The First Six Trumpets and the three woes
aka: the 7th seal
(8, 9, 10:1-7, 11:15-19)
A break (8:1-6). All 7 trumpets are part of the 7 seals. In fact it appears as though they can all be found in the 5th and 6th seals. The catastrophes of the first four seals are now intensified. The fraction of devastation is moved from 1/4 (6:8) to 1/3 (e.g., 8:7) in the first 4 soundings. Therefore they cannot overlap with the first four seals, but do seem to follow them.
Note that 8:1 is a period of silence, a break in the action. Perhaps we are being led to understand that the chronology of the Book has been disrupted. The trumpets do not follow the seals, and especially that sublime beauty around the Throne, just described in chapter 7. They are rather included inside of them. We are zeroing in on the climactic final weeks and months of the Tribulation.
(8:2) John identifies these sounding angels as The 7 angels that stand before God. Could this be a connection to the “seven Spirits of God” of 3:1 and 1:4? Seven spirits are before His Throne, 1:4, 4:5, sent into all the earth. And in chapter 9, seven angels stand before God, announce judgments, control other angels (9:14). Are they the same ?
Not just every angel goes around sounding a trumpet. These messengers are authoritative, and were known by Paul. When he speaks of the last trump, he is speaking of the same 7th trumpet which John heard.
The Golden Altar (8:3-5). Moses was told to make all things according to the pattern shown him on the Mount (Exodus 25:40). Part of that pattern was a golden altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-3) , a copy , a shadow, of the Heavenly (Hebrews 5:8). The incense that was to be forever offered from that altar, we now understand, is the sweet communion of the saints with their God. How He cherishes our prayers!
Though incense is said to be the prayers of the saints in 5:8, here it is the accompanying fragrance. In 5:8 it seems as though saints gone on before us are bringing our prayers to God. Here the means of conveyance is purely angelic. I think it not wise to build a doctrine of intercession around either of these two passages, or both of them combined, when no such doctrine has been built by apostles before this time. Our prayers are given to God. How they get to Him is only hinted at here. Suffice it to say that He Himself hears and answers our prayers. The mystery of the method will be shown us, perhaps, on that Day.
(8:5-6) But can it be that the prayers of (not to) the saints on earth, praying in the Spirit according to the will of God, bring about all these events? The prayers and incense ascend, and the response is fire from the altar! An awesome combination of noises and sights and sounds and actions are seen, and the trumpets of judgment begin to sound.
The first four trumpets follow the same pattern as the first 4 seals. That is, a significant fraction of life on earth (now 1/3) is devastated. Trees, the sea, the creatures in the sea, ships on the sea, the rivers, light from sun and moon...all are hit, and hit hard. The difference, as indicated, is that the seals seem to unfold the history of man’s hostility to himself, especially the greed of would-be world powers, while these soundings herald catastrophes of nature set in motion by the Creator, things outside the power of man.
Trumpet one (8:7). Hail, as in the seventh plague of Moses (Exodus 9:13 ff), is mentioned here first in the Revelation, but will revisit earth at the end of the 7th trumpet/ 7th bowl, in a mightier way.
Hail and fire together show just how Divine is this natural happening. God promised Ezekiel that the northern army of Gog (Ezekiel 38:22) would be judged in this way in what seems to be earth’s final pre-Millennial battle. There the fire is laced with brimstone. And yes, Moses witnessed a mixture like this in his day (Exodus 9:24).
John adds that blood, a fearsome plague in and of itself, will also be a part of that apocalyptic storm. Is this the blood of the storm victims? One third of all earth’s trees will be destroyed in this way. It seems that all of earth’s grass is being destroyed here too, but perhaps the text means that all the grass where the trees are being burned up is meant.
A more pressing question than grass is, which third of the world is intended here, and which fourth in the seals? Is this a sprinkling of people world-wide that will equal one-third or one-fourth when totaled? Or is there a particular portion of earth being removed all at once?
Some Bible-knowing Westerners assume that all of Earth’s trouble will continue to center around Europe and the Middle East. They reason that America is not clearly mentioned in end-time prophecy, and that that means this righteous part of the world will be exempt. Others see the Bible’s silence about things Western as proof that by the time the final scenes of earth unfold, the unrighteous West will be no more, victim of an all-out attack by a powerful United States of Europe, or Islamic terrorists.
