The First Four Trumpets

Revelation 8:1-13

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

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

3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand.

5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

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.

8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.

9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

12 Then the fourth angel sounded: 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 did not shine, and likewise the night.

13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"

In Revelation chapter 8 the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God and who alone is worthy [5:9] to open the seven seals on the scroll that is in the right hand of God now opens the seventh seal.

A correct understanding of this most wonderful Book is greatly enhanced when you realize that most of the Book is written in symbolic language and is not meant to be interpreted literally except in the most obvious verses. But then what is “obviously” literal to some is not all that “obvious” to others.

Take the number “seven”. The number “seven” in Scripture almost always indicates something that is perfect or complete. If you insist on a mostly literal interpretation, simply take a concordance and look up passages in Revelation where “seven” appears and try to make sense out of the passage.

Were there literally seven local churches in Asia? Yes, but why did the Lord Jesus Christ not address six churches or eight churches? Why seven: Because these “seven” churches also stand for the true Church throughout the ages as she faces tribulation until the Lord returns.

The use of “seven” churches indicates completeness; i.e. the state of the Church then and now throughout these “last days”. The encouragements and warnings to the “seven churches which are in Asia” have continuous application to the true churches and to the apostate churches until the end of this present age.

In Revelation, chapters 1 thru 5, there are 27 appearances of the word “seven”.

The “seven churches which are in Asia”; the seven Spirits; the seven golden lampstands; the seven stars who are the seven angels of the seven churches; a scroll with seven seals; and then in Revelation 5:6-7:

6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

No one can possibly believe that the Lamb of God literally has seven horns and seven eyes. But He does have perfect omnipotence [seven horns/power], and perfect omniscience [seven eyes], which are the perfect and complete “seven Spirits of God”, or the Holy Spirit.

Let me remind you again and again that the key to the interpretation of this entire Book is Revelation 1:3:

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

This Book was written for the Church in John’s day and for our day to read, hear, and keep those things which are written in it: for the time is [always] near.

By my reckoning there are 57 uses of “seven” in the entire Book of Revelation. So if we are to be among the blessed we should be careful to see how the symbolic “seven” is used by the Holy Spirit. And likewise several other repeated terms such as “a third” that occurs in our text today.

The overall plan of the Book of Revelation involves the number seven which is the number of completion of the Kingdom of God. There are seven scenes or sweeps through history. By that I mean that each of John’s visions [sweeps] from the time of John’s tribulation and gives us a prophetic look at the future from John’s time and continuing until the end of the world. Revelation is not chronological; chapter 8 begins a new sweep through time.

Chapters 8-11 are the third sweep through history with the opening of the seventh seal which includes seven trumpets.

There were seven seals to be opened. These seven seals give the unveiling of history and span the entire Book of Revelation. Six seals have been opened. When the last trumpets and the last vial of the seventh seal has been finished the Kingdom of God will have been completed, the works of the devil will have been destroyed.

Now the seventh seal includes seven trumpets.

And then the seventh trumpet includes seven vials [bowls] of the wrath of God. Seven vials within the seventh trumpet within a seventh seal?

Listen carefully, the Holy Spirit is not trying to confuse us but He does expect us to think. The symbolic language of Revelation is of the same order as our Lord who taught in parables. Many will not understand these words and yet to some it will be given to see the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. The enemies of the Church in John’s day would not make any sense out of this prophecy but the Church would be taught by the Holy Spirit through the use of symbols.

There is a correspondence in the plan of the judgments as seen in the Seals, the Trumpets, and the Vials. In each case the seven is divided into four and three, the last three always being of more intense severity. So the seventh seal introduces the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet introduces the seven vials which is the prolonged blast of the seventh trumpet as the world comes to its end just before a new heaven and a new earth are brought forth.

The whole movement of the seals, trumpets, and vials is intended to show the process is one continuous operation throughout history to show that Christ is victorious and the Church will finally be redeemed.

Chapters 8 and 9 of Revelation record the sounding of six of the seven trumpets.

The seventh trumpet is the last judgment and the end of the world. It is the “voice of the archangel and the trump of God”, at which time the dead shall be raised and we shall be changed, and death will have been swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed —

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

55 "O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?"

