Revelation 8 & 9: Wrath From Six of the Seven Trumpets

PHIL HARRIS

Introduction

We continue our study of Revelation by looking at chapters 8 and 9 this week. While there are many different interpretations of this book among Christians, I am sharing my understanding using the hermeneutical principles of context, grammar, and comparison with other passages of Scripture which deal with similar symbols and concepts. 

The Lamb Opens the Seventh Seal

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them (Rev. 8:1-2).

The apostle John sees the future from God’s perspective, yet as a mortal man he experiences the passing of time: “for about half an hour” there is silence in heaven. John’s view of heaven and the silence before our sovereign God reminds us of Habakkuk’s words:

But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him (Hab. 2:20).

The opening of the seventh seal portends a time of judgment coming upon all that is evil. Zechariah also foretold this silent expectation of God’s judgment:

Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation (Zech. 2:13).

This silence is in dramatic contrast to the shouting of praise, singing, and the playing of harps that we’ve been reading about up until now. After John experiences this silence in heaven, he learns of “the seven angels who stand before God” who are given trumpets.

In fact, in Luke chapter one we read of Gabriel who is one of the angels who stands before God. He was privileged to bring a special message to both Mary and the priest Zechariah about the forthcoming birth of Jesus. Gabriel spoke to Zechariah as he ministered in the temple:

And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news” (Luke 1:19).

The Golden Altar

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, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 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 (Rev. 8:3-5).

Some commentators have speculated that this “another angel” might be Jesus; however this interpretation isn’t likely. In the context of the chapters we have been studying, Jesus is called the Lamb and is the only One qualified to open the seven seals. Furthermore, the word “another” implies an angel just like the other seven who stand before God. Importantly, in the New Testament Jesus is never called an angel. In fact, nowhere is He one of others like Him. Instead he is identified as the eternal Son of God, and in Revelation 1:8 he is the “Alpha and the Omega”.

This angel stands with a golden censer at the golden altar which is the heavenly counterpart of the one represented in Exodus 30:1-7. In the Mosaic temple, this golden altar is next to the Holy of Holies, whereas in heaven it is before the throne of God. Here in heaven the smoke of the burning incense placed there by this angel arises before God together with the prayers of the saints. Given the context of this vision occurring right after the description of the great multitude standing before the throne of God in Revelation 7:9–17, these prayers include those of the saints described in that multitude.

Then the angel fills the censer with fire from the altar and casts it on the earth resulting in “thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake”. This is symbolic of the reality that the prayers of the saints, which are directed to God, impact those here on earth. The fire from the alter of incense that is cast upon the earth is in response to the prayers of the saints.

What with the “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” there is little doubt that God has the full attention of the wicked who need to repent.

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them (Rev. 1:6).

The use of a trumpet is an ancient means for broadcasting a public alarm. In modern times this trumpet blast would be like hearing the sound of an approaching police or ambulance siren. What follows the blowing of God’s trumpets are warnings for those who are living an evil life to stop what they are doing and repent.

The First Trumpet

The first four trumpets are directed toward the destruction of the earth’s environment, with each trumpet call announcing more severe effects than those preceding it.

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 (Rev. 8:7).

Hailstorms in Scripture speak of divine judgment, because hailstones can harm or destroy whatever they hit. Lightning, of course, is “fire from heaven”. We see Moses describing the same kind of judgment from God in the plague of hail and lightning He sent upon Egypt:

Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. (Ex. 9:23-24)

This passage in Revelation also echoes the prophet Joel who spoke of a trumpet being blown in Zion (Joel 2:1) announcing “the day of the Lord”:

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls (Joel 2:30-32).

As for the “blood”, even though we may not know how this prophecy can be manifested, we cannot assume that the blood will merely be something that only looks like blood, especially since John did not use a simile and say there would be something “like blood”.

The Second Trumpet

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. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed (Rev. 8:8-9).

Like “a great mountain” could very well be a great meteorite or asteroid since the apostle John is describing something he sees but doesn’t have a word for. Significantly, unlike John’s reference to “blood” in the previous trumpet, he describes this object with a simile: something “like a great mountain”. 

This thing “like a great mountain” that turns a third of the world’s oceans into blood reminds us of what God did in the plague he inflicted upon Egypt when the water of the Nile River was turned into blood as recorded in Exodus chapter seven”:

“The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Ex. 7:5).

The people must realize that this is an act of God, but just like Egypt’s Pharaoh, their hearts are hard and do not repent.

The Third Trumpet

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. 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 (Rev. 8:10-11).

At the blowing of the trumpet a “great star” named Wormwood falls upon the earth. Although we cannot know for sure, possibly it is a comet that breaks apart as it penetrates our atmosphere and contaminates a third of our rivers and springs. 

We can gain some insight into this star’s name from the plant known as “wormwood”. It is one of several varieties of a small, common shrub with grayish-white leaves that exists over much of the earth. Interestingly, the Russian word for wormwood is “Chernobyl”. In fact, the coincidence of the name is why many people became alarmed concerning the end of the world when the Chernobyl nuclear reactor self-destructed some years ago.

Wormwood is mentioned eight times in the Old Testament but only once—here—in the New Testament. Although not normally considered poisonous, this plant does a very bitter taste. In fact, it has many medical uses including a drink made from it which treats people with intestinal worms. Likely this use of the plant is the source of the name “wormwood”. 

When we look at Old Testament references to God’s judgment meting out bitter water to disobedient people, we find the connection between bitter, poisoned water and the bitter waters called “wormwood” in Revelation 8:

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink (Jer. (9:15).

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land” (Jer. 23:15).

This prophecy in Revelation is a future fulfillment of God’s declaration of judgment against unrepentant people. 

The Fourth Trumpet

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 (Rev. 8:12).

This trumpet, the last to specifically alter our environment, shifts our attention away from what has been happening here on earth to the darkening of a third of the sun, moon and stars. The heavenly bodies were darkened once before, when God brought the plague of darkness upon Egypt while sparing the Israelites in Goshen (see Exodus 10:21-22). Both Isaiah and Ezekiel (Ez. 32:7-8) tell us this phenomenon will happen at the Day of the Lord. Here is Isaiah’s prophecy: 

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light (Isa. 13:9-10).

There will be many who want to blame environmental crises on such things as “global warming” and “climate change” with the idea that mankind can and must fix the problems. However, even the wicked have no choice but to acknowledge that what happens at the blowing of the fourth trumpet can only be an act of God.

Woe, Woe, Woe

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!” (Rev. 8:13).

This is a clear warning for the wicked to repent of their evil ways and to believe in and trust the Lamb Jesus Christ as their Savior. In fact, if we look ahead to Revelation 13:11-18, we read that all have a choice that must be made between good and evil. It will be proclaimed that all must receive the mark of the beast and worship him. Further, those who refuse to have the mark of the beast and instead repent of their sins and receive the seal of God face the very real probability of being slain. Even so, these martyrs will be safe in the kingdom of God.

Furthermore, those that are slain because of their trust in God and their refusal to worship the beast may be understood to be “the great multitude” who have been evangelized by the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7:9-17 and 8:3-4.

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (2 Cor. 1:20-22).

The Fifth Trumpet

• Bottomless pit opened:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft (Rev. 9:1-2).

The Greek “abyssos” translates into the English language as “bottomless pit” or “abyss”. This same word is used in Luke 8:26-39 where we find the account of Jesus freeing a man of a demon named Legion (which actually was many demons), who feared being cast into the abyss, or “abyssos”:

And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss (Luke 8:31).

It is further believed that a “star fallen” represents Satan to whom God gives the key for unlocking the abyss at the blowing of the fifth trumpet. Isaiah gives us this imagery which is understood to describe the fallen Satan:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, 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; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit (Isa. 14:12-15).

