7 Trumpets

Bottom line

The 7 Trumpets are a reminder to the church to be repentant, and trust God in the face of hardship.

Opening Line

Have you ever been watching a show or reading a book and had the feeling you’ve read something similar to it before?

Introduction

When I was a teen, the Left Behind series was the book to read and the movie to watch. The books and movies were all about exactly what we are talking about right now. It was the attempt to bring to life the things that Scripture describes as the end times. Kirk Cameron was the big actor in the movies, and I remember many a youth group watching the movies, which inspired a bunch of questions and studies to follow.

But it wasn’t the only series that attempted to tackle the end times. I remember picking up a series called the Prodigal Project, and it was a completely different spin on the same topic. Where Left Behind seemed to try to maintain a sense of hope despite the darkness that happening during the Tribulation, Prodigal Project did not shy away from just how dark the end times are going to be. Where Left Behind would use plot twists to inject hope and joy into the story, Prodigal Project was quick to use plot twists to suck the wind right out of the sails.

Main Point

My point is that some times a good story is worth retelling, and if you’ve ever read Ecclesiastes, you know that there is nothing new under the sun. What is has always been.

When we started this series, I said that Revelation really isn’t that hard to understand if you know your Bible. This morning you are going to see that the way John writes about the 7 Trumpets has a very similar feel to another story in Scripture.

Why it matters

The repetition is a reminder that God never ceases to be good, and if He delivered His people once, He will do it again and again. This serves as an important reminder to the church that tribulation is coming, and God will watch over you. It is also an important reminder to remain diligent in holiness and repentance, a major theme that is going to emerge over these chapters.

Scripture

So with that, we will pick things up in Revelation 8:2-6

Revelation 8:2–6 NLT

I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts.

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So we have this scene in heaven, and the one thing that comes up twice is that the prayers of God’s holy people are rising up to the golden altar. These prayers are mixed with incense, signifying the presence of God, and hurled to earth, almost in a form of judgment. What follows the earthquake could easily be described as the 7 Trumpets of judgment.

Church, let me ask you. What other story in Scripture starts off with God’s people lifting their prayers to God, almost a crying out to Him if you will, and God’s judgment to follow?

This feels a lot like the Exodus story. God’s people are being enslaved and persecuted in Egypt, they cry out to God to be saved, and then God passes judgment on the Egyptians in the form of plagues. The same is about to happen, which also answers the question of what the people were praying about. They weren’t praying for the destruction of the wicked; they were crying out to God to save them. What follows is God’s judgment on earth, what some will call the Great Tribulation. The opening of the scene is a reminder that God is attentive to your prayers, even if it doesn’t feel like it. So as we said a couple of weeks ago, keep on praying.

Revelation 8:7–12 NLT

The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned. Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed. Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water. Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night.

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Four trumpets, four judgments on creation. Why? The same reason God’s plagues hit the rivers and livestock in Egypt. People rely on the plants of the earth and the fish of the sea for their livelihood. You need fresh drinking water to survive, and sun light to maintain your sanity. People worship creation and depend on it to live their lives. The judgments are a reminder that creation is frail, and the only one that you can truly rely on is God himself. Though it is not a complete destruction of these things, a third of everything is a significant amount that people will take notice of. A third will cripple a large amount of humanity’s economy. But it is only getting started.

Revelation 8:13 NLT

Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, “Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.”

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These four might seem bad, but the worst is yet to come.

Revelation 9:1–6 NLT

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke. Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting. In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them!

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John goes on to describe what the locusts look like, and what he describes is hard to formulate in our minds. Many have attempted make sense of it, but I think what the locusts look like is not as important as their mission. They were to seek out those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads, and cause them unimaginable pain for 5 months. They would long to die, but they wouldn’t.

The best description I could find for what John is describing is that these locusts are something demonic. They are not physical locusts, but the pain and torture they are going to inflict is very real. It would also line up with the fact that the believers wouldn’t have a physical seal on their heads, but seal of the Holy Spirit that protects them from the locusts.

This is a judgment for the unbeliever, the enemy of God. This is the first terror, and two more are yet to come.

Revelation 9:13–16 NLT

Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.” Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.

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The fifth trumpet unleashed an army that would cause such intense pain that people would long for death and not find it. The next one is an army of 200 million mounted soldiers, tasked with killing a third of the world’s population. Again, the description that John gives for these 200 million mounted troops suggests that they are demonic. The way they are described suggests that a third of the earth will die, and yet more will be injured over the course of their campaign. So where the previous plague, death escapes the people, here death is handed out in abundance.

But in the midst of the rampant pain and death handed out, John points this out.

Revelation 9:20–21 NLT

But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

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Creation is devastated. Humanity has suffered immense losses and pain. Yet their response to God’s judgment is the same as Pharaoh’s all those years prior. They remain hard hearted, refusing to repent of their wickedness and turn to God. They maintain their idol worship, murdering, witchcraft, sexual immorality, and thefts.

