REVELATION
CHAPTER 8, The Opening of the 7th Seal: The First Four Trumpet Judgments Sound
By
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
In our last
study, we looked at the emergence of
144,000 Jewish evangelists who we believe will go all over the world during the
7 yr. Tribulation preaching the gospel and winning people to Christ, and this
will bring about a huge revival of people coming to salvation by faith in
Christ
1.1.1. We saw that the sealing by
the Holy Spirit of this group was completed in an interval that occurs between
the opening of the 6th and 7th seal judgments
1.1.2. We saw that this group could
be primarily responsible for the greatest revival in the history of the church
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at the opening of the 7th
seal and the sounding of the first four trumpet judgments upon the earth
1.2.1. These events most likely
begin to occur Ό of the way through the 7 yr. Tribulation
1.2.2. We will see that the trumpet
judgments are much more severe than were the Seal judgments
1.2.3. The trumpet judgments
destroy 1/3rd of everything affected by them, thus they are called,
Third Judgments
2.
VS 8:1 - 8:1 And when He broke the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven for about half an hour. - John tells
us that the breaking of the seventh seal produced silence for about ½ hr.
2.1.
In Isaiah 28:21, Isaiah wrote that Gods
moving to judge the earth is unlike all else that He does, it is His strange
work, 21For the LORD shall rise up
as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may
do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
2.2.
God is always extremely patient with mankind, and not willing that any should perish, therefore even in the midst of His
determination to judge the people of the earth, We see here that He will waits until the last moment before
proceeding in these judgments.
2.3.
This period of silence has been referred to as the lull before the
storm.
2.4.
This waiting after the opening of this seventh seal seems to bring
tension to the story, and perhaps to those who are seen before the throne of
God.
It is a very large crowd gathered there, billions and billions, and for
there to be utter silence, we would
think that what is to follow should be seen as being very sad and unfortunate,
with an accompanying somber mood amongst all present.
2.5.
IT HAS ALSO BEEN SAID, THAT THE FACT THAT THERE IS
SILENCE IN HEAVEN FOR AN HALF HOUR HERE MAY BE AN INDICATION THAT THERE ARE NOT
YET ANY WOMEN IN HEAVEN??? - Bad joke.
2.6.
Here when we get
to the seven trumpet judgments, we see
that now the Lord has given over control to Satan and his minions in order to
execute His judgments upon the earth.
He actually uses hideous fallen
creatures to accomplish His plans!
In fact, there are angels who have been reserved since their fall for
this particular moment in time. They are
currently bound up in Hades in a particular cell, and when they are unleashed
they will go about and do harm to those who are left on the earth.
2.6.1. All of us as people need to
realize that right now in our lives, the Lord is watching over us and
protecting us. He has given His angels watch over us, and thus many evil things that could happen in our life, do not happen,
because of the Lord watching over us.
2.6.2. It is amazing when any of us
sit down and begin to think about all of the many blessings that have come to
us from time to time as God has miraculously protected us or provided
our needs, and how in this way that the Lords hand has been shown to
us.
2.7.
Likewise, we need to realize that whenever we let the
Lord have control over our lives, there is order and things go well with us. Yes, we have trials, but nonetheless there is
order and peace. However, when we arent where the Lord wants us to be there is disorder
and discontent. We ought to learn
from this that it is wise for us to continually submit to the Lord.
3.
VS 8:2 - 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and
seven trumpets were given to them. - John tells us that he saw seven
angels each who is given a trumpet to blow for these judgments
3.1.
Here we see another group of seven angels before the
throne, which causes us to recall that seven is Gods number for completion or perfection.
3.2.
The seven angels
are given seven trumpets here
which will be blown by the angels and cause
the Third Judgments. The
trumpet judgments are called Third
Judgments because each one
that is blown causing death or destruction to 1/3rd of something on the earth.
3.3.
Later in the book when the bowl judgments are carried out, the bowls (or vials) will be poured out and instead
of causing destruction to 1/3rd of something upon the earth, they cause All to be destroyed.
3.4.
Thus, we see that
with each of the three sets of
judgments (the seals, trumpets, and bowls), that each type of judgment
increases in severity.
