The First Four Trumpets
Chapter 8:2-13
STUDY NO. 9
At some point in our study of Revelation we will take some time to list the ‘signs’ which God has presented in scripture.
Without actually listing them here, we probably think and believe that signs of the times are happening in our own time. And that may be more true than you think.
And ...at some point we may very well realize that prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.
Let me share with you an example in which a somewhat obscure prophecy from the book of Nahum chapter 2 is in the process of being fulfilled. It all started June 5, 1967.
- Nahum presentation
At some point in the future:
1) A political leader comes onto the world scene with answers for the strife in the Middle East. He takes the kingdom by flattery.
Da 11:32 With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
2) The antichrist will sit in the temple claiming to be God
2Th 2:3 ¶ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
3) The antichrist will cause all people to receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads or right hands; without which people will not be able to buy or sell. The Antichrist makes it mandatory to worship the beast. Punishment if caught will be death.
4) The Jewish people living in Judea who resist this false Messiah must run for their lives.
Mr 13:14 ¶ "So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not" (let the reader understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
5) Christians who are caught not worshipping the beast will be put to death.
Re 13:15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Now is a good time for a visual review
Slide one – Daniel’s seventieth ‘Week’ (of seven years)
Slide two – A basic time line of the last seven years.
Slide three – The same time line with some information found in Daniel.
At this point I want to introduce you to another time line, but it is different in this way; The one we are now looking at represents time as progressing from the left side to the right side of the chart. The chart we will be using for the next while represents time as progressing from top to bottom.
Slide four – the seven seals.
For our study in Revelation please read from 8:2 - 6
A) God sees and hears the prayers of his people. Rev 8:2
B) He is angered by what antichrist does to the children of God. 8:3
C) God begins His judgments on unbelievers … as a punishment to what they are doing to his children, but also, possibly, as a last resort, the punishment is to bring them to their knees and submit to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Here is a reference to a major purpose of the 'trumpet judgments;.
Re 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, …
Re 9:20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands,
that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
The 7 Angels prepare to sound the trumpets.
Several opinions are offered as to whether the trumpets represent natural disasters, represent man-made disasters, or represent God originated disasters.
At one point, in my understanding of this chapter, I took the position that the first four trumpets represented man-made disasters and the remaining three were God originated disasters. The reason I took this position? The last three are singled out by God as separate from the first four. The last three are called ‘Woes’ to the earth. Since they are clearly marked out as devastation to the unbelieving, I saw them as originating from or instigated by God.
But more recently, as I look at it again, because of the fact that these are God’s angels that are sounding the trumpets, I take it that all of it originated from God. The first four judgments are separated from the final three … possibly because they are minor in comparison to the final three.
The First Trumpet - Re 8:7
While this sounds like missile warfare, we cannot conclude that to be a fact. At any rate we see a serious devastation of all green grass and a third of the trees.
The Second Trumpet – 8: 8,9
Some thing very large is ‘thrown’ into the sea. This sounds somewhat localised. In other words, it sounds to me like the sea in which this item was thrown was totally turned to ‘blood’ … all the ships in that sea were destroyed and all the sea creatures in that particular sea died. The other way to take it, is that all of the oceans and seas of the entire world were affected but not all the sea creatures died, not all the ships were destroyed and the seas were not totally blood, but some kind of a diluted form of it.
The Third Trumpet – 8:10,11 .
Again it would appear (to me at least) that some large object falls in a particular location, contaminating all of the fresh water supply in that area.
The Fourth Trumpet – 8:12
12 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.
Notice carefully the language that is used to describe this event. The sun, the moon and the stars are equally affected. We are not told that this is a severe smoke cover. And even if some kind of smoke could block out the sun, how could it affect only one third of the day? Is the available light two thirds darker than normal? And how can you darken the night (it is already dark)?
My suggestion may be somewhat bazaar, but I ask you to consider it.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. We might understand that Jesus is saying, ‘The tribulation period will have to be shortened or no one will make it to the end.’ However, the book of revelation clearly says it will be 1260 days. (this represents the last half from the time the antichrist defiles the temple). If the days are shortened … what are we to think … maybe 1235 days? But that would make the book of Revelation inaccurate. It would make no sense to say it will be 1260 days … (but not really).
Looking again at the language in our verse in Revelation, it says that both the day and the night are equally affected.
I see only one way for this to happen. I believe almighty God who put all things in motion to begin with, and by whose power all things are held together (Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together), is going to speed up the earth's rotation by one third … days will be only 18 hours. That will definitely shorten the days (and the nights likewise) … without taking anything off of the 1260 days.
