The Seven Trumpets
Talk about the last days of the Earth, while scary, are a part of God's plan and can be a message of comfort instead of one of fear. In "The Seven Trumpets", Pastor Dave explains the possible meanings of these trumpets as well as how the events that each bring can instill a sense of awe - not fear - within us.
We are taking a few months to walk through the book of Revelation. Unfortunately, Revelation has been misused a lot. Back in 1987, when I was in college, some well-meaning person handed me a book—he said, “You have to read this.” It was called 88 Reasons the Rapture will Happen in 1988. It was based on this author’s interpretation of Revelation, and it sold lots of copies. It was really bad. And that’s a perfect example of how Revelation has been used to set dates and draw timelines and guess who the Antichrist might be. And that’s part of the reason I didn’t preach it for the first 25 years of my ministry—I didn’t want any part of that.
But I recently had a change of heart. Because as I looked at what’s happening in the world, I realized the message of Revelation is incredibly relevant right now. It was written around 95AD by John the Apostle, to a group of churches. And if I had to summarize the message, I would say this: The world is getting darker. Opposition to Christ and his church is getting stronger. But God is in control, and in the end God wins. So stand firm in your faith. I think we need to hear that now more than we ever have.
So today we come to a part of Revelation that’s all about God’s judgment. For many of us, this is a topic we’d rather avoid. We love talking about God’s grace and forgiveness and mercy, but we get uncomfortable talking about his justice. And I believe part of the reason is that most of us are pretty insulated from all the injustice in our world.
Can I read you a quick news report? This is from The Guardian—a British newspaper—last week:
At least nine people have been killed and 37 injured after Russian forces launched multiple rocket strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in what appeared to mark a change in tactics by Moscow towards bombing civilian areas… [The mayor of the city] said four people were killed when they emerged from a shelter to find water and a family of two adults and three children were burned alive in their car. A Grad missile landed [on the main street], blowing the leg off a woman who had gone shopping during a break in the curfew. She died soon afterwards.
And I could read you a hundred reports more gruesome than that. Here’s my point: I have a feeling the people of Ukraine have no problem at all hearing about the justice of God. In fact, they pray for it. I hope we’re praying with them. And many of the people that John was writing to in the first century were experiencing similar things. They were suffering brutal persecution for their faith. They were crying out to God to intervene. So in this passage, God reveals to John that a time is coming when he will make things right. So it’s actually a very comforting passage!
At the same time, it’s a disturbing passage. So I’m just trying to get you ready for this. This is like one of those “Viewer Discretion Advised” warnings. We are about to see the judgment of God poured out on the world, and in some ways it’s comforting, but in other ways it’s disturbing. And I’m just going to ask you to hold those two feelings in tension. Because they’re both appropriate.
In fact, let me show you one thing before we dive in. Right in the middle of all these judgments, there’s a little break in the action. And there’s an angel holding a scroll. And the angel says to John, “Take this scroll and eat it.” Strange, right? But this is Revelation—lots of strange things. So he says, “Eat the scroll,” and look what happens—Revelation 10, verse 10: I took the little scroll from the
angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. What is that about? Well, John was being entrusted with a message that was both sweet and sour. It was comforting and distressing. And any time we’re taking the Word of God seriously, it will have that effect. Parts of it will be comforting and happy, and just taste good…and parts will be a little harder to digest. Are you with me? If you go to a church, and the only message you ever hear is sweet, smiley, happy and “yay!”…that’s not the Bible. That’s a pep talk. So right in the middle of this vision, the angel is reminding John, “I’m entrusting you with this message, and I know it’s both comforting and disturbing. But you need to faithfully convey the whole message.”
And that’s the message we’re going to look at this morning in Revelation 8-11.
Now, just like last week, there are two main ways that people interpret this passage. Some say all this will all happen during a 7-year period at the very end called “The Great Tribulation.” And many people who hold that view believe Christians will be raptured out of the world right before that—so we won’t be around for any of this. Other people say, “No—these are the kinds of disasters that have been happening all through history, and it’s just getting more intense as we approach the end.” So if that view is true, we will have to go through this. So those are the two major views, and just like last week, I’m not going to take a side. Because either way, God’s judgment is coming.
So, in the Old Testament, when an army was about to go out to battle, they would blow a trumpet. So John sees this vision of angels in heaven blowing seven trumpets. And each trumpet announces God bringing judgment on the sin and the evil in the world. So as we read about these seven trumpets, here’s the question that’s going to be answered: How should we be changed by the message of God’s judgment? If we’re willing to eat the whole thing—the sweet and the sour—how will it change us? Three ways.
First, Awe. Believing in God’s judgment will give us a deep awe and reverence for God.
Revelation 8, starting in verse 6…Hear the Word of the Lord:
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
So the first four trumpets are announcing judgments that affect the physical earth. They’re all ecological disasters. And it’s not easy to interpret exactly what they mean, because Revelation uses highly symbolic language.
At the first trumpet, a third of the earth’s trees are burned up—so does that literally happen because of hail and fire coming from the sky, or is that just a symbolic way to talk about wildfires caused by
drought, like we’ve seen recently in California and Colorado? Maybe the “fire coming from the sky” is lighting that lights the brush on fire. But whatever the details, this is an act of God’s judgment.
The second trumpet talks about “something like a burning mountain” that crashes into the sea—could that be a massive meteorite, causing a tsunami? Could be, but either way, it’s part of God’s judgment.
At the third trumpet, a large part of the earth’s drinking water is poisoned. Is that a direct act of God, or will God use the negligence of humans who dump chemical waste into rivers and oceans? Hard to say—but either way, it’s the judgment of God.
And the fourth trumpet talks about the sky growing dark. Again—does God directly cause that, or is it the result of human pollution, or human warfare? Could be any of the above. But either way—you know what I’m going to say, right? It’s the judgment of God.
In other words, this is not random. These aren’t just scientific, cause-and-effect events. They might have a scientific explanation, but God is sovereignly ordaining all of them. Now, you have to realize: God loves this earth! He created it, and one day he says he’s going to redeem and restore it—in fact, at the end of Revelation we get this incredible vision of a restored earth that’s better than the Garden of Eden. So God has great plans for this planet! But first comes judgment. And seeing the scope and the magnitude of these judgments should cause us to stand in awe of the God who can orchestrate all of this.
Keep reading in verse 13: 13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” In other words, you think that was bad? Brace yourself…
Chapter 9, verse 1: The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. This is obviously not a literal star, right? So what’s the meaning of this star that falls from the sky? Well, look what the prophet Isaiah wrote centuries earlier—Isaiah 14, verse 12:
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
Any guesses who that’s talking about? This is Satan. Jesus even referred to this—in Luke 10:18, he says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” So this fifth trumpet is announcing that Satan is about to exercise some kind of influence on the earth. Keep reading—Revelation 9:2…2 When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
So Satan unlocks something deep in the earth, and smoke rises up, and out of that smoke come these locusts that bite like scorpions. But they’re only allowed to bite those who don’t have the seal of God on their foreheads—in other words, people who don’t belong to God. Unbelievers. Crazy image, right? But again—remember: this is symbolic language. So think about it: since these are demonic powers, it seems like there is a spiritual and psychological torment that gets unleashed on unbelievers. Because
of their rejection of God, they experience mental and spiritual distress. So: is this some kind of unique, end-times distress that unbelievers will experience during the Tribulation? It might be. Or, is this the kind of spiritual pain that unbelievers experience in every generation? Think about the emptiness and the hopelessness that can overcome people when they reject God and embrace some kind of false God like sex or partying or drugs or their own intellect—is that the kind of sting this is talking about—the emptiness of life without God? Either way, it’s deeply painful for those who have rejected God. I told you part of this message is bitter—right? It’s hard to hear. But don’t turn away from it.
Let’s keep going in verse 13: 13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14 It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard their number. So the sixth trumpet is announcing the release of these vast armies who go out and kill a third of the human race. Some people believe this is the final battle of Armageddon that takes place at the very end; others think this represents the warfare that takes place throughout human history; either way, it’s devastating. It’s a bitter message.
Now—I want you to notice something: in verse 1, it says that fallen star was given the key to the Abyss. In verse 3, it says the locusts were given power like scorpions. In verse 5 it says they were not allowed to attack the people of God. In verse 14, it says these destroying angels and these troops are released to go and kill. In other words, all of these powers are under the authority of someone else. So whose authority are they under? Jesus. Remember: Jesus is on the throne. All of creation, and every power is under his control. And you say, “Well, why would Jesus allow this??” Remember what we said last week: God sometimes allows what he hates to accomplish his will. So in order to bring justice to the world, God allows these destructive events to happen. Ultimately he’ll crush Satan, but in the meantime he uses him as a tool. It’s a mind-stretching thought, isn’t it? God’s ways are way beyond us. And therefore, stand in awe of God!
I read that when President Teddy Roosevelt would entertain diplomatic guests at the White House, at the end of the day, he would sometimes take them out on the back lawn. And they would stand there looking up at the night sky. And of course, they didn’t have all the city lights back then, so you could really see the brilliance of the stars. And he would just have them stand there and look at this magnificent display of God’s creation. And then finally, Roosevelt would say, “Gentlemen, I believe we are all small enough now. Let’s go to bed.” (By the way, could somebody please do that with Vladimir Putin? Show him how small he is?)
See, when you have a proper awe of God, you realize how small you are, and how big he is. You realize, like it says in Isaiah 55, that “as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts.” This is what the book of Proverbs means by the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. This was the response of Jesus’ disciples in the fishing boat, when they almost sank from a violent storm, and Jesus stood up and rebuked the storm, and it immediately stopped…and it says they were filled with fear, and they said, “Who is this man, that even the wind and the waves obey him?” That’s what I mean by awe. You and I were created to experience the awe of God—our souls are actually hungry for it. So as you think about how God will judge this world, don’t be too concerned if you don’t understand all the details. Let it fill you with a sense of awe. That is so good for your soul.
