REVELATION 8, Trumpet Judgments

The scene now shifts back to the throne room. The seventh seal is broken, and there is a pause in heaven, almost as if to build the anticipation of what will follow. Seven trumpets are in the hands of seven angels, as they wait to usher in the next series of judgments. The 144,000 are now sealed, to be protected from the divine judgments that God is ready to unleash upon the world.

With the sound of each trumpet a new judgment proceeds. The trumpet was recognized as a tool to signal war, ceremonies, processions, etc. To John’s readers, it held a strong association with judgment. Enhancing the prayers of the saints is the incense presented by an angel. The picture is of smoke rising from a sacrifice, mixed with sweet smelling incense to cover the smell of the smoke, so as to present God with a pleasant aroma. The usage here indicates the assurance of divine acceptance of those prayers. They are a sweet fragrance to God. When the angel hurls fire toward the earth, the signal is given to begin the judgments.

Those familiar with the Old Testament account of the plagues on Egypt, when Moses was sent to deliver Israel, would recall that the prophecies actually foretold them occurring again, to some degree, at some point during a period of God’s judgment on mankind. Several of the trumpet judgments are reminiscent of those plagues.

The first trumpet sees hail and fire, mixed with blood thrown to the earth. One-third of the earth, trees, and green grass are burned up, literally. The Egyptians saw hail fall, too.

Trumpet number two sees what is likely some sort of meteoric chunk, massive like a mountain, strike the earth. The sea becomes blood (there is no reason to believe this is not literal), and one-third of the sea life dies. A third of the seagoing vessels/ships are destroyed as well. Egypt had their water turned to blood for a time.

Remember, through all this, John is simply writing what he saw.

A third trumpet blares, and a great star falls, polluting one-third of the rivers. The star is called “Wormwood”, or “bitterness”. God is punishing the diverse ungodliness throughout all of these, and with this judgment, one-third of the waters are polluted. Death is incidental to some, though all mankind suffers as a result. The point is, death was not the primary goal of this judgment.

With the fourth trumpet comes a darkening of a third of the sun, moon and stars (as in the 9th plague on Egypt). This is not some allegorical “darkening of truth”, but a literal, life-disrupting darkness. We have no idea how this occurs, and it is sure to have an effect on the world’s people.

God will use the forces of nature to to achieve destructive effects, using those forces of nature to punish mankind. God’s people (those saved/sealed during this period) are not the objects of the trumpet judgments; the world which is hostile toward God is.

As the chapter closes, what an awesome scene John sees...an eagle flies in “mid-heaven”, so that all can see it. The plagues have been birth pangs of God’s new age to come soon, and yet the eagle also depicts aspects related to them, such as blood, death, chasing prey. The eagle cries “woe, woe” upon the earth for the next judgments to come. There are still three trumpets to sound, and the future from this point is bleak for non-believers.

SO WHAT...?

So, it might seem redundant to be praising God for believers here and now not having to experience this horror. Yet this is what John saw. John saw what was to come following time on the earth where people either accepted or rejected Christ.

So, the time is now to make that choice. 2 Corinthians 6:2, quoting Isaiah 49:8, says today is the day of salvation.

So, I pray that my prayers, too, smell sweet to God.