Dealing with The Destroyer

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Three angels stood ready in Heaven to sound the trumpets they held in their hands.  Four angels had already blown their trumpets.  The scenes that had followed those four brassy echoes had reminded readers of times gone by in Egypt when God had warned Pharaoh with plagues to let his people go.  Of course, Pharaoh had not heeded the warnings that God had sent.  He had convinced himself that he was God's equal and in control of all affairs dealing with Egypt. 10 plagues later, he changed his mind and acknowledged that God was more powerful than he was.

Those four scenes from the first four trumpet blasts had recalled some of those plagues as a way for God to announce that he was on the move again, this time in convincing the Roman Empire that his people were suffering at the hands of its leaders and armies.  He was not going to stand for it.  The Romans had the same complex that Pharaoh had exhibited because they, too, weren't convinced that God was their equal.  Roman armies controlled Italy and all of its conquered territories.  All of their enemies had crumbled before them.  They weren't listening to God's warnings to them.

So, after the first four trumpets sounded, an eagle's sharp cry filled the air.   "Ay-y-y-y!  It was a most painful and agonizing cry."  The cry reverberated across the sky to let people "still living on Earth... hear the doom of the trumpets of the three angels left," (Revelation 8.13).  More horrors were in store.

Revelation 9

Verse 1

Καὶ ὁ πέμπτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ εἶδον ἀστέρα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεπτωκότα εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἡ κλεὶς τοῦ φρέατος τῆς ἀβύσσου

(The fifth angel sounded his trumpet.  I saw a star fall from the sky.  A key to the unfathomable depths below the Earth's surface was given to it.)

Verse 2

καὶ ἤνοιξεν τὸ φρέαρ τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ ἀνέβη καπνὸς ἐκ τοῦ φρέατος ὡς καπνὸς καμίνου μεγάλης, καὶ ἐσκοτώθη ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ τοῦ φρέατος

(It opened the unfathomable depths below the surface of the Earth where thick smoke rose like smoke from a huge smelting furnace, blocking the sun and darkening the sky.)

God had caused leaders of great nations to fall before.  Isaiah 14.12 refers to the king of Babylon as a bright morning star that had fallen from the sky.  John used that reminder to Christians about Rome's leaders to say that they, too, would fall.  He likened their fall to a star falling from the sky into the unfathomable depths of the Earth.  Smoke rose from the opening to these depths, darkened the sky, then changed into locusts.

Verse 3

καὶ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ ἐξῆλθον ἀκρίδες εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐταῖς ἐξουσία ὡς ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ σκορπίοι τῆς γῆς

(Locusts appeared from the smoke and covered the ground.  The great bite of the scorpion was given to them.)

Locusts definitely would take a person's mind right back to the time of Moses' conflict with Pharaoh. Exodus 10.3-20 presents the original story.  Moses told Pharaoh that God was sending a swarm of locusts like they had never experienced before.  They would eat everything in sight.  This  was God's 8th plague on Egypt, so Pharaoh's advisors pleaded with Pharaoh to reconsider.  They told him that he had already brought Egypt into a state of ruin.  So Pharaoh recalled Moses and Aaron to talk to them, but Pharaoh only wanted to compromise, letting only a portion of the people to offer sacrifices to God.  So, God told Moses to raise his staff.  God unleashed a swarm of locusts like Egypt had never seen before.  Swarm is probably too mild a word for the number of locusts attacking Egypt.  It was an army with wave after wave of locusts.  They covered the ground until it looked totally black and ate every green thing they could find to eat.

This imagery is notably used in Joel 1 & 2 to depict the desolation God allowed Israel to experience because they had turned away from him.  Their conditions were as if a plague of locusts had swarmed them as they had done in Egypt long ago.  Not one thing was left alive, not even for a sacrifice to offer to God.

Roman Victory Procession

by The Creative Assembly

So, John used the locusts as imagery to let the Christians know that God had not turned his back on their terrible conditions.  He likened the destroying power of the locusts to the power of the Romans.  The Romans had no army equal to them.  They wore iron breastplates making them impervious to spears.  There were legions of them, ominous-sounding, like the rumble of many advancing chariots.  Their heads were adorned with helmets, many of them with plumes, some of them gold in color.  Ranking officers wore robes of purple, and emperors wore gold crowns and red robes.  Everywhere they fought, they caused pain and left scars like scorpions stinging again and again.  They were an army of locusts all right.  But their power to kill was limited to a short amount of time, five months figuratively speaking, so that total devastation was averted.

And, John wanted his readers to make no mistake about who this army of locusts belonged to and where they had come from.

Verse 11

ἔχουσιν ἐπ’ αὐτῶν βασιλέα τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστὶ Ἀβαδδών, καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ ὄνομα ἔχει Ἀπολλύων

(They belong to a king, the angel of the unfathomable depths.  His Hebrew name is Abaddon, Destruction, and his Greek name is Apollyon, the Destroyer.)