3.4.1. As I mentioned earlier in my commentary on this book,
there are some people who believe that each of these sets of judgments occur
simultaneously on the earth. Others believe that each judgment is successive. I tend to think the last explanation is more
likely to be true. Likewise, the
seventh seal judgment consists of the seven trumpet judgments, and the
seventh trumpet judgment consists of the seven bowl judgments, I
believe.
4.
VS 8:3-6 - 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar,
holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add
it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the
throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up
before God out of the angels hand. 5 And the angel took the censer; and he
filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there
followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an
earthquake. 6 And the seven angels who
had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. - Another angel takes a golden censor before
the throne, and he takes fire from the altar and throws it to the earth using
this censor
4.1.
It is interesting that in this verse, we see that the prayers of all
the saints are now upon the golden altar which is before the
throne of God in heaven.
4.2.
When God now moves to judge those who are upon the earth, as well as the
principalities and powers in the heavenlies, He does so because of and in
response to the prayers of His people.
4.3.
It seems that all of the prayers prayed by Gods people are
always before Him, being held in a heavenly golden altar, one
which was symbolized by the golden
altar that God told Moses to place in the tabernacle and in the temple.
4.4.
In the tabernacle and the temple, incense was to be burning to the Lord
at all times of the day and night. This burning of incense symbolizes both prayer that Gods people are
to continually offer up, as well as the fragrance of worship of God Himself.
4.5.
These prayers probably represent the prayers prayed by Gods persecuted
saints all through history for Him to avenge and vindicate Himself because of
His enemies, as well as avenge and vindicate His people.
4.6.
The Trumpet Judgments then begin upon the earth after the angel
takes fire of the altar, that is
the brazen altar in heaven, and
throws it to the earth, which is followed by peals of thunder and
sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake, revealing the severity
of Gods awful judgment and righteous indignation.
4.7.
We Christians need to see here the importance of continuing to persevere in
prayer for the Lords work on the earth,
for the work of God is dependent upon our praying. We ought to realize just how essential our prayers are. How
we ought to also have eyes to see and realize what our lack of praying causes
as well
5.
VS 8:7 - 7 And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire,
mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth
was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass
was burned up. - The first trumpet judgment sounds
5.1.
This first Trumpet Judgment consisting of hail and fire mixed with
blood being thrown to the earth must either be interpreted literally or
figuratively, as also all of the
judgments in the book of Revelation.
5.2.
It has rightly been said by skeptics and believers alike of the book of
Revelation that, it is not that the book is hard to interpret, it is that
it is hard to believe. It is hard
for many people to believe that these judgments could literally occur
upon the earth. However, if we were to look at other things that the Lord has done,
we can see that many of them show just
as much of His ability to do that which is impossible and miraculous, for
instance:
5.2.1. God has done an incredible work in creation.
5.2.1.1.When we see the wonder of His work of creation, it should demonstrate to us that nothing is
impossible for the Lord to accomplish.
5.2.2. When we look at the works that
Jesus did, going around healing, casting out demons, raising the dead, and then
raising Himself from the dead, these
works should demonstrate to us that God can do anything that He puts His mind
to do. He truly is omnipotent.
5.2.3. When we look at Gods works
of judgment carried out upon the Egyptians when He went about delivering the
enslaved Israelites from
5.2.3.1.I believe that God
performed these judgments upon the Egyptians in such a way as to give us the
very key for interpreting the nature of the judgments to come upon the
whole world recorded in the book of Revelation.
5.3.
If we accept the literal nature of these judgments in the book of Revelation, we are still left with a daunting task in interpreting them, i.e. what
exactly then is to occur in each of them.
We can only give our best godly
speculations as we look for our clues to what is recorded of the Lords
works in the rest of what the scripture contains.
5.4.
It is important for us always to keep in mind that the book of Revelation
contains the wrap up of every theme that the Bible introduces to us. It is
as if the things that will occur in the
future for the world, from an eschatological point of view, are a jigsaw puzzle which we must try
to analyze in order to see where each piece is going to be placed by the
Lord. As we look within all of the themes which scripture introduces, we are
identifying each of the puzzle pieces, and when analyzing the book of
Revelation, we are trying to see where they are to fit into the puzzle.
5.5.
This first Trumpet Judgment introduces an unbelievable ecological
disaster of such magnitude as which the world has never before seen: One third
of the earth, trees, and grass are burned up in this disaster. We
cannot imagine what this disaster would do to the air quality on the earth, as well as the quality of the drinking water. This will be a horrible disaster upon the
earth.