Even the man of sin does not look to the West as threatening: It is “news from the East and the North” that trouble him in his final push for power (Daniel 11:44). Could it be that America’s cup of iniquity is more full than we have realized? Will we be gone in a way that the pre-tribulation rapturists did not envision?
Trumpet two (8:8-9). More blood plagues the earth, this time caused by what is called a great mountain. Is this a picture of the fall of Babylon, prophesied with similar language in Jeremiah 51:25? “….O destroying mountain… I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain…” Strange prophecy , when one realizes that old Babylon was on a plain. On the other hand, does such an interpretation explain why one third of all living creatures in the sea die, and one third of the ships are destroyed? What monumental amount of real estate would have to plunge into our oceans to cause such nightmarish destruction?
Can Rome’s position, with its small hills , be made to fit this prophecy? Or is this figurative language, “mountain” simply meaning an exalted Empire whose day of wrath has come?
Trumpet three (8:10-11). Of special significance during this time is this third trumpet and a star called wormwood , or “bitter”. The word in the Greek is the same one used to describe a dark green plant used in some liqueurs to this day. In a general sense though it means anything bitter or grievous.
The phenomenon of falling stars (see comments in Part Four, 6:13) in the Bible is generally believed to be what we refer to as falling stars today: meteors. Asteroids also fall towards and even on top of, planet Earth:
From The Chicago Sun-Times Friday, October 4, 2002, this article by Paul Recer:
WASHINGTON– Asteroids regularly explode over the Earth with the intensity of a nuclear bomb and there is a chance the explosions could be mistaken for a nuclear attack, possibly triggering an atomic war, an Air Force general said Thursday. At least 30 times a year, a space rock measuring a few yards across slashes into the atmosphere and explodes, releasing energy equal to that of an atomic bomb, Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon P. Worden told members of a House Science subcommittee...
… Worden said Pakistan and India, both of which have the atomic bomb, were at full alert in August, poised for war. Not far away, a few weeks before, US satellites detected over the Mediterranean an atmospheric flash that indicated “an energy release comparable to the Hiroshima burst.”… it was caused by an asteroid 15 feet to 30 feet wide…
So, it is not difficult to imagine, is it, a rock of greater proportion, and still radioactive from a long fall from space, dropping into the earth, and contaminating great river basins?
Trumpet four (8:12). The simplest explanation of the darkening of heavenly bodies seems to be an eclipse. Yet, the language of the text is that of judgment, and unusual behavior of these orbs. Perhaps it will help to understand that these four trumpets ought to be viewed as one catastrophic event with four parts, even as the first four seals seemed to describe one campaign with four effects. Imagine, then, a continent-wide hailstorm, together with a great “mountain” falling into the ocean and a meteor crashing into the ground all in the same time period. Then, I think, an eclipse takes on some rather huge proportions in the mind of men. One would think they would get the message!
Announcement of the final 3 trumpets, aka 3 woes (8:13). Verse 13 is better grouped with the chapter 9 verses, for it has nothing to do with the fourth trumpet. Here is a shifting of scene once more. Just as the final three seals describe an intensity beyond the first four, so these last trumpets, which, you recall, take place during the latter seals, are to be especially dire. Alas! Woe! The Spirit expresses great grief coming to the planet. The first woe, or fifth trumpet (9:1-12), is a demonic military operation. The second woe, 9:13-21, and perhaps 11:1-14, involves 200,000,000 soldiers and the demise of one third of the world’s population. The third woe, 11:15-19, follows immediately after the second, and is another description of what we saw during the sixth seal. It is the end of the end.
Trumpet 5, the first woe (9:1-12). More intensity. Previewing the restraining power of angels (9:1), and the prison in which demons are held (9:2), we see a horde of locusts descend upon the earth (9:2-3). Perhaps as fascinating is the first mention in Revelation of a bottomless pit. From two Greek words, phrear and abusson, the phrase describes not only the grave, but a significant prison-like restraining area of the demon world.
The idea of the pit is not first a New Testament one. As early as Job, men were said to go there (Job 33:8) and God is said to be keeping people from going there (Job 33:30). There are at least 3 Hebrew words that describe this hole, or trap, but in every case it seems clear that this is the place of departed spirits.
