The lamb opens the seventh seal and a silence solemn and ominous falls in heaven. No word is spoken, no song is heard, no step nor action is taken. Motionless stand the angels and the four Living Ones; still and silent sit the four and twenty elders. But it is not a silence dead and listless, but tense with expectation of tremendous things to come. It is the calm before the storm.

      Now John sees the seven angels that stand before God, "and there were given unto them seven trumpets." These are the highest of the angels of God--for among angels there are ranks and degrees, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers. These are the seven that stand before God. (Comp. Esth. 1:14; Matt. 18:10; Luke 1:19.) The fact that the trumpets are committed to angels of the highest order and dignity indicates the great importance in God's sight of these trumpet-judgments.

      But before even a trumpet is sounded "another angel" comes and performs a priestly function at the altar of incense. Out of the angel's hand the prayers of the saints--"all the saints"--rise up before God mingled with the incense of heaven. There is a relation between these prayers, now brought to remembrance, and the things that are to follow upon the earth. Who can measure the power of the prayers of God's people?--Now the angel takes a censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and hurls it down to the earth; "and there followed thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake."

      "And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepare themselves to sound."

      TRUMPETS have a significance of their own. In the Old Testament they figure often and variously.

      With the sound of trumpets exceeding loud God came down upon Mount Sinai.

      At the blast of trumpets the camp of Israel rose up to move forward in its journey to the land of the Promise.

      The trumpets sounded the alarm-call which summoned the people of God to battle.

      At the blast of the trumpets of ram's horns fell the walls of Jericho, the city of the curse.

      Trumpets announced the inauguration of the reign of Solomon, the "Peaceful," the glorious king; and of Jehu, the king of God's wrath and vengeance (1 Kings 1; 2 Kings 9).

      With trumpet call was ushered in the seventh month, the month of atonement and of Tabernacle, the most sacred and momentous month of Israel's religious year (Lev. 23), calling the people to solemn convocation.

      Trumpets heralded the dawn of the year of Jubilee--the year of redemption and release, and of the restitution of all things, foreshadowing that better age to come. ( Lev. 25.) [38]

      Those seven trumpet blasts which are to follow correspond in meaning with the Old Testament trumpets. They awaken the powers of heaven and hell. They sound the tocsin of God's judgment war. They signal the downfall of the whole Satanic world-system. They herald the descent and kingdom-reign on earth of the Lord and of His Christ.

      As in the case of the seven Seals (and as we shall see again in the case of the seven Bowls of Wrath) between the first four of these trumpets and the last three there is a distinction. The first four form a connected series. The last three stand to themselves, being preceded by a special threefold announcement of woe (therefore may be designated as the three woe-trumpets). And again, as in the case of the Seals, between the sixth and the seventh there is a lengthy interlude.

      Let us take a glance at the nature of these trumpet-judgments.

      The first angel sounds:--judgment falls on the earth. Hail and fire, as in Egypt's plague, but here mingled with blood, are cast on the earth. The third part of the earth and of the trees are burned up, and all green grass.

      The second angel sounds:--judgment falls upon the sea. A great burning mountain, "as it were," is cast into the sea, turning the third part into blood, involving the death of the third part of its living creatures, and destruction of the third part of the ships.

      The third angel sounds:--judgment upon the rivers and springs of water, again limited to the third part of them. A great star falls from heaven, blazing like a torch, and makes bitter the waters; many men die of the waters.

      The fourth angel sounds:--judgment falls on the sun, moon and stars; they are darkened for the third part of them.

      The next three judgments are prefaced by a celestial announcement: "And I saw and I heard an eagle that was flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, Woe, Woe, to them that dwell on the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels who are yet to sound."

      The question will arise whether the descriptions of these trumpet-judgments are to be taken literally or whether they are symbolical. The literal interpretation--that is, the plain, grammatical sense--has always first claim to consideration. Nothing is to be taken as "symbolical" or "figurative" without valid reason.¹

      It is good always to let the word of God speak for itself. If we cannot decide whether the language in any particular case is to be taken at simple face value or whether it is a case of symbolism, [39] let us see first what the plain meaning would be; then let us ascertain, as far as possible, what the symbolic import would be. If after that we cannot decide, let the matter stand as it is until further light is available. Such a doubt may have arisen in the reader's mind as to the nature of the judgments that follow the sounding of these trumpets, whether they are literally described, or symbolically portrayed. Instead of taking a dogmatic position, let us only examine the statements of God's word in light of either possibility and leave it at that.

      The first trumpet might pass as literal, yet we could not deny that it may have symbolical force. Hail mingled with fire was a literal infliction upon Egypt. (Exod. 9:24.) But this is also mingled with blood; and, stranger still, the third part of the earth, and the third part of the trees were burned up by it, and all green grass. There is, to say the least, something peculiar in these statements. The reader will not go astray in any case if he regards this a stroke of devastation and destruction upon the earth, of whatever sort, affecting the third part of it.

