In this episode, J. Mark examines the first four trumpet judgments in Revelation 8:7-13. As the seventh seal is opened, silence in heaven gives way to judgments that impact the whole of the universe. These trumpet blasts reveal the holiness and sovereignty of God as creation itself becomes an instrument of judgment. In these judgments, J. Mark draws connections to the plagues of Egypt, the Old Testament prophets, and the teachings of Jesus. We can see God’s patience and justice, and we are reminded of the hope and deliverance found in Jesus.
Transcript
Remember, Revelation is a letter written to those in John’s lifetime who are experiencing severe persecution. These varying waves of persecution spanned the late 90s AD to 311 AD. God reminds John’s readers that He is paying attention, and the wicked will eventually drink the cup of His wrath! In Revelation 3:10, in His message to the Church of Philadelphia, Jesus promised, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
In chapter five, Jesus, the Slain Lamb, is revealed as the only one in the whole universe who is worthy to open the seven seals of the mysterious scroll. Chapter six reveals the seven “seal judgments,” including the four horsemen, the cry of the martyrs, and the cosmic disturbances of the universe. Chapter 7 details the sealing of the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel, as well as the multitude of people who will be saved during the Tribulation.
Chapter 8 begins with the opening of the seventh seal. When that seal is opened, an unexpected and unusual silence follows. That silence may be a portent of the awful things that are about to take place in the seven trumpet judgments.
As John watches, the angel takes the censer, fills it with fire from the brazen altar, and hurls the contents violently onto the earth. In response to the prayers of the righteous, those who have rejected the atoning work of Jesus Christ will now suffer the wrath of Almighty God in its fullness. Voices, thunder, lightning, and an earthquake accompany this terrifying action. What a startling end to the 30 minutes of silence! And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
The 7 trumpet judgments grow out of the 7th broken seal. Therefore, rather than being seen as linear, these judgments are most likely cyclical and overlapping. Each one is unique, but the intensity builds from one to the other. Let’s turn now to Revelation 8:6-13.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
People today are very concerned about saving the environment. Fears about the depletion of the ozone layer, pollution, the destruction of the rainforests, and global warming are constantly in the news. There is a passionate concern for saving endangered species, from whales and spotted owls to California condors and a host of lesser-known species. For many, protecting the environment has become far more than a concern for health and safety; it has become an issue of idolatry, as they worship “Mother Nature” by trying to protect and perpetuate the earth.[1]
The sounding of the first four trumpets unleashes an ecological disaster on the earth and its inhabitants. It is a reminder that the Sovereign God who created the earth and its resources for our enjoyment and sustenance will use those same resources to bring judgment on the wicked. The first 4 trumpet blasts indicate that one-third of the vegetation, the seas, the fresh waters, and the heavens are affected. Let’s look at the impact of these judgments.
The First Trumpet primarily affects vegetation. “Hail and fire, mingled with blood, were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” Notice the repetition of “burnt up.” It is repeated for dramatic effect. One-third of the trees and ALL the green grass perish! Imagine the impact on the economic system, the weather, and much more.
The specific cause of the hail and fire … thrown to the earth is not revealed, but from a scientific standpoint, an earthquake of the magnitude and extent of the one in verse 5 would likely trigger worldwide volcanic eruptions. Besides spewing vast quantities of flaming, blood-red lava into the atmosphere, those eruptions could also trigger violent thunderstorms that produce large hail. Such thunderstorms would be in keeping with the imagery of verse 5 after the angel hurled his censer to earth.”[2]
The prophet, Joel, wrote of these things in his visions of the Day of the Lord. “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.” Exodus 9:24, describing the 7th plague on Egypt, records, “So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.” In this judgment, the hailstones and fireballs fall in a shower of blood!
My faith is simple enough to believe that what John is writing should be taken as literally as possible. These horrors do not symbolize political, social, or economic judgment; such judgments come later in Revelation. Nor do they describe any judgment that has ever occurred in history, regional or global. These judgments are actual, literal, physical events that will affect the whole earth.
The Second Trumpet primarily affects the seas. “And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” Later, during the bowl judgments, the sea will become totally blood, and every living thing in it will die.
This could be a completely miraculous phenomenon, or it could be a giant meteorite or asteroid, surrounded by flaming gases set ablaze by the friction of the earth’s atmosphere, on a collision course with the earth. Current doomsday scenarios about an asteroid hitting the Earth will come true. It will hit, striking somewhere in the world’s oceans with an explosive power far greater than that of an atomic bomb.
Imagine the effects of such an event. Huge tidal waves will result, capsizing one-third of huge ocean-going vessels and completely swamping ports. The resulting disruption of commerce and transportation will cause economic chaos. The death of 1/3rd of aquatic life will pollute the waters and putrefy the fresh, salt air.
