Environmental Devastation In End Times

INTRODUCTION

Today we’re returning to Revelation after a month’s break. This is my third talk. I’ve called the series ‘Revelation: The Hard Parts.’ I’m consciously diving into some of the hard parts of Revelation – the parts that preachers generally avoid. But these hard parts are in the Bible for a reason, and they are there for the good of God’s people. Today, I’m moving into Revelation 8 and 9. These are among the chapters of Revelation that preachers most assiduously avoid. That’s based on the number of sermons on these chapters uploaded to the website Sermon Central. It's to some extent understandable that preachers avoid these chapters. They present a bleak picture of what will happen in the world.

RECAP

In my first talk, I looked at Revelation 4 and 5. In Revelation 5, John sees a scroll in the hand of the one who sat on the throne. That looks like a judgment. John sees a lamb, Jesus. Jesus takes the scroll. In Revelation 6, Jesus, the Lamb, opens the first of the seven seals on the scroll. We then go through a set of tribulations as the seven scrolls are opened. In Revelation 7 John has a vision. He sees ‘a great multitude that no one could number.’ He is told that ‘THESE ARE THE ONES COMING OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.’ The very phrase ‘the great tribulation’ signals that this time in the world’s history will be very unpleasant indeed.

Today, I’m moving on to Revelation 8 and 9. I’ve decided to focus on this passage in Revelation 8. My reason is because it is, I think, the passage in Revelation in which the environmental dimension of God’s judgment on humankind is clearest.

Our passage starts off with seven angels blowing seven trumpets. This signals the start of the second series of woes in Revelation. The first set of woes was the seven seals, in chapter 6. Then we have the seven trumpets, which start here. Finally, there are seven bowls of God’s wrath, in chapter 16.

The three series of woes increase in severity and contain different kinds of woes. And, as I mentioned, this set of woes, announced by the seven trumpets, seems to have the greatest environmental dimension.

Let’s quickly review what happens. The first angel blows his trumpet. There is hail and fire, mixed with blood. A third of the earth is burned up, and a third of the trees are burned up, and all green grass is burned up. Not so nice. Then a second angel blows his trumpet. Something like a great mountain, burning with fire, is thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea becomes blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea die, and a third of the ships are destroyed. What could that great mountain, burning with fire, be? A volcano? I don’t know. But the result is clear. Among other things, a third of the living creatures in the sea die.

When the third angel blows his trumpet, a great star falls from heaven, blazing like a torch. Again, I don’t understand what this is. But the result is also plain. A third of the waters became wormwood – wormwood is a bitter herb – and many people die from the water, because it has become bitter. Then the fourth angel blows his trumpet. This has an effect in the cosmos. The result is periods of darkness.

It's a grim prospect. What are we to make of it? How are we to think about it?

I’m going to make eight points. They are all quite short.

1. GOD IS WILLING TO ALLOW HUMANKIND TO EXPERIENCE THE CONSEQUENCES OF ITS ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS

If humankind damages or destroys the environment, humankind will suffer. Let me give you an analogy.

Cain and Abel are in the Garden of Eden. Cain gets angry with Abel and kills him. God didn’t want Abel to die. But he does want a world in which a person’s actions have a consequence. So, God doesn’t prevent the murder from happening – but there are consequences for Cain.

Humankind is occupying the world God created. Humankind harms the world. God doesn’t want the world to suffer harm. But he does want a world in which people’s actions have consequences. So God doesn’t prevent humankind from doing damage to the world – but there are consequences for humankind.

2. GOD HIMSELF BRINGS HARM ON THE ENVIRONMENT WHEN HUMANKIND IS DISOBEDIENT

There are dozens of examples we can see of this in the Bible. Here is one, from the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 44:2-3). Judea was conquered by the Babylonians and a group of Jews flee to Egypt. God, speaking through Jeremiah, tells them:

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.’