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

And,

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

In this message we will deal with the First Four Trumpets and if the Lord wills the next message will cover the Great Woe Judgments.

It is not my plan to offer several interpretations from different systems of interpretation and then argue the points of disagreement. What I intend to do is give you a spiritual explanation of the first four trumpets from the principle of interpretation given in Revelation 1:3; that is, this Book is a prophecy that is meant for believers to find assurance in the power of Jesus Christ while the Church endures tribulation and the world suffers the judgments of Almighty God.

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

The opening of the seventh seal by the Lamb of God introduces the judgments that follow each trumpet as it sounds. We must always keep in mind that this Book begins with John in exile on the Isle of Patmos symbolizing the condition of the Church as she is “squeezed” by the hate and cruelty of the world and its ‘god’ Satan. The Kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of patience – the Church must wait for her bridal day, and in the meantime suffer the envy and hate of the world, and by so doing prove her love of her Lord and her true faith in Him.

The name, Patmos, means “mortal” and comes from a root that means crushed or squeezed. The name has significance for the Church as it suffers through the ages.

The “half-hour” of silence indicates the awful solemnity of what is to follow. The “half-hour” can be compared to the length of time for the entire vision to pass before John. Verse 1:10 tells us that the Book was given to John in one day.

The first six seals prepare John for what is to follow. The interval of silence allows John to meditate and get ready for the unfolding of the drama of judgment.

Hengstenberg sees this silence as denoting “the dumb astonishment of the raging enemies of Christ and His Church.”

As we must always do for help in understanding Revelation we go to the OT.

Habakkuk 2:20

"But the LORD is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before Him."

Zephaniah 1:7

Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD;

For the day of the LORD is at hand,

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

Zechariah 2:13

Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He is aroused from His holy habitation!"

John has seen the instruments of judgment; the four horsemen [6:1-8].

John has heard the cry for judgment; the souls of the martyrs [6:9-11].

John has seen the terror of the wicked [6:12-17].

And John has seen the provision of security as God’s elect are sealed [7:1-17].

There is a stunned awe and silence! What is next?

Be still before the Sovereign Lord and know that Jesus is Lord.

The seventh seal had hidden what comes next and now it is opened and John sees seven angels each with a trumpet.

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

Remember that “seven” is symbolic and so we have the entire realm of angelic hosts that make up the perfect and complete agents of God. Angels are always engaged in their ministry of serving God and carrying out His perfect will.

The angel Gabriel who comes to Daniel and to Mary and Joseph and shepherds is not the only angel who stands in the presence of God to do His will. There are an entire realm of “seven” angels.

Now be careful because the “trumpets” the angels blow and the “vials” they outpour are neither trumpets nor vials, but only symbols of the judgments represented.

Do not be hidebound by some literal and “scientific” explanation or you will be confounded by apparent contradictions. In 8:7 all the grass was burned up but in 9:4 the locusts are told not to harm the grass. John was not constrained by seeming “contradictions” and neither should we be so restricted.

This language is pure imagery. The main thought is that God hears the prayers of all the saints and He will judge the world in righteousness, so be patient in tribulation.

PRAYER

Do we truly grasp the power of prayer? Of course I pray, but do I really pray?

Am I too much of a ‘Calvinist’ to believe that anything that I pray for will affect the outcome of events as they seem to be?

We are suspended between the proponents of “Openness Theology” which has an ignorant God who cannot know the future and the fatalists who say that there is no reason to pray because all is fixed from eternity and you are foolish to believe that prayer can have any affect on God’s providence.

What I believe about prayer is that God has so marvelously scripted His sovereign purpose that “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16

Like so much of the Word of God, I don’t have to understand it from human reason before I can accept it on faith.

E.g., I believe that everything is fixed in the providence of God to the extent of the dice that are cast: When you play Monopoly and throw the dice the number that comes up is in God’s control; does God not know the number of hairs on your head?

Proverbs 16:33

The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the LORD.

And yet we have the Lord Jesus and the apostles and others praying to God.

If there is any passage of Scripture that ought to encourage us to pray Revelation 8 is it.

In one place Jesus said this about prayer.

In the context of the withered fig tree Jesus told His disciples:

Mark 11:22-24

22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.

