Revelation 8:
The Seventh Seal and the First Four Trumpets
Revelation 8:1-13
Timothy McKeown
Following the tumultuous sounds of shouting and singing of the numberless heavenly host of the redeemed found in Revelation chapter 7, there is an ominous silence in heaven in Revelation 8:1.
Like the first four seals, the first four trumpets
are divided from the final three trumpets. The results of these Trumpet
Judgments are:
1) hail,
fire, and blood, destroying a third of the trees and grass;
2) something
like a mountain burning thrown into the sea, destroying a third of the sea and
its contents;
3) a great
star falling from heaven, destroying a third of the freshwater; and
4) the
darkening of the sun, moon, and stars by a third. As tremendous as the first
four judgments are, the final three come with three woes from an angel,
signifying that they will be even worse.
1 When He opened
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 to them were given seven trumpets.
If you
notice, there is nothing that occurs with the opening of the seventh seal,
except for silence, followed by noises, thundering, lightnings, and an
earthquake, then the trumpets. Likewise, nothing occurs with the seventh trumpet,
except for noises, thundering, lightnings, and an earthquake, then the seven
bowl judgments.
Therefore,
some have concluded that the seventh seal is
all seven trumpet judgments combined and the seventh trumpet is all of the bowl
judgments combined. The trumpet is likely that of a shophar, a ram’s horn,
rather than the silver tube called a khatsotsrah, which we would think of
more like a trumpet or a cornet and used more in worship and music (2 Chronicles
5:12-13, 20:28). It was a shophar that
was used to signal judgment, as in Exodus 20:18, “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes,
the sound of the trumpet (shophar),
and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood
afar off.”
It will be a
shophar that is blown as the final trump shall sound when the Lord will come in
the air over Israel, Zechariah 9:14. “Then
the Lord will be seen over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning.
The Lord God will blow the trumpet (shophar), and go with whirlwinds from the south.”
A shophar brings
fear and calamity: “If a trumpet is blown
in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will
not the Lord have done it?” (see Amos
3:6).
Joel 2:1 said
a trumpet (shophar) would be blown in Israel (Zion) as the Day of the
Lord draws near.
The angels
who stand before God could have very well included Gabriel, who stands in the
presence of God (Luke 1:19), and also appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:16, 9:21). John
Sinclair wrote “The Eyes of Texas,” and said it would be Gabriel who
“blows his horn”, but with all due respect, the Bible does not say that.
However, the
Bible clearly says that the last trump for the church will sound at the Rapture,
before the Tribulation: 1 Corinthians
Again in 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
Nor are these
trumpets the final trumpet to be sounded before Christ returns to the earth,
because that occurs at the end of the Tribulation (see Matthew 24:29-31). These
sounding of trumpets occur within the seven-year Tribulation Period.
3 Then another angel, having a golden
censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should
offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was
before the throne.
4 And the smoke
of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the
angel's hand.
5 Then the angel
took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth.
And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 So the seven angels who had
the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Another
angel, an eighth, comes with the censer, which was used to offer up burning
coals and incense on the altar within the veil of the holy of holies (Leviticus
16:12). This angel is not, as some have theorized, Jesus Christ, for the
passage does not say that the angel intercedes, but that he offers incense
“with the prayers.”
Only Christ
and the Holy Spirit intercede for us to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5, Romans
8:26). As mentioned earlier, this incense symbolizes the prayers of the saints
(see Revelation 5:8). It should be noted that heaven does not pattern itself
after the earthly, but rather the earthly patterns itself after the heavenly
(see Hebrews 9).
The fire from the altar represented the testing times experienced by the saints on earth, and the incense is the prayers that accompany that testing. Verse 5 reminds readers of Isaiah 29:6, when God’s judgment was mixed with an earthquake, noise, and thunder in His judgment against the wicked in Jerusalem (Ariel).
7 The first
angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were
thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green
grass was burned up.
8 Then the second angel sounded: And
something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and
a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures
in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 Then 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 water. 11 The name of the star is
Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water,
because it was made bitter.
12 Then the
fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon,
and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the
day did not shine, and likewise the night.
The first
trumpet mingles the hail (atmospheric) and fire (meteorological) judgments with
the destruction of humans and animals (blood), as well as trees and grass, and
likely other vegetation as well. Many of these judgments are like those of
Exodus 7-11. These plagues are worse than those of the Exodus.
The second
trumpet signals a massive object, to a mountain burning with fire, hitting the
sea. Whether it is a meteor or an object made by God, it is not coincidental.
It may be circling the solar system even now, waiting for God’s precise timing.
The massive tidal waves from such an event will damage all of the ships in the
surrounding area, so perhaps one third of all ships will be in that section of
the sea or ocean. One needs only to look at the “red tide” of the
The third
trumpet shows not a mountain but a star, or a bright object. The Greek does not
demand a literal star, but a heavenly object. This object will poison the
water. It is interesting to note that the Russian translation for this word “wormwood”
is “
Fourthly, the
sun, moon, and stars will be darkened. On the fourth day of creation, God
created the sun, moon and stars. Now at the end of the world as we know it, the
heavenly bodies are diminished by a third.
This is not the same as Matthew 24:29, which says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” This prophecy from
Matthew will occur after the Tribulation
and may coincide with the fourth bowl judgment or Revelation 21:23 which says
there will be no need for the moon or sun.
You may have
noticed the repetition of “one third”; in fact, I do not think anyone could
have missed it. Why is one third repeatedly mentioned? I am not sure, but I
will attempt to answer that question at a later point of this study.
13 And I looked, and I heard an angel
flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe,
woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the
trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
Tim LaHaye says this warning informs us that “as horrible as the first four trumpets have been, they will be surpassed in misery by that which is to follow.” (Revelation Unveiled, pg. 168). The word “woe” or sometimes translated “alas” is used in seven verses[i] of Revelation.
Woes are also
pronounced by Christ in His denunciation of Chorazin and Bethsaida (Luke 10:13)
and also of the scribes and Pharisees, whom He calls blind guides and
hypocrites. He also says woe to those with child in the Tribulation (Matthew 24:
19) and of Judas (Matthew 26:24). Four times He says woe in the “Sermon on the
Plain” to those who are rich, to those who are full, to those who laugh now,
and to those of whom are spoken well.
Chapter 9, 10
and 11 speak of the final three trumpets, the seventh is not sounded until Revelation
11:15.
[i] See https://timothymckeown.blogspot.com/2016/11/11-blessings-or-woes-answer-is-seen-in.html for a comparison of seven woes and seven beatitudes in Matthew and there are also seven woes and beatitudes in Revelation.
