Study in Revelation

Study in Revelation Presentation 07

The Seventh Seal And The Trumpets Chap 8v1-9v21 Presentation 07

The Seventh Seal: A Dramatic Pause [8v1] The trumpets of judgement in Ch8-11 indicate a series of disasters that will occur again and again between the first and second coming of Christ. Terrible calamities befall the wicked punishing them for their opposition to Christ and for their persecution of his people. The function of the trumpets is to warn and to call the ungodly to repentance. The trumpets of judgement effect every part of the universe; land, sea etc. - there is no hiding place from judgement. The first four trumpets bring physical harm the last three spiritual anguish. Presentation 07

The Seventh Seal: A Dramatic Pause [8v1] The opening of the seventh seal produced silence in heaven for half an hour. Why? The silence prepares us for the terrible character of the judgements about to be unfolded [Hab. 2:20, Zech. 2:13]. So awful will God’s initial retribution be, that heaven’s inhabitants are spellbound, dumb struck! Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: Preparation [8v2-5] Seven angels appear before God each of whom is given a trumpet. Another angel standing by the altar with a golden censer in his hand is given a large quantity of incense. The incense symbolises the perfect intercession of Christ which is mixed with the imperfect prayers of the persecuted saints in order to purify them. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: Preparation [8v2-5] The angel, satisfied that the purified prayers have ascended to God, empties his censer of incense and fills it with fire from the altar which in turn is emptied on the earth, suggesting that the cries of God’s persecuted people are, first purified and then acted upon in judgement. The thought that our imperfect intercession is woven into Christ’s perfect intercession is a very encouraging one! Some see a parallel between the Egyptian plagues and the events unfolded in the trumpet judgements. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets : The First Four Trumpets [8v6-12] The result of the first trumpet to be blown, is a storm of hail and fire both of which are mixed with blood thus emphasising their destructive character. These ‘land disasters’ will afflict the persecutors of the church [Ex 9:13-35]. Does pollution in its various forms with its debilitating effect upon the environment fit into the context of God’s judgement? While pollution often has a human source, God can fashion the product of man’s greed, selfishness and indifference into a rod that will judge him. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The First Four Trumpets [8v6-12] The second trumpet sounds, and what appears to be a huge blazing mountain is thrown into the sea. The symbolism points to maritime calamities which God also uses as an instrument of judgement. The focus of the third trumpet is on inland waters. A blazing star is dropped upon them out of the sky, producing floods, water borne diseases.... etc. The name of the star is Wormwood symbolising ‘bitter sorrow’ - the effect of this judgement upon the recipients. The falling star is taken by others to refer to Satan and his influence upon the calamitous things which take place upon the earth, all within the framework of God’s permission. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The First Four Trumpets [8v6-12] The fourth angel’s trumpet is blown and the sun, moon and stars are affected. God can use the heavenly bodies not only for the good of his creation but to bring judgement upon it. [Ex 10:21-23]. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets : The Eagle’s Warning [8v13] The eagle provides an intermission from judgement. The significance of the eagle is that it is a bird of prey [Matt. 24:28] and it soars aloft that it might be seen everywhere. Its message of woe is designed to prepare us for the three remaining judgements that are worse than the previous four. “There is worse to come!” Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The Fifth Trumpet: [First Woe] Demonic Locusts [9v12] A great deal of controversy surrounds the figure described as the fallen star who is given the key to the Abyss. He is clearly an angelic being. Is this a reference to Satan or one of his fallen angelic agents or to one of God’s good angels? Those who argue for the latter do so because the angel is clearly doing God’s bidding. But God has built his universe so that evil cannot but help him. The more it tries to work against him, the more he uses its evil for his good purposes [the cross is the supreme example of this]. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The Fifth Trumpet:[First Woe] Demonic Locusts [9v12] Perhaps evil beings know that they are serving God but are unable to stop the momentum of their evil career! The ‘Abyss’ is mentioned in Lk. 8:31 and is the preliminary place of punishment of fallen angels and demons. It may be the same prison of 1Pet. 3:19-20 and 2 Pet. 2:4. John’s readers would find it hard to imagine a more devastating plague than a plague of locusts and yet the demonic powers that pour out of the bottomless pit will wreck infinitely greater damage than any mere insect. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The Fifth Trumpet: [First Woe] Demonic Locusts [9v12] Notice however, that they are forbidden to harm God’s people; those with the seal of God upon their foreheads. They are allowed to torture those not sealed for a period of ‘five months’, with a torture likened to a scorpion’s sting. The scorpion’s sting is rarely fatal and the picture is therefore one of relentless evil from which there is no relief. The Hebrew and Greek names given to the king of the locusts Abaddon and Apollyon mean respectively, ‘destruction’ and ‘destroyer’ thus adding to the terrifying picture of devastation. But even the release of such demonic influences upon the world does not exhaust the plagues. There are other woes to follow! Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets: The Sixth Trumpet: [Second Woe] Fiendish Cavalry [9v13-21] After the sixth trumpet is sounded, a voice from the golden altar [associated with prayer in the Jewish temple and suggesting here the part played by prayer in divine retribution] commands the release of the four angels of destruction who have been temporarily restrained on the eastern boundary of the kingdom. The four angels unleashed reflect an apocalyptic tradition in which four destructive powers are connected with the four corners of the earth. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets The Sixth Trumpet: [Second Woe] Fiendish Cavalry [9v13-21] These angels are in charge of a limitless horde of demonic horsemen, who ride across the pagan world spreading terror and death and killing a third of the world’s population. The idea that God’s judgement is an inescapable reality is suggested by the size of the force cf. v16. John wrote in a day when the threat of Parthian horsemen from the east was a major source of concern for the Roman Empire. This second woe would serve to intensify that fear. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets The Sixth Trumpet: [Second Woe] Fiendish Cavalry [9v13-21] The description in v17 ff. following is intended to be inconceivably horrifying. The fire, smoke and sulphur [brimstone] can be taken as three separate plagues. Nor must the effects of these judgements be limited to the physically observable realm. Since this is a description of terror, that has its roots in the spiritual world of the demonic, we can expect its effects to be mental and psychological and not merely physical. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets The Sixth Trumpet: [Second Woe] Fiendish Cavalry [9v13-21] The most frightening thing of all, to face up to in this passage, is the refusal to repent of those who have seen the effects of the first two woes. They are ‘sold to do evil’ and either, they see nothing wrong in their way of life or, they attribute the deaths of those around them to any cause other than that of the judgement of God. The light of God’s truth is prevented from entering their darkened minds as a result of their constant and increasing rejection of that truth. Presentation 07

The Seven Trumpets The Sixth Trumpet: [Second Woe] Fiendish Cavalry [9v13-21] The relationship between idolatry and the demonic world is further teased out in v20 [cf. 1Cor. 10:19-21]. Behind lifeless idolatry there lie seductive evil spirits who so captivate their worshippers, that the behaviour of the worshipper replicates the bestial nature of the demonic world manifested in the four categories of evil listed; murders, sorceries, immorality and theft. The Greek word for sorcery ‘pharmakeia’, carries the idea of drugs and poisoning as well as that of enchantment. Potions were used in John’s day to weaken the resistance to immorality and incite to lust. Nothing changes! Presentation 07

Study in Revelation