Surprise! Surprise! If you have been observing the book of Revelation with us, you have probably been pleasantly surprised to find that it is really not all that difficult to understand.
In order to hear what God is saying in the book of Revelation we just have to walk through it slowly and methodically… we have to pay close attention to it… and we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture instead of listening to everyone else’s opinion of what God has written.
These are the “Scenes” we have seen so far in the book of Revelation:
Scene 1 (Revelation 1:1-11) The Revelation of Jesus is Given to John
Scene 2 (Revelation 1:12-20) The Vision of Jesus is Seen by John
Scene 3 (Revelation 2-3) The Seven Churches
Scene 4 (Revelation 4) Throne Room Scene, Part 1—God is Worthy
Scene 5 (Revelation 5) Throne Room Scene, Part 2—The LAMB is Worthy
Scene 6 (Revelation 6:1-2) The LAMB Breaks the First Seal of Judgment
Scene 7 (Revelation 6:3-4) The LAMB Breaks the Second Seal of Judgment
Scene 9 (Revelation 6:5-6) The LAMB Breaks the Third Seal of Judgment
Scene 10 (Revelation 6:7-8) The LAMB Breaks the Fourth Seal of Judgment
Scene 11 (Revelation 6:9-11) The LAMB Breaks the Fifth Seal of Judgment
Scene 12 (Revelation 6:12-17) The LAMB Breaks the Sixth Seal of Judgment
Scene 13 (Revelation 7:1-8) Interlude—The 144,000 is Sealed
Scene 14 (Revelation 7:9-17) Interlude—The Great Multitude
Scene 15 (Revelation 8:1-6) The LAMB Breaks the Seventh Seal of Judgment
Review is always a good thing. Take a little time now and read through the first seven chapters of Revelation and be encouraged by how much you can understand! Then read Revelation 8 and be prepared to observe!
Revelation 8 begins with the Lamb breaking the seventh seal of judgment—immediately there was silence in heaven—the anticipation of greater and more intense judgments was felt in the beings of all those who were present. (Remember, although we are talking in past tense because we are recounting what is written in the Bible, this has not yet taken place—it is yet to come.)
When the Lamb breaks the seventh seal there is silence in heaven; it lasts for about half an hour. the next thing John sees is seven angels, the ones who stand before God, and they are given seven trumpets.
Another angel comes and stands at the altar, holding a golden censer. A great deal of incense is given to him to put into the censer. The censer already contains a lot of incense.
The incense is synonymous with the prayers of all the saints. What that means is that the saints have been praying and their prayers have been stored up, waiting to be answered. One final delivery of prayers is “loaded” into the censer. The smoke from all the prayers increases before God.
The angel takes the censer, fills it with the fire of the altar, and throws it to the earth. Immediately peals of thunder and sound and flashes of lightning, along with an earthquake, are unleashed on the earth.
In the midst of this forbidding atmospheric turbulence the seven angels who had been given the seven trumpets prepare to sound them. The seven angels each take up their trumpets and place them in position to begin resounding—in other words they are getting ready to blow them.
(Seals)1 2 3 4 5 6 7=(Trumpets)1 2 3 4 5 6 7=(Bowls)1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Taking a look at the simple chart above, can you see where we are in the book of Revelation? The last seal (7) has been broken. The last seal judgment is the seven trumpet judgments. We are now ready to observe the first of those seven judgments—the first trumpet.
The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth… Revelation 8:7a
The first of the seven angels blows his trumpet. Immediately hail and fire (most likely lightning), mixed with blood are produced. They are thrown to the earth and cause unimaginable destruction.
The text says that the hail and fire were mixed with blood and then thrown to the earth. Some people claim the blood will be produced on the earth by human death due to the hail and fire. Why? Mainly because they don’t want to attribute “unnatural phenomenon” to God (which is often because so many people do not want to acknowledge God as the powerful Sovereign that He is). Somehow many feel more comfortable when they disconnect God from His creation.
Doesn’t this trumpet judgment, however, remind you of something else in the Bible? Perhaps the plagues in the book of Exodus? Yes, some of the trumpet judgments are amazingly similar.
Now the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.” Exodus 9:22–26
What about the hail and fire being mixed with blood? There is no reasonable earthly answer to the blood—the only explanation is an “unnatural” action taken by the all-powerful God. It is with some confusion that anyone can come to the conclusion that God can be limited by His Own creation…
Thus says the Lord, “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I will strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned to blood. The fish that are in the Nile will die, and the Nile will become foul, and the Egyptians will find difficulty in drinking water from the Nile.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”
So Moses and Aaron did even as the Lord had commanded. And he lifted up the staff and struck the water that was in the Nile, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, and all the water that was in the Nile was turned to blood. The fish that were in the Nile died, and the Nile became foul, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. And the blood was through all the land of Egypt. Exodus 7:17-21
What will happen when the hail and fire, mixed with blood, are 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. Revelation 8:7b
One-third of the earth will be burned up… that is not even possible to comprehend… mind-boggling… One-third of the trees will be burned up, destroyed, gone… completely impossible to grasp… And all the green grass will be incinerated… absolutely unimaginable…
John is not giving us a scientific documentation of the details of this cataclysmic judgment (although what he is telling us is 100% accurate in the information he does give us). He is telling us what he saw—and, of course, what he saw is going to eventually happen. The judgment of the first trumpet is a warning to the earth—a huge, unmistakable warning of even more catastrophe to come…
But… most of mankind will not repent… the judgments will continue and increase… and finally, the wrath of God will be finished…
