"6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8 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, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 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 waters. 11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
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 creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
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 waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
As we begin to examine our text today, I'd like to remind you that all of heaven is silent, which was induced by the breaking of the seventh seal. The hosts of heaven gathered around the throne of God see what is written on the scroll, they were in awe, because the seventh seal encompasses seven trumpet judgments and seven bowl judgments. It's important to understand these trumpets do not describe the final judgment. In each judgement, only part of the world is affected. This a devastating, powerful reminder that God will indeed deal with sin!
In our society today, there is a sense in which this is man’s day, that man can do what he will, as he wills without repercussion or consequence. Man has come to think that he's in charge.Satan presently has dominion over the earth, so between Satan and man, they orchestrate the worlds system. However, the day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will take over and establish His Kingdom, but not before the destruction of Satan and men.
The final wrath of God is poured out on the earth in the last time, during a seven year period, the Bible calls the Tribulation, before the reign of Jesus Christ is established. These are horrifying and frightening judgments. There isn't any wonder why all of heaven is silent.
The sixth seal, which we saw in chapter 6, marks the beginning of the day of the Lord and the beginning of the great tribulation. It is a fearsome event whose purpose is to warn all of the inhabitants of the earth that this is their last and final chance to repent before the final wrath of God occurs. If you think the Middle East is a hotbed now, it will look like an elementary school playground fight compared to what going to happen. There will be hundreds of millions of casualties.
The earth has just suffered the horrors of the sixth seal, just when they have settled, coming to terms with the acceptance of the way things are. The world is realizing that the one thing everyone was afraid of but never really thought would happen has now happened. Then, the seventh seal follows, and they are hammered with the terrifying and rapid succession of trumpets and bowl judgments. All these trumpet judgments must also come to pass. By the way, these are not allegorical judgements. These are literal judgments. There are seven trumpets, the first four bring devastation to God’s creation, they have to do with the earth.
The last three are directly aimed at man, even though mankind has already been severely affected by the first four trumpets. The devastating earthquake that hits the earth, becomes the signal for the angels to blow the trumpets. With first the trumpet, the judgement begins to unfold, the Antichrist has come into world dominance. He has successfully deceived the world into following him. He is already terrorizing those who affirm their faith in Christ, massacring both Jews and Christians.
God ramps up His judgments upon the earth, and the result is destruction like the world has never seen. Even though heaven has been silent for a half an hour, the angels have been waiting for this a long, long time. These angels have prepared themselves to sound them. The anticipation that God would take back His universe from Satan, the usurper and fallen man. The judgment of the first trumpet presents a grim reality of devastation on the vegetation of the world.
Before we get started on the text, I'd like to mention that these first four trumpet judgements takes seven verses. Though each one is unique, they are all related. And, they are straight forward and they are all intense. However, these are not as intense as the last three, the last three take up fifty verses.
Let's look at verse 7, the trumpet of wrath is being blown. "The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up."
Elsewhere in Scripture, you will find that God sends hail as a form of judgment. In the Old Testament, hail is associated with divine judgment. You can look at Exodus 9; Ezekiel 13; Isaiah 28; Psalm 105 and Job 38 are a few of them.
Then fire, which we are familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19, where God sent fire out of the sky to destroy them. Here, earth has already been experiencing devastating and unbearable events, and its going to get even worse. Man worships Mother Nature, the earth, giving no thanks to God for His creation. Man has failed to recognize and worship. They worship the earth. Every April, more than 1 billion people in 193 countries gather to celebrate Earth Day. So, the One true God will destroy their false god.
God will turn up the heat, He's going to be involved global warming. He will destroy the ozone layer and the rain forests. He will devastate its animal population, its plants and ultimately man himself. This first trumpet deals with destroying the land. Yet man has still not acknowledged that God created the earth.
In verse 8, "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 creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed."
Notice it does not say that a great mountain, burning with fire was cast into the sea. Rather, it says "something like a great mountain." Asteroids are literally mountains hurling through space. Asteroids are masses of rock which vary in size from just a few miles to several hundred. The largest known asteroid, Ceres, is about 620 miles or 1,000 kilometers, in diameter. If it were to hit the earth, it would cause tidal waves and devastation for thousands of miles. In 1908, the meteorite which fell in Siberia devastated over 1,000 square miles. And, the shock was felt as far away as Europe, it was only about 200 feet!
Here God judges at another point of His provision for man, the sea, He created the sea to be a blessing to man. Again, man has refused to thank Him, so God is going also destroy that idol, with "something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood." This is just what scientists now fear, a meteorite or asteroid, colliding with the earth, which ignite combustible gases and make the earth a flaming ball of fire. And, here it is, happening by the force of God’s power.
I believe everybody is going to see it, television, the internet, satellite and doppler radar. It will be a catastrophic worldwide event. Because man has refused to acknowledge and worship God. This is significant since these first four are areas of God’s common grace intended for man’s blessing.
