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Sermon preached on Revelation 8 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 02/16/2025 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
After last chapter’s interlude, we come now to Jesus’ opening of the seventh seal. This concludes the cycle of seven seals that presented the time between Christ’s first and second comings. It simultaneously transitions to a new cycle of the seven trumpets. While this final seal pictures the end of this current age, these seven trumpets then rewind to give us a complementary picture of the same time between Christ’s first and second comings. But the trumpets do not simply repeat what we saw with the seals. The seals revealed persecuted Christians calling out for God to vindicate them. God’s immediate response was that they would have to wait until the end of this age. But then these seven trumpets show us there is a measure of God’s judgment already being poured out on the wicked at this time, even while God safeguards his sealed saints. So then, we will finish up the seventh seal and then transition to study the first of the four trumpets.
We begin with the seventh seal in verses 1-5. The previous seal left off with the start of God’s wrath at Christ’s second coming. Now, the Lamb finally opens the last seal, and everyone in heaven goes silent. After so much going on in the heavenly throne room these last few chapters, there is this extended moment of silence. This is surely the silence of humility, reverence, and awe in the face of God coming in judgment. As Zephaniah 1:7 says, “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near.” Such silence describes the completion of the final judgment at this last seal.
We see then that final judgment completed in verses 3-5. There, we see this angel with a golden censer before the altar. A censer is a vessel used to burn incense from which the smoke can then waft up in the air. This angel first brings an offering of incense. Revelation interprets this as the prayers of the saints. In context, I remember the fifth seal with the martyrs at the base of the altar praying for vindication for how their blood had been shed. Surely such prayers are symbolized by the incense. The angel then fills the censer with fire and throws it on the earth, which echoes similar judgment prophecy from Ezekiel 10. The result is in verse 5: peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. That brings the seven seals to an end and symbolically describes the end of the final judgment that had begun in the sixth seal.
Let me explain. Revelation has three sets of seven that it systematically works through. We just worked through the seven seals and today we begin with seven trumpets. After that there will be the seven bowls. There is a clear parallelism going on, where we are getting complementary but different accounts of the time between the first and second comings of Christ. Each of those sets of seven ends in the saw way, with this language of thunder, rumbling, lightning, and earthquake. We saw such language in chapter 4 at the throne in heaven. Similar language described God’s presence at Mt. Sinai in Exodus. Such language represents God’s almighty presence. So, we are not surprised to see each of these parallel sets of seven that appear to each take us through to the end of this age with this language of thunder, rumbling, lightning, and earthquake. That’s because the of end of this age when Christ returns is God coming in his mighty presence. God comes to judge the wicked and to save the elect. Like at Sinia, the world thunders and quakes and lights up when the Almighty arrives.
Let me clarify. While each set of seven (the seals, trumpets, and bowls) parallels each other, there is also progression going on. The trumpets show a greater measure of judgment that God is bringing to the earth than the seals. The bowls will show even more. From the start of Revelation to the end, we move from the early days of the new covenant church to the end of this age and the ushering in of the new creation. There is clearly progress from start to finish in the book. Even this language of peals of thunder, etc, gets more pronounced after each set of seven. Yet, we’ll continue to see clear clues of recapitulation as well, like how these trumpets describe things like sun, moon, stars, and mountains, even though in the previous sixth seal those were all destroyed. The trumpets clearly rewind in time and give us a parallel perspective, but with some progression. It’s not just retelling us the same thing, it’s giving us something more as the overarching story heads toward the end. So then, this simultaneous recapitulation and progression transitions here when the seventh seal describes the end of this age, only to suddenly see this next set of seven trumpets emerge and the judgments increase.
Let us turn in our second point to consider the seven trumpets in general, especially these first four. We first see the trumpets in verse 2 in the midst of the seventh seal. But after the initial glimpse of the trumpets, that’s when we see that angel with the golden censer to conclude the seventh seal. Then verse 6 returns us back to the trumpets which becomes the focus from there. Let us appreciate the weaving in of seven trumpets there at the end with the seventh seal. The seventh seal presents the final judgment as an answer to the prayers of the saints who cried out to have their blood vindicated. But, there is also a sense in which the seven trumpets are a beginning of those prayers already being answered now. These trumpets reveal God already pouring out plagues of judgment upon this earth as a rebuke to the enemies of God’s people and a warning to repent.
So then, let’s appreciate some of the structural similarity between the seven trumpets and the seven seals. Both the seals and trumpets each begin with a group of four items that are to be understood as a group. Then they both have two distinct items, the fifth then the sixed seal or trumpet. Then there is an extended interlude before the final seventh item in the set. Yet, there are some differences. The last three trumpets find some grouping by the eagle in verse 13 as three woes, and there is a closer connection between the fifth and sixth trumpets which describe judgments directly against humans, versus the fifth and sixth seals which were quite different. Also, while the sixth and seventh seals both seem to speak about the final judgment, that doesn’t get addressed with the trumpets until the seventh trumpets. Again, the similarities and differences get us to think of both recapitulation and progression.
