This seal includes the seven trumpet judgments.
They are so terrifying that, as they are opened, all the heavenly host becomes silent.
Bob Ripley, in his "Believe It or Not" newspaper column, stated:
"This verse proves there will be no women in heaven." Ha! Seriously, what causes this breathtaking silence among angels and men? Answer-the contemplation of the forthcoming trumpet blasts.
These trumpet judgments were prophesied by Enoch as recorded in the Book of Jude, verses 14 and 15, and were anticipated by the psalmist as well.
That's why Psalm 96:13 states:
He cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.Paul also confirmed these judgments in Acts 17:31, mentioning a time when the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). Before the first trumpet sends forth its blast in verse 7, however, we witness an unusual prayer meeting in the next three verses.
This angel is obviously the Lord Jesus Christ himself, because He ministers both to God and man (see 1 Timothy 2:5).
The Saviour also appeared as the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament in many instances:
He wrestled with Jacob, walked among Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and made numerous other Old Testament visits to His people. This Mediator between God and men ever liveth to make intercession (Hebrews 7:25) and now stands at the altar adding incense (efficacy) to the prayers being offered by the saints of God on earth.
They are imprecatory prayers for judgment, as in Revelation 6:10.They cry,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?At this point their prayers have reached the throne of God!
Now prayers are answered, and judgment is prepared.
What a contrast from the solemn silence of verse 1. Now every noise imaginable is heard as judgment is prepared.
At this moment the heavenly military says, "Ready! Aim! Fire!" This is it!First trumpet
We have no difficulty understanding this verse literally. The same kind of judgment occurred in Exodus 9:22, 23:Second trumpet
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt...And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.It happened then; now it happens again!
This judgment is undoubtedly a giant meteor falling into the sea. Notice the phrase, as it were a mountain. This, again, is a symbolic description. Always take every word of the Bible literally unless God tells you to take it figuratively. This passage is an example of the latter. Something gigantic, as or like a mountain, is cast into the sea and causes a third part of the sea to become blood.
A similar occurrence was experienced in Moses' day:
And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that [were] in the river died (Exodus 7:19-21).
God's second trumpet blast is so horrendous that one-third of the creatures in the sea die and a third part of the ships are destroyed. God only knows what horrendous plagues will result when nuclear war under, upon, and above the oceans takes place.Third trumpet
Verse 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, Verse 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.
Strange that Chernobyl in the Ukrainian Bible means "Wormwood."
This judgment also occurred in Moses' day:
Behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood (Exodus 7:17).Now the phenomenon is repeated.
A star, or meteor, soaring through space, speeds toward earth. When it strikes, one-third of our planet's water supply becomes a deadly poison. Rivers, springs, and wells are affected.Something similar happened in decades past.
A volcanic explosion in the Aleutian Islands on March 21, 1823, caused the waters in that area to become bitter and unfit for human consumption.This could easily happen again.
God created every star, knows their locations, and has named them. Job 9:9 states:Fourth trumpet {*WOE No.1: Rev 8: 12 - Rev 9:12}
[He] maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.He also knows where the star, Wormwood, meaning "bitterness," is located,
because Jeremiah 9:15 reports,
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink (Jeremiah 9:15).It will happen!
Verse 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. Verse 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!
This fourth judgment has to do with earth's luminaries-the sun, moon, and stars.
We note with interest that, on the fourth day of creation,
God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven (Genesis 1:14).Now, at the blast of the fourth trumpet, one-third of the light produced by these bodies is extinguished.
This, too, happened in Moses' day:The worst, however, is yet to come.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days (Exodus 10:21-23).It happened once; it will happen again!
An angel flying through the midst of heaven cries, Woe, woe, woe!
This correlates with Daniel, chapter 9, where the Seventieth Week (discussed in Revelation, chapter 6) is described.
The first three and one-half years of the Tribulation are not nearly as severe as the final three and one-half years.
In Matthew 24:8, our Lord described the first half of this time period as the beginning of sorrows. However, He referred to the final three and one-half years as the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21).
As the Tribulation hour approaches its climax, the judgments become more severe and the loss of life greater. This is especially noticed as one observes that two verses cover the scope of each of the first four trumpets.
However, trumpet five requires twelve verses and trumpet six necessitates nine verses.Fifth trumpet
*Revelation 9*
The star John sees-a male personage-is without a doubt the devil of verse 11. The Greek tense in verse 1 is not fall - present tense, but fallen - past tense. Isaiah describes this fall in chapter 14, verses 12 through 14:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high.Satan's fall came through pride. He wanted to be coequal with God.
Jesus, in eternity past, beheld this fall and said to His seventy disciples, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). This fallen one is presented with a key to the bottomless pit, and he uses it.
The term bottomless pit does not refer to one who has a voluminous appetite!
Instead, the literal Greek renders it "the pit of the abyss."
The term is found nine times in the New Testament. In each case, it is a place to restrain or hold certain beings which have come under the judgment of God. For instance, when Christ went into the country of Gadarenes, He met a certain man who had a legion of demons. The demons within the man besought the Lord that he would not command them to go out into the deep [or abyss] (Luke 8:31). Their dread and terror of the pit (or abyss) was so great that they would rather become incarnated in swine. Oh, the pit of the abyss must be a terrible place!
How frightful, then, is the hour when the prison house of fallen angels is finally opened.
The smoke ascending out of the pit darkens the sun and the air. Talk about pollution! The environmentalists had better get saved or they will be around for the greatest soot inundation in history. Then they will have a steady job picketing the portals of hell-but it will be too late.
These are not literal locusts.
Their power is too great. They are most likely fallen angels who have been restrained and imprisoned in the bottomless pit since their fall (described in Genesis 6). These wicked beings, chained in darkness all of these centuries (see 2 Peter 2:4), can hardly wait to begin their acts of evil.They are told what they can and cannot do:
In chapter 7, we saw multitudes sealed. The locusts, or fallen angels, are not allowed to touch the sealed, only the unsealed-those who have worshiped the Beast and accepted his number, 666. Note also that the locusts are not allowed to kill the unsealed (the unsaved). They are permitted only to torture them.
What an agonizing period of time this will be!
The next four verses give us a vivid description of these locusts, or fallen angels.
Verse 7: And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle [this speaks of strength and speed]; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold [this speaks of royalty; a picture of conquerors], and their faces were as the faces of men [denoting intelligence]. Verse 8: And they had hair as the hair of women [picturing attractiveness], and their teeth were as the teeth of lions [portraying cruelty]. Verse 9: And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron [picturing invincibility]; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle [denoting calamity]. Verse 10: And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
These facts reinforce the gruesome portrait of life upon earth as the pit of the abyss is opened and the convicts of the ages-the fallen angels-are released. The next verse clearly identifies the fallen star who is the leader of these perverted angels.
This king is named in both Hebrew and Greek. Abaddon is Hebrew.
The term, found only this one time in our English Bible, is found six times in the Hebrew Bible: Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; and 27:20.The Greek form, Apollyon, means "the destroyer"-a word that certainly describes Satan.
A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE
