The First Four Trumpets
Study 3
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Now that we have had a
brief overview and justification for
what God is about to do, we need to
back up and examine the first four
trumpets of Revelation in greater
detail. During the Great Tribulation,
believers will be able to see the
fulfillment of prophecy right before
their eyes. People who are led by the
Holy Spirit will be able to see a
distinct correlation between current
events and God’s Word.
Unfortunately, many of the survivors
will refuse to understand God’s
actions because they have hearts like
Pharaoh. (Remember the hardness of
Pharaoh’s heart? Even after God
sent ten plagues upon Egypt, Pharaoh
refused to submit to God’s
authority.)
The cause and purposes
of the Great Tribulation can be
understood by anyone who sincerely
wants to know God’s ways. If the
books of Daniel and Revelation
remained obscure and mysterious
forever, the final generation would
not have confidence in the Bible.
Nothing is more powerful than a truth
whose time has come. This fact will
soon stand in direct opposition to
the claims of the world’s
greatest skeptics. Indeed, you can be
sure of this development: Many
scientists will deny that the first
four trumpet events are “Acts of
God.” Instead, they will say
that these calamities are
nature’s random curse that they
have been foretelling for years. On
the other hand, leaders of the
worldwide religious coalition
(Babylon) will claim that these
events are judgments sent by an angry
God. What a debate! Who will win in
the court of public opinion –
science or religion? Revelation
reveals that religion will once again
overpower science and politics! The
last time this happened, the age that
followed was called “The Dark
Ages.”
A Great Earthquake
“And I saw the
seven angels who stand before God,
and to them were given seven
trumpets. Another angel, who had a
golden censer, came and stood at the
alter [of incense]. He was
given much incense to offer, with the
prayers of all the saints, on the
golden alter before the
throne….Then the angel took the
censer, filled it with fire from the
alter, and hurled it on the Earth;
and there came peals of thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightening and
an earthquake.” (Revelation
8: 2,3,5, insertion mine)
These verses describe
the end of Jesus’ intercessory
service on behalf of Earth. In other
words, when God’s patience with
Earth as a corporate body
reaches its limit because
Earth’s cup of iniquity is full,
His wrath toward Earth begins. When
the angel casts the censer down, four
physical phenomena will occur on
Earth: thunder, rumblings, flashes of
lightening and an earthquake. Notice
also that when God’s patience
with individuals on Earth
reaches its limit at the end of the
seventh trumpet (at that time every
person will have received or rejected
the gospel), these same phenomena
occur again. Then again, when the
seventh bowl is poured out on the
wicked during the seven last plagues,
these four phenomena occur a third
time. These global events, described
three times in Revelation (Revelation
8:5,7; 11:19; 16:17-21), are
magnificent signs marking specific
milestones in this sequence of 14
events.
The physical signs
that mark the beginning of the Great
Tribulation will be awesome and they
are carefully designed and
implemented to arrest the attention
of billions of people. They will be
so powerful that everyone on Earth
will shudder. The global earthquake
that marks the beginning of the Great
Tribulation will be distinguished
from previous earthquakes on earth in
two ways:
- This
earthquake will be
accompanied by manifestations
in the Heavens and within the
Earth. There will be
rumblings or noises that come
from deep within the Earth
(sounding like groaning and
voices), deafening peals of
thunder and a scary display
of lightening – these
episodes will be
simultaneously heard and
observed around the world.
- This
earthquake will cause
overwhelming damage
throughout the world.
Skyscrapers will topple.
Vital bridges will vanish.
Highways will be broken up.
Power grids will be ripped
apart. Water lines and septic
systems will be broken. The
oceans will churn violently.
The Richter scale cannot
measure the power of the
global earthquake and
analysts will not be able to
calculate the resulting
damage. This is too much for
man to measure!
Showers of Fiery
Meteors Fall
“Then the
seven angels who had the seven
trumpets prepared to sound them. The
first angel sounded his trumpet,
there came hail and fire mixed with
blood, and it was hurled down upon
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.” (Revelation
8:6,7)
A few days after the
global earthquake and physical
display of God’s powers,
Revelation predicts much of Earth
will be set on fire by a giant
firestorm of burning hail (small
meteorites). The fiery hail will
ignite unquenchable fires all over
the world, burning up a third of the
trees and all the green grass! The
possibility of this happening is not
far fetched as it may sound. Our
planet routinely experiences meteoric
hailstorms every year. The Leonids,
the Perseids, the Lyrids, and the
Geminid meteoric showers are annual
events that happen when Earth and the
orbit of the debris gives the
appearance of “shooting
stars.” However, the shooting
stars are white-hot chucks of space
debris. As the debris enters our
atmosphere at speeds that may exceed
60,000 miles per hour, atmospheric
friction causes the debris to become
white hot. So far, these annual
displays have not been a serious
threat. The white-hot debris usually
does not reach earth, but the story
will be quite different when the
first trumpet judgment occurs.
Think of the
consequences when millions of
white-hot rocks rain down on Earth.
We may have a good example of the
consequences. Some scientist now
believe that the great Chicago fire
(October, 1871) was not caused by
Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking
over a lantern, but by a shower of
fiery meteors. Historical evidence
indicates that a string of fires
ignited along a straight line
stretching about 200 miles across the
north central part of the United
States that same night. Survivors of
the Peshtigo fire reported seeing
streaks of fire falling out of the
sky. What caused all of these
enormous fires to start during the
same hour that evening? Scientists
believe a shower of white-hot hail
falling to Earth resolves the
question and satisfies the details.
Great Ball of Fire #1
The judgment that
follows the firestorm of burning
meteors is an asteroid impact. John
writes, “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, a third of the
living creatures in the sea died, and
a third of the ships were
destroyed.” (Revelation
8:8,9)
This scene describes a
large asteroid, the size of a
mountain, hitting the sea. The term,
“mountain” is an accurate
term for a large asteroid. If an
asteroid, one mile in diameter, were
sitting on the surface of the Earth,
it would be called a mountain 5,280
feet high! Even more, John’s
description of an asteroid impacting
the sea is identical to scientific
models created at several
universities during the past ten
years. For example, the tidal wave
was caused by a great asteroid impact
would destroy ships for hundreds of
miles in every direction – even
those docked in remote seaports.
Think about the commotion of the
ocean after such an impact! (See Luke
21:25.) According to studies
conducted at the University of
California, an asteroid of this
magnitude would be so hot by the time
it hit an ocean that it would make a
large part of the ocean water anoxic
(oxygen deficient) by simple boiling
the oxygen out of a large area of the
sea. Sea temperatures would rise
dramatically and hot water would kill
billions of sea creatures in a very
large radius. The warmed, anoxic
water resulting from the impact would
also provide a perfect environment
for the growth of red algae or what
is known as red tide. When John said
the sea turned to blood, he may have
been describing the appearance of red
algae, which thrives in oxygen
deficient water!