Let us appreciate that the trumpets then seem to have a greater emphasis of judgment against the wicked. We can see this in several ways. One way is next chapter says in verse 4 that the fifth trumpet can’t harm the sealed saints on earth. That also seems implied for the sixth trumpet. Maybe we are to read that back into all the trumpets. Surely, the context in general tells us, that like with the trumpets, the sealed of God are preserved in their faith through it all. Another way we can see the greater emphasis on judgment against the wicked is by how these trumpets bring to mind the ten plagues that happened to Egypt through Moses. Our recent Wednesday night Bible study through Exodus has reminded us that while God could have saved Israel from Egypt more quickly, he hardened the Egyptians hearts so that God could manifest his power before the Egyptians. God did this so they would know, “There is no one like the LORD,” and that, “The earth is the LORD’s.” The plagues judged Egypt for their rejection of God, warning them repent of their evil, and indeed some did. Next chapter will even use the language of plagues and say that these trumpets should spark repentance. The plagues in Exodus were not about punishing Israel but were against wicked Egypt. So too, these trumpet judgments are especially targeted against the wicked, who like the Egyptians, hated God’s people.
Let us also observe that the scope of the destruction by these trumpets is partial. These trumpets repeatedly emphasize destruction in the amount of one-third. On the one hand, this seems greater than the seals. On the other hand, the seven bowls of wrath will later describe a greater degree of destruction. But this helps us to see that these trumpets function to warn a rebellious world of God’s judgment.
On this second point where I’m considering these trumpets in general, let me acknowledge the challenge for interpreting them. Remember, this is an apocalyptic vision. We are getting symbolic imagery and we have to interpret. Remember, when Joseph in Genesis 37 had a dream of sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him, the interpretation was that they represented his father, mother, and brothers, bowing down to him. Just because we see things like the sun, moon, and stars here, doesn’t necessarily mean that its interpretation has anything to do with the actual sun, moon, and stars. It might, but it might not. Some interpreters who downplay the amount of symbolism in Revelation, do in fact interprets these very literally. Others have taken the symbolism in rather imaginative ways and come up with all sorts of symbolic historical proposals. Some have suggested these describe specific false doctrines that have arisen in the church, others have suggested these are historical attacks from barbarian hordes, or yet other ideas that seem quite far from the imagery in text. I find the trumpets particularly difficult because unlike some parts of Revelation, we’re not given here much explanation other than the vision itself. That leads me to try to appreciate the symbolism without delving too far away from the imagery used in the vision itself.
So, when interpreting these first four trumpets, we must ask do they each refer to a single plague that is being foretold, or are they more descriptive of the sorts of plagues we’ll find coming at various times before Christ’s return? While it is conceivable that these refer to just four specific historical incidents, I don’t think that is the most likely interpretation. I’ve established that there is a parallel with the seven seals, and that the four trumpets and four seals seem to parallel each other. The four seals clearly didn’t represent four distinct actions that would happen chronologically in order on earth, and I don’t think the four trumpets do either. Rather, I believe we are to interpret the four trumpets together just like we handled the four seals together. Taken together, these trumpets symbolically paint a picture of the sorts of plagues of judgment that God will be bringing on earth throughout this time period between Christ’s first and second comings.
So, when we take these plagues together, we see that destruction comes to four areas of creation: the land, sea, freshwater, and the heavens. In other words, there is a rather comprehensive scope of destruction that happens to the created order. When we think of these functioning similar to how the ten plagues functioned with Egypt, I interpret this to mean that we will see God’s judgments falling upon all the natural created world in this age. These are meant to warn mankind to repent, as they reveal the God who is Lord over all creation. All the creation will be affected, but not yet in total destruction – remember the emphasis here on only thirds being affected. So, wide-scale destruction on the creation but not yet complete destruction. I remember how in Luke’s gospel, Jesus spoke about how the tower in Siloam falling warned people to repent lest something worse happens to them. In a bigger way, we can expect at this time various widespread destructive plagues that affect this world in order to warn the world before final judgment comes. Now, do these four trumpets foretell plagues on these literal realms of the created order, literally affecting land, sea, water, and sky, or should we yet think of a more symbolic realization? It’s hard to say dogmatically, but given no hint otherwise here, I tend to think we can expect that these apocalyptic descriptions do target the various actual created realms mentioned. Indeed, between the first and second coming of Christ’s we’ve seen very destructive plagues on the land, sea, freshwater, and sky.
