As we enter another highly charged political year, I have been thinking how much the book of Revelation has to offer in terms of casting a discerning eye on how the forces of empires (symbolized by Rome/Babylon) challenge the faith and ethics of the Kingdom of God. To really understand the political broadside John offers in this apocalypse ("unveiling") will take some time. Here, finally, we arrive at the Seven Trumpets.
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In the Bible, mountains often stand in for kingdoms[20] or nations, many subject to God's judgment.[21] Jeremiah speaks of Babylon as a destroying mountain which would be burned by fire (Jeremiah 51:25) that will sink into the waters never to rise again.[22] We will see this again with the destruction of Babylon’s global maritime commerce in chapter 18.[23] Rome depended on the sea for food and commerce; the sea captains lament Babylon’s ruin.[24]Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour[1]. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.The Old Testament associates silence with divine judgment.[2] This seems to be a response to the death of and the prayers of saints that bring about the judgment on those through whom evil and suffering have been unleashed in the world.The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth[3], and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.[4]
The prayers go up; fire, a common biblical metaphor for a judgment that either refines/purifies or destroys, comes down. Now, the trumpets show how God’s judgment of evil impacts the earth as we groan our way toward the end.Now the seven angels[5] holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.[6]Remember we talked about the "birth pangs" Jesus warned would start in the generation of his listeners? The birthing process is a lot of pain, a lot of unpleasantness, but a good result at the end. There will be life on the other side, but the process is going to be hard. We are going to see the removal of peace; the destruction of the things that prop up the idolatry and empires of the world; deprivation; suffering; loss; despair. This is reaping what was sown. Consumer cultures consume themselves. Violent cultures ruin themselves. Indulgent cultures soften themselves. God sends the whirlwind."[Babylon’s] sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup... God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:5-6; 20)”[7]A third will be impacted,[8] meaning it’s not total judgment. There is time for people to see what is going on and repent. In that sense, while this judgment is certainly about retribution for the evil done, it also holds the potential to be rehabilitativeand restorative. It’s a good reminder of how to pray for justice/judgment: may it not only stop the evil, but may it be the means by which the evildoers come to their senses.
The images are apocalyptic: flaming mountains that are nations; stars that are angels; a speaking eagle. McKnight and Matchett summarize well in Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple:These scenes are not the stuff of world wars or nuclear holocausts. They are images of God’s justice being established by erasing the evils of injustice. Rather than seeking one-to-one correspondence between modern machines, we should let John’s image do what it does. Literal readings of the judgments have also led some to calculate what happens to the earth when the sun or moon is struck, or what happens to fish and the abundance of stink when the rivers of the world turn blood red.These kinds of calculations are colossally unimaginative blunders that do not understand how apocalyptic literature and the imagery of this book work. They have a very real purpose: to portray the pain of the oppressed and show how it is finally resolved by God. All of this to say: we are to see these—yes, triply—complete judgments as the deepest desire of the oppressed for justice. Think of them as graphic images similar to those we see in John Milton’s Paradise Lost or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or even science fiction. They are visions for the oppressed that therapeutically provide momentary relief and generate hope for justice. Privileged people tend to abuse Revelation with their misreadings, while the abused of this world find hope for the coming day.The oppressed want to hear from God, and they want to experience his justice. They want to see judgment on evil, they want oppression to end, and they want injustices to be undone. They want to hear that their oppressors are scheduled for a date with the divine. They want to know that racism will end in equality, that starvation will end in a banquet, that exclusion from the city will end in open gates for all. The oppressed have felt the piercingly violent eyes of Babylon upon them and have stared into the face of the dragon in the wild things. They know evil when they see it, and they long for the light found in the Lamb’s eyes.I think we are meant to see “through” them, weighing them like we do numbers.[9] There is room for the famine to be deprivations of all kinds, or the bitterness of the water to be a contrast to “the living water,” which speaks to spiritual realities. We are going to see everything shake. The people have placed their trust in idols, in false gods, in what is unstable and chaotic, and it’s not going to end well.[10]The first angel[11] blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth (soil) was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.The fire and blood are symbols of the wrath of God.[12] They can’t be literal: the blood and hail would put out the fire; a fire that destroyed 1/3 of the dirt and trees and all the grass would destroy the globe. The first 4 trumpets are modeled after the plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-11). [13] Revelation 15:3 compares the return of Jesus to the first exodus.[14] It would make sense that the second exodus is ushered in in similar fashion.[15]
Since the plagues of Egypt directly challenged the gods of the Egyptians, I am inclined to see this trumpet as a spiritual warfare broadside against the gods of this world, judging the world systems behind the evil and corruption of the world (which we will say more about at the 7th trumpet).[16] However, just like the first Exodus, it’s not too late repent and join those about to head to the Promised Land.[17]Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea.[18] A third[19] of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were completely destroyed.
Once again, see ‘through’ this: it’s an indictment on nation(s) plural. All nations. God’s judgment will rock the gods of this world, and then hit the issue most talked about in the Bible: money, the idol of wealth, commerce, power and security. Look how rocked we have been by the shipping issues in the last few months (“We can’t have Christmas!”). There is nothing new under the sun.
Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.In Jewish apocalypses, stars sometimes appeared like burning mountains; one fell into the sea and burned both the sea and Israel’s oppressors.[25] 1 Enoch 18:13 and 21:3[26] describes the preliminary judgment of the fallen angels as “stars like great burning mountains.”[27] Stars represent angelic beings in Revelation (see on 1:19). OT angels often represent earthly peoples and kingdoms.
In fact, the rabbis interpreted the Exodus 7:16–18 plague on the waters as a judgment on the Nile god, who represented the people. They would quote Isaiah 24:21 - “the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on earth.” Here Babylon’s ‘angel’ appears to be judged along with the nation. It was prophesied. Not only are the nations shaken, but any spiritual powers behind them have been toppled from their place of authority as well.
O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations… But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)Wormwood recalls the bitter water at Marah - still on an Exodus theme (Exodus 15:23). If the “living waters” of chapters 7 and 21 represent the reward of eternal, spiritual life for faithfulness through suffering (7:17; 21:6; 22:1), then the waters of death in Chapter 8 represent a punishment of suffering associated with eternal, spiritual death.
Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.[28] And there was no light for a third of the day and for a third of the night likewise.[29]Our earth is too finely tuned to not be destroyed by literal celestial events like that. It’s a known image of judgment to John’s audience: at God’s judgment of Edom, “all the starry host will fall” (Isaiah 34:4). The Dictionary Of Bible Themes notes the many ways in which celestial bodies played multiple roles in the Bible, but here’s what’s relevant to us today. Under the category of “Worship of the Stars,” we find:
- Prohibited by God Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3 2 Kings 23:4-5
- Judgment of star worshippers Jer 8:2: 19:12-13; Amos 5:25-27; Acts 7:42-43
- Examples of star worship 2 Ki 17:16; 2 Ki 21:3-5; 2 Chronicles 33:5; Acts 28:11
- Idolatrous worship of the moon Deut. 4:19; 17:3; 2 Ki 23:5; Job 31:26
- Sun Worship Forbidden to God’s people Deut 4:19;17:2-5; Job 31:26-28
- Practiced in Israel and Egypt Ez 8:16; 2 Ki 23:5,11; Jer 8:1-2; 43:13
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying directly overhead[31], proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe[32] to the earth dwellers because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!”God’s people are spared the following plagues, as happened with the later Egyptian plagues.[33] Since God’s people are spared, this is good reason to think that what follows has to do with spiritual judgment that will ‘pass over’ God’s faithful people sealed by the Lamb’s blood.
Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace[34]. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.[35]The “star” that John sees is an angel (20:1) with the key (3:7) to open the Abyss. The Abyss was believed by John’s audience to be the underworld prison of evil spirits.[36]
They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree,[37] but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. Now the locusts[38] looked like horses equipped for battle.[39] On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.Notice that the locusts don't do what no locusts normally do. They can't touch any green thing - or those who have the Seal of God upon their forehead. One assumes the threat is non-physical: for example, the devastation and famine of the soul (Amos 8:11-14).[40] I favor the view that this describes demonic activity on earth.
- “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…” (1 Timothy 4:1).
- “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit.” (Revelation 18:2)
- “The horses are men, and the riders are evil spirits.” (Primasius and Andrew of Caesarea, 500s)
- “A terrifying picture of demonic oppression.” (Orthodox Study Bible)
- “These locusts probably represent demons.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
- Demonic forces out of the abyss… [John uses] frogs to represent demonic powers in the recapitulation in Revelation 16:13. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament)
The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things! Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God, saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” Then the four angels[41] who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity. The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number.The Euphrates was the boundary behind which enemies lurked. [42] It’s a physical image for a spiritual reality. The numerical background for this huge number is Daniel 7:10. It just means there’s a lot. A lot a lot.
Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes/scorpions[43], having heads that inflict injuries.This invasion is often compared to the daunting Parthian army. See ‘through’ it. You think they are scary? The spiritual battle is worse.
The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about. Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.INTERLUDE An angel measures the temple, John eats a scroll that tastes good going down (this story ends well!) and then does not sit well at all (#birthpangs). Then two witnesses show up in a city for 3 ½ years, breathe fire on anyone who challenges them, get killed, then come back to life.
MEASURING THE TEMPLE Measuring the temple is best understood against the background of Ezekiel 40 – 48 in which measuring is associated with establishment and protection. Measuring suggests God's presence, which is guaranteed to be with the temple community living on Earth before the Lord's return.[44] But the angel didn’t measure the outer court of the temple. Short version: your soul will be safe, even if your skin is not.
THE TWO WITNESSES Who/what are they?
- 2 lampstands, which are identified as churches in chapters 1 & 2,[45] have the powers of both Moses (law) and Elijah (prophet) and establish the truthfulness of the gospel message. (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16, Luke 10:1-24).
- Three and a half years (“time, times, and half a time”) is from Christ's resurrection until His return.[46]
- The fire is God's judgment on the world’s sin through the spoken word of Scripture.[47] In Luke 9, the disciples wanted to copy Elijah by calling down fire upon some Samaritan villagers. Jesus rebuked them, but then sent out groups (of two) to declare the danger of judgment (and the good news of mercy) through the proclamation of the Gospel.
- The great city where the bodies lie is the world: Rome is Sodom, Egypt, Babylon. It’s all the troublesome nations that have plagued God’s people in different ways.
- The restoration to life is taken directly from the “dry bones” resurrection of Ezekiel 37:5 -10.[48]
- The people repent – or at least acknowledge the power of God, which might not be the same thing…[49] [50]
The Trumpet Interlude: “You are secure. Witness.”
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy[51] those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple.[52] And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.This is still a “woe,” because the ‘woes’ are from the perspective of the world. God’s reign means evil’s judgment. It’s not good news for everybody. However, The picture of God’s judgment here in Revelation shows a God who has been restraining the full, devastating consequence of the sin we have sown. It also shows a God who, when “our iniquities are full,” will no longer hold back the chaos from the abyss. He will give us the full experience of our masters.
If paradise is being fully in the presence of the one we serve with all the blessings that follow, perhaps hell may be thought of as fully experiencing the presence of the one we have been serving (the dragon and his servants) with all its cursings. Meanwhile, God sends warnings. There are not only little oasis or outposts of heaven that function as signposts for eternity with the Lamb; we find the same kind of signposts for an eternity with the Dragon.
- What we think will never fail, fails.
- What we think will always provides, stops providing.
- What once measured our success begins to measure our failure.
- What we thought filled us was actually consuming us.
- What we thought was refreshing us becomes bitter and sickening.
- What we thought brought flourishing brought destruction.
- What we thought made life matter made life meaningless.
NEXT POST: http://empiresandmangers.blogspot.com/2024/07/children-of-dragon-children-of-lamb-11.html
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[1] Don’t sweat the time frame. It’s just a literary device that means it happened.
[2] Habakkuk 2:20 -3:15; Zechariah 2:13 -3:2; Zephaniah 1:8 7-18
[3] “The smoke of the incense…shows that the petition of chapter 6:9 -10 is now being presented before God. Their petition for judgment has been found acceptable.” (Beale)
[4] “Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” is almost identical to the description of the last judgment in 11:19 and 16:18 as well as 4:5. (Beale)
[5] Jewish tradition identifies seven angels who offer up the prayers of the saints as they enter before the glory of the Holy One (Tobit 12:15). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[6] “The primary perspective of the first five seals was on the trials to which believers must pass; now, the focus in the first six trumpet are on the judgment which unbelievers both inside and outside the church must endure.” (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary) “In the first round, we were looking at the tribulation through the lens of the church. In round two, we see it from the vantage point of the world.” (Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation)
[7] “Sometimes, God’s judgment in Revelation takes the form of imperial practices themselves, or the consequences of such practices. War, famine, pestilence, death, injustice in the marketplace, and rebellion are all…human evils rather than cosmic events… We would be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world… in Romans 1:18-32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy… the answer is of course, ‘both’”. Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[8] “Third part is a rabbinism, expressing a considerable number. "When Rabbi Akiba prayed, wept, rent his garments, put of his shoes, and sat in the dust, the world was struck with a curse; and then the third part of the olives, the third part of the wheat, and the third part of the barley, was smitten.” (Adam Clarke)
[9] “Cosmic signs [are] symbols of the distress and disease generated by human evil. [This is] indirect divine judgment.” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[10] Greg Beale notes that while we are told serious things about the ‘world’ collapsing under God’s judgment, physical symbols are meant to point us toward spiritual realities.
[11] Heisser points to Moyise’s Old Testament in Revelation to note the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8, 9, and a bit of 10 follow the themes of Joel 2-3 and Amos 1-2.
[12] Tyconius (370), Oecumenius (500s), Andrew of Caeserea (563) thought it might come through warfare. “The land was wasted; the trees-the chiefs of the nation, were destroyed; and the grass-the common people, slain, or carried into captivity.” (Adam Clarke)
[13] Water turns to blood and a a plague of hail, fire, darkness and thunder = trumpets and bowls; a plague of frogs and sores = bowls; a plague of locusts and deaths = trumpets.
[14] The redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb
[15] From Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation: “Israelites in Egypt - Christians in Asia Minor/All of us The people of God suffer oppression; God sends plagues to demonstrate his power/provoke repentance; repentance does not follow; God defeats the oppressor; God’s people praise the God who will reign forever; the ark of the covenant is present with God’s people.”
[16] Michael Heisser notes, “Where do we get the nations and their gods to begin with? Genesis 11. Babylon.” And that’s the mountain that is about to be thrown into the sea….
[17] When Israel left Egypt, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” (Exodus 12:38)
[18] “Mountain, in prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:58. Great disorders… are represented by mountains being cast into the midst of the sea, Psalms 46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean peoples, as is shown in this book, Revelation 17:15. “(Adam Clarke)
[19] A fourth of the earth was affected by the seal judgments; a third is now devastated by the trumpet judgments. There is a progression in intensity.
[20] Revelation14:1; 17:9; 21:10
[21] Isaiah 41:15, 42:15; Ezekiel 35; Zechariah 4:7
[22] Babylon’s judgment is as a stone thrown into the sea in Revelation 18:21
[23] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[24] “Every shipmaster and all who sail anywhere and every sailor and as many as work on the sea... cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning... and they were weeping and mourning, saying ‘woe, woe, is the great city, through which all those who have ships in the sea became wealthy because of her wealth.’ ” (18:17–19)
[25] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
[26] Revered Jewish literature from around 200 BC. While not Scripture, it functioned as a commentary that was highly influential in shaping Jewish thought.
[27] Heisser, from an episode on the Naked Bible podcast
[28] Parallel to Exodus 10:21–23.
[29] Early church fathers were inclined to see the celestial bodies as the church, and the darkness as the result of heretics dimming the light of Scripture.
[30] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[31] This eagle is in the “middle heaven,” the home of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (Revelation 14:6; 19:17). It’s a place where all the world will see/hear.
[32] “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab ... Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed.” (Jeremiah 48:40, 46).
[33] How do they do this? “‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)
[34] The abyss in the Old Testament represents chaos. Here, the abyss seems to represent part of the spiritual world that is the home of evil that will be judged. It’s watery (chaos) and also fiery (judgment).
[35] Many early church fathers were convinced this was about heretics, though a few chalked it up to the demons inspiring heretics. (All my notes on Early Church Fathers come from Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture.)
[36] Demons pleaded with Jesus to spare them the Abyss. (Luke 8:30–31)
[37] Once again a reminder this is imagery, as all the grass was already gone.
[38] Like horses prepared for battle: a conquering host. Gold-like crowns: authorized to rule people. Human-appearing faces: intelligence. Hair like women’s: hair was considered seductive. Lion-like teeth: ferocious and cruel. Armor-like iron breastplates: difficult to attack and destroy, etc. (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
[39] OT imagery. “They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry” (Joel 2:4). An army of locusts “has the teeth of a lion” (Joel 1:6) and make a noise “like that of chariots” (2:5). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[40] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[41] This seems to be a recapitulation of the 4 Horsemen.
[42] Heisser notes that beyond the Euphrates was the domain of Baal. The language of the Old Testament relates not just to the invading armies against Israel, but also the idea that there are cosmic powers itching to invade.
[43] Jewish tradition held that in Sheol and Abaddon there were “angels of destruction,” who were in authority over thousands of scorpions (Heisser). Scorpions and serpents were associated in Old Testament and extra-biblical Jewish writings as metaphorical images for false teaching. (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)
[44] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[45] Only two of the seven churches/lampstands remained faithful in Revelation 2-3. Perhaps these two churches represent the faithful church. The whole world will see the two witnesses, which is understandable if they're a global church. That the witnesses are called trees comes from the vision of Zechariah in chapter 4.
[46] The Babylonian kings tried to predict what Daniel prophesied by doing the math of the 70 weeks. When nothing would happen in a literal 70 weeks, they would recount and try again. The numbers were meant to be weighed, not counted.
[47] “I and making my words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.” (Jeremiah 5:14).
[48] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[49] Compare to Egypt: “And the Egyptians will know that I am Yehovah when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” They knew and acknowledged, but that’s not the same as salvation.
[51] Here’s another reason I tend to see most of God’s judgment in Revelation as God giving people over to themselves. The word here for ‘destroy’ is the same word ‘destroy’ at the end of the verse that they did to the earth! …waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; ‘utterly corrupt’; becoming thoroughly disabled (morally depraved), ‘all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).” #windandwhirlwind (HELPS Word Studies)
[52] In the Old Testament, the ark was a sign of God’s presence.
[53] Thanks to http://newlisbon.church/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Revelation-Workbook.pdf for some really helpful insights.
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[1] Don’t sweat the time frame. It’s just a literary device that means it happened.
[2] Habakkuk 2:20 -3:15; Zechariah 2:13 -3:2; Zephaniah 1:8 7-18
[3] “The smoke of the incense…shows that the petition of chapter 6:9 -10 is now being presented before God. Their petition for judgment has been found acceptable.” (Beale)
[4] “Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” is almost identical to the description of the last judgment in 11:19 and 16:18 as well as 4:5. (Beale)
[5] Jewish tradition identifies seven angels who offer up the prayers of the saints as they enter before the glory of the Holy One (Tobit 12:15). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)
[6] “The primary perspective of the first five seals was on the trials to which believers must pass; now, the focus in the first six trumpet are on the judgment which unbelievers both inside and outside the church must endure.” (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary) “In the first round, we were looking at the tribulation through the lens of the church. In round two, we see it from the vantage point of the world.” (Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation)
[7] “Sometimes, God’s judgment in Revelation takes the form of imperial practices themselves, or the consequences of such practices. War, famine, pestilence, death, injustice in the marketplace, and rebellion are all…human evils rather than cosmic events… We would be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world… in Romans 1:18-32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy… the answer is of course, ‘both’”. Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[8] “Third part is a rabbinism, expressing a considerable number. "When Rabbi Akiba prayed, wept, rent his garments, put of his shoes, and sat in the dust, the world was struck with a curse; and then the third part of the olives, the third part of the wheat, and the third part of the barley, was smitten.” (Adam Clarke)
[9] “Cosmic signs [are] symbols of the distress and disease generated by human evil. [This is] indirect divine judgment.” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly
[10] Greg Beale notes that while we are told serious things about the ‘world’ collapsing under God’s judgment, physical symbols are meant to point us toward spiritual realities.
[11] Heisser points to Moyise’s Old Testament in Revelation to note the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8, 9, and a bit of 10 follow the themes of Joel 2-3 and Amos 1-2.
[12] Tyconius (370), Oecumenius (500s), Andrew of Caeserea (563) thought it might come through warfare. “The land was wasted; the trees-the chiefs of the nation, were destroyed; and the grass-the common people, slain, or carried into captivity.” (Adam Clarke)
[13] Water turns to blood and a a plague of hail, fire, darkness and thunder = trumpets and bowls; a plague of frogs and sores = bowls; a plague of locusts and deaths = trumpets.
[14] The redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb
[15] From Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation: “Israelites in Egypt - Christians in Asia Minor/All of us The people of God suffer oppression; God sends plagues to demonstrate his power/provoke repentance; repentance does not follow; God defeats the oppressor; God’s people praise the God who will reign forever; the ark of the covenant is present with God’s people.”
