Revelation (Part 20) - Chapter 8-9: The Trumpets 6/9/09

The scroll is open. What is revealed is God’s sovereign plan and activity in this age and the age to come as a result of Christ’s old covenant fulfillment, atonement, and New Covenant initiation. The purpose of trumpets is to herald, and so it is fitting that the characteristics of this age are revealed by trumpets.

The trumpets call some fantastic imagery. Most futurists insist the descriptions depict literal events and actions. And their insistence is one of the reasons why futurists are futurists; since a literal display of these events has not occurred on earth to this point, they reason that these events must still be coming in the future. The events must be literal, so they say, because they were literal events in the OT. The plagues on Egypt prior to Pharoah’s release of Moses and the children of Israel literally occurred, and many of those plagues were similar to the trumpet events. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah were literally destroyed with hail and fire just as the first trumpet describes.

However, I believe we must interpret the trumpet calls as figurative rather than literal displays, but not because a literal fulfillment of these events is outside the manageability of God or simply because we arbitrarily choose to interpret all things figuratively. Rather, I believe our context calls for a figurative interpretation. Our contextual interpretation thus far has brought us through the transition from the old covenant fulfillment in Christ to the revelation of the mystery of the New Covenant. God has shown that mere physical heritage has not been his intention for relationship with him. Christ’s covenant fulfillment has opened the way for all people, tribes, tongues, and nations to enter the fold of God through faith in him and his atonement. At this point, then, the scroll of God’s plan is being revealed. To assign these trumpets, therefore, to some future time period would be an inconsistent, arbitrary interpretation in which we would have to ignore the progression of revelation so far. We must conclude that these trumpet blasts take place at the beginning rather than at the end of New Covenant revelation.

Christ is the angel at work in the opening verses of chapter 8. The intercessory act of carrying prayers of God’s people to the throne is, by God’s own decree, a priestly function that only Christ will perform. That John portrays him as an angel is not so unusual as might be first assumed. The meaning of the word angel is messenger. Therefore, the term “angel” is not so much an ontological designation (referring to a being) as it is a functional designation (referring to an activity). We find God’s message in the Old Testament often brought by the “angel of the Lord.” And this angel, we must discern, is often a reference to Christ. Consider the following texts.

Gensis 16:7-10 – The “angel of the Lord” comes to Hagar after she has fled from the harsh treatment by Sarai. The angel tells her to return and promises in verse 10, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” This promise is one that only God fulfills. Thus, the angel’s use of “I” tells us that this is a Christophany—an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ.

Genesis 22:11-12 – As Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in Moriah, the “angel of the Lord” stops him saying in verse 12, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” The “me” of this statement indicates that it is God speaking.

Exodus 3:2-6 – As Moses tends his father-in-law’s flock at Horeb, the “angel of the Lord” appears to him in a burning bush. Verse 4 tells us that “God called to him out of the bush.”

Judges 2:1 – The “angel of the Lord” speaks to the people of Israel telling them, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers.” Again, the “I” tells us that it is God who speaks.

Many other examples exist, but these should be sufficient for us to understand that Christ in his pre-incarnate appearances is often referred to as an angel. The Church Fathers often spoke of Christ as an angel. Justin Martyr did so frequently, especially in his discussion of the prophecy in Isaiah 9. Rather than referring to the Hebrew, he employs the Septuagint’s rendering of verse 6: “For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder: and his name is called the angel of great counsel….”

We also refer to Christ as the Word made flesh. What is the Word if not the message of God? And the Word made flesh combines the message with the messenger—the angel of God. Therefore, John’s use of angel as a designation of Christ is not at all unjustified or even intentionally obscure. Also interesting is that within the presentation of his vision, John never refers to Christ during his appearance in the vision as Christ or as Jesus. We understand Christ’s presence by other titles, by his description, or by the activity he performs. We will find three references in Revelation to Christ using the designation “angel.” But the description and activity surrounding these incidents assure us that it is of Christ that John writes.

In Revelation 8:7 the first trumpet sounds. The result is hail and fire mixed with blood poured out upon the earth. I believe this is a direct link to verse 5 in which Christ threw fire from the altar to the earth. The link tells us that this is active involvement of judgment by God and Christ in the affairs of humanity. God is not an uninvolved watcher as the deists portray. The sin of humankind is met with God’s wrath in this age just as it had been throughout old covenant times. Remember that the scroll has just been opened and the trumpets are heralding the activity of the entire age. So in this first trumpet we see God’s hand involved in judgment throughout the age—from first advent to second.

We will find that these trumpet blasts are similar to the bowls of wrath poured out in Revelation 16. In fact, they line up almost exactly with similar elements in each. Both the first trumpet and the first bowl affect the earth. The second of each affect the sea. The third pair concern rivers and springs. The fourth involves the sun. The fifth trumpet mentions the abyss while the fifth bowl speaks of the throne of Satan. The sixth pair involves the Euphrates. Finally, the seventh of both employ hail and fire.