Secondly, the message of God’s judgment should lead us to Repentance. Why do you think, all through this section, it keeps saying “1/3 of everything was affected”? 1/3 of the trees burned up; 1/3 of the water was poisoned; 1/3 of the people were killed. I mean if God is judging, why doesn’t he just wipe out everything? Because he’s giving people an opportunity to repent. 2 Peter 3:9 says, God is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. So all through these judgments, the door is always open for people to turn to God.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s much repentance going on here. Look what it says in chapter 9, verse 20: 20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. So even after experiencing the ecological disasters…the spiritual torment …the global wars, and surviving all that, no one turns to God and says, “Thanks for sparing my life. Are you trying to tell me something?” They double down on their rebellion. They’re maybe too enlightened and sophisticated to acknowledge their Creator.
I think it’s significant the way their sin is listed out. Did you notice which sin is emphasized the most? Idolatry. They were worshiping other things in the place of God—demons, idols of gold and silver, etc. I said a minute ago that our souls are hungry for the greatness of God, right? And here’s the thing: if we don’t find that in him, we will fill ourselves with cheap substitutes. We’ll look for awe in a political leader, or a social cause, or a sports team, or something…because we are born worshipers.
I think the most common idol in our culture today is romantic love. We try to fulfill our soul’s deepest longing with the right lover. And sometimes that seems to work, for a while. But inevitably, something happens: the person disappoints us, or the person leaves us—the relationship ends. And it’s painful. But instead of learning from that, and realizing we were worshiping the wrong thing, what do we do? We go find another lover! We swipe left, or swipe right, or whatever you do to find someone new. Because we’re stubborn.
So here’s the point: when something you have idolized gets pulled away, or when it severely disappoints you, and you feel the sting of that, try to hear God’s voice in that pain. Because pain is sometimes the only way God can get our attention. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures…but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Have you been deaf to his voice? Some of you are beating your head against the wall, and trying to make life work without God, and it hurts. But you’re stubborn. So you keep trying.
Listen for the voice of God in the pains of life. Just like a doctor sometimes has to use the pain of surgery to bring healing, the judgment of God can be a very healing kind of pain. But only if we repent. Like it says in Hebrews, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t harden your heart.” Maybe this is the day you soften your heart and turn to him. What a huge decision that would be.
So when we truly accept this message of God’s judgment, it leads to awe; it leads to repentance. And one last thing: it leads to Worship. Revelation 11, verse 15—listen to this scene…
15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. 18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
This final trumpet gives us a glimpse into the future. Verse 18 says, “The time has come for judging the dead.” So this is talking about final judgment. All those judgments we talked about today were leading up to this final judgment. And did you see the response of everyone in heaven? What do they do? They worship. They fall on their faces and worship God. It’s an incredible scene!
But how is that possible? I mean, this is judgment day! This is the day when every human being will have to stand before God and answer for how they’ve lived their lives. And let me just remind you: it’s not just the Vladimir Putins and the Jeffrey Epsteins of this world that are going to have some explaining to do. The Bible says all of us fall way short of God’s standards. And every one of us will stand, exposed, before the holy Judge of all the earth. That doesn’t sound like a time to worship; it sounds like a time to be terrified! And it would be, except for one thing: this Judge is unlike any other judge.
Let me illustrate it like this: anyone know who the mayor of New York City was back in 1935? Fiorello LaGuardia. Yep—the guy they named the airport after. So the story goes that one night in 1935, Mayor LaGuardia showed up at a night court in a very poor part of the city. He was a trained attorney, besides being the mayor, so he told the judge to take the rest of the night off, and he personally put on the robe and heard the rest of the cases for the night. One of the people brought before him was an older woman, obviously very poor, who had stolen a loaf of bread. She told the mayor that her daughter’s husband had deserted the family, and they were desperate for food. But the shopkeeper refused to drop the charges. And LaGuardia said to this woman, “I have to enforce the law. It’s either a $10 fine or ten days in jail.” But even as he was pronouncing the sentence, he got up from the bench. He took out his wallet and pulled out $10, and handed it to the bailiff. And he said to the woman, “Your fine is paid. You’re free to go.” Brilliantly, he figured out a way to uphold the law, and at the same time show compassion to the woman by paying a debt she could never pay. Isn’t that a great story? And honestly—you know how those legendary stories go—I’m not 100% sure that story is true.
But let me tell you about one that’s definitely true. Every one of us stands in the position of that guilty woman. We’ve broken God’s laws, we stand before a Judge who always upholds the law—it’s in his very nature. But instead of forcing us to pay it ourselves, he got up from his throne and came to earth, and he paid our debt on the cross with his own blood. And the moment we open up our hearts and receive him by faith, we are forgiven and set free and declared righteous in the sight of God. That’s the judge we will stand before on Judgment Day.
And that’s why it will be a time to worship God like we have never worshiped him before. Amen? That final trumpet will sound, and we will join the elders around the throne, and joyfully fall on our faces in gratitude to this Judge who left heaven to pay the debt that we could never pay. And we will join the choir of heaven, singing,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”
