The Vision is on Earth.
It Consists of the Six Trumpets.
As we have stated, the sixth seal covers events right up to the Second Advent of Christ. Whereas, the seventh seal loops back to the mid-way point and gives another account of the judgments which are detailed by the seven trumpets and the seven vials. The remainder of Revelation is contained in this seventh seal. An overview of the wrath to follow was given in 6:12-17; now God gives the details of those judgments.
“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” (Revelation 8:7-11).
When the “…first angel sounded… there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (v.7). Some writers believe these judgments are localized in and around Israel, and include the empire of the ten kings which will be taken over by the Beast. If this is so, this judgment is on the vegetation within the boundaries of his kingdom.
Most likely, the events from the second seal through the seven trumpets and the seven vials are all in the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation. It is impossible to pinpoint the exact day or month each begins. However, they do escalate from the mid-point of the Tribulation until the kingdom of the beast is destroyed, and he is assigned to the bottomless pit.
In verse 8 the second angel sounds, and John sees something he describes, “as it were a great mountain,” cast into the sea. This will result in a third part of the sea becoming blood. What this fiery mass is, we are not told. Perhaps it will be a giant meteor entering the atmosphere and breaking up over the Sea of Galilee, the Mediterranean, or both. It could be a satellite armed with nuclear or germ warfare falling from space. Whatever it is, it brings death and devastation to one third of the sea.
The effects will be the death of one third of the sea life in that region. Water was literally turned to blood in Egypt, and God can easily do it again, or it could be a figure of speech that all who drink it will die. The vessels of the sea are most likely like those used by the disciples. Luke 5:2 says, “And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.” This is a judgment of the marine life and sea vessels of that area.
Easton’s Bible Dictionary says of “wormwood” (v.11): “…It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse, punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12, this Hebrew word is rendered, “hemlock” (R.V., “wormwood”). In the symbolical language of the Apocalypse (Revelation 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to turn into wormwood. The name by which the Greeks designated it…means ‘undrinkable…’”
This object that falls from heaven may also be a meteorite, a satellite, or a rocket carrying some deadly toxin. Whatever it is, one third of the water from the rivers and fountains are contaminated and unfit to drink. Those who drink of them will also die.
“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Revelation 8:12-13).
Verse 12 says, “…the fourth angel sounded,” This fourth trumpet sounds just prior to the Second Advent of Christ. That event is mentioned under the sixth seal in chapter 6:12. (See also Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 21:24; Acts 2:20.) The question is, will this darkness be worldwide or just over the kingdom of the Beast? Darkness covered Egypt while the land of Goshen had light.
The darkness could be localized as it was in Egypt, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt” (Exodus 10:21). Revelation 16:10 says, “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain…” The darkness will, no doubt, be confined to that region over which the beast reigns.
Verse 13 says, “…I …heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying …Woe, woe, woe…” The seven trumpets are interrupted between the fourth and the fifth by an angel flying through the air. The remaining three trumpets are called, “woes” because of their great intensity.
Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.