Revelation 8:6-13

Last time, we saw the Lamb of God breaking open the seventh seal of the scroll that he received from the hand of God the Father seated on his throne. Each successive seal released a worse judgement than the previous one, as the seal judgements went. All of the seals were opened by the Lamb. It is not, as some have suggested, the wrath of man, that is to say, the result of man’s incredible and sinful destructive tendencies. Neither is it the wrath of the Devil, who knows that his time is growing short, as self-deceived as he is. It is none other than the wrath of God and the Lamb, that is, God the Father and God the Son. I have no doubt the Holy Spirit is in that mix, too.

To summarize the wrathful judgements the Lamb has released thus far: The man of sin, that Antichrist is released to conquer the nations without weapons, and he will establish a worldwide peace between Israel and the rest of the planet. That peace, after approximately 3.5 years, will be violated by the Antichrist and will lead to another world war. That war will lead to famine and disease because of the greed of man in the unequal distribution of resources. This leads to death, which results in hell for most. For those who do not end up in hell, they have become Christians in the largest evangelistic push of all time by 144,000 Jewish evangelists. Most of these will be martyred for their beliefs in the Lamb, who is opening the seals. In response to that, the whole of creation begins to display that dark anger and wrath of the Father and the Lamb. This leads to what we read last time, the opening of the seventh seal, from which come all the other judgements, first the trumpets and then the bowls of wrath that the Lord will bring about on the planet. At the beginning of the study this week, the “presence” angels who were given trumpets are about to sound them in an order set by the Divine Himself, and it is not for the faint of heart.

Think for a moment about what the call of the gospel to man truly is. Is it not a call to leave behind our sins and turn toward the Christ who paid the price for our sinning? We exchange our old sinful nature for His glorious nature. This makes a glorious change in our lives as we leave behind our old and dead flesh and begin to live through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God Himself, who has come to live in our new hearts! To this point, everything has been about saving man. Even judgments are intended to show us the folly of our own way so that we will quit them and turn to God in repentance and faith. For about three and a half years at this point, the war has ended about 25% of the earth. Using today’s approximate calculation, that’s over 2 billion people. Billion. With a B. That’s a lot of people. And they STILL will not turn to God because of their sins. Instead, and we see this beginning to form today as the current worldview of most of the planet, they will stand and shake their fist in defiance of the Living God in hostility and hatred, all the while ascribing all those who turn to Christ as the true haters (who are not). These will suppress the truth in unrighteousness, as Paul records in Romans 1:18-32 and worship and bow to the creation rather than the Creator. We can even see the radical “environmentalism” starting to form.

I had a guy, last Friday at Farm Boy, and who worked there from his uniform, approach me at the cash as I was getting some food for my shift at the flooring store, and he waited until I had paid for it, and He stared at me and said, “Climate change, yes or no?” I was stunned that he would do this in a grocery store, and before I had time to react, he started to make his case. I straight-armed him metaphorically by objecting to his putting words in my mouth, when to that point, I had said nothing, and I left. The cashier’s facial expression told me that she was caught as off-guard as I was, and then I went to work. As a part of my preparation for this study, I typed “save the earth” into a search engine. I don’t use Google when I can avoid it, so an alternate search engine gave a literal ton of articles on how to save the planet. Some of the titles read: Three Ways Global Leaders Can Save the Planet. 10 Ways to save the planet. 100 ways to save the planet. This one was particularly telling: Is it too late to save the planet?

Beloved, this is a demonstration of how man is right now in real-time turning away from the Creator toward the creation. They credit the planet as our source of life rather than the One who made it. To these people, I say that the last article touches on the truth. It is far too late to “save the planet.” This planet was never intended to be saved. It is a temporary home on our way to our eternal homes, and there are two options for that home, but we will see more about that later. Why do I say this? Well, beginning with these trumpet judgments, this is an all-out attack on the planet and its inhabitants by God Himself. I know, it’s a frightening thought.