No one knows it the sea will become like actual blood, perhaps from all the massive deaths of animals and the human population. Or if it will be transformed biochemically, poisoned by multitudes of dead microorganisms. Dr. Henry Morris writes, "The impression made on the world’s inhabitants in this great future day when suddenly fully a third of the world’s oceans become as blood can well be imagined." It's going to create a tsunami like the world has never known!
Then, in verse 9, "And a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed." Poisoning a third of the sea is going to kill a third of the dolphins and the whales and the fish. One third of the ships in the world will be destroyed, this will greatly impact commerce.
In the Old Testament, the prophets saw this as they looked into the future.Look at Hosea chapter 4, "Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, and also the fish of the sea disappear."
That brings us to verse 10, and the third trumpet. "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 waters." After the third angel sounded his trumpet, "a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch." It comes plunging out of the sky, and as it comes through the atmosphere it disintegrates, falling on the rivers and the springs of waters all over the globe. This will cause a chemical change making the waters bitter.
I would like remind you, all of this is happening because men have rejected the gospel. The longer they wait, the harder their hearts will become. As the gospel is being preached today, an innumerable number from all the nations, they do not repent, they are still rejecting God's Word. That's why this catastrophic event is taking place! This will be really very devastating.
You can live for a short while without the vegetation of the crops, you can even live for a while without the sea and the ocean. But you cannot live without fresh water. Because people have some food items stored up in their cabinets and pantry's, boxed and canned items. This star will poison the water because, it will be unfit for human consumption, and those who drink this water will die.
Verse 11 says, "The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter."
In Exodus 15:23-25, a tree cast into the bitter waters which made them sweet. Here the star, called wormwood cast into the sweet water made it bitter. In the Greek, the word apsinthos, it is the deadly liquor substance called absinth. The word is only used once in the New Testament, and that's here in that verse. However, it is used several times in the Old Testament.
I believe the contrast here is significant, Christ on the cross atoning for sin and made that which was bitter sweet and here, Christ is coming in judgment which turns the vain hopes into bitterness. Wormwood refers to something bitter, some poison that is actually deadly. It's lethal, whatever this poison is. The rivers, lakes and wells are full of deadly poison. Far better for men to drink the living water that Christ now offers than the lethal water that is to come.
Then in verse 12, we have the fourth trumpet. "The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way."
Notice the contrast here to the first three trumpet judgments against the land, sea, rivers, and fountains of water, the fourth trumpet is aimed against the heavens. As a footnote, it's worth mentioning that it was on the fourth day that God created and made visible to the Earth the sun, the moon and the stars. And here, the fourth trumpet judgment is aimed at these heavenly bodies, the gracious provisions of God’s common grace.
In Luke 21, the Greek word here is shmeion, "a sign, mark, token." This word means a supernatural act of God, a message with moral purpose, to get people to take notice. In the last days, man, in his humanism and the deification of himself, will have rejected the truth of creation and the authority of God. We can only imagine the panic on earth as people are facing this ecological devastation, the raining hail and fire, destruction of the sea, and poisoning of fresh waters. Before they can even begin to solve a problem, another one hits. Surely, this warns the unregenerate of final judgment, the return of Christ, and appeals to man to repent. These astonishing phenomena clearly demonstrate that God, the Creator, is in control. Even the worlds most most renowned scientists will not be able to explain away these catastrophic events, and panic will seize earth's population.
In Luke 21, Jesus said, "At this time there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves and men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Then He added, "Then you’ll see the Son of Man coming in the cloud with power and great glory."
God strikes one third of the light bearing bodies of the universe effecting the normal operation of all the heavenly light bearing bodies. The daylight hours are reduced by one-third and even the light from the moon and stars will likewise be reduced by one-third. These events defy even the scientific laws of the universe, and are completely inexpiable apart from the omnipotence of God. How tremendously frightening, it will be to live in these days, which will be far beyond our imagination.
Now we come to verse 13, which says "Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
It bears repeating, all of this, every last judgement, is because man rejected God and Jesus Christ. And, the worst is yet to come. The events of the first four trumpets judgements are devastating, however it is nothing like the three which are yet to come.
Just as the ass spoke to Balaam in Numbers 22, by the power of God, so too will this eagle speak from heaven as it flies about the earth. Then, by the cry of the eagle, "Woe, woe, woe," these last three trumpets are designated as woes because of their incredible severity. The word "woe" is the Greek word "ouai," an onomatopoetic term and a strong interjection of grief or denunciation. In other words, this is a very graphic warning of what is coming. Once final three trumpets give their blast, the vibration will run through the universe and everything created for human blessedness will turn into a source of disaster to them who do not know God.
In Closing..
Today is the hour of salvation. The world can never claim they have not been sufficiently warned of coming judgment. Let the ungodly, the unsaved sinner take heed of the a warning to flee from the wrath to come by receiving the gift of salvation while there is yet time. Let believers learn to value and to be thankful for their salvation, taking it not for grated.
May the redeemed, patiently continue in well doing, evangelizing the lost, all for the glory of God.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen