Seventh Seal Prelude to the Seven Trumpets/Revelation 8:1-13 Greg Bahnsen {Part 33 of 63}

You do make our crops to grow. We praise you, Father, that you make provision for our livelihoods, that we are able to have food to eat. We ask you, Father, that you might make us mindful that our every breath, that everything that we have, whether it be physical or spiritual, comes from your hand, that every gift comes down from heaven above. Lord, we pray you'd increase our dependence on you and make us more conscious of that and increase our gratitude as well. We ask you, Father, that as creatures who live according to your providence and your providence alone, that you enable us to see also how in spiritual matters we have nothing if it doesn't come from you. We recognize that that life which we now have in Jesus Christ has come from your hand. And by your grace. We ask you, Father, that you would make provision also of your spirit this day, that we might be built up in the Word, that we might be stronger, that we might be more prone to witness for you, that, Lord, we might be increased in godliness. And we pray these things asking that you would consecrate even this hour to your service. In Jesus name, Amen. For the last few weeks before the holiday, I had been giving a summary of the Book of Revelation, that is, recapitulating or rehearsing what had gone before and then giving kind of a broad outline of what would follow in the Book of Revelation and how we are to understand the major characters and the drama that we find in the Book of Revelation. Now, beginning this morning, I'd like to go back to chapter eight where we took our break, and I'd like to start plotting now, verse by verse through it, since you know the landscape and you know the something in a rough and ready way, I guess, of the main events and characters. I trust that now if we do some detail work, you'll be able to put it into its place and it won't be all a great big hodgepodge to you. A lot of people, of course, get very discouraged in reading through the Book of Revelation. And if they make it through the seven seals at all, by the time they get to the seven trumpets, they get completely confused and discouraged and quit. And so we took kind of a. An interlude there in our exposition, our verse by verse exposition, and gave the broader outlines of what was to follow. And now let's back up and do it piece by piece. And I'd like to read for you to begin with chapter eight in the Book of Revelation. And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels that stand before God. And there were given unto them seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood over the altar having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel taketh the censer and he filled it with the fire of the altar and. And cast it upon the earth. And there followed thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. And the first sounded. And there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. And they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of the earth was burnt up. And the third part of the trees were burnt up. And all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood. And there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had life. And the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded. And there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch. And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of the waters. And. 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 had been made bitter. And the fourth angel. And the third part of the sun was smitten. And the third part of the moon and the third part of the stars, that the third part of them should be darkened and the day should not shine for the third part of it. And the night in like manner. And I saw and I heard an eagle flying in mid heaven saying with a great voice, woe, woe, woe for them that dwell upon the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet, of the three angels who are yet to sound. Verse eight, Verse one of chapter eight begins. And when he opened the seventh seal, let's bring ourselves up to date. The seventh seal of what? The seventh of seven seals, obviously. But where are the seven seals to be found on the scroll now? Six of the seals have been broken to this point. And with the breaking of the seals, the scroll opens just slightly and some of the contents are revealed to us. It's kind of like getting a preview of what's going to happen. But there's been A long interlude, you see. After the breaking of the sixth seal, the whole chapter has intervened. And now chapter eight begins. And the seventh seal is broken. And with the breaking of the seventh seal, what then happens? Obviously, the scroll is open. You see, that's the indication that finally we're going to get to the contents of this scroll. When did we first learn about this scroll? What squirrel are we talking about? It hasn't been that long now. That's right. In chapter five, a scroll is introduced. Now, this scroll, when it's introduced into heaven, originally created a great. A great calamity. A great deal of depression and sadness and sorrow. And the reason for that calamity was what? Excuse me. That's right. No one was found worthy to open the scroll of God's plan for immediate history. God's judgment to fall. And so then the Lamb of God is introduced, who is worthy, who has overcome to open the scroll. And so now the scroll is being opened successively, seal by seal. We come to the seventh seal. And that's what we're doing, doing when we begin chapter eight. When he opened the seventh seal, which is to say, when he opened the scroll, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. With the breaking of the last seal, the scroll is finally opened, as we've said. And all are waiting now in heaven in anticipation to see what the contents of the scroll will disclose. The time has come for the judgment on the first enemy of God's people, which now, proleptically, or by way of anticipation, I've interpreted to be Jerusalem. The time has come for the judgment to fall, but a half hour of silence intervenes. Now, stop and think about that for a moment. Put yourself in John's shoes. What has he been hearing? Well, he's been hearing a great deal, and he's been hearing a great deal very loud. You see, there's been all sorts of noise. Not really noise, but it's from the praises of God and voices from heaven, all sorts of very, very noisy things. And then all of a sudden, it all ceases. And John just has a half hour of silence. Now, you can imagine what it's like if you're involved in a drama and really emotionally caught up in that. You know, you're following every word and every event in the drama. Then all of a sudden there's five minutes of silence. I mean, five minutes. Can you imagine? It would be just, you know, the anticipation would be, you know, building up and the intensity would be building. Well, John, for a half an hour now, In a place that has just been saturated with noise, with praises, with singing, with voices of angels and all that. Now, for a half hour, John must wait in silence as all of heaven waits to see what God's going to do. Dramatically, John is indicating how significant this judgment is going to be. And I really do think that this kind of judgment would not be so significant were it to be applied to any other nation on earth but Israel. You see, for so long, Israel has been God's people, God's chosen people. God has dealt with the world via his people, Israel. The Messiah was to come through Israel and all this. And so for all these, you know, centuries, Israel has had this key position in terms of the kingdom of God. And now there's a half hour of silence so that you might know how dreadful, how significant, how intense is the judgment when it comes to fall on God's chosen people. It's a solemn, it's an impressive moment that John now shows us in verse one of chapter eight. It's due to that utter silence in heaven where he had first heard hymns. Now he hears silence. And after the silence, we're going to hear not hymns. Well, we will in some places, but we're going to hear the blaring trumpets of judgment as they actually show God's judgment falling on the earth. The great hush of the worshiping host of heaven is to be noted as well. Those who had continually been praising God are now hushed in silence so that heaven might even know the suspense, God's judgment. And then verse two says, and I saw the seven angels that stand before God. The use of the definite article the seven angels indicates that a definite defined, a certain defined group is being thought of by John. He saw the seven angels, namely the seven angels that stand before God. Now, the seven angels, the seven definite angels that John is thinking of here might very well be the seven archangels of Jewish apocalyptic literature. In the book of Tobit, we read of seven angels who present the prayers of saints and go in before the glory of the Holy One. And in the book of first Enoch, we read the names of the seven archangels. And in other literature, these are called the angels of the presence of. By way of background, look at Isaiah 63:9. Isaiah 63:9 says, in all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. Very similar type of language. Look also at Luke, chapter one, verse 19, Luke 1:19. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God. I was sent to speak Unto thee. So the angels of the presence seem to have some biblical background. We read of it in the Old and New Testament, and it may very well be that what John is referring to in verse 2 of chapter 8 in Revelation are the angels of the presence, the angels that stand in the presence of God. Other references to seven angels will follow here in chapter 8 and chapter 15, chapter 16, 17, and 21. So quite often John will refer to the seven angels. And in all these cases, the reference seems to be to the seven angels who hold the bowls or the vials of wrath which we'll read about later. And so the possibility suggests itself that the seven angels we read of here who blow the trumpets of God's judgment are in fact the same seven angels that pour out the vials or bowls of wrath later on in the Book of Revelation. It's not certain that they are the same, but the possibility of that identity exists. The fact that these seven angels stand before God is an indication that they serve God. For, you see, standing before God is an idiom that very much parallels the idea of serving God or being in the service of God, especially in the books of first and Second Kings in the Old Testament, you'll find that kind of idiom used for the service of God. And so these seven angels, the seven maybe archangels, even the seven angels of God's presence who stand before him, maintain themselves always in readiness to serve God. And verse two says seven trumpets were given to the seven angels. The seven trumpets should be understood as seven war horns are now distributed to these seven angels. I don't know how much of this is intended, but let me throw out for your own thinking and meditation this fact that in Joshua, the sixth chapter, where we read of the fall of the city of Jericho, seven priests are given seven trumpets, and they must march around the city with the Ark of the Covenant. Now, the Ark of the Covenant appears in revelation at chapter 11, verse 19, in connection with this judgment. That's the fall upon Jerusalem. And so it may be, whether it's entirely intended or even in terms of the appropriateness of allusion, that we should think of Jerusalem falling as dramatically even as Jericho did fall. But nevertheless, the seven angels of God's presence are given seven trumpets. And the trumpets definitely signify here the coming of the day of God's wrath. They herald God's judgment. Zephaniah, the first chapter, verses 14 through 16, bring together those two ideas of the trumpets and the judgment of God. The great day of Jehovah is near. It is near. And Hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of Jehovah. The mighty man crieth there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high battlements. The day of the trumpet is the day of God's wrath, you see. And so the seven angels are given seven trumpets, seven war horns to herald the coming of God's wrath. Now, in verses three through five, with this background, the silence in heaven, the distribution of seven war horns to the seven angels of God's presence, verses three to five. We're going to read how significant the prayers of the saints are. And I think it's something of a rebuke to us who are so prone to be men of little prayer and to be so failing in our life of prayer. You know, we're told to pray without ceasing, and that's a very hard commandment to keep. We find a hard time even keeping to a regular pattern of prayer day by day. But you should be encouraged, if also rebuked, by what we're going to read in verses 3 through 5 to see how significant, how important are the prayers of the saints in terms of God's plan for history? God accomplishes his plan through our prayers, which is an interesting twist on the old question that's often addressed to people who believe in the sovereignty of God. Well, if God is predestined, everything that's going to happen, why pray? Can prayer change things? Well, if God is predestined that our prayers are part and parcel and instrumental in his plan, then quite clearly, prayer does change things. It doesn't change the plan of God, but prayer is part of the plan of God. You see, we've got the thing inverted. And here John tells us very clearly that prayer is quite significant in terms of world events, quite significant in terms of what happens to us and the conditions under which we live. And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Here we're going to learn that the prayers of the saints have been heard by God. An angel is going to cast fiery coals on the earth as an indication that the prayers of God's saints are being answered as he pours out his judgment upon the earth. Now, as background to verse three, remember that in the Old Testament, the priest would daily go to the altar of sacrifice and take from the altar of sacrifice coals of the fire and put them into a censer, into a fire pan. And then they would carry those coals from the altar of sacrifice into the holy place, not into the holy of holies, but into the room standing before it, into the holy place. And then they would add incense to that fire pan, to the coals in the fire pan. And of course, then the smoke of the incense would go up before God. The altar of incense in the holy place, by the way, was a golden altar. And it's quite likely, based on what we read in First Kings, chapter seven, that the censors of Solomon's Temple, although we know this wasn't true of the tabernacle, the censers of Solomon's temple were very likely golden censers. So now let's read Revelation 8. Three again. And another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Before what throne? Well, before the throne of God. And what was the throne of God in the Old Testament as symbolized on earth? The mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Right. It was the very throne of God that was the center of Israel in terms of its worship and in terms of its government as well. And so here you have in the Old Testament the image of the golden altar of incense, which is before the throne of God, separated by the. By the veil, of course, but it's before the throne of God, before the Ark of the Covenant. And now an angel in Revelation is going through a very similar pattern of getting the coals and the incense and going before the golden altar of incense, which is before the throne of God. The fact that the altar is said to be golden and the fact that the altar is said to be before the throne of God only stresses the importance and heightens the value of the prayers of the saints. The prayers of the saints are offered on a golden altar and before the very presence of God. And so now much incense is being given to this another angel. I don't think that some commentators are right when they take this angel to be Jesus Christ himself, mainly because it's not so much that it's inappropriate to refer to Christ as an angel. That I think definitely happens in chapter 20, verse 1. But there's not much given here in the context to suggest that. I mean, we don't have enough to base that kind of opinion on. But this other angel is given incense, and he offers it with the prayers of the saints. Now, some commentators say that the incense is the prayers of the saints, based on one type of dative construction in the Greek, which I won't go into, because it might bore a good number of you. That is a possibility. However, it's not the preferred reading. It doesn't change the thought much. I mean, the idea is that the angel is accompanying the prayers of the saints, whether it be the incense which is the prayers, or the incense added to the prayers. Clearly, the symbol is that of the unity of the worship of heaven and earth. The angel symbolizing the prayers of heaven, you see, and earth, the prayers of the saints, are united in appealing to God for what's to happen. Remember here that the angel does not do this for the saints. You see, it is not as though the angel must become a mediator for the saints, as though he could render the imperfect prayers of the saints perfect before the throne of God. In the theology of the Scripture, especially in the theology of the New Testament, angels are not mediators from men to God. Angels do not, you see, carry our prayers to heaven. We can only approach God through the golden altar. And we must remember that the prayers of our. That our prayers are accompanied. The incense goes to heaven because of the coals of the altar of sacrifice. Or, if you will, our prayers approach God not because of angelic intercession, but our prayers approach God because of the sacrifice, his son, Jesus Christ. Prayer, in a sense, is sacrificial. In verse four, we read the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. You must