Revelation: Trumpets and the Plagues

During class discussion today, various people made excellent comments about Revelation. It was observed that the trumpets in Revelation 8 have a strong tie to the plagues in Exodus. While the trumpets do not match completely, there is strong resemblance as seen in this table:

Trumpet	Exodus Plague
1. (8:7) Hail, fire, blood	Exodus 9:22-25 Hail, fire
2. (8:8-9) Sea turned to blood	Exodus 7:20-25 Nile turned to blood
3. (8:10-11) Rivers made bitter
4. (8:12) 1/3 light darkened	Exodus 10:21-23 Darkness
5. (9:1-11) Demon locusts	Exodus 10:12-15 Locusts

It was noted that probably the plagues in Exodus were scary things for the Israelites. If they had no information about it, or even protection from them, the plagues would seem that the world was out of control. But Moses, knowing that the plagues were God's means to extract the Israelites out of Egypt, the plagues were a sign of God's work in securing his people. In much the same way, the trumpets point to God's hand in extracting his people out of the corrupt and fallen world. There is a real hope that Revelation teaches for those who belong to God even in the midst of trial and trouble. These very difficulties point to God preparing his people for their exodus into God's presence.

Another observed that there is a sadness associated with the trumpets of Revelation. The church will bear the message of God to the "earth dwellers," many of whom will be hardened and will not repent and turn to God. While all of God's sealed ones who have not yet placed their faith in Christ will repent, those who were not sealed before the foundation of the world will reject Christ and will refuse to repent. This sadness will show up in various places in Revelation. John eating the scroll that is sweet in the mouth and bitter in the stomach indicates the sadness of the message that John must proclaim. The two witnesses, who are the lampstands -- which is the church -- wear sackcloth, indicating the sad message of woe to the world that refuses to repent.

One of the difficult things for many to do in going through Revelation is to jump into a paradigm shift in how understand the visions. Popular teaching on Revelation says the trumpets depict future events in a certain "literalistic" way. I put literalistic in quotations because this is not a literal reading of Revelation. John saw the images just as he describes them. The images where not objects of some future war in which the only way that John could describe them was using terms of the first century culture and society. John actually saw what he described -- and these are symbols. These symbols are full of Old Testament and New Testament meaning. So when John writes that a great mountain, burning with fire, is thrown into the sea, John sees a great mountain that is burning. Mountains have rich imagery in the Old Testament -- often mountains are used to describe kingdoms, and something on fire is being judged. If we step back and look at what kingdoms and empire have been judged, we can name many: Rome, Hitler's Germany, even the Soviet Union. There are many more empires to name. But what is interesting is recalling how the Soviet Union seemed to invincible and how it persecuted the church, yet it crumbled in moments in the timescale of history.

The trumpets, the seals, the bowls of Revelation reflect parallel history that is a snapshot of God's activity from Christ's first advent to his second coming. This is not some future history reserved for a seven year period just before Christ's second coming. They describe what has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen until Christ returns. As we see all of this unfold, we can know that because we are sealed, we are protected from spiritual harm, that we will indeed persevere and be the ones who overcome and will wear a white robe before the Lamb that was slain.