Although John used locusts as a symbol for devastation, they were not the tool of God this time.  They were used to show destruction with a captial D against God.  That kind of destruction was known and personified in Hebrew with the word Abaddon.  The purpose of the scene was to show that God was more powerful than the locusts and their king in any setting and that God controlled this powerful force that people were intimidated by.  He could blow them away with a single breath.  In Exodus, Pharaoh called in Moses after the locusts and asked for forgiveness.  So, God caused a wind to blow the locusts away from Egypt and into the Gulf of Suez.  Just like that, the terror of the locusts was over, blown into the sea and eradicated.  Easy for God.  But not for anyone else.  The Christians could expect this same thing.  No matter how overwhelming the Roman Empire seemed at the time, God would make short work of this terror and agony.

However, God was not quite finished with his  reassurance to his people.

Verse 12

Ἡ οὐαὶ ἡ μία ἀπῆλθεν· ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται ἔτι δύο οὐαὶ μετὰ ταῦτα

(The first agonizing terror is past.  Look, two agonizing terrors are still to come.)

Verse 13

Καὶ ὁ ἕκτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν μίαν ἐκ τῶν [τεσσάρων] κεράτων τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ χρυσοῦ τοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ

(The sixth angel sounded his trumpet.  I heard a voice from one of the four horns from the gold altar in God's presence.)

This scene takes readers back to the place where the vision of the trumpets started - the golden altar of God.  Another command is given, "Release the four angels being held in check at the mighty Euphrates River," (Verse 14).  These four angels were symbols for another army, one of about two million cavalrymen.  They ravaged the countryside killing people by burning their cities and heaping dead bodies up and burning them.  The army's symbol was fire, smoke, and the smell of sulfur as a result of their trademark fighting style.  They were feared because of the speed with which they could appear on a region's borders and the stealth with which they could mount an attack - like snakes striking.  This was the trait of the feared Persian army.  They had caused the Greeks grief in Alexander's time, and even in John's time they were still feared.  The borders of the Roman Empire were on the eastern sides of Turkey and Palestine.  These two regions served as a buffer between Rome and this eastern army.  Occasionally, though, the Persians, called Parthians during Rome's days, would try to break the Roman stronghold on the area.  They would ravage the people and the countryside brutally.  They had no regard for God or his people.  But, this army also was limited on the havoc they could wreak because they were allowed to kill only a third of the Earth, and they could not touch the ones who had been sealed in Chapter 6 of Revelation, those who had been given white robes.

Achaeminid Chariot

John's reason to cite the Persian army was to show his audience that God was in control of Rome's opposition as well.  The Christians were in despair because the only hope of removing Rome's power came from the Parthians, but they were not a better replacement.  They exterminated God's people in taking control of the region.  These ruthless Parthians thought they, too, were God's equals, controlling life and death of those in their way.  Thus, John wanted the Christians of Turkey and Palestine to know that God was superior to all his people's enemies.

The presence of the Persian army in this vision would remind anyone knowledgeable of the Old Testament of the second most impacting event after the Exodus, the capture of Jerusalem and the events immediately following in Babylon.  King Nebuchadnezzar had been powerful.  But a passage in Daniel recounts how God dealt with Nebuchadnezzar for his terrible treatment of his people and for not acknowledging God as the Lord of Hosts (Daniel 5).  Belshazzar, his successor didn't apply what Nebuchadnezzar learned.  Therefore, Daniel 5.23 tells how God showed Belshazzar, too, who he truly was.

The Persians of John's time had not changed one bit.  Their society touted the intrigue of murder, magic, sex, and stealing.  They loved to give glory and attribution to their gods for a lifestyle of ease and intrigue. The Christians in John's time needed to know that their God, the true God, did have eyes to see, ears to hear, and legs to act upon their pleas for help, unlike the images towering in the public places of Persia.

Verse 20

Καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οἳ οὐκ ἀπεκτάνθησαν ἐν ταῖς πληγαῖς ταύταις, οὐδὲ μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα μὴ προσκυνήσουσιν τὰ δαιμόνια καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα τὰ χρυσᾶ καὶ τὰ ἀργυρᾶ καὶ τὰ χαλκᾶ καὶ τὰ λίθινα καὶ τὰ ξύλινα, ἃ οὔτε βλέπειν δύνανται οὔτε ἀκούειν οὔτε περιπατεῖν

(The people not killed by these military rampages never changed their minds about what they made with their own hands and worshiped - their deities of gold, silver, bronze, and wood that cannot see, hear, or walk. )

Verse 21

καὶ οὐ μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν φόνων αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῶν φαρμάκων αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῶν κλεμμάτων αὐτῶν.

(And they didn't change their minds about their slaughter of people in general and people chosen to die for others, their sexual license, and articles they looted.)