23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain , 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

And so verses 3-5 reveals the power of prayer.

4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand.

5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

The prayers of all the saints are mixed with incense and offered to God and then the censer is filled with fire from the altar and cast down in judgment.

How many prayers have gone up to God from the martyred saints? The response from heaven is the casting down the coals of divine wrath upon the oppressors of God’s people.

The OT that John so often calls on says:

Psalm 18:6-8

6 In my distress I called upon the LORD,

And cried out to my God;

He heard my voice from His temple,

And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.

7 Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,

Because He was angry.

8 Smoke went up from His nostrils,

And devouring fire from His mouth;

Coals were kindled by it.

The thought here in the 18th psalm and in our text is that throughout the ages God’s people have cried out to Him in their distress and the answer from heaven flows as the sound of trumpets. Do not expect a single fulfillment of these judgments but they are repeated as often as the power of the world rises against the Church.

We have seen how John calls on Ezekiel. Ezekiel sees the “likeness of a throne” and hears the Lord speaking:

Ezekiel 10:1-2

1 And I looked, and there in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

2 Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, "Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with coals of fire from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he went in as I watched.

Ezekiel was concerned with the destruction of Jerusalem and with one event in history as Babylon brings judgment as an instrument of God. But in John’s vision God’s judgment continues throughout the entire course of history.

Much more could be said about the Second Psalm and its application to our verses 3-5 but I will only point to Psalm 2:12.

The nations rage and the people plot a vain thing but the victory is with Christ!

Psalm 2:12

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

The “prayers of all the saints” are being heard and they wait in patience even if it means that they suffer the death of a martyr.

The Church is one in all ages as Paul writes in Hebrews 12:22-24:

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,

23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

So the Holy Spirit wants us to see the power of prayer as the prayers of all the saints are answered as the trumpets are sounded.

5 … And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

The four natural phenomena are symbols of divine judgments about to be poured out on the wicked, as four is the mystic number of creation.

Alexander quotes Hengstenberg who has a fine summary of this action:

“The following may serve for defining the circle within which the Seven Trumpets move. The historical starting point comes first into consideration. The Revelation was occasioned by a severe oppression of the Christian church through the heathen world power. Accordingly we expect such a revelation as will bring destruction to this hostile power, but salvation to the church. Here (chapter 8) the introductory vision of the angel with frankincense is to be taken into account. The fundamental thought is that God will hear the fervent prayers of His struggling and afflicted church and cause His judgments to go forth against the world. Hence only such things can be suitable here as are salutary to the church and destructive to the world.”

“And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the Altar and cast it into the earth” (v. 5)

The same censer which held the prayers of the Lord’s people is now filled with judgments to be cast upon the earth. This is intended to show the strong connection between the prayers of God’s people and the Lord’s governmental operations in His judgments against the wicked. This again is another token that in the seven trumpet judgments we do not have a historical sequence … but a continuing operation of the principles of God’s holy justice.

THE FIRST TRUMPET

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

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.

Again and again, knowledge of the OT will give us much help in understanding the Revelation. This judgment corresponds with the seventh plague wrought on Egypt [Exodus 9:22-25].

Exodus 9:22-26

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt — on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."

23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.

24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.

Hail is always a symbol of divine wrath and justice. As hail levels the fruitful field and destroys the trees of the forest so the divine judgment levels the pride of man and brings down the great ones of the earth.

We have already seen that trees and grass are OT symbols of the proud rulers of the world.

THE SECOND TRUMPET

8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

A burning mountain is, prophetically, a kingdom or an empire cast down to destruction by the judgment of God, as in Jeremiah 51:25 referring to Babylon:

"Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,

Who destroys all the earth," says the LORD.

"And I will stretch out My hand against you,

Roll you down from the rocks,

And make you a burnt mountain.

The symbol of the mountain also takes us back to the Lord Jesus Christ as He cursed the barren fig tree which is earthly Zion:

Matthew 21:20-22

20And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"

21 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.

22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

There is the symbol of earthly Zion as a “mountain” –

“SAY TO THIS MOUNTAIN”.

“This mountain” of earthly Zion was indeed removed and “thrown into the sea” of this world’s unbelieving nations.

Do you see it? Matthew 21:18-19

18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.

And no fruit has grown on that barren “fig tree” of earthly Zion for nearly 2000 years nor will it “ever again”.

The meaning then of the first two trumpets brings hail accompanied with fire and mingled with blood. This is a symbol of the wrath of a holy God throughout history to destroy the pride and power that rises against God. The trees and grass are the worldly multitudes and their rulers. The great mountain is any kingdom and worldly power that rises against the Kingdom of God

The living creatures and the ships are men and worldly enterprise of mankind in which man invests his hopes. They may be apostate churches, governments, false science, and other vanities of the human mind that sets itself against the truth of God.

THE THIRD TRUMPET

10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

Without apology I am borrowing much from Charles D. Alexander. Sometimes I am troubled over how much I must rely on other men to find the meaning of the Word of God. But I dare say, with no intent to offend anyone, that about all you know, or think you know, is what you have read or heard preached as well.

The scope of fresh waters:

Rivers and fountains of water, embittered by the falling star of Wormwood (“Bitter”); a reference no doubt to the waters of Marah, similarly named (Exodus 15:23-26) sweetened by the tree-type of the Saviour, the trunk felled, but giving life to the world (“The Lord showed him a tree ...” Ex. 15:25).

The reversion of the lifegiving Gospel fountains to death-dealing bitter waters, takes place whenever the lifegiving doctrines of divine grace are corrupted by apostate and carnal religion. The style never changes. In Jewish times the nation was divided between the doctrines of the Sadducees and the Pharisees respectively. We still have them in gentile times. We call them nowadays, rationalists and ritualists.

The one boasts of the sovereignty of the human reason and the other of the efficacy of ritual sacramentalism - external observances - to save the soul. Both are enemies of faith and grace. They combine with worldly power (as at Pilate’s judgment seat) to put truth out of the world. We have them today in the Catholicism which substitutes the outward and the sacramental for the inward and the spiritual, and the fallen Protestantism which by worldly philosophy places the human mind above the revelation of Holy Scripture.

… There is no need to identify the fallen star Wormwood. He is constantly reappearing throughout history and is very busy today. “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” declares the Saviour (Luke 10:18), a sentence which no doubt is uttered at every fresh phase of Satan’s history when the very successes of the gospel open a new chapter of Satan’s spite against the human race, permitted by the divine government (as in the case of Job), for the punishment of unbelief and also for the testing and purifying of the faith of God’s elect.

Paul warns us to be vigilant and ‘look diligently’ lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS spring up to trouble the church and thereby many be defiled (Hebrews 12:15). “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters” complains the Lord in Jeremiah 2:13, “and hewed themselves out cisterns, broken cisterns, which can hold no water.” The Lord describes true believers as those in whom is the well of living water and from whom proceed rivers of living water (John 4:14, and John 7:27-39). … Again in Jeremiah 6:7, God complains of Jerusalem, that “As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness.”

Wherever there is an apostate church, there the waters become wormwood. The historic succession may be splendid, but written over it is the divine signature, “Rejected”.

THE FOURTH TRUMPET

The ninth… judgment upon Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, was the darkening of the light of heaven. “Stretch out thy hand toward heaven,” said the Lord to Moses, “that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” (Ex. 10:21-23). What was natural in the Egyptian darkness must surely be spiritual in the Apocalypse. A hint of this is conveyed in the Lord’s words to Moses – ‘darkness that may be felt’ - a phrase which has passed into general currency in the English language as denoting not only physical darkness but the special terrors attaching thereto.

Here then, we surely have the darkening of heavenly light under the parable of those heavenly bodies, sun, moon and stars, which give light and guidance to men, measuring his days and giving him means of direction in the watery waste of ocean or the trackless sand of the desert. To lose one’s way in uncharted seas or the desolate howling wilderness is a fate near to despair and death. In the spiritual realm these heavenly bodies represent those means by which God has been graciously pleased to direct men to eternal safety through the light of His Word, and the revelation of Christ in the gospel. God alone is light, and Christ declares, “I am the light of the world.”

“If the light which is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness.” “He hath translated us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son.”

The heaviest judgment ever to fall upon the earth is to be given over to the power of darkness. It is of this darkness the fourth trumpet speaks. We will have noticed that all four trumpets have to do with “the third part of the earth” … The limitation of the extent of these judgments should put us on our guard against any easy or sensational conclusions such as are beloved so much today by thoughtless prophetism. These judgments have a deep moral and spiritual significance.

What we are seeing in the fourth trumpet is the diminution of gospel light wherever the Word of God is repudiated. …

The messages to the seven churches at the beginning of Revelation are full of solemn warning to those to whom the Word of God has come telling them of the judgments which await those churches which, however apostolically founded, leave their first love, or tolerate fatal error, or soil their garments, or boast of their (spiritual) riches. The last state of the world before judgment is one in which Satan has been purposely “loosed” from his confinement to torment a world which after the ages of gospel opportunity has finally (like the world before the Flood) turned away from the light and given itself over to violence and corruption.

This solemn fourth trumpet therefore shows how successively in history this principle comes into operation. Where now are the seven churches of Asia? Where now is the empire of Rome? Where is the one-time supremacy of Spain, foremost in opposing the work of Reformation? Whither Europe today, after two thousand years of gospel light and privilege. What fate awaits Britain? America? How long does the divine patience last before the terrible decree begins to run… The world’s greatest sin is unbelief.

How can it be considered (some may ask) that God should ever deliberately withdraw His Word from a nation or a generation? The answer is, He has already done so in the case of the chosen nation of Israel. Light is withdrawn from those who reject it, and they are given up to the darkness which they have chosen. The gospel is withdrawn from those nations and generations who fight against it…was it for Israel alone that Amos records, “Behold the days Come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it”? (Amos 8:11-12).

Paul with prophetic vision looks into the future and sees the rise of a great antichristian tyranny in the very bosom of the church, and declares, “For this cause GOD SHALL SEND THEM A STRONG DELUSION THAT THEY SHOULD BELIEVE A LIE, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”.

(2 Thess. 2:11-12)

In Revelation 20 we are shown that He who binds Satan is also He who sets him loose again. Job has shown us that Satan is not a second force in the universe, but the slave of providence, serving the interests of the throne of God though it is not in his thought so to serve. The greatest imprisonment is to be held in our own sins, victims of our own darkened minds.

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.”

(See the entire passage in Romans 1:18-32)

If the darkness now falling upon our Western civilisation, as shown in the subversive legislation in favour of sodomy, abortion, atheistic education, and scientific materialism, is not a darkening of sun, moon and stars in the firmament of modern thought, religion and philosophy, we do not know what is. Its end product is likely to be worse in its consequences than all the cruel wars fought on the historic battlefields of the world.

THE THIRD PART ….

In Revelation, especially here in Chapter 8, the phrase “a third” occurs frequently. About 14 times a “third” of something is affected by the judgments.

Excerpts from CDA:

There has been much dispute among the commentators as to the meaning of this phrase, “the third part”, recurring constantly the account of the trumpet judgments. It occurs also, but with different purpose in Ezekiel 5:2, 12, and Zech. 13: 8, 9. …

We trace the significance of the phrase, “the third part” to the great Noahic prophecy of the destiny appointed to the race after the Flood, when God apportioned the earth between the three sons of Noah, - Shem, Ham and Japheth.

The importance of this division was emphasised by Moses (in Deut. 32:8) – “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel”. That is, the earth was divided after the Flood, and allocated to the three main branches of the human race, according to God’s plan of redemption. It is important to recognise that all history revolves around the church (of OT and NT), and only so can history be understood and show any meaning. The division then made endures to this day.

To Shem was given the continent of Asia, to Ham that of Africa, and to Japheth, Europe. Following the shame of Noah, the prophecy rose that the spiritual prerogative would be Shem’s. From him would come the promised Seed of the Woman to deliver from sin and death. “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan (son of Ham) shall be his servant.”

“Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.”

“God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant” (See Genesis 9:25-27, Acts 17:26).

History records that the Word of God remained first with Shem, and through him, via Eber (from whom the Hebrew nation derives its name) and Abraham, to the nation of Israel and ultimately to Christ.