think of our prayers just as the smoke of incense approaching God's throne, going up to him. In Ephesians, the fifth chapter, verse 2, Paul speaks with this kind of language and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweet smell. You see the odor, just like the odor of the incense approaches God. And there's connected with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Look at Hebrews 13, verse 15. Through him, then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of lips, which makes confession to his name. You see how the worship then of God's people, their prayers and their praise, is likened to sacrifice. And so also here in Revelation, the prayers of the saints accompany the Incense before the throne of God. And then verse 5 in Revelation 8. The end of the matter is that the prayers of the saints are supremely important, because these prayers will set God's judgment into motion. And the angel taketh the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it upon the earth. And there followed thunders and voices and lightnings, an earthquake. The prayers of the saints are instrumental, and they play an essential part in God's plan for history, because as a result of these prayers, the angel then can take the fire of the altar and cast it on earth. By the way that taking of the coals of the altar and casting them upon earth somewhat parallels the picture we have in Ezekiel the tenth chapter, verses two to seven. We won't read that to save time this morning, but in Ezekiel 10, you'll see that a man in linen garments is commanded to take coals in his hands, coals from between the cherubim and seraphim, is to take these coals in his hands and distribute them all over the city. And so that may be the background to this type of illusion. The idea is that the coals, the burning indignation of God's wrath, are now going to be taken and cast upon the earth. And so in chapter 6, verse 10, we had read this prayer of the martyrs. They cried with a great voice, saying, how long, O Master, the holy and true, Dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And at chapter eight, verse five, the prayer of the martyrs is heard, as God hears, you see these prayers? And the angel takes the incense, takes the coals of fire, excuse me, and cast them upon the earth to avenge the blood of God's people. The world must now tremble before the mighty act of God in history. Just as at Sinai, where there were thunders and lightnings and voices and rumblings and earthquakes. And so the people, you know, feared before the presence of God. So now John says, when God will send this judgment on the earth, there will follow thunders and voices and lightnings and earthquake. Just as at Sinai, men will fear before the presence of God. In this case, God coming to bring his judgment on them. The very nation of Israel that trembled at Sinai is now going to have to tremble before the judgment of God. Verse 6. And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. Here's a whole verse given to nothing else but to heighten the literary image we have the silence in heaven, the appearance of the seven angels of God's presence Then this other angel comes in and does this work at the altar of incense, and he casts the coals upon the earth. And then the seven angels are said to prepare themselves to sound. I think here what we're to understand is they have been given seven war horns, and now they put them to their mouths and. And they all stand prepared, at attention, if you will, ready to sound, you see. And so John sees them lifting the trumpets, ready to blow their trumpets. And all this has been by way of getting to verse seven and following, you see, the breaking of the seventh seal means the scroll is opened, which means God's judgment is going to be seen, which is symbolized in the seven trumpets. But before we can get to the seventh seal, we have all this interlude, right? God sealing his saints and all the rest. And before we can get to the trumpets, there has to be this half hour of silence in heaven. And before we can go from the half hour of silence to the trumpets, there's got to be all this description, the introduction of the angels, the other angel coming in the preparation. Resounding. I'm drawing this to your attention this morning because I think we often can read the Book of Revelation as though it were only intended to give us just this, point by point, you know, analysis of what's going to happen in history, or, if you will, newspaper history, written in advance. Quite clearly, the Book of Revelation is not prophetic in the simple sense of saying, a virgin shall conceive and be with child. You see, it's not just telling us strictly and literally what's going to happen. But the Book of Revelation is very much geared in literary figures, and it has a sense of drama about it, and it has an unfolding of that. And I think we can really be misled in interpreting it if we don't appreciate the literary genre, the literary type and classification category that we're in right now. John wants us to actually have this kind of emotional experience when we read the book, the sense of anticipation and this heightening of intensity, and then finally coming to the climax of what he wants to say. And if you want to be very clear in your own mind as to the type of literary genre we have here, I mean, if you want some, I think, dramatic illustrations of how we're not to read this as pure and simple literary or literal newspaper history written in advance, let's compare a few verses before we go on in our exposition. In chapter nine, verse four, you'll read these words. And it was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads. They're told not to hurt the grass of the earth. But now look at chapter eight, verse seven. And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth. The third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. In chapter eight, John says, all the green grass is burnt up. In chapter nine, John relates to us that the angels are told not to hurt