The armies of the two fiercest empires on Earth were stubborn and arrogant.  But they would encounter God for the errors of their wanton ways.  They nor the people of the regions they terrorized never gave a second thought to changing from worshiping Gods that weren't real or from murder, plunder, and a life of luxury and free sex.  Christians could take heart because they would not have suffered in vain for their morality as Christ's people.  God would no longer tolerate any power on Earth to stand against him.

There is a tasty little morsel in verse 11.  The scene representing the Roman Empire ends with the name of the king the Romans served.  Anyone, any group, opposing God, the giver of life, serves this ruler. Jesus himself used the idea in John 10.10 referring to his enemies.  He called them thieves who steal, kill, and destroy the life of his people.  So, as John was presenting the overwhelming evil force of the Roman Empire, he chose to coin a word along the lines of what Jesus had taught.  The Christians were thinking of the Romans as plunderers of life by stealing, killing, and destroying.  John's coined term changed the normal verb for to destroy to a name - Ἀπολλύων, Apollyon. The Destroyer.  He also used the Hebrew noun as a term of address for the same idea Ἀβαδδών, Abaddon. Destruction.  The name of those who take life and who end life after it has been given.  People had opposed God before like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzaar.  Apollyons both of them.  Both rulers took God's life from his people.  Destroyers both of them.  Now these Roman imposters of God were in the business of Destruction.  They could never give life.  They could only take it.

I live in a society so much like the ones shown in this 5th and 6th trumpet.  People in America oppose God at every turn.  There are groups promoting Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God; groups that don't acknowledge that Jesus came from God, only that he spoke of God, and represented him falsely; groups that say the creator of the billions of universes, stars, planets, and galaxies is a higher power, but not a deity with a son.  America opposes God on many fronts using science, government, military, higher education, sports, entertainment, medicine, and wealth to denigrate the one who holds the power of life in his hands.  Its people use things intended as benefits to accomplish their own agendas of Destruction. Abbadon, and meet those who would speak words of life as The Destroyer.  Apollyon.  It takes everything not to be ground under into the milieu of American society, to march to the tune of the different drummer, God and his son Jesus, for it is so easy to do otherwise.  God show up for his people in America!

[Songs used are Eye of the Storm by Ryan Stevenson and Show Us Your Glory by Jesus Culture.]
[First artwork Roman Victory Procession by the Collective Assembly, retrieved from
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgdKH7jTlmMVhZFJ9prQAnSAFVWdEu7w2gWX-BLu0oObT-oxKumv5f1lTiXbw_NfS-Y9JLC4VOghM4sFA7p8Mn8BFhcNRLFVJe-eZ1eeOmLAohwIXTjrKAdikO5oosxNaT1wKy82BmoSkIdK8tUCw90Jn8Ig6ZgWpp7ud-fApbqjW7s=, Second artwork, Achaeminid Chariot by Weapons and Warfare, retrieved from https://weaponsandwarfare.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/achaemenid_chariot.jpg.]

[The Greek text used is the Nestle-Aland 28th edition.]
[Translations from Greek are my own.]

Reconstituting the central event

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

These Precious Hands

Revelation 8-11 is many times thought of as the beginning of the end in a countdown to Earth's last days.  But there is another way to look at all the imagery that is used in the vision of the seven trumpets.  If one keeps in perspective the purpose of John's writing the Revelation in the first place, the vision shows a picture of reassurance for the Christians who were being slandered by Jews and pagans alike.  Rome had not understood the Christian movement at all.  Any attempt to liken it to the Jewish religion received immediate backlash from the Jewish communities around the empire.  So, they attempted to marginalize Christians by ostracism or to stamp them out by killing them at the first hint of trouble in a community.  So, first and foremost, John needed to reassure those Christian communities that God saw their suffering and would soon free them from it.  The vision of seven seals preceding the trumpets had been all about Christians receiving a reward for their endurance.  The vision of the seven trumpets were all about a signal of power from God that the Romans weren't invincible, and Christians' lives were not being lived in vain.

The structure of the vision of the trumpets is the same as the structure for the vision of the seals.  The first four objects are speaking on the same subject.  The fifth and sixth objects change the direction of the vision somewhat.  Then, there is an interruption to the action, something of an interlude, an event happening between the 6th and 7th objects.  Finally, the 7th object depicts a tribute to God, the seals through silent reverence for God, the trumpets through enormous praise for God.

It is through this structure that a person makes sense of the vision and the imagery used to accomplish John's purpose.  Below, the two passages are put alongside each other for easier comparison of the structure used.

