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Jon Paulien
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1st
trumpet
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John
intended his readers to see in the first trumpet the fate of the Jewish
nation that had rejected Jesus as its Messiah.
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2nd
trumpet
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it is
likely that a first century reader would understand the second trumpet
as a prediction that the Roman Empire was soon to fall along with its
entire social order.
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3rd
trumpet
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The
main symbolism of the third trumpet revolves around the great falling
star and the rivers and springs which it defiles. The falling star is
particularly reminiscent of the Lucifer account (Isa 14:12-15) and the
activity of the little horn (Dan 8:10,11) in the Old Testament. In both
texts there is the attempt to usurp God's authority. In Isa 14 the
falling of the star is the punishment for Lucifer's activity, in Dan 8
it is the result of the little horn's persecuting activity.
Rivers and fountains, when pure, are sources of life in the Old
Testament (Deut 8:7,8; Ps 1:3). Thus they became symbols of spiritual
nourishment (Ps 36:8,9; Jer 17:8,13; Prov 14:27; Ezek 47:1-12). Impure
fountains, on the other hand, would have the opposite spiritual effect
(Prov 25:26). Bitter water cannot sustain life and growth.
Wormwood and bitterness are associated together in Lam 3:15,19. In
Deuteronomy wormwood represents anyone who turns away from Yahweh into
idolatry (Deut 29:17,18). In Jeremiah it symbolizes the punishment
Yahweh was planning to mete out because of Judah's apostasy (Jer 9:15:
23:15). The Marah experience is also a close parallel to the third
trumpet (Exod 15:23). The children of Israel were dying of thirst. With
great anticipation, they approached the spring-fed oasis of Marah only
to find that there was no life in the bitter water.
Other parts of the New Testament also contain parallels to the third
trumpet. In Luke 10:18 Satan is the one who fell from heaven. Similar
imagery is used in Rev 12 where the dragon's tail sweeps a third of the
stars of heaven to earth before being thrown to the earth himself (Rev
12:3,4,9). In the Gospel of John "living" spring water is a symbol of
what Jesus brings to the believer through the Holy Spirit (John
4:10-14; 7:37-39).
What was John trying to say with by means of these images? The
overwhelming flavor of this account is one of apostasy. Stars and
fountains are positive images in Scripture but here John drew on
passages such as Isa 14 and Deut 29 where a good thing becomes evil due
to apostasy. The little horn of Dan 8 also encourages apostasy in its
usurpation of the sanctuary service. Such apostasy is the first step on
the road to spiritual death in that it results in a distortion of the
source of spiritual nourishment, the Word of God. Through distorted
views of God the Scriptures are made of no effect in giving life to the
people.
The early church was aware that apostasy loomed large in its future
(Acts 20:28-31; 2 Thess 2; 1 Tim 4:1ff.). It was also aware that pure
doctrine can only be maintained with diligent effort (1 Tim 4:1,2; 1
John 4:1-3; Jude 3,4). The message of the third trumpet underlines
these convictions. The removal of Rome and Judaism as effective
opponents would have seemed to open the way for the church's
advancement and growth. But John warns in apocalyptic language that
such a removal only diverts Satan's attack. He then will concentrate on
destroying the church from within, knowing that if the church's
life-giving message can be subtly distorted, mankind will fail to find
the spiritual nourishment it needs, but instead will find only
bitterness. Indications that this iniquity was already at work in
John's lifetime are found in New Testament books such as 1 Corinthians,
Galatians, Colossians and Hebrews.
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4th
trumpet
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There
is an apparent contradiction in this verse. The plague smites a third
of the sun, moon and stars with darkness, which one would expect to
result in a dimming of the intensity of the heavenly lights. Instead a
third of the day and a third of the night are darkened as in an
eclipse. Since the latter is more sound grammatically, the plague
probably points to a darkening of the heavenly bodies for a third of
the time.
This passage is strongly based on the darkness of the ninth plague on
Egypt (Exod 10:21-23) and the lamentation over Pharaoh in Ezek 32:2-8.
Darkness is one of the curses of the covenant (Deut 28:29). The sun is
a symbol of the Word of God in the Old Testament (Ps 19; 119:105). The
moon represents beauty and fertility (SS 6:10; Deut 33:14). Stars
represent angels and the people of God (Dan 8:10; 12:3). The choice of
symbolism points to a partial obliteration of the Word of God resulting
in spiritual darkness.
John seems to be pointing to an attack on God's word and His people
that is of a different nature than that of the third trumpet. While
wormwood represented a distortion of the Word of God the fourth trumpet
results in the obliteration of that word. It is no longer visible. In
the third trumpet people continued to drink from the springs, hoping to
gain life, in the fourth trumpet the very presence of the life-giving
sources is removed.