Yet the first political empire was achieved by Ham through his grandson Nimrod, the founder of the first world empire centred on Babel and its tower (a ruin still 300 feet high in Mesopotamia). That this empire was a usurpation is secured by the fact that to Ham Africa was designated, not Asia, hence Egypt is known in the psalms as ‘the land of Ham’ (Ps. 78:51). Ham was therefore the first persecutor of the church.

It was then that the right of Shem to be the channel, by which the blessing of salvation was to be brought to mankind, began to be asserted. The Hamitic tribes fled to Africa following the appalling judgment of the Confusion of Tongues, and Japheth’s people crossed the Hellespont into what we now know as Europe, where they remained in isolation for many ages until the time came when the Word of God would transform their condition.

Meanwhile the people of Shem never lost the original deposit of the Word of God, as the ancient Book of Job clearly shows, especially that glorious 19th chapter where in a moment of prophetic elevation Job anticipated the fulfillment of the promise concerning the Seed of the Woman: “I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth”. Armed with this promise, Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees and traveled by the river valleys to reach the Land of Promise from the north. We know the remainder of the story: the preservation of the Promise; its enlargement All continuous revelation in the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David the king, and the prophets of Israel until the last of the prophetic line, John the Baptist, identified the Son of God as the Lamb to take away the sin of the world.

Christ refers to this threefold division of the human race in the parable of the leaven (Matt. 13:33): “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened”. The three measures can mean nothing else than the full extent of the human race in that threefold division fixed by the wisdom of God after the Flood. The special privileges of the divine favour were given first of all to Shem, but afterwards to Japheth who should thus ‘dwell in the tents of Shem’ - that is, inherit the privileges which Shem forfeited through unbelief when Messiah was rejected and crucified. The servitude of Ham – the African races - was to be perpetual. History has marvelously verified this prophecy down to the present day.

The divine initiative in redemption began to pass from Shem to Japheth when Paul, the apostle to the gentiles (Japheth) was summoned from Asia to Europe across the Hellespont, in his vision at Troas (Troy) (Acts 16:6-11). Ever since, the evangelisation of the world and the subjugation of its vast open spaces - chiefly the Americas, long isolated by two mighty oceans, and only late on in time brought into the general picture of world history - have rested in the dynamism and restless will to conquer, reposed by divine providence in the third son of Noah.

Above all, the Japhetic territory was destined to be the home of the church and the scene of the greatest triumphs of the Word of God. It is in this ‘third part of the earth’ that the history of the church has mainly been written, and the emphasis in Rev. 8-9 to this ‘third part of the earth’ seems clear when we consider that the first uprising of gentile (Japhetic) power against the kingdom of Christ was the occasion for the writing of this Book.

Here in Japhetic territory the church has fought her greatest battles for the truth. Here she has won her outstanding triumphs. Here she has proved her faith, her love, her loyalty, to her Redeemer. The story of the church has been written largely in Japhetic blood and tears. Brethren, we have a goodly heritage!

Let me summarize message of the First Four Trumpets:

There are woes upon nature in a partial destruction of the world. Nature as symbolized by land, sea, fresh water, and heavenly bodies.

The First Trumpet sounds woes upon a third of the land.

The Second Trumpet sounds and a burning mountain is cast into the sea and a third of the living creatures and the ships are destroyed.

The Third Trumpet sounds and a great star fall from heaven a third of the fresh waters are turned into bitterness.

The Fourth Trumpet sounds and a third of the heavenly bodies are darkened.

The prayers of all of the saints are a sweet aroma before God and they are answered.

We will suspend our comments on Revelation 8:13 until the next message, which introduces the last three trumpet judgments and are called “Woe” judgments.

We have no prophetic charts that tell us when the Lord Jesus will return and neither does anyone else! We do have the Word of God that tells us that judgment is certain. The Word of God also tells us that we are all sinners and that from our birth. The Word of God tells us that there is a Savior who is in fact the only Savior of sinners.

Salvation is not and act of God responding to you but it is an act of God-given faith in which you respond to the call of God.

The only way that you may qualify to be saved from the wrath of God is to learn from the Holy Spirit that you are lost. You must be convinced that you are justly condemned before you will ever truly seek the Lord Jesus Christ.

The elders of this church are always ready to talk with you about your soul and point you to the Savior of sinners.

Amen