This is the Great Tribulation, and this is what God’s judgment is going to look like on the earth. These trumpets are meant to serve as a wake up call to the church. It is a reminder that you are called to holiness and you are to have nothing to do with these things. The trumpet of the Old Testament was meant to serve as a warning, a call to arms. Six trumpet blasts, all meant to remind the church to make sure they are counted among those who are sealed for eternity. Get rid of the things that are contrary to heart and teachings of God. If the six seals have already been opened, that judgment is soon to follow, so be sure your heart and life are right before.

Which brings us to chapter 10. Revelation 10 is an interlude before the trumpets continue to be blown. The scroll represents the Word of God. The sweetness of the scroll is the reminder that God’s word and teaching is often sweet coming into our life. As disciples of Jesus, you recognize that even the hardest word is meant to encourage you and help you grow into the saint that you are called to be, to do the ministry only you can do.

The bitterness or sourness in the stomach is the reminder that the word you receive is not to stop with you. What you receive a word or a teaching from God, the idea is that you are to take it out and share it with the world. Jesus told his disciples that what they heard in secret, they were to shout from the rooftops.

It is an important reminder. You have been told, church, that judgment is coming, and for those who are not followers of Jesus, judgment is going to be intense. The intensity should stir you to share with your neighbor. It is a call to love your neighbor enough to pray, connect, and make every effort you can to see them come to the saving grace of Jesus because you don’t want them to experience what is going to come. It is meant to reignite the desire to share with your kids and grand kids the grace and love of Jesus, because not repenting of the ways of the world is going to have severe consequence.

For some, the trumpets are a stirring in you, a recognition that something is not right in your life and you really want to make sure that the seal of God is on your life. For others, it bring to mind a name, a face, someone in your life that needs to hear this message because you know they are not right and they need to be. The only wrong response is to sit in confidence that you are good to go and that’s all the matters. This word may be sweet going in, but I pray that it creates a sourness in you to share it someone soon.

Which brings us to Chapter 11. I’m not going to say much about the two prophets mostly because the identity of the two prophets is largely unknown. On one hand, John could be describing two literal people who have been blessed with amazing power the bear witness to the earth. On the other hand, the two prophets could be a representation of the church, since John uses the imagery of lampstands, which represent the church in chapter 1.

I do want to mention this. If the two prophets represent the church, then v. 12, where they are told to come up here, would suggest that God’s people will be raptured after the tribulation. Just to clarify, the rapture is an event where God’s people, living and dead, leave the earth and are united with God in heaven. Traditionally, as Pentecostals, we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, aka, we will miss all this. There some who believe in a post-tribulation rapture, and this is one of the many reasons why. I don’t want to dwell too much on this other then to say I really hope that rapture happens before tribulation, but I think the church better be ready no matter how it plays out.

This is the second terror, and the third is coming.

Revelation 11:15–18 NLT

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him. And they said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come. It is time to judge the dead and reward your servants the prophets, as well as your holy people, and all who fear your name, from the least to the greatest. It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.”

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The vast majority of this passage speaks of the establishment of Jesus’ reign on earth. The seventh trumpet describes the final victory of Jesus, where sin and death are conquered. It describes the faithful in Christ receiving the reward of the faithfulness despite the trials they face. How is this a terror?

Because like the first two terrors, this is only bad for those who are enemies of God. Only those without the seal of God suffered in the fifth plague. It lend that only those without the seal were killed in the sixth plague, though death isn’t a punishment for the believer. Thus, the seventh trumpet is the final judgment, and those who are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, those who have not been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, will face judgment and ultimately damnation. This is why it is the third terror, because there are no more chances.

Transition to Application

Let the sounding of the trumpets raise the alarm in the heart of all who hear this morning. The same way a certain trumpet blast would cause an army to jump to action, let the seven trumpet blasts raise you to action.

Main To Do

What does action look like? Maybe you need to take time this morning for prayer and confession, recognizing you are not sure you would escape these judgments. Maybe you recognize that someone in your life is in need of this message, and you need to start praying for them this morning.

Why it matters

The time is short, church. Even now the pieces are falling into place, and the end is near. The rapture, the tribulation, it could happen any moment, and I pray that each of you are ready. Scripture says constantly to stay alert. Watch for the signs, watch for opportunities to pray and share the hope of Jesus, and stay diligent to resist the demonic forces that are at work even now, trying to corrupt those God has sealed for salvation.

Closing Line

How awful it would be for a loved one, a friend, to endure judgment on account of God’s church being complacent when it should be active!

Discussion Questions

What stood out from the message?

How can we actively incorporate the lessons from the 7 Trumpets into our daily lives to ensure we remain repentant and trusting God?

Can you think of someone who needs to hear the message of hope as you understood it from the sermon? How can you reach out to them?

In what ways can the church serve as a beacon of hope during difficult times as reflected by the references to God’s deliverance in Scripture?

How can we encourage one another to maintain diligence in holiness and repentance amidst the chaos of the world?

What steps can we take to ensure we are preparing our hearts for the eventual return of Christ as described in the sermon?

What are some personal actions you can take to help others who may not understand the urgency of the message about the end times?