So the first two trumpets will bring devastating judgment on both the land and the sea, which are the beginning of the final catastrophes God will unleash on the sinful, rebellious world.
The Third Trumpet primarily affects the fresh waters. “A great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.”
This star is given the name of Wormwood. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, “Whenever the word star is used symbolically, it is always a symbol of an angel, and this is the case here. The angel’s name is Wormwood, indicating that the angel is fallen. This fallen angel causes one-third of the sweet water to turn bitter, which in turn causes the death of many. Fallen angels will be used on several occasions to render judgment on the earth, and this is one such occasion.”[3]
At the sound of the previous trumpet, the massive object that smashed into the ocean remained intact. Still, this object (possibly resembling a comet or a meteor because of its fiery tail) disintegrated as it reached Earth’s atmosphere. The fact that it is described as burning like a torch supports that interpretation, since this word was used in ancient times to describe meteors and comets. The object’s fiery debris fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters, polluting the fresh water around the globe.
Wormwood is a perennial herb with silver-green foliage and a distinct, intensely bitter taste. It is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament, where it is associated with bitterness, poison, and death. In one of those uses, wormwood is connected with poisoned water. In Jeremiah 9:15, God says of rebellious Israel, “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.” This is the reverse of the miracle at Marah, where the Lord made bitter waters sweet (Ex. 15:25).
The impact of this third trumpet is the first to specifically state that many people died, presumably from drinking the polluted water. The rivers will run with deadly poison; the wells will become springs of death; the lakes and reservoirs will be filled with toxic waters. People will be able to survive, for a time, the destruction of food supplies caused by the first two trumpet judgments, living off stored provisions. But people cannot long survive without fresh water, and the loss of a significant portion of the world’s fresh water supply will cause widespread death.[4]
The devastation caused by the first three judgments will leave the earth’s inhabitants in shock and fear. Yet, God is not finished pouring out His wrath on sinful mankind. The death of many is an indirect result of these first three blasts.
The Fourth Trumpet affects the heavens. “A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.”
This partial eclipse, reminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague, is temporary, as God will later increase the amount of heat coming from the sun. At this point, however, the loss of heat from the sun will cause temperatures to plunge drastically worldwide. That will severely disrupt the earth’s weather patterns and the seas’ tides, leading to violent, unpredictable storms and tides, the destruction of crops, and further loss of animal and human lives.
Jesus spoke of this time in Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” In his judgments on Egypt, God used darkness to punish the hard-hearted Pharaoh. “Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.”
The Old Testament prophets associated such signs in the heavens with the Day of the Lord. “Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light” (Isa. 13:9–10). Joel 3:15 and Ezekiel 32:7-8 use similar descriptions of judgment. Jesus added His own prediction to that of the prophets, warning, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars” (Luke 21:25; cf. Mark 13:24).
How this darkening will be accomplished is not spelled out for us. These verses do not necessarily imply that one-third of the sun, moon, and stars are destroyed, only that their light sources are somehow hindered from reaching the earth. So as a result of this judgment, one-third of the light source for the daytime, and one-third of the light source for the nighttime are completely blocked out.
An ominous event immediately follows the phenomena of the fourth trumpet. John “saw, and heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound.”
Remember that one of the four seraphim, or living creatures, in Revelation 4:7 was like a flying eagle. He is pictured here as flying in the midst of heaven at the height of the midday sun, thus visible to all. His loud voice ensures that all can hear his pronouncements. The eagle’s dire warning, given in solemn repetition, is that the last three trumpet judgments will be even more devastating than the first four.
In Hebrew-Greek rhetoric, repeating a word three times is the highest form of emphasis, equivalent to a superlative in other languages. We see this feature in Isaiah chapter six, where the seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts.”
While a single “woe” is a warning (which Jesus pronounced on the Pharisees), a triple “woe” indicates a calamity of maximum severity and horror. The word is an onomatopoeia; it phonetically imitates the natural sound of a wail or cry of woe (οὐαὶ). In Revelation 18:10, it is translated as “alas.” As the kings of the earth weep over the destruction of Babylon, they cry, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’”
The woes are pronounced on “those who dwell on the earth,” a technical term for those who reject the gospel. Although they will acknowledge that the disasters they have experienced have come from God (6:15–17), they will not repent. However, the worst is yet to come! Eventually, they will be destroyed because they fail to heed the warning God addresses to all sinners: “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Hebrews 3:7–8).
These are the kinds of things that await those who refuse to repent and find salvation in Jesus. Therefore, I take great comfort in the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5, in his teaching about the coming Day of the Lord. “For God did not appoint us [His children] to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
Have you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God? Are you waiting for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come? I hope and pray that you are!
[1] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 346
[2] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 348
[3] Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, p. 152
[4] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 354