King David seems to differentiate the godly from the others who go to the pit (Psalm 28:1, 143:7, 30:9). And later, with the prophets, the Pit has become the future abode of none other than Lucifer and other such evil ones. Isaiah 14:15, which also mentions Sheol, the grave, speaks of how Lucifer will be brought to the lowest depths of the Pit. Later, in Isaiah 24:21-23, exalted ones on high and kings of the earth are gathered as prisoners in a pit, as though shut up in prison, and all of this in a context of the last days.
Ezekiel is in full agreement here. Ezekiel 26:20 speaks of the wicked city of Tyre, and how it is consigned to the lowest parts of the earth. There, the inhabitants will meet the “people of old.” In Ezekiel 28, the “prince” of Tyre is to be thrown down into the Pit because of his proud heart. Later in the chapter, the “king” of Tyre is described as one who was in Eden, as the “anointed cherub”, cast out of the mountain of God. In 31, Ezekiel sees Egypt delivered to death in the depths of the earth, among the children of men who go down to the pit. In 32 a whole array of nations join the Egyptians. All are referred to as “those who go down to the pit.”
So it is not unusual that, in Jesus’ time, as a group of demons (Luke 8:31) were being confronted by the Son of God, they begged that they not have to be sent to tan abusson. They truly believed in a gathering place of departed and fallen spirits. Romans 10:7 suggests that this place of death is that which was visited by Jesus Himself during the time of His death on Calvary. Some would say that I Peter 3:19, speaking of Jesus preaching to “spirits in prison”, is also a reference to those days.
Then there is the classic passage of Paul regarding the restraining of Satan, II Thessalonians 2:7-8. We will talk of it in more depth later, but suffice it to say for now that the recent interpretation that calls for a removal of the Holy Spirit from the earth (!) doesn’t quite do justice to the text. Rather, it is angels who restrain the beast in this very Pit which we see first in the passage before us.
After chapter 9, the Pit is mentioned several other times. Most crucially, it is said that the beast arises from this pit. This can only happen after he is released, and thus no longer restrained (11:7, 17:8). That must mean he is in that Pit now! Those who theorize that antichrist is alive today are correct, I believe. Alive in the Pit, having lived on earth once before. The final reference to the Pit is in Revelation 20, where the key, now back in good hands, is used to bind Satan, as the beast was once bound. More when we come to chapter 20.
So that brings us to 9:1, the fallen star. That’s not falling, as in meteor showers. And that’s not really “star” as in heavenly body. Rather, we are back to chapter one, where star means angel. And here, fallen angel. This particular one is given a name in verse 11. The angel of the bottomless pit is Abaddon, aka Apollyon. In either Hebrew or Greek, his name means “destroyer.” The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). From the moment he is given authority, i.e., the key to the bottomless pit, he is destroying. The angel that has been guarding this pit for centuries, allowing in and out only what God desires, now turns over the entrance to Satan’s rep, if not Satan himself. I tend toward the former (rep) idea because (1) Satan has names of his own, and needs not to be referred to as Apollyon or Abaddon. (2) Satan is not omni-present; he is already on the earth as the beast at this time. Recall that the Book of Revelation is not sequential in many places. The Tribulation is already underway in this chapter, which means antichrist has already risen from this very pit. But now his forces are given even greater authority and destructive power. They certainly must think they are winning this thing! But all is in the perfect plan of God, the one who sees even the sparrow fall!
Here we get a glimpse of the very gates of Hell spoken of by Jesus, and we see why he said that the Church will not be overcome by those gates. As they are swung open (9:2) and smoke and monstrous destructive powers (9:3) fill the earth, the target of the wrath of God, “those men who do not have the seal of God” are all that are harmed (9:4).
(9:5-6) They can harm unregenerate men only, but cannot kill them. Those not appointed to wrath are safe. The symptoms of the sickness they generate last up to five months. Three times it is said that their sting is like a scorpion’s. The scorpion’s sting produces bee-like reactions and worse, but seldom is lethal to humans. And the effect of this weapon is so great that men will want to die, but they will not be permitted to do so. Here is a poison that will incapacitate a human for up to five months!
I use the term “weapon” for that seems to be what is being pictured (9:7-10): a military weapon with the shape of a horse (legs = wheels?), crowns on their head (propellers?), faces like a man’s face (like the grille on an automobile?), hair like a woman’s hair (actual hair visible through clear windshields?), iron breastplates (vehicular metal?), the deafening sound (as in powerful engines?), “tails” that sting (guns protruding?).
