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
1st trumpet |
The
inhabitants of earth had just experienced an amazing electrical storm
plus a violent earthquake, and now followed a mighty storm of hail.
Accompanying the pelting hailstones were balls of fire and drops of
blood (possibly blood-colored water-blood itself is over 90 percent
water). ... it may be possible that angelic hosts will divert the path
of one of the many comets with which the solar system abounds so that
the earth will pass through its tail. ... Another possibility might be
that of worldwide volcanic eruptions, a normal consequence of a
worldwide violent earthquake. The masses of water vapor blown skyward
might well condense in the intense updrafts as hailstones, and showers
of burning lava might be "cast upon the earth with them." The blood of
entrapped men and animals might be mingled with them, or possibly
showers of liquid water drops might be so contaminated with dust and
gases as to appear blood red. |
2nd trumpet |
A
fiery mass like a great mountain crashed into the sea--probably the
Mediterranean Sea. ... The mighty explosion on impact will dwarf that
of an atomic bomb and will be terrifying beyond imagination. ... But
how could all this destroy "a third part of the ships?" The answere
probably is that the same gigantic impact which poisoned the waters
would also have generated mighty tsunami waves which would batter to
pieces great numbers of ships anchored on shore, even though producing
little effect (except in the immediate vicinity of the impact) on ships
in the open ocean. |
3rd trumpet |
A
"deadly projectile from outer space" falls on the waters of the sea,
and on the rivers, and on the "fountains of waters," poisoning a third
of them. |
4th trumpet |
"the
visible luminaries in the heavens for a time, maybe a day, maybe
several days, slow down their internal reactions in such a way as to
reduce their power output by a factor of one-third. The day and night,
as a result are only two-thirds as bright as normal, even though the
skies are completely clear of haze or anything else to obscure the
light." |
5th trumpet |
This
bottomless pit which he forthwith unlocks is literally "the pit of the
abyss." The word "abyss" comes from roots meaning "without depth" and
so is properly translated "bottomless." It is apparently the very
center of the earth and so, in truth, has no bottom. Its boundaries in
all directions are all ceilings; one cannot go "down" in any direction.
The pit of this abyss of Hades is apparently one of its imprisoning
cells, and it is only this one to which Satan actually receives the key. But
when he opens the gate, an amazing phenomenon occurs. Great billows of
subterranean smoke pour forth on the earth, spreading around until it
darkens the air worldwide, even dimming the sun's light. This indicates
that there must be somewhere on the earth an opening leading to a great
shaft, leading down from the earth's surface, through the crust, mantle
and core, all the way to Hades and the pit itself. Man has never
discovered this shaft because it is apparently blocked at its exit, but
this does not men it doesn't exist. It has been "ordained of old" by
God and its walls are impregnable, from within or without, designed by
the Creator to withstand all rupturing pressures, natural or
supernatural. But when the key is finally turned, great billows of
smoke, presumably from the earth's internal heat and pressure, flow
toward the surface and finally out to surround the earth itself. ...
out of the smpoke the inhabitants of the earth see emerging wave after
wave of hideous flying creatures like locusts. ... They swarmed the
darkened sky like locusts, they had emerged from the earth like
locusts, and they left misery in their wake like locusts. |
6th trumpet |
Maybe
the Euphrates mentioned here is the antediluvian Euphrates rather than
the Babylonian Euphrates. It is barely possible that, deep in the
earth, remains the underground storage chamber which controlled the
primeval flow into the garden of Eden. ... The fifth and sixth trumpet
plagues will probably occupy a total of eighteen months. ... Like the
scorpion-locusts under the preceding trumpet, this will be a demonic
legion of nightmarish animals indwelt by evil spirits, hitherto bound
up in the Euphrates with their four evil overlords. It must be that
these frightful "horses" and "horsemen" are demon-possessed creatures
whose bodies are especially created by God for the awful judgment which
they are thereby enabled to inflict upon mankind. Their bodies are real
physical bodies, capable of generating physical fire and brimstone and
causing the physical death of those men and women whom they attack.
This suggests that the bodies are specially created right at the time
of the release of the unclean spirits from their prison, and are then
immediately taken over by the ascending spirits. |
7th trumpet |
[Source
unavailable] |
Copyright © 2010 by Douglas E. Cox
All Rights Reserved.