Revelation Chapter 8
The First Trumpet
Having taken a brief look at the first interpretive viewpoint we would now like to examine the second interpretive viewpoint, which interprets the trumpets as showing how the false church was corrupting the truth.
VERSE 7 (NAU) “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 first trumpet is a little difficult of interpretation to start out, especially if we just look at it by itself. For that reason we will look at several other places to help us establish the correct interpretation. In Rev 7:2-3 we saw the four angels, who had been given power to harm the land and sea. They were told not to harm the land or the sea or the trees until God’s servants are sealed. They were commanded by an angel, who we know brought the order not to do that from God.
In Rev 8:7 the first angel sounded the first trumpet, and John saw hail and fire mixed with blood hurled down upon the earth. The description does not tell us that the angel himself hurled this mixture down so we believe that he is just showing us what happened at that time.
Since this is at the beginning of the gospel age when the sealing process is just getting started and still going on, it would seem reasonable that whoever cast the hail and fire mingled with blood on the earth would be doing it without God’s permission.
We know this is a bad event because in Rev 7:2-3 as we saw above, we are told that the land and the trees WERE NOT TO BE HARMED, and yet we see harm being done to them here by the hail and fire mixed with blood. Similarly we see the same problem in the second trumpet in that the sea is harmed even though IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE.
1st Trumpet--- hail & fire cast on earth - trees, grass burned up
2nd Trumpet-- - mountain burning with fire cast into sea - Sea became blood
Commanded not to harm, Rev 7:3—
“Hurt not the earth, neither the seas, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God.
So we see that the apostate churches actions in at least the first two trumpets are shown to be in direct disobedience to the Revelation Chapter 7:3 commands. In other words this is direct proof that the trumpets have to be showing us the decline and fall of the truth and the coming error of the false state church system. The entire 144,000 of the church were definitely not sealed in the time of the first trumpet, and so the trees and the land SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HURT.
Symbols of Hail, Fire, and Blood
As we look at the symbols in trumpet one, we find hail, fire, and blood. In order to get an idea of what’s happening in this trumpet, we need to define and interpret these symbols. First of all we think that these symbols represent something that was initially good, but which is being misused by some in the early church. That is similar to the misuse of power by the rider on the horse in the first seal.
That small beginning of misuse lead to big problems later and that is why in the first bowl of wrath (the First plague) we see the punishment fall upon those who had the mark of the beast and of his image. The small beginnings of problems in the first church eventually led to the creation of the evil system of church and state which is the beast and the image. So whatever we see that these symbols are, we should see that their misuse in the early church eventually led to the great falling away and the false church and state system.
HAIL in nature comes from frozen or solidified water. Since water in Rev 21:6 is generally considered to be truth, especially regarding salvation, we think that the same thing can be said of hail except that it’s concentrated or hard hitting truth.
“Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?” (Job 38:22, 23)
FIRE in scripture seems to have either a judgmental, destructive, or purifying nature. The final results of fire can be purification or outright destruction, depending on the usage or situation. In symbol, fire will purify a righteous character because they are willing to change or improve, but it will destroy an unrighteous one because they do not want to change.
“Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (1 Cor 3:13-15)
Here is an example from the Old Testament.
“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” (Zech 13:9)
BLOOD can represent something bad, as in the example of water turning into blood during the Egyptian plagues. In that situation the water was not able sustain life anymore, and it would not refresh or keep anyone alive. On the other hand, blood can represent something good, as in the blood ransom that our Lord Jesus paid for us and the world. In that symbol a life for a life was supplied, which was a ransom for all.
The possibilities in this situation seems to be threefold, in that the question becomes,
Are these symbols (1) good, (2) bad, (3) or could they be good symbols, but being misused?
We think that number three is correct in that the symbols are being misused. These symbols were actually being initially used correctly by the early church and as such there was not a problem with them.
Where the problem began is when some began to misuse the truth as represented in these symbols and that is what caused the falling away and the corruption of the truth. That is similar to the white horse in the first seal in that it represented pure doctrine and as such there was nothing wrong with it. The problem was that the rider began to direct the horse into doing things that were not correct, such as going out to conquer.
Continued with next post.
