Revelation 8v6-13
Notes
Transcript
Friends, if you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s word. Today we read from Revelation 8:6-13
Revelation 8:6–13 (CSB)
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
The fourth angel blew 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 were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.
I looked and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”
This is the word of God. Would you pray with me. Please have a seat.
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It can be hard for those of us in America to relate with a large section of humanity. For most of time since the fall, for humanity, calamity and suffering has been near at hand. Even in modern history, huge parts of the globe are plagued with famine, drought, war, natural disasters, and devastation.
One just has to peruse some biographies or historical work to realize how often humans have lived in among and next to utter devastation. And we shouldn’t glorify those things, I think it’s right to praise God for the safety and prosperity that he has allowed us to enjoy.
But for the christians in asia minor at the end of the first century pain and suffering were a part of their lived experience. Most of the seven cities to whom the book of revelation had suffered earthquakes. On the eastern end of the empire, there was danger of the the Parthians and other bandits raiding farms and villages.
And the romans, who proclaimed pax romana, the peace of rome, was largely earned by the sword.
If revelation was written in the 90s ad, which i think it was, this generation of jews and christians still had the memory of the destruction of jerusalem full in their minds. We can learn a lot about this war, which took place in ad 66-70 from Josephus, who was a jewish historian who wrote about this war, in a work called The Jewish War. And while he was biased, he was a first hand witness to the devastation.
He describes the area of Galilee becoming a scene of fire and blood from one end to the other. He describes the general who would ascend the throne, Vespasian, burning down towns and villages. He writes about sieges with 160 artillery engines hurling stones through the air. He says that the sea of galilee was filled with shipwrecks and swollen carcasses, and even deceived the sea as red with blood.
He also tells of storms so strong during this time that many thought it was a sign of coming destruction, and even of all the trees for great distances being felled.
This war, these images would have been in the mind of the generation of believers in Asia Minor.
I say that for there are times when we get to sections of scripture that seem so severe that our highly sensitized minds don’t have a category for the words we read, at least not in a lived experience.
We read of plagues and shudder. We read of judgement and get squeamish. We read some of the imprecatory psalms and prayers, where David and believers prayed graphic requests for God to judge and we don’t know what to do with that.
This text can be one of those texts for people.
Today we begin our experience of the seven trumpets, and we will see our way though the first four today.
Look at verse 6
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
trumpets have a rich amount of context we can find in the old testament. First and foremost what comes to mind in most scholars I read was the entrance of the jewish people into the promised land when they find Jericho.
In fact, the story of the exodus, and the journey of the israelites from captivity and enslavement in Egypt, being rescued by God, wandering in the wilderness, and then coming into the promised land may be the most important image to have in mind as we look at the seven trumpets - and honestly as we live as believers.
That story has been such an important illustration for followers of God for thousands of years.
Trumpets can be thought of here as the difference maker as the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Signifying the entrance of the people of God into the promised land.
trumpets were also used in worship in the temple in Jerusalem. And throughout most of antiquity, trumpets were used to communicate with armies on the field to signal movements to the rest of the formation.
And, the trumpet was used to signify the beginning of the year of jubilee. Look at Leviticus 25:8-9
“You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years, so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to forty-nine. Then you are to sound a trumpet loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month; you will sound it throughout your land on the Day of Atonement.
Jubilee meant freedom. property was restored to its original owners, debtors were absolved. land was left unsown, and slaves were free. Jesus used Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19 which started his ministry, but also in Isaiah announced the year of jubilee. we can look at that on the screen.
Luke 4:18–19 (CSB)
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Jesus came to free us from slavery, but not the Egyptians, but from sin, and the flesh. he came to offer salvation.
I think these trumpets should be seen as this mixed image - salvation as come. Deliverance has come. The trumpet of jubilee has sounded, and the walls of Jericho are crumbling down.
It may seem strange to talk about salvation when we read of God’s judgment, but that really begs the question: What is salvation? Throughout church history many speakers and theologians have answered that question in many ways depending on which book of the Bible is being talked about. Even within the new testament, salvation can be in the physical sense, but also in the spiritual sense. It can look like relational reconciling, and deliverance. I like Tim Dwyer’s definition of salvation as he considers Revelation he says that salvation is:
“Jesus the Lamb enthroned as King, and reigning with His order of justice, love, and righteousness. Anyone enjoying that is experiencing salvation; anyone waiting faithfully for it has salvation coming; and anyone who is living out that life of the future now under King Jesus knows salvation already. Salvation is both present and future.” Tim Dwyer; Revelation, Leaving Speculation Behind
So this passage of the trumpets is really about salvation - and remember - salvation is coming THROUGH judgement.
We are supposed to think about it like the Israelites in Egypt. In a foreign world while plagues were being poured out on Egypt. In fact, we will see that a lot of the plagues in exodus seem to be in view here anew in the trumpets.
And remember, like we considered last week - these trumpets, sounding salvation and judgement come in response to the prayers of God’s people to the throne.
One note before we start working our way through the rest of the text. We need to read this work as it is, apocalyptic literature, not as if we were reading a scientific text. This was a visionary experience. They are by definition visions and symbols. Nor is this supposed to be a play-by-play of the future. Instead, again in the words of Tim Dwyer: The trumpets focus on God’s activity in judging opposition. God is announcing the doom of every Egypt, Rome, and Babylon for all time.
This is an apocalyptic vision to give the people of God faith to endure and to live the kingdom life in and through the suffering UNTIL he comes again.
Let’s start working through the first four trumpets; look at verse 7
The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Hail and fire, with blood are hurled to the earth as the first trumpet sounds. What a violent cocktail. This seems to be patterned after the plague in Egypt of Hail and fire, which you can find in Exodus 9:22-25. But this plague isn’t directed to only Egypt, but on the whole of the earth. Even with that, only a third is affected, a third of the trees, and a third of the grass.
Which let’s be real - if it were to happen would surely bring about the end of all life on earth. And I think we are supposed to see incredible famine that would play out. If there was a third less land, a third less trees, and a third less grass - life stock and birds, and all that rely on that aspect of creation would surely suffer.
This fire, as it is elsewhere in Revelation, is almost certainly figurative, not literal. It speaks of God’s holiness and his righteous judgement. In fact, when one reads through ISaiah, Ezekiel and JEremiah, and sees the prophetic words being spun of judgement towards evil doers, we see John using that language to explain what he sees.
Let’s look at the second trumpet, Revelation 8:8-9
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
We see the continuation of God’s judgement here - and a bizarre image - a great mountain, that’s on fire, is throne into the sea. And then a huge part of the sea is turned to blood - and therefore a third of all the creatures in the sea die, and a huge swath of the ships were destroyed.
GK Beale does great work on how Mountains are used by prophets in Scripture. In Revelation, Mountains can speak of kingdoms both good and bad, where in the old testament mountains are usually used to represent nations and are used to show Gods judgement.
So in this image, we God judging and evil kingdom. The prophet Jeremiah describes Babylon as a devastating mountain that he will burn with fire. Look at that in JEremiah 51:25
Jeremiah 51:25 (CSB)
Look, I am against you, devastating mountain. This is the Lord’s declaration. You devastate the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the cliffs, and turn you into a charred mountain.
Again, John just assumes we are as familiar with the old testament as he is. SO he is pulling from Jeremiah, and with Exodus in which the nile was turned to blood.
Think about the devastation it would be to the Mediterranean cultures if the fish were cut back by a third. most of the average people in this time, their primary meat source would be fish, not livestock. So this would be devastating. And a third of the ships, who would be the ones to go out and fish, are gone.
Look now at the third trumpet, Revelation 8:10-11
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
We have a another burning object - this time a star. The burning perhaps continues the same concept of judgement and famine. Stars are in revelation used as a representation for an angelic being. So this is likely to be understood as an angelic agent sent down to harm the water and judge the sinful people.
Again this is reminiscent of the angel of death in the Egypt plagues, but also in mind here comes from Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to feed this people wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink.
The idea is because is because Israel had become polluted with idolatry, now the water would be polluted with bitterness.
When we consider the first three trumpets so far - they’ve affected the land, the sea, and the rivers. That’s pretty all encompassing - but now we will see that even light itself will be affected. Revelation 8:12
The fourth angel blew 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 were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.
This seems to allude to Exodus 10, with the plague of darkness. And this is likely figurative as well - perhaps a spiritual darkness and depravity falling over the whole land. fear, terror etc.
Darkness isn’t amazing. I remember as a kid that going down into the basement at night was one of the worst things! Even now, when i go out hunting early in the morning when it’s still dark, you can hear everything and it’s easy to imagine little footsteps that belong to a squirrel somehow belong to a mountain lion.
It does seem appropriate that the fourth trumpet, which is the end of a like set of for - seems to tie it all together. The darkening or hardening of the unbelievers heart.
I, along with Beale and Dwyer and Peterson, and many other scholars, agree that these trumpets, much like the first four seals, are executed and a part of our experience on earth.
There are times today, and throughout history, where God uses judgement and even plagues to get peoples attention, to turn our hearts back to him, and to judge the nations. Keener says it this way: “God seeks people’s attention through judgement.”
And he says that just because our western world has experienced great prosperity and peace does not guarantee God’s blessing! Babylon had great military right and more economic security than judah. And yet Babylon has been no more than history and memories for two thousand years.
Last verse today: Revelation 8:13
I looked and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”
Here we see likely an angelic or heavenly being, in the form of an eagle proclaiming that the remaining trumpets are to be even more intense, proclaiming woe, woe, woe. Woes were used by prophets, and even Jesus, to proclaim coming judgement.
God has heard the prayers of his people - and throughout history, will work for his glory and their good.
Now, let’s ask our question:
So What?
So What?
First, God uses disastrous events in his plan of redemption and glory. There are times we can see in scripture where he even uses such events as a mode of judgement. Though we ought to be REALLY careful to not call every catastrophe or disaster God’s wrath. Why? Because we don’t have the special revelation to do so!
However we do not that believers are to have a surviving and an enduring faith. And when most look back at their lives - its times of suffering and hardship in which God does the most to encourage and grow our faith.
So whatever comes, we ought to ask: “God in this, even in this suffering, what are you wanting to do in my life? Please do not waste this suffering.”
Also, we need to be really curious about our hearts when we go through chaotic times. When things come up that catch us off guard - what is the condition of our heart? We need to get curious about what comes out of us, so we can bring those deficiencies to the Lord to heal. God can use those disruptions to reveal who we really are.
And lastly - maybe we have trouble relating to passages of Scripture that are heavy because we are just so attracted to comfort and pleasure rather than obedience and delight.
something here about wanting to be in God’s will, even if it’s uncomfortable, if it means goodness.