REVELATION
Chapters 8 & 9
"The Trumpet Judgments"
INTRODUCTION:
1. The opening of the seventh seal brings silence in heaven. "The silence is a pause of action." (Godet) It is the lull before the storm.
2. The opening of the seventh seal also introduces the trumpet judgments.
3. The opening of the seventh seal gives a glimpse of activity in heaven before the storm actually breaks.
A. The seven angels (v.2) are the administrators of God's judgment.
B. The "eighth angel" (v.3)
1) Carries the prayers of the saints to "the golden altar which was before the throne."
2) The person of the angel - Christ
a) He alone has the right to present the prayers of the saints to God. (Heb. 7:25)
b) He alone is the Mediator between God and men. (I Tim. 2:5)
c) He alone is the High Priest authorized to burn incense on the altar of incense (a type of prayer).
C. The prayers of the saints (vs. 3-6)
1) They were prayers calling for judgment in response to the suffering of the saints in the midst of the Tribulation.
2) "The clear implication is that the censer is used as a symbol of judgment. (cf. v.5) 3) The prayers are imprecatory in nature - "to invoke evil on; to utter curses" (Webster's Dictionary).
a) "To demonstrate God's just and righteous judgment toward the wicked. To show the authority of God over the wicked. To lead the wicked to seek the Lord. To cause the righteous to praise God." (Ryrie)
b) "Imprecatory psalms (prayers) are the cry of the oppressed in Israel for justice - a cry appropriate and right in the earthly people of God...but a cry unsuited to the Church, a heavenly people..." (Scofield)
4. After the offering up of the prayers, God begins to answer in judgment with the blowing of the first trumpet.
I. PLAGUES FROM THE SKIES (v.7)
A. The Elements - hail, fire, blood
1. Corresponds closely to the tenth plague God brought upon Egypt. (Ex. 9:18-26)
2. As the judgment of Egypt was literal, we must likewise accept this plague in the same way.
3. How to interpret "blood" is the question.
a. Nothing in nature corresponds to it.
b. "This imagery is supernatural, miraculous." (Lenski)
c. It is not necessary to try to explain supernatural events; besides, they are beyond our finite minds.
B. The Effects
1. A third part of the trees are burned up.
2. A third part of all green herbage ("cortos" - Greek), not just grass
3. The plague will create a world-wide blanket of smoke, starving animals, starving human beings.
C. The Efforts (to interpret other than literally)
1. Wordsworth - "The trees are princes and great men, the grass is the glory and power of men."
2. Lord - "The trees mean stronger men; and the grass, the young, the feeble and the aged."
3. Hengstenberg - "The trees mean great men; the grass, people generally."
4. Talbot (shame on him!) - "The destruction of the trees and the grass speaks to us of the judgment that shall strike the rich, unregenerated men who have become prosperous in the things of this world, but who have rejected the Gospel of Grace."
5. Ironside (shame on him, too!) - "Grass is man in his weakness, man in his littleness; the tree is man in his dignity, in his greatness, in his independence-- man lifting himself up against God."
D. The Explanation --The destruction of one-third of mankind is not mentioned until the sixth trumpet, and the method of their demise is totally different. Therefore, when God says trees and grass, He means exactly that.
II. PLAGUES IN THE SEA (vs.8,9)
A. The Exception (v.8a)
1. The "mountain" is not literal. (cf. Jer. 51:25)
2. Note the words "as it were."
3. Suggests that the use of the word "mountain" symbolizes something other, yet unexplainable.
4. Probably denotes
a. The mountain represents something that is literal.
b. "A large object falling from the heavens" (Walvoord)
c. Probably some sort of fiery meteoric mass which will precipitate from the atmosphere into the sea.
B. The Effects (vs.8b-9)
1. One-third part of the seas are polluted; turned to blood. (cf. Ex. 7:19,20; Rev. 11:6)
2. One-third part of marine life is destroyed.
3. One-third part of ships are destroyed resulting in commercial depression.
III. PLAGUES IN THE SPRINGS (vs.10,11)
A. The Element
1. Another lethal meteor-like mass
2. Burning as it naturally would when falling through earth's atmosphere
B. The Efforts --Most who interpret the star as non-literal suggest that it represents "a person who has great authority in a religious way and who becomes an avowed apostate." (Talbot) "Stars in the prophetic Scriptures are religious dignitaries...many would say the pope." (Ironside)
C. The Effects
1. The pollution of one-third of the world's fresh water supplies.
2. The waters are turned bitter so that they cannot be drunk. ("Wormwood" = bitterness) (cf. Ex. 7:21,24)
3. Another large portion (undetermined) of the earth's population die for lack of drinking water. ("Many-- much, many, great, is used especially of number when its significance is 'many,' e.g. Matt. 8:30; 9:10; 13:17") (Vine's Expository Dictionary)
IV. PLAGUES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM (vs. 12,13) cf. Lk. 21:25; Matt. 24:29; Joel 2:9,10; Zeph. 1:14-18; Amos 8:9
A. The Darkness
1. The fourth trumpet will bring about a state of perpetual semi-darkness.
2. One-third of the heavenly luminaries will be darkened.
B. The Difference
1. In the sixth seal judgment (Rev. 6:12,13) the darkness came for a short duration.
a. It was part of the announcement of the beginning of the Tribulation Period.
b. In the sixth seal the sun, moon and stars were clothed to take on the appearance of blood and darkness. (cf. 6:12) 2. In the fourth trumpet judgment, the sun, moon and stars are not clothed, but smitten (8:12). "Smitten" is used in Greek for "wound."
