The Seven Trumpets

“The war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, who fought back with his angels; but the dragon was defeated, and he and his angels were not allowed to stay in heaven any longer. The huge dragon was thrown out – that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him.” (12:7,8)

“With his tail he dragged a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth.” (12:4)

“But how terrible for the earth and the sea! For the Devil has come down to you with great wrath…” (12:12)

“…he began to pursue the woman…from his mouth the dragon poured out a flood of water after the woman…the dragon was furious with the woman…” (12:13-17)

“The beast was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God….It began to curse God, his name, the place were he lives, and all those who live in heaven.” (Revelation 13:5,6)

“The beast forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to have a mark…” (13:16)

“There is no relief day or night for those who worship the beast and its image…” (14:11)

“The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded (“wounded to death”, “violently slaughtered”), but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. Everyone worshiped the dragon…’” (Revelation 13:2-4)

“…those who obey God’s commandments and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17)

“I am a servant together with you and with other believers, all those who hold to the truth that Jesus revealed. Worship God! For the truth that Jesus revealed is what inspires the prophets.” (Revelation 19:10)

“I also saw the souls of those who had been executed because they had proclaimed the truth that Jesus revealed and the word of God.” (Revelation 20:4)

God as power and as Creator Praised by the 4 living creatures, 72

elders The “middle” of the throne is the

violently slaughtered Lamb Praised by “thousands and millions”…”all

beings in the universe”

1. “Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!” (2 Corinthians 11:14)

2. War 3. Hunger/poverty 4. Death 5. “Where are you God?” 6. Two Groups 7. Silence in Heaven 

“…dramatic motion picture [analogy] whose individual scenes portray the same person or action each time from a different angle or perspective, while simultaneously adding some new insight to the whole.” Elisabeth Fiorenza, “Revelation of a Just

World: Vision”, pg. 33

“…judgments God will pour out the unsaved world” (Osborne)

“…actual judgments on the majority of earth’s inhabitants” (Beale)

“God’s covenant curses on His enemies” (LaRondelle)

“The primary focus is on punitive judgment” (Paulien)

“…righteous judgments and vengeance upon those who viciously harassed and oppressed the faithful” (Stefanovic)

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

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.” (Revelation 8:7-9)

“Then the third angel blew his trumpet. A large star, burning like a torch,* dropped from the sky and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (The name of the star is "Bitterness.") A third of the water turned bitter, and many people died from drinking the water, because it had turned bitter.” (Revelation 8:10-11)

*a great blazing star, “See Isaiah 14:12”

How you are fallen from heaven, O Shining one, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the

stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly

on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds,

I will make myself like the Most High.”

But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Abyss.

Those who see you will stare at you, and ponder over you:

“Is this the one who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,

who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities,

who would not let his prisoners go home?”

All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;

but you are cast out, away from your grave,

like loathsome carrion, clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,

who go down to the stones of the Pit, like a corpse trampled underfoot.

You will not be joined with them in burial, because

you have destroyed your land, you have killed your people.

Isaiah Revelation

Great Star

HeavenFierce struggleFallenEarthPit/abyssDestroyer

“Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet. A third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that their light lost a third of its brightness; there was no light during a third of the day and a third of the night also.” (Revelation 8:12)

14 times: 1/3 in the trumpet sequence

“[The little horn] grew strong enough to attack the army of heaven, the stars themselves, and it threw some of them to the ground and trampled on them.” (Daniel 8:10)

“[The little horn] even defied the Prince of the heavenly army…and true religion (truth) was thrown to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did.” (Daniel 8:11-12)

“Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet. I saw a star which had fallen down to the earth, and it was given the key to the abyss. The star opened the abyss, and smoke poured out of it, like the smoke from a large furnace; the sunlight and the air were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. Locusts came down out of the smoke upon the earth, and they were given the same kind of power that scorpions have” (Revelation 9:2-3).

Joel’s locust army comes from the north (Joel 2:20).

The north is contested territory in the Bible: “The bright morning star…You thought you would sit

like a king on the mountain in the north where the gods assemble” (Isaiah 14:13).

“Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” (Psalm 48:2)

Gog, who personifies the forces that are hostile to God, “will set out to come from your place in the far north, leading a large, powerful army of soldiers from many nations, all of them on horseback” (Ezekiel 38:14, 15).

“The locusts looked like horses ready for battle; on their heads they had what seemed to be crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth. Their chests were covered with what looked like iron breastplates, and the sound made by their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion, and it is with their tails that they have the power to hurt people…” (Revelation 9:7-10).

“They have a king ruling over them, who is the angel in charge of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon; in Greek the name is Apollyon (meaning ‘The Destroyer’)” (Revelation 9:11).

“locusts that looked like horses” (Revelation 9:7) “their power is in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails are like snakes with heads, and they use them to hurt people" (Revelation 9:19).

God “...will cut them off, head and tail. The old and honorable men are the head - and the tail is the prophets whose teachings are lies” (Isaiah 9:15). 

“The power of these enemy forces came from the lies and falsehoods they promoted, symbolized by the smoke coming from their mouths and their tails being like snakes, which were able to inflict injury.” (Revelation 9:19, Tim Jennings)

“Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice coming from the four corners of the gold altar standing before God. The voice said to the sixth angel, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River!’ The four angels were released; for this very hour of this very day of this very month and year they had been kept ready to kill a third of all the human race.” (Revelation 9:13-15)

The locusts were “too many to count” (Joel 1:6).

“I was told the number of the mounted troops: it was two hundred million. And in my vision I saw the horses and their riders: they had breastplates red as fire, blue as sapphire, and yellow as sulfur. The horses' heads were like lions' heads, and from their mouths came out fire, smoke, and sulfur. A third of the human race was killed by those three plagues: the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur coming out of the horses' mouths.” (Revelation 9:16-18)

Seven beatitudes Seven times the word “Christ” or Messiah Seven times “God and the Lamb” Seven times Christ reassures us that “I am coming” Seven times, “The LORD God Almighty” Seven times, “The One who sits on the throne” Seven times, “the witness of Jesus” Seven times, “the witnesses of Jesus” Seven times in total three phrases are used to

describe God that are each considered to be equivalent: “the Alpha and the Omega” “the beginning and the end” “the first and the last”

“When the influence of Revelation 12 is felt on prior passages in Revelation, the thrust of the recurring ‘third’ suggests a sense that will not be a reference to quantity, in answer to the questions probing for ‘what’ or ‘where’ or ‘how much’. It must also be seen as a qualitative reference, an answer to the question, ‘who?’ With an eye on the beginning, the ‘thirds’ under the trumpets serve as a signifier of agency and therefore as a telltale sign of demonic activity. The revelator perceives in these ‘thirds’ the fingerprint of Satan on all the instances of disaster and suffering that he catalogues, and he purposes to feature them by invoking the original satanic trademark, whose tail swept down ‘a third of the stars of heaven’ (12:4).” – Tonstad, “Saving God’s Reputation”, pg. 112

“The critical and distinctive point in this perception of the narrative is that before Revelation tells of the end of Satan, the reader is informed of the character of his activity, telling the story again and again from new a progressively revealing angles. In the trumpet sequence it is his activity that is depicted, in contrast to views that see the calamities accompanying the trumpets primarily as God’s judgments on human beings who are disobedient.” – Tonstad, pg. 110

Discipline “I will discipline you, but with justice; I cannot

let you go unpunished” (Jeremiah 30:11 NLT) .

Retributive

Noah had no faults and was the only good man of his time. He lived in fellowship with God, but everyone else was evil in God’s sight, and violence had spread everywhere. God looked at the world and saw that it was evil, for the people were all living evil lives. (Genesis 6:9-12)

“The LORD said to Noah, ‘Go into the boat with your whole family; I have found that you are the only one in all the world who does what is right (Genesis 7:1)

You have brought this on yourself by abandoning the LORD your God when he led you on his way…Your own wickedness will correct you, and your unfaithful ways will punish you. You should know and see how evil and bitter it is for you if you abandon the LORD your God... (Jeremiah 2:17-19) 

Judah, you have brought this on yourself by the way you have lived and by the things you have done. Your sin has caused this suffering; it has stabbed you through the heart. (Jeremiah 4:18)