The First Four Trumpets – Revelation 8:6-13

Revelation 8:6: “So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”

In Revelation 8:7-13, 9:1-20, 11:15-19, each time an angel sounds a trumpet, divine judgments rain down on earth.

Revelation 8:7: “The first angel sounded: and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

The first trumpet judgment is on grass and trees.

In Exodus 9:23-25, when Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, the Lord sent hail and fire on the land of Egypt. The hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

In Revelation 8:7, the Lord reveals to us that the miracles during the days of Moses and during the last days are initiated by God and not by man.

If God is giving prior announcement of these signs through His two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11:3-6, as He did through Moses and Aaron in Exodus, it is because God is working in and through them. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, Paul, through whom God did mighty miracles, wrote, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

In Ezekiel 38:18-22, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, God promised in verse 22 to “rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

In Joel 3:2-3, the Lord promised Israel, “I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people, have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.”

The devil sees the destruction of Israel as a victory against God, so he mobilizes the evil empires of the world to gang up on this tiny nation and destroy it, but God defends Israel from them.

As the seven angels sound their seven trumpets, God issues judgments upon heathen empires.

Undoubtedly, grass and trees suffer, but grass is also symbolic of human flesh. Isaiah 40:7 says that people are as grass. Trees are symbolic of rulers. The king of Babylon is compared to a tree in Daniel 4:22.

Revelation 8:8-9: “Then the second angel sounded: and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

The second trumpet brings down a great mountain. God compares Babylon to a mountain in Jeremiah 51:25. “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth, says the Lord. And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.”

In Mark 11:23, Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

The mountain Jesus was dealing with in Mark 11:23 was unbelief in Messiah among the spiritual leaders of His people in Jerusalem. Unbelief needed to be brought down and faith raised up.

In John 8:24, Jesus said to the hard-hearted religious leaders of Jerusalem, “If you do not believe that I am He [the Messiah], you will die in your sins.”

As a result of the second trumpet, a third of the sea becomes blood, a third of sea creatures die and a third of ships are destroyed. This sea may refer to the Mediterranean and not all oceans. In the Apostle John’s world, the Mediterranean Sea was their sea. Isaiah 57:20 says the wicked are like the troubled sea.

During the seven seal, seven trumpet and seven bowl judgments, God judges the unbelief and the ungodliness of the world’s proud empires.

In Exodus 7:20, at the Lord’s command, Moses struck the waters of the river with his rod “in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.” God gave Pharoah ten opportunities to repent and believe in Him, but Pharoah refused to do so, and perished in his sin.

Revelation 8:10-11: “Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.”

Wormwood in the last days is characterized as a fallen star. In Isaiah 14:12, Satan is a fallen star: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (Day Star), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” The star that falls from heaven is Lucifer.

In Daniel 8:10-12, the Lord speaks of a great horn that grows until it reaches the host of heaven. It casts down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He exalts himself “as high as the Prince of the host. And by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.” He casts truth down to the ground.

In Jeremiah 9:15, the Lord said, “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.” This was God’s response to Judah’s abandonment of Him.

In Deuteronomy 29:18, the Lord said, “Make sure that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.”

In Numbers 5:19-22, a married woman suspected of adultery by her husband was made to drink “bitter water that brings a curse.” If she was guilty, the Lord would make her thigh rot and her belly swell.”

In Hebrews 12:15, the Lord warns us against bitterness, saying, “Watch carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

Wormwood produces a bitter oil. Wormwood symbolizes bitterness, poison and death. The devil and his minions are like vipers who poison hearts and minds against God.

In Revelation 12:11, the blood of Christ is the antivenin. We claim the blood of Christ over us just as the Israelites in Exodus 12:13-28 placed the blood of a lamb over their doorposts in Egypt so that the angel of death would not hurt them. Medical antivenin is made from lamb’s blood. It neutralizes the poison from a snake’s bite.

Revelation 8:12: “Then the fourth angel sounded: 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 did not shine, and likewise the night.”

In Matthew 24:29, Jesus foretold that in the last days, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” The people liked the dark side, so God granted their wish.

In Exodus 10:21-29, darkness during the day was one of the ten plagues that God placed on Egypt for their rebellion against His will.

Anne Graham Lotz was interviewed on the Early Show a few years ago by Jane Clayson. Jane asked Anne: “How could God let Hurricane Katrina happen?” Anne replied, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we have been telling God to get out of our schools, government and lives. Being the gentleman He is, He calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand Him to leave us alone?”

The first four trumpet judgments reveal that God remembers mercy even during judgment. The judgments are partial judgments striking only a third of the targets in each category. When the Israelites were forced into exile it was done in three phases not all at once. God’s judgments are painful but are designed to lead people to repent of sin and turn to Him for salvation so that they might be saved from the most painful judgment of all... from eternal hell.

Revelation 8:13: “And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

In Isaiah 24:5-6, the Lord says, “The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth... and few men are left.”

In Isaiah 24:19-20, the Lord prophesies, “The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut. Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.”

In Hosea 4:1-2, the Lord indicts the inhabitants of the land saying, “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.”

The proud empires of earth, like Pharaoh, refuse to repent from sin and turn to God after the first four trumpet judgments. God sends an angel to warn them with a loud voice that three more painful judgments are coming.

According to Ezekiel 33:11, God does not delight in the death of the wicked. He wants the wicked to turn from evil and to turn to Him for salvation. According to Isaiah 43:11 and Acts 4:12, God is the only Savior. Salvation is about receiving Christ and all that He has done for us. The one thing we must do to be saved is to believe in Jesus Christ God’s Son.

The cup of divine wrath or fury is mentioned in Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15, and Revelation 14:10. In Luke 22:42, Jesus did not want to drink this cup. He drank it for us. We can either drink the cup of God’s salvation or drink the cup of His wrath depending on what we do with Jesus.

In Psalm 116:13, David wrote, “I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.” In Matthew 26:26-28, Jesus urges us to, “Drink from it [the cup], all of you. Drink all of it. This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Jesus Christ is a wonderful Savior! When we ask Him to forgive our sins, He does. Jesus fills us with His Holy Spirit to help us live a new life. The Holy Spirit helps us to love God and neighbor. He fills followers of Jesus with love, joy and peace so that we can serve God with gladness.