Some of you may remember the hurricanes of 2004. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne came in August and September all across the State of Florida. They were called “The Big Four.” It was one catastrophe after another. I remember that my parents’ yard was flooded for many days, and they lost nearly all of their oak trees. That year, there was back-to-back-to-back-to-back chaos.
Well, here we are in the Book of Revelation, and we’ve heard about the opening of the first six seals, and there has been a lot of chaos.
However, the chaos is not over. Today, we’re going to hear about the opening of the seventh seal, which brings seven trumpets with it. We’re going to learn about the first six of those trumpets and the back-to-back rounds of chaos they bring.
Today’s sermon is entitled “The Six Trumpets from the Seventh Seal.”
Before we go any further, let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us.
(prayer)
Ok, so remember what’s happening here.
The Apostle John is seeing this vision unfold before him of what is happening or will happen in heaven.
Part of those events includes the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, taking a scroll and opening seven seals. Six have already been opened in our study. Today, the seventh will be opened.
Let’s look now at our passage, beginning with Revelation 8:1-5:
8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
It’s a little strange that there was silence for about half an hour.
I wonder if that points to the seriousness of what will happen with the opening of the seventh seal.
After the silence, we hear about these seven angels who stand in the presence of God. These seven angels were given seven trumpets. We’ll hear about six of those trumpets in just a moment.
Notice, in verse 3, that there is an eighth angel.
We’re told of two acts that this angel is performing:
One is that he is mixing incense with the prayers of Christians in front of the throne of God.
A second act this angel is doing is using the incense burner to hurl fire towards the earth, which causes more chaos.
This is sort of like bonus chaos between the six seals that have already been opened and the seven trumpets that are coming.
Look now at verse 6:
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
Ok, let’s dive into these trumpets. We’re going to move through the first four rather quickly.
I. Trumpet 1:
Look at verse 7:
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
We see hail and fire mixed with blood hurled to the earth.
One third of the Earth and its vegetation were burned up.
Obviously, this is devastating to the landscape of the Earth.
Next, we see . . .
II. Trumpet 2:
Look at verses 8-9:
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
This trumpet affects the sea.
Perhaps this is a volcano or sorts or perhaps something more frightening.
We see one third of the sea became blood.
Also, a third of the living creatures in the sea died.
Finally, a third of the ships were destroyed.
Again, the effects of this trumpet are terrible and devastating.
Next, we hear about . . .
III. Trumpet 3:
Look at verses 10-11:
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
This star could be an actual star or something like a meteor.
It does tremendous damage to the earth.
It hit a third of the rivers and springs.
It was called Wormwood, which refers to a bitter plant.
A third of the waters became bitter.
People died from drinking bitter water.
We cannot live without clean water, yet one third of all the world’s water will become essentially poisonous. What a tragedy.
Next, let’s check out . . .
IV. Trumpet 4:
Look at verses 12-13:
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night.
13 I looked and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”
Here we see that a third of the light from the sun, moon, and stars was darkened.
A third of the day was without light, and a third of the night was without light. Obviously, the night is darker than the day, but there is some light; a third of that light will be gone with this trumpet blow.
Also, things start to get more strange going forward, including this eagle who cries out, “Woe, woe, woe.”
“Woe” indicates that something really bad has happened or is about to happen. So, this eagle is essentially giving a warning that bad things are about to come with the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpet blasts.
Indeed, we hear about more bad things. Look at . . .
V. Trumpet 5:
This section is a bit longer. Look at Chapter 9:1-12:
9:1 The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth. The key for the shaft to the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the shaft to the abyss, and smoke came up out of the shaft like smoke from a great furnace so that the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then locusts came out of the smoke on to the earth, and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have on the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were not permitted to kill them but were to torment them for five months; their torment is like the torment caused by a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. Something like golden crowns was on their heads; their faces were like human faces; 8 they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth; 9 they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of many chariots with horses rushing into battle; 10 and they had tails with stingers like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. 11 They had as their king the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.
Many more verses are devoted to this trumpet. It must mean that there’s more for us to understand about this trumpet. Indeed, there’s a lot of craziness going on (we can dig into details in “Digging Deeper” on Wednesday night).
First, notice that a star falls to earth with a key, which unlocks the abyss.
Second, notice that from the abyss comes smoke and terrifying locusts.
Third, notice that the locusts harm people for five months. These locusts sting like scorpions. They’re terrible.
Fourth, notice that the locusts have a king named Apollyon, which means “Destroyer.”
Then, we’re told that this fifth trumpet is the first woe mentioned by the eagle.
Catch something else here:
Verse 5 says that these locusts were permitted to torment people but not to kill them.
Look also, at verse 6. It says:
In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
Church, the judgment of God is fierce and terrible, so much so that people will long for death. What a tragic time this will be.
Finally, for today, we see . . .
VI. Trumpet 6:
Look at Chapter 9, verses 13-19:
13 The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, I heard a voice 14 say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race. 16 The number of mounted troops was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17 This is how I saw the horses and their riders in the vision: They had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18 A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues—by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came from their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails, which resemble snakes, have heads that inflict injury.
Again, there’s a large portion devoted to this trumpet. Indeed, there’s a lot going on in Chapter 9.
We hear about four angels released from the Euphrates River (we’ll dig into that more on Wednesday). For now, notice that the four angels were released.
Two hundred million frightening mounted troops accompany the angels.
The mounted troops will destroy a third of the human race through fire, smoke, and sulfur.
These chaotic events are so terrible that surely people will realize that God is serious about sin.
Surely they will realize that they should turn to God, right?
However, look at the last two verses. Look at verses 20-21:
20 The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.
Can you believe that? Even after all this craziness, people still did not repent. Why is that? Why do they refuse to repent?
The Apostle Paul spoke to this idea in Romans 3:10–11:
He said, “ . . . as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.”
You see, none of us comes to God on our own wisdom or goodness. We need God to draw us to Himself. In our natural state, we will always choose sin over God. This is why Jesus said in John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
We are so lost in our sin that God must intervene to bring us to repentance, and repentance is what we need. Because without repentance, we will face the fierce judgment of God.
That takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: Repentance leads to forgiveness. No repentance leads to judgment.
First of all, let’s remember that to repent means to turn away or turn around.
So, repentance is turning away from our sin and turning to God.
When we repent, we are forgiven of our sins.
When we do not repent of our sins, we will face the judgment of God.
As Jesus said in Luke 13:3:
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.”
We must turn from our sin and turn to God in order to receive the forgiveness of God.
That takes us to our weekly challenge:
Weekly Challenge: Be a person of repentance.
Listen, church: The consequences of sin are terrifying and devastating.
Listen to this also: The grace of God is deep and beautiful.
Turn away from sin and turn to Jesus.
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
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