Apocalypse Rising: 17c Characteristics of the Trumpet Judgements

What is the significance of trumpets in Scripture?

When it comes to the study of the feasts of Israel and end-time events, it seems that there are trumpets everywhere. There were many trumpet blasts on the day of the Feast of Trumpets, and there are corresponding trumpet blasts at the time of the rapture (1 Cor. 15:52, 1 Thess. 4:16). There were trumpet blasts through the Days of Awe between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. There is a trumpet blast at the time of the Second Advent (Matt. 24:31). And there are seven trumpet blasts in the book of Revelation (Rev. chs.8-11). Trumpets, trumpets, and even more trumpets! This can easily become confusing to the reader, and many people wrongly conflate some of these trumpet blasts together. It is therefore important for us to distinguish between them.

In Scripture, trumpet blasts are used in different ways to signify events. For example, they were used to gather together the community of God’s people (Num. 10:1-3, Jer. 4:5, Isa. 27:13, Matt. 24:31). They were used to warn people of impending disaster or coming judgement (Jer. 4:5, Ezek. 33:3-6, Joel 2:1). They were used to herald the coming and arrival of an important person, and we saw this in chapter 3 in relation to the coming of Christ for his bride in the rapture (1 Cor. 15:52, 1 Thess. 4:16). So, to sum these up, the main use of trumpet blasts in Scripture is to direct the attention of God’s people towards a particular thing that he is doing in any given area.

These seven trumpet blasts in Revelation should not be confused with the trumpet blasts given at the time of the rapture (1 Thess. 4:16) and at the Second Advent (Matt. 24:31). These seven trumpet blasts are warnings of impending disasters and especially of the time of judgement which is coming in the time of the Great Tribulation. They are not actual trumpet blasts which are heard on earth, but they are related to acts of judgement which do happen on earth. Recalling C.S. Lewis’ saying that suffering is God’s megaphone to a deaf world, and seen from earth’s perspective, these acts of judgement are figurative trumpet blasts which need to be heeded. Therefore, the point is to heed the warning which is implicit in the event which happens. The period of the trumpets is a time of warning to humankind and a final call to repentance before the Great Tribulation ensues.

However, the disastrous and catastrophic events associated with these trumpet blasts are in addition to and on top of the continuing macro-factors in human life and relationships, and the birth pains discussed in previous chapters. These will increase markedly in frequency and regularity after the rapture. So the period of the trumpets will be a time when multiple natural disasters are happening regularly and concurrently in various parts of the globe.[1]

So these trumpet blasts are God’s clarion call to people to repent from their sin, because, if they do not, there is even worse to come in the Great Tribulation:

‘But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’ (Luke 13:3,5)

However, unfortunately, in these trumpet blasts and also in the bowls of wrath which happen later on, we can see clearly the human proclivity not to heed any such implicit warning. We simply want to return to living the way we were before the disaster, much like the Israelites in Amos’ time. We do not return to the Lord, and so we make few if any changes to our lifestyle (Amos 4:6-11). Indeed, to use a current phrase, we simply and defiantly ‘build back better,’ blindly carrying on in our sinful ways, and we therefore make it inevitable that even worse judgements will eventually come our way (Amos 4:12). Or, if the disaster did not touch us personally, we simply say to ourselves that, because it did not touch us, then there is no need for us to change:

‘The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.’ (Rev. 9:20-21)

‘They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.’ (Rev. 16:9)

‘Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.’ (Rev. 16:11)

The trumpets and creation

A careful study of the seven trumpets of Revelation chs.8-11f shows that they describe calamities and events which are associated with creation and with ‘the inhabitants of the earth.’ Generally speaking, the events of the first four trumpets happen to the physical creation itself, and the last three happen to humankind.[2] This close link between the trumpets and the physical creation can be seen in many references, and in fact they are first intimated during the days of the sixth seal, prior to the blowing of the first trumpet:

‘After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.’ (Rev. 7:1)

‘He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”’ (Rev. 7:2-3)

Other references linking the trumpets to the physical creation, and which the reader may wish to follow up, can be found in Revelation 8:5,7,13; 10:5,8; 11:4,6,18 and 12:9,12.

A Jewish tradition which is associated with Rosh Hashanah (or Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets) is that on this day God is ‘crowned’ as king of creation.[3] Therefore, in the days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement – which are prophetically fulfilled at the rapture and the Second Advent respectively – God is seen as taking stock of what humans have done to his creation, which inevitably therefore leads them into judgement.

In this respect, the narrative of the trumpets describes God twice as the God of all creation, and it also says that the time has come for God to destroy those who destroy the earth:

‘And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, and earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it…’ (Rev. 10:6)

‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’ (Rev. 14:6)

‘The time has come… for destroying those who destroy the earth.’ (Rev. 11:18)

We can also see a connection with the created world running through the ministry of the Two Witnesses in the description of the sixth trumpet:

‘These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.’ (Rev. 11:6)

Table 17.2 below shows the parallelism between the trumpets and the days of creation in Genesis chs.1-2:

The parallelism of the trumpets with the creation narrative

First trumpet

Rev. 8:7

earth, trees, grass

third day

(Gen. 1:10-13)

Second trumpet

Rