8:1-4
The Seventh Seal: Trumpets
8 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God.
Silence in heaven for half an hour. We are told up to this point, that heaven is a noisy place. Revelation chapters one and four – there is a voice like a trumpet, chapter four verse five: 5 Out from the throne *came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
9 And when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”
13 And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”
Then in chapter six, each of the four living creatures introduces a rider on the four horsemen ‘as with a voice of thunder…’
Then in 6:10 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”
And in chapter 7 – 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they *cried out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
*You thought a stadium full of people is loud? How about a multitude which no one could count?
You think crickets can be loud at night, woodpeckers, locusts, and lions during the day, how about when …
5:13 13 And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”
It will be louder than anything you’ve ever heard.
A half hour silence would be very noticeable.
There are several opinions posited on the meaning of this. What do you all think?
- Biblical pattern number one: Where else has there been a rest after six events?
Genesis 2:1-3
2:1 And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
As an aside: By the way, just a reminder, that it was Israel’s failure to allow the land to keep the sabbath year (the Shmita (pronounced ‘shmeetah’) that led to their captivity and the 70 weeks of Daniel.
Exodus 23:10-11
10 “Now you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie uncultivated, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the animal of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Did you know this? Look in the notes from the spring again on pages 89-90 (pertinent passage copied and pasted below…)
[[Two chapters outline the curses for disobedience – Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.
These are sobering passages. An angry Jew once asked Arnold Fruchtenbaum after a lecture why God allowed the Nazi holocaust, and he just pointed him to these passages. God keeps His word. These passages also foreshadow the seven-year tribulation where TWO THIRDS of Jews will be killed (Zechariah 13:8-9)
Zechariah 13:8,9
“It will come about in all the land,” declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it.”
“And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
*Leviticus 26:21 is KEY to the 490 years! Eschatology 101 here – the fundamentals, the basics.
21 ‘Yet if you show hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.
Leviticus 26:34 ‘Then the land will restore its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and restore its Sabbaths. 35 All the days of its desolation it will have the rest which it did not have on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.
**Exile was the final curse, after lighter curses had failed to cause repentance.
The 70 years of desolation of Jerusalem is prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10-14 and Zechariah 1:12 and 7:5
But why this period of 70 years? 2 Chronicles 36:21
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept the Sabbath until seventy years were complete.
**But they were dealt the seven-fold penalty! So 70 years became 490 years (seventy weeks of years).
Have those who were exiled fulfilled their duty to confess and repent?
Leviticus 26:40-45
40 ‘But if they confess their wrongdoing and the wrongdoing of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— 41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart is humbled so that they then make amends for their wrongdoing, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and will restore its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their wrongdoing, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul loathed My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so loathe them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”
Daniel 9:13, Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28
Daniel 9:24
‘seventy sevens have been decreed for YOUR people, and YOUR holy city.’ – For Jewish people and Jerusalem. THIS BECOMES EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS WHO THINK THAT CHRISTIANS ARE GOING TO GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. BECAUSE THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, THAT SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL THAT IS PART OF THESE 490 YEARS (SEVEN-FOLD CURSE BECAUSE ISRAEL DID NOT LET THE LAND LAY FALLOW EVERY SEVENTH YEAR FOR SEVENTY YEARS (70 X 7 = 490)), IS FOR DANIEL’S PEOPLE AND DANIEL’S CITY. THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND JERUSALEM. THIS ‘WEEK’ OF DISCIPLINE, OF TRIBULATION, IS NOT GIVEN TO THE CHURCH TO LEARN SOMETHING, IT IS GIVEN TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE. ]]
- Biblical pattern number two: The pause for worship after a noisy celebration in the temple:
2 Chronicles 29:25-28
(After Hezekiah had repaired the temple, he ordered sacrifices to resume…)
25 He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad, the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. 28 While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.
So lots of noise and rejoicing, then they bow down and worship.
- The solemnity due the events that will follow, to contemplate the seven trumpets of judgement
- Perhaps to hear the wailing on the earth from the first six seals
- Symbolic of God’s patience – He is slow to anger. He gives people a chance to repent after a warning, as we saw earlier.
Psalm 145:8
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate;
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
also –
Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3
Back to our text…
8:3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God.
*Reminiscent of chapter five verse eight: When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they *sang a new song, saying,
In chapter 5, the prayers were the incense. In chapter 8 incense is added to the prayers that are on the altar. So in either case, prayers are stored and remembered, just like our tears (Psalm 56:8)
8 You have taken account of my miseries;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
So right now, let’s add to the incense of heaven by praying for the revival that has already started and will continue tomorrow and Tuesday. Pray for Adrian DesPres, the teams, and the Holy Spirit to move among the people. Pray for revival for yourself personally, revival for Village Church, revival for Blythewood, Columbia, SC and the US and the whole world, so that more souls can be added to the kingdom in these last days. Who knows but that the Bride of Christ may reach its full number as a result and we can go home?
The period of silence in heaven before the judgement is reminiscent of Gideon’s attack in Judges 7:19-22
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 And each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. 22 And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
Let’s back up to verse 3 for a moment…
Revelation 8:3
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
First, this is not Jesus Christ as many commentators have suggested, including the one who wrote the article I reference in the notes. While it is true that the term ‘angel of the Lord’ was used in the OT to describe a Christophany (Joshua 5:13-15 for instance)
(13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 And the captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.)
The Greek word for ‘another’ here is ‘allos’, which means ‘a different one, of the same kind. Much like if I was using a #2 pencil and asked you for another pencil and meant another #2.
If it were another one of a different kind, the word John would have used would have been ‘heteros’.
So it is clear here that this is another angel of the same kind that he was talking about before.
We’ve talked before about how the book of Joshua lays a pattern for the book of Revelation.
To a gentile, prophecy is prediction and fulfillment, prediction and fulfillment. But to a Jew, prophecy is pattern. That’s why the patterns we see in the OT (the Tanakh) resonate so well in Revelation, and we will talk about another pattern from Ezekiel shortly.
- 1. In both Joshua and Revelation there are seven-year military campaigns to expel the usurpers from the land.
How do we calculate that Joshua’s campaign lasted seven years?
Joshua 11:18
18 Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings.
and 14:10-11
10 And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11 I am still as strong today as I was on the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.
From ‘Barnes Notes on the Bible’…
‘Forty and five years – The word of God to Moses was spoken after the return of the spies in the autumn of the second year after the Exodus Num 13:25; subsequently, 38 years elapsed before the people reached the Jordan Numbers 20:1; after the passage of the Jordan seven more years had passed, when Caleb claimed Hebron, before the partition of the land among the nine tribes and a half. These seven years then correspond to the “long time” Joshua 11:18 during which Joshua was making war with the Canaanites. They are in the sequel of this verse added by Caleb to the years of wandering, since during them the people had no settled abodes.’)
- In Joshua, there are two spies (or two witnesses) go in to spy out the city (Joshua 2:1
2 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there. )
which foreshadows Revelation chapter 11, and what do both mainly accomplish? In Joshua it is the salvation of a gentile named Rahab, (who incidentally is the mother of Boaz, who you recall is the hero in the book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth are the grandparents of King David (see Matthew 1:5,6))
In Revelation the two witnesses (who are already preaching for the entire first half of the book of Revelation) preach to the unsaved as well, presumably many of whom are gentiles.
- Both emphasize a moment of silence. (Joshua 6:10
10 But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed from your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!”)
Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
- In both, there are seven trumpets (Joshua 6:4
4 Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark)…
which foreshadows Revelation 8:2
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
- 5. In Joshua and Revelation, the kings seek to hide themselves in caves..
Joshua 10:16-17
16 Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17 And it was told to Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.”
Revelation 6:15 –17
15 Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
6. Supernatural use of hailstones against the enemy
Joshua 10:11
11 And as they fled from Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord hurled large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
Revelation 16:21
21 And huge hailstones, weighing about a talent each, *came down from heaven upon people; and people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the hailstone plague *was extremely severe.
- Enemies are confederated under a leader in Jerusalem
Joshua 10:1-28 – Adoni-Zedak means ‘lord of righteousness’ a type of antichrist at the time
Revelation 19:19
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled (at Har-Megiddo, just outside of Jerusalem) to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
- Yehoshua (Joshua) is a variant of Yeshua (Jesus)
SECOND. this gives a new meaning to ‘warfare prayer’ because look now in 8:4-5…
Revelation 8:4-5
(3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.)
4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder and sounds, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
It seems to me that our prayers for justice on earth, and all the prayers of the saved, are combined with the fire of God’s wrath and hurled to the ground.
Remember what we said about Luke 4:16-21
Luke 4:16-21 says…
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Note where Jesus stopped reading. He stopped at a comma then shut the book. But what did He leave out?
Let’s read the passage in Isaiah 61:1-2 to see…
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
You see, His mission then was to do fulfill the first part. His mission later will be to fulfill the second part…
‘And the day of vengeance of our God’.
He came like a Lamb the first time, but is coming like a Lion the next time. And at NO TIME is he coming like an Easter Bunny.
The entirety of the tribulation is focused on Israel’s repentance.
What earthquake is this now? See Revelation chapter summary sheet – it is earthquake #2 (earthquakes are in brown). First one was at the end of chapter 6.
Revelation 8:6-7
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
7 The first sounded, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled 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.
All the green grass burned up – well there goes my need for someone to mow my lawn. Hail and fire I understand, but blood? Symbolic? Actual? Illustrative?
Where else have we heard of God turning water into blood? We’ve heard of Jesus turning water into wine, which is symbolic of His blood (btw Lord’s supper today), but this along with verse 8 where a third of the sea becomes blood, where have we seen that before?
