Interpreting the seven trumpets of Revelation

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The Seven Trumpets

The Creation Concept

Charles D. Alexander
Herbert W. Armstrong
William Barclay
Gregory K. Beale
James B. Coffman
John Darby
A. C. Gaebelein
George Gifford
David Guzik
E. W. Hengstenberg
H. A. Ironside
B. W. Johnson
Alonso T. Jones
Jack Kelley
William Kelly
Don Koenig
Gordon E. Ladd
Clarence Larkin
Francis Nigel Lee
David B. Loughran
John MacArthur
Henry Madison Morris
Robert H. Mounce
John H. Ogwyn
David C. Pack
Jon Paulien
J. Dwight Pentecost
Peter Pett
Bob Pickle
Vern S. Poythress
John H. Pratt & Edward B. Elliott
Ken Raggio
James Stuart Russell
Tyconius
John Walvoord
Ronald Weinland
James White

H. A. Ironside

1st trumpet

Grass is man in his weakness, man in his littleness; the tree is man in his dignity, in his greatness, in his independence-- man lifting himself up against God. So the first angel's trumpet distinctly indicates a fiery judgment upon that part of the human race that has rejected the gospel now so freely proclaimed.

2nd trumpet

...the judgment of the great world-church that has borne sway over the consciences of so many people, and enslaved so many nations... Jer. 51:25... a great mountain burning with fire is the symbol of Babylon, literal Babylon. In the New Testament this great destroying mountain burning with fire, that is cast into the sea and brought to an end under the judgment of God in this coming day, is evidently spiritual Babylon. ... The direct communication between the mystic religions of the old Babylon and spiritual Babylon of today is so marked that if anyone attempts to make a study of it he is perfectly astonished to find where many of the ritual services used in "Christian" churches sprang from.

3rd trumpet

Stars in the prophetic scriptures are religious dignitaries...Here we have a star whose influence over man is so great that when he falls a third part of men are poisoned because of the evil influence of the apostate leader... After the true church is gone, I gather from this symbol that one of the greatest "lights" in the false system left behind will openly apostize, and his teachings become as wormwood, poisoning and embittering, to his deluded followers.

4th trumpet

Again I do not attempt to tell you exactly what this symbolizes; but it is evident that light is being rapidly withdrawn. The third part of the sky is smitten. The third part of the moon and stars were darkened. What does it mean? Well, you know what the Lord Jesus says to the individual, "If the light that is in thee be darkened, how great is that darkness." "Light increaseth light--light resisted bringeth night." Do you know why so many people in Christendom are going into what they call Christian Science and Theosophy and Spiritualism and so-called New Theology? Do you know why so few people ever get out of them? Because of this: They have had the opportunity to receive light from God and they have rejected it, and it is written in the Word that "God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who obeyed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thess. 2:11, 12).

5th trumpet

...it is the strong delusion ... Darkening of the sun ...implies the blotting out, from before men's eyes or minds, the supreme source of light. Their whole spiritual sky will be made dark by the false system with which they will be deluded.Examples of false sysytems are "Eddyism, Spiritism, and Theosophy," or the Mormons.

6th trumpet

Two hundred thousand horsemen are hurled upon the west of Asia and upon Europe. They seem to be as unearthly warriors, with breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone. The horses' heads appear as the heads of lions, because of the unspeakable ferocity of those Asiatic hordes; while fire, and smoke, and brimstone seem to issue from thir mouths, telling of the Satanic character of this dire invasion. The result will be a third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issue from their mouths. When we recall the millions who have perished as the direct result of the recent war and pestilence, we can see how a greater war in the future may well tend to almost depopulate the earth, destroying one-third of the prophetic earth, which is identical with the limist of the old Roman empire. In verse nineteen we read: "for their power is in their mouth, and in their tails; for their tails were like serpents, and had heads, and with them do they hurt." Isaiah 9:15 helps us to understand both this passage and that in verse ten. "The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail." Whether it be occult woe of the fifth trumpet or the carnage woe of the sixth trumpet, in each case lying prophets are the leaders in each movement and are responsible for the mental, spiritual and physical harm accomplished.

7th trumpet

The seventh angel's trumpet brings in Christ's long awaited for and glorious kingdom ... The eighteenth verse covers the entire millennium and carries us on to the judgment of the wicked dead, to the end of time, for to the Lord Jesus Christ all judgment has been committed. And we need to remember that the entire millennium is a period of judgment. First, judgment upon the angry nations when the wrath of God is poured out upon them at the beginning of the millennium; judgment for his own servants who shall be rewarded according to their faithfulness during Christ's rejection; judgment upon the wicked dead who, at the great white throne, will answer for the deeds done in the body, and be dealt with accordingly.

Copyright © 2010 by Douglas E. Cox
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