Seven Trumpets [part one] ...

We don’t know, what we don’t know.  One of the beauties of studying scriptures and specifically the prophecies of revelations of Jesus Christ revealed to John is that they bring us closer to Jesus.  The very act of reading these passages and looking towards how they are to be interpreted is intended to strengthen our faith and help us discern the messages Christ would wish us to know and understand.  But as in the days of the Pharisees that preceded us; we must be careful to avoid assuming we have an absolute lock on what the Bible says, to the exclusion of all other ideas or value to be gained from other parts of the body of Christ.  In order to be led by Christ, we must be willing to be led.  This begins with an acknowledgement of our need, an embrace of much needed humility, and a realization that our loving God is trying hard to see us redeemed and reconciled back to Himself.  The entire goal of scripture is to see us redeemed back to God the Father, and His Son.  Therefore when examining prophecy we should keep our focus in this context.  It is not fear that should govern our view of difficult passages, but a Spirit of enlightenment and discernment that has at its center the goal of the redemption of us all.  We should not consider our interpretations and understandings to be absolute, but instead be only a reference or point-of-view into the beauty of the love of God.  When considering truth from other parts of the body of Christ, we should remain open that there will always be more to discover and deeper meanings than our first thoughts might have revealed.

The vision of John that begins in the second verse of chapter 8 of his book of Revelations describes the events that occur during the sounding of seven trumpets one after another.  We have already seen a pattern emerging in this book of messages from God that appear to come in sequences of seven.  Revelations began with describing aspects of the God of creation who made the world in seven days, with messages to seven angels, that were carried to seven churches.  There was a book that could only be opened by the Lamb of God which was sealed by seven seals, each being opened one at a time.  In the following passages we will read of seven angels who blow seven trumpets in yet another sequence, followed by a series of seven judgments or plagues upon the wicked.  It would appear that the use of the sequence of seven in these Revelations is intended to show the perfection of God, and the wholeness of completeness of the ideas He wishes to convey to us.  It is also interesting to note that the seventh item in nearly all of these themes is the last event to occur either at the second coming of Christ, or immediately after it (as is the case in the seventh seal).  The idea of the rest and sanctification of the seventh-day, seems to be made parallel in each of the series of seven described in this book.  Perhaps one of the more subtle messages John was meant to convey, was that the God of creation who made holy a day of rest in the sequence of seven is still longing for us to see His power of creation and avoid allowing a dilution of our faith by the acceptance of other ideas of how we came to be, and what He would wish for our ultimate destiny.  We are creations of a loving God, not the random assembly of periodic table elements that somehow defied logic and became animated.

The meaning of the messages contained in the seven trumpets can be interpreted using a number of different methods.  There are those who take a historical perspective, and believe the interpretations of these trumpets correspond to seven periods of church history, or political history, and find them fulfilled from the time of His ascension until His second coming to take us home.  Given the parallels between the seven churches and seven seals this makes a great deal of sense.  There are still others who believe the sounding of seven trumpets happens just before the time of His returning, therefore are fulfilled within the last generation before He returns (perhaps within our lifetimes) or still to be seen in a future time span.  To interpret the sounding of these trumpets from a historical or even present point of view, one must begin with seeing the symbolism described as having fulfillment in times or events.  In either case, the interpretation is not literal but to some extent figurative.  As with the seven seals, there is little expectations of seeing four literal horsemen who have or will appear bearing the characteristics described in John’s visions.  However, seeing their characteristics fulfilled in various periods of the faith seems to make much more sense.

If the passages John describes here are in fact precisely literal, their interpretation could only be found in a future event, for nothing exactly as described here has been seen to date in our world.  What is more likely then, is the sounding of the trumpets and the events and time spans described are not literal but more symbolic.  Consequently their interpretation will be influenced by our own point of view.  Those who studied these prophecies a century ago might have an entirely different perspective than those who study them today given how far the world has advanced in just the last 120 years.  There is sometimes a danger of trying to apply particular historical events or current events to the interpretation of prophecy.  As history continues to unfurl, and time continues to proceed, what was once thought to be clearly relevant and singularly applicable becomes less so.  This happens more often when interpretation is influenced by fear as the motivator instead of redemptive love.  What may look like disaster is not sent to us to add only more misery to our already miserable lives, bound in a slavery to evil.  Often cataclysmic events are meant to awaken us to our need of a Savior, and remind us that we are truly NOT in control of anything, neither events nor our own salvation.  Our lives are a gift to us, given by a benevolent and loving God.  Our redemption is also His gift to us, and this gift transcends the events that occur in our world.  We should be looking beyond what is immediately in front of our eyes in this world of pain, brought about by the embrace of evil, and the slavery to serve self.  We should see that our redemption frees us from these short term priorities; our redemption matters infinitely more than anything that occurs in our world today.

So as we examine what John relays, let us take the position that these trumpets might find their fulfillment in perhaps more than one method of interpretation of the symbolism described.  Let us remain personally open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and seek for Christ to be revealed in what has or will transpire.  John opens this vision in Revelations chapter 8 and verse 2 saying … “And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.”  John again describes seeing seven angels, not men, nor elders, nor other life forms in this case, who stand before God.  Up to now, apparently they were not carrying trumpets, as John witnesses the giving of them in his vision.  This may imply there is an appointed time when the trumpets were or will be needed.  He continues in verse 3 … “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.”  This passage is reminiscent of the sanctuary services described in the Old Testament where incense was considered to be mingled with the prayers of the people of God to ascend up to His throne.  Because of the traditional role of the High Priest in special events of this nature, some have interpreted this particular ‘angel’ as being Jesus Christ (our High Priest).

John continues in verse 4 … “And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. [verse 5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.”  In the first section of this passage, the function of the incense seems to be similar to what happened in the original sanctuary services.  However, filling the censer with fire, and casting it to the earth is decidedly not.  Those who would take too close a parallel in the original sanctuary services and events in these prophecies have no counterpart for what occurs here.  The first result of casting this censer to earth is “voices”.  We do not know who these voices belong to, or what they were saying, only that they could be heard.  Thunderings and lightnings are events that occur in a storm.  But there have been so many storms in the history of our world, it is hard to find special significance in this one.  Lastly there was an earthquake.  Again, earthquakes are all too common an occurrence in our history as well as our present. 

A scarier thought might be, that there has been or will come an interruption in the normal process of our prayers.  Perhaps what we pray for could use some reform.  If our prayers reflect our desires, and our desires are attuned only to our own needs and self-serving, perhaps they warrant being cast back to us, instead of finding the answers we seek.  Perhaps we should be seeking reform of what we want that would then be reflected in what we pray for.  Perhaps then our prayers will mingle better with the incense and not be cast back to us here.  But if the events of the seven trumpets are to be seen in the history of the world until He returns, perhaps the change in how worship is conducted in heaven was due to the fulfillment of the original sacrificial system by the Lamb of God.  Perhaps the censer is cast down to earth because it was no longer needed.  The forms of symbolic worship of the original sanctuary service were no longer the method needed after the ascension of Christ.  No more was there a need for the literal blood of lambs, as now the blood of The Lamb was shed instead.  No more was needed the altar where blood was placed on the four horns, because the blood required for our redemption was already there.  Perhaps now our prayers could be seen in the light of Jesus Christ, and be reformed as we submit ourselves to Him.  The transition between the old sanctuary services and the new early Christian church would have happened at Calvary and His ascension, which from a timing perspective would have preceded the coming events of these trumpets sounding.  And at His death, there were decidedly thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake, as well as perhaps the voices of the first fruits of His resurrection.  Just a thought anyway.

John continues in verse 6 … “And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”  So it would appear after the events described above, the cycle of incense being offered with our prayers, and the event of casting the censer back to earth; there is still a work of preparation the angels do to make themselves ready to sound their respective trumpets.  It would appear the work of sounding these trumpets was not a mere casual activity, but instead required preparation by the angels assigned to do this work.  Some have offered the idea that the seven angels described as being assigned to the seven churches were actually symbols of seven spiritual pioneers who brought messages of great inspiration to the churches of their respective time periods in history.  The first might have been Paul or Peter or John who were so vital to the earliest apostolic church, or the church of Ephesus in history.  Following this idea, later messengers may have included Wycliffe, or Luther, who had messages so needed in their day.  If this application has merit, then perhaps the messages intended by these trumpets may have also had ramifications in the faith, and may have been delivered by these same men, after they had time to prepare themselves for the sounding.  Trumpets after all are used to garner attention, or to precede an announcement of great importance.  They are sometimes a call to arms, sometimes a call to celebration, sometimes a call of warning.  They do however focus our attention on what is happening now or about to happen next.

It is interesting as well, that in the study of the series of seven that occur throughout the book of Revelation, there seems to be a division between the first four things and the last three.  It is not as if any of these items are completely disconnected (the first four from the last three), but the break between them does seem to be consistent.  In the messages to the seven churches for example, most interpretations are fairly universal about the time periods of the first four churches.  There is considerably more variation regarding the last three.  In the opening of the seven seals, the first four are the horsemen.  The remaining three seals have an entirely different use of symbolism and characteristics, even though they share the commonality of being seals.  Here as we examine the sounding of the trumpets, the first four seem to proceed a series of three “woes” that were distinct and apparently of even greater import than the first four.  It is unclear what the division of seven items seemingly being grouped into fours and threes may mean, but it is worthy to note it.

And the first four trumpets were about to sound …