Hearing The First Six Trumpets (Revelation 8:1-9:21) Series

Let's begin today by taking a step back, and reminding ourselves of the big picture of Revelation, starting in chapter 5. We need to somehow keep at least three chapters together in our mind, for today's passage to make sense.

In Revelation 5, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, suddenly appears in the midst of God's throne room. The Lamb, alone, is worthy to open the seven seals on God's book. And God's book, essentially, is his plan and vision for the world. Jesus unlocks God's plan, and sets in motion a new chapter in world history. In essence, the opening of the book set in motion the coming end of this world, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, where we will live in peace with God and each other forever.

Up to this point, the Lamb has opened six of the seals. And each seal, when it's been opened, has unleashed God's judgment on the world. But we should be more specific: God's judgment has been on the inhabitants of the earth. And by this, Revelation doesn't mean us. It's not talking about Christians who have washed themselves, and have dedicated (consecrated) themselves to God and to the Lamb. These Christians faithfully testify to Jesus, and live faithfully toward God and the Lamb. In contrast, the inhabitants of the earth are the ones who are idolaters, and murderers, and thieves, and the sexually immoral. That's not us.

So a new chapter in history has been set in motion. The book isn't even open yet (arguably, but following most; Revelation 10:2, 8), but there's progress in that direction.

Now, when we read about God's acts of judgment, we find ourselves wondering how we, the church, fit into all of this. Will we be able to stand, on the day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb? (Revelation 6:17). Or are all humans going to be swept up, and destroyed?

How does the church fit into God's plan?

In chapter 7, we were given two visions of the church. The first was the 144,000 sealed, 12,000 from each tribe. And we are supposed to take two main things from this vision. The first, is that we are the fullness and completeness of Israel. The second, is that we are sealed. We are protected from God's wrath. We are like God's people in Egypt, untouched by the plagues.

The second vision in Revelation 7, was of the church triumphant. We got to see a video of what it looks like in heaven, when people faithfully endure difficulties and tribulations, and pass through them, and pass through death, to the other side. And what we saw in heaven, was worship. People from every tribe, from every race, join in unity worshipping God-- the One seated upon the throne, and the Lamb.

So at this point, we should be starting to get a feel for how intensely practical the book of Revelation is. Revelation teaches us how to look at the world, and understand what God is doing, and what He will do. And Revelation teaches us how to look at ourselves. We should understand what God offers us, and what God wants from us. And as we keep reading Revelation, this is going to become more and more true.

So as of Revelation 8:1, six seals have been opened. Let's read from Revelation 6:12-17 (NRSV updated no reason):

12 When he broke the sixth seal, I looked, and there was a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their[h] wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

Can it get any worse than this? Can anything else, possibly be done to the heavens or the earth?

We assume, at this point, that the only thing left, is for Jesus to return and make a final judgment. But what we discover, is something more complicated. We now find ourselves shifting images, from talking about the seven seals, to the seven trumpets. Some of us are going to be tempted to think that the seven trumpets follow the seven seals chronologically. But this doesn't work. We are going to find ourselves reading about the sun and moon and stars, as if they haven't been touched up to this point. But we just read, in Revelation 6:12-13, that the sun has blackened, the moon became like blood, and all the stars of the sky fell to earth. So a strictly literal, chronological reading of Revelation won't make sense. If you grew up in a church where they used fancy charts, and taught some version of dispensationalist, rapture theology (hi!) :), I'd encourage you to consider throwing it all away, and be open to a different perspective.