Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation 101

Finding Jesus in the Book of Revelation

Session 5

The Seven Trumpets

Welcome: A brief review of the seven seals, the 144,000 and the great multitude.

First four seals were grouped as four horsemen; then two seals that included the cry “How Long O Lord?” from the fifth seal martyrs and the cry for the rocks to “Fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb” from the sixth seal.

“Who will be able to stand?”

The 144,000.

The “great multitude” turned out to be the same group.

(Prayer)

Introduction to this session: .

The seven trumpets.

This is perhaps the most difficult portion of Revelation when it comes to confusion, misunderstanding, and uncertainty.

We will be humbly tentative.

Structure includes an introductory sanctuary scene, repetition of the same time period as the seven seals (the Christian Era), and a 4-2-interlude-1 sequence.

Introductory sanctuary scene: Read .

A. Historical/cultural context (key two) helps.

The daily temple services described in ; are called tamid.

The “throwing of the censor” doesn’t get described, but the Mishnah describes it somewhat like church bells calling people to worship.

B. This introductory sanctuary scene provides a wake up call to come worship God in prayer.

The incense lets us know our prayers are important, God hears, and prayer will be a vital part of the seven trumpets.

The Seven Trumpets

A. Trumpets have many Old Testament roots—Participant’s Guide, page 60.

Trumpets signify that God is going to act.

Examples include war, coronation of kings, call to gather people, warning, call to worship.

It also signifies the “Day of the Lord.”

The New Testament includes a trumpet call at the Second Coming (; ).

B. —general overview passage for trumpets.

C. Feast of Trumpets—10 days to turn to God in prayer and repentance.

D. Joshua and the Battle of Jericho—.

Use of trumpets.

E. Trumpets as God’s “PR” message: P=Prayer; R=Repent

F. Structure of Revelation and the Trumpets:

1. Repetition from the seven seals (but not the first or the seventh seals) Participant’s Guide, page 61.

2. Pyramid symmetry; compare with the seven bowls.

Participant’s Guide, page 62.

3. Trumpets—1/3 of the earth; Bowls—entire earth; the Seals—1/4 of the earth.

4. Trumpets—still an opportunity to repent.

5. OT root of the plagues on Egypt.

First Trumpet:

A. Doesn’t sound good.

Old Testament roots (; ).

With the first trumpet, God brings judgment on those who fail or refuse to know God.

This judgment seems to fall on God’s people ( trees; ; , ).

God starts his warning and punishment with those who claim to be his followers so they will truly turn to him before he returns.

Second Trumpet:

A. Spanish Armada?

Old Testament roots ( Babylon as a mountain; God’s mountain; water to blood kills the water animals).

Ships have Babylon allusions ().

With the second trumpet, God warns and punishes those opposed to his people so they will turn to him before he returns.

Third Trumpet:

A. A star (singular).

—star of the morning who seeks to become like the Most High.

The fifth trumpet will give another clue to this.

Rivers and springs of water—nourishment () or persecution () or cleansing () or people ().

This context seems to mean nourishment.

One-third become wormwood (same name as the star).

Satan takes what God offers for spiritual nourishment and contaminates it to bring about death rather than life ().

NT examples (, , ; ; ; ; 1 ; ).

With the third trumpet, God warns that what is supposed to give life will bring death when tainted by apostasy.

Fourth Trumpet:

A. Darkness covered the earth before creation ().

Light gets associated with God and darkness gets associated with evil or doom ().

The next to last Egyptian plague was darkness ().

Other OT roots include , ; ; .

NT examples include ; ; ; .

The contrast of light and darkness ().

“Practice prayer” or “Make prayer your practice.”

When people don’t pray, things go dark.

The third trumpet warned us about Satan’s contamination of God’s nourishing waters.

The fourth trumpet moves from corruption to apostasy, from false religion to anti-religion, from perversion to obliteration.

The fourth trumpet tells us that the light of God gets obscured as people live without any sense or need of God.

Transition:

A. We have completed the first four trumpets.

The sequence of 4-2-interlude-1 used with the seals is the same sequence for the trumpets.

The last three trumpets get labeled as “woes.”

Apparently, things are going to get worse.

B. Transition statement in .

Eagle—the Greek word aetos which can mean either vulture or eagle.

In the same word is used to describe those who will feast on God’s enemies that are about to be destroyed.

That sounds more like a vulture than an eagle.

OT root indicates impending judgment (; ; ; ).

NT reference in .

God is still doing everything he can to communicate—inform, warn, cajole, shout, beg, alarm, rattle, awaken—that people need to turn to him, and to do so before it’s too late.

C. “Those who dwell on the earth” is the code term for people who don’t follow God—the wicked.

D. The final three trumpets are three woes, with an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets.

Fifth Trumpet:

A. More descriptions, but little understanding.

Be tentative about the details and keep a focus on the revelation of Jesus.

The fifth trumpet begins with a star that fell from heaven to earth, and the key to the bottomless pit was given to him.

At the end of the fifth trumpet, the king of the destructive locusts is the angel of the Abyss, who is also given the Hebrew name Abaddon and the Greek name Apollyon.

Both mean the same thing—destruction or the place of destruction.

This presents the opposite of God, the Creator.

The Abyss describes the world prior to creation () when all was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

This is the world without God.

And this is the world that Satan seeks to have the earth become again.

God the Creator versus Satan the destroyer.

B. In the fifth trumpet Satan opens the Abyss and smoke goes up, like the smoke of a great furnace.

The sun and the air get darkened by this smoke.

That phrase, “the smoke of a great furnace” has Old Testament roots (; ; and the ninth plague on Egypt).