the green grass. Well, there's no green grass to hurt if you're taking this in strict literal chronological order. Now, so either the Bible has made a grievous mistake and contradiction, in which case it's not inerrant, which I trust goes contrary to your religious convictions today, or else this book of Revelation is not to be read, as so often the commentators read it as newspaper history written in advance. Let me give you one more example. In chapter 8, verse 10, we read these words, and the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the waters. And so a great star, a great burning star burning like a torch, falls from heaven. But in chapter 6, verse 12, we have already read these words. And I saw when he opened the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became his blood, and the stars of heaven fell into the earth. So John has already told us, all the stars of heaven have fallen to the earth. And now here in a later chapter, he says, and now a burning star falls from heaven. But you see, if you're to read this in strict order and be literal about it, there aren't any stars left to fall, just as there isn't any green grass left to protect. But that isn't the way we're to read the book. We're to allow John this free movement between different types of images. And we aren't to try to make every one of the literary figures match up with each other. You'll recall, as I said from chapter one, that at one point Jesus is said to have in his right hand the seven stars of the churches. And yet right after that, Jesus, with his right hand picks up John, who is lying prostrate in fear before him. We are to think that in some sense that that means whatever the seven stars symbolize is what picked up John off the ground. I mean, you just can't read this kind of literature in that way. John uses one figure, then he goes to another figure. And. And there's no sense of trying to make all of them match up in terms of a simple allegory along straight lines. And so remembering that, we can go in now into the seven trumpets and hopefully understand them. As we read verses 7 through 12 of Revelation 8. Just these six verses, you will notice that four of the trumpets of judgment are going to sound. And then verse 13, we're going to have an announcement about the remaining three. And then in chapter nine, we'll read about two more. And then there'll be an interlude before the seventh trumpet sounds. Now, what pattern does that remind you of? The pattern of the seven seals where you had four seals broken. They had four seals brought together under one image. That is the image of the horsemen of the Apocalypse. And then you have three remaining seals, but the three remaining are broken. The fifth and then the sixth. And then there's an interlude, and then finally the seventh is broken. Where's the seventh seal broken? Well, at the beginning of chapter eight, where we are today. And so the same pattern is going to follow in the case of the trumpets, four trumpets, and then three trumpets broken down into two and one. So you have a four plus two plus one pattern. Moreover, notice that in these six verses in chapter eight that contain the four trumpets, the phraseology of one third, the fraction, one third is going to occur 12 times in verses seven to 12. That is, in these six verses, we're going to have the image of one third of something being referred to some 12 times. Obviously, that is important in understanding, then, the whole thrust of this pericope, the whole thrust of this passage. But what is one third? You don't have to have a lot of biblical background to understand basically what that would be an image of. And I'm not talking about biblical numerology here either. One third is not the whole, is it? It's one third of the whole. So it's just a portion of something. But is it only just a portion of something? Well, one third is a fairly significant portion of something, isn't it? It's not the biggest portion, it's not the 2/3, but it is a large portion of the whole. And I think throughout here, what we are to understand is this is not the final judgment. This is not the complete judgment. This is not the whole thing. But it's a very significant thing, this judgment. It may only be a third, but remember, a third is a big part of the whole, even though it's not the whole itself. And so these judgments are not final, but they're a significant portion of God's judgment. They're not all the judgment, but they are nevertheless to be reckoned with. And the first trumpet sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. And they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of the earth was burnt up. And the third part of the trees were burnt up. And all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire, was cast unto the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood. And there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had. And the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded. And there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch. And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of the waters. 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. And the fourth angel said, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, that the third part of them should be darkened, and the day should not shine for the third part of it, and the night, in like manner. So always this one third, one third, one third, not the final judgment of God, not utter darkness, not complete devastation of the earth, but a very significant judgment of God in history. Why is it very significant? Because now this is the judgment of God upon his people, Israel. And it's interesting that you will notice the allusion to this kind of judgment is taken from what in the Old Testament. Not point by point, but for the most part, these trumpets. The judgment of these trumpets refers to the plagues that fell on Egypt when God was going to rescue his people, Israel. And now Israel has turned around and is persecuting God's real people, the