Let us turn briefly now in our last point to consider the specifics of each four trumpets. The first trumpet is in verse 7 and it describes hail and fire mixed with blood falling from the sky. Now, again, this could be a woodenly literal description of some calamity, but the blood reference makes me wonder if there isn’t symbolism too. In context, I’m remembering back to the prayers of the martyrs that were just referenced, how they wanted their blood avenged on earth. As this plague is reminiscent of the plague of hail in Egypt, there wasn’t blood falling from the sky then. But in a vision, it is not strange to see blood falling too. In the symbolism of the vision, it may help communicate that this, along with all the trumpets, are the beginning of God’s judgments upon this earth because of how the world has shed the blood of the saints. The result of this first plague affects the land, with the trees and the grass experiencing destruction. Indeed, this world has known many great destructive forces that have affected the land and its vegetation. The history books remind us of the Great Chinese Famine last century, or the Irish Potato Famine in the 1800s, or The Great European Famine in the 1300s. Literally millions of people died in those incidents. There have been catastrophic destructions of land throughout this period of time. Each is a judgment against a fallen world. Each is warning and a call to repent.
The second trumpet is there in verses 8-9. John sees in his apocalyptic vision something like a great burning mountain falling into the sea. Jeremiah 51 speaks of Babylon as a mountain that God will burn and throw off a cliff, which may be the background of this imagery, judgment against such wicked nations. This plague is reminiscent of the first plague against Egypt, when God turned the Nile into blood, as this trumpet turns the sea into blood. It brings destruction to both sea creatures and ships on the sea. Indeed, the world has known many great disasters on the ocean. Various volcanic eruptions that have spilled into seas, major red tide algae blooms, large-scale naval battles, large oil spills, and more come to mind. There have been large scale destructions in and on the seas throughout this period of time. Each is a judgment against a fallen world. Each is warning and a call to repent.
The third trumpet is there in verses 10-11. A great blazing star falls from heaven. It is given a name, Wormwood, which is a plant proverbially known for its bitter taste. That again points to symbolism here, to give this falling fiery star a descriptive name. It specifically affects the freshwater sources in the rivers and the springs. It results in the poisoning of waters. It will kill you if you drink from the affected waters. Indeed, many terrible disasters have affected major drinking water sources. We might remember what happened with Chernobyl where radioactive fallout contaminated a lot of water sources as but one example. For that matter, if you have traveled internationally, you’ll learn real quick that there are a lot of places in the world where their freshwater is not really safe to drink. Safe drinking water is essential to human life, and many circumstances have caused various water sources to become “wormwood”. Each is a judgment against a fallen world. Each is warning and a call to repent.
The fourth trumpet is there in verses 12. John sees a third of the sun, moon, and stars struck. The symbolic nature of this description seems evident, as it is hard to understand how a third of each of those would be put out simultaneously. This results in diminished light, both night and day. We know how essential light is, not only for the practical convenience of seeing what you are doing, but especially for the survival of agriculture. Increased solar farming further heightens its importance for us. Indeed, there have been some things that have affected the amount of light. Besides short lived phenomenon like eclipses, certainly there have been some major volcanic eruptions in history that have sent so much ash into the sky as to create extended periods of darkness. For example, in 1816 a volcano in Indonesia (Mt. Tambora) led to the “Year with a Summer” and lowered global temperatures. Real concerns have been raised today that either a very large asteroid or even a nuclear war could also cause the sky to go dark. Any of these sorts of disasters affecting the skies is a judgment against a fallen world. Each is warning and a call to repent.
It’s hard to know with certainty the exact interpretation of what sorts of plagues may be foretold here. But it is safe to say, that should we find any thing in the realm of these sorts of major disasters, we should consider them a trumpet blast to warn us. They remind us that we humans do not have the power to fully subdue this fallen world and govern it properly. We are reminded that there is a God who does govern it sovereignly in his omnipotence. We are reminded that we owe him complete devotion. We are reminded how we have failed in that regard and humanity is now under his judgment. Each of these trumpet blasts is a call for the wayward world to repent and look to Jesus for mercy and grace. Each of these trumpet blasts simultaneously reminds the Christian that God knows the world hates us and that he will answer our prayers to vindicate us and save us from them.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, in conclusion, with this reminder, we acknowledge our God is both merciful and just. We certainly appreciate his mercy. It can be hard to hear about his justice when we think of his terrifying wrath. But the Bible teaches us that it is good that our God will judge the wicked world that will not receive his mercy. That’s a common theme in the psalms. We praise God not only for the mercy he has shown us but even for the justice he gives to the obstinate. Praise be to our just and merciful God.
Amen.
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