The first plague on Egypt…
Exodus 7:14-25
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning just as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17 This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. 18 Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21 Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
By the way, I got this article in my email box on October 6th 2020 and just read it thinking it would be helpful to today’s lesson. Unfortanately, though there is some good information, the whole article is based on the false premise that ‘another angel’ is speaking of Jesus Christ. As explained above the Greek word for ‘other’ in this verse is ‘allos’ – ‘of the same type.’ Jesus is not just ‘another’ angel – He is not an angel at all. So I did not include information from the article in these notes.
REVELATION 8: JESUS CHRIST INITIATES THE WRATH OF GOD
https://beginningandend.com/revelation-8-jesus-christ-initiates-the-wrath-of-god/
Revelation 8:6
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
Verse 6 – ‘prepared to sound them’ – have you ever noticed (Andy Rooney) that before God uses someone or something, he prepares them first?
What you are going through now is very likely preparing you for some part of His ministry, somewhere at some time. Perhaps not until the Millennial Kingdom, or even eternal heaven itself, but I believe nothing we go through is wasted. We usually resent the preparation process. We want to cut to the chase. But if we do so, we will find ourselves unprepared.
Imagine wanting to be the star in a play, and all of a sudden you find yourself on stage in front of your family and friends who are applauding because the program says you are the star. But then silence as you realize you are supposed to be giving your lines but you don’t know them – you aren’t prepared – (nightmare!). In that moment you would give anything just for even one day to study your lines. It would mean you’d have to miss some other activities you liked to do, but it would save you the embarrassment of that painful moment where the whole audience is just staring at you.
So don’t complain about your suffering. I was convicted by Adrian’s message at one of the revival services when he said ‘complaining is a sin against God’. Wow. I do a LOT of complaining! But consider it all preparation.
Romans 5:3-4
3 And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
Some versions say ‘we glory in our sufferings’. Oxymoronic and paradoxical, but commanded.
2 Corinthians 4:17
17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
*How much did Paul suffer, yet he called it ‘momentary and light’.
Here’s a summary: 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 ‘I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
My brother went through Ranger school, and I’m sure it was very, very difficult, but afterwards when they pinned that tab on him, I imagine he felt it was all worth it, the euphoria of completing the test outweighed any of the suffering. Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience, maybe crossing a stage for a graduation of some kind – it’s easy to forgive those difficult teachers in that moment. My son may even feel like forgiving his physics teacher.
That’s what we’ll feel like at the Bema seat judgement.
Like having a natural childbirth, I suppose – I’m told that the pain is forgotten quickly once that wrinkled red raisin of a baby is placed on the mother’s chest. My Aunt Sally had seven kids so it must be true or she’d never have subjected herself to that process more than once.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Surgery class was an affliction, learning how to land a plane while handing the radio was difficult, but I sure was glad I was prepared when others were depending on me to be competent.
*What is happening or has happened in your life that God has used to prepare you for some kind of mission for the kingdom?
OKAY, so we’ve beaten that verse to death. So let us not despise the things God allows us to experience to prepare us. Moving on…
Revelation 8:7 The first (trumpet) sounded, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled 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.
This is a judgement poured out on those things that were created on day 3. See Genesis 1:11-13
11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.
there was hail and fire mixed with blood
Hail and fire I understand, but blood? Symbolic? Actual? Illustrative?
here else have we heard of God turning water into blood? We’ve heard of Jesus turning water into wine in John chapter 2, which later became symbolic of His blood (btw Lord’s supper last week), but this, along with verse 8, where a third of the sea becomes blood, where have we seen that before?
The first plague on Egypt…
Exodus 7:14-25
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning just as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17 This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. 18 Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21 Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
So people ask where this blood in Revelation 8 comes from. Does God have to slay animals to get blood or can He miraculously produce it? He can make both wine and blood out of water. He can even cause stones to rise up and become sons of Abraham (Matthew 3:9 – 9 and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham.)
And He can even be crucified and rise from the dead.
Notice that the plagues got worse and worse the more Pharaoh resisted God’s will. And at first, Pharaoh’s magicians could duplicate the miracles, until they couldn’t.
Exodus 8:18-19
18 The soothsayer priests tried with their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on every person and animal. 19 Then the soothsayer priests said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
*Egypt ignored the softer warnings.
This can be true for us too. In prison ministry, the inmates often say how they ignored the early warnings – misdemeanor arrests, etc. and ended up as felons.
What subtle warnings have you or I received over sin in our lives? Don’t ignore them. Accept the grace of a gentle rebuke before it has to become a serious penalty.
Another point about both Egypt in Exodus 7, and the world in Revelation 8 – these illustrate how God always attacks the very things that people worship.
Baal with Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18
the statue of Dagon that fell before the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 5.
If you look into it, every plague on Egypt was designed to ridicule a different god they worshipped.
Which brings us to a point about Gaia worship – mother earth. The whole earth seems to be uniting around a climate change agenda. Don’t get me started on Al Gore’s predictions.
The earth worshippers will say to God, ‘What gives you the right to destroy the earth that we worship? The earth that we have so diligently tried to preserve? We made all kinds of laws and carbon taxes on the US (though China and India are far worse polluters).
They won’t like what happens in Revelation 8 and 16, nor in 2 Peter 3:7 and 10…
7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered.