      The second trumpet also may be simply an actual event in the physical world, though we see some presumption against it. A great mountain--burning with fire--cast into the sea--the third part of the sea becomes blood--the third part of the living creatures in the sea die--the third part of the ships is destroyed. Such a thing is not inconceivable, especially if by "the sea" (as generally or always) the Mediterranean is meant. But even if it seemed inconceivable, we are learning every day that the inconceivable is [40] not impossible. We shall lose nothing, however, if we regard this as a stroke upon the Sea. If symbolical, the burning mountain would be (as in Bible-symbolism generally) a great kingdom or government, here in process of destruction; and the sea, when the term is used symbolically, is the great surging mass of humanity. (Rev. 17:15.)

      The third trumpet-judgment again is not impossible of literal fulfillment; though here the suggestion of symbolism is even stronger than in the first two. A star (the natural symbol of a notable personage, as seen in chapt. 1; comp. Isa. 14:12) falls upon the rivers and fountains (again the natural symbol of that which refreshes, revives, gives life.) The star has a name: "Wormwood"--a very bitter and poisonous plant. The third part of the fountains and rivers are made bitter in consequence, and many men who drink die.

      If the fourth trumpet has reference to a literal smiting of the sun, moon, and stars to "a third" of them, so that the day and night are obscured to the third part--it may well be: for "there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars," and "terrors and great signs from heaven" (Luke 21:11, 25); and "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light" ( Matt. 24:29). If, on the other hand, the terms are to be taken symbolically (whether this is the case here is not clear and certain)--in symbolism, the sun, moon, and stars are the powers of government (Gen. 1:16; 37:9, 10). And even when the symbolical meaning is true, the literal reference is not thereby excluded.

      It would no doubt be of some satisfaction to us were we able to settle these and like questions here, and to make out the specific import of each one of these judgments; but it would not add much to our understanding of the book as a whole. With this general view of the trumpets we are just as able to follow the course of the book understandingly. It is not essential to a knowledge of the geography of a country that every pond and river be fathomed, or every forest and brushwood be explored. We need not be sidetracked over details and subordinate questions.

      From the fifth trumpet we find a change in the character of the judgments.² The fifth trumpet stirs the forces of the supernatural. A star is seen--not in the act of falling, as before, that as already fallen. To this fallen star is given the key to the abyss--the great prisonhouse of evil spirits. (Luke 8:31; Rev. 20:1-3. Comp. 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6.) He opens the lowest part ("the pit") thereof, and forth comes a smoke, as the smoke of a great furnace, darkening the air. Out of the smoke came "locusts"--a destroying plague. But they are not such locusts as men know. These do not feed upon vegetation; they attack men--but only those men who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads. [41] (7:2, 3.) They do not kill--they torment with a torment as of scorpions, so that men would fain die--yet death is for some mysterious reason impossible to them. This continues for five months. The description of the locusts is very meaningful; as is also the fact that they have a king (comp. Prov. 30:27) "the angel of the abyss," whose name is given in both Hebrew and Greek--"Abaddon," and "Apollyon"--which means Destroyer. Let those who think they can see in this a picture of the Mohammedan invasion and discover a resemblance between these "locusts" and the Saracen warriors make out their exegesis at their pleasure: it soon ends in absurdity. Here we have an irruption of evil from beneath, demons of the pit, let loose in judgment upon the world. Men are today flirting desperately with those dark powers--someday they will be released in retribution, and men will know why God was so opposed to occultism and spiritism. This is the first Woe. Two more are to come.

      As the fifth, so the sixth trumpet has to do with something outside the course of nature. At the call of a voice from the golden altar the four angels--evil angels evidently--long leashed at the Euphrates, kept in reserve for this particular moment and juncture, are released to do their baneful work, which results in the killing of the third part of men. A vast army of horsemen appears to execute this sentence--yet they do not seem to be literal horsemen: their number (200 million) would seem to preclude that, as well as their description: they are (as horses and horsemen before) spiritual forces of evil. But all along, the long-suffering of God watches and waits, as it waited in the days of Noah, if perhaps some, brought to their senses by these terrible inflictions of divine wrath, might turn to Him who smote them that He might yet show them His abundant mercy. For He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But His desire is disappointed: "they repented not." (Rev. 9:20, 21.)

      As there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seal (the twofold vision of chapter 7), so between the sixth and seventh trumpet there is an interlude consisting of two distinct visions: (1) The Angel with the Little Book; (2) The Two Witnesses.

      In all the range of literature, someone has said, there is nothing that surpasses in grandeur and sublimity this vision of the Angel of Rev. 10. He comes down out of heaven, arrayed in a drapery of cloud, the rainbow upon his head. His face is as the sun; his limbs as pillars of fire. As one who comes in authority to take possession, he sets his right foot upon the sea and his left upon the earth; and he cries with a great voice as when a lion roars (and when he cried the seven thunders uttered their voices--but what the seven thunders said John was not permitted to write). And the angel lifted up his right hand to heaven, and "sware by him that liveth for ever and ever that there should be delay no longer³: but in the days of the voice of the seventh [42] angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets."

