Prophecy
8
The Six
Trumpets –
Revelation 8:2 – 9:21
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One-Third
/ Two-Thirds
It is
important to understand that
God’s judgments will be mixed
with mercy during the seven trumpets.
This point is highlighted by the
repetitive use of one-third; a third
of the trees will be burned up, a
third of the ships will sink, and a
third of the day will be without
light. In fact, “one-third”
is mentioned twelve times in the
seven trumpets! Jesus assures us a
dozen times that even though His
wrath is great, He is more than
generous. Instead of destroying
two-thirds of everything, Jesus
spares two-thirds of everything! To
appreciate this point, we have to
examine a few passages from the Old
Testament to understand the ancient
practice of sparing one-third and
destroying two-thirds.
During Old
Testament times, a conquering king
might feel that some grace might be
merited or politically expedient. If
so, he would typically spare
one-third of his enemies. Notice this
text: “David also defeated the
Moabites. He made them lie down on
the ground and measured them off with
a length of cord. Every two lengths
of them were put to death, and the
third length was allowed to live. So
the Moabites became subject to David
and brought tribute [paid their
taxes].”[23]
King David
was as generous as he was wise. He
spared one-third of the Moabites for
two redemptive reasons. First, he
felt the surviving Moabites might
have a change of heart and gladly pay
their tribute [taxes] if he spared
their lives. (It is amazing what
people can do when motivated by
gratitude!) Second, David did not
want to eliminate a significant
portion of his tax base. David knew
that the Moabites would recover from
this war and repopulate their tribal
nation. Future taxes would mean
additional future income for
Israel’s treasury! So, David
spared one-third of the Moabites.
Now notice
how Jesus applied the one-third /
two-thirds principle when He
destroyed Jerusalem during the days
of Nebuchadnezzar: “Therefore as
surely as I live, declares the
Sovereign Lord, because you have
defiled my sanctuary with all your
vile images and detestable practices,
I myself will withdraw my favor; I
will not look on you with pity or
spare you. A third of your people
will die of the plague or perish by
famine inside you; a third will fall
by the sword outside your walls; and
a third I will scatter to the winds
and pursue with drawn sword.”[24]
This last
text is another confirmation of the
ancient custom of sparing one-third
and destroying two-thirds: “
‘In the whole land,’
declares the Lord, ‘two-thirds
will be struck down and perish; yet
one-third will be left in it.’
”[25]
In light of
typically destroying two-thirds, the
repetitive destruction of one-third
in Revelation makes sense. This
language reveals to us that the seven
trumpets are redemptive in nature.
The seven trumpets will be mixed with
mercy. Instead of justifiably
destroying two-thirds of everything,
the Lord will restrain His wrath by
only destroying one-third. Jesus is
“double generous!” Of
course, when God’s wrath breaks
out, very few people will think that
Jesus is generous at all, but
man’s ignorance has no bearing
on God’s actions. If God
destroyed two-thirds of everything
during the seven trumpets, His
actions would be justified in the
eyes of watching angels because,
corporately speaking, the world today
is very similar to the world in
Noah’s day; beyond redemption.
The first
trumpet judgment will be fiery hail
mixed with blood, that is, wrath
mixed with the interceding blood of
the Lamb. This mixture also indicates
redemptive mercy and it stands in
contrast to God’s wrath during
the seven bowls where there is no
mixture of mercy.[26] Mercifully,
Jesus spares two-thirds of the world
from fire during the first trumpet.
The survivors will quickly conclude
that the destruction of notably
wicked places was not a random event
of nature. Many evil people will turn
from their ways and seek the Lord
with repentance and a contrite heart.
The Sequence
Continues
Revelation
8:8-9
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.{8} Jesus
gave a signal and the second angel
blew his trumpet. Immediately, a
large asteroid came out of the sky at
a terrific rate of speed and impacted
an ocean. One-third of the ships were
destroyed by the resulting impact,
but the heaviest damage was caused by
a towering wall of water that raced
outward from the impact zone. It was
several hundred feet high. The
tsunami soon reached all of the
coastal cities on the ocean’s
rim within which resulted in total
devastation. Huge waves of water
raced back and forth across the ocean
and thousands of coastal cities
around the ocean were totally
destroyed.[27] Because
of atmospheric friction, the asteroid
was very hot at the time of the
impact; so hot that it boiled the
oxygen out of the water.
{9} As a
result, one-third of the creatures
living in the ocean either died from
the shockwave, boiling water, or the
loss of oxygen. Soon after the
impact, the water turned red, like
blood.
Red algae
thrives in oxygen deficient water.
When this toxic algae blooms, it
causes water to look like blood. When
sea creatures eat the blooms, a toxin
in the algae kills the creatures.
When birds and other creatures eat
fish killed by the toxin, they also
die.
Think about
the consequences of this judgment:
Thousands of cities, formerly located
around the rim of the ocean, will be
washed away. International trading
will cease, shipping ports will no
longer exist and the economies of the
world will collapse.
The world
will be in shock. First, there was a
global earthquake. Then came
unquenchable fire from Heaven and
now, huge walls of destructive water.