church, God's genuine people, the sons of Abraham, by faith. And so God is going to Exodus, his people, the Church, from the domination of Jerusalem. God's going to judge the persecutor, just as he judged Egypt, he shall judge Jerusalem. And so John uses pervasively the image of the plagues of Exodus at the time that Israel left Egypt. Just as plagues preceded the release of Israel from their Egyptian masters. And so plagues will proceed the exodus of the church from the hostile political powers which are persecuting it. So that's what these plagues are all about. I think it's a literary image to the Exodus type of deliverance of God with plagues preceding deliverance. Moreover, we can go further and identify the four trumpets as being the type of judgment that afflicts nature. These are nature's indirect judgments upon men, the sorts of things that will happen in the natural world. And of course, that has then an indirect effect upon men who have to live in that natural world. There were several years of ravage, pillage prior to Jerusalem's destruction in AD 70. And we know from all accounts of that period that the land suffered terribly because of it. And so I think John is saying that you're going to have all the effects of war. You see, there's going to be this terrible ravishing of nature. I mean, natural calamities as well, just as accompanies war generally. But the image itself is taken from the types of plagues that we find in the Old Testament directed against the persecutors of God's people. And so noting that this is to be reminiscent of the plagues of Egypt. Let's look at each one in particular before we end today. And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. They were cast upon the earth. Which plague on Egypt does that harken back to? Remember, there were seven plagues on Egypt. I mean, ten plagues on Egypt. Nothing like giving away the answer. And the seventh plague was a plague of hail and brimstone upon the Egyptians. Here, where we read that there was hail and fire mingled with blood. At least I understand that not to mean that the hail and fire caused men to bleed on earth that has caused the death of men on earth, but rather we have a blood red storm. The hail and the fire of the storm, of course, would be the lightning of the storm against a bloody red sky. You see, there is this kind of plague that's going to fall on mankind, especially upon those in Jerusalem. A blood red storm of hail and fire that's likened to the seventh plague. And then the second trumpet says, when the second trumpet sounds, there was a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea. Let me take the time just to go on, to remind you that the third angel sounds, and there falls from heaven a burning star. And so the first trumpet says that there is fire from heaven. The second trumpet says that there will be a burning mountain from heaven. Heaven. And the third trumpet sounds, and there is a burning star from heaven that falls to the earth. And so pervasively we have the image of fire or of God's wrath falling out of heaven. And that ties in with what we've been reading already in this chapter about the coals of fire, of God's wrath that the angel will cast upon the earth. I think it's a sample or an illustration of how John is very much alert to his literary images, even though he's not doing allegory. So there has to be a consistent line of image. Nevertheless, he has already told us an angel is going to cast coals of fire on the earth. And the first three trumpets read fire from heaven, a burning mountain from heaven, and a burning star from heaven. And then by direct contrast, the fourth is going to be darkness over the earth. Okay, but now let's go back to the second trumpet. 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. And that's reminiscent of a plague on Egypt as well. Which plague is. That's right. The river turning to blood, which is the first plague on Egypt. The Nile river was turned to blood, and as a result the fish died in the river. We read. And so a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood. And there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had life. And the third part of the ships were destroyed as well. Okay, so we have a blood red storm and then a burning mountain that turns the sea to blood and kills a third of the creatures and even destroys part of the commerce on the sea. And then the third trumpet sounds. And there fell from heaven a great star burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of the waters. The name of the star is wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood. What is it for water to become like wormwood? What does that indicate? Remember the biblical allusion, the wormwood and the gall. What is wormwood? Its bitterness. And the waters became bitter. The third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died of the waters because they had become bitter. Well, because the waters had turned to blood in Egypt, the water became undrinkable in Egypt. And there's a similar progression here in John's thought. Just as the river turns to blood and. And then the burning star falls upon the fountains of water, so they become undrinkable, and men die because of the bitterness of the water. Look at Jeremiah the 9th chapter, verse 15. Wherefore, thus saith Jehovah, of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. I suggest that it's that kind of Old Testament background that is an illusion or forms the backdrop for what John is saying here. And so the water will turn to wormwood, will turn to the bitterness of gall, and the people won't be able to drink it. That's just the opposite of what God did for Israel in the Old Testament in two ways. In the first place, God turned Egypt's water into undrinkable water in the Old Testament that he might deliver his people. And when God delivered his people from Egypt and they were marching across the wilderness toward the promised land, you may recall the story, I think, in Exodus, the 15th chapter, where they come