The Seven Trumpets
Revelation chapter 8 begins with an arresting verse:
8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
I think the simplest meaning here is probably the most likely: there is silent awe in heaven at God’s judgment.
And at what is going to happen next.
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
John sees into what is a heavenly temple—the censer and the altar are the key images. The smoke of the incense in heaven are the prayers of God’s people, billowing from the censer the angel holds in its hand.
Look what happens next!
5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The prayers of God’s people—many of them the anguished prayers of the martyrs—result in judgment on earth!
Prayer changes things!
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing 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 people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
There is a series of 3 sets of 7 judgments in Revelation:
7 seals;
7 trumpets;
7 bowls.
Each series brings judgment on the earth. Most commentators (and I agree) believe that John’s vision is moving in a circle at this point, with each set of 7 telling the same account in a different (and increasingly intense) way.
1st seal=1st trumpet=1st bowl
2nd seal=2nd trumpet=2nd bowl
etc.
Here, the 7 trumpets (or at least the first 4 trumpets in the series, which are all that chapter 8 contains) lead to judgments on earth that are modeled on the Egyptian plagues: hail, blood, darkness, etc.
Just as with the seals, the judgments of the trumpets raise an important question:
If these cataclysmic judgments do not cause humanity to repent, then what will cause humanity to repent?
Read on, dear reader.