13 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!"
Without actually listing them here, we probably think and believe that signs of the times are happening in our own time. And that may be more true than you think.
And ...at some point we may very well realize that prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.
Let me share with you an example in which a somewhat obscure prophecy from the book of Nahum chapter 2 is in the process of being fulfilled. It all started June 5, 1967.
- Nahum presentation
At some point in the future:
1) A political leader comes onto the world scene with answers for the strife in the Middle East. He takes the kingdom by flattery.
Da 11:32 With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.
2) The antichrist will sit in the temple claiming to be God
2Th 2:3 ¶ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
3) The antichrist will cause all people to receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads or right hands; without which people will not be able to buy or sell. The Antichrist makes it mandatory to worship the beast. Punishment if caught will be death.
4) The Jewish people living in Judea who resist this false Messiah must run for their lives.
Mr 13:14 ¶ "So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not" (let the reader understand), "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
5) Christians who are caught not worshipping the beast will be put to death.
Re 13:15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
Now is a good time for a visual review
Slide one – Daniel’s seventieth ‘Week’ (of seven years)
Slide two – A basic time line of the last seven years.
Slide three – The same time line with some information found in Daniel.
At this point I want to introduce you to another time line, but it is different in this way; The one we are now looking at represents time as progressing from the left side to the right side of the chart. The chart we will be using for the next while represents time as progressing from top to bottom.
Slide four – the seven seals.
For our study in Revelation please read from 8:2 - 6
A) God sees and hears the prayers of his people. Rev 8:2
B) He is angered by what antichrist does to the children of God. 8:3
C) God begins His judgments on unbelievers … as a punishment to what they are doing to his children, but also, possibly, as a last resort, the punishment is to bring them to their knees and submit to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Here is a reference to a major purpose of the 'trumpet judgments;.
Re 9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, …
Re 9:20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands,
that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
The 7 Angels prepare to sound the trumpets.
Several opinions are offered as to whether the trumpets represent natural disasters, represent man-made disasters, or represent God originated disasters.
At one point, in my understanding of this chapter, I took the position that the first four trumpets represented man-made disasters and the remaining three were God originated disasters. The reason I took this position? The last three are singled out by God as separate from the first four. The last three are called ‘Woes’ to the earth. Since they are clearly marked out as devastation to the unbelieving, I saw them as originating from or instigated by God.
But more recently, as I look at it again, because of the fact that these are God’s angels that are sounding the trumpets, I take it that all of it originated from God. The first four judgments are separated from the final three … possibly because they are minor in comparison to the final three.
The First Trumpet - Re 8:7
While this sounds like missile warfare, we cannot conclude that to be a fact. At any rate we see a serious devastation of all green grass and a third of the trees.
The Second Trumpet – 8: 8,9
Some thing very large is ‘thrown’ into the sea. This sounds somewhat localised. In other words, it sounds to me like the sea in which this item was thrown was totally turned to ‘blood’ … all the ships in that sea were destroyed and all the sea creatures in that particular sea died. The other way to take it, is that all of the oceans and seas of the entire world were affected but not all the sea creatures died, not all the ships were destroyed and the seas were not totally blood, but some kind of a diluted form of it.
The Third Trumpet – 8:10,11 .
Again it would appear (to me at least) that some large object falls in a particular location, contaminating all of the fresh water supply in that area.
The Fourth Trumpet – 8:12
12 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.
Notice carefully the language that is used to describe this event. The sun, the moon and the stars are equally affected. We are not told that this is a severe smoke cover. And even if some kind of smoke could block out the sun, how could it affect only one third of the day? Is the available light two thirds darker than normal? And how can you darken the night (it is already dark)?
My suggestion may be somewhat bazaar, but I ask you to consider it.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. We might understand that Jesus is saying, ‘The tribulation period will have to be shortened or no one will make it to the end.’ However, the book of revelation clearly says it will be 1260 days. (this represents the last half from the time the antichrist defiles the temple). If the days are shortened … what are we to think … maybe 1235 days? But that would make the book of Revelation inaccurate. It would make no sense to say it will be 1260 days … (but not really).
Looking again at the language in our verse in Revelation, it says that both the day and the night are equally affected.
I see only one way for this to happen. I believe almighty God who put all things in motion to begin with, and by whose power all things are held together (Col 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together), is going to speed up the earth's rotation by one third … days will be only 18 hours. That will definitely shorten the days (and the nights likewise) … without taking anything off of the 1260 days.
13 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!"