Synopsis: The seventh seal ended with the seven
angels prepared to sound their trumpets. A close link between the seals and the
trumpets is seen as the first four trumpets sound - Revelation 8:7-12.
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By Dominik QN on Unsplash |
The first four trumpets parallel the first four seals. Both seals and trumpets afflict within defined limits. The
first four seals harm a fourth of the earth, the first four trumpets a third of
the earth, sea, rivers, and heavenly luminaries. Both series are preceded by the
prayers of the saints that ascend as incense.
There are differences. The first four seals
cause the fourth part of men to be killed, the first four trumpets affect
things necessary for society to function - agriculture, the seas that carry
cargo, fresh water, and light from heavenly bodies. Men are only killed
indirectly when they drink the bitter water. The first four seals are opened by
the four living creatures as ordered by the Lamb; the seven trumpets are
sounded by seven angels.
The change in agency from living creature to
angels may be due to the focus of the seals on saints (the souls under the
altar, the sealed company, the innumerable multitude), whereas, the trumpets afflict
the “inhabitants of the earth” that are hostile to the saints.
The first four trumpets borrow imagery primarily
from two Old Testament passages linked to ancient Egypt and Babylon
(e.g., Exodus 7:15, Jeremiah 51:25).
In view are the ten plagues of Egypt and the dirge against Babylon
announced by Jeremiah.
The first four trumpet “plagues” are based on the plagues of Egypt, the seventh, first and ninth (hail, blood, darkness). The book of Revelation combines and separates features from these three: “blood” from the seventh plague is combined with hail from the first to produce “hail and fire mixed with blood.”
The cause of the Egyptian plagues was the
refusal by Pharaoh to let Israel leave Egypt to sacrifice to Yahweh,
and by the “hardening” of his heart. Imagery from the Egyptian plagues
sets the stage for the later identification of end-time Babylon as “the
great city, spiritually called Egypt” (Revelation 11:8).
The Egyptian imagery helps to paint a picture
of the new people of God marching from “Egypt” to the greater Promised Land,
the New Creation. Just as plagues preceded the release of Israel
from Egypt, so “plagues” prepare for the release of God’s saints from
end-time Babylon.
The number “three” dominates the first
four trumpets. Each “plague” damages a third of three things: the first
harms a third of earth, tree and grass, the second, a third of the sea, sea
creatures and ships, the third, a third of the rivers and the “springs of
waters,” and the fourth “plague,” a third of the sun, moon and stars.
This threefold structure is based on the earlier command to the four angels to restrain the “winds of the earth”
from harming the earth, sea and trees, “After this I saw four angels standing
at the four corners of the earth holding the four winds of the earth, that no
wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or upon any tree” (Revelation
7:1-3).
God’s servants were sealed prior to the opening
of the seventh seal. The four angels were only authorized to unleash the four
winds after its opening. That occurrence is now confirmed when the first
trumpet harms a third of the earth, trees, and all the green grass (by the
second trumpet, a third part of the sea also). Not coincidentally, the term
“third” (tritos) occurs twelve times (3 x 4) in the description of the
first four trumpets (Revelation 8:7-12).
(Revelation 8:7) – “And the first sounded; and there came to be hail and fire mingled with
blood, and it was cast unto the earth; and the third of the earth was burned
up, and the third of the trees was burned up, and all green herbage was burned
up” – (The Emphasized Bible).
The first trumpet affects things but does not
kill men, at least not directly. Its results mirror those of the angel who cast
(ballō) fire into the earth (eis tén gén) in the preceding paragraph (Revelation 8:1-6).
Now, fire is mixed with blood and cast (ballō) into
the earth (eis tén gén). This is in answer to the “prayers of the
saints.” What was held back by the four angels until God’s servants were
sealed is released to “blow” upon the earth, the trees, and the grass (Revelation 7:1-3).
When the angel hurled fire into the earth
there followed “thunders, voices, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
This first trumpet is patterned on the seventh plague of Egypt from Exodus
9:24-26:
“So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail,
very grievous…And the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree
of the field throughout the land of Egypt…Only in the land of Goshen where
Israel was no hail fell.”
A third of the earth and trees are “consumed.”
The verb katakaiō means, “consume, to burn up completely.” The
same word is applied also to end-time “Babylon” in Revelation 17:16 (“she
will be consumed by fire”). The verbal link is deliberate;
the process that begins with this first trumpet culminates in the
destruction of Babylon.
The areas affected by this trumpet are concerned
with food supply and agriculture, as was the case with food shortages in the
third seal (Revelation 6:6).
(Revelation 8:8-9) – “And the second messenger sounded; and, as it were a great mountain
burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third of the sea became blood, and
the third of the creatures which were in the sea, which had life, died, the
third of the ships was destroyed” – (The
Emphasized Bible).