5.6.
When we look into
chapter 11 of Revelation, we see
that there are two witnesses which will
come upon the earth and that they will cause it not to rain upon the earth
during the entire time of their prophesying. Likewise, we saw in chapter 7 of Revelation that four angels were holding back the four winds. It could be that perhaps these events are responsible for there being a tremendous draught
upon the earth which prepares it for this unbelievable fire that burns up 1/3rd
of the earth, trees, and grass.
However, if this thinking is true, then one should also conclude that
all of the judgments occur simultaneously.
5.6.1. If the winds, and thus rain clouds, are held back,
then this could cause the rain clouds to not be able to bring rain upon the earth,
making the earth susceptible to incredible burning of fires.
5.6.2. The lack of moisture could lead to the fires which
could also lead to the famine which is recorded in one of the Seal Judgments.
5.7.
In the book of Exodus, 9:22-26, God acted in one of the plagues upon the
Egyptians with a judgment that is almost identical with the one recorded
with the blowing of this first Trumpet Judgment,22 Now the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the
sky, that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on
every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. 23 And Moses stretched
out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran
down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the
5.7.1. We have to answer the question in this verse as to
whether or not this is literally fire and hail that is thrown from heaven upon
the earth, or whether it is symbolic of something occurring upon the earth with
1/3rd of everything being burnt up.
Interestingly, if we look at the
plague of
5.8.
It could be that the blood that is mixed with the fire here in this Trumpet Judgment is literal blood that is thrown down from heaven upon men. Or,
what seems more probable to me here, the blood could be one of the effects of
the fire and hail. There will be
much bloodshed as a result of this fire and hail falling on and injuring creatures. This is how the above mentioned plague in
6.
VS 8:8-9 - 8 And the second angel sounded, and something like a
great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the
sea became blood; 9 and a third of the creatures, which were in the sea and had
life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. - The second trumpet judgment sounds
6.1.
With this next
trumpet judgment, John says that a great
mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and many have tried in
various ways to explain how this could occur. As with many of these judgments men have tried to interpret the events as
being symbols of something, however as I have already mentioned previously
these events seem to me to be best taken in a literal sense for the most part.
6.1.1. Some have tried to make this
judgment speak of something allegorical
such as, for instance:
6.1.1.1.The great mountain
is symbolic of a government since there
are a few scripture references which relate an earthly government as being a mountain. Even the Lords government is called the Mountain
of the Lord in scripture.
6.1.1.2.The mountain
described is false teachers by
some.
6.1.1.3.The waters symbolize peoples
because in the scriptures we see
sometimes peoples being symbolized by the waters.
6.1.2. However, the typology does
not really fit either false teachers or government, but seems to better be
interpreted literally.
6.1.2.1.First of all, false teachers
do not cause sudden death as
described here, they only seem to cause people to stumble.
6.1.2.2.Secondly, it doesnt seem
natural to attribute governments with this type of thing either.
6.2.
However, even with a literal interpretation of this
judgment we still have several options to consider in interpreting it,
including:
6.2.1. The mountain could for
instance refer to a comet, asteroid, or meteorite that falls from the sky in flames of fire.
6.2.2. The burning mountain could
refer to a volcano erupting and blowing
its top and then having it fall into the sea.
6.2.3. Or, in the most literal way
of interpreting this, the Lord could supernaturally just throw a literal
mountain into the sea.
6.3.
Before we get too far into this study, I want to take a step back and just as I did before describing the devastation
that will occur when the seven seal judgments are carried out upon the earth, I want to show that the very things that are
written here in this chapter as occurring when the seven trumpet judgments
occur upon the earth, they are already happening in the earth today. They are being caused today not because of
the wrath of God, but rather because of the sin of mankind. In
1993, Mike Macintosh compiled from various sources several statistics about
conditions existing then in the worlds oceans, and I am going to quote
those same sources in detailing to you how that these same judgments are
actually occurring in the world today in lesser form:
6.3.1. ++On June 14,
1992, the Houston Chronicle newspaper published an article titled, Our Oceans Are In Trouble. In this article they bring out how that every
ocean in the entire world is polluted.
We have devastated the oceans through pollution with toxic contamination
and over-fishing.