      In the angel's hand (v. 2) John had perceived a little book open. Now he hears a voice from heaven commanding him to take it out of the angel's hand. So he approaches the angel and asked for the book. "Take it," said the angel, "and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey." Then John took it and ate it up: it was as honey to the taste, but bitter to digest. He was then told (and this is the clue to the meaning of it), "Thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and kings."

      Some expositors contend that this great angel is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We are not at all certain of it. True, a rainbow was seen encircling the Throne of God in chapter 4. His face also is, like that of the Lord in chapter 1, as the sun. The little open book in his hand may be that same seven-sealed, now opened book, which the Lamb took from the hand of the Almighty (chapt. 5). For all that, it would require more definite and direct proof that the Lord Jesus is spoken of simply as "another strong angel," or is called an angel anywhere in this book--as, for example, as some think, in 7:2 and 8:3. The book of Revelation distinguishes between Christ and the angels as sharply as does Heb. 1. (See 5:11, 12.) While the Lord Jesus is doubtless that uncreated messenger (i. e., Angel) of the covenant in Mal. 3:1--in the absence of direct statement, we cannot assume that He is one of the angels that come and go on the pages of the Apocalypse, no matter what circumstantial evidence might seem to justify it.

      But what is meant by the eating of the little Book, and the words "Thou must prophesy again, etc."? Ezek. 2:8 to 3:4 and Jer. 15:16, 17 is sufficient explanation, both of the eating, and the bitter after-effects. Here a new additional revelation is granted to John: not a repetition of the former; nor yet one disconnected from the former; but a very important supplementary vision, and a conclusion and sequel, which begins at chapter 12:1.

      Suddenly the scene changes. Jerusalem now is the place: disobedient, unbelieving Israel is seen back in their city, and their temple rebuilt.⁴ John is bidden to measure the temple and its worshippers--all but the outer court which was turned over to the Gentiles ("the nations") who shall tread "the holy city" (Matt. 27:53) under foot for 42 months. This is the first mention of the prophetic period of 1260 days, or "time, times, and half a [43] time" (i. e., 3½ years)--here called 42 months. (12:6, 14; 13:5).

      But in the midst of the wicked "holy city" two witnesses have risen up, men of God, who prophesy during these 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth--the sign of deepest distress (2 Kings 19:1). There has always been much wondering and speculation as to who these two unnamed witnesses are. Some have thought Enoch and Elijah--because both of these had been translated without dying. Some think they are Moses and Elijah, because they stood in special relation to the Jews. (Consider the Transfiguration; also Mal. 4:5). Their miracles also strikingly resemble those of Moses and Elijah. "If any man desireth to hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies." (Compare this with 2 Kings 1:10-12). They have the power to shut the heaven that it rain not during the days of their prophecy. (Compare 1 Kings 18). They have power to turn water into blood (Comp. Exod. 7:17) and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire. (As Moses in Egypt.) Whether these two are Moses and Elijah or not, it is certainly a worthier and more congruous conception than to make the two witnesses "the Old and New Testament." These two witnesses are men, "prophets," commissioned of God to turn Israel back to Him in the last awful crisis. Their testimony is limited to the 1260 days, and when their work is done (but not until then) the "Beast," of whom we shall soon hear again, slays them. For three and a half days their dead bodies lie exposed to the gaze and the mocking of men in the great wicked city, "which is spiritually called Sodom (Isa. 1:10, 21) and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified--not Paris, London, New York, therefore, or "the world," as some have fancied, but plain Jerusalem. (Luke 13:33, 34.) But after three and a half days they rise into life and are caught up to heaven, their enemies beholding. "And in that hour there was a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell; and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand persons: and the rest were affrighted, [but not converted!] and gave glory to the God of heaven."

      Thus far is the second Woe. The third Woe comes quickly.

      At last, then, sounds the seventh trumpet. (Let the reader turn back to 10:5-7 and read again the angel's oath.) Now great voices are heard from heaven making a supremely momentous announcement: "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever." (Rev. 11:15.)

      This announcement is comprehensive and anticipates the issue. The sounding of the seventh trumpet opens the last act of the drama. Henceforth Christ's possession of the kingdom of the world is merely the outworking of this last move; the finishing of what has here begun. But that which is announced when the seventh trumpet sounds does not become an accomplished fact until the seven bowls have been poured out in their swift [44] succession, and the King himself comes from heaven at the head of the armies of heaven and destroys the Beast and the False Prophet. (Rev. 19:11, etc.)

      But the great concluding sweep of God's judgment is ushered in by the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The four and twenty elders, knowing the vast significance of the step that has thus been taken, fall upon their faces and worship God, saying: "We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast; because thou hast taken thy great power, and didst reign." The power had been His all the time, but now He has taken and asserted it. And the nations were wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth." All this is comprehended under the kingdom-announcement of the seventh trumpet; and all is fulfilled within the epoch now opened by the sounding of it. In this is the mystery finished and the great promise fulfilled. (10:5-7.)

[TR3A 38-45]