REVELATION 8
Seal Seven, The Trumpets of Wrath

The seventh and final seal which is about to be opened will reveal the fullness of God’s wrath. All the events, that together make up God’s wrath, appear in Revelation, chapters 8-11. They will be repeated in chapters 16-19 as the end-times are laid out chronologically a second time from a different perspective. The time of God’s wrath begins with a half hour of silence in heaven. All of the praise and worship, all of the rejoicing and celebration by the saints who have just been liberated from their mortal flesh and delivered from a world of sin, and all of the other activities of heaven stop for what amounts to a thirty-minute moment of silence before the Wrath of God begins. This half hour of silence has nothing to do with the Rapture that has already been completed under the sixth seal. The great multitude from every nation and tongue is already in heaven. Now that God has removed His people from harm’s way, He is preparing to unleash the full fury of His wrath on the people of the earth below for all the things they have done against Him and His servants and for their rejection of all that is good. The half hour of silence ends when an angel takes a golden censor filled with fire, incense and the prayers of the saints and casts it into the earth. The silence is broken by the great commotion that ensues with voices, thunders and an earthquake. “Vengeance is mine,” saith the Lord.

Revelation 8:1-5

1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Each of the seven trumpets that are about to sound signify one of the seven judgments of God to be poured out upon the wicked who remain on the earth. The seven trumpets coincide with and correspond to the seven vials of Revelation 16, which have been inserted after each trumpet below for the purpose of comparison. When you read the scriptures together, you notice similarities that make it clear that the trumpets and vials correspond and relate to each other. However, we must bear in mind that the trumpets and vials are expressing things from different perspectives; thus, we should not expect them to say the same thing down to the last letter. Many have placed such stringent constraints on interpretation of prophecy that they do not allow for variations in the way that one event may be recorded differently in different places.

Seven is God’s number of completion. God completed His work of recreating the world in seven days as reported in Genesis, He will allow the Antichrist seven years to complete sin and rebellion and then He will bring seven years of wrath on a disobedient world. Perhaps the seven judgments and plagues come one each from the seven spirits of God.

There is not much explaining of the following events other than to read them and take them literally. Just try to imagine for yourself what it would be like to be around when these things begin to take place—and then make sure that you’re not. The judgments of the first four trumpets are aimed at only one third of the earth, but they have an effect on all of the earth. As we read through the rest of Revelation, it becomes clear that the things taking place are centered in the Middle East where the kingdom of the beast will be found, but they will have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the world, which will then be totally populated by sinners. It appears from what we are about to read that the judgment the residents of the beast kingdom will receive is much more severe than that of the rest of the world.

As we read about the trumpets in chapters 8-11, we will see a broad, or more of a worldwide, perspective to the Wrath of God, and because of that when things occur, we are told to look at that third of the world where the impact is felt the most. Later when we read about the vials in chapters 16-19, God is, in effect, using a zoom lens that takes us exclusively into the Middle East and the kingdom of the beast. Therefore, when things occur in those chapters where the vials are revealed, we are not directed to the one third of the world where the beast exerts his greatest amount of control because we have already zoomed in on that portion. Even though the vials seem broader, they are simply showing the same targeted area of judgment that the trumpets are—that one third of the world that will be most actively serving the Antichrist. So when we read the chapters that reveal the judgments of the trumpets, we are looking at the whole world and being directed to narrow our focus down to that one third of the world where the Antichrist will have his greatest influence. When we look at the vials of wrath, we are not seeing things from a worldwide perspective but, rather, an isolated view of the Middle East and environs where the Antichrist leads his loyal subjects on a killing rampage against Christians and Jews.

The first trumpet sees a third part of the greenery of the earth destroyed by fire. Where is this third of the earth? It’s in the same location in which the first vial is centered—in the Middle East where the Antichrist will be dividing his time between making war and playing God in the temple of God in Jerusalem. This first trumpet/vial combination seems to have a cause-and-effect aspect to it. One third of plant life is destroyed and the people in that part of the earth come down with a very bad and very painful open sore, perhaps through a vitamin and oxygen deficiency caused by a lack of green plants.However, the sore could just be something God slaps on them, irrespective of the lack of greens.

Revelation 8:6-7

6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7 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.

Revelation 16:2

And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.

The next trumpet/vial combination also shows “cause and effect,” but this time it is more apparent. A great burning mountain is thrown into the sea; it becomes blood, and everything dies in the sea. These two references are not speaking of a particular sea but, rather, are being used in a generic sense to refer to all seas.At the same time, the first reference narrows things down to one third of the seas while the second reference is already narrowed to one third of the seas by virtue of the fact that the scriptural setting of Revelation 16 is such that it focuses only on that third of the world where the Antichrist rules with a rod of iron.

Revelation 8:8-9

8 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;

9 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 16:3

And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Next, a burning star named Wormwood falls into the rivers, fountains and springs. Wormwood means bitter, poisonous and calamity. The vial mentions the same rivers and fountains, but in addition to them becoming bitter, they turn to blood just like the seas that surround them. It’s interesting to note that although the springs feed the rivers and the rivers run into the seas, the bloody waters start in the seas and progress backwards to the rivers and fountains. Perhaps God is showing off a little bit, or maybe He is just making sure that they are unable to explain things away as some type of fluke phenomenon, and they have to confess that it is the God of the Jews doing these things to punish them.

Revelation 8:10-11

10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11 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.

Revelation 16:4

And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

Cause and effect is presented in a whole different light in the next judgment. (That is meant to be a pun. It will dawn on you as you read on.) The trumpet shows that one third part of the day and night is darkened while the vial shows the sun heating up to the point that it scorches the occupants of the earth. At first glance, if we compare the fourth trumpet/vial combination to the three that preceded it, we might assume that the sun just stops shining in the one third of the earth that is Antichrist controlled, and they live out this plague in eight hours of darkness. However, since Revelation 16 is speaking specifically of the Beast kingdom, we see that the sun and moon shine there for the other two thirds of the day. That part of the day when the sun is not shining and the Beast Kingdom is bathed in darkness is the only time of relief these unrepentant sinners will get. The other two thirds of the day the sun is so hot it scorches them. That’s global warming at its worst. But it comes from God, and there’s nothing they can do about it. If the waters are still blood at this time, these people will have to submerge themselves in the hot stinky mess to keep from broiling. It’s not much of a choice—being broiled in the hot sun, baked in an ovenlike home or simmered in blood.

Revelation 8:12

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

Revelation 16:8

And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

The verse below states that the final three trumpets will follow after the first four are completed. In other words, everything is beingrecorded chronologically. This does not mean that the entire Book of Revelation is supposed to be read as a chronological rendition of the end-times.There are three different segments of the Book of Revelation dealing with the end-times, and each of them is presented in chronological order. However, verse 13 is referring only to the trumpets and, by extension, the vials. As we begin to read about the final three trumpets and vials, or woes as they are called here, we begin to see references to the duration of certain events.We will look at the times catalogued in the upcoming chapters later in this book as we consider how long the Wrath of God really takes. It is important to know that these events are being recorded chronologically and that each one is completed before the next one begins. Using that knowledge, we are able to see how long the Wrath of God actually takes.

Revelation 8:13

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, WHICH ARE YET TO SOUND!

Think about it!

­Are the trumpet plagues tribulation from Satan or wrath from God?

­Does Satan turn the waters to blood and darken the sun?

~Selah~For, behold, the LORD cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. Isaiah 26:21

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