Revelation Chapter 8

VERSE 2 “And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.”

Here again is one of those re-focus markers which John uses so effectively viz. AND I SAW.

Had those who provided chapters and verses recognized this, Chapter 8 would have begun with Verse 2 as it should.

The words, AND I SAW in Verse 2 carry us back to the beginning of the age (to the first church)—now to introduce us to the trumpets.

This even as in Rev 4:1 the words AFTER THESE THINGS I LOOKED i.e., after our look at the introduction of the seven Churches we were taken back to the beginning of the age and to the first church and introduced to the Seals. In each case it was in order to help us parallel these introductions to the introduction to the seven Churches beginning in Rev 1:9.

There are internal evidences galore that the Churches, Seals, and Trumpets are contemporaneous with each other.

The introductions to the seven churches, seals and trumpets lend much credence to this position. Each introduction clearly contains elements placing the beginning of each series (viz., the First Church, First Seal, First Trumpet, the Second Church, Second Seal, Second Trumpet, and so on and so forth) at the beginning of the age. This is an important reason for considering these introductions prior to a study of the three series themselves.

AND TO THEM WERE GIVEN SEVEN TRUMPETS:

Brother Burns calls these “Proclamations of Liberty.” This well sums up what the messages COULD HAVE DONE for society. Society, of course, was not interested in the liberties offered by the words of these angels. To the contrary, the presence of these messages is an irritant to society (most especially to orthodoxy, the professing church) —a virus which causes severe reactions.

VERSE 6 “So, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”

These trumpets are given, of course, in succession as each angel appears on the scene. John, from his perspective “on the Lord’s Day,” looked back in time, back through history to see these trumpets sounding one after another throughout the Gospel age. We will take a closer look at each of these trumpets as we examine the seven angels beginning with the first here.

(For Verses 3-5 of Chapter 8 please see our blog post, Chapter 8 Introduction to the Seven Trumpets).

THE FIRST TRUMPET

VERSE 7 “The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

The series of Trumpets seems to show the effects of the messages of the angels on the false church and, frequently, on the world. It is clear from Church history that the angels were not acknowledged by any except the true Church. If they were heard at all by others, they were misunderstood, misinterpreted, and condemned. Nevertheless, their messages DID have effects which are recorded under the symbols of these sounding Trumpets.

The FIRST ANGEL was of course the apostle Paul. Much of Paul’s message had the effect of destroying the wisdom of the Jewish leaders. This was not Paul’s AIM. He wanted to preach the truth and to show how Jesus’ teachings FULFILLED the Law. But the effect on the unbeliever was to DESTROY the Law. Hence Paul was less than popular among the Jewish leaders.

AND HAIL AND FIRE FOLLOWED, MINGLED WITH BLOOD:

Hail = hard, distressing truths.

Fire = righteous destructive judgments and the fear of the fast-spreading tendencies.

Mixed with blood symbolizes that the truths and judgments took away life. JUDAISM was to lose its vitality — actually its life in all but an insignificant way. It would no longer offer even TYPICAL justification to its adherents.

AND THEY WERE THROWN TO THE EARTH: These new Christian truths were dumped on the existing Jewish society (the earth) at a time when it was already very weak from Roman occupation.

AND A THIRD OF THE EARTH:

Society at the time of the early Church was divided into three major religious components: The Jews, The Pagan Romans, and The New Christians. This was well symbolized by the three languages which Pilate had placed on the cross: Latin (the language of Rome), Hebrew (the language of Judaism), and Greek (the language of the emerging Church.)

The new truths BUILT Christianity; they did not destroy it. For the time being, they had little effect on the Roman empire. But for Judaism they were fatal. This third of the earth was BURNED UP. Judaism became a function-less religion; the Jewish polity was destroyed; the Jewish people were dispersed over all of Europe.

AND A THIRD OF THE TREES WERE BURNED UP: The trees are the stalwarts of the society — the teachers and the authorities. The Jewish stalwarts had no answers. Their positions vanished. They were burned up.

AND ALL THE GREEN GRASS WAS BURNED UP: The key word here is GREEN. Isaiah tells us that all flesh is as the grass. But GREEN implies life – justification. The typical justification of the Law was now invalid. The Jewish people lost their greenness. ALL of the grass was not burned up, but all of THE GREEN GRASS was burned up — Jewish justification.

SUMMARY: The result of the activities of the trumpeting of the first period of the Church was the destruction of Israel and Judaism. When we opened the first seal and look back, we saw Jewish devastation.

We will take a look at the Second Church and its angel in our next post.