A Fanfare of Judgment-Revelation 8:7-13

There are a myriad of organizations that exists in our world today to help save the planet from what they argue is the coming destruction brought on by human dependence on fossil fuels, carbon emissions, etc. In many ways, some of these groups are more apocalyptic in their thinking than many Christians! While there certainly is a responsibility to take care of our planet and be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with that all believers ought to take seriously, it is against the Scriptures and the gospel to believe that this planet, in and of itself, is our ultimate hope or source of sustainability. This is clearly articulated in Revelation 8:7-13 that describes the first four trumpet judgments. While the seals earlier in the book of Revelation dealt more with geo-political maneuvering and the consequences of human activity, the trumpets take on a whole new tone and directly afflict nature itself. Ultimately by listening closely to these trumpets and observing what happens as a result of their fanfare, we will learn afresh not to place our ultimate trust in the creation around us but in the creator above us for salvation both for this day and on into eternity.

1) Trumpet #1-8:7-“…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…”

While “when the Lamb broke” introduced the seven seals that were broken in the preceding chapters, we now have a new repetitive introductory phrase that is employed in the introduction of each of the seven trumpet judgments-“the first sounded” (8:1). Each subsequent trumpet is announced in the same way (albeit with its appropriate cardinal number). From the start of this next phase of the vision John receives, the reader can sense that the acuity of the wrath God is unleashing upon the earth has grown—“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” (8:7).  

Not only do these judgments appear to grow in severity, they also appear to allude more and more the book of Exodus. For instance, the seventh plague launched against a stubborn pharaoh involved Moses raising his staff to the sky and God sending hail mixed with fire upon an unrepentant Egypt (see Exod. 9:13-35). So overwhelming was this plague and so devastating did this prove for all Egypt’s vegetation that the hail fire was even referred to as the greatest storm the city had ever seen. Interestingly, though this hail fire in Revelation 8:7 is the first of the trumpets, like the hail fire in the Exodus, it too is the seventh judgment God sends (6 seals plus 1 trumpet = 7^th judgment). Also, both plagues were sent against a wicked and deserving people led by a leader who (as we will soon learn in Revelation) attempted to play the part of God on the world’s stage.

Though similar to the Exodus narrative, this first trumpet is even worse than that hail fire Egypt witnessed. After all, it is “mixed with blood.” This probably refers to the “awesome color of the storm …this lightning would cause” (Mounce, Revelation, 178). Also, the idea of a storm of blood is given in Joel 2:31 and Acts 2:19.

Acts 2:19-“And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor and smoke.

Such hail fire mixed with blood is “thrown down” to the earth, indicating that these phenomena are not acting independently of God’s sovereign hand. Ultimately, just as the Lamb was in control of the breaking of the seals, so too is God in control of these plagues that rain down upon the earth, issuing their devastation.

The devastation brought on by the hail fire is described in the remainder of verse 7—"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…” (8:7b). John employs “a third” almost compulsively in this passage (12 times, in fact, between verses 7-12) to, in part, reveal that God’s judgment, although severe, is not yet final (Smalley, Revelation, 220). Though punishment is literally raining down upon a deserving planet, God is withholding complete destruction almost as if to invite the lost to repent before it is too late. This is, believe it or not, one manifestation of the grace of God found even in this apocalypse.

Just imagine what the scene would be like following this plague—a third of all vegetation destroyed! People today marvel at forest fires in the pacific northwest and wonder at the deforestation taking place in places like the Amazon. However, none of these compare to the scope and scale of the first trumpet. Such will deal an enormous tole on agriculture, farming, the food supply, and the prices thereof.

2) Trumpet #2-8:8-9-“…The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed,…”

“The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed” (8:8-9). While the first trumpet dealt devastation to the land, the second deals the same to the sea (and in similar proportions). Like the first trumpet, there appears to be an allusion to Exodus, particularly the first plague dealt to Egypt with the water turning into blood. There, it was Moses’ staff that caused the transformation. In Revelation 8, it is a large foreign burning object tossed into the sea. There is a lot of speculation as to what this object is/represents. Mounce points out that fewer than twenty years prior to the writing of this book Mt. Vesuvius had erupted and destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. Perhaps what John sees in his vision here is similar to what he must have imagined that geological event to be like. However, extra-biblical Jewish apocalyptic literature speaks of “seven stars like great burning mountains” (1 Enoch 18:13) and a “great star from heaven” that falls into a divine sea (Sib. Or. 5:158). Perhaps John is borrowing from all of the above in an effort to describe the catastrophe that he witnessed in this second trumpet plague. Regardless of exactly what it represents, God is understood as the one hurling this flaming mountain down to the earth (see the passive voice, once again, of the verb ἐβλήθη translated “was thrown”). He remains in control of the situation from the throne room.

As a result of this foreign object being hurled into the sea, 33.3% of the sea life and ships perish. Such will upset both ecosystem and global economics in unprecedented ways. However, the trumpets are just getting warmed up.

