The entire rest of the judgments on earth are contained underneath the seventh seal to the Lamb’s scroll. We are going to see seven trumpets blast, seven plagues, and seven bowls poured out - all under this one seal. After this, God’s judgment of the earth and its king will be complete - but there will be a lot of destruction before that happens.
Revelation is full of symbols - but not everything is a symbol. In this chapter I think everything is very literal - though John is describing things the best he knows how from his frame of reference.
Verse 1
Silence in heaven - now that’s a concept. We read in chapter 4 that the angels constantly sing praises to God - there is a never ending worship service in heaven - except here. Now - silence reigns for a half an hour. At least it seemed that way to John - there is, of course, no time in heaven. All creatures are anticipating what God is about to do - it is solemn and foreboding - like the calm in the eye of a hurricane.
Verse 2
After the silence John sees these seven angels given seven trumpets. The seven trumpet judgments involve unprecedented natural disasters, unbearable demonic attacks, and unimaginable warfare. Trumpets were used to call an army to battle, sound the alarm, or call an assembly. Here it is God’s battle cry of judgment against a sinful earth.
Verses 3 - 4
But first something I think unusual happens - God receives prayers as incense. Incense was very important in Tabernacle worship - and here we are told that this incense represents the prayers of God’s people.
What are the prayers here? Look at 6:9-10, where the saints cry out for God’s judgment against a sinful world. People often blame God for judging the world - like its unfair or something - which it is not. But notice here that all the trumpet, plagues, and bowl judgments come after our prayers for justice arise before God. We are part of this judgment.
What I want to point out is that it is okay. Yes, Jesus said don’t judge lest ye be judged - but we see over and over people in the Bible crying out for justice - and here we see God’s justice finally meted out on a rebellious and sinful man. Our judgment is faulty because it is comparative - "I’m better than you." God’s judgment is right because He is completely good - and we join in that judgment by also asking for His justice.
Verse 5
So our prayers are then joined with God’s fire - fire was often the way God gave out judgment - remember Sodom and Gomorrah? Lots of noise and light announces - something big is coming!
This judgment is like the 7th plague in Egypt where God rained hail down on that land and destroyed the crops. We don’t know if this is volcanic in origin or a terrible thunderstorm ("fire" can mean "lightning") - but the effects are devastating. With fruit bearing trees and grass for livestock gone on a third of the earth - famine will likely come.
Verses 6 - 7
Joel 2:30-31 predicted this event.
Joel 2:30-32 "And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. ESV
Verses 8 - 9
This could be a tremendous volcanic explosion - causing a giant tidal wave that destroys one third of the world’s shipping fleet. What causes the water to turn to blood - or at least appear like blood and be poisonous? One explanation - a huge red tide. There is some speculation that the phytoplankton (who eat carbon dioxide and deplete ocean oxygen) that make up a red tide - which is deadly to marine life - can be created by outgasing from volcanic activity undersea. Water and Carbon Dioxide are the most abundant gases released from a volcano.
Imagine a huge volcanic event - not just one fault but many faults coming apart - releasing massive amounts of gas, including carbon dioxide - which creates the biggest red tide ever seen - enough to kill one third of all marine life. Just in the summer of 2005 a huge "dead zone" appeared in the Gulf of Mexico - one person calling it one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of Florida.
Some suggest that this is really a meteor or asteroid - and that is a possibility - but I lean towards something more terrestrial based on what happens in verses 10 and 11.
Verses 10-11
So this sounds like a comet, asteroid, or meteor hitting the earth. Whereas the second angel’s trumpet caused an ocean catastrophe - the third trumpet causes a land devastation in the form of fresh water pollution. Of course, we have had some famous false alarms with near misses with comets. Several movies have been made about it. What would happen if a comet struck earth?
A 1968 study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) concluded that 100 million tons of earth’s crust would be thrust into the atmosphere, causing worldwide pollution for years.
Wormwood is a nonpoisonous but bitter plant that grows in the Middle East. It was also used as a proverb for bitterness and sadness - surely the emotion that will be experienced by those on earth.
Verse 12
So the result of the fires, volcanoes and collisions is that all that stuff thrown up into the air actually causes the light reaching earth to dim by one third. A massive meteor or comet collision that supposedly happened 200 million years ago resulted in darkened skies, acid rain, fires, and flooding - this killed off the dinosaurs. The word "darkened" means "to obscure."
Verse 13
As if it weren’t bad enough already - an eagle flies around saying that the three trumpets still to come are worse yet! Is it a real eagle? It might actually be the word "angel" - they are very close in their Greek spelling.
The messenger isn’t important - but the message is: the next three trumpets don’t have to do with creation coming against man, but Satan coming against mankind - and yes, it is worse: demonic locusts and war mongering demons in chapter 9, and then Satan himself in chapter 11.
Why a third? God is at this point measuring His wrath - like the angel wrestling with Jacob - the idea was not to kill Jacob but to get him to cry out to the angel for mercy. So here God is trying to get men to cry out for His mercy - not destroy them utterly - not yet anyway.
So why are these happening?
Some scholars suggest that this is God’s way of disrupting those things we count on - food, water, commerce, air - to show that He is really in command. I think there are also some deeper meanings as well:
Something to note: the order of these judgments is the same as in Chapter 16 - earth, sea, springs of water, and the sun. You could suggest that this represents their universe: the earth, the sea, the rivers (and lakes presumably), and the sky.
God is saying: "I am in control of your universe - and I will use it to judge you. This is your only warning!" In chapter 16 the first four bowl judgments are on the same things: earth, sea, fresh water, and sun. They will be much more harmful.
Attacking the creation is also telling them: "you can’t count on your environment to protect and sustain you - you need Me to do that."
2 Peter 3:3-7 … knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation ." 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ESV
The Star from Heaven polluting water (Judging the Water)
This judgment is because the earth has rejected God’s Word:
Jeremiah 9:12-16 Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? 13 And the LORD says: "Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, 14 but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water (wormwood) to drink. ESV
Water, of course is a picture of God’s word: Ephesians 5:26 talks about "washing of water with the Word."
The Main Purpose - Repentance
Luke 21:25-28 "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." ESV
Going through the Tribulation will be awful in so many ways - but even in the midst of judgment God’s purpose is for men to repent and turn to Him for the free gift of salvation. We will see that men will not do it - but it’s not too late now to escape this altogether by repenting from your sins and bowing your life before Jesus as your Lord.
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