Sermon Tone Analysis

Summary

Revelation 8 begins the vision of the first six trumpets.

In Part 1 of our look at this chapter, we looked at features of the first six verses, such as the Lamb’s opening of the seventh and final seal on the scroll from Revelation, the accompanying silence in heaven 5, and the seven angels in the scene.

In Part 2 we discuss verses 7-13, a description of the first four trumpet judgments.

The Old Testament context of these four trumpet judgments reveals clear connections to the exodus plagues and the Deuteronomy 32 worldview.

Introduction

We’re going to finish chapter 8.

So we’re going to move into chapter 9 in its own episode.

Because once I got into this, it’s like, there’s just too much stuff here to talk about.

So I’m not going to try to weed things out just to get through.

So we will finish verses 7-13.

That’s the rest of chapter 8, and these are the first four trumpet judgments.

So that’s what we’ll cover today.

And again, the focus here is to cover them in their Old Testament context.

And so a lot of the discussion today is going to involve in some way the plagues on Egypt.

You recall from the Exodus series we did that the plagues were directed against Egyptian gods.

And so, consequently, there will also be a couple of references to the Deuteronomy 32 worldview in this, which I suspect is going to be pretty unique in terms of how Revelation anywhere gets talked about.

So we’re going to go through the four trumpets, just with an eye toward what is John (what are the visions he sees) hooking into as far as Old Testament imagery?

And what might that mean?

What might that suggest?

So the first trumpet is Revelation 8:7.

I’m just going to take these as we go through and just read the passage.

Again, I’m reading ESV.

Now there’s an obvious correlation here with the plagues of Egypt.

You’ve got the hail and the fire mixed with blood.

So on and so forth.

And Beale and McDonough comment on this in the Old Testament in the New Testament commentary that Beale and Carson edited.

This verse is patterned after the Egyptian plague of hail and fire in Exod.

9:23–25 LXX [ specifically in the Septuagint you have a strong correlation—an overlap in the language—which reads]: “And the Lord gave… hail, and fire ran upon the land [gē].

And the Lord rained hail upon all the land [gē]… And there was hail and flaming fire mingled with the hail… And the hail struck in all the land [gē] [ you know, this “land” is mentioned repeatedly there]… And the hail struck all the vegetation in the field, and the hail shattered all the trees in the field.”

So you get a little bit of added detail there when you reference the Septuagint here.

And Beale and McDonough go on to note:

Both Exod.

9 and Rev. 8:7 present an affliction of hail together with fire sent from heaven against three parts of creation: the earth or land, the trees, and the grass.

Although the trial from Exodus has been limited in Revelation in two of its effects to “one-third,” it has also undergone universalization.

Now the affliction has effect throughout the inhabited earth…

Whereas obviously in Exodus, it’s on the land of Egypt.

Now the “third” wording here isn’t really as transparent as to its context.

Going back to Revelation 8:7, a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees burned up, all the green grass was burned up.

So you have this “third” idea in there a couple of times.

And where that might come from isn’t very clear.

So Tonstad in his commentary says that there are so many threes as you go through Revelation 8 (and these trumpets) that it’s kind of pointless to look to one Old Testament passage.

And then he proceeds to say the most important third is going to be later in the book, Revelation 12 (a third of the stars).

And then he proceeds to interpret this third and others by the third of the stars in Revelation 12 cast down.

I don't know why he does that.

He actually doesn’t bother noting that passage’s connection to Deuteronomy 8:10.

So they’re the good guys.

It’s not like a judging evil or anything like that.

And he doesn’t argue for an identification specifically at all about the third of the stars, but then he proceeds to filter everything else through the dragon.

Honestly, his approach just doesn’t make sense to me.

It seems arbitrary.

But I thought I’d mention it.

He’ll come up again later on when we go through different trumpets where I think he’s tracking on something a little bit better.

But a more common approach to the “third” language is reflected by Aune in his commentary.