C. The Distress - catastrophic results with regard to
a. Heat and cold - energy sources
b. The inability of crops to ripen
c. The psychological effect darkness has on humans
d. All of this will affect the health and well-being of people. (cf. Ex. 10:21-23)
D. The Disclosure (v.13)
a. An angel (lit. "eagle") speaks out
b. An announcement
1) There are three more trumpet judgments to come.
2) They will be even more severe than the first four.
3) Hence, they are called judgments of "woe." The deepest, darkest, most painful intensity of the Great Tribulation Period." (McGee)
V. PLAGUES FROM THE SCORPIONS (9:1-12) cf. Ex. 10:12-15
A. The Person (v.1)
1. Not a heavenly star
2. An unusual person
a. The person is described as "him".
b. He acts with intelligence.
c. He is given a key which he uses; therefore, not an inanimate object.
3. It is a description of Satan.
a. Cast out and down from heaven at the beginning of the first half of the Tribulation. (Rev. 12:12-- Note the same word "woe" which identified it with the time of his expulsion.)
b. Compare Luke 10:18; Isaiah 14:12; Rev. 12:8-10
B. The Presentation (v.1)
1. Given the keys to the "long shaft of the abyss" (Greek). Apparently is the long, dark tunnel that leads to the lowest hell called "Tartarus" in Greek.
2. The place of incarceration for fallen angels (demons). cf. Jude 6,7; II Pet. 2:4
3. With the keys he will, by permission of God, let loose the inhabitants of hell for the purpose of carrying out judgment.
4. They will come up as a swarm over the earth (v.3).
C. Their Power (vs. 4-6)
1. Forbidden to hurt the earth (v.4) - not as ordinary locusts would do.
2. They are not allowed to kill - only torment.
3. They are limited as to those who are unbelievers - "have not the seal of God" (v.4).
4. They are limited as to time - five months (v.5).
D. Their Portrayal (vs.7-10)
1. Their description plainly reveals that these locusts are in reality demons.
2. Their torment is so horrible that they will seek death in order to escape them.
3. They will not be able to find death even in suicide. (cf. 6:15,16)
E. Their Prince (v.11)
1. "The angel of the bottomless pit" (Satan, an angel; cf. Isa. 14; Ezek. 28)
2. Abaddon - the destroyer; also Apollyon
3. God will even use Satan to help judge the world that he himself has deceived into unbelief.
VI. PLAGUE OF THE SOLDIERS (9:13-21)
A. The Dispatching
1. Another answer to the prayers of the saints that God would execute justice on the unbelieving, persecuting world (cf. 8:3)
2. The loosing of the four angels (v.15)
a. They are fallen angels as seen by the facts that:
1) They are bound - there is no instance in Scripture where holy angels of God are bound. (cf. Heb. 1:14)
2) Their activity is to slay men (v. 15).
b. Their activities are designated for a specific time (v.15)
1) Translation by Dean Alford: "The appointed hour occuring in the appointed day, and that in the appointed month, and that in the appointed year."
2) "Though the agency of men (demons and angels) is used to accomplish the purpose of God, the time schedule is determined by God, not man, and even angels execute God's will in God's time." -Italics mine. (Walvoord)
3) They are, apparently, the commanders under Satan over the other horde of fallen angels that are bound.
3. The loosing of the other angels from their prison house (v.16)
a. They are let loose from their prison at the bottom of the Euphrates River.
b. "Attention has been abundantly called by commentators to the region of the Euphrates as that place where human sin began and also Satan's empire over man; where the first murder was committed; where the first war confederacy was made (Gen. 14); and back of this it is where Nimrod began to be 'a mighty one in the earth', and where the vast system of Babylonian idolatry, with its trinity of evil-- 'father, mother and son' originated to deceive the whole world by the Satanic fable of the 'queen of heaven'. Here, moreover as we saw in Zechariah 5, iniquity is to have its last stage on earth." (See Rev. 18 also.) (W.R. Newell)
c. It is recognized in Scripture as being the seat of all evil in the earth.
d. A fitting place for the imprisonment of evil, fallen angels.
e. The number released - 200,000,000! (v.16)
B. The Description (v.17) cf. vs.7-10
1. A grotesque picture of demons
a. Some interpret these creatures as being pictures of weapons of modern warfare.
b. Some interpret them to picture a great army that comes from the nations of the Orient.
1) These are not to be confused with armies of Rev. 16:12.
2) Rev. 16:12 indicates oriental armies led by kings.
3) The sixth trumpet creatures are not led by a king.
c. Likewise, they are different from the creatures mentioned in Rev. 9:7-10.
1) They have a king.
2) The timing is different.
2. This is another instance of the loosing of more wicked angels.
C. The Destruction (v.18)
1. They cause the death of one-third of unbelieving humanity.
2. Together with the seal judgments, this means that at this point 58% of the world's population is destroyed (cf. Matt. 24:22).
3. It should be noted that neither demons nor the devil have the power of life and death except by permission of God. (cf. Job 1:12; 2:6,7)
D. The Defiance (vs.20,21)
1. The sins of the age
a. The worship of demons and Satan worship
b. The worship of idols (cf. Rev. 13:14)
c. The worship of violence
d. The worship of drugs (sorceries - "pharmakos")
e. The worship of sexual immorality (fornication - "porneia")
f. The worship of greed (theft - "klemmaton")
2. The stubborness of the age
a. They do not repent to change their ways.
b. They do not repent to receive Christ.
c. They would rather be tormented and die by the judgment of God than do either.
d. They represent the most gross and wicked era that the world will have ever experienced.