Revelation 8:1-2 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Breaking the seventh seal starts the seven trumpet judgments.
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Copyright: Art Pat M. Smith, copyright 1992 revelationillustrated.com – And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. Revelation 8:2
Many of the Judgments seem to directly relate to what the people of the Earth are most concerned with:
protecting the trees, protecting the oceans, global warming, fear of asteroids and comet impact, clean drinking water, witchcraft, fundamental preachers, diseases, violent storms, etc.
The first Trumpet involves the trees and grass.
The first judgments, the Seals, could be easily understood as things that have happened on Earth in times past only this time much more catastrophic.
The Trumpet Judgments start bringing things upon the Earth that are against the normal way we see nature.
Do not explain these things away.
Many years ago Bible translators went to the primitive people in various areas. Most of these areas were in hot regions of the earth where it never showed. Many of the areas were places where it was impossible to ever see sheep and goats. When the Bible translators had finally understood the languages and taught these groups to read it was time to write the Holy Scriptures for these groups. The Bible translators thought it would be best to to not confuse them by using words like snow and sheep so in the Bibles these words were replaced by common domestic animals in the region such as a pig and show was replaced with a bright white fruit which grew in the region.
I do not want to be the one who judges these Bible translators, but I am glad the Bible I have is a translation rather than a paraphrase. Now I study the Bible in the Greek and Hebrew languages to see if I can get a better understanding of the original words.
When as a very young boy I accepted Jesus as my Savior, I read Revelation 21:8. I remember asking the following questions; what is a whore monger, what is a sorcerer, what is an adulterer? The one thing I did understand was the word liar. Every young child knows when they lie and what a lie is. It didn’t take me long to figure out those other words.
Take these judgments literally unless they are given another explanation in Scripture. It is normal to think of fire coming to Earth in the form of a flaming meteorite, or hail falling to Earth, but it is quite unusual for blood to fall from the sky.
It is really going to happen.
The angel in the Tribulation sounds the first trumpet and God sends judgment upon the Earth.
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.
January 2012 – Forests are considered one of the world’s largest banks covering about 30 percent of Earth’s land surface. During this disaster one third of the trees will be destroyed by fire. All the grass on the Earth will be burnt.
The ecological system of the Earth is severely damaged during this judgement.
When the Second Trumpet sounds something like a “great mountain” slams into the ocean and creates a terrific tsunami.
“As it were”
Revelation 8:8-9 And the second angel sounded, and as it werea great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 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.
In common, literal, speech quite often synonyms are used to help in the understanding of an illustration. Here in verse 8 the words “as it were” convey the meaning that this judgment is not a great mountain, but is “as it were” conveying size, shape, material structure, weight, etc.
The world is clearly concerned about what will happen when the 2nd Trumpet Judgment comes.
A quick Google search of “asteroid impact” produced 577,000 results and “Asteroid impact with Earth” produced 301,000 results
Start counting the timesa news broadcaster or written article calls an asteroid a “mountain”.
Many in the scientific community are now calling large asteroids “mountains in the sky”.
Oceanic Impact
The most devastating type of collision would be oceanic. This is also the statistically most probable as just over 70% of the Earth is covered by oceans. The principle effect, after several million tonnes of seawater had been flash-boiled, would be the generation of a tsunami that would wreak catastrophic destruction upon coastal cities and generate human casualties all along the affected coastlines. It has been calculated than an asteroid of roughly 300 m in diameter would generate waves carrying more than 300 times the energy of the 2004 Asian Tsunami.
*(Quote unknown source) “The oceans cover about 75% of the Earth’s surface, so it is likely the asteroid will hit an ocean. The amount of water in the ocean is nowhere near large enough to “cushion” the asteroid. The asteroid will push the water aside and hit the ocean floor to create a large crater. The water pushed aside will form a huge tidal wave, a tsunami. The tidal wave height in meters =10.9 × (distance from impact in kilometers)-0.717 × (energy of impact in megatons TNT)0.495. What this means is that a 10-km asteroid hitting any deep point in the Pacific (the largest ocean) produces a megatsunami along the entire Pacific Rim.
The steam blasts from the water at the crater site rushing back over the hot crater floor will also produce tsunamis following the initial impact tsunami and crustal shifting as a result of the initial impact would produce other tsunamis—a complex train of tsunamis would be created from the initial impact (something not usually shown in disaster movies).