The next trumpet upsets the sea and a third
of all the commerce that is dependent on it. John does not see a literal
mountain but something, “like a great mountain burning with fire.” This
is a simile. The first plague impacted the earth and vegetation, the second
harms the sea. The “sea” is the location from which the beast ascends and
corresponds to the Abyss (Revelation 11:7, 12:12, 13:1, 15:2, 20:1-2).
The sea is vital to the commerce on
which Babylon depends, but it is also the source of death and chaos in the
book of Revelation. This explains why no sea is seen in the New Creation (Revelation
15:2, 16:3, 18:17-21,
20:13, 21:1). In the symbolical world of Revelation, the sea is connected
to the Dragon and is a place in which the dead are held until the final
judgment (Revelation 20:13).
The second trumpet echoes the first Egyptian
plague when Yahweh turned the waters of the Nile into blood to curtail Egypt’s
economic life (Exodus 7:17-21 - “the fish in the river died and
the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river;
and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt”).
The “mountain burning with fire”
alludes to Jeremiah 51:25, a judgment dirge on ancient Babylon
(“Behold me against you, O destroying mountain that
destroys all the earth! Therefore, will I stretch out my hand over you and roll
you down from the crags, and make of you a burning mountain” [compare, Revelation
11:18, 14:8, 18:2-4, 18:21-24]).
In the vision of John, Babylon is a
“great whore” that sits on “seven mountains.” The mountains
represent kingdoms over which Babylon holds sway (Revelation 17:9-10).
The casting of the mountain into the sea is
another echo of the angel who took the censer filled with fire from the golden
altar and “cast it into the earth.” Hurling “Babylon” out onto the sea
results in judgment on the earth. Just as this “great burning mountain was cast
into the sea,” so, also, end-time Babylon will be “cast into the sea like a great millstone.”
This causes all merchants, shipmasters, and sailors to lament that “in one
hour that so great riches came to nothing” (Revelation 8:5, 18:16-21).
The second trumpet causes the “ships to
be destroyed (diaphtheiro).” This clause translates
a Greek verb borrowed from the Septuagint Greek version of Jeremiah 51:25:
“I am against you, destroying mountain
that destroyed all the earth.”
The verbal connections are deliberate. The
same verb occurs again when the seventh trumpet sounds: “And the season came
to reward your servants the prophets and the saints, and to destroy them
that destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).
The destruction of a third of all ships is
detrimental to trade. The destruction will become total with the final
overthrow of end-time Babylon:
(Revelation 18:16-20): “Alas! alas! the great city! She that was arrayed in fine linen, and
purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl — That
in one hour hath been laid waste such great wealth as this! And every pilot and
every passenger and mariners and as many as, by the sea carry on traffic, afar
off did stand, and they cried out, seeing the smoke of her burning,
saying — What city is like unto the great city? And they cast dust
upon their heads, and cried out, weeping and grieving, saying — Alas! alas! the
great city! Whereby were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of
her costliness — that in one hour she hath been laid waste! Be glad
over her, thou heaven! And ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets! For
that God hath exacted your vindication from her” – (The Emphasized Bible).
The image of the burning mountain anticipates
the fuller judgment against end-time “Babylon” in Chapter 18. The stress is on
the partial destruction of her economic base, the source of her power and
influence. “God uses the ‘blazing mountain’ of Babylon, the ‘destroyer of
the whole earth,’ to pollute the sea on which Babylon itself depends
for the maintenance of its commercial empire” [G.B. Caird, Revelation,
1999, p. 114].
Thus, this cosmic enemy of the people of God is
used by the Lamb to execute judgment on the unrepentant “inhabitants of the
earth.”
(Revelation 8:10-11) – “And the third messenger sounded; and there fell out of heaven a great
star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third of the rivers, and upon
the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is
called Wormwood; and the third of the waters became wormwood,
and many of the men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” – (The Emphasized Bible).
The third trumpet borrows imagery from the
first Egyptian plague when Yahweh struck the nation’s freshwater sources. Moses
warned Pharaoh that God would strike all the Nile and other
freshwater sources so that the “Egyptians could not drink of the water of
the river,” turning their waters “into blood.” Thus, the “fish
that are in the river will die and the river shall become foul” (Exodus
7:17-21).
John sees a “great star fall.” Elsewhere
in the book, “stars” represent messengers or “angels”. This “star” is
compared to a “burning lamp,” the same term used for the “seven lamps
of fire that burn” before the Throne. This may refer to the same “star”
that falls to the earth and has the “key of the Abyss” when the fifth
trumpet sounds (Revelation 1:20, 2:1, 4:5, 9:1).
