Revelation Sermon - 20

Lars Janssen

Revelation Series • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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Revelation: Sound the Trumpets

Revelation 8:1-12

1. Introduction – This morning we come to the beginning of the second set of 7.

a. We just finished opening the 7 seals on the scroll. The scroll of history that the Lamb took from the right hand of God who sits on his throne.

i. The seals that he alone was worthy to break and open the scroll.

1. Seals 1-4 represent what happens when God’s kingdom moves closer and it is resisted by sinful humanity. Conquest, war, famine and death all increase as the kingdom of this world goes to war against the kingdom of God.

a. Seals 5&6 show us that even though conquest, war, famine and death are increasing – the gospel is still going out.

i. But it also shows us that God’s people are persecuted and martyred for their faith.

ii. After seal 6 there’s an extended interlude that answers a question posed in the sixth seal, “Who is able to survive?”

1. And the answer comes in a vision of a great multitude before God’s throne. Who is able to survive? Those who have received the seal of God’s Holy spirit.

b. The breaking of the 7th seal brought us to the brink of the scroll being opened.

i. But before the scroll was opened and its content revealed…we’re told that there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.

1. And for those of you who were with us a couple weeks ago, we experienced that silence as we sat in relative silence for our entire sermon – guided through some meditations that were put on the screens.

c. This morning, in Revelation 8, we are actually going to view the content of the scroll.

i. The action is initiated by the blasting of trumpets. But what we have to pay attention to is the fact that the trumpets follow the same structure as the seals.

1. What we read this morning were 4 trumpets blown in rapid succession.

a. 4 events that take place quickly – one right after the other.

i. Then 2 more trumpets are blown in the chapter 9 – and trumpets 5&6 are more detailed in the description of their content.

ii. Again, after the blowing of the 6th trumpet there’s an interlude that answers a question found in trumpet 6.

1. An in the 7th trumpet, we’ll see the vision once again seems to come to the end. Only this time, the vision is even bigger and even grander than the last time we came to the end.

a. But we’ll see, that like it happened before, the visions start over again and fill in more details for us.

d. We’re getting right in to the heart of the visions of Revelation. It’s going to get tough as we make our way through some of these visions, but if we keep the structure in front of us, it will help us at least understand the big picture of what is going on, even if we get fully understand the nitty gritty details.

i. But there’s also one more thing we need to keep in mind as we make our way forward.

1. The three sets of 7 that we are right in the middle of – the seals, trumpets and bowls – these are all God’s judgment from different perspectives.

ii. These are not sequential and linear events – as if they are 21 successive events that we should be on the lookout for.

1. The seals picture God’s judgment from the perspective of the church.

a. The trumpets picture God’s judgment from the perspective of the world.

i. And the bowls picture God’s judgment from the perspective of heaven.

1. The meat of the book of Revelation shows us 3 different viewpoints of how God is going to judge unbelievers and vindicate his people.

2. Trumpets – This morning we heard 4 trumpets blow. And the blowing of trumpets is a well-used symbol throughout the entire Bible.

a. When God gave the Law to Moses at Mount Sinai, when God met his people there – trumpets were blown to call people into preparation.

i. When Israel marched around Jericho seven times on the 7th day, priests blew their trumpets as the people shouted and the walls came tumbling down.

b. The prophets describe the beginning of the day of the Lord commencing with blasts from trumpets.

i. Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel that on the day of the Lord, the trumpets will sound and God’s elect will be gathered into God’s presence.

1. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says that on the day of the Lord, the trumpet will sound and the perishable will put on imperishability.

a. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul says that the trumpet will sound and Jesus will descend from the sky the same way he ascended.

c. And here in Revelation, trumpets are blown as a sign of God’s enacting judgment upon an unrepentant world.

i. Through the Bible, the blowing of trumpets always represents God’s intervention in human history.

1. And here in Revelation 8 the blowing of trumpets is God’s acting in judgment, but it is also God’s answering the prayers of his people.

a. There’s silence in heaven for half an hour. The worship ceases as the heavenly beings prepare to witness God’s actions.

i. The trumpets are handed out to the 7 angels.

d. And during the silence the prayers of God’s people are presented before God. What prayer? The prayer of 6:10. “How long until you vindicate your people?”

i. It is in this vision we see the answer to the prayer as intercession suddenly turns into judgment.