to Marah. And why is Marah called Marah? What does Marah mean? It means bitter. You see, the people have come to Marah expecting to find a water supply. And what they find is brackish waters, bitter waters at Marah. And what's God do at Marah? What's he telling Moses to do? That's right, to uproot a tree and to throw the tree in the water. And God performs this miracle. As the tree is thrown into the water, the brackish waters are made sweet and the people can drink. So God rescues his people by this miraculous casting of the tree into the water. And now in Revelation, God is going to do to Israel just the opposite. Rather than taking the bitter waters and making them sweet, God will cast a burning mountain into the waters of Israel and turn them bitter. Now, just the reverse of what happened at Marah. And then fourth, the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, the third part of the stars, that the third part of them should be darkened and the day should not shine for the third part of it in the night. In like manner, here's another indication of the type of literature we're talking about, highly figurative literature. For on the one hand, John says the third part of the heavenly bodies is darkened, which would mean a diminishing of the light from heaven. But on the other hand, he says the third part of the day was dark. You see, he wants very much to keep with the image of 1/3, but he doesn't make it consistent. Because if it's only a 1/3 diminishing of the light from heaven, that wouldn't make one third of the day dark. But he says, in fact, one third of the day is Pitch black. On the other hand, it's only one third of the stars and the moon and the sun that are darkened. I hope you see what I'm getting at. He's not perfectly consistent in carrying out this. What he is consistent with is the idea of one third. This is not the total judgment of God, but very significantly. And it's a judgment having to do with darkness and affecting the luminaries of heaven. The sky is darkened. And that again reminds us of one of the plagues on Egypt. Which one? That's right. The three days of darkness on Egypt. That was the ninth place plague, which preceded, of course, the tenth and climactic plague of the death of the firstborn. Okay, so here we have clearly allusions to the plagues on Egypt. The hail and the fire, the sea to blood, the bitterness and undrinkableness of the waters, the sky being darkened. But all the way through, John is saying, and one third of the earth is affected. And one third of the earth is affected. There are going to be these natural calamities that will come, but they won't be the final judgment of God. These are going to be the significant judgment of God upon his people. Look at Mark 13:24, what Jesus said in the Olivet discourse. Jesus said, but in those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. The stars shall be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken. Again, John is consistent with the imagery of Christ when in the Olivet discourse, he describes the significance and the momentous importance of the fall of Jerusalem. It's like the stars falling from heaven and the sun refusing to give its light. Darkness will characterize that day. And In Joel, the second chapter, verse 2, as well as in Amos 5, 18, darkness is associated with the day of God's wrath. And so again, here we have the day of the trumpet and the day of darkness, which is to say simply the day of God's wrath. And it's a very significant wrath. It's the wrath upon his formerly chosen people, Israel. And it's wrath that will be characterized in terms of the plagues formerly used to release his people Israel from their bondage. But now there will be plagues upon Israel itself to release his true people, the new Israel, from their persecutors. So at the time of the birth of the Israelite nation, God had certain plagues. And at the time of the founding of the church of Jesus Christ, that is, in the early the ancient church, there were also These plagues to be reckoned with. There's one other illusion I'd like to draw out before we end this morning. The darkness that is associated with the fall of Jerusalem here in this prophecy may very well tie in with the demonic activity that we know was to take place at the fall of Jerusalem. We'll read in the ninth chapter, the beginning of the ninth chapter, how God is going to use. He's going to use these demons from the pit of hell in the fall of Jerusalem to ravish men. And the darkness that precedes the opening of the abyss where the demons come forth to follow out God's plan of judgment, could be likened to the darkness we see in Second Corinthians 6, verses 14 and 15, where you have the series of contrasts between Beliar or Belial, between Satan and Christ. And in the series of contrasts, you have light over on the ledger side that refers to Christ and darkness over on the side that refers to the kingdom of Satan. Also in Colossians 1:13, when we read of our salvation and our deliverance, we are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness, you see, and so the dark. I think John is aware of that, and he's making a transition here now to the woes that are going to fall. And those woes are connected with the demonic activity of Satan's kingdom that God will use in the fall of Jerusalem. Well, verse 13, we'll come back to this and start with it next week. And I saw and heard an eagle flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, woe, woe, woe for them that dwell on the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet, of the three angels who are yet to sound. You see, we've been seeing all these calamities fall upon the earth, upon the green grass and the trees, upon the the sea, upon the rivers of water, upon the sky and the luminaries of the sky, the stars and all the rest. But now an eagle flying in heaven says, but now there are going to be three woes, and these woes are upon the people. These are woes upon those who dwell on the earth. And so seven trumpets, four of them