NASA released the new map of potentially hazardous asteroids on Aug. 2, 2013 in a post to its online Planetary Photojournal overseen by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The map shows the orbital paths of more than 1,400 asteroids known creep too close to Earth for comfort.”
Surprise asteroid – “The answer to you is, ‘if it’s coming in three weeks, pray,'” space agency chief Charles Bolden said
A large asteroid will hit planet Earth before the middle part of the seven year Tribulation.
Earth will be hit by a large asteroid at this judgment. The tsunami from this sea impact will be greater than anything ever seen; much greater than Mt. Krakatoa eruption. To destroy one third of the ships the impact site would have to be either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
During the Tribulation as the third Trumpet sounds a large comet will impact the Earth.
“as it were a lamp”
Revelation 8:10-11 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; 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.
During the Tribulation there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp,
Think about how ancient olive oil lamps burned. Something like this is coming to Earth.
A comet’s tail always streaks away from the sun as solar winds blow ionized gases off the comet. Like an ancient olive oil lamp, no matter which way the lamp is turned the small flame always points the same direction.
The streams of dust and gas thus released form a huge, extremely tenuous atmosphere around the comet called the coma, and the force exerted on the coma by the Sun’s radiation pressure and solar wind cause an enormous tail to form, which points away from the Sun.
An oil lamp’s flame always points in one direction just as a comet’s tail points in one direction.
What will cause the exposed fresh water systems of the Earth to turn bitter and poison many people?
Perhaps the answer is the cyanogen gas contained in the comet’s atmosphere.
NASA Jets spewing from the comet’s nucleus contain cyanogenCN: a poisonous gas found in many comets. It is a colorless, flammable, pungent, highly poisonous gas, C2N2, used as a rocket propellant, an insecticide, and a chemical weapon. Now astronomers have a new comet to target, though they are using an old probe to study it. After Deep Impact swept past its first target, the mission was given a new name, Epoxi, and sent on an orbit that will bring it to within 430 miles of Harley 2 this week. Already the mission has revealed fresh surprises. Last month, its instruments showed that the comet was emitting a toxic gas called cyanogen whose output increased fivefold over an eight-day period before slowly decreasing again. Mission scientists are still arguing over interpretations of this data.
Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. “It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now,” says Ye. Lulin’s green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet’s nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn’t penetrate Earth’s dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn’t enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of Earth, utterly harmless. (Don’t worry planet Earth. The scientists will take care of you.)
This thing burning like a lamp won’t just pass by Earth, it will hit Earth.
A large portion of a comet’s nucleus contain cyanogen which burns a poisonous green gas. This will contaminate much of Earth’s water.
When the comet enters Earth’s atmosphere it will explode and poison gases from the comet will dissipate over the Earth’s lakes and streams.
Yes, Earth will be hit by a comet during the Tribulation.
The Lord gave Earth a graphic demonstration in 1994 as a comet hit one of our neighboring planets.
In 1994 Earth watched a comet hit Jupiter, a close neighbor planet
Do you think it could
never happen again?
Mars passed through the dust from the tail of the comet on October 20, 2014. The comet named Siding Spring was discovered on 3 January 2013 by professional astronomer Robert McNaught at theSiding Spring Observitory at Coonabarabran NSW Australis and received the official designation C/2013 A1. It was named Siding Spring based on a tradition to identify the observatory that discovered it.
Unexpected Comet tail brushes Mars – October 20, 2014 02:30pm ET “Comet fly by of Mars was an extremely close shave …”
We are becoming more aware of how vulnerable Earth is in the universe.
The fourth Trumpet sounds and God shakes the heavens causing an imbalance to the synchronized orbits.
The judgment of the 4th Trumpet
will alter the universe.
The universe is so large that the whole concept is inconceivable.
However, the Bible says God made it all in 24 hours on the 4th day. Genesis 1:14-19 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
God created the universe on the fourth day “and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven”
God will shake the Heavens
Hebrews 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens,and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
על כן שׁמים ארגיז ותרעשׁ הארץ ממקומה
Revelation 8:12 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.
There will be chaos in the Heavens during this judgment of the Tribulation.