1. The prayers are presented, heard, and answered as fire from the altar is flung to the earth and the trumpets begin to sound.

e. I’ll remind us here once again not to take visions too literally. They use descriptive language to make their point. They point to a reality beyond themselves.

i. And these trumpets point to the reality of judgment. And as I’ve said before, visions are meant to be experienced more than they are to be analyzed down to the finest detail.

3. These Trumpets – So what are we to experience with these trumpets? These trumpets depict the worst fears and experiences of 1st century people and blows them up to epic proportions.

a. They represent natural forces let loose; they depict nature gone berserk.

i. At each blast, a different part of the earth is judged – escalating the fears of the people.

1. Land – in an agrarian society, image the devastation, sea – in a country that depended on sea import and trade.

a. Drinking water – in a desert where water was at a premium, celestial entities.

ii. So, a big question we have to ask and answer this morning is this, “Are these trumpets describing actual events that will one day take place?” And the answer is, Maybe.

b. But, if we experience this vision with our big picture glasses on, we’ll see that the events of the trumpet blasts closely resemble the Egyptian plagues.

i. Do you remember when Israel was in slavery in Egypt, God raised up Moses to confront Pharaoh – Let my people go!

1. When Pharaoh refused, God struck the Egyptians with various plagues. Gnats, frogs, river turned to blood, there flies and boils and the cows died, then the locust ate up all the crops, hail, darkness, and the death of the firstborn.

a. And when we hear about those plagues, they sound a lot like what’s happening here in Revelation 8.

i. Only this time it wasn’t just one civilization that was affected by the plagues, it was 1/3 of the earth.

c. And I think that’s what these trumpets are doing, they are reimagining the plagues from Exodus, only on a much larger scale.

i. Note the parallels between the Exodus plagues and the trumpet plagues.

1. Both speak of water turning to blood. Both speak of darkness falling on the earth.

a. Both speak of crops and vegetation dying and fish and sea creatures dying.

d. The third trumpet seems to be a reversal of the miracle at Marah. When Israel was crossing the desert, they came to a spring of water, but the water was bitter and not fit for drinking,

i. So, God told Moses to throw a stick in the spring, and when he did the water became sweet.

1. But in the third trumpet the sweet water becomes bitter.

e. And the other parallel, apart from the actual plagues is that in each case, the plagues precede an exodus.

i. God unleashed 10 plagues on Egypt before Pharaoh finally relented and let the Israelites go.

1. And here in Revelation 8, God unleashed his judgment on 1/3 of the earth, in a prelude to his people making an exodus from this earth into his glorious presence.

4. The Purpose – So we’ve looked at what these four trumpets present – nature gone berserk.

a. A reimagining of the Egyptian plagues, the fears of 1st century people, blown up to epic proportions.

i. Now, I want to focus our attention on the purpose of these trumpets. Why are they blown? A few reasons.

b. First, the trumpets show that God is serious about punishing sin. God is serious about punishing rebellion.

i. To sin means to miss the mark, to fall short of God’s glorious standard – perfection.

1. We’ve all fallen short of that mark, but Jesus didn’t.

a. And Jesus, on the cross of Calvary, died in our place, to pay the ransom for our sin and disobedience.

ii. We are told that through faith in his saving act, we can have our sins forgiven.

1. But, Revelation tells us that at the end of time, there are going to be those who refused to repent, who would rather die than accept God’s forgiveness.

a. And what we have described for us through Revelation is God’s righteous judgment on the unrepentant for their sin and disobedience.

i. God is loving, gracious and merciful, yes, he is, but he also won’t let sin go unpunished, and these trumpets remind us of that fact.

c. These trumpets also show the unlimited scope of God’s power. Study the Egyptian plagues at depth and you’ll quickly see that each of the plagues attacked a god the Egyptians worshipped.

i. The sun turned to darkness to show that YHWH was more powerful than the Egyptian sun god.

