I.        INTRODUCTION

A.      Following the silence of the seventh seal, seven angels stood ready to sound their trumpets (Rev. 8:2).

                                                             1.      Trumpets were indicative of warnings (see Ezek. 33:1-6; Hos. 5:8-11; Joel 2:1-2; Amos 3:6).

                                                             2.      Before God brought total destruction upon His enemies, He offered warnings by partial judgments to provoke them to repentance.

B.      The sounding of the seven trumpets represented the response of God to the prayers of the saints.

                                                             1.      After the incense and the prayers of the saints ascended before God (Rev. 8:3-4), the angel who offered them threw fire from the altar to the earth, indicating God’s answers to the prayers (Rev. 8:5; see 5:8; 6:10).

                                                             2.      The punishment that followed, which is represented by the seven trumpets, was issued from the altar of heaven.  These judgments were the work of God against the oppressors of His people, the Roman Empire.

II.      PROPHECIES OF NATURAL DISASTERS

A.      The first four trumpets released natural disasters that affected the earth (Rev. 8:6-12).

                                                             1.      In the first three trumpets, the fire thrown to the earth from the altar was represented (in order) as hail and fire mixed with blood, a great mountain burning with fire, and a great star burning like a torch.  The fourth trumpet was represented as a smiting of the sun, moon, and stars.

                                                             2.      These natural calamities affected the earth (land), the sea, the rivers and springs, and the luminaries (sun, moon, and stars).  Natural calamities that might have fit these descriptions are known to have been a factor in the eventual fall of the Roman Empire.

                                                             3.      Notice that these calamities were limited in each case to a third of the affected resource.  These limitations are typical throughout the trumpets, and they indicate that God’s punishment in these cases was only partial.

B.      The last three trumpets were announced by a flying eagle (Rev. 8:13).

                                                             1.      This eagle appears to have represented a swift angel (some ancient manuscripts have “angel” instead of “eagle”).  His swiftness may have represented the swift coming of God’s judgments.

                                                             2.      The eagle’s announcement of “woe, woe, woe” indicated that the last three trumpets would be more severe than the first four.

III.   PROPHECIES OF DESTRUCTION AND DEATH

A.      The fifth trumpet (first woe) released tormenting locusts on the earth (Rev. 9:1-12).

                                                             1.      The bottomless pit (abyss) seems to symbolize God’s restraint of evil, i.e., the holding place (prison) of demons and Satan.  It is later shown as the place from which the beast (Roman Empire) arose (17:8) and the place where Satan was bound (20:1-3).

                                                             2.      A key to the pit was given to the “star from heaven which had fallen to the earth,” who was an angel (not Satan – 9:11) with authority from God to open the pit and inflict this first woe (see also 20:1-3).

                                                             3.      From the smoke of the pit came powerful locusts.

a.       Locusts were often employed by God to exact His judgment (see Ex. 10:3-6; Deut. 28:38; 1Ki. 8:37-40).  In Revelation, locusts figuratively represented God’s consuming punishment (compare to Joel 2:1-11, 25).

b.       The fact that the locusts came from the smoke of the abyss indicates the evil, destructive power of Satan, but they were authorized by God.  Keep in mind that God often used evil people to accomplish His purposes (Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, etc.).

c.        These locusts are described in fearsome terms that are fitting with their work of torment.

                                                             4.      The locusts were not permitted to kill, but to torment for five months.

a.       The locusts were not allowed to harm the earth or those who had the seal of God on their foreheads (the bond-servants of God – 7:1-8).  This means that they would only affect those who were disobedient to God (i.e., adherents to the Roman Empire).

b.       As with the first four trumpets, the effects of the locusts were limited (torment only for five months).  Their limitations were in terms of time rather than numbers of people affected.

c.        Forces that would cause those who were not Christians to be so tormented that they would “seek death and not find it” (v. 6) would be such things as fear of invasion, worry over economic or political collapse, etc.  Such things are of no concern to citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20; see Psa. 46:1-3; Isa. 54:10).

                                                             5.      The king over these locusts was an angel called Abaddon (Hebrew – “destruction”) and Apollyon (Greek – “destroyer”).  Again, notice that God authorized these things through His angel.

B.      The sixth trumpet (second woe) released armies of horsemen to kill a third of mankind (Rev. 9:13-19).

                                                             1.      From the altar of heaven (by God’s authority), the sixth trumpet released four angels for the designed purpose of killing a third of mankind.

a.       The four (number for world power) angels who were bound at the great river Euphrates had been reserved by God for this purpose at this time.

b.       Notice again that the effects of this plague are limited to a third of mankind.  “Mankind” in this context represents those who were guilty of the sins listed in verses 20 and 21 (not those who were sealed by God).

                                                             2.      The two hundred million horsemen probably represented all the enemies of Rome that would take advantage of Rome’s internal weakness and strife from the fifth trumpet.

a.       The horses and their riders were described in fearful terms similar to those used to describe the locusts.

b.       The power of these horses to kill was in the three plagues that proceeded from their mouths – fire, smoke, and brimstone.  A “plague” is a wound that results from a smiting.

IV.    KEY TO INTERPRETATION

A.      The purpose of these plagues was to provoke repentance (Rev. 9:20-21).

                                                             1.      The mention of plagues certainly reminds of the ten plagues of Egypt in the days of Moses.  The plagues of the sixth trumpet as well as the other trumpets had a similar purpose to those of Egypt, which was to cause God’s enemies to repent of their sins.

                                                             2.      Like Pharaoh, these enemies of God refused to repent of their evil ways despite the evidence of God’s judgment against them.

B.      Notice the terms used to describe those who were affected by these plagues.

                                                             1.      They failed to “repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

                                                             2.      This is some of the strongest evidence regarding who was the subject of God’s judgment.

a.       The Jews were guilty of rejecting the Christ, but this description of abject idolatry certainly does not fit them.  Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that this prophecy was concerning the destruction of Jerusalem.

b.       The Romans were idolatrous, and this description fits them very well.  The judgments of the book of Revelation are against the Roman Empire, which attempted to enforce idolatry and emperor worship upon all of its subjects and persecuted the Christians who refused to comply.

V.      CONCLUSION

A.      The judgments of God in response to the prayers of the saints were severe, but it was not nearly as severe as those that would come when God’s enemies refused to repent.

B.      At the close of chapter nine, one trumpet remained to sound (one woe was yet to be announced), but first there was an interlude similar to the one between the sixth and seventh seals.  This will be the subject of our next lesson.

*** In the next lesson, we will study the fate of the witnesses and the seventh trumpet (10:1-11:19).***