THURSDAY
Next we have the trumpets. These are longer so I won’t be able to make as detailed of comments, but I’ll try to explain when we need to grasp the meaning.
Trumpets have a rich Old Testament history. We don’t have time to list the references, but here they are likely symbols to announce God’s judgment and summoning the nations to repent before the judgment of God is finished.
Similar to the seals, the trumpets follow a 4-2-1 pattern. The first 4 affect creation and harken back to the creation account and the Exodus. The fifth and sixth reference demons being unleashed on the earth. The seventh is the declaration of creation fully becoming the kingdom of God.
Revelation 8:6–9:21 (ESV)
The Seven Trumpets
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
The first four hyperlink us to the Genesis account of creation. However, these judgments are more of a de-creation. This is also similar to the Exodus, indicating the judgment of Christ in the end is like the judgment on Egypt that devastated Egypt and delivered God’s people.
The percentages should not be taken literally, but they do indicate that the severity of the judgment is increasing.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
The creatures released by this fifth trumpet are demons. The identity of the descending angel with the keys to the abyss is debated. It could be a reference to Satan (cf. Isa. 14:12; Lk. 10:18). This, then, would be the same as the leader of the demons in verse 11. Or this angel could be a good angel sent by God to unleash the demons. In Revelation 20:1 we see an angel sent by God with the key to the abyss and a chain. This angel seizes Satan and binds him for one thousand years. It’s difficult to know which one is meant, but with the reference in chapter 20, it seems better to take it as a good angel.
Locusts normally eat grass, but these leave it alone, indicating that they are demons. These demons are only permitted to harm those who are not marked by God as his people. God gives his people protection over the demonic forces.
The name Apollyon means “destroyer.” This is a not-so-subtle reference to the Greek god Apollo. The cult of Apollo used the symbol of the locust and Domitian, Caligula and Nero claimed to be incarnations of Apollo. As we will see John has no problem linking Apollo, the gods of the Greco-Roman world, and the emperor with Satan and his demons.
12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 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. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 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 and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For 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.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The sixth trumpet unleashes more demonic torment on the earth. It’s possible that these are good angels, but not likely since they had been bound previously. The Euphrates is the boundary of the promised land and the boundary of Rome at this time, so anything beyond that is thought to be threatening. The Parthians on the other side of the Euphrates actually defeated the Romans in battle twice.
These last two verses reveal the stubbornness of the wicked human heart. Even with these great judgments being unleashed, mankind fails to repent. Similar to the Exodus, these plagues only harden the hearts of the wicked.
After another long interlude, we come to the seventh trumpet in chapter 11. The seventh trumpet is the completion of God’s judgment.
Revelation 11:15–19 (ESV)
The Seventh Trumpet
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
At the completion of God’s judgment, the kingdom of God has fully come to earth. Notice the direction of this. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord. God will transform the earth into a new earth. This again supports the idea of the rapture being a welcoming party for Christ to come to earth.