1. The crops were destroyed to show that YHWH was more power than the Egyptian crop gods.

a. Each Egyptian plague systematically showed that Israel’s God was powerful than any Egyptian god. And the same thing is happening here.

ii. The gods of this world are systematically devastated by the Holy, just, righteous, and Almighty God who sits on the throne of heaven.

1. These trumpets show the unlimited scope of God’s power over his creation.

d. The next few purposes are all linked together.

i. The trumpets show us that even in his judgment God is merciful. Merciful? Really? Yes, he displays his mercy. Here’s how.

1. Did you notice the fraction 1/3 mentioned over and over? Mercy is that these plagues only affect 1/3 of the earth, not 2/3 or 3/3.

ii. And because there is mercy in the judgment, these trumpet plagues also serve as a warning.

1. They warn us that judgment is coming – total, complete, inescapable judgment is coming…but not yet.

a. The trumpets warn us that things aren’t right in the world – that the world is broken.

i. And the trumpet plagues warn people that one day total judgment will come

e. But until that day comes, there is still time to repent of our sins and turn to God. And that’s the final reason for the trumpet plagues – they serve as a call to repentance.

i. The trumpet plagues, affecting 1/3 of everything – still gives people time to repent, turn from the gods of this world and believe in the God who sits on the throne of heaven.

1. God shows his power, his holiness, and his judgment so that humanity will turn from their wicked ways, repent of their sins and seek forgiveness in Jesus.

5. Future Events? – Are these literal future events? Should we be anticipating the blowing of actual literal trumpets…or is nature already going berserk around us?

i. Obviously, we can’t actually say for certain if these events are literally going to happen or not, but if we look around at our world – is not God trying to get our attention now?

1. Look around, listen… trumpets are blowing – loudly.

a. So, either nature going berserk means nothing, or it means that chaos is ruling…

i. Or maybe, just maybe it is God trying to get our attention.

1. Maybe its God showing us that things aren’t right with the world, but there’s a way to make them right.

b. Maybe God is already sounding the trumpets…

i. Showing is awesome power, warning people of coming judgment, and calling people to repentance.

1. And in his mercy, he still gives us humans time to turn to him, time to repent of our sins and accept his forgiveness in Jesus’ name.

a. There’s still time, but time is running.

6. Application – I know judgment isn’t a topic we like to think or talk about. We like to talk about God’s love, his gift of salvation, his grace in our lives…

a. But the Bible is very clear that God will judge those who do not believe in him.

i. The Bible is clear that God will judge those who do not repent of their sins.

1. And while the subject isn’t popular and sometimes a little confusing, it is one that we need to be reminded of.

a. We need to know that God’s kingdom is warring against the kingdom of this world.

i. We need to know that judgment will come, and we also need to know that God is already warning us, and he is already trying to get our attention.

b. So, for the non-Christian here this morning – wake up and pay attention.

i. See that even in judgment God is still merciful, he is giving us time to repent; he is calling you to himself.

1. Accept that call. Be counted among the countless number who is gathered around God’s throne at the end of time.

a. Be among those who receive the seal of God. Repent of your sins, turn to God and receive his free gift of salvation.

c. And for the Christian this morning – take hope that one day God will vindicate his people.

i. The clearest indicator of God’s future work is his past actions.

1. God delivered, rescued and vindicated his people in the past, and he will most assuredly do it again in the future.

d. We may struggle and strive and face persecution in this life, but God will come to our rescue and he WILL deliver us from evil…

i. And he will establish his kingdom and he will reign from his throne on the new earth.

e. For next week, read 8:13-9:12. We’ll see what happens when the fifth angel blows his trumpet. And as a little bit of background to this trumpet, I would encourage you to read the book of Joel. It’s only 3 chapters, should take you 20 minutes to read it. A lot of the imagery of the fifth trumpet is rooted in the book of Joel, specifically chapter 2. Read it this week, take notes while you’re reading…what leaps out at you and what confuses you…

i. And next week when we gather together we’ll study what the text says, what it means and how it applies to us today.