6.3.2. ++The article stated that every year the
6.3.3. ++Likewise, from
1977 until the time of the writing of that article, the
6.3.4. ++On any given
day, 1/3rd of the
6.3.5. ++The
6.3.6. ++The worlds
shipping industry dumps more than 450,000 plastic containers into the sea every
single day.
6.3.7. ++Every single
day of the year the fleets on the sea completely fish out a portion of the sea
that is equal in size to the state of
6.3.8. ++The National
Marine Fisheries Service has revealed that of the 153 species of fish in our
6.3.9. ++The April
29th, 1993 Ottawa Citizen Magazine stated that corral reefs which are the tropical rain forests of the sea are
disappearing at a much faster rate than their land-bound cousins. An Australian organization said that this was occurring because of illegal trade
in coral, pollution, and rising sea temperatures because of global
warming.
6.3.10.++The May
12th, 1993 Washington Times Newspaper quoted Tangis Borioff, a former leader in the Soviet Union, as saying that after
WWII the Soviet Union dumped 30,000 tons of mustard gas into the Sea of Japan
in containers that are now beginning to rust through. The leaks could threaten both marine and
human life.
6.3.11.++Green Peace
stated that the Soviet Navy had been dumping radioactive waste into the seas of
the world, including the
6.3.12.++April 1993
the Us Army Material Destruction Agency reported that besides the
6.4.
Because of these and many more ecological devastations that have been accomplished by mankind, it is no wonder why the incidence of cancers
have increased at the alarming rate that they have in the last 50 years.
6.5.
Also, if we can see that the sin of man has caused
the beginning of these judgments to occur upon the earth already, then
it should not take much imagination for us to realize that God has allowed mankind to do these things to
their race in order to reveal their sin.
6.6.
Plus, if we can see that these terrible ecological disasters are going to
occur by their own processes given enough time, then it is not hard for us to
imagine that the Lord is going to actually shorten that time when He Himself
will judge impenitent mankind once and
for all and salvage the earth before it
becomes completely uninhabitable.
Truly, as we sit at this precipice in time, we can see that it will not
take much of the outpouring of Gods wrath in order to complete what mankind
has already started in process, to such a great degree as recorded here.
6.7.
In whatever way that we want to interpret this event literally, we can
see the devastation that will occur here with this second trumpet judgment. One third of the creatures in the sea will
die as a result of this judgment.
There are a tremendous number of creatures in the sea, so this judgment will wreak havoc upon the
earth, and it will also greatly deplete the food supply as well.
6.8.
Perhaps the death of the fish and creatures in the sea will cause the sea
to turn to blood, however in the similar case of Gods judgment of the plagues of
6.9.
1/3rd of the ships in the ocean will be destroyed also by this judgment,
how could this come about?
6.9.1. It could be that great and
very destructive tsunamis will occur and cause the ships on all
of the worlds oceans to be tossed around and sunk.
6.10. The devastation caused by
the sinking of 1/3rd of all ships would be enormous:
6.10.1.If 1/3rd of the nuclear
powered subs and ships in the oceans were to sink, we would have an
incalculably huge environmental disaster
result as the nuclear radiation began to leak everywhere.
6.10.1.1.We know from recent history how such a thing could
cause such devastation. For instance,
when the
6.10.2.If 1/3rd of the oil tankers
in the world were to sink and break up, we could have every beach in the world
possibly covered with oil, and this would
likewise cause an unprecedented ecological disaster.
6.10.2.1.In recent history we have seen with the Exxon Valdez
the horrible disaster caused merely be one oil tanker sinking and breaking up
on the bottom of the sea. Can you
imagine 1/3rd of them doing that?
7.
VS 8:10-11 - 10 And 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 waters; 11 and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a
third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the waters, because
they were made bitter. - The third trumpet judgment sounds
7.1.
Here in this third
trumpet judgment, we see that a
great star falls from heaven, and it is burning like a torch.
7.2.
The result of
this tragedy is that 1/3rd of the rivers
as well as the springs of water became wormwood. This effect upon all of the fresh water
supplies in the earth is to cause the
water to become undrinkable (or poisonous) due to contamination.
7.2.1. It has been suggested that under the earth there could be a place where the headwaters
of 1/3rd of the rivers on the earth come together, and that this
becomes polluted due to this judgment.
7.3.
The word Wormwood is used in the Bible to refer to bitterness
or poisonous.
