Just BEFORE the Seven
Trumpets Begin
There is an unusual
service that occurs in Heaven just
before the seven trumpets begin. Once
you understand the significance of
this special service, the judgments
that follow will make a great deal of
sense. As you investigate the seven
trumpets, keep this thought in mind:
God is love. This means that
God’s actions are eternally
consistent with principles of
love. The Father gave us Jesus
because He ‘so loved the
world” and Jesus willingly died
on the cross because He “so
loved the world.” God’s
wrath against evil and degenerate
behavior is motivated by His love for
righteousness, fairness, and equity.
Do not forget the flood in
Noah’s day. A “God of
love” destroyed the whole
world when a majority of people
became hopelessly wicked. (Genesis
6:7) God’s love for oncoming
generations demanded action.
The full cup principle
is based on love, and God’s love
is expressed through a perfect
balance of justice and mercy. God
hates to see individuals and nations
self-destruct through degeneracy,
rebellion, and sexual immorality.
(Genesis 13:13) God is patient and
longsuffering, not willing that
anyone should perish. (2 Peter 3:9)
We often forget that God – who
sees the past, present, and future
with the same clarity – loves
oncoming generations just as much as
He loves the present generation.
Therefore, His love for oncoming
generations moves Him to destroy the
current generation so that the
oncoming generation can be free of
the degenerate and destructive
behaviors that would be passed down
to them. Remember, the sins of the
fathers are passed down to the third
and fourth generations! (Exodus 20:5)
Over time, sin
multiplies it metastasizes like
cancer cells. Sin penetrates society
quickly and exponentially. Sin is
like gravity. It creates a steady
downward tug that eventually pulls
everyone (especially the innocent and
uninformed) into its deadly vortex. A
new generation only gets a chance of
having a better life when the older
is destroyed. Thus, it becomes
necessary for a God of love to
destroy degenerate groups of people
when they pass the point of no
return.
Innocent people
sometimes perish when God destroys
degenerate groups because God’s
wrath against a group of wicked
people is not necessarily
discriminating. For example, many
small children were drowned in
Noah’s flood. Many good people
were killed during King
Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of
Jerusalem. When God’s wrath
breaks out against a corporate body
whose majority is beyond redemption,
it is like the indiscriminate
destruction caused by an atomic bomb.
The loss of innocent life does not
prohibit
God from doing what
needs to be done because (a) God
knows that everyone on Earth dies
sooner or later anyway, and (b) He
has the power to resurrect every dead
person. Remember, Jesus will judge
each person individually. Jesus will
decide each person’s case
accordingly. So, whether a child died
in Noah’s flood or a person dies
of illness, a crime, a tragic
accident, or during some expression
of God’s wrath, the cause of
death has nothing to do with
one’s eternal destiny.
(Ecclesiastes 12:13,14, 2 Corinthians
5:10)
The Censer Comes Down
The story of the seven
trumpets begins with Revelation 8:2.
Take a few moments to get acquainted
with this segment of the story: “And
I saw the seven angels who stand
before God, and to them were given
seven trumpets. Another angel, who
had the golden censer, came and stood
at the altar [of Incense]. He
was given much incense to offer, wit
the prayers of the saints, on the
golden altar before the throne. The
smoke of the incense, together with
the prayers of the saints, went up
before God from the angel’s hand
[and God granted the request of
His saints]. Then the angel took
the censer, filled it with fire from
the altar, and hurled it on the
earth; and there came 1peals
of thunder, 2rumblings,3flashes
of lightening and 4an
earthquake. Then the seven angels who
had the seven trumpets prepared to
sound them. [A few days later,] The
first angel sounded his trumpet, and
there came 5hail
and fire mixed with blood [mercy],
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 [including
food crops] was burned up.” (Revelation
8:2-7, insertions mine)
Five Physical
Phenomena
Five small superscript
numbers were inserted into the verves
above. Each number identifies a
fearful and spectacular event. These
five events form a package and this
“package of five events”
will occur on three separate
occasions during the Great
Tribulation. The first package will
occur at the beginning of the seven
trumpets. The second package will
occur at the end of the seven
trumpets. (Revelation 11:19) and the
final package will occur at the end
of the seven bowls (Revelation
16:18-21). The Bible does not say
whether these events will transpire
over a few hours or a few days.
