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REVELATION - Behold, I am Coming Soon
Studies in the Book of Revelation
BOOK 3 - THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AND THE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS (REVELATION 7:1 – 9:21)
PART 3.3 - THE LAMB OF GOD OPENS THE SEVENTH SEAL THE SEVEN TRUMPET JUDGMENTS AND THE THREE WOES (REVELATION 8:1 - 9:21)

2. The Seven Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8:7 - 9:21)


REVELATION 8:7
7 The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burnt up, and one third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The First Trumpet Sounds - the Earth is Harmed

The sounding of the first trumpet brings a punishment with it that resembles the seventh plague in Egypt (Exodus 9:18-35). The pharaoh had shamelessly exploited the descendants of Jacob and degraded them to half-slaves. The intensifying effect of the seventh plague was to wear pharaoh down, so that he would let the people of the Lord go into the wilderness, where they might serve their Lord.

The church of Jesus Christ will be oppressed and persecuted in the end-time. In Indonesia, India and Nigeria hundreds of churches have been burned. In China active followers of the Lord are imprisoned. In the Sudan thousands of Christians are enslaved, and in multi-cultural industry states the circle of activity of believers is continually being tightened. But the risen Lord, too, suffers with His persecuted church, like He asked Saul: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Whoever oppresses or harms the church of Jesus touches the apple of the Lord's eye. His warnings and punishments are soon to follow.

John saw in his vision a great hailstorm falling from heaven, mixed with fire, causing the death of many. Some are led to think on a volcano eruption, like the one in 1883 in Indonesia, when the island volcano of Krakatoa exploded. The water masses of the ocean plunged into the fiery abyss. Clouds of steam and red-hot dust were thrown upwards into high atmosphere and darkened the sun for weeks. Masses of lava caused 20-30 meter high waves that swept several times around the earth. Within a very short time 36,000 lives were swept away.

Other interpreters are reminded of the bombing nights in air raid shelters, as wave after wave of aircraft dropped high-explosive bombs and burning phosphorous onto heavily populated residential areas. Within a few minutes entire city areas were wiped out. Burning cities were no rarity. People remained stuck in the softened tar of the streets and burned like blazing torches.

The atomic bomb on Hiroshima destroyed in the blink of an eye more than 100,000 lives and transformed the large city into a ghost town. In the Vietnam War forests were defoliated to be able to spot enemy camps. A tsunami wave killed more than 200,000 natives and vacationers in the Gulf of Bengal and in northern Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004. Intercontinental ballistic missiles can today reach targets in other lands down to the exact meter.

A global catastrophe could also arise from a hail of comet meteorites breaking into the earth's atmosphere like devastating fireballs striking large regions of the earth's surface. The visions of John have become conceivable. The trumpet judgments are not unknown to us.

The first trumpet judgment will damage the dry lands of the continents, the areas where people dwell. The befallen one-third of the earth, including all of its wooded areas, will, however, not be entirely burned up, but “only” scorched. Grass and grain will go up in flames in no time. Not a single flower will be left.

Jesus once invited us to remain standing and watch how the lilies of the field grow, and to extol the Creator for His wonders (Matthew 6:28-33). But for that we have no time. Work, money and vacation are more important to us than God. Now He begins to shake the very basis of man's livelihood, so that they might come to contemplation and turn around. Who is the one that understands the signs of the time and draws the necessary consequences?

PRAYER: Just Lord, we regret for the growing number of atheists these days and for killing Your faithful witnesses, wherefore You allow millions of trees to burn up, and bombs to fall down like rain wiping off entire cities. Forgive us if we did not care about the unbelievers and those in pain, or if we did not toil in the way of preaching them with the gospel of Your power and Your spiritual peace.

QUESTION:

  1. What does God mean by His judgments against mankind?

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