The 144,000 will tell the world that
God’s wrath is proportionate to
the wickedness that plagues Earth and
that more judgments are coming. The
next judgment will be poisoned
drinking water. Many people will
curse God, others will cry out that
God is hateful and cruel. “How
can a God of love do such
things?”
The Bible
declares that God is love.[28] This
means that God’s actions are
always and forever consistent with
principles of love. If we closely
examine God’s behavior, we will
find that the God who died on the
cross for our sins is the same God
who destroyed the world in
Noah’s day and killed the
firstborn in Egypt! Jesus willingly
died on the cross because He “so
loved the world”[29] and
because He loved us before we knew
Him.[30]
With a little
effort, we can properly understand
God’s love. Love is more than an
emotion of good will and kindness.
Love is the balance between justice
and mercy. When we say that God is
love, we are saying that God is
committed to principles of
righteousness, fairness, and
selflessness. When we say that God
has wrath, we are saying that God
executes justice when righteousness,
fairness, and selflessness are
threatened. Consider the flood in
Noah’s day. A “God of
love” destroyed the whole world
(men, women, and children) when a
majority of the people became wicked,
defiant, and violent.[31]
God hates to
see individuals and nations
self-destruct through degeneracy,
rebellion, and sexual immorality.[32] God is
patient and longsuffering, not
willing that anyone should perish.[33] We
sometimes forget that God loves
oncoming generations just as much as
He loves the present generation. At
times, God has destroyed decadent
generations so that future
generations can be free of the heavy
yoke of suffering that sin imposes on
subsequent generations. Remember, the
burden of sin grows more extreme with
each generation. The sins of the
fathers are passed down to the third
and fourth generation![34] Over
time, the consequences of decadent
behavior becomes exponential. Sin is
like gravity. It creates a downward
vortex that pulls everyone (including
the innocent) into its grip of
sorrow, suffering, sickness, and
death. To stop the vicious vortex,
God steps in with destruction. He
cauterizes the cancer of sin so that
future generations can have a chance
to live without the accumulated
baggage (addiction, ignorance,
idolatry, poverty, and cruelty)
passed down from the previous
generation. When a majority of people
become sexually immoral, defiant, and
violent, a God of love notices and
responds accordingly.
God’s
people are sometimes destroyed along
with degenerate people. His wrath
against wickedness is not
discriminating. For example, when God
sent King Nebuchadnezzar against
Jerusalem,[35] the
pagan king killed many of God’s
people and he took some young men,
like Ezekiel and Daniel, to Babylon
as captives. When God destroyed the
world in Noah’s day, thousands
of innocent children perished.
God’s wrath is like the
indiscriminate destruction of an
atomic bomb. This does not mean that
everyone destroyed by God’s
wrath is condemned forever! The cause
of death is not important to God.
What matters to Him is how well we
conform to His two commandments: Love
God with all your heart, mind and
soul and your neighbor as yourself.[36] Whether
a person dies of illness, crime,
accident, or during an expression of
God’s wrath, the cause of death
has nothing to do with one’s
eternal destiny. In every situation,
God will carefully and thoughtfully
judge all people according to their
actions.[37]
The 144,000
will tell the world that God’s
wrath is consistent with His love
because in God’s heart, there is
a perfect balance between justice and
mercy. Most of the world will respond
with ridicule and hatred. The 144,000
will also tell the world that God has
witnessed our corporate behavior and
His actions are commensurate with our
wickedness and rebellion. This will
shock many people! They will retort,
“Are we really all that evil in
God’s sight?” The 144,000
will encourage people to repent of
their evil ways and to make peace
with God. They will explain that
Jesus demands worship because He is
the Creator of life and our Redeemer.
The 144,000 will declare that God is
sovereign and He requires everyone to
obey His commands. Unfortunately, the
testimony of the 144,000 will offend
many people and they will refuse
God’s offer of salvation.
Revelation
8:10
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;{10} Jesus
gave a third signal and the third
angel blew his trumpet. A great star,
having a long tail like a comet, fell
from the sky and impacted a
continent. This asteroid impact
released an amount of energy that
exceeded ten million atomic bombs! It
seemed that Earth itself would break
into pieces because the impact was so
great. Huge tectonic plates broke
loose. Ground waves and huge
aftershocks radiated from the impact
zone at very high rates of speed. The
ground waves broke underground
aquifers, sheared water-wells, septic
systems, and sewage leaching fields.
Toxic waste, which was thought to be
safely buried deep within the Earth,
spilled from containers, seeped into
the aquifers, and one-third of the
rivers and springs of water became
poisonous. Within a week, tens of
thousands of people died from
drinking bitter water.
Because the
first four trumpets are surgical
strikes directed at notably wicked
places, I believe this asteroid will
strike a continent or nation that God
finds particularly offensive.
Revelation
8:11
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.{11} People
called this asteroid, “The star
of death.” The name of the star
is “Wormwood.” The word
means poisonous water.[38] Millions
of people, facing an agonizing death
because of dehydration, drank the
water and died.
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