In Revelation 9:1, 2 this fallen star is given the key to the abyss where demons are bound. At the opening of the abyss so much smoke is released that “the sun and air” again becomes darkened, but instead of just one third, now the whole earth has been clouded over.

• Power given:

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them (Rev. 9:3-6).

At the sounding of the trumpet it is the Lamb, the Son of God, who allows for the opening of the abyss, releasing demons who have been kept captive until now. It is they who overwhelm the earth like locusts for five months, but do far worse damage than ordinary locusts. These demonic locusts have been given the ability to sting like scorpions, unlike ordinary locusts which eat what grows on the earth. Their one and only activity is to torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

All my years as a member of Seventh-day Adventist organization, I was taught to worry about having the mark of the Beast. I did not understanding that if I’m protected by having the seal of God through believing in the finished work of Jesus, I need not be concerned what the Beast offers the world.

Those not protected by the seal of God are in such torment that they overcome their fear of death and seek to die—yet they cannot. 

• Prepared for battle:

In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails (9:7-10).

The apostle John records what these demon-possessed locusts look like. It is as if they were each a horse prepared for battle. While having a human-like face with a woman’s hair, they also have teeth like a lion. They are wearing protective armor and are able to sting like a scorpion.

Nevertheless, their power to hurt people is restricted to a period of five months.

• Their king is Abaddon:

They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come (Rev. 9:11-12).

Their leader, the ruler of the bottomless pit, is called Abaddon/Apollyon. Both words mean destroyer or destruction. Opinions differ somewhat, but this demonic angel could either be Satan himself or one of his underlings. Yet as Christians we are reminded:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (Eph. 6:12-13).

The Sixth Trumpet

Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire[ and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. (Rev. 9:13-19)

When God the Father, the one sitting on the throne, handed over the scroll to Jesus Christ, the Lamb, Jesus received authority to speak in the name of the Father. Therefore, His is most likely the voice John hears.

As we read the book of Jude we can deduce that these four bound angels who are released at this very time are demonic:

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day (Jude 1:6).

These four demons take command of an army 200 million strong. God will restrict their mission to the killing of one-third of those still living on earth.

What follows is a “killing time” that will literally happen. People have described this battle in symbols of future military technology that is beyond John’s ability (or our own) to understand. We cannot know exactly how it will happen, yet like all of God’s prophecies, it will be fulfilled. The “mounted troops” are riding “horses” that are beyond the ordinary, giving the troops the mobility and weapons to attack the whole earth.

According to Revelation 9:17-19, these troops utilize the weapons of the horses. The heads of these horses are those of lions, and their tails are like serpents with heads. They kill via three plagues that are “fire”. 

Whatever these troops and weapons actually are, they will be utterly destructive. These things will happen.

They Would Not Repent

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts (Rev. 9:20-21).

We will read again of the 144,000 Jewish evangelist who are preaching the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ’s death for the sins of the world (John 3:16-21) in Revelation chapter fourteen. We will see that during this terrible time the wicked have the opportunity to repent and enter into the kingdom of God.

Slaves in the kingdom of Satan, however, fear death even as they might wish for death. In fact, much of the news in our own time produces this kind of fear. We need to be reminded that when we have the seal of God—the Holy Spirit—there is nothing to fear from death because Jesus destroyed the power of death at Calvary.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Heb. 2:14-15).

(All biblical quotes taken from the ESV)

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Phillip Harris

Phil Harris and his wife Janeane have been married 57 years and have three children, six grandchildren and 6 great grand children. Phil dropped out of Adventism at age 16 and didn't learned the biblical gospel until 10 years later. After 3 years in the Marine Corps he spent 25 years as a Shipfitter followed by another 23 years in a local food processing plant. He and Janeane now live quietly on two-and-a-half wooded acres on Puget Sound, Washington, where Phil gardens and writes for Proclamation! and for BibleStudiesforAdventists.com.

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