Prophecy
8
The Six
Trumpets –
Revelation 8:2 – 9:21
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Beginning
Point in Time: 1994
Ending Point in Time: The
1,260th day of the Great Tribulation
Summary:
This prophecy
begins with seven angels receiving
seven trumpets. Afterwards, a special
service takes place in Heaven. This
service marks the end of God’s
patience with mankind. Because many
events in Heaven are linked to events
on Earth, we can easily determine
when this special service will occur.
When the service ends, God will
initiate seven judgments against
mankind. The sounding of a trumpet in
Heaven precedes each judgment. These
judgments will awaken the whole world
to the reality of a sovereign Jesus
Christ. Ultimately, these judgments
separate the sheep from the goats.
Introduction:
A series of
punitive judgments will soon impact
Earth. At first glance, it may seem
out of character that a “meek
and lowly” Jesus would punish
Earth with these judgments, but
remember that Jesus is as much
committed to justice, as He is to
mercy. The devastation that will be
caused by the seven trumpets (and the
seven bowls that follow the seven
trumpets), can be compared to
Noah’s flood.[1] When
the 1,335 days of the Great
Tribulation have ended, no life will
remain on Earth. God exercises His
wrath when extended mercy has no
further redemptive effect on sinners.
God’s wrath is aroused when the
sins of the fathers multiply and rob
oncoming generations of the quality
of life that God created for mankind.
Seven judgments are linked with the
sounding of trumpets in Heaven’s
court. In Bible times, trumpet blasts
were used as signals[2] and the
seven trumpets in the book of
Revelation have the same purpose.
Each trumpet blast signals another
step towards Jesus Christ’s
second coming. While the first six
judgments are mixed with mercy, they
will still be terrible. Earth’s
population will be reduced by more
than 50% before the seventh trumpet
sounds.[3]
I anticipate
the first four trumpet judgments will
occur during a period of about sixty
days. These trumpet judgments will
inflict a fatal blow on the
ecological infrastructures of Earth,
causing damage that cannot be
repaired. These judgments include a
meteoric firestorm of burning hail,
two asteroid impacts, and the
eruptions of many volcanos. About two
years and three months after the
fourth judgment, a fifth judgment
will occur. This judgment will be the
physical appearing of Lucifer and his
fallen angels (demons). Although many
people do not realize it today,
Lucifer is the dreaded Antichrist. He
will physically appear before
mankind, masquerading as Almighty
God. He will produce all kinds of
counterfeit signs and wonders and
deceive everyone who rejects the
gospel of Jesus. Five months after
the devil appears, a sixth trumpet
will sound in Heaven and a great war
will break out on Earth. During the
sixth trumpet, Jesus will permit
Lucifer to kill a third of mankind,
set up a counterfeit theocracy and
take control of Earth. The devil will
rule as king of kings and lord of
lords for about nine months. The
wicked will depend on him for
leadership, rations, and direction.
Of course, the saints will refuse the
mark of the beast (a tattoo which
Lucifer will require) and they will
not be able to buy or sell.
The first six
judgments will be redemptive in
nature. Jesus will use these events
to awaken the people of the world to
their need of His salvation. When
Jesus tears the world apart, He will
prove to laymen in every religious
system that their clergy do not know
the truth about God or His Word.
Currently, strong religious paradigms
prevent most of the world’s
population from hearing or
considering the gospel. For example,
Muslims cannot listen to Christians
and Christians cannot listen to
Muslims. God understands the gridlock
and His deadly judgments will humble
the arrogance of all mankind so that
the message of the 144,000 will be
heard. The Holy Spirit will empower
144,000 people to speak for Jesus.
They will proclaim the eternal
gospel. People will hear the gospel
of Jesus in their own language and
culture. Millions who presently do
not know Jesus will embrace Him and
receive His salvation. This will be
possible because the first six
trumpet events will shatter the
religious paradigms of the honest in
heart.