The word “smitten” in the Greek language has the idea of something pounding like a fist or hammer to strike and flatten.
That is certainly not going to be good!
The Greek word used in Revelation 8:12 means something quite large will strike the sun.
In Genesis 1:14 God said And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Would it be wrong to expect
these things to happen?
NASA High-Energy X-ray View of ‘Hand of God’
Can you see the shape of a hand in this new X-ray image? The hand might look like an X-ray from the doctor’s office, but it is actually a cloud of material ejected from a star that exploded. NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, has imaged the structure in high-energy X-rays for the first time, shown in blue. Lower-energy X-ray light previously detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is shown in green and red.
Nicknamed the “Hand of God,” this object is called a pulsar wind nebula. It’s powered by the leftover, dense core of a star that blew up in a supernova explosion. The stellar corpse, called PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short, is a pulsar: it rapidly spins around, seven times per second, firing out a particle wind into the material around it — material that was ejected in the star’s explosion. These particles are interacting with magnetic fields around the material, causing it to glow with X-rays. The result is a cloud that, in previous images, looked like an open hand. The pulsar itself can’t be seen in this picture, but is located near the bright white spot.
One of the big mysteries of this object is whether the pulsar particles are interacting with the material in a specific way to make it look like a hand, or if the material is in fact shaped like a hand.
NuSTAR’s view is providing new clues to the puzzle. The hand actually shrinks in the NuSTAR image, looking more like a fist, as indicated by the blue color. The northern region, where the fingers are located, shrinks more than the southern part, where a jet lies, implying the two areas are physically different.
The red cloud at the end of the finger region is a different structure, called RCW 89. Astronomers think the pulsar’s wind is heating the cloud, causing it to glow with lower-energy X-ray light.
In this image, X-ray light seen by Chandra with energy ranges of 0.5 to 2 kiloelectron volts (keV) and 2 to 4 keV is shown in red and green, respectively, while X-ray light detected by NuSTAR in the higher-energy range of 7 to 25 keV is blue.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill
Nicknamed the “Hand of God,” this object is called a pulsar wind nebula.
When the fifth Trumpet sounds, God lets Hell come to Earth for five months.
“Woe, Woe,Woe”
Things really get bad now!
The next three Trumpet Judgments are far worse than anything that has happened thus far. They are categorized by an angel saying “Woe,Woe,Woe” to the inhabitants of the Earth.
Revelation 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
God sends some life-form to Earth to open the Bottomless Pit. The Scripture indicates that this bright object will be alive.
In this judgment God allows the Bottomless Pit to be opened and Hell comes upon Earth for five months.(Go to the Feast of First Fruits for details on the “heart of the Earth”.)
God sends some life-form to Earth to open the Bottomless Pit. The Scripture indicates that this bright object will be alive.
It is the opinion of many that God lets mankind see how awful the penalty of rejecting the knowledge of God and His freely offered atonement for our sinful condition.
This is what is in store for those who reject this – John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
Some of the things in Hell come upon Earth during this Tribulation judgment. You do not want to be on Earth then.
Please do not allegorise the words
of The Revelation.
If you let the words mean just what they say you will understand this book far better than those who use their own imagination. For example; some prophetic teachers say the “locust” that swarm out of the smoke are really helicopters because they swarm in formation and look similar to locusts. The stings are the guns on the helicopters and the “bottomless Pit” is the never ending wicked imagination of mankind.
Nevertheless, these are creatures that come upon the Earth to torment mankind for five months.
Mankind will try to die but will not be able to die during these five months.
Revelation 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Small Creatures that fly like locust have scorpion stings on their tails and are sent to torment mankind five months.
Revelation 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Creatures like these are not seen in the natural world. They were created and lived in the bottomless Pit. They will be set free for five months when the door to the Pit is opened.
Enclosed are two very good representations of these creatures.
Some prophetic teachers can not understand the Revelation so they allegories these things away. To understand The Revelation, just take it literal. – Copyright: Art Pat M. Smith, copyright 1992 revelationillustrated.com
And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
The Destroyer is coming
Another creaturecalled “the angel of the bottomless pit” climbs out of the pit. In English his name is Destruction and Destroyer.
It is believed by many prophetic teachers that this is the beast that kills the two witnesses in the middle of the Tribulation.
Looking back on the seven Seal Judgments and the time of the 5th Trumpet we are probably no more than 18 months before the middle of the Tribulation.
Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
A physical description of this beast is not given. However the word “beast” in the Greek language means: wild beast, a brutal, bestial man, savage, ferocious
Revelation 9:12 One woe is past;and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
There is a man called the Beast, Apollyon, Abaddon who climbs out of the Bottomless Pit at this time and remains on Earth until Jesus returns.
The sixth Trumpet sounds – Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
The preceding judgment
of the fifth trumpet joined
the physical realm and the spiritual realm.
1. First Woe The Fifth Trumpet – The Bottomless Pit was opened and some of it’s contents came to Earth.
2. Second Woe – The Sixth Trumpet – The four angels which are bound in the Euphrates River will be set free to slay one third of mankind.
3. Third Woe – The Seventh Trumpet – Satan and his angels are cast to Earth
Joining these two realms
will happen two more times.
The Old English word “woe” is used to describe the severity of what will happen.
The book of The Revelation calls the fifth, sixth, and seventh Trumpets a “WOE”.
One woe is past;
and, behold, there come
two woes more hereafter
This judgment deals with fallen angels.
There are many types and duties of Heavenly beings who minister in Godly things. There also seems to be different types and duties of fallen angels and their state or duties to evil
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Jude 6
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 2 Peter 2:4
These chained angels cannot be the same angels as the principalities and powers of darkness which are still in “high places” under the direction of Satan.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
There are four specific angels
which are now bound in the River Euphrates.
Loose the four angels which are bound in the great River Euphrates
This river Originates in eastern Turkey, and flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf.
Revelation 9:12-15 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
The judgment of the 6th Trumpet is called the
“second woe”.
There are instances in the Bible where we see an angel killing vast numbers of people. For example, the Lord said in 2 Kings 19:34-35 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
A time frame for where we are in the first three and a half years of the 70th week of Daniel is given in verse 15 “an hour, a day, a month, and a year”. It is quite likely that this judgment will last until the middle of the Tribulation. However, there are the 7 Thunder “Judgments” of which the angel told John not to write. They are also before the middle of the Tribulation.
The heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone
Apparently these four angels who are bound in the Euphrates River are able to gather a demonic army of 200,000,000 which ride on demonic horses. (There are some prophecy teachers who say this is the army of China. I do not hold to this opinion for all the reasons I have stated in the previous lessons and “the Kings of the East” are mentioned in another judgment in Revelation 16:12. The Revelation is much easier to understand if you read it knowing that the physical realm and natural realm are mixing in many of these judgments.)
Revelation 9:16-19 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
The number of people killed in this judgment is about one billion, seven hundred million.
Today, a great amount of money and power is being used to stop “climate change” which some say is caused by air pollution. Think for a moment, and consider that in less than three years (including this judgment) about half the people on Earth are killed. The environment is hopelessly lost to the pollution of bodies being cremated by the billions.
Over half of the world has died thus far in less that three and a half years of the first part of the Tribulation.
In the midst of all this destruction, the news, according to the book of The Revelation is reporting on the judgments and not calling for repentance. People will be shaking their fists at God and cursing Him, if there is a God they say. God answers their accusations with these words: Revelation 9:20-21 And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.
If the news is still offered in the Tribulation this is what a newspaper might look like.
Revelation 10:1-3 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud -Copyright: Art Pat M. Smith, copyright 1992 revelationillustrated.com
Most of Revelation chapter 10 has been sealed and this information was not written. For some reason God gave the information to John but sealed it Revelation 10:4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. – Copyright: Art Pat M. Smith, copyright 1992 revelationillustrated.com
Revelation 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
The Bible does not say when or how John died. We are pretty certain that the book of The Revelation was written around 96 AD. Tradition says John was an old man when he wrote the book and died about 100 AD.
It does not seem possible that upon leaving the Island of Patmos, John was able to accomplish speaking (prophesy) before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. However we know this; what was written in the small scroll the angel held was given to him to eat. What was written in the scroll is connected to what he will say some day before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. We are just not given the details of what, where, when, why and how it will happen.
There is the possibility that there were 21 judgments in the first three and a half years of the first half of the Tribulation. If the 7 Thunders were judgments this would be the case.
