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.)
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