“Fall” (piptō) translates a
different Greek verb than the one used when judgments “were cast into”
the sea and earth. The latter verb is in the passive voice each time, that is,
the item was “cast” by something else; yet, here, piptō is in
the active voice (“a great star fell”) and uses a different
preposition or “upon” (epi). Piptō is the same verb
applied later to end-time Babylon, also in the active voice (“Fallen,
fallen is Babylon the great” [Revelation 14:8; 18:2]).
This “star” fell upon a third of the “rivers
and the springs of waters” and, thereby, made their waters undrinkable.
Later, the Great Whore is seen sitting upon “many waters”; they
represent “peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues,” which parallels
the third bowl of wrath that is “poured out upon the rivers and springs of
waters; and they became blood” (Revelation 16:4, 17:1, 17:15).
“Wormwood” and “bitter water”
are allusions to Jeremiah 9:12-15, 23:13-15 and Deuteronomy
29:16-18. In the last passage, Yahweh warned Israel that to break
His covenant by worshipping idols would become a “root of bitterness”
among the people. Note the verbal parallels:
(Deuteronomy 29:16-18). “For you know how we
dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the nations which you
passed by; and you have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood
and stone, silver and gold, which were among them; Lest there should be
among you man, woman, family tribe whose heart turns away this day from
Yahweh to serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a
root that bears bitterness and wormwood.”
(Jeremiah 9:12-15) – “Who is the man that is
wise that he may discern this? And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken that
he may declare it? For what cause has the land perished, has it been
burned as a wilderness, that no man passes through? Then said Yahweh, Because
they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not hearkened to
my voice…Therefore, behold me, feeding this people with wormwood
and I will cause them to drink bitter water.”
(Jeremiah 23:13-15) – “Therefore thus declares
Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets: I will feed them with wormwood
and make them drink bitter water.”
At the end of the sixth trumpet, John will
observe that the men not killed by the first six plagues, “repented not of
the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of
gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither
see, nor hear, nor walk,” another allusion to Deuteronomy 29:16-18.
The burning mountain falls upon rivers and “springs
of water.” The same Greek term (pégas) appears in the Septuagint version
of Jeremiah 51:36-37 in reference to Babylon, the “destroying
mountain” and the “burning mountain” (Jeremiah 51:25). “Thus,
declares Yahweh, So I will execute the avenging of you, and I will dry up her
sea, and make dry her spring (pégas).”
(Revelation 8:12) – “And the fourth messenger sounded; and the third of the sun was smitten,
and the third of the moon, and the third of the stars — in order that the third
of them might be darkened, and the day might not shine for the third of it, and
the night, in like manner” – (The
Emphasized Bible).
The image of a third of the light from the sun,
moon, and stars being darkened is based on the ninth Egyptian plague. Note well
that the darkness in Egypt lasted three days: “Moses stretched forth
his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt
three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Exodus 10:21-23).
The fourth trumpet also draws imagery from a
judicial pronouncement against Pharaoh by Ezekiel that was carried out by ancient
Babylon:
“Take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt…And
when I will extinguish you I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I
will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the
bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and set darkness upon your
land, declares Yahweh…For thus declares Yahweh, The sword of the king of Babylon shall
come upon you” (Ezekiel 32:7-11).
The fourth trumpet affects the same things as
the fourth bowl of wrath, though not as severely. The fourth bowl was “poured
out upon the sun to scorch men with fire; and men were scorched with great heat
and blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues” (Revelation
16:8).
“Strike” translates the Greek
verb plésso related to the noun plégé or
“plague” (compare, Revelation 9:18 – “By these three plagues was
the third part of men killed”). The usage is deliberate to remind the
reader of the connection to the plagues of Egypt.
The image of the darkened sun, moon and stars
draws on Isaiah, another judgment pronouncement against Babylon:
“The burden of Babylon that Isaiah saw…Wail, for the
day of Yahweh is at hand…Behold, the day of Yahweh is coming, cruel, with wrath
and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners out
of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their
light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause
its light to shine” (Isaiah 13:1-13).
The plague imagery draws heavily from the
Exodus story, the judgments of Yahweh against ancient Egypt for
refusing to free Israel. But the book of Revelation also weaves in
allusions from the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah, originally, judicial
pronouncements against the Neo-Babylonian Empire that, now, anticipate the pronouncements against
end-time Babylon recorded in Chapter 18 of Revelation.
Revelation’s application of Old Testament
pronouncements against Babylon is paradoxical. The “plagues” of the first
four trumpets target the unrepentant “inhabitants of the earth,” but the
unexpected agent of this judgment is Babylon, the “burning mountain”
cast into the sea, and the “burning star” that falls upon rivers and
springs (compare, Revelation 8:5, 9:20-21).
To this point, it is not men and women that are destroyed, but a third of the things connected to their economic activity; agriculture, transportation (ships), water and light, the very things that are connected later to the economic dominance of “Mystery Babylon.” Men only die at this point when they choose to drink the “bitter waters” of Babylon.
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