‘But we worked so hard to recycle’, they’ll whine. ‘We harvested unicorn farts to burn instead of coal.’
Hey, I have nothing against being a good steward of the earth. Just don’t worship it and think natural disasters are ‘mother earth’s anger against human activity’. God has every right, as the Creator, to do what He wants with the earth.
And He has every right to do what He wants with us too, right?
9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
A piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
Like the Egyptians of yesteryear or the earth dwellers during the Tribulation, what is your idol? What needs to fall for God to have first place? Recognition? Public affirmation and applause? Some kind of addiction? The pursuit of money?
Expect God to attack it. And you with it if you don’t let go of it.
Exodus 20:5 The Lord your God is a jealous God
Proverbs 3:11-12 11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His rebuke,
12 For whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.
Hebrews 12:7-11
7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. (NLT)
That brings us to the next point, the realization of a pattern found in earlier scripture.
Ezekiel chapter 5: Judgement of the thirds.
As you read this, imagine God saying this about you. Yes, if it were not for the grace of Jesus, He would be saying this to you and me, and deservedly so.
We aren’t used to thinking of God being angry at us, so addicted we are to grace and gentleness of our Savior.
But listen now, and this not only serves as a Biblical pattern for Revelation 8:7 but 8:8-12 as well. Thank about any private sin you’ve been toying with, gossip, maybe an affair, cheating a business partner, and imagine God saying this about your own rebellion and disobedience…
Reading from the NLT
A Sign of the Coming Judgment
5 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts. 2 Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword. 3 Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe. 4 Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations, 6 but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.
7 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you. 8 Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lord, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch. 9 Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again. 10 Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive.
11 “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will cut you off completely. I will show you no pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with your vile images and detestable sins. 12 A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword. 13 Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the Lord, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.
14 “So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by. 15 You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the Lord.
16 “I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone. 17 And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
5:1 God’s judgement is precise. We reviewed that last week when we talked about the 70 weeks – one year for every Shmita they failed to observe and therefore owed 70 years, but then they had the seven-fold penalty to make it 490 years, which is the 70 weeks of years of Daniel 9:24.
5:3 A remnant – how many people were on earth at the time of the flood? (BTW Noah was ‘pure in his generations’ (Genesis 6:9), meaning everyone else likely had contaminated DNA). Some say several billion, and only a remnant of 8 saved (four guys and their wives).
Look in the notes on page 112 and 114 about the remnant of believers that will hide on Bozrah after the abomination of desolation.
Back to Revelation 8:7…
‘All the green grass was burned up’ – well there goes my need for someone to mow my lawn.
Revelation 8:8-9 (second trumpet)
8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was hurled into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Other than the ships, this is a judgement poured out on the things created on the third day…
Genesis 1:9
9 ‘Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good.’
As well as the fifth day…
Genesis 1:20-22
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
‘something like a great mountain burning with fire was hurled into the sea’ (when you see ‘something like’ it is a simile. John in the first century was commanded to ‘write what you see’ (1:11) and he did not have the vocabulary to describe something like a nuclear bomb, etc.
(We had previously speculated in 6:13 at the sixth seal judgement at what might have been hurled to earth…
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind…
…that this might be demons swept by Lucifer’s tail (Revelation 12:3-4 ‘Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns. 4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth.’)
[[*Comment re Rev 12 to person who raised it last week*]]
The second trumpet judgement is a milder version of the second bowl judgement…
Revelation 16:3 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.
Revelation 8:10-11
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. 11 The star is named Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, 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 finishes the judgement of the thirds. Next week we will get to the ‘three woes’ of Revelation which are trumpets five, six, and seven.
8:1-4
The Seventh Seal: Trumpets
8 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God.
Silence in heaven for half an hour. We are told up to this point, that heaven is a noisy place. Revelation chapters one and four – there is a voice like a trumpet, chapter four verse five: 5 Out from the throne *came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.
9 And when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing.”
13 And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”
Then in chapter six, each of the four living creatures introduces a rider on the four horsemen ‘as with a voice of thunder…’
Then in 6:10 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who live on the earth?”
And in chapter 7 – 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all the tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they *cried out with a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
*You thought a stadium full of people is loud? How about a multitude which no one could count?
You think crickets can be loud at night, woodpeckers, locusts, and lions during the day, how about when …
5:13 13 And I heard every created thing which is in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, or on the sea, and all the things in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion forever and ever.”
It will be louder than anything you’ve ever heard.
A half hour silence would be very noticeable.
There are several opinions posited on the meaning of this. What do you all think?
- Biblical pattern number one: Where else has there been a rest after six events?
Genesis 2:1-3
2:1 And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
As an aside: By the way, just a reminder, that it was Israel’s failure to allow the land to keep the sabbath year (the Shmita (pronounced ‘shmeetah’) that led to their captivity and the 70 weeks of Daniel.