And he writes:

The eschatological destructions of one-third of various aspects of the cosmos (a consistent theme throughout 8:2–9:21…) is loosely based on Ezek 5:2 [ where you get this language three times and Revelation 5:12 three times], where three different fates befall each third of the population of Jerusalem, represented by what Ezekiel does to each third of the hairs of his head and beard.

So Aune (again, this is his comment) thinks that the “third” language has something to do with Ezekiel 5.

And that makes more sense than Tonstad, but honestly not a whole lot.

It amounts to using the “third” judgment language on Israel back in Ezekiel to describe the judgment of the world here.

Now Beale doesn’t rule out a connection to Ezekiel 5, but other things he proposes, I think, are simpler.

He says in one place in his commentary:

In both Exodus 9 and Rev. 8:7 hail and fire are sent from heaven against three parts of creation: earth/land [ you could translate it either way] (γῆ), trees, and grass... Revelation modifies the Exodus plague in that now only a third of the land and the trees are harmed, yet the affliction of all the grass remains unchanged [ that would be similar to what goes on in Egypt], though the limitation to one third may be carried over from the previous clauses, as is more clearly the case in 8:11b.

Although in one sense the trial has thus been limited in its effects, it has also been universalized in that it now has effect throughout the inhabited earth.”

And so then he goes on to offer another possibility, drawn from the Old Testament, but not Ezekiel 5.

He writes:

Rev. 8:7 might also evoke Zech.

13:8–9…

And I’m going to just read that so that listeners can get a feel for that.

So if we actually go back in Zechariah 13, this is a judgment.

It’s a judgment on what’s going on in terms of Zechariah’s timing.

I mean, this is either exile or postexilic.

And it’s really talking about Day of the Lord.

And so you have a judgment, but then you also have a third that’s spared.

So if that’s the case, Beale writes, at the end time there’s a fiery judgment that will:

… affect “thirds” in Israel: “two parts will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it.

And I will bring the third through the fire.”

Both the righteous and the ungodly suffer the same trial, but the trial positively refines the righteous, but only punishes the ungodly.

So that might have a little bit more to do with things.

It might fit the context of Revelation 8 and 9 and going on through the book, about the righteous and the unrighteous are affected by these plagues—these trials—but the righteous aren’t going to be the ones that are destroyed.

That kind of thing.

So they’re refined through the process, or they will be brought through it in some way.

So that feels to me like a bit of a better fit.

There’s another factor, though, and that’s a structural one.

That’s going to become a little more relevant when we get to Revelation 9. I may mention it again.

But I’m just going to throw this out.

This is kind of interesting.

Steve Moyise, in his book on Old Testament in Revelation, observes how the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8 and 9 (and even some material in chapter 10) follows the themes of Joel and Amos consecutively.

He has a little chart in his book, and

I’ll try to relay this.

(Add pic to proclaim)

But if you look at Revelation 8:6-13 (that’s what we’re covering today in this episode—the first four trumpets), there’s fire and sun and moon judged.

And that’s what happens in Joel 2. If you keep going into chapter 9 in Revelation, you get these locust-scorpions, smoke and locusts.

Well, that happens in Joel 3.

So Joel 3 follows Joel 2. So Revelation 8 and 9 seem to track on Joel 2 and 3.

You keep going in Revelation 9, and you get what Moyise calls a “lion cavalry” (lions and fiery horses).

And lo and behold, those are mentioned in Amos 1 and 2. And then on into Revelation 10, you have an angel of an oath and a mystery revealed to the prophets.

And you’ll actually read about that in Amos 3.

So John is apparently (in 8, 9, and 10) following Joel 2 and 3 and Amos 1-3, just in the ordering of things.

And so that’s probably going to be of some use in terms of the context of what’s going on, especially when we hit Revelation 9.

But taking that here, that might be a good Old Testament context for this language.

So we have maybe Ezekiel 5; maybe Zechariah 13; maybe Joel 2 has something to do with this.