03.04 Third Division: The Sounding of the Seven Trumpets

Third Division: The Sounding of the Seven Trumpets Chapters 8:6-11:18

Chapter 8.

1. The First Trumpet.Revelation 8:6-7. The judgments which follow can hardly be fully comprehended at this time. It would be folly to be dogmatic about these matters. The so-called historical application we reject entirely, because the scope of the book makes it clear that these judgments have not yet been. What many of these things mean may perhaps never be fully understood till they are actually in fulfillment. The first four trumpet judgments evidently stand by themselves. The cry for judgment from the suffering and persecuted remnant of God’s ancient people is answered in what happens on the earth. The fire the Lord cast down is doing its work. The first trumpet manifests the same evidences of divine wrath as came upon Egypt, when Israel suffered there, under the seventh plague (Exodus 9:23). Hail (heat withdrawn), fire and blood are all the symbols of divine wrath. The trees and the green grass were burned up. The green things, are symbols of agricultural and commercial prosperity. All is then passing and man’s boasted prosperity ends in a great calamity. The third part mentioned repeatedly in these trumpet judgments means the Roman Empire. Terrible devastation by different agencies, including burning heat, will sweep over that Empire.

2. The Second Trumpet.Revelation 8:8-9. That this is not a literal mountain is obvious. A mountain in Scripture language represents a Kingdom (Isaiah 2:2; Zechariah 4:7; Psalms 46:2; and especially Jeremiah 51:25). The sea is typical of nations. Some kingdom, internally on fire, signifying probably revolution, will be precipitated into the restless sea of nations and the result will be a still greater destruction of life and commerce, which is represented by the ships.

3. The Third Trumpet.Revelation 8:10-11. In the preceding trumpets things were cast upon the earth, but here is a star which falls. It is some person who claimed authority and who becomes an apostate, whose fall produces the awful results given here. It may be the final Anti-Christ who first may have claimed to be for Israel a great teacher with divine authority and then takes the awful plunge. Worm-wood is his name and the waters became worm-wood and bitter. It stands for great corruption.

4. The Fourth Trumpet.Revelation 8:12-13. The sun, the moon and the stars are now affected. The sun is the symbol of the highest authority, the moon, who has not her own light is symbolical of derived authority and the stars are symbolical of subordinate authority. The symbolical meaning of this trumpet judgment is that all authority within the revived Roman Empire will be smitten by the hand from above and as a result there will be the most awful moral darkness. These four trumpet judgments tell a consecutive story. Prosperity will be taken first from the earth; a great power burning with the fires of revolution will affect the nations; a great leader will fall and become wormwood; and authority disowned and smitten will fill the territory of the Roman Empire with the densest darkness. Before this great war we often heard people say how impossible all this sounds. No one can say so any longer. Europe’s condition is appalling and what will it be when these judgments fall!

Chapter 9.

5. The Fifth Trumpet.Revelation 9:1-12. The remaining three trumpets have a “woe” attached to each. This is announced in the last verse of the preceding chapter where the word angel should be changed to “eagle.” An eagle, the bird of prey, proclaims the three-fold woe. He acts thus as an herald of great judgments (Matthew 24:28; Revelation 19:7-13). The fifth trumpet is a special judgment upon apostate Israel; because those who suffer are they “which have not the seal of God on their foreheads” (Revelation 9:4). The great tribulation proper, the second half of the week, comes now into prominence. If we turn to Revelation 12:12 we read something similar to the eagle’s message of woe. “Woe unto the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Preceding the sounding of the fifth trumpet the eagle proclaimed the woe upon the inhabiters of the earth. The star which is seen fallen from heaven with the key of the pit of the abyss is Satan himself cast out of heaven. The details of this event we learn in the twelfth chapter. He has the key to the pit of the abyss, the same word “deep,” used in Luke 8:31. “And they (the demons) besought Him that He would not command them to go out into the deep (abyss).” He unlocks the prison house of the fallen angels and the most awful satanic agencies come forth to begin their awful work of torment. The smoke first, symbolical of darkening; the locusts next, symbolical of these demon powers. Awful darkness prevails and the most diabolical delusions, producing fearful torments among apostate Israel and the inhabiters of the earth. It is the time of the strong delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:4-11) which has come. And over them is a King. His name is given in Greek and Hebrew. Both names mean the same—” Apostate Israel and also apostate will suffer greatly under this trumpet judgment and face the desolation of everything religious. The light is now completely blotted out and in the darkness coming from the pit of the abyss the demon powers will do their fearful work. Demon possession and the most awful torments for soul and body will be the general thing. Because this judgment also concerns apostate Christendom the Greek name of the destroyer is given besides the Hebrew.

2. The Sixth Trumpet. The Second Woe.Revelation 9:13-21. The sixth angel is commanded by a voice from the horns of the golden altar to loose the four angels who are bound at Euphrates and as a result an innumerable company of horsemen [Note: Greek: twice ten thousand times ten thousand, that is 200 million. The number would indicate the immense, uncountable hordes.] is released. They are prepared for a specific time to do their work. Euphrates is once more mentioned and that under the pouring out of the sixth vial. We believe the sixth vial judgment gives the key to these horsemen here. Euphrates does not mean the Turkish Empire as we shall more fully show when we come to the sixth vial. This river was both the boundary line of the Roman Empire and the land of Israel. Restraining influences held back the tide of nations on the other side of the river; this restraint is now removed and therefore a great invasion takes place. As the land of Israel is nearest it will suffer first, but the revived Roman Empire will be the objective of these invading hordes. The “third part” stands for the Roman Empire the coming European confederacy. This invasion is under the King of the North. It is seen in its beginning here and is consummated under the sixth vial. There the “Kings of the Sunrise” are included. And under the sixth vial they are more specifically gathered for the great day of God Almighty. We refer the reader to Revelation 16:12. The four angels have been variously interpreted. They must not be identified with the angels in Revelation 7:1. We can only say again that these things will be fully known when they pass into history. Connected with this invasion there is another manifestation of demon power. Serpents are mentioned. The Serpent. Satan, and his serpents, demons, are then on the earth. Everything is under Satanic control. And the great mass of Apostates who escaped these plagues did not repent. They have become so blinded that they worship idols again, and demons, and connected with it are the grossest immoralities.