Exodus 23:10-11
10 “Now you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie uncultivated, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the animal of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Did you know this? Look in the notes from the spring again on pages 89-90 (pertinent passage copied and pasted below…)
[[Two chapters outline the curses for disobedience – Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.
These are sobering passages. An angry Jew once asked Arnold Fruchtenbaum after a lecture why God allowed the Nazi holocaust, and he just pointed him to these passages. God keeps His word. These passages also foreshadow the seven-year tribulation where TWO THIRDS of Jews will be killed (Zechariah 13:8-9)
Zechariah 13:8,9
“It will come about in all the land,” declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it.”
“And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
*Leviticus 26:21 is KEY to the 490 years! Eschatology 101 here – the fundamentals, the basics.
21 ‘Yet if you show hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.
Leviticus 26:34 ‘Then the land will restore its Sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and restore its Sabbaths. 35 All the days of its desolation it will have the rest which it did not have on your Sabbaths, while you were living on it.
**Exile was the final curse, after lighter curses had failed to cause repentance.
The 70 years of desolation of Jerusalem is prophesied in Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10-14 and Zechariah 1:12 and 7:5
But why this period of 70 years? 2 Chronicles 36:21
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept the Sabbath until seventy years were complete.
**But they were dealt the seven-fold penalty! So 70 years became 490 years (seventy weeks of years).
Have those who were exiled fulfilled their duty to confess and repent?
Leviticus 26:40-45
40 ‘But if they confess their wrongdoing and the wrongdoing of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— 41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart is humbled so that they then make amends for their wrongdoing, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land will be abandoned by them, and will restore its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their wrongdoing, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul loathed My statutes. 44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so loathe them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. 45 But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”
Daniel 9:13, Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28
Daniel 9:24
‘seventy sevens have been decreed for YOUR people, and YOUR holy city.’ – For Jewish people and Jerusalem. THIS BECOMES EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR CHRISTIANS WHO THINK THAT CHRISTIANS ARE GOING TO GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. BECAUSE THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, THAT SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL THAT IS PART OF THESE 490 YEARS (SEVEN-FOLD CURSE BECAUSE ISRAEL DID NOT LET THE LAND LAY FALLOW EVERY SEVENTH YEAR FOR SEVENTY YEARS (70 X 7 = 490)), IS FOR DANIEL’S PEOPLE AND DANIEL’S CITY. THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND JERUSALEM. THIS ‘WEEK’ OF DISCIPLINE, OF TRIBULATION, IS NOT GIVEN TO THE CHURCH TO LEARN SOMETHING, IT IS GIVEN TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE. ]]
- Biblical pattern number two: The pause for worship after a noisy celebration in the temple:
2 Chronicles 29:25-28
(After Hezekiah had repaired the temple, he ordered sacrifices to resume…)
25 He then stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David and of Gad, the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the command was from the Lord through His prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the musical instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel. 28 While the whole assembly worshiped, the singers also sang and the trumpets sounded; all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29 Now at the completion of the burnt offerings, the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped.
So lots of noise and rejoicing, then they bow down and worship.
- The solemnity due the events that will follow, to contemplate the seven trumpets of judgement
- Perhaps to hear the wailing on the earth from the first six seals
- Symbolic of God’s patience – He is slow to anger. He gives people a chance to repent after a warning, as we saw earlier.
Psalm 145:8
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate;
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
also –
Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3
Back to our text…
8:3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God.
*Reminiscent of chapter five verse eight: When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they *sang a new song, saying,
In chapter 5, the prayers were the incense. In chapter 8 incense is added to the prayers that are on the altar. So in either case, prayers are stored and remembered, just like our tears (Psalm 56:8)
8 You have taken account of my miseries;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
So right now, let’s add to the incense of heaven by praying for the revival that has already started and will continue tomorrow and Tuesday. Pray for Adrian DesPres, the teams, and the Holy Spirit to move among the people. Pray for revival for yourself personally, revival for Village Church, revival for Blythewood, Columbia, SC and the US and the whole world, so that more souls can be added to the kingdom in these last days. Who knows but that the Bride of Christ may reach its full number as a result and we can go home?
The period of silence in heaven before the judgement is reminiscent of Gideon’s attack in Judges 7:19-22
19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle night watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. 20 When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 And each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. 22 And when they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the entire army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
Let’s back up to verse 3 for a moment…
Revelation 8:3
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
First, this is not Jesus Christ as many commentators have suggested, including the one who wrote the article I reference in the notes. While it is true that the term ‘angel of the Lord’ was used in the OT to describe a Christophany (Joshua 5:13-15 for instance)
(13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 And the captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.)
The Greek word for ‘another’ here is ‘allos’, which means ‘a different one, of the same kind. Much like if I was using a #2 pencil and asked you for another pencil and meant another #2.
If it were another one of a different kind, the word John would have used would have been ‘heteros’.
So it is clear here that this is another angel of the same kind that he was talking about before.
We’ve talked before about how the book of Joshua lays a pattern for the book of Revelation.