Architecture
The seven
trumpets are organized in an
architecture that is similar to the
seven seals. Remember that six seals
are described in Prophecy 6, but the
seventh seal is located in Prophecy
7. Likewise, six trumpets are
described in Prophecy 8, but the
seventh trumpet is found in Prophecy
9. I believe God deliberately created
this architecture for the following
reasons:
1. Rule One
forces the seventh seal to follow the
sixth seal. Since the Second Coming
occurs during the sixth seal, the
seventh seal must occur after the
Second Coming. So, the question
rises, “When will Jesus break
open the seventh seal?” Revelation
20:12 states the
seventh seal will be broken at the
end of the 1,000 years by declaring
that “another book was opened,
which is The Book of Life.”
Since the book having seven seals is
The Book of Life, the opening of The
Book of Life indicates the seventh
seal is broken at the end of the
1,000 years. By de-linking the
seventh seal from the first six
seals, God accomplishes two purposes.
First, He has been able to hide a
great deal of information “in
plain sight” for two thousand
years because the architecture makes
no sense until the four rules of
interpretation are understood.
Second, by putting the seventh seal
in a prophecy after the numberless
multitude is in Heaven, we discover
the seventh seal has to be broken
open when The Book of Life is opened
at the end of the thousand years.
Consider for
a moment the beauty of separating the
seventh trumpet from the other six.
We know that chronologically, the
seventh trumpet has to occur after
the sixth trumpet. We also know that
the seventh trumpet occurs after the
Two Witnesses are resurrected and
taken to Heaven.[4] Therefore,
the facts combine to tell us that
Jesus will do everything possible to
save sinners before the seventh
trumpet sounds. In other words, when
extended mercy has no further
redemptive effect on the wicked, the
seventh trumpet will sound. This
trumpet will announce the end of
God’s generous offer of
redemption. No one will be lost
because he was undecided.
2. God
disconnected the seventh seal and the
seventh trumpet from their six
counterparts to emphasize their
importance. The seventh seal brings
“the revelation of Jesus”
process to a grand finale by
highlighting the eternal deity of
Jesus and the seventh trumpet brings
the generous salvation of Jesus to a
grand finale by highlighting His
extended efforts to save every
sinner. Consider this amazing point
again: God’s mercy for sinners
only ends after every sinner has made
his or her decision. This is crucial.
Just before the seventh trumpet
sounds, the population of the world
will be sharply divided into two
camps: The sheep will obey Jesus and
the demands of the eternal gospel and
the goats will obey Lucifer and the
dictates of his theocracy. To obey
Lucifer and the dictates of his
government, every wicked person has
to defy the Two Witnesses and commit
the unpardonable sin. Therefore, the
seventh trumpet signals the end of
grace and mercy because there is no
further purpose for grace and mercy!
God is the
source of love and He is the perfect
example of how love functions in all
circumstances. Jesus wants mankind to
understand His intricate process for
resolving the sin problem because
this drama reveals how true love
actually functions. God’s
approach to resolving the sin problem
is complex. God is not shallow or
careless. His ways are magnificent,
reasonable, and generous. Throughout
eternity, the redeemed will study God
and His actions. They will see that
God used justice and mercy to redeem
the greatest number of people
possible. They will also see that He
is not self-seeking, manipulative, or
impure. No one in all the universe is
purer in heart than the Godhead. They
are more selfless and humble than
words can express.
Many people
open their Bible to Revelation
8:1 and conclude
that the seventh seal occurs just
before the trumpets sound because
after the seventh seal was opened,
there was silence in Heaven for about
half an hour.
Centuries
ago, when translators added chapter
and verse numbers to the Bible (for
purposes of quick reference), they
broke up sentences into verses and
chapters according to their
“best guess.” The original
manuscripts of the Bible do not have
chapter and verse designations.
Nevertheless, this innocent endeavor
has caused much confusion in the book
of Revelation. Revelation
8:1 is the last
verse in Prophecy 7 and Revelation
8:2 is the first
verse in Prophecy 8. Remember, each
prophetic sequence has a
beginning point in time and an ending
point in time and the events within
each prophecy occurs in the order
stated. Since
Revelation
8:2 does not
chronologically follow Revelation
8:1 (Revelation
8:1 occurs at the
end of the 1,000 years), a new
prophecy begins with Revelation
8:2 (Prophecy 8).
The
Sequence:
Revelation
8:2
And
I saw the seven angels which stood
before God; and to them were given
seven trumpets.{2} As
I looked toward Heaven, I saw the
seven angels who stand before God.