But the differences are significant. In the trumpet blasts we are repeatedly told that 1/3 of earth, sea, sun, etc. are affected, while the bowls show complete judgment. The less than complete effect of the trumpet activity aligns perfectly with the contextual storyline. Again, the trumpets provide a description of the activity of this age. Although God does actively work in judgment throughout the age, he is also concerned with the Gospel’s delivery throughout the age in gathering those of faith into his kingdom. Thus, the judgment will not be complete until the end. The references to only 1/3 effect clearly show us this yet partial judgment.

The first trumpet, therefore, emphasizes God’s judgment through this age on the earth. Of course, God is not punishing the land and trees, but rather he is using violence in nature to show his wrath. I believe that this judgment indicates the desolation throughout this age caused by earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, lightning, storms, mudslides, etc. These are the “natural disasters” that have hit the earth and been responsible for countless lives lost. God is sovereign. God controls all things. An earthquake does not occur, and God says, “Oops! Didn’t see that coming.” God knows, and God controls.

The language is judgmental, but the language is also physical. So there is both a figurative and a literal element in the fulfillment of this picture. The hail and fire represent God’s wrath and judgment, but they do so in the literal sense of physical or natural disasters on the earth. This first trumpet, then, with its emphasis on harming the earth, seems to indicate the destruction that occurs throughout this age from these natural causes.

The second trumpet judgment provides us with an image full of heavily used symbols. As a figure, mountains are almost always used to represent kingdoms. And a burning mountain?—that is a kingdom being judged. Jeremiah 51:25 provides a complementary image. Speaking of Babylon, God says, “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the Lord, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain.” Because these trumpets are heralding the characteristics of this age, I think this second trumpet represents God’s judgment on any government that defies him. And we have seen kingdoms, empires, and nations rise and fall throughout this age.

I also think that there may be a more specific intended meaning with regard to Rome. Rome was the empire in control of the world during the time of the writing of Revelation. The overthrow of this empire was indicated in Revelation 6:11. The message of this mountain may be a reference to Rome’s overthrow. The sea usually pictures people. The devastating effects of Rome’s fall plunged the world into the “dark ages.” But death and destruction associated with the figurative sea turning to blood, I believe, has fulfillment throughout this age, not just in Rome’s collapse.

The first two trumpets are direct acts of God acting in wrath against the sin of the world through the means of natural disaster and overthrow of governments. As we move to the third and fourth trumpets, we will see consequences of individual sin through the twisting and rejection of the truth of God.

As the third trumpet blows, a star falls “from heaven, blazing as a torch” (8:10). Both the star and the water of this verse have symbolic meanings of truth. The fall of the star and the bitterness caused in the water reflect a twisting or perversion of the truth. The water pictured in this scene (rivers and springs) provides the source of drinking water. The result is that people die when drinking the bitter water. The idea presented is that God’s truth is perverted and then taken in (accepted) by those who reject God. Paul presents the same idea in Romans 1. There he tells us of those who reject the knowledge God gives of himself: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). And further, “God gave them up…because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:24-25). Amos 5:7 presents this same idea of the perversion of truth likened to the bitterness of wormwood: “O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!”

The presentation of the fourth trumpet follows close on the heels of the third. In the fourth, a third of the sun, moon, and stars are darkened. The Bible often uses the contrast of light and darkness in relation to truth and error.

1 Samuel 2:9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness.”
Psalm 18:28 “For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.”
Psalm 82:5 “They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness.”

Again in Romans 1, Paul connects the ideas of the third and fourth trumpets as he says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).

These two trumpets show the denial of God evidenced in this age in which people through deception, twisting, and rejection lose sight of God

In the first two trumpets we saw God’s direct hand in judgment through his control of physical or natural disasters and the rise and fall of governments. The next two trumpets emphasized the sin of turning from God in perversion of truth. All of these are characteristics of this age. Evil is intensified in the next two trumpets as the spiritual forces of darkness join in the attack.

As the fifth trumpet sounds, we see a star fallen from heaven who is given a key to the bottomless pit. This fallen star most likely is Satan. Twice in the Gospels we are told that Satan falls or is cast out of heaven (Luke 10:17-18 and John 12:31-32). This star also controls the bottomless pit or abyss which we know again from the Gospels is the dwelling place of demons (Luke 8:27-31).

As Satan opens the abyss, a demon horde, described as locusts and scorpions, come pouring out. Locusts and scorpions were terrible pests of the 1st century. Locusts swept through fields, eating and destroying. The result was devastating to those whose livelihood depended on their crops. Scorpions also were feared, and beds and sandals were always checked. These two creatures represent the overwhelming, direct assault (locusts) that the dark spiritual forces (demons) of this world employ as well as the indirect misdirection (scorpions) through truth perversion into errant philosophy and religious reconstruction.

These locusts are told not to harm the vegetation. This is mentioned to ensure that we understand these locusts are not like normal locusts that feed on the plants. These are a demonic horde that comes to torment people. Their torment lasts for 5 months. Five months is the length of time both of the typical harvest period (June – October) and of the lifespan of the desert locust. Thus, we are told that this torment lasts throughout this age of gathering for the kingdom.