Chapters 5-8                                                                Chapters 8-11

Introduction  - A scene in Heaven: The lamb             Introduction - A scene in Heaven:                alone is worthy to open the seals                          7 angels are given trumpets,                                                                                                 an 8th angel stands by an altar
                                                                                      and throws the altar's fire onto                                                                                               the Earth                                                                                
Four seals - Matching the horses of Zechariah,          Four trumpets - Using imagery
          the horsemen report the status of the Earth         matching the central event
          to God                                                                   of the Old Testament,                                                                                                             the Exodus, angels announce
                                                                                        God's intentions

Two seals - A plea to God is made for him to              Two trumpets - two woes represent
         act on his people's suffering                                   two armies released upon
                                                                                        on those causing his                                                                                                             people's suffering

Interlude - God's seals his people and gives               Interlude - God gives hope to his
         them white robes                                                    people through giving his words
                                                                                        and raising two witnesses to                                                                                                 inspire them

Final seal - There is reverent awe in Heaven                Final trumpet - Loud voices in
                                                                                         Heaven praised God for
                                                                                         his people justice for their
                                                                                         suffering

The place to start in any understanding of the Jewish faith is the Exodus and all its surrounding events.  It was the seminal event for several reasons.  God dueled with Pharaoh to show his supernatural power in order to free his people.  He illustrated to his people that he could and would deliver his people from Egypt and establish a Law with them at Mt. Sinai.  He sustained his people in a desert wilderness wandering.  And, through 40 years of wandering he taught his people to depend on him to get them the promised land.  So, when John wanted to reassure Christians that God was more powerful than Rome, it was very natural to turn to the Exodus event.

Verse 7

Καὶ ὁ πρῶτος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ ἐγένετο χάλαζα καὶ πῦρ μεμιγμένα ἐν αἵματι καὶ ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῆς γῆς κατεκάη καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν δένδρων κατεκάη καὶ πᾶς χόρτος χλωρὸς κατεκάη

(The first angel sounded his trumpet and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, which was thrown to the Earth burning a third of it including a third of the trees and green pastures.)

The mighty Pharaoh who controlled every step the Israelites took was not convinced by this God of Moses to free them.  He needed them to complete all of his buildings and statues honoring him.  He was considered deity in this part of the world.  He wouldn't tolerate a rival.  So, God sent a storm, the likes of which Egypt had never seen in its history.  The thunder and lightning were ferocious, covering the entire sky.  Hail was embedded in the storm and crashed into everything.  Trees were broken, plants were pummeled to shreds.  Even people were injured if they went out in it.  The ferocity of the storm was continuous and unrelenting.  This storm is recorded in Exodus 9.22-25.  It was a storm to remember - for centuries - from the time it occurred until the time it was remembered in this first trumpet, almost a 1400-year span of time.  To show the Christians reading John's visions that God was announcing travesty for the Earth, he started with the central event of God's show of power to Pharaoh.  In John's time, the same power was going to be demonstrated for God's people the Christians.  The Egyptians had lived through their worst storm.  So would the enemies of the Christians because only a third of the earth was affected.  But, there would be suffering and a very natural demonstration of supernatural power.  A very, very extreme storm was about to be released against the enemies of his son.  That was just the first trumpet.

Verse 8

Καὶ ὁ δεύτερος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ ὡς ὄρος μέγα πυρὶ καιόμενον ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ ἐγένετο τὸ τρίτον τῆς θαλάσσης αἷμα

(The second angel sounded his trumpet.  A tall mountain on fire was thrown into the sea and a third of it changed to blood.)

Verse 9

καὶ ἀπέθανεν τὸ τρίτον τῶν κτισμάτων τῶν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τὰ ἔχοντα ψυχὰς καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν πλοίων διεφθάρησαν

(A third of all sea life died and a third of all ships carrying food were destroyed at sea.)

A mountain on fire?  That sounds a lot like the original Mt. Sinai event.  Exodus 19.18 speaks of the mountain on fire.  God met Moses while the whole of Israel was watching.  God knew how to draw a crowd and get people's attention.  The blood in water was the first of the plagues that God visited on the people of Egypt.  Blood killed the staple item in the Egyptians' diets, the fish, with blood in the Nile and all of its tributaries.  All of their water in their water jars was blood.  Everything containing water, contained blood.  People suffered.  The plague is written about in Exodus 7.14-25.  For John's audience, they saw a burning mountain splash into the sea.  Immediately the water turned to blood.  The staple item of the Roman empire, the ships that brought all of Rome's products, the luxurious items for the rich and the everyday food for the regular people, sank in the sea, the waves were so tumultuous.  Once again, the destruction was partial.  The Roman Empire would not be totally affected, but it would notice that the one true God, the God of the Christians being persecuted, blamed, and slandered was putting them on notice that he was about to come against them with raging anger.

The Second Trumpet

Howard David Johnson

Verse 10

Καὶ ὁ τρίτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀστὴρ μέγας καιόμενος ὡς λαμπὰς καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν ποταμῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰς τῶν ὑδάτων

(The third angel sounded his trumpet. A large star burning like a torch fell from the skies into a third of the rivers and their tributaries.)

Verse 11

καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἀστέρος λέγεται ὁ Ἄψινθος, καὶ ἐγένετο τὸ τρίτον τῶν ὑδάτων εἰς ἄψινθον καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀπέθανον ἐκ τῶν ὑδάτων ὅτι ἐπικράνθησαν

(The star's name is Bitter Taste [of absinthe].  A third of the water turned bitter in taste, and many people died from its toxicity.)

Rome was powerful.  Its reach went around the Mediterranean.  It was the brightest star in the sky because it controlled two previous great empires in Greece and Egypt.  But even Rome would fall before the Lord of the skies.  He could make Rome drop like a star from its place in its sky and be made submissive.  They had failed their character test with God unlike the Israelites who had faced the test of bitter water at Marah.  The story is told in Exodus 15.22-27.  They had been 3 days without water after coming through the Reed Sea.  Moses sought God's help about the problem and he was told to throw a particular piece of wood into the water to make it sweet enough for the people to drink.  The bitter water had been a test for the people to turn to the Lord for healing.  Those who were persecuting and provoking the Christians in John's time were facing the same test.  But as the vision indicated Rome was failing the test.  They were dying and not turning to the Lord, the healer.

Verse 12

Καὶ ὁ τέταρτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν· καὶ ἐπλήγη τὸ τρίτον τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῆς σελήνης καὶ τὸ τρίτον τῶν ἀστέρων, ἵνα σκοτισθῇ τὸ τρίτον αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ ἡμέρα μὴ φάνῃ τὸ τρίτον αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ νὺξ ὁμοίως

(The fourth angel sounded his trumpet and a third of the sun, moon, and stars were darkened so that the day and night were affected by one-third.)

There was one plague that broke the stalemate between Pharaoh and Moses.  It was the death of the first born son of every Egyptian family.  The whole reason for all of the plagues was to show God's superiority to the king of the most powerful country on Earth.  So, by the death of the first born, Pharaoh acquiesced and acknowledged God's superiority.  The plague that helped pave the way for the pharaoh's response to the last plague was the 9th plague of darkness that covered the whole land for three solid days (Exodus 10.21-22).  Funny - after no lights in the sky for three days, Pharaoh hardened his heart for the last time.  It had symbolic value for him.  Because of his darkness, the next plague gutted his soul and the souls of many, many families in his realm.  So, when the fourth trumpet blew and the lights in the sky above Earth went out, there was darkness.  And it was no wonder that the very next verse mentioned that the darkness was a precursor to something very ominous.  "The most painful and agonizing sound, 'Ay-y-y-y,'" was the terrible, horrific cry that begin the announcement for the next 3 trumpets.  What agony was being saved for those opposing God's people during this time.

Verse 13

Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἀετοῦ πετομένου ἐν μεσουρανήματι λέγοντος φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· οὐαὶ οὐαὶ οὐαὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν φωνῶν τῆς σάλπιγγος τῶν τριῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν μελλόντων σαλπίζειν

(I looked and heard the cry of an eagle flying in mid-sky, making the most painful and agonizing sound, "Ay-y-y-y-y!"  because those still living on the Earth have yet to hear the doom that will be announced by the trumpets of the three angels left.)

The Exodus event stands above all other events in God's covenant with the Hebrews.  They saw God's raw power in their deliverance from Egypt and in their witness of God's giving the law on Mt. Sinai.  The Psalms reflect God's power in this event over and over.  And interestingly, the oracles of the prophets about how God would deal with people who disobey him contain the imagery of the plagues and/or the Mt. Sinai experience as well.  In a number of versions of the Bible, the verses of the trumpets indicate the prophets' oracles in footnotes or cross references as being the sources for the trumpets' images, but since the oracles were rooted in the Exodus event, it seems to me that it is more logical to refer to the seminal occurrence than the secondary occurrences more indirectly related.  The Exodus is a match between God and a powerful empire for release of a suffering people.  The Day of the Lord in the prophets is more about disobedience and idolatry of not only other nations, but Israel as well.  The verses here in Revelation seem more connected to the match between God and the Egyptian dynasty because God was about to free his people the Christians from their suffering at the hands of the Romans.  In addition, trumpets are used in the seminal event to announce God's meeting with Moses to give him the Law whereas the oracles use a person to express God's opinion for him.

One of the tasty morsels in this passage is the use of the fraction one-third.  The parallel in the Exodus event is that God would end the plague before it affected everyone to the extent they died.  The plague was to make a point.  Thus, the plague had a mitigated, or partial, effect.  The death of the first born was not mitigated, so it had a full effect.  In Revelation the first four trumpets revealed damage on the Earth to a partial extent, one-third.  God was trying to make a point - he is more powerful.  He didn't need to kill everyone.  But apparently it was not enough, as nine of the plagues were not because people had the hard heart of Pharaoh.  Thus, the last three trumpets announced a painful and agonizing outcome represented by a dreadful cry rather than with words.

Generally speaking, the American experience of Christianity doesn't reflect the same conditions that existed in John's time.  However, in the world at large, many suffer and die for their faith.  That dark specter of death and persecution could come to America.  At the time it does, the familiar words of John here in Revelation will be in the forefront of our minds.  Some say that even now there is persecution in certain aspects of American life.  Higher education, for example, pursues the scientific study of a discipline without regard to what the Bible might have pertaining to it.  Being published or attaining tenure is sometimes connected to one's stated beliefs in faculty offices or in works published.  Great financial gain is often linked to a lack of faith rather than to whether a person has a moral a moral conscience.  If faith is not expressed, then the dollars roll in.  If faith is expressed, dollars are withheld or withdrawn.  Other areas in American life are included too.

I know that right now there is not this great empire that I as a Christian suffer under.  But should the time come, I know that although the state will shine as the brightest star in the sky, their day to meet God will come.  They will be made to drink the Bitter Taste.  The absinthe's toxins will kill them.  Justice will come.  I will be listening for that trumpet blast to sound.



[The Greek text used is the Nestle-Aland 28th edition.]
[Songs used are Giants Fall by Francesca Battisteli and Hidden by Will Reagan and United Pursuit.]
[Introductory photograph These Precious Hands, retrieved from
http://www.fulcrumgallery.com/These-Precious-Hands_663811.htm, after Revelation 8.9, The Second Trumpet by Howard David Johnson, retrieved from  http://www.howarddavidjohnson.com/The_SECOND_TRUMPET.jpg.]

[Translations from Greek are my own.]

From seals to trumpets

Morsels of food are delicious because of the little things, the subtle seasonings, the dash of salt, the sprinkle of garlic, the garnish of parsley, the touch of glaze, or the hint of lemon.  Ahhhh - so delicious!

Be Not Afraid
Greg Olsen

Revelation is structured as a series of letters at the beginning and a series of visions for the rest of the book.  There are 4 main visions with sets of 7 objects that God used to bring justice to the world and bring his children to himself in Heaven.  In the first main vision, Jesus broke open 7 seals on a scroll and read a report on the state of the world, a plea for justice from martyrs, and an assurance from God that he would protect his children.  The next set of seven objects were 7 trumpets to reveal how fed up with the world's actions God had become and to warn them to "let his people go."  The third vision used 7 plagues to show that God was still in control of the world's events.  Finally, 7 bowls filled with anger were dumped on the world  to show that God's visit would close down those who set themselves up against his children.  Other visions existed to serve as a setup and conclusion for the four sets of 7 and create a storyline for the 4 sets to elaborate on.  But, the main visions are found in the four sets seven objects.

Each set of 7 develops further a revelation to people reading the book that God sees what is happening to his people and is working on their behalf.  The second in the sets of 7 is found in Revelation 8.2-11.19.  In this part God builds on what he started with the first set of 7.  In that part, each seal depicted a condition of the world or the status of his people, so in a transitional vision between seals 6 and 7, God let his people know that he would bring an end to the injustices they were experiencing at the hands of the Romans and their provincial governors by giving them white robes and his personal seal.  The next main vision uses 7 trumpets to warn people of God's awesome and supernatural power and to announce to the them that because of the scenes portrayed in the first 4 seals, he is fed up with their horrific behavior.

In order for people to see this awesome and supernatural power of God, though, John takes everyone on a short trek through Old Testament imagery found in Exodus and various prophets.  Exodus 30.1-10 was the starting place, the golden altar of God.  It was the place for sweet smelling incense and only incense to be burned because it was the place God would meet with Moses.  So, as this second set of visions opens, and after the 7 angels that stand before God's throne received trumpets, then God wanted to meet his people at his golden altar.

Revelation 8

Verse 2

Καὶ εἶδον τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλους οἳ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ ἑστήκασιν, καὶ ἐδόθησαν αὐτοῖς ἑπτὰ σάλπιγγες

(I saw seven angels who had been standing before God and had been given seven trumpets.)

Verse 3

Καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἦλθεν καὶ ἐστάθη ἐπὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἔχων λιβανωτὸν χρυσοῦν, καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ θυμιάματα πολλά, ἵνα δώσει ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων πάντων ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ χρυσοῦν τὸ ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου

(Another angel carrying an incense holder made of gold came forward and stood by the altar.  He was given a lot of incense so that he could offer it on the golden altar in front of the throne along with the prayers of all the ones God had set apart.)

But going to the altar of God to meet with him was not always a pleasant experience as time wore on for the Jews.  The farther from Moses a person traveled on the timeline toward Jesus, the worse the experience was at the altar of God.  About 500 years after Moses, the entire book of Amos contained oracles of God chastising both his own people and people of other nations for terrible behavior against him.  Israel in particular takes the brunt of God's anger.  By the time the next-to-last oracle of the book was given, God decided to stand at his altar, his place for meeting people, and tell Amos to smash the temple columns to express how he felt toward Israel.