I broke the text down like this:

KV6: Judgement Widens over the Earth

6: Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

6-7: 1st Trumpet – A Third of the Earth Burned Up

8-9: 2nd Trumpet – A Third of the Sea Destroyed

10-11: 3rd Trumpet – A Third of the Fresh Water Poisoned

12: 4th Trumpet – Sun, Moon, and Stars Dimmed by a Third

13: The Threefold Woe

Too late to save the earth, indeed. Brace yourself, here it comes.

KV6: Judgement Widens over the Earth

6: Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

I have tried to retain the pattern of one judgment at a time, but from everything I see, I get the impression that not only has the intensity of the judgments increased, but there has been an increase in their rapidity as well. For the record, I am of the opinion that to get to this point, since the first seal has been opened, approximately three and one-half years have elapsed. Although we do not have an exact schedule to follow, we know the order, and the way the language is used definitely gives the impression of a step-up in rapidity by the narrative itself. We have come from the order of years to perhaps months at this point. We know that the 5th seal has a period of 5 months built into it, but what that means is a matter of interpretation, I suppose. The point we are making is that this is a global issue. It is not limited to certain locations, all of these judgments are global in nature and scope. That should terrify us as we read through it on behalf of anyone unfortunate enough to witness it. Let’s get into the text.

6-7: 1st Trumpet – A Third of the Earth Burned Up

Right from the start of this, you can see the nature of this judgment is terminal. It is also calculated and deliberate. It is also carried out by Almighty God. It is a terrible thing to contemplate, never mind behold. In this first thought unit, a third of the green on the planet is destroyed. It is a deliberate and coordinated attack to kill the planet and many of its inhabitants. Some will survive because after this, someone has to go through to the Millennium, right? But as Genesis taught us in the Noahic flood, it doesn’t have to be many. There were 8 of them then. Let’s see what the text says.

6: And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.

We will pause here to mention that we viewed this as a bit of a transition last time. We saw the scene described last time that an angel with priestly duties filled a censer from the golden altar with burning coals mixed with the prayers of the saints and threw it to the earth, and these angels prepared to sound the trumpets that had been given to them.
These angels, again as a reminder, are the angels that are identified as those who stand in the presence of God, and we even gave some conjecture that Gabriel had identified himself as one of these earlier in Scripture, but this is not really important to the subject matter at hand. These angels blow the trumpet to herald each of these dire judgments of the wrath of God in advance (not much in advance). If I had to guess, Gabriel will sound last because of the nature of the declarations at that sounding, but we’ll see that in the latter parts of chapter 11.

7: The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

I have heard people equate these judgments with the same judgements as when the Lord brought His people, Israel, out of Egypt and the plagues visited on them, but I don’t see it here entirely. I think that equation perhaps exists in the coming bowl judgments in chapter 16, though, so we will discuss this when we get there. I will simply mention it here. What I do think is relevant here is that just as Egypt under Pharaoh was punished by the things they worshipped as gods, the men of this time will also be punished in the same way.
Hail and fire mixed with blood thrown to the earth. Comparisons to the 7th plague in Egypt notwithstanding, some have suggested that this is a representation of volcanic activity all over the planet. Hail could describe the hard stones loosed by the explosions of lava and earth and the colour of the lava, which is also burning. Others have suggested this is a great storm; the fire is lightning, the hail is the debris whipped up, and the blood is the colour of the sky. To be honest, I have no idea. The Greek says chalaza, the Greek word for hail, pur, the Greek word for fire, and haimati, the Greek word for blood. I have no reason other than to interpret this as to be what it both says and means. I do not doubt that there are hermeneutic interpretation keys somewhere, but those are not as useful as you might think. I also do not doubt that some will question how the hail and fire coexist together and demand to know where the blood came from, thus suggesting it is all metaphorical. Maybe it is, but you can’t prove that. Sometimes, hail, fire, and blood are simply hail, fire, and blood. What we should be concerned about is what they are doing.
The world was set on fire. By the time the fire burned itself out, a third of the planet was destroyed. A third of the trees are burned up. ALL of the grass is gone. Beloved, do you not see it? This is a direct and targeted attack on all of the plants. Trees give us food. Plants are edible. Grass includes things like corn, wheat, and rice, all staples of the human diet. A full third, at least, of all the vegetable supply is gone, not to mention the farm animals and wild animals that give us all meat. Do you not think that those “elites” know what’s coming? We can grow a plant in the lab. We know exactly how to build one. We actually did this in 3rd year cytology back in the late 1980s! Animals are much more complex, but what do you think all the lab-grown meat is about? It’s an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) attempt to prepare for this! Beloved, this is a calculated and direct attack on the food supply. And it gets worse. Next thought unit.

