Let’s remember what has been represented here in previous chapters. The people of God are struggling; they are being afflicted; they are being persecuted by the authorities on the earth. That was the picture in the latter part of the 1^st Century, and, in a very real sense, continues to be the picture even unto this day.

But we see there in chapter 8 that the saints, the people of God, the children of God, are lifting up their prayers. Those prayers are being accompanied by the sweet smell of incense. This represents Christ’s intercession, purging these prayers from the saints of everything that is selfish, of everything that might not be appropriate, so that their prayers come up acceptably before God.

In verse 5, when those prayers come up before God, His response is immediate. The censer was filled with fire from the altar and cast upon the earth [“Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”]. The thunders, the voices, the flashes of lightning and an earthquake are all associated with the seventh trumpet that we’re going to see and read about when we get over to chapter 11. I know that you are reading ahead, and you are aware that following the seven trumpets there are seven bowls. These things are also associated with the seventh bowl, when we get to chapter 16.

The judgments on a wicked world are about to be given by God. Here, we have seen them—the opening of all seven seals. We will follow along and look individually at the sounding of the seven trumpets. And when we get over into chapter 16, we will look at the seven bowls.

SUMMARY OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

The seven trumpets are somewhat like the seven seals in that they are conveniently divided into two groups. In the first four of the trumpets, we’re going to see that there are similarities between them and the plagues of Egypt. Then, the last three trumpets will be more terrible, and will have a more unique aspect to them.

We’ll see that these seven trumpets represent the judgments of God upon the earth. But we must understand these judgments as being, first of all, NOT specific judgments, and secondly, as being only partial judgments. They DO NOT represent the last of God’s judgment, but they certainly do anticipate that last and final great judgment of God.

Like Egypt of old, the world today is in opposition to God. And, like Egypt of old, as the children of God, the people of God [the children of Israel], were held in slavery, were afflicted, were, in a sense, held in bondage, so it is that the people of God, at the time that John writes, and even today, are held, as well, in the bondage of this world. So, these warnings, that we’re about to look at, come to make men realize that God is the Sovereign Ruler of the universe, and wicked men need to seek His Will.

THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS (VERSES 7-12)

The First Trumpet: Vegetation Struck (verse 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.”

At the sounding of this first trumpet, there are some things which occur: “…hail and fire…” are cast upon the earth and the vegetation of the earth is affected. One third of the earth’s plant-life—its trees and grasses—is destroyed.

We’re looking, once again, at a fraction—1/3. This is not to be understood literally, so that we might, as some people do, be looking for some sort of a catastrophic event, and then take some measurement of what part of the earth has been affected, and what part has not been affected. No, rather, it is as the judgment which we read about in Zachariah, chapter 13, verses 8 and 9 [“‘And it shall come to pass in all the land,’ Says the LORD, ‘That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My Name, And I will answer them. I will say, “This is My people”; And each one will say, “The LORD is my God.”’”]. There is a fractional judgment which the Lord gives on that occasion.

We might also be reminded of the seventh plague of hail and of fire, Exodus, chapter 9, verse 24 [Exodus 9:22-26: “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt — on man, on beast, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.’ 23 And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.”]. This partial destruction gives men an opportunity for repentance and a turning to God.