Slides for this study

We have already looked at verse 1 which is the seventh seal being opened and silence in heaven for half an hour. That was the second coming of Jesus.

Verse 2 marks a better beginning for this chapter.

 

Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

If we say that the seven trumpets occurs after the seventh seal, then in heaven we should see the fulfillment of the seven trumpets.

But that cannot be.

• In the seven trumpets we will see time prophecies being fulfilled.
  • Five-month time prophecy. And a 1 year, 1 month, 1 day and 1 hour time prophecy.
• Between the 6^th and 7^th trumpet, in Revelation chapter 10 we will see the rise of the Advent movement. Which means then we are saying that that is in the future after the second coming, which does not make sense.

What is interesting about the seven trumpets as they do not follow the timeline of events that we have seen in the seven churches and the seven seals. They aren’t in consecutive date order one after the other.

• The 5^th and 6^th trumpets are. But not the first 4.

How were trumpets used in the Bible?

• Jeremiah 4:19
  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
  • It was used for war.
  • It was used to pronounce judgment.
• 1 Kings 1:34
  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.
  • It was used to announce the coronation of a new king.
• Leviticus 23:24
  Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
  • The feast of the trumpets took place for 10 days before the day of atonement. It was warning people of the coming day of Atonement which was very serious. It lined up with judgment, announcing of judgment.
• So in the seven trumpets we are going to see war. We are going to see judgment. And we are going to see God exercising His kingly authority.
• Against who? Mostly the Roman Empire.

 

How to Interpret the Seven Trumpets?

You will see that they are a mixture of literal and symbolic.

• Sometimes we say that if it is symbolic, then the whole passage must be symbolic, or vice versa.
• But scripture often puts both together.

Example of literal and symbolic together.

• Psalms 80:8-11
  8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. 9 You prepared room for it, and caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land. 10 The hills were covered with its shadow, and the mighty cedars with its boughs. 11 She sent out her boughs to the Sea, and her branches to the River.
• Psalms 80:8-11
  8 You have brought a vine [symbolic: Israel] out of Egypt [literal]; You have cast out the nations [literal], and planted it [symbolic]. 9 You prepared room for it [literal], and caused it to take deep root [symbolic], and it filled the land [symbolic]. 10 The hills were covered with its shadow [symbolic], and the mighty cedars with its boughs [symbolic]. 11 She sent out her boughs [symbolic] to the Sea [literal: Mediterranean], and her branches [symbolic] to the River [literal: Euphrates].

Similar patterns are found in:

• Jeremiah 3:6.
• Ezekiel 27:26.
• Ezekiel 32:6, 7.
• Hosea 13:15.

In examining the first six trumpets, it appears that generally they are symbolic.

• The effects of the first three trumpets are literal, but the fourth is symbolic.
• You will see that there is a mixture of the two back and forth.

Let’s now come back to Revelation 8.

 

Introduction to the Seven Trumpets

Revelation 8:3-4
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

We see Jesus still progressing through the sanctuary in heaven.

• Revelation 1 – Jesus is at the 7 golden candlesticks.
• Revelation 4-5 – Jesus is at the table of showbread.

Now here we see Jesus standing at the altar of incense. How do we know?

• Notice that the Bible says it is a golden altar.
• There are 2 altars in the sanctuary.
  • The first is the altar of burnt sacrifice. That altar is made of bronze.
  • And the other is the altar of incense which is made of gold.
• So Jesus is still in the Holy Place.
• So even this position gives us time framing and gives us more confidence to know that the seven trumpets begin before 1844, the time when Jesus moves from the Holy Place into the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary.

What do we see taking place at the altar of incense?

• The prayers of the saints are being answered.
• Once again, where did we see that?
  • Revelation 6:10
    And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
  • They are crying for judgment and vengeance.

Who is this angel that is standing at the altar?

• It is referring to Jesus.
• Genesis 48:16
  The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
  • Jesus is referred to as an angel sometimes.
• Acts 7:35
  “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
  • The Angel there is Jesus. He was the One that appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
• How else do we know that this represents Jesus?
  • The angel is holding a golden censer.
• Only a priest can hold the golden censer. And Jesus is our High Priest. No angel is our priest.
  • Hebrews 4:14
    Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

The angel’s hand.

• What does the angel’s hand represent? Especially the hand of Jesus?
• Isaiah 41:10
  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
• It represents the righteousness of Christ.
• The prayers of the saints are mingled with the righteousness of Christ.

How do we mingle our prayers with the righteousness of Christ?