8-9: 2nd Trumpet – A Third of the Sea Destroyed

We talked about land animals that we use as a food source in the last section. We still have marine life, don’t we? Nope. Let’s look.

8: 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,

Now I have to ask you all: what does this sound like to you? [pause for answers] I think this is a meteorite strike into the ocean. Perhaps a comet. Either way, it’s the size of a mountain, and it’s surrounded by all kinds of gas held there by gravitational forces or contained within the entity itself. And it’s going to hit us from outer space. Beloved, this thing will be targeted at Earth by Almighty God Himself. Here it comes, the gasses all igniting at the temperatures caused by atmospheric entry. And it comes in at the speed of a falling mountain and SLAMS into the ocean. It says here that a third of the sea became blood. I will repeat that this is from the Greek: “καὶ ἐγένετο τὸ τρίτον τῆς θαλάσσης αἷμα [kai hegeneto to triton tēs thalassēs haima].” The Greek word order in English: “and became a third of the sea blood.” This isn’t saying it became like blood. It is blood. How? Well, if a third of the sea died, maybe it’s from all the marine life and the people on the ships that were killed in the event. That would certainly account for it. The fact is that I do not know. I’m not sure I want to know. Next verse.

9: and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.

There it is. Marine life as a food source is now eliminated, but more significantly, it will freeze the oceans for transportation. If this is really blood, it will gum up all the engines of the boats trying to navigate it. Forget about fixing that en route, too. It isn’t just that they were not able to navigate. I’m sure that could be overcome, given time. It is that the ships were destroyed. The word is διεφθάρησαν [diephtharēsan], meaning “destroyed utterly,” according to Vine. A full third of it. This is to say nothing about the massive Tsunamis that will be unleashed that will also snap ships in two or capsize them.
Remember, and I said this a moment or so ago, this is a direct attack aimed by Almighty God Himself at the planet. This is not just an attack on our food but is also an attack on what we call, in modern parlance, “the supply chain.” This is an attack on our commerce, and that will be seen in detail in chapter 18, so we will speak about that when we get there. It is a deliberate and calculated attack to break up communications and trade. This is destruction also of something called, in military terms, “command and control structure.” If your forces can’t communicate, they are at a decided disadvantage. And it is God who is attacking. Next section.

10-11: 3rd Trumpet – A Third of the Fresh Water Poisoned

Wow, it’s almost like the Creator knows exactly where to hit His enemies. It’s really targeted. Let’s look at the text.

10: 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 waters.

Maybe trailing fragments of that asteroid, maybe a comet, this space phenomenon will also come to earth, aimed and guided by Almighty God Himself. The Greek word is ἀστὴρ [astēr], where we get our word asteroid in English. It comes in “burning like a torch,” or καιόμενος ὡς λαμπάς [kaiomenos hos lampas] in Greek, so it is literally on fire. Whatever it is, this one fragments and falls over fresh water sources on the planet. This also has an effect. Next verse.

11: The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.

The word for “Wormwood” in Greek is Ἄψινθος [apsinthos], from which we get our word Absynth, a kind of alcoholic beverage that can be fatal if too much is ingested at once because it is toxic. Other uses of this Greek word outside of the Scriptures are apparently translated from the Hebrew word for Hemlock. It’s a poison. It is telling us that the waters became poison. A full third of the fresh water on the planet will be poisoned – by Almighty God Himself.