And Hellish creatures control the entire operation (9:11). One can only wonder how much demonic activity is behind all such military might. What is called the “god of fortresses” in Daniel 11:38 is certainly worshiped in our day, and behind every god is a demon (I Corinthians 10:20).
Trumpet 6, woe 2 (9:13-21 and 11:1-14) .Going from bad to worse, four angels stationed at the Euphrates River are now released to kill 1/3 of humanity (9:13-15). The army summoned to accomplish this is mentioned here (9:16) and in the 6th bowl, 16:12. Putting all the information together we note that the army is 200,000,000 strong and is from the East. A Time magazine article of the 60’s mentioned even then the possibility of such a marching force from China alone. The official standing army of that nation today is near three million. It is the first in size of the nations of earth. But even if one could combine it with Russia’s one million, North Korea’s huge force, and all the official armies of the present East, the number would be far less than 200 million. We are talking here about either great civilian hordes that could be mobilized, or of mechanization, perhaps robotic in nature, that these horsemen seem to depict. There seems to be little question that the horses are mechanical. It could be that since both the horses and the horsemen are described in detail that makes little sense to us now (9:17-19), that these are a remote control army of tanks run by super robots.
We see also a need for a dried-up Euphrates (9:14, 16:12) so that this army can arrive at Armageddon. As stated, the picture of horsemen here (9:16-19) can only refer to machines of war. The horses’ heads are like lions belching fire and smoke. We’ve seen fire and smoke before, many times over. But we have not had brought to our attention in the western world, a Euphrates connection. Let’s consider the river called in the Bible “The Great River.”
The discussion starts in Genesis 2:14, where it is listed as one of the 4 branches of the original river in Eden. It actually watered the Garden inside of that wonderful land, then split four ways. We next encounter the Euphrates when it is called the boundary of the covenant people. It is a little known fact, but God’s people are to inherit a piece of land from the Nile to the Euphrates, according to Genesis 15:18, Deuteronomy 1:7, 11:24, and Joshua 1:4. A promise repeated to Abraham, Moses, and Joshua ought to be taken seriously! A partial fulfillment of this promise is found in II Samuel 8:3. David here defeats the King of Zobah, in Syria, whose territory stretched indeed to the Great River.
Now how could such a great waterway be dried up? Of course, God can do it Himself, and has done such miracles before. But it looks as though man may have it on his own agenda, playing into the will of God in his continued ignorance of the Master Plan of Heaven. I quote from ICE Case Studies, the “Tigris-Euphrates River Dispute”, undated but written around the mid-1990’s:
The Southeastern Anatolia Development Project is one of the most ambitious development projects in the world. It plans to utilize the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers with the construction of 22 dams and 19 Hydroelectric Power Plants ...also plans to divert the waters of the basin [for irrigation purposes]. The Turkish government wants to utilize the waters of the basin… [this] creates a great deal of resentment from Syria and Iraq [ all 3 countries share the River ] The tensions over the waters of the basin have reached internationally acknowledged levels… This situation threatens the delicate political stability in the Middle east… the basin is one of the most unstable political areas in the region....in the Middle East, the water scarcity is so severe that nations are threatening each other with war. In 88 developing countries, with nearly 40 per cent of world’s population, water shortages are already a serious constraint on their development… almost all of the nations in the Middle East suffer from serious water scarcity.
The Euphrates-Tigris basin is one of the most important waterways in the world and plays an extreme important role in the future of water availability in the Middle East…
The Turkish President [from 1993-2000] Suleyman Demirel’s words on this issue are a good indication of the frustration felt by the Turkish people: “Neither Syria or Iraq can lay claim to Turkey’s rivers any more than Ankara [Turkey] could claim their oil. This is a matter of sovereignty. We have a right to do anything we like. The water resources are Turkey’s, the oil resources are theirs…” An armed conflict between the two countries over the water issues remains within the range of future possibilities.
...The hostilities between [Syria and Turkey] reached a peak during Syria’s filling of Lake Assad, which reduced the flow of the river to a trickle [1970’s]. According to those who watch this scene, Turkey has the ability to shut down and completely stop the flow of the Euphrates River.
The world will see all this happen, and even the mobilization of huge armies going to war, but according to the text (9:21), they still will not turn to God. Immorality will continue to rule the day. We who have lived through the nightmare of September 11 (2001) know exactly what that is about. A nod to God, a moment of silence, a shaking, but soon, back to life as usual.