To a gentile, prophecy is prediction and fulfillment, prediction and fulfillment. But to a Jew, prophecy is pattern. That’s why the patterns we see in the OT (the Tanakh) resonate so well in Revelation, and we will talk about another pattern from Ezekiel shortly.
- 1. In both Joshua and Revelation there are seven-year military campaigns to expel the usurpers from the land.
How do we calculate that Joshua’s campaign lasted seven years?
Joshua 11:18
18 Joshua waged war a long time with all these kings.
and 14:10-11
10 And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11 I am still as strong today as I was on the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.
From ‘Barnes Notes on the Bible’…
‘Forty and five years – The word of God to Moses was spoken after the return of the spies in the autumn of the second year after the Exodus Num 13:25; subsequently, 38 years elapsed before the people reached the Jordan Numbers 20:1; after the passage of the Jordan seven more years had passed, when Caleb claimed Hebron, before the partition of the land among the nine tribes and a half. These seven years then correspond to the “long time” Joshua 11:18 during which Joshua was making war with the Canaanites. They are in the sequel of this verse added by Caleb to the years of wandering, since during them the people had no settled abodes.’)
- In Joshua, there are two spies (or two witnesses) go in to spy out the city (Joshua 2:1
2 Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and rested there. )
which foreshadows Revelation chapter 11, and what do both mainly accomplish? In Joshua it is the salvation of a gentile named Rahab, (who incidentally is the mother of Boaz, who you recall is the hero in the book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth are the grandparents of King David (see Matthew 1:5,6))
In Revelation the two witnesses (who are already preaching for the entire first half of the book of Revelation) preach to the unsaved as well, presumably many of whom are gentiles.
- Both emphasize a moment of silence. (Joshua 6:10
10 But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed from your mouth, until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!”)
Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
- In both, there are seven trumpets (Joshua 6:4
4 Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark)…
which foreshadows Revelation 8:2
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
- 5. In Joshua and Revelation, the kings seek to hide themselves in caves..
Joshua 10:16-17
16 Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. 17 And it was told to Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.”
Revelation 6:15 –17
15 Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they *said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
6. Supernatural use of hailstones against the enemy
Joshua 10:11
11 And as they fled from Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord hurled large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
Revelation 16:21
21 And huge hailstones, weighing about a talent each, *came down from heaven upon people; and people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the hailstone plague *was extremely severe.
- Enemies are confederated under a leader in Jerusalem
Joshua 10:1-28 – Adoni-Zedak means ‘lord of righteousness’ a type of antichrist at the time
Revelation 19:19
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled (at Har-Megiddo, just outside of Jerusalem) to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
- Yehoshua (Joshua) is a variant of Yeshua (Jesus)
SECOND. this gives a new meaning to ‘warfare prayer’ because look now in 8:4-5…
Revelation 8:4-5
(3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.)
4 And the smoke of the incense ascended from the angel’s hand with the prayers of the saints before God. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder and sounds, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
It seems to me that our prayers for justice on earth, and all the prayers of the saved, are combined with the fire of God’s wrath and hurled to the ground.
Remember what we said about Luke 4:16-21
Luke 4:16-21 says…
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Note where Jesus stopped reading. He stopped at a comma then shut the book. But what did He leave out?
Let’s read the passage in Isaiah 61:1-2 to see…
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
You see, His mission then was to do fulfill the first part. His mission later will be to fulfill the second part…
‘And the day of vengeance of our God’.
He came like a Lamb the first time, but is coming like a Lion the next time. And at NO TIME is he coming like an Easter Bunny.
The entirety of the tribulation is focused on Israel’s repentance.
What earthquake is this now? See Revelation chapter summary sheet – it is earthquake #2 (earthquakes are in brown). First one was at the end of chapter 6.
(the timeline did not transfer from the notes to the web page)
Revelation 8:6-7
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
7 The first sounded, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled 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.
All the green grass burned up – well there goes my need for someone to mow my lawn. Hail and fire I understand, but blood? Symbolic? Actual? Illustrative?
Where else have we heard of God turning water into blood? We’ve heard of Jesus turning water into wine, which is symbolic of His blood (btw Lord’s supper today), but this along with verse 8 where a third of the sea becomes blood, where have we seen that before?
The first plague on Egypt…
Exodus 7:14-25
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning just as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17 This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. 18 Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21 Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
By the way, I got this article in my email box on October 6th 2020 and just read it thinking it would be helpful to today’s lesson. Unfortanately, though there is some good information, the whole article is based on the false premise that ‘another angel’ is speaking of Jesus Christ. As explained above the Greek word for ‘other’ in this verse is ‘allos’ – ‘of the same type.’ Jesus is not just ‘another’ angel – He is not an angel at all. So I did not include information from the article in these notes.
REVELATION 8: JESUS CHRIST INITIATES THE WRATH OF GOD
https://beginningandend.com/revelation-8-jesus-christ-initiates-the-wrath-of-god/
Revelation 8:6
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
Verse 6 – ‘prepared to sound them’ – have you ever noticed (Andy Rooney) that before God uses someone or something, he prepares them first?
What you are going through now is very likely preparing you for some part of His ministry, somewhere at some time. Perhaps not until the Millennial Kingdom, or even eternal heaven itself, but I believe nothing we go through is wasted. We usually resent the preparation process. We want to cut to the chase. But if we do so, we will find ourselves unprepared.
Imagine wanting to be the star in a play, and all of a sudden you find yourself on stage in front of your family and friends who are applauding because the program says you are the star. But then silence as you realize you are supposed to be giving your lines but you don’t know them – you aren’t prepared – (nightmare!). In that moment you would give anything just for even one day to study your lines. It would mean you’d have to miss some other activities you liked to do, but it would save you the embarrassment of that painful moment where the whole audience is just staring at you.
So don’t complain about your suffering. I was convicted by Adrian’s message at one of the revival services when he said ‘complaining is a sin against God’. Wow. I do a LOT of complaining! But consider it all preparation.
Romans 5:3-4
3 And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
Some versions say ‘we glory in our sufferings’. Oxymoronic and paradoxical, but commanded.
2 Corinthians 4:17
17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
*How much did Paul suffer, yet he called it ‘momentary and light’.
Here’s a summary: 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 ‘I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent adrift at sea. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
My brother went through Ranger school, and I’m sure it was very, very difficult, but afterwards when they pinned that tab on him, I imagine he felt it was all worth it, the euphoria of completing the test outweighed any of the suffering. Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience, maybe crossing a stage for a graduation of some kind – it’s easy to forgive those difficult teachers in that moment. My son may even feel like forgiving his physics teacher.
That’s what we’ll feel like at the Bema seat judgement.
Like having a natural childbirth, I suppose – I’m told that the pain is forgotten quickly once that wrinkled red raisin of a baby is placed on the mother’s chest. My Aunt Sally had seven kids so it must be true or she’d never have subjected herself to that process more than once.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Surgery class was an affliction, learning how to land a plane while handing the radio was difficult, but I sure was glad I was prepared when others were depending on me to be competent.
*What is happening or has happened in your life that God has used to prepare you for some kind of mission for the kingdom?
OKAY, so we’ve beaten that verse to death. So let us not despise the things God allows us to experience to prepare us. Moving on…
Revelation 8:7 The first (trumpet) sounded, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled 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.
This is a judgement poured out on those things that were created on day 3. See Genesis 1:11-13
11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.
there was hail and fire mixed with blood
Hail and fire I understand, but blood? Symbolic? Actual? Illustrative?
Where else have we heard of God turning water into blood? We’ve heard of Jesus turning water into wine in John chapter 2, which later became symbolic of His blood (btw Lord’s supper last week), but this, along with verse 8, where a third of the sea becomes blood, where have we seen that before?
The first plague on Egypt…
Exodus 7:14-25
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning just as he is going out to the water, and position yourself to meet him on the bank of the Nile; and you shall take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent. 16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” 17 This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. 18 Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.”’” 19 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’”
20 So Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants; and all the water that was in the Nile was turned into blood. 21 Then the fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. 22 But the soothsayer priests of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. 23 Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house with no concern even for this. 24 So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile. 25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.
So people ask where this blood in Revelation 8 comes from. Does God have to slay animals to get blood or can He miraculously produce it? He can make both wine and blood out of water. He can even cause stones to rise up and become sons of Abraham (Matthew 3:9 – 9 and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham.)
And He can even be crucified and rise from the dead.
Notice that the plagues got worse and worse the more Pharaoh resisted God’s will. And at first, Pharaoh’s magicians could duplicate the miracles, until they couldn’t.
Exodus 8:18-19
18 The soothsayer priests tried with their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not; so there were gnats on every person and animal. 19 Then the soothsayer priests said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
*Egypt ignored the softer warnings.
This can be true for us too. In prison ministry, the inmates often say how they ignored the early warnings – misdemeanor arrests, etc. and ended up as felons.
What subtle warnings have you or I received over sin in our lives? Don’t ignore them. Accept the grace of a gentle rebuke before it has to become a serious penalty.
Another point about both Egypt in Exodus 7, and the world in Revelation 8 – these illustrate how God always attacks the very things that people worship.
Baal with Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18
the statue of Dagon that fell before the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 5.
If you look into it, every plague on Egypt was designed to ridicule a different god they worshipped.
Which brings us to a point about Gaia worship – mother earth. The whole earth seems to be uniting around a climate change agenda. Don’t get me started on Al Gore’s predictions.
The earth worshippers will say to God, ‘What gives you the right to destroy the earth that we worship? The earth that we have so diligently tried to preserve? We made all kinds of laws and carbon taxes on the US (though China and India are far worse polluters).
They won’t like what happens in Revelation 8 and 16, nor in 2 Peter 3:7 and 10…
7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered.
‘But we worked so hard to recycle’, they’ll whine. ‘We harvested unicorn farts to burn instead of coal.’
Hey, I have nothing against being a good steward of the earth. Just don’t worship it and think natural disasters are ‘mother earth’s anger against human activity’. God has every right, as the Creator, to do what He wants with the earth.
