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The
First Four Trumpets
Study 3
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Now that we have had a
brief overview and justification for what God is
about to do, we need to back up and examine the
first four trumpets of Revelation in greater
detail. During the Great Tribulation, believers
will be able to see the fulfillment of prophecy
right before their eyes. People who are led by
the Holy Spirit will be able to see a distinct
correlation between current events and God’s
Word. Unfortunately, many of the survivors will
refuse to understand God’s actions because
they have hearts like Pharaoh. (Remember the
hardness of Pharaoh’s heart? Even after God
sent ten plagues upon Egypt, Pharaoh refused to
submit to God’s authority.)
The cause and purposes of
the Great Tribulation can be understood by anyone
who sincerely wants to know God’s ways. If
the books of Daniel and Revelation remained
obscure and mysterious forever, the final
generation would not have confidence in the
Bible. Nothing is more powerful than a truth
whose time has come. This fact will soon stand in
direct opposition to the claims of the
world’s greatest skeptics. Indeed, you can
be sure of this development: Many scientists will
deny that the first four trumpet events are
“Acts of God.” Instead, they will say
that these calamities are nature’s random
curse that they have been foretelling for
years. On the other hand, leaders of the
worldwide religious coalition (Babylon) will
claim that these events are judgments sent by an
angry God. What a debate! Who will win in the
court of public opinion – science or
religion? Revelation reveals that religion will
once again overpower science and politics! The
last time this happened, the age that followed
was called “The Dark Ages.”
A
Great Earthquake
“And I saw the
seven angels who stand before God, and to them
were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had
a golden censer, came and stood at the alter [of
incense]. He was given much incense to offer,
with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden
alter before the throne….Then the angel took
the censer, filled it with fire from the alter,
and hurled it on the Earth; and there came peals
of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightening and
an earthquake.” (Revelation 8: 2,3,5,
insertion mine)
These verses describe the
end of Jesus’ intercessory service on behalf
of Earth. In other words, when God’s
patience with Earth as a corporate body
reaches its limit because Earth’s cup of
iniquity is full, His wrath toward Earth begins.
When the angel casts the censer down, four
physical phenomena will occur on Earth: thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightening and an
earthquake. Notice also that when God’s
patience with individuals on Earth reaches
its limit at the end of the seventh trumpet (at
that time every person will have received or
rejected the gospel), these same phenomena occur
again. Then again, when the seventh bowl is
poured out on the wicked during the seven last
plagues, these four phenomena occur a third time.
These global events, described three times in
Revelation (Revelation 8:5,7; 11:19; 16:17-21),
are magnificent signs marking specific milestones
in this sequence of 14 events.
The physical signs that
mark the beginning of the Great Tribulation will
be awesome and they are carefully designed and
implemented to arrest the attention of billions
of people. They will be so powerful that everyone
on Earth will shudder. The global earthquake that
marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation will
be distinguished from previous earthquakes on
earth in two ways:
- This
earthquake will be accompanied by
manifestations in the Heavens and within
the Earth. There will be rumblings or
noises that come from deep within the
Earth (sounding like groaning and
voices), deafening peals of thunder and a
scary display of lightening – these
episodes will be simultaneously heard and
observed around the world.
- This
earthquake will cause overwhelming damage
throughout the world. Skyscrapers will
topple. Vital bridges will vanish.
Highways will be broken up. Power grids
will be ripped apart. Water lines and
septic systems will be broken. The oceans
will churn violently. The Richter scale
cannot measure the power of the global
earthquake and analysts will not be able
to calculate the resulting damage. This
is too much for man to measure!
Showers
of Fiery Meteors Fall
“Then the seven
angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to
sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet,
there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it
was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the
earth was burned up, a third of the trees were
burned up, and all the green grass was burned
up.” (Revelation 8:6,7)
A few days after the
global earthquake and physical display of
God’s powers, Revelation predicts much of
Earth will be set on fire by a giant firestorm of
burning hail (small meteorites). The fiery hail
will ignite unquenchable fires all over the
world, burning up a third of the trees and all
the green grass! The possibility of this
happening is not far fetched as it may sound. Our
planet routinely experiences meteoric hailstorms
every year. The Leonids, the Perseids, the
Lyrids, and the Geminid meteoric showers are
annual events that happen when Earth and the
orbit of the debris gives the appearance of
“shooting stars.” However, the shooting
stars are white-hot chucks of space debris. As
the debris enters our atmosphere at speeds that
may exceed 60,000 miles per hour, atmospheric
friction causes the debris to become white hot.
So far, these annual displays have not been a
serious threat. The white-hot debris usually does
not reach earth, but the story will be quite
different when the first trumpet judgment occurs.
Think of the consequences
when millions of white-hot rocks rain down on
Earth. We may have a good example of the
consequences. Some scientist now believe that the
great Chicago fire (October, 1871) was not caused
by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicking over a
lantern, but by a shower of fiery meteors.
Historical evidence indicates that a string of
fires ignited along a straight line stretching
about 200 miles across the north central part of
the United States that same night. Survivors of
the Peshtigo fire reported seeing streaks of fire
falling out of the sky. What caused all of these
enormous fires to start during the same hour that
evening? Scientists believe a shower of white-hot
hail falling to Earth resolves the question and
satisfies the details.
Great
Ball of Fire #1
The judgment that follows
the firestorm of burning meteors is an asteroid
impact. John writes, “The second angel
sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge
mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A
third of the sea turned into blood, a third of
the living creatures in the sea died, and a third
of the ships were destroyed.”
(Revelation 8:8,9)
This scene describes a
large asteroid, the size of a mountain, hitting
the sea. The term, “mountain” is an
accurate term for a large asteroid. If an
asteroid, one mile in diameter, were sitting on
the surface of the Earth, it would be called a mountain
5,280 feet high! Even more, John’s
description of an asteroid impacting the sea is
identical to scientific models created at several
universities during the past ten years. For
example, the tidal wave was caused by a great
asteroid impact would destroy ships for hundreds
of miles in every direction – even those
docked in remote seaports. Think about the
commotion of the ocean after such an impact! (See
Luke 21:25.) According to studies conducted at
the University of California, an asteroid of this
magnitude would be so hot by the time it hit an
ocean that it would make a large part of the
ocean water anoxic (oxygen deficient) by simple
boiling the oxygen out of a large area of the
sea. Sea temperatures would rise dramatically and
hot water would kill billions of sea creatures in
a very large radius. The warmed, anoxic water
resulting from the impact would also provide a
perfect environment for the growth of red algae
or what is known as red tide. When John said the
sea turned to blood, he may have been describing
the appearance of red algae, which thrives in
oxygen deficient water!
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