John seems to be pointing to a new power which would oppose the truth
and the people of God in a more direct way. Perhaps the model for such
a power can be found in the Pharaoh of the Exodus, who denied the very
existence of Yahweh (Exod 5:2). It is difficult to know what kind of
movement John would have had in mind, likely he was pointing to
something completely new.
There is a seeming contradiction in that the trumpets are judgments of
God on the enemies of His people, yet the third and fourth trumpets
seem to be attacks on the gospel and those who proclaim it. But God's
judgments come in two forms in the Bible. There is the judgment of open
intervention as in 2 Kgs 19 where 185,000 Assyrians were slain. Similar
is the sending of Cyrus to defeat Babylon in order to free Israel. On
the other hand, as in Rom 1, God's judgments often come in the form of
permitting people and nations to reap the consequences of their own
actions (cf. Hos 4:17). Thus, while the direct enemies of the church
are removed in the first two trumpets, God permits an apostasy which
results in two new enemies, one from within and one from without. In
its apostasy the church, as with Judaism, becomes an enemy of God's
true people.
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5th
trumpet
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It is
possible to make too much of the elaborate description of the locusts.
Perhaps they symbolize human beings inspired by Satan (Rev 9:7,8,11).
Whether man or demon, these fiends "are as strong as horses, as
powerful as kings, as cunning as the wiliest man, as seductive as a
beautiful woman, and they can cause pain like a scorpion." In verse 11
Satan's names (Apollyon and Abaddon) are personifications of death, the
fate of the wicked (Job 26:6; 31:12; Ps 88:11). This fits in with the
character of one who was a murderer and a liar from the beginning (John
8:44). He exercises his lies through the tails of the locust-men (Isa
9:15). Just as his confinement to the abyss (Rev 20:1-3 restricts his
deceptions, so the opening of the abyss is the release of his
deceptions to do their deadly work. In those who reject Christ the
light of truth is extinguished by Satan (cf. 2 Thess 2:9-12--with God's
permission).
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6th
trumpet
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The
Euphrates River was the northern border of the land promised to Abraham
(Gen 15:18; Josh 1:4, etc.). The language here is reminiscent of Isa
8:7,8 where the Assyrian invasion of Judah is described in terms of the
Euphrates River overflowing its banks and flooding Palestine. Here
again the Euphrates is the source of a great assault against God's
people. This plague appears to be a gathering of the forces of evil for
the final battle (cf. 16:13-16; 20:7-9).
As in Rev 7:4, John doesn't see 200,000,000 horsemen in 9:16, he
hears the number. This is Satan's host in contrast to the sealed of God
who number 144,000. In verses 17-19 the horsemen are equipped with
material from the lake of fire. This plague is a composite with the
fifth trumpet, for the horsemen not only harm men with the fire, smoke
and sulphur which comes out of their mouths but with their tails, which
remind one of 9:10. The flavor of these images reminds one of the
beasts of chapter 13 and the frogs which come out of their mouths in
16:13. Thus the sixth trumpet is related to the account of the final
crisis in Rev 13-16.
In Rev 9:20,21 there are many references to the fall of Babylon in the
Old Testament. The images of idolatry are drawn from Dan 5:4,23; a
description of Babylon just before the Euphrates River dried up! Verse
21 is based on Isa 47:9-12, a prediction of Babylon's fall.
In summary, this trumpet is based on imagery that points in two
directions. There are references to Babylon in the Old Testament and
its river, the Euphrates. And there are many connections with the
three-fold Babylon of the end-time crisis. Since the closest parallels
are with Rev 16:12,13 it seems reasonable to suggest that John was here
portraying the gathering of Satan's host which precedes the battle of
Armageddon. With this plague we clearly enter the arena of final events.
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7th
trumpet
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In
Rev 10:7 it is stated explicitly that the "mystery of God (to mustêrion
tou theou)" will be consummated (etelesthê) at that point in history
when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet (hotan mellê
salpizein). The mystery of God is an acronym for the gospel in the New
Testament (Rom 16:25,26, cf. Col 1:25-28; Eph 6:19). Thus, the sounding
of the seventh trumpet signals the close of the great work of
proclaiming the gospel to every nation, kindred, language and people
(Rev 14:6,7). It ushers in the final events connected with the battle
of Armageddon.
The climax of the seven trumpets comes with Rev 11:15: ... This depicts
the enthronement of God and Christ over all the nations of the world.
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