And He has every right to do what He wants with us too, right?
9 “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
A piece of pottery among the other earthenware pottery pieces!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
Like the Egyptians of yesteryear or the earth dwellers during the Tribulation, what is your idol? What needs to fall for God to have first place? Recognition? Public affirmation and applause? Some kind of addiction? The pursuit of money?
Expect God to attack it. And you with it if you don’t let go of it.
Exodus 20:5 The Lord your God is a jealous God
Proverbs 3:11-12 11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord
Or loathe His rebuke,
12 For whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
Just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.
Hebrews 12:7-11
7 As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 8 If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. (NLT)
That brings us to the next point, the realization of a pattern found in earlier scripture.
Ezekiel chapter 5: Judgement of the thirds.
As you read this, imagine God saying this about you. Yes, if it were not for the grace of Jesus, He would be saying this to you and me, and deservedly so.
We aren’t used to thinking of God being angry at us, so addicted we are to grace and gentleness of our Savior.
But listen now, and this not only serves as a Biblical pattern for Revelation 8:7 but 8:8-12 as well. Thank about any private sin you’ve been toying with, gossip, maybe an affair, cheating a business partner, and imagine God saying this about your own rebellion and disobedience…
Reading from the NLT
A Sign of the Coming Judgment
5 “Son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a razor to shave your head and beard. Use a scale to weigh the hair into three equal parts. 2 Place a third of it at the center of your map of Jerusalem. After acting out the siege, burn it there. Scatter another third across your map and chop it with a sword. Scatter the last third to the wind, for I will scatter my people with the sword. 3 Keep just a bit of the hair and tie it up in your robe. 4 Then take some of these hairs out and throw them into the fire, burning them up. A fire will then spread from this remnant and destroy all of Israel.
5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is an illustration of what will happen to Jerusalem. I placed her at the center of the nations, 6 but she has rebelled against my regulations and decrees and has been even more wicked than the surrounding nations. She has refused to obey the regulations and decrees I gave her to follow.
7 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you. 8 Therefore, I myself, the Sovereign Lord, am now your enemy. I will punish you publicly while all the nations watch. 9 Because of your detestable idols, I will punish you like I have never punished anyone before or ever will again. 10 Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter to the winds the few who survive.
11 “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will cut you off completely. I will show you no pity at all because you have defiled my Temple with your vile images and detestable sins. 12 A third of your people will die in the city from disease and famine. A third of them will be slaughtered by the enemy outside the city walls. And I will scatter a third to the winds, chasing them with my sword. 13 Then at last my anger will be spent, and I will be satisfied. And when my fury against them has subsided, all Israel will know that I, the Lord, have spoken to them in my jealous anger.
14 “So I will turn you into a ruin, a mockery in the eyes of the surrounding nations and to all who pass by. 15 You will become an object of mockery and taunting and horror. You will be a warning to all the nations around you. They will see what happens when the Lord punishes a nation in anger and rebukes it, says the Lord.
16 “I will shower you with the deadly arrows of famine to destroy you. The famine will become more and more severe until every crumb of food is gone. 17 And along with the famine, wild animals will attack you and rob you of your children. Disease and war will stalk your land, and I will bring the sword of the enemy against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
5:1 God’s judgement is precise. We reviewed that last week when we talked about the 70 weeks – one year for every Shmita they failed to observe and therefore owed 70 years, but then they had the seven-fold penalty to make it 490 years, which is the 70 weeks of years of Daniel 9:24.
5:3 A remnant – how many people were on earth at the time of the flood? (BTW Noah was ‘pure in his generations’ (Genesis 6:9), meaning everyone else likely had contaminated DNA). Some say several billion, and only a remnant of 8 saved (four guys and their wives).
Look in the notes on page 112 and 114 about the remnant of believers that will hide on Bozrah after the abomination of desolation.
Back to Revelation 8:7…
‘All the green grass was burned up’ – well there goes my need for someone to mow my lawn.
Revelation 8:8-9 (second trumpet)
8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was hurled into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Other than the ships, this is a judgement poured out on the things created on the third day…
Genesis 1:9
9 ‘Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good.’
As well as the fifth day…
Genesis 1:20-22
20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.
‘something like a great mountain burning with fire was hurled into the sea’ (when you see ‘something like’ it is a simile. John in the first century was commanded to ‘write what you see’ (1:11) and he did not have the vocabulary to describe something like a nuclear bomb, etc.
(We had previously speculated in 6:13 at the sixth seal judgement at what might have been hurled to earth…
13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind…
…that this might be demons swept by Lucifer’s tail (Revelation 12:3-4 ‘Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns. 4 And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth.’)
[[*Comment re Rev 12 to person who raised it last week*]]
The second trumpet judgement is a milder version of the second bowl judgement…
Revelation 16:3 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.
Revelation 8:10-11
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. 11 The star is named Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, 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 finishes the judgement of the thirds. Next week we will get to the ‘three woes’ of Revelation which are trumpets five, six, and seven.
