Revelation Text: Rev 8:6-13
“The Seven Trumpets as History Retold”
The text for today will be covered in the sermon during the morning worship service which is Livestreamed on YouTube and recorded on our channel.
Note A:
“The opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets point us to the same great reality but from different perspectives. The seals view the unfolding of the redemptive purposes of God from the point of view of God’s people those who are sealed [under the altar, crying “how long”.] the trumpets view this same reality from the point of view of the unsealed, those who are NOT the people of God. The opening of the seals brings consolation to the people of God. The sounding of the trumpets brings great woes upon those who are not the people of God. The seals are comforting; the trumpets are warnings.” – Derek Thomas, Let’s Study Revelation
Note B: Comparison of the Seven Trumpets to the 10 Plagues of Exodus
- Trumpet 1 = hail that destroys vegetation.
- 7th Plague = Ex 9:25b. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.
- Trumpet 2 = burning mountain turns water into blood.
- 1st Plague = Ex 7:20-21 Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. 21 And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
- Trumpet 3 – Star falls on rivers and springs and makes them bitter like wormwood
- (not a plague), but… Jer 9:15-16 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink. 16 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them.”
- Trumpet 4 – 1/3 of Sun, moon and stars stuck, “so that a third of their light may be darkened”
- 9th Plague = Ex 10:21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.”
(also)
The Fifth Trumpet describes a horde of demons that look like super scary locust. The eighth plague in Exodus was a plague of locust.
The Sixth Trumpet describes a vast multitude of “mounted troops” who are pursuing humanity and seeking their annihilation. This catches echoes of Pharoah’s army which pursued the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea, seeking their destruction.
Finally, Revelation is a clear parallel to a scene from Exodus after the Red Sea Deliverance.
Rev 15:2-3 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb…
Exodus 14:30, 15:1 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore…Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”