Seven Trumpets (part two) ...

We resume our study of the seven trumpets of Revelation continuing from part one of this series.  John writes in verse 7 … “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.”  If this is truly to be literal, it must also be a future event.  Should our world lose 33% of its tree’s and 100% of its grass, the effects would be so devastating that it might indeed end life as we know it on our planet.  Therefore if we consider a more historical context to apply the symbolism described here, we might find fulfillment in a few ways. 

First let us consider the implications of this trumpet being another message of great importance to the church and the servants of Jesus Christ.  In this context, the first trumpet may have sounded to announce the judgments of God on the city of Jerusalem for its complete rejection of the Messiah and the role it played in the murder of our God, done in the name of religion.  Rome destroyed Jerusalem, inadvertently setting the temple on fire, which melted the gold that dribbled down all the way between the stones in the floor.  Thus the errant Roman soldiers were told to destroy the remains of the temple and dig up the rocks so as to get the gold from its foundations, leaving “no stone upon another”.  But no Christians died in the terrible siege and taking of Jerusalem.  They saw signs in the heavens, and remembered the warnings of Christ to flee without looking back to gather your belongings.  The early Christian church was spread out into the world, and Jerusalem tasted the results of her complete rejection of the cornerstone of her faith.  If the message of the first trumpet was directed at an early Christian church under the pagan persecution of Rome, this may well have been the hail of Roman destruction, that ultimately mingled fire in the blood spilled and cast upon the earth in the temple there.

Another view of the first trumpet may have been in a more political context.  Trumpets often precede war, and are used within war to give direction to coordinate troop efforts when the noise of battle might otherwise overwhelm the sound of a human voice.  If the context were political in nature, one interpretation might be assigned to the Visigoth barbarian hordes that rained a hail of destruction down upon the once great Roman empire.  This was the first step in reducing the legs of iron into the feet of iron mixed with clay.  Constantine had divided the Roman empire into three sections in order to place each of his three sons on a throne, and to better provide for the defense of the empire.  The western seat was attacked by the Visigoth Alaric, equating to a destruction of one third of the empire at that time.  The reason to apply this particular war to the sounding of this trumpet may also coincide with a view of the ten horns or kingdoms, where three were up rooted by the little horn.  The Visigoths surely helped break up the Roman empire, but their legacy was not to be forever felt.

Finally a more modernist view of the first trumpet sounding, interpreted under the ideas that these trumpets are to sound in the last days before His returning might be found in scorched earth policies exacted in the Second World War.  A great deal of modern Ukraine was ruined during WW2 by policies of scorching the earth so that nothing of value remained.  This would have met the idea that all the grass was burnt up, and nearly a third of this area of the world destroyed in one form or another.  Regardless of the viewpoints outlined here, all interpretations include attributing symbolism described in John’s visions to events in our history.  Whether as important messages to the church, or the history of the fall of an empire, or the destruction we have witnessed in our last days – each employs the same methods of ascribing characteristics and events in parallel with what John relayed.  Again it must be noted, that perspective matters when taking this approach.  The earliest Christian church may well have interpreted the sounding of the first trumpet as described above because they bore witness to those events.  The potential modernist view is only possible from our own perspectives as now these events are a part of our recent history.

Perhaps the most important question, is how do we see Christ revealed in the view of interpretation we take of this revelation?  Do we see a warning of the consequences of rejecting the sole method of our salvation as witnessed through the destruction of Jerusalem?  Do we see that it is Christ who ultimately controls the halls of power and succession of kingdoms that traverse our history of empires?  Do we see that even in the massive destruction that occurs in our modern world of war, that Christ is still ever present and ever in control of these events, and more importantly of our salvation?  These prophecies are revelations of Jesus Christ.  They are not mere history lessons.  They are not meant to be scare tactics.  Fear does not bring about reform, only love can do that.  Only love provides the motive for reform.  So if we are to see Jesus in these revelations, how do we see Him?  Do we see the love of Christ, or have we become fixated on times and events and the things that seem to threaten our way of life?  Our lives in this world are of little consequence, they only have meaning in how we can share in the ministry of loving others to see them connect to the source of redemptive love and salvation.  Destruction is not the goal, redemption is.  Without this context, our study has little relevance.

John’s vision continues in verse 8 as he relays … “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; [verse 9] 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.”  Again from a purely literal point of view this would also have to be a future event.  It describes what we might refer to as a meteor which descends into an ocean killing a third of life there, and a third of the naval ships in that ocean.  The level of destruction between the first trumpet and the second could all but kill life on our planet from a pure reduction in oxygen if nothing else.  So again to interpret these events as purely literal seems counterintuitive to looking at our God attempting to draw us closer to Himself that He might redeem a fallen world.  If we then attempt to interpret this passage in a symbolic form there are several meanings that might emerge.

First, if the message is again similar in context to a warning to the church, it might be applied to God’s judgments against pagan Rome.  After addressing Jerusalem in the first trumpet warning, this centers our attention on the ideas that false gods, and many gods, do not form alternate paths to the real God.  Pagan Rome had at the center of its doctrine the worship and exaltation of self.  No passion or pleasure were to be denied to the affluent citizens of Rome.  They did not use their wealth and knowledge extensively in the service of others, but instead like Israel before them, they turned inward, became corrupted and only deepened in their self-embraced slavery to indulgence.  The various forms of false gods included the ideas that war, or sex, or violence were to be praised.  While human sacrifice may not have been an official form of worship, it was highly condoned in the arenas with the gladiator slaves who were sent there to die violently to the cheers of the crowds.  The level of debauchery had no equal.  And the judgment of our God was to be felt on this ideology. 

The lesson was for us to see.  The lesson has not been heeded.  We emulate Rome nearly perfectly.  We no longer have arenas where slaves are made to fight for their existence.  But we do have a class of people with great means, who are content to see their fellow citizens struggle to survive while they spend their means indulging their every whim.  The poor aspire to be the rich.  The rich work to insure this never happens.  The class warfare exploited by our politicians is all too real, but it is waged in secret in the halls of power.  What is missing in our society was the same thing missing in ancient Rome, a desire to see wealth used to benefit all in need.  Today, we blame the poor and downtrodden for their own condition.  We judge them that it is their lack of willingness to work, to take ‘dirty jobs’, or work 60 hours a week instead of 40 that sees them remain in their poverty.  There is little if any empathy.  There is instead an abundance of apathy and self-obsession and desire to be ‘entertained’.  We too look to the needs of our empire before we look to the needs of our citizens.  We too worship the false gods of money, of power, of defense, and of control.  But worst of all, we too worship the exaltation of self at the expense of our submission to something greater than ourselves.  So what might have been a message to our ancestor role model regarding the fate of this path, remains unheeded in our day.

If the sounding of the second trumpet was to be of a political variety, then perhaps the Vandals did to pagan Rome in a physical sense, what was also seen from a spiritual one.  The Vandals grew in power in Spain eventually crossing the straights of Gibraltar into Africa.  They swept through the southern Mediterranean coasts of Africa and built a sizeable navy.  Rome, not wishing to lose the jewel of its supply lines sent its own navy to combat the Vandals.  The Vandals used combustibles and sent them into the heart of the Roman fleet.  The net result was a great fire spreading out across the fleet.  Soldiers died either in flame, or by the sword of the Vandal navy who remain relatively unscathed.  Death by fire in the sea could be seen as a more historical and political view of the sounding of this trumpet.

If we were to look for a modern day fulfillment of this trumpet sounding, with an eye towards an interpretation of keeping the trumpets in the days of the last generations; we might find its fulfillment in the great naval battles of the Second World War.  From Pearl Harbor, to the war’s end, nearly 36,000 ships were lost (just about a third of those that fought).  The imagery of fire cast into the sea, could have been seen in the testing of nuclear bombs that would have killed sea life in the area.  Or it could be fulfilled in the normal conventional naval bombing runs that occurred throughout the war.  Many millions of lives were lost in WW2, and the imagery John witnessed could have conceivably met its interpretation if we put the lens of modern perspective on these events.

Once again, no matter how we choose to interpret the imagery and prophecy of the vision John describes, we must ask ourselves, how does it reveal to us Jesus Christ and His intent to see us redeemed?  In one sense, Christ may be revealing to us, that the worship of self leads to the level of debauchery the Roman empire experienced, and to a similar fate of self-determined destruction.  He may also be revealing to those who have means, that prolonged abuse of the poor and downtrodden gives rise to the Vandal empire who may resort to physical retribution to the apathy that has kept them under the oppression of the rich.  Wealth after all, did not defend the Romans from the Vandals, but instead made them a target of retribution and theft.  Wealth is therefore, by definition, temporary.  It can be shifted.  Whereas wealth, or what is truly important in the kingdom of heaven, cannot be shifted or taken away.  Love of others, absent selfish motive, can offer a permanence that transcends even this life.  That is the kind of wealth, that does not inspire retribution, and cannot be taken by the Vandal hordes. 

If we are to see Jesus revealed in the great naval battles of WW2, what are we to learn of Him there?  Do the countless stories of heroism and self-sacrifice emerge under the conditions of fire reigning into the sea?  Does what emerges become known as ‘the greatest generation’ not because of their military prowess, but because of their willingness to finally sacrifice self and isolation to keep freedom in the world?  But if so, where is the revelation of Christ in all of it.  I am not fully certain the redemptive love of God is found in the pride of our accomplishments, but rather in the humble submission that results from knowing we need a savior, not that we are one.

John continues his revelation in verse 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; [verse 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.”  Once again a literal interpretation seems unlikely.  For a star called Wormwood to fall to the earth and hit a central place where all the freshwater emanates making a third of it bitter is again unlikely.  Obviously nothing is impossible for God, but as in the previous soundings, this too seems more likely fulfilled with the application of the symbolism, than in waiting for a future literal event to occur.  What begins to emerge however, as we read these passages is yet another pattern of numbers.  In this instance what we see are the results of these trumpet soundings having an effect on “one third” of the things they describe.  In the first trumpet it is one third of the trees.  In the second, it is one third of sea life and the  navy.  In this one it is one third of the fresh water.  In the next it is one third of the atmosphere.  Each of the first four trumpets (as distinct from the remaining three woes), seems to affect one third of the objects they reference.  I am not certain how this is to be understood outside of the context of the Roman empire being divided in three parts, but it is worth noting.

If we are to seek the interpretation of the sounding of this trumpet as a message to the church, it might be found in the revelation of the difference between professed Christianity and actual Christianity.  The worldwide ascendency of the Catholic church who professed Jesus Christ in its doctrines did not set the true example of the worship and ministry of our God.  Christ, the king of all things, came to our world in abject humility and lived in humble service to others His entire life.  He amassed no wealth.  He made no elaborate cathedrals.  He required no offerings of gold or silver to obtain His favor, or purchase His free gift of redemption.  He established no doctrine of celibacy among those who were to lead His church.  And His own law forbid the crafting of graven images to serve as representations of things to worship neither in this world, or in His heaven.  Indeed, the exertion of control attempted by the Catholic church alone, was completely counter to the ideas of submission He taught and lived Himself.  To compel the conscience has never been His method, and only exclusively used by that of Satan His enemy. 

Because we ‘claim’ to serve our God of love and service to others, does not mean that we do.  Satan is all too happy to see us purport to serve Christ, but instead serve only ourselves and our own needs.  If we do not truly attempt to submit ourselves to Christ in order to see our own desires changed, we will be doomed to continue to want the wrong things.  Our struggle with sin will persist, because we do not allow Christ to change our desires within us.  What happened to the degeneration of the doctrines and example of Christ within the Catholic church of the dark ages, can just as easily happen in the hearts of the modern believer.  When we rely upon self, and refuse to be re-created, we embark on the same path, with the same predictable results.  The third trumpet sounding may well have been intended to wake us both up, to the nature of the path we tread upon.

If we are to see the continued political interpretations of the trumpets, then the sounding of the third one may well have represented Attila the Hun (the star who descended) and his hordes that forced the Romans to endure the bitterness of humility at the point of a sword.  During his rise to prominence Attila forced the Romans to pay annual tributes of gold to keep his destructive force at bay.  At one point Attila changed the terms of their agreement raising it from 350 pounds of gold per year to 750 pound of gold per year.  In addition to gold, Attila demanded a Roman princess Honoria accompanied by an immense dowry of wealth.  Indeed the bitterness of humility of the once supreme Roman empire was brought about by Goths, Vandals, and now the Huns who in concert seemed to only aggregate the damage and destruction of once thought ‘eternal empire’ of Rome.

If we were to turn our point of view to a modern application of this third trumpet, we might find it in the events of Chernobyl.  Even the meaning of word Chernobyl can be seen as Wormwood, and its effect of poisoning the fresh water of the nearby rivers and connecting underground reservoirs was devastating to the entire region.  Many died from the contamination brought about by the world’s worst nuclear disaster.  The waters were indeed made bitter, and many died from drinking them.  This interpretation definitely addresses the poisoning of fresh water, and is again something found only in our own days, the days of the last generations before He returns. 

But if we are to focus on how Christ is revealed, and upon His messages of redemption, what do we see of Jesus in these various applications of this revelation?  Perhaps the key revelation of Jesus to the church, and to the pagan Roman empire, and to modern men of science that build Chernobyl is the same.  We are all in desperate need of humility.  It is our arrogance that poisons church doctrine.  It is our arrogance that leads us to believe the empires we build will stand forever against the sands of time.  It is our arrogance that makes us think our scientific knowledge exceeds the wisdom of God, and makes us believe we need no humility or submission, instead we need only the next achievement.  Pride is said to be an original sin.  Pride is what is held in common in all three interpretations of this passage, and the inevitable destruction that follows pride, is the predictable result.

John continues his revelation in verse 12 … “And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.”  The last trumpet sounding in the sequence of four, follows a similar theme to its counterparts.  Again we avoid a strictly literal interpretation as it is difficult to imagine how it might be achieved.  But if the message is to be intended for the church it might be found in the darkness of the Middle Ages.  When once we have abandoned humility and submission to Christ, we cut ourselves off from the source of all Light.  We come to embrace the darkness of trusting in self, and lose our ability to see the Light, for we turned away from its source, instead trying to find it in the mirror.  The trumpet blast is meant to call us to look upwards once again.  It is meant to sound to call to our ears, what our eyes refuse to see.  We are not the source of our own salvation, nor is there to be found in us the truth we need to find.  The only source of truth is Jesus Christ.  The only source of change and reform is Jesus Christ.  The only way to find the Father is through the work of Jesus Christ.  The trumpet sounds to wake us from our self-imposed slumber and return us to the light of Christ.

If we were to seek a political application of this trumpet we might find it in the fall of western Rome, the last vestige of the old Roman Empire.  The once great light of Roman law, Roman representative government, Roman roads, even Roman justice had long since decayed over time, and now was finally and fully snuffed out.  The last emperor resigned, the senate had no meaning left.  The barbarian hordes had done their work, and what light remained was now gone over the course of the third of Europe.  Rome was the iron legs of the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel.  It had now been officially reduced to feet of clay mixed with iron.  The world would never again know a universal power until the Lord returns.  To find application of these trumpets in the Roman empire instead of the Incan, Aztec, Indian, or Chinese empires has more to do with where the majority of Christians and the church of Christ were located.  To this point in time the gospel had largely been spread only in Roman territories.  The Messiah had come, lived, and died under Roman jurisdiction.  A Roman governor pronounced sentence and Roman troops insured the application of that sentence.  While the Jewish religious leadership was behind the death of their own Messiah, it was Roman hands that were sullied in the work of it.  Pilot might have released and freed Jesus.  Had he taken this bold step, he would likely have joined in the fate of Jesus, for the sacrifice must be made.  However through that outcome, Pilot might have helped to exonerate the Roman empire, and keep them from any responsibility at all of what happened to Christ under his watch.  But instead, Roman weakness, and Roman corruption led to the death of innocent blood, a pattern that was destined not to change.

If we change our perspective and look at the fourth trumpet in light of modern events, one could ascribe the application of this revelation to global climate change.  The toxins in our air have resulted in a steady decline in light that reaches our earth.  Some studies of pollution in major cities show this reduction to be nearly 37% in Hong Kong for example.  Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City, etc., the list goes on.  Major population centers with higher emissions are going to naturally result in a dimming of both night and day light that reaches our world.  This is a condition that merely 120 years ago could not have been imagined, yet it exists today. 

Perhaps the blast of the fourth trumpet is meant to be the noise we need for our ears to awaken us to look out of our darkness.  We are not meant to trust in the greatness of our political power, or our judicial systems.  We are meant to trust only in Christ.  We are not meant to pollute our world, or our souls, with the darkness of trusting to self.  But instead we are to see the light of Jesus Christ as it is revealed in His work of changing who we are into who we were intended to be.  When our eyes fail us, our ears must take up the work.  When we are mired in darkness, we must follow the sound of the trumpet and be led out of darkness.  But as with the warning of the previous trumpet, in order to be led, we must be willing to be led.  It was our lack of humility that led us into darkness.  It can only be a return to humility that will see us led out of it.  While we look to the mirror to find the light, we will find none.  We must instead look upwards, and see the true source of all light in Jesus Christ.  This is the revelation to call us to see.  This is the mercy of our God, His hand outstretched to us in all ages, in all times, in all locations.  He calls us, with blast of the trumpets, to find our redemption in Jesus Christ.

And now, as if heaven fully understood the concept of an intermission long before the first movie epic was ever filmed, John continues writing in verse 13 … “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”  This message would appear to tell us, that while the first four trumpets were of great importance to us.  The remaining three are of even more consequence.  This break in the flow was not done by accident.  It was done by intent.  It is to cause us to focus even more on what is to follow.  A trumpet blast is meant to garner our attention.  No matter our method of interpretation of what is to come, its import should not be overlooked.

And so we remain vigilant as the last three trumpets are about to sound …