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


Bob Pickle

1st trumpet

Hail can be found as a symbol of invading armies in Isaiah. (Is. 28:1-3; 30:30, 31) Combining hail with fire here makes this an even closer parallel to the first trumpet. Thus these chapters in Isaiah are closely connected with Revelation, and if hail refers to invading armies in Isaiah, it is likely that it refers to the same in the first trumpet.

2nd trumpet

This is a judgment against Babylon. Through the agency of the invading, confederated armies of at least four kingdoms, Babylon would become a burnt mountain.

3rd trumpet

Upon apostate Judah comes this judgment. Drinking bitter water is being used as a symbol for the experience of being conquered militarily and having your homeland thereby desolated. ... the connections between Jezebel, Babylon, and the beast in Revelation are so close that they seem to refer to the same persecuting, apostate power ... This all leads us to the conclusion that Babylon is a code name for 1) professed followers of God who are half-converted pagans, and/or 2) professed followers of God who have allied themselves with paganism. The end result is apostasy to the point that these professed followers of God have become persecutors of true believers.

4th trumpet

Babylon was to fall by military conquest, and when it did, the sun, moon, and stars would be darkened. The simple conclusion is that either the symbols or the wording of all seven trumpets mandate that the trumpets have something to do with military conquest. ... The fourth trumpet provides a major logistical obstacle to finding another interpretation than the one evangelicals used to hold. For one thing, we cannot say that it is to be taken literally, for how could having only two-thirds of the sun left cause us to lose four hours of daylight? The sun just doesn't work that way.

In (Gen. 37:9, 10), the sun and moon are used to represent or are explicitly described as being different levels of authority. So in the fourth trumpet it is possible that the sun, moon, and stars are referring to three levels of authority within Babylon.

5th trumpet

Definitely looks like the fifth trumpet may have represented some sort of Islamic power.

6th trumpet

Again, this is a clear reference to an invading army.

7th trumpet

This is a picture of Christ conquering the world through military conquest, though of quite a different sort than brought to view under the other trumpets. ... Here the second coming of Christ is pictured as Christ leading a heavenly army to battle to take over the kingdoms of this world, an event predicted in Psalm 2 and referred to in Revelation 11:15. Thus the seventh trumpet also is connected with military conquest.

Copyright © 2010 by Douglas E. Cox
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