7.3.1. In Jer. 23:15,
the Lord told the people that He would feed them wormwood and cause
them to drink poisonous water, 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets,
Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem Pollution has gone forth into all the land.
7.3.2. Likewise, in Deut.
29:18, the Lord warned Moses about anyone who might come among them who
would turn away from the Lord and be as a poisonous fruit or wormwood to the
people, 18 lest there shall be
among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from
the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there shall
be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
7.4.
With 1/3rd of the rivers and springs on the earth being made to be
undrinkable, the result we are told is that many died.
7.5.
Now, again we have to ask the question as to whether or not this judgment is
described as being literal in nature,
or whether it is symbolic
of something happening.
7.5.1. Those who have allegorized
this judgment have said things like:
7.5.1.1.This judgment refers to
Satan who is the star who falls from heaven. Then, they interpret the rivers and springs
of water as being figuratively referring to something different as well.
7.5.2. However, I believe that the
literal interpretation is to be preferred
over this figurative explanation.
7.5.2.1.I have no idea how exactly that an asteroid or
meteorite could cause these effects, but I believe that when the Lord sends the
asteroid or meteorite He could also cause it to produce these effects.
8.
VS 8:12 - 12 And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the
sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were smitten, so that a
third of them might be darkened and the day might not shine for a third of it,
and the night in the same way. - The fourth trumpet judgment
sounds
8.1.
This fourth trumpet judgment is one which is a bit hard to imagine as
being anything but a literal occurrence: the sun, moon and stars are all darkened so
that they do not shine for a third of it.
8.2.
However, though this seems to be a literal occurrence,
interpreting what has happened is difficult.
8.2.1. One thing that I have heard
speculated about concerning this judgment
is that the sun may be in the process
of turning into a supernova.
8.2.1.1.If the sun were to go into a super-nova state, thus the light of the sun and consequently the moon might initially be dimmed
to 1/3rd of its intensity.
8.2.1.2.Following the supernova
theory, we will see a little later in the judgments that the sun gets 7 times
hotter and men are being burned by its heat.
8.2.2. One person has speculated
that the earth begins to rotate at a faster rate of speed so that the days are
now 16 hours long instead of 24 hours long
(1/3rd shorter daylight hours).
8.2.2.1.The speculation is that if an asteroid or big meteorite hit the earth in just the right spot
could cause the rotation of the earth to speed up.
8.2.2.2.One thing that seems to
possibly lend some credence to this view
is the fact that it seems apparent that
at one time some kind of an occurrence such as an asteroid crash caused a polar
rotation to occur on the earth.
Under one of the poles explorers have found mastodons that were frozen
in history past in such a short period of time that they are perfectly
preserved. It is as if they were flash frozen. One expedition party who was suffering from
starvation broke through the ice on one of the poles upon seeing some of these
mastodons from time past, and they actually cut some of the meat off of these
animals and roasted and ate them. The
meat was still good. It appears that these creatures were
originally living in the area of the equator and then something radical
happened which caused a polar rotation on the earth and these animals died of
exposure within just a few hours.
8.3.
As with many of
the speculations which we must make in order to try to interpret the judgments
in the book of Revelation, we really do
not know what actually occurred to bring the judgment about, however we do know
with certainty that these events will in fact occur in the future during
the time of the Tribulation.
9.
VS 8:13 - 13 And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in
midheaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the
earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who
are about to sound! - There is an interlude before the last three
trumpet judgments where a triple woe is announced by an eagle flying in
midheaven
9.1.
As I mentioned
earlier in my commentary on the book of Revelation, it is the case that the last three judgments of the seals, trumpets, and
bowls are much worse than the previous four. Before the unveiling of the fifth trumpet
judgment, there are woes pronounced over those who dwell on the earth
because of the much greater severity of the remaining trumpet judgments.
9.2.
Some translations have translated this word eagle translated as
angel, however the word does actually mean eagle in the Greek.
9.3.
Interestingly, in
9.4.
However, the creature mentioned here may in fact be an
angelic being since it is hard to imagine a divinely created falcon
created and designed to proclaim a message to the whole earth.
9.5.
In modern times some have speculated that this may actually refer to a
satellite that has been setup in orbit and which broadcasts down to the people
on the earth a triple message of woe. All we know for sure is simply what is
written here.