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Chapter 31: The Trumpet Judgments
After the world has rejected the message of the Two Witnesses, to repent and worship the Lord, they (the Two Witnesses) will begin to call down the trumpet judgments. Remember, they will have the ability to withhold the rain and call down fire from heaven, along with the ability to predict the future. The False Prophet will duplicate many of the miracles of the Two Witnesses, and most of the world will continue to be deceived. Revelation 8:2-6 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all 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. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the Earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The prayers of the persecuted saints have come before the Lord like incense on an alter of worship. God will empower the Two Witnesses and they will withhold the rain for three and one half years, and call down fire from heaven. Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Even though they are still suffering persecution, the saints will rejoice in the fact that time of their redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:25-28 "There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the Earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." The plagues of the Two Witnesses, the wars of the Antichrist, and the martyrdom of the saints, will destroy one third of the Earth's population. This time period is called in Revelation, the time of the seven trumpet judgments. The Trumpets Sound
Revelation 8:7 "The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, 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 was burned up." When the first trumpet is sounded, fire will scorch one third of the Earth. These plagues will, for the most part, appear to be events that are the normal effects of war, or some other catastrophe. Men will not believe that these events are happening because of their sins. They will harden their hearts like the Pharaoh did when Moses and Aaron called down the plagues on Egypt. Revelation 8:8-9 "The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." The second plague will turn one third of the oceans red like blood, similar to what Moses and Aaron did to the Nile river. One third of the marine life will die, one third of the worlds ships will be destroyed. This plague could be caused by the effects of the wars of Antichrist. Revelation 8:10-11 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water; the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. When the third trumpet is sounded the plague on the waters will spread to the freshwater sources and good drinking water will become scarce. Many people will die from drinking the tainted water. Revelation 8:12 "The fourth angel sounded 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 turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night." The smoke and debris from the first three plagues will now be floating in the atmosphere and cut off one third of the light to the Earth. Revelation 8:13 As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" The next three plagues are called woes, because they will be even worse than those that came before them. The reference to an eagle in this verse may be a hint that this is the time when the Antichrist will attack the United States, as the eagle is one of our national symbols. Revelation 9:1-11 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the Earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the Earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the Earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the Earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. The star that has fallen to Earth from heaven is Satan. Now that he is no longer restrained by Michael the archangel, he is free to release from the abyss, fallen angels, demons, and strange creatures, some of which may have been imprisoned before the flood. There is a city in Iran that is located where the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers meet named Abadan, and there is a large oil refinery there. The destruction of that refinery would certainly send clouds of smoke pouring skyward. Persia (Iran) has for thousands of years been a hotbed of demonic activity, and it would not be surprising if imprisoned demons were released from Abadan (Abaddon?) during the tribulation period. Two other opinions concerning these verses are that this plague is caused by one of mankind's genetic experiments on animals and insects that has gone awry, or that these strange creatures are some future type of airborne attack vehicle that looks similar to a scorpion. A company in England is producing a new attack helicopter called "the sting," that bears an amazing resemblance to the description given in Revelation. It even has a curled back tail that looks like a scorpions. Regardless of what these things are, notice that they can only inflict their pain on those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead the saints will be protected from this plague just like the Israelites were protected from the last three plagues before their deliverance from Egypt. The Lord makes a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Exodus 8:22-23 "'But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the LORD, am in this land. I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will occur tomorrow.'" Exodus 9:4 "But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die." Exodus 11:5 & 7 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. Concerning the time of the end, God promises in Malachi that he will again make a distinction between those who serve the Lord and the wicked. Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not." In the same manner that the Lord protected the Israelites from the grievous plagues he brought upon Egypt, just before the exodus, so too, he will protect his church from the last three trumpet judgments, before their exodus out of the world, when the first resurrection takes place. Revelation 9:12-19 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. The four angels that are released by Satan incite the "Kings of the East," China, Japan, and their allies to enter the war. China, with their population being over one billion people can easily conscript a two hundred million man army by themselves. The description John gives of the weapons of this army sounds like some type of futuristic tank type of vehicle shooting out fire, smoke and sulfur out of the barrels of it's guns. We will have to wait and see before we find out for sure what they are. Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood--idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. Even after all of these plagues have struck the Earth, mankind will still refuse to repent and worship the one true God. |