Each angel was given a golden
trumpet.
Seven highly
exalted angels stand before God. They
are “on call” to carry out
God’s will at a moment’s
notice. These angels were given seven
trumpets (in 1994 – see Appendix
A) and are waiting for the signal to
sound their trumpets. When Jesus
gives the signal, each angel will
sound his trumpet and a dreadful
judgment will impact Earth. I believe
the first four judgments will occur
over a period of approximately sixty
days and they will fall on notably
wicked places. The last three trumpet
judgments will fall on wicked people.
The first four angels have been
standing ready to do what the Lord
asks of them since 1994. They are
waiting for the 144,000 to be
selected and sealed. This delay will
end soon and when it does, God’s
wrath will be released. The first
four judgments will kill twenty-five
percent of the world’s
population. This means that one out
of every four people will die.[5] Words
cannot describe the death,
destruction, and chaos the first four
trumpets will produce.
Revelation
8:3
And
another angel came and stood at the
altar, having a golden censer; and
there was given unto him much
incense, that he should offer it with
the prayers of all saints upon the
golden altar which was before the
throne.{3} My
attention was directed toward the
golden Altar of Incense located
before God’s throne. I saw a
highly exalted angel serving at the
Altar of Incense. He had a golden
censer in his hand.
Before we
discuss the importance of this scene,
some background information about
temple services is required. Two
different altars were used in the
earthly temples built by Moses and
Solomon. Services conducted at these
two altars teach us that God does not
forgive sin, instead He transfers the
guilt of a repentant sinner to the
horns of the Altar of Burnt Offering.
This may be a new thought, so please
consider the following illustration:
When a sinner commits a sin, the
penalty for sin (death) rests on the
sinner’s head. The only way a
sinner can escape this penalty is
through faith in God’s grace.
Before Jesus
died on the cross, repentant sinners
in Israel had to go through a certain
process to be set free of their guilt
(condemnation). A sinner had to
present a perfect lamb to a priest at
the Altar of Burnt Offering. Standing
at that altar, the sinner confessed
his sins by putting his hands on the
lamb’s head and declaring his
sinful actions. After confession, the
sacrificial lamb was placed on the
altar and the sinner took its life by
cutting the jugular vein. The priest
captured some of the lamb’s
blood in a cup and sprinkled the
blood on the horns of the Altar of
Burnt Offering as a record of this
transaction. The sinner’s guilt
was transferred to the horns of the
altar via “sinless blood,”
and the sinner came away from the
altar free of condemnation
(forgiven).
At the end of
the religious year, the High Priest
cleansed the Altar of Burnt Offering
on the Day of Atonement. The
accumulated guilt was transferred
from the altar to the head of a
scapegoat and the scapegoat was then
taken out into the wilderness by a
very strong man. The man was
instructed to take the goat to a
desolate place so it might die a
protracted death. Two points stand
out in this process. First, sin
itself cannot be forgiven, but guilt
can be transferred from the sinner to
the temple’s altar via the blood
of a perfect lamb. Second, a
scapegoat was required to cleanse the
temple of accumulated guilt. On the
Day of Atonement, the guilt which had
accumulated on the horns of the
altars was placed on the
scapegoat’s head and the
scapegoat was led away to die.
The Old
Testament ceremonial system
demonstrates two truths. First, the
blood of a perfect lamb (representing
Jesus) was required to release a
sinner from the penalty of sin.
Second, the guilt of sin was put on
the scapegoat. This point confuses
many people. Jesus lived a perfect
life so that He could provide the
sinless blood required to transfer
our guilt to the author of sin.
Because sin cannot be forgiven, the
author of sin must die for creating
sin. Lucifer will die a protracted
death. He must suffer and die for his
own sins as well as the guilt of
those who received Christ as their
Savior.
Now that we
have considered the daily service
conducted at the bronze Altar of
Burnt Offering, we need to turn our
attention to the golden Altar of
Incense and its daily service. Try to
keep this thought in mind as you
proceed: Daily services at the golden
Altar of Incense provided
“corporate atonement,”
whereas daily services at the bronze
Altar of Burnt Offering provided
“individual atonement.”
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