However, according to Rule Three of
apocalyptic prophecy, we can be sure
these five events will be phenomenal!
They will be designed to bring the
world to a halt. Everyone on Earth
will be intimidated by these violent
and powerful displays of nature. The
whole world will witness these
violent events at the same time.
Even though Revelation
8:5-7 does not explicitly say these
five phenomena will be global events,
they have to be understood as global
events because:
1. The
seven trumpets will affect the whole
world.
2. The
Great Tribulation will affect the
whole world.
3. The
seven trumpets will terminate world
order as we presently know it. The
seven trumpets will put the world on
notice that Jesus Christ now rules
over Earth as Almighty God.
4. These
five phenomena will occur three
times. The third package occurs at
the Second Coming, which will be a
global event. Since the Second Coming
and the seven trumpets are global in
nature, I believe it is safe to
conclude that all three packages are
global. These five events are
designed to get worldwide attention
at the same time.
5.
God’s wrath and the offer of
salvation will be global in nature.
The story in the book of Revelation
is universal, that is, the story is
the same in every nation. Therefore,
these five phenomena will occur in
the same way at the same time in
every nation.
Commentary
“And I saw the
seven angels who stand before God and
to them were given seven
trumpets.” (Revelation 8:2)
The story of the seven
trumpets begins with a simple
statement. John saw seven angels
standing before God – actually,
Jesus Christ. Earlier, in our study
on the seven seals, we found that
Jesus ascended the throne as
“Lord God Almighty” in
1798. (See Revelation 11:17 where
Jesus is called “Lord God
Almighty.”) The angel’s standing
posture before God’s throne
indicates these particular angels
have positions of highest authority.
These seven angels are described
throughout Revelation in different
ways, such as the seven spirits of
God, the seven angels of the seven
churches, the seven angels who
received the seven trumpets, and the
seven angels who will eventually pour
out the seven bowls.
The Timing of
Revelation 8:2
As a result of my
study, I have concluded the seven
angels were given the seven trumpets
in the spring of 1994. Since this
date is not explicitly declared nor
predicted in Scripture, some people
scoff at the suggestion that 1994 is
prophetically important. To be fair,
I agree that a certain amount of
skepticism is warranted, but the fact
remains that the seven angels are
given seven trumpets at some point in
time. When I ask people to put a
biblically reasoned date-stamp on
Revelation 8:2, the responses range
from silence to avoidance. Some
people have suggested the seven
angels were given the seven trumpets
at the cross, or when Jesus returned
to Heaven, or at the end of the
seventy weeks, or at the time of
Noah’s flood, or 1798, or 1844.
Some people have even said, “It
does not matter when they received
the seven trumpets because if it did
matter, God would have told us.”
Nothing in Scripture
explicitly dates Revelation 8:2.
However, for those who would duck the
dating of the verse, my response is
simple: “There are seventeen
prophecies and eighteen prophetic
time periods in the books of Daniel
and Revelation, and God has not
declared a starting date for most of
them. This silence does not mean that
starting dates are unimportant or
that starting dates cannot be
determined. In fact, God’s
silence is an invitation to see if a
solution date can be found!
Every-one wanting to
date-stamp Revelation 8:2 faces a
thorny problem. Here is the problem:
The torment of the fifth trumpet
lasts for five months. (Revelation
9:5) Should these five months be
regarded as five literal months or
should they be translated (using a
day for a year) as 150 years (thirty
days per month times five equals 150
days which translates into 150
years)? This question raises more
questions: If time is translated
as a day for a year in apocalyptic
prophecies, like the seventy weeks
mentioned in Daniel 9:24, when does a
day for a year translation begin?
Does the day for a year translation
ever end? If so, when?
By God’s grace, I
believe that I stumbled upon the
answer to this problem and this
discovery produced Rule Four of
apocalyptic prophecy. Rule Four
states, “The presence or absence
of the Jubilee Calendar determines
how God measures time.” In other
words, when the Jubilee Calendar is
operating, the day for a year
translation occurs. A day is
translated as a year. When the
Jubilee Calendar is not operating and
there is no translation, prophetic
timing is to be understood as stated.
Therefore, I have concluded that the
seven angels received the seven
trumpets in the spring of 1994, at
the expiration of the Jubilee
Calendar. (Please examine this matter
further by reading the
“Addendum” located at the
end of this study.)