I find it interesting that even though this is a direct attack on planet Earth by God Himself, it is still a controlled and measured response. Mankind still has fresh water. It still has a food supply. It can still transport it over the oceans. However, it is hard to imagine that this is anything but hostility if you do not understand the purpose of the great tribulation that has come upon the earth. God is judging men and women a bit at a time to allow them to see their own sin and stop their collective career into insanity. When they don’t get the point and turn from their sins to His mercy in Christ, he turns up the volume.

Well, at this point, the volume knob is cranked up to 1/3 of the earth’s capacity. Some will come to faith with an understanding of what is happening and why. Most will still not turn. It wasn’t enough that the sky began to disintegrate and that the earth began to shake, and all manner of cosmic disturbances began with the sixth seal. Because they are still suppressing the truth of the Gospel in unrighteousness, they will still not turn. I wonder if some will not begin to depart further from stubbornness into actual displayed hatred of God and His People, both Old and New Testament. And still, there is more.

12: 4th Trumpet – Sun, Moon, and Stars Dimmed by a Third

The sixth seal will begin cosmic disturbances that people who aren’t driven mad by their sin will turn away from it and towards Christ. As I have already stated, most will not. As a result, the fourth angel will sound.

12: The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

This may be a decent argument for the massive volcanic activity if I’m thinking about this. It would put up a huge amount of ash into the atmosphere that may cause this kind of darkening effect. I don’t really know, and I don’t want to learn it by having to investigate it firsthand. What we do know is that for a full third of the day, there will be no sunlight. The moon will not be seen for a full third of the night. Something is blocking the stars. I have in the past suggested something in the orbit of the Earth or the sun, but it is conjecture on my part. Dr. Chuck Missler, in his commentary series on Revelation, suggests something orbital or super-orbital as well. Whatever it is, it is mucking about with the seasons and daylight. That means it is messing with the human circadian rhythm, and that can cause serious medical issues. How can this not be seen for what it is? God is judging the earth and all of the denizens of it that remain because it is what they deserve.

Doctor John MacArthur suggests in his recent Revelation series (which is still in progress, waiting for him to resume activities after his aortic replacement, that resumption of activity being a few weeks away as of this date) that this coordinated attack is the beginning of the destruction of the earth. With the attacks on the food supply (not to mention oxygen-producing organisms), the attacks on shipping (and the main source of oxygen-producing algae, by far the most important source of oxygen) and marine life, the attacks on the supply of drinking water, and finally the attacks on the calendar and seasons, days and nights, and any hope of growing crops in the foreseeable future, this is a planetary death-stroke (my words, not his). I cannot see where he is wrong without the coming divine intervention, which the Lord has promised will happen (even by the shortening of the days lest all flesh be destroyed). He said Himself in Mark 13:20, “Unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.”

13: The Threefold Woe

This is a dramatic break, probably for the emotional well-being and preparation of the reader. I know I needed a bit of a break! And I needed to brace myself for the next three trumpet judgments. However, it maintains its own seriousness with the eagle pronouncing woe. Let’s see.

13: Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

This eagle is flying over the earth in midheaven. This is about where the sun reaches its highest point (yes, this is from my astrophysics class in the late 1980s) over the horizon, approximately 23 or 24 degrees in radian measure at this latitude. This will ensure that the eagle is visible to everyone. The corresponding loud voice means everyone will hear. This may be figurative, literal, or both – I do not know, but I suspect the former. In any event, it is a warning that the next three trumpets will be even more dire than these four.
The eagle says, “Woe, woe, woe,” in English. The Greek is Οὐαί, οὐαί, οὐαὶ, and is a device known in English as onomatopoeia. This occurs when the word makes the same sound it is describing, like our word for boom on occasion. This could simply be an eagle crying, “Oi, oi, oi,” like eagles do. I think, though, it has some meaning. The Greek word is used in denunciation or grief and sorrow, the latter option being likely here. It sounds a bit to me like the Yiddish words “Oy vay,” an expression of grief to the Jew. The eagle’s message, whether given literally or not, is clear – it is about to get very much worse. I don’t want to give too much away for next time, but the next trumpet will literally unleash hell on Earth. We’ll see that next time.

I have been saying for years that we should be thankful for WHATEVER we go through because it can always get worse. A great deal worse. This is worse, every last bit of it.

While I was preparing this study, I had a personal revelation. Before you get all edgy about that, it was just a flash of insight. You see, I was saved at age 18 in high school before I chose my university or the courses I took at it. I have always wondered why, because my marks were kind of limited in the sciences; my best marks were in English and History (believe history or not because I am terrible with dates). Initially, I chose Carleton because it was the best at Criminology, and I wanted the knowledge for a career in law enforcement. I took Biology in my first year as an elective, and I fell in love with it. I changed my major in my second year, but the Registrar wouldn’t let me change faculties, so I have an arts degree in Biology. I took all the same courses, so I have a science degree, but the paperwork says it’s arts. Either way, I have been trained as a biologist and can hold (and have held) jobs that require a science degree, and I did bring up the distinction. Transcripts are a wonderful thing. Here is my point. Logically and scientifically, I understand what is happening theologically of course, God is judging the world. Linguistically and historically, I can communicate it to anyone that speaks English. Biologically, I understand the implications of what is happening in this text. You should be absolutely terrified at this, and if you are not, then there is something wrong with you, not me. I can tell you what it is, too, because I suddenly understood why a number of things in my life have happened. It was because of YOU, and I am thankful for that. Here is why.

This evening’s text describes a measured and calculated attack by an angry and vengeful God against a disobedient creation to punish it appropriately for the sins it both represents and has committed. This WILL happen, just like all other prophecies in Scripture has shown itself 100 percent accurate in its predictive foretelling of events. My question is that if you know that this kind of terror and destruction is coming, why won’t you turn away from it and to Christ, who Himself atoned for the sins of all those who will ever turn to Him? At this point, we believe that the church has been rescued so that it will not face this wrath of God. Believers on the earth in this time will not fear death either for the same reason: Christ has redeemed them by His own death on the cross. Pain and suffering will happen to everyone anyway, so why not put it to good use and let it purify you by turning to Christ and accepting the price He paid for YOUR sins on that cross?

You only need to do two things, and I personally don’t think you will unless God does something called regeneration in you. He makes your spirit alive, and He makes it want Him instead of the utter garbage we would otherwise desire. Then you will turn to Him and stop your sinning, not because you were caught, but because you see that it is offensive to Him, and you no longer want to offend God with your rebellion. This can happen over time or all at once so that it seems instant to you, but either way, He calls you to stop sinning and turn to Him and trust Him to have paid the price of atonement for you. Then you need to really believe, that is, be really persuaded, that He paid the price for you, and the proof of that was His own resurrection from the dead. If you will do those things now, you can avoid all the coming nastiness. If you do it then because God thinks that it is your time to repent, then it will make perfect sense to you, and you will choose that and escape the penalty for wrath on mankind. Either way, it is a limited-time offer.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the parallels between Joshua 6, the fall of Jericho, and these events. In Joshua 6, the city of Jericho was taken when seven priests led a procession on the seventh day around the city seven times and then blew on seven trumpets, and Yeshuah (Joshua) entered the city as the victor. In this case, Seven angels will follow a procession of seven seals and sound seven trumpets of wrath to signal seven judgments and then Yeshuah (Jesus) will return to the earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords, no longer the meek and mild Lamb. I know this is a very vague and generalized comparison, but it is worth mentioning. It is not only Revelation that contains heptadic structure, Beloved. We can see groups of seven everywhere in Scripture, and it is always the fingerprints of the Perfect One, God Himself.

That is what I saw in the text.

Next time, we will look at what I meant when I said earlier about literal hell coming to earth. Have you ever had this kind of conversation with people? They seem to believe (because that is what they say) that everyone will go to heaven because it is hell here on earth. Sadly, we will look at how wrong they are – next time – as we look at Revelation 9:1-12, the fifth trumpet judgment.