Amos 9

Verse 1

רָאִ֨יתִי אֶת־אֲדֹנָ֜י נִצָּ֣ב עַֽל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֗חַ וַיֹּאמֶר֩ הַ֨ךְ הַכַּפְתֹּ֜ור וְיִרְעֲשׁ֣וּ הַסִּפִּ֗ים וּבְצַ֨עַם֙ בְּרֹ֣אשׁכֻּלָּ֔ם וְאַחֲרִיתָ֖ם בַּחֶ֣רֶב אֶהֱרֹ֑ג לֹֽא־יָנ֤וּס לָהֶם֙ נָ֔ס וְלֹֽא־יִמָּלֵ֥ט לָהֶ֖ם פָּלִֽיט׃

(I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, saying, "Strike the lintels of the temple columns so that they crumble and fall on the heads, wounding many of them.  I will kill the rest of them with the sword.  None of them will get away by trying to escape.")

About 50 years after Amos, Isaiah experienced God's glory filling the temple and saw angels around him.  Isaiah confessed he was unclean, so one of the angels brought a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah's lips in an atonement ceremony.  Then God told Isaiah to tell the people they would see and hear but have no understanding of events that were happening around them, and impending doom was at hand.

Isaiah 6

Verse 11

וָאֹמַ֕ר עַד־מָתַ֖י אֲדֹנָ֑י וַיֹּ֡אמֶר עַ֣ד אֲשֶׁר֩ אִם־שָׁא֨וּ עָרִ֜ים מֵאֵ֣ין יֹושֵׁ֗ב וּבָתִּים֙ מֵאֵ֣ין אָדָ֔םוְהָאֲדָמָ֖ה תִּשָּׁאֶ֥ה שְׁמָמָֽה׃

(Then I said, "Until when Lord?"
And he answered, "Until after the cities and houses people are now living in are empty and sitting in ruins.  Until both the people and their land are totally desolate.")

Verse 12

וְרִחַ֥ק יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־הָאָדָ֑ם וְרַבָּ֥ה הָעֲזוּבָ֖ה בְּקֶ֥רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ׃

(Yahweh will remove many of the people to places far away, forsaking the whole region.)

So, when John says he saw an angel at the altar of God, people knew the message would not be good.  Its symbolism matched giving the 7 trumpets to the angels because trumpets had been used for announcing important messages for hundreds of years.  The altar of God had also been used to call someone as a messenger to warn pagan nations and God's people alike for ungodly behavior.

Since the main purpose of the altar was to offer incense as atonement for God's people, the angel at the altar did so.  He filled his incense holder with incense and offered its sweet fragrance to God as the prayer from his people for deliverance from their evil and as a plea to be rescued from those evils suffered at the hands of the Romans, including the suffering of martyrdom for the sake of Jesus, as was presented in Chapter 6 of Revelation in the fifth seal.

The dots are easy to connect here.  God gets the report of the martyrs in Chapter 6.  He marks them for life in Heaven in Chapter 7.  Then, in Chapter 8, an angel appears at the altar to offer a prayer of atonement and express God's disdain for the ill treatment of his people by the nations they live in, especially Rome.  In order to foreshadow what the trumpets would be announcing as they were blown, the angel at the altar does something in addition to offering prayers for atonement.

Revelation 8

Verse 4

καὶ ἀνέβη ὁ καπνὸς τῶν θυμιαμάτων ταῖς προσευχαῖς τῶν ἁγίων ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ

(The incense smoke rose to God from the hand of the angel along with the prayers of those God had set apart)

Verse 5

καὶ εἴληφεν ὁ ἄγγελος τὸν λιβανωτὸν καὶ ἐγέμισεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐγένοντο βρονταὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ καὶ σεισμός

(Then the angel took the incense holder, filled it with smoke and coals from the altar fire, and threw the mixture on the Earth.  Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, voices echoed, and the ground shook.)

The angel threw a censer-full of incense and prayers on the Earth.  The act illustrates John's purpose   for writing Revelation.  Given the nature of the letters and the first set of 7 objects (seals), it would seem evident that the Christians felt very oppressed.  Antipas is specifically mentioned as a martyr in Pergamum (Revelation 2.13), apparently as a result of Jewish persecution.  But even if not, the Jews had worked against or at least verbally attacked the Christians in Smyrna and Philadephia (Revelation 2.9, 3.9).  The fifth seal reported in Chapter 6 depicts souls under an altar who cried out to God for their suffering.  Together, the seals made a plea to God for help and reassurance.  The sixth seal portrays a scene that suggests that God is seeing that a Day of Wrath is necessary to cleanse the evil from the Roman empire in Asia Minor, the place where John was living.  Then there was reverent silence in Heaven.