[16] Michael Heisser notes, “Where do we get the nations and their gods to begin with? Genesis 11. Babylon.” And that’s the mountain that is about to be thrown into the sea….
[17] When Israel left Egypt, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” (Exodus 12:38)
[18] “Mountain, in prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:58. Great disorders… are represented by mountains being cast into the midst of the sea, Psalms 46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean peoples, as is shown in this book, Revelation 17:15. “(Adam Clarke)
[19] A fourth of the earth was affected by the seal judgments; a third is now devastated by the trumpet judgments. There is a progression in intensity.
[20] Revelation14:1; 17:9; 21:10
[21] Isaiah 41:15, 42:15; Ezekiel 35; Zechariah 4:7
[22] Babylon’s judgment is as a stone thrown into the sea in Revelation 18:21
[23] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[24] “Every shipmaster and all who sail anywhere and every sailor and as many as work on the sea... cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning... and they were weeping and mourning, saying ‘woe, woe, is the great city, through which all those who have ships in the sea became wealthy because of her wealth.’ ” (18:17–19)
[25] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
[26] Revered Jewish literature from around 200 BC. While not Scripture, it functioned as a commentary that was highly influential in shaping Jewish thought.
[27] Heisser, from an episode on the Naked Bible podcast
[28] Parallel to Exodus 10:21–23.
[29] Early church fathers were inclined to see the celestial bodies as the church, and the darkness as the result of heretics dimming the light of Scripture.
[30] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[31] This eagle is in the “middle heaven,” the home of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (Revelation 14:6; 19:17). It’s a place where all the world will see/hear.
[32] “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab ... Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed.” (Jeremiah 48:40, 46).
[33] How do they do this? “‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)
[34] The abyss in the Old Testament represents chaos. Here, the abyss seems to represent part of the spiritual world that is the home of evil that will be judged. It’s watery (chaos) and also fiery (judgment).
[35] Many early church fathers were convinced this was about heretics, though a few chalked it up to the demons inspiring heretics. (All my notes on Early Church Fathers come from Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture.)
[36] Demons pleaded with Jesus to spare them the Abyss. (Luke 8:30–31)
[37] Once again a reminder this is imagery, as all the grass was already gone.
[38] Like horses prepared for battle: a conquering host. Gold-like crowns: authorized to rule people. Human-appearing faces: intelligence. Hair like women’s: hair was considered seductive. Lion-like teeth: ferocious and cruel. Armor-like iron breastplates: difficult to attack and destroy, etc. (Believer’s Bible Commentary)
[39] OT imagery. “They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry” (Joel 2:4). An army of locusts “has the teeth of a lion” (Joel 1:6) and make a noise “like that of chariots” (2:5). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament
[40] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[41] This seems to be a recapitulation of the 4 Horsemen.
[42] Heisser notes that beyond the Euphrates was the domain of Baal. The language of the Old Testament relates not just to the invading armies against Israel, but also the idea that there are cosmic powers itching to invade.
[43] Jewish tradition held that in Sheol and Abaddon there were “angels of destruction,” who were in authority over thousands of scorpions (Heisser). Scorpions and serpents were associated in Old Testament and extra-biblical Jewish writings as metaphorical images for false teaching. (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)
[44] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[45] Only two of the seven churches/lampstands remained faithful in Revelation 2-3. Perhaps these two churches represent the faithful church. The whole world will see the two witnesses, which is understandable if they're a global church. That the witnesses are called trees comes from the vision of Zechariah in chapter 4.
[46] The Babylonian kings tried to predict what Daniel prophesied by doing the math of the 70 weeks. When nothing would happen in a literal 70 weeks, they would recount and try again. The numbers were meant to be weighed, not counted.
[47] “I and making my words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.” (Jeremiah 5:14).
[48] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary
[49] Compare to Egypt: “And the Egyptians will know that I am Yehovah when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” They knew and acknowledged, but that’s not the same as salvation.
[51] Here’s another reason I tend to see most of God’s judgment in Revelation as God giving people over to themselves. The word here for ‘destroy’ is the same word ‘destroy’ at the end of the verse that they did to the earth! …waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; ‘utterly corrupt’; becoming thoroughly disabled (morally depraved), ‘all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).” #windandwhirlwind (HELPS Word Studies)
[52] In the Old Testament, the ark was a sign of God’s presence.
[53] Thanks to http://newlisbon.church/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Revelation-Workbook.pdf for some really helpful insights.
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