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 seven trumpets were given to them." 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. (Compare Matthew 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 peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake."

      "And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them."

      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.

      With the sound 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 (Leviticus 23), calling the people to solemn convocation. [26]

      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 (Leviticus 25).

      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 warning blast 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 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. "Something like" a huge burning mountain 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 people 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: "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!"

      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 vital reason.¹ [27]

      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, let us see first what the plain meaning 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 simply 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. (Exodus 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 are 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 not impossible.²

      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. (Revelation 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 chapter 1; compare Isaiah 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 will be "terrors and great signs from heaven." "There will be signs in sun and moon and stars" (Luke 21:11, 25); and "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light" (Matthew 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 (Genesis 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 mountain height 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.³

      The fifth trumpet stirs the forces of the supernatural. A star is seen that had already fallen (not in the act of falling, as in 8:10). To this fallen star is given the key to the Abyss--the great prisonhouse of evil spirits. (Luke 8:31; Revelation 20:1-3. Compare 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.) He opens the Abyss, and out comes smoke like the smoke of a gigantic 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 (7:2, 3). They do not [28] kill--they torment with a torment as of scorpions, so that men desire to 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 (compare Proverbs 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 bound at the Euphrates, kept in reserve for this particular moment and juncture, are released to do their terrible work which results in the killing of the third part of men. A vast army of horsemen appears in order to execute this sentence--yet are they 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 yet turn to Him that smote them that He might show them His abundant mercy. For He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But His desire is disappointed: "they did not repent" (9:20, 21).

      As there was an interlude between the sixth and seventh seal (the two-fold 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 to surpass in grandeur and sublimity this vision of the Angel of Revelation 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 "swore by Him who lives for ever and ever . . . and said. 'there will be delay no longer,'⁴ but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophet." (Revelation 10:6).

      In the angel's hand (v. 2) John had seen 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 asks for the book. "Take it," said the angel, "and eat it, it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will 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), "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues 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 (chapter 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 Hebrews 1. (See 5:11, 12.) While the Lord Jesus is doubtless that uncreated messenger (i. e., Angel) of the covenant in Malachi 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, even if some circumstantial evidence might seem to justify it.

      But what is meant by the eating of the Little Book, and the words "You must prophesy again, etc."? Ezekiel 2:8 to 3:4 and Jeremiah 15:16, 17 is sufficient explanation, both of the eating, and the bitter after-effects. Here a new additional revelation is given to John: not a repetition of the former; nor yet one disconnected from the former; but a very important supplementary vision, which begins at chapter 12:1. [29]

      Suddenly the scene changes. Jerusalem now is the place: disobedient, unbelieving Israel is seen back in their city, and their temple rebuilt.⁵

      John is commanded 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" (Matthew 27:53) under foot for 42 months. This is the first mention of the prophetic period of 1260 days, or "a time, and times, and half a 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 Malachi 4:5.) Their miracles also strikingly resemble those of Moses and Elijah. "And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours 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 (Compare Exodus 7:17) and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire (as Moses in Egypt). The thought that these two are Moses and Elijah is certainly a worthier and more reasonable conception than to make the two witnesses "the Old and New Testament."

      These two witnesses are men, they "prophesy" (vs. 6), 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 mystically is called Sodom (Isaiah 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 watching. "And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified [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 important announcement: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." (Revelation 11:15.)

      This announcement is comprehensive and anticipates the issue. The sounding of the seventh trumpet opens the last act of the drama. After this, Christ's possession of the kingdom of the world is merely the outworking of this last move; the finishing of what is 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 succession, and the King himself comes from heaven at the head of the armies of heaven and destroys the Beast and the False Prophet. (Revelation 19:11-21.)

      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 You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign." The power had been His all the time, but now He has taken and asserted it. "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who 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.) [30]

      Before ever a trumpet is sounded "another angel" offers up the prayers of the saints with much added incense upon the golden altar which (as in the type of the Tabernacle) is directly before God. Such is the deeply significant prelude to the seven trumpets. The prayers of the saints bring in the judgments!

      This whole series of trumpet-judgments is ushered in through the prayers of the saints. God plans and promises; but in His program He counts upon the prayers of His people. See how in 2 Samuel 7 God made a promise to David and how David began immediately to plead with God to do what He promised. God's promises are not fulfilled automatically. He will be inquired of and pleaded with.

      The prayers of the Saints. It is not that they asked for the things that the trumpets have brought. But it was the groaning of His people (Romans 8:23) backed by the intercession of the Spirit (Romans 8:26) and the groan of a suffering creation. It is the widow's cry, "Avenge me of mine adversary" (ASV, Luke 18:1-8). It is the old prayer taught us by the Lord Jesus: "Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven . . . deliver us from the Evil one." So long have God's people pleaded it, (in vain it seemed) that faith began to fail. But God had heard, and now He will arise and avenge them speedily!

      The third Woe. What the seventh trumpet announced; what the saints had longed and prayed for; what introduces God's world-wide blessing--"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ,"--that is the greatest woe of all to Satan and all his host and to all that are on his side. When God triumphs, it is defeat and perdition to the Devil and to those that are on his side.

      What a difference that seal of God makes! The forces of evil have commandment not to touch any who are sealed with God's seal. (7:1-3; 9:4. Compare Ezekiel 9.) The child of God today is sealed. "God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness." (2 Timothy 2:19.) "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30.)

[TR4R 26-31]