3) Trumpet #3-8:10-11

In verse 10 John reveals “the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers, and on the springs of water” (8:10). It is interesting that the first three trumpets involve the use of fire. Mounce speculates that the fire motif in these plagues corresponds to the angel of verse 5 who filled his censer with burning coals from the golden altar and then hurled them upon the earth. Perhaps as a direct result of this activity, there is first a violent electrical storm that set the earth ablaze (see the first trumpet in verse 7), then a great fiery mountain is thrown into the sea (see the second trumpet in verse 8-9), and then a burning star descends upon the fresh water supply (see the third trumpet in verse 10-11) (Mounce, Revelation, 180). This assault on the fresh water supply would have been perceived as especially terrifying to the original audience of John’s apocalypse in the first century. “Springs of water” refers to natural springs from which Judah received most of its water supply—a supply that was already scarce in this part of the world (Osborne, Revelation, 354). Springs were, viewed as a source of life and such were often employed figuratively to describe the spiritual life God brings to those who love him and follow his commands (Prov. 10:11; 13:14; 14:27; Jer. 2:13; 17:13). Therefore, an attack on the springs of water was really an attack against life itself—that is, a third of the life left on the earth.

The fiery meteor that pollutes the fresh water supply possesses a name and special description given in verse 11—“the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter” (8:11). “Wormwood” is a bitter-tasting shrub that was common in the ancient world both in its landscape and in the Jewish consciousness.

Proverbs 5:3-4-“For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood.”

Lamentations 3:19-“Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.”

The effects of this wormwood being introduced into the water supply prove deadly in Revelation 8 as “many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter” (8:11). Such is yet another example of judgment against the wickedness of the world that is not unlike what the prophet Jeremiah spoke of in his day or Moses in his.

Jeremiah 9:15, 23:15-“therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and given them poisoned water to drink’…’behold, I am going to feed them wormwood and make them drink poisonous water,…”.

Deuteronomy 29:18-“so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.”

As in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, poison, particularly the use of wormwood, is witnessed alongside God’s divine judgment for sin and rebellion. This appears to be an appropriate background to consider when looking at what God is doing to the rebellious world in Revelation 8. Also, one might also consider, though it is difficult to prove John had this in mind, that what is going on in this third trumpet is the reversal of the miracle at Marah in Exodus 15:23 (Osborne, Revelation, 355). There Moses throws a piece of wood into the bitter water, turning it sweet; here God throws a foreign object down into the sweet water, turning it bitter. This juxtaposition compares and contrasts how God relates to his people verses his enemies.

Agriculture, Marine life, and now the fresh water supply have all taken a huge hit. How could it possibly get worse? How about God cuts off the lights?

4) Trumpet #4-8:12-13

The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way,…” (8:12). The parallels between this and the Exodus narrative are once again fairly obvious as this scene reminds the reader of the ninth Egyptian plague of darkness that came upon the region for a period of three days (Exod. 10:21-23). To be sure, darkness is not only a symbol of God’s judgment there, but throughout the Old Testament.

Joel 2:2-“A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”

Amos 5:18-“Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, for what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light.”

In fact, the New Testament refers to those who are in sin as those who are in darkness (John 8:12; Eph. 5:8; etc.). While this is the case spiritually, here in this fourth trumpet judgment, the global ambiance matches the condition of the hearts of those without God during this tribulation period. Again, the darkness is not total (“a third of them would be darkened” for “a third of the day”) as God’s judgment is not yet total either.

Before the next trumpet sounds, something very briefly interrupts the flow—“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!” (8:13). Throughout the Apocalypse the eagle stands as a symbol for majestic power (see Rev. 4:7) a harbinger of judgment (8:13) and strength or swiftness (see 12:14). This particular eagle is flying “in midheaven” (midair) and announces with a loud voice that more is coming and what is around the corner is far worse. These coming plagues will be worse in two ways. First unlike the first four trumpets which affected the source of people’s physical life, the last three will fall upon individuals themselves (Mounce, Revelation, 183). Second, not only will they be personally experienced by the lost, they will be worse and more horrifying than any preceding them. The three woes of the eagle correspond to the two judgments in chapter 9 (the fifth and sixth trumpet) and the final trumpet judgment in Revelation 11:14-15 and what follows.

It is important to remember that those already sealed (the 144,000 and perhaps others in the multitude that represent Jewish and gentile converts during this tribulation period) will be protected from these plagues. These judgments are intended for the lost and unbelieving world, not those who belong to God, though many who belong to God will be suffering under the intense pressure and persecution that the evil world system will lodge against them during this time.

So What?

Though this text testifies once again to the holiness of God and the reality of his divine wrath against the wicked, the first four trumpets and the implications thereof also demonstrate that nothing in this world, in and of itself, is a fitting foundation upon which to stake one’s life. Food and foliage, trade and commerce, even water itself is not an adequate sustainer of the human person and/or the human condition. In many ways, these first four trumpets teach the world that the earth and all its wonders is neither a suitable savior nor the source of one’s ultimate hope. Only God can ultimately satisfy, satiate, and sustain what humans require most. Unfortunately, as Romans 1:25 reminds, many in this world, and many on into the tribulation, “exchange the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”  Will the world be purged of its worship of the planet rather than the one who hung it there in the first place by means of these trumpet plagues—plagues that deny many the fruits/blessings the planet provides? We will soon learn the answer.

However, for now it is appropriate to ask ourselves, in what is our ultimate hope? Nothing contained in this world can bring us what it is we need most—not food, not water, not the landscape, nor any other created thing. It is Father God, not Mother earth, who saves us now and forever. Do you know this? Do you live in light of this?