• Jeremiah 23:6
  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
  • The name of Jesus is righteous.
• Acts 4:12
  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
  • We are saved by the name of Jesus.
• So to pray in the name of Jesus is to mingle His righteousness with our prayers.
• By praying in His name, we are praying that God’s will be done in spite of how we have prayed. That God will answer according to His will, according to His desires and His plans.
• John 14:13-14
  13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
  • This is why it is important to end our prayers in the name of Jesus.
• The condition that we see here though is that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
  • This is why sometimes we don’t receive the answer to our prayers that we were expecting, because the Father would not have been glorified.
• So we see the prayers of the saints ascending up before God through the righteousness of Christ.

 

Revelation 8:5-6
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

So Jesus takes the censer, fills it with fire from the altar and throws it to the earth.

What does filling it with fire mean?

• Numbers 16:46
  So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun.”
  • The Israelites had sinned again in the case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. And God sends out a plague to kill them and punish them.
  • And Moses instructs for Aaron to take the censer and put fire in it and to intercede on behalf of the people.
• But now we are seeing the censer filled with fire and the fire is being thrown out of the censer and cast to the earth.
  • We are seeing some sort of intercession cease.
  • That God is not interceding but now punishing.
• We are seeing to a degree the prayers of the saints under the altar in the fifth seal being answered.
• This is not the full answer.
• But God is showing that He has not forgotten His people.

The 7 trumpets are a world view on how God is judging, to some extent, the Roman power that is persecuting God’s people. It is a microcosm of what will take place at the seven last plagues.

 

Overview of the 7 trumpets.

• 1^st trumpet – Revelation 8:7 – 1 verse
• 2^nd trumpet – Revelation 8:8-9 – 2 verses
• 3^rd trumpet – Revelation 8:10-11 – 2 verses
• 4^th trumpet – Revelation 8:12-13 – 2 verses
• 5^th trumpet – Revelation 9:1-12 – 12 verses
• 6^th trumpet – Revelation 9:13 – 11:14 – 34 verses
• 7^th trumpet – Revelation 11:15-18 – 4 verses

You can see where the emphasis is placed. And we are going to do the same. The first 4 trumpets are not so important as the last three ones.

• This is similar to the seals as well where the emphasis was placed on the 6^th

 

The 1^st Trumpet

Revelation 8:7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

This is describing the invasion of the Visigoths under the leadership of Alaric upon the Western Roman Empire.

• Time: 396-410 AD.
• These people came from the frozen regions of the north. Hence the hail.
• Why fire and blood? History tells us that wherever they conquered, the practiced the burning of the whole village.
• Alaric defeated Rome on August 24, 410 AD.
• The burning of the trees and green grass represented the people.

 

The 2^nd Trumpet

Revelation 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

This is describing the invasion of the Vandals under the leadership of Genseric.

• Time: 428-468 AD.
• He attacked mainly by sea. He had naval armies. Hence, the great mountain burning with fire that is cast into the sea. And a third of the sea creatures perished.
• The place where he mainly attacked was the coasts of Africa and Italy.

At this time the Roman Empire was divided into three parts:

1. Constantius – Constantinople.
2. Constantine II – Britain, Gaul, Spain.
3. Constans – Illyricum, Africa, Italy.

Did really a third of the people perish? We don’t know the answer to that. But it is clear that the attack was on the water.

 

The 3^rd Trumpet

Revelation 8:10-11
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; 11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

This is describing the attack of the Huns under the leadership of Attila the Hun.

• It is written about him that his appearance strongly resembled a brilliant meteor in the sky. Thus talking about a great star.
  • This is not referring to Satan falling from heaven.
• The principal operations of Attila were in the region of the Alps, and on the portions of the empire where the rivers flow down into Italy.
• Time: 451-453 AD.
• The word “Wormwood” means bitter.
  • Attila was a bitter affliction on the Roman Empire.
  • He was known to his contemporaries as the scourge of God.

 

The 4^th Trumpet

Revelation 8:12
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

This is describing the invasion of the Heruli under the leadership of Odoacer.

• Time: 476-493 AD.
• Odoacer was the first tribe to take over Rome and settle there.
• There is yet greater destruction on the sun, moon and stars.
• This denotes the great luminaries of the Roman government – its emperors, senators and consuls.

 

The four trumpets timeline:

• 1^st trumpet: 396-410 AD
• 2^nd trumpet: 428-468 AD
• 3^rd trumpet: 451-453 AD
• 4^th trumpet: 476-493 AD

 

Revelation 8:13
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

The first four trumpets are brought to a conclusion here at the end of this chapter.

• The first four are just the beginning.

The pronouncement of the three woes show that there is worse yet to come.

• They line up with the last three trumpets.