natural calamities, and the last three being called woes, given the special name of woe because of the angels that are yet to sound. So when you come back next week, we'll see the direct judgments of God upon man, these human woes that are going to be experienced in the fall of Jerusalem. Let's just recapitulate then. I'll see if you have any questions? Real quickly, the seventh seal is broken, which means finally, after these chapters of introduction, the scroll of God's judgment is to going to be unfolded. But before it's unfolded, there's silence in heaven. And before we get to the trumpets, here is God indicating in terms of the prayers of the saints that he's going to answer their prayers. And this angel cast coals of fire, God's wrath upon the earth. And then the angels prepare to sound. And successively, very quickly we hear four trumpets blaring four war horns as God declares war upon the earth. And in terms of the image of the Old Testament exodus, God is going to send plagues upon his people, plagues that are going to not completely destroy them. It's not going to be the final judgment of God. It's not the last day, you see, but it's a very significant judgment in history as God brings these natural calamities in terms of the Old Testament plagues upon Israel. And then there's going to be three more types of judgment. Three more. Three more things which are called woes, direct judgments upon man. And we'll pick them up next week. Now, do you have Questions upon chapter 8? Yes, dave. Literary figures of the grass being burned in one place. Then it's spoken of again. Well, wouldn't some people say, well, in between, it just had time to grow again. I haven't read anybody saying that. I'm sure they'd get around it somewhat. I mean, I just wonder what kind of. What do they say about that? The fact that it is inconsistent. What do people say in order to get around that? Well, I haven't found anybody who takes a literal approach to the book of Revelation dealing with the problem. When I get to chapter nine, of course, I'll be looking especially in my commentaries at that point. And if I come up with something that I'm not now aware of, I'll let you know. But it's especially a problem for those who hold to the view that you have the seven seals and the seventh seal comprises the seven trumpets because that's a compacting. You have these seven seals spaced out like this. But the seventh has got to have seven trumpets. And then of course, the seventh trumpet is going to have seven bowls. So you have this, you know, expanding sort of thing, just like, you know, your child might have a series of barrels or things that can take apart with the smaller ones inside. We have seven within the seventh and then seven more within the seventh of the seventh is the way many premillennialists look upon, you know, these three series in Revelation. And so that all the more draws together what is taking place here in the seven trumpets. And so if at one trumpet we read that the green grass is burned up, and at another trumpet don't destroy the green grass, boy, that really gets hard to deal with if you're going to take a literal, not a figurative approach to the book. In fact, you can take a figurative approach and make it an allegorical approach. And that's very hard to do because an allegory, everything stands for this or that, and there's got to be a consistency in terms of the type and the antitype in allegory, but you don't find that. And so I. I say that the book is a figurative drama and it's neither allegory nor literal newspaper history written in advance. Any other questions? Yes, Mike. Yes. Yeah, but it's not universal, is it? Because 12 times we're told it's only one third. Now, of course, you want to be literal about that, and that couldn't apply to Israel because Israel is not one third of the earth. But I don't think that we're to take it literally. The 1/3 means it's not final. It's not even half of the earth, if you will. But it's a very significant portion. And of course, in God's reckoning, that's very significant when Israel is to be judged. Yes, we'll get that later. Remember, in my preview of these chapters, I talked about the specific indications of John that it is Israel or Jerusalem that's being judged. We don't have those yet, but we can't impose upon John when he's dealing in a highly artistic and very dramatic way, that he tell us everything in logical succession. If nothing else, what you've got to do is hold your breath for a while and put it in abeyance and say, look, this is not the final judgment of God. But what is it? Obviously, it's a very significant judgment. That much you've got to see in the 1/3 image. And now, who is it falling on? Well, later on, John will say that it falls upon the city where our Lord was crucified. And I don't think there's any doubt, you know, that's Jerusalem. But at this point, I don't mean the 1/3 must mean Israel. In virtue of the 1/3. The 1/3 only means that it's not the final judgment of God universal upon the earth. Let's close with a word of prayer. Father, we ask you that you would forgive us for being people who fail to pray. We pray that you would encourage us even by this passage from your word, your word of truth, that our prayers are important. They are important in your plan. They are significant for accomplishing your ends in history. We thank you, Father, that you do think about your people, that you do know of their problems, that you are concerned to avenge them on earth and that you avenge the blood of the martyrs. We thank you, Lord, that John encourages us that your wrath will be directed against all those who are wrathful toward your kingdom. We pray, Father, that you would enable us to be men of faith and men of prayer and that we might see in our day a great advance for the kingdom of Jesus Christ because of the strength of your people when they'll become a people of prayer. And we ask these things in the name of our only mediator between us and you, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.