Revelation 8 - The First Four Trumpets Reveal the Beginning of God's Wrath Upon the Earth!

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The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

8 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 seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The seventh seal was so p,owerful that even heaven was silent for thirty minutes. By implication this would mean most of the time there is noise in heaven, probably music and worship and angels singing. The seven angels stood by God showing their obedience to him. Another angel, possibly more powerful, came with a golden censer. Censers were used to offer burnt offerings and offerings of incense in the temple. 

Here the incense represents the prayers of the people. In the ancient liturgy we chant, "Let our prayers rise up like incense before you, the lifting of our hands as an offering to you!" The prayers went up before the Lord. Imagine your prayers as rising up like incense before the Lord's throne. The prayers went up from the angel's hand showing that angels have a body with parts like ours. 

Next, the angel took the censer and filled it with fire and hurled it down on the earth. This fire caused all kinds of things to happen on the earth including: thunder, rumblings, lightning, and an earthquake. 

 A half-hour silence is not long, but things seem long or short in their context. If a preacher were to stop his sermon and remain silent for ten minutes, it would seem like an eternity. Since heaven is a place of constant praise and worship to God (Revelation 4:8-11), silence for about half an hour is a long time.

Prayer and incense are often associated in the Bible. The idea is that just as incense is precious, pleasant, and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers. 

Significantly, the prayers of God’s people set in motion the coming consummation of history. “More potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.” (Torrance)

The Trumpets

6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. 7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

We move now from the opening of the seven seals to the sounding of the trumpets. The seven trumpets begin the unveiling of the wrath of God. 

We waited for the seven seals to be opened and saw them loosed one by one. But when the seventh seal was finally loosed, the end did not immediately come. It set in motion seven trumpets that would sound upon the earth.

In considering how the seals and the trumpets relate to each other, some believe they are sequential, and that the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet contains the seven bowls of judgment. Yet there are problems with a sequential approach. For example, are the people of Revelation 6:15-17 mistaken about Jesus’ return? They don’t seem to be. But if the trumpets simply follow in sequence to the seals, then it is a striking display of God’s mercy in stretching out the end and allowing repentance.

The first trumpet blew and a mixture of hail, fire, and blood was thrown down on the earth. A third of the earth and trees were burned up as well as all of the green grass. 

In considering how the seals and the trumpets relate to each other, some believe they are sequential, and that the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet contains the seven bowls of judgment. Yet there are problems with a sequential approach. For example, are the people of Revelation 6:15-17 mistaken about Jesus’ return? They don’t seem to be. But if the trumpets simply follow in sequence to the seals, then it is a striking display of God’s mercy in stretching out the end and allowing repentance. - Guzik

How will this happen? Many wonder if it will happen through phenomenon we know today, like nuclear war, fallout, pollution, meteors, and so forth. These ideas are interesting and possible, but they should never obscure the essential truth: God brings judgment. He isn’t a passive bystander. This is not “nature” taking its course.

 8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 

Now that a third of all of the trees, grass, and vegetation were burned, the second angel's trumpet brings wrath to the sea. Once again the measure is one-third. As we said before numbers are important to John. Though the judgment is significant it is limited in its scope. But the result of this trumpet was one third of the living creatures in the sea were destroyed. Something living that God created was now dead. Also something manmade is brought into the equation as ships are destroyed. 

This disaster is a cataclysm, perhaps a meteor that crashes into the sea and results in great oceanic upheaval with residual pollution. Researchers today say that this sort of phenomenon has happened before in the history of the earth, sometimes resulting in great ecological upheaval and disaster. Here, the result is that a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The blood may be either the cause or the effect of the widespread death in the oceans of the world.

10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky 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 turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. 

The third angel's trumpet sound brings a star from heaven and blazing like torch it fills a third of the rivers and springs. The water turns bitter and when people drank this water they died. The star's name was Wormwood. 

Wormwood is a very bitter substance, and proverbial for bitterness and sadness. A third of the rivers… a third of the waters: The proportion of ecological disaster stays the same. In each one of the trumpets, a third of an ecological system is destroyed in judgment. - Guzik

12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, 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 turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. 

The fourth angel's trumpet affects the celestial bodies: the sun, the moon, and the stars. Once again a third of each body was affected. This had the effect of taking one third of the day's sunlight and one third of the light provided by the moon at ight. 

This does not describe a one-third lessening of light, but one-third of the day and night are plunged into absolute darkness. As Jesus said: the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light (Matthew 24:29).

13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

While the first four trumpets brought a lot of destruction there were no humans injured or killed. We will see this is about to change. The threefold Woe! Woe! Woe! warns that what is on the horizon will be much worse. 

These first four trumpets reveal the severity of God’s judgment. He attacks all the ordinary means of subsistence, such as food and water; and He attacks all the ordinary means of comfort, and knowledge, such as light and the regular rhythm of days. - Guzik

The first four trumpets also reveal the mercy of God’s judgment; these are partial judgments striking only one-third, and are meant to warn and lead a rebellious world to repentance before the final curtain. For now, God spares more than He smites. - Guzik