets and the seventh trumpet contain the seven bowls of judgment?
Rev. 6:15-17 creates a problem in the sequential theory because this would mean the people were mistaken about Jesus’ return. But suppose the trumpets follow in sequence to the seals and the bowls to the seals. In that case, it speaks volumes about God’s mercy in stretching out the end and allowing more time for repentance. 2 Pet. 3:9: The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
This is John’s report from eternity. So, it’s difficult to determine if he’s describing the same events multiple times or chronologically. However you take it, the most important emphasis should be that they are real events that will occur, even if their sequence is hard to pin down with certainty. As time goes on, God may reveal the meaning of these verses more clearly. The Bible contains many passages that tell us there are things we can not know until God decides to reveal them to us (Deut.29:29; Psalms 25:14; Prov. 25:2; Jer. 33:3; Dan, 2:22 & 28, 12:9; Mark 13:32; Luke 8:10 & 17, 12:2-3; John 15:15; Eph. 1:9-10, 3:5; Col. 1:26; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Rev. 5:3, 10:4).
The First Trumpet
When the first angel sounds, hail and fire, mingled with blood, will be thrown to the earth. “Blood” may be the color or the result of this extraordinary event. We don’t know if John was describing the color of the hail and fire or actual blood. Either way, this should be understood straightforwardly, without escaping into creative symbolism.
The truth is, if earth, trees, and grass do not mean earth, trees, and grass, no man can tell what they mean. Letting go the literal signification of the record, we launch out upon an endless sea of sheer conjecture.
Seiss
A third of the trees and all green grass was burned up: How will this happen? There are many interesting and possible ideas (nuclear war, pollution, meteors, etc.), but they should never obscure the truth that God brings judgment. This hail and fire is not nature taking its course. The people on earth will know these events are from God and aren’t merely natural disasters (Rev. 16:9 & 11; 19:19).
The Second Trumpet
Verses 8-9:
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Something like a great mountain: Note the use of “like.” John was careful to say this is not an actual mountain. But, whatever it was, it was a vast mass, as large as a mountain; it was blazing and hurled into the sea.
A third of the sea became blood: This disaster is a cataclysm. Perhaps, it’s a meteor that will hit the ocean and cause great oceanic upheaval. Researchers today say that this sort of phenomenon has happened before, sometimes resulting in ecological disaster. But nothing in history compares to the damage this will cause. This trumpet’s sound will result in a third of the sea creature’s death and a third of the ship’s destruction.
The sea/ocean: In the world of the Apostle John, the Mediterranean Sea was THE sea; they had little knowledge of other oceans. So here, the sea may be specific to the Mediterranean.
The Third Trumpet
Verses 10-11:
Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water because it was made bitter.
This star could easily be associated with a comet or meteor. John tells us the name of the star, so it could very well be just that. But, indeed, with God, it could be anything. John saw these things with his own eyes and still had trouble describing what he saw.
The Fourth Trumpet
Verses 12-13:
Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise, the night. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
The light will not merely dim by a third, but a third of the day and night will be plunged into absolute darkness. Jesus said in Matt. 24: 29, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
The flying angel’s woes are not him being overdramatic because a third of the world’s population will die with the next three trumpets. Depending on the Bible version you have, yours may say an eagle was flying through the midst of heaven making this cry. The ancient Greek words for angel and eagle are very close in spelling. Either way is possible; animals audibly speak more than once in the Bible.
Some Last Observations
These first four trumpets reveal the severity of God’s judgment. He attacks all the ordinary means of subsistence, such as food and water, and He attacks all the usual standards of comfort and knowledge, such as light and the regular rhythm of days.
Also, with the first four trumpets, the mercy of God is revealed because they’re only partial judgments, affecting only a third of the world; they are meant as warnings to lead an unbelieving world to repentance before the final scene when it is too late.
As Christians, we should find great peace in knowing that we will not suffer from these calamities and disasters, and it should compel us all the more to bring the unbelievers into faith.