Saving Grace

Garrett Walker

John was called to send a message to the world that God would act against those who had devastated his people.  They would face a Day of the Lord, a day of reckoning.  The angel threw incense and prayers on the Earth.  Sky and Earth shook in the aftermath.   God was about to vent his anger.  He would restore his people, come among them, and give them the assurance they needed that they belonged to him. This idea operated in the background as each trumpet was blown.  God had heard the report of the seals.  The angel throwing the incense and prayers signaled to all who would hear that God was about to deal with those causing his people great suffering for their belief in him and his son.

The scene seemed familiar to many of John's readers.  It reminded them of events they had read about in the Old Testament, beginning with the original announcement of God's covenant to Israel.  Moses had gathered Israel together to witness this event at the bottom of a mountain.  When he left to meet God, the people saw that he was amidst dark clouds of smoke, lightning, and thunder (Exodus 19.16-19).

John also had in mind showing a number of other occasions where God had made announcements to people.  The whole of Ezekiel 30 describes God's actions against Egypt.  Verses 2 and 3 specifically tell Egypt that on a day of terror, God would act.  The announcement of the magnitude of the destruction appears in the verses after verse 3.  And finally, the chapter ends (verse 26) with the reason for God's pronouncement of terror on their country.

Verse 26

וַהֲפִצֹותִ֤י אֶת־מִצְרַ֨יִם֙ בַּגֹּויִ֔ם וְזֵרִיתִ֥י אֹותָ֖ם בָּאֲרָצֹ֑ות וְיָדְע֖וּ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה

(Because they have crossed I AM!)

Jeremiah 30.23-34 also contains an oracle against the nations that had treated Judah terribly.  God says that he would send a furious storm against them that would cause great pain and suffering.  The prophet Amos spokes of a Day of the Lord in Amos 5.18-20.  It would be a terrible day of darkness with no light at all and a day in which a great storm would hit the earth (verse 8c) for the people who had paid no attention to having godly ways.

Perhaps the best parallel to all that happens in this set-up to the second set of seven and in the subsequent trumpet announcements is found in Joel 2.  At the beginning of the chapter, God announced that a terrible day of anger was coming.  Verse 10 stated that the Earth shook and the skies trembled as the Lord began his vengeance the same as was happening in Revelation 8.5.  In Joel, there is one final call for repentance at the altar of God before he acts on his anger.  Then God foreshadowed his terrible actions with warnings of the Day of the Lord in the sky and on the Earth with fire and smoke. The chapter ended with an invitation to come to the Lord to be rescued from his impending terror.

So, it is no wonder that John used the image of the angel throwing fire down on the Earth to get its inhabitants' attention as to what was going to happen next.  The first four trumpet announcements would serve as warning shots over the bow and time to repent if they would be willing.  The second three trumpets would be notices that people were too late.  God was ready to act on behalf of his people without further warning.

A tasty morsel is found in verse 5 of Revelation 8.  The last part of the verse about the thunder, lightning, and earthquake has an interesting combination of words.  Literally, the words are καὶ ἐγένοντο βρονταὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ καὶ σεισμός (and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and shaking.)  The word φωναὶ had the usual translation of voices, but sometimes it meant sounds or noises.  The result is that there are two ways to translate the four words in this substantive list.  First, thunders, lightnings, and sounds, are natural phenomena in the sky.  Thus sounds might be the sounds of the sky accompanying thunder and lightning, like wind, or blowing rain.  Second, thunders, lightnings, and voices represent the result of a mixture of the smoke and coals mixed with prayers when they reach the Earth.  The voices of people's prayers caused a strong reaction from God, a day of terror and its attendant signs.  God sends a message that a storm is gathering because his people have petitioned him and he is going to act.

Although the first way of translating the word φωναὶ as sounds in the sky has the weight of immediate context going for it, I like the second way of translating the idea because it fits into the larger context better.  I have to believe that God reassures his people, that he is always there noticing how things are going.  When times are fierce for his people, he sees their tears and hears their voices.  He acts with cleansing fury to remind the world that they have crossed I AM.  Without that assurance, life gets too tedious.  It becomes hard to take another step in faith.  Evil is forcefully strong.  I, like those readers of Revelation in John's tumultuous times, need to know that an angel is flinging my voice and the voices of many others mixed with the incense from the altar of God down to the Earth, and those around me should hear the voices and feel the rumble under their feet because God is answering his people and forcing an encounter with I AM.

[The Greek text used is the Nestle-Aland 28th edition.]
[Songs used are Touch the Sky by Hillsong United and I am not alone by Kari Jobe.]
[Introductory photograph Be Not Afraid, by Greg Olsen retrieved from
http://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/search/print/images/artworkimages/medium/1/be-not-afraid-greg-olsen.jpg, after Revelation 8.5, Saving Grace by Garrett Walker, retrieved from  http://www.fulcrumgallery.com/c7594/christian-art.htm?page=6.]
[The Hebrew text used is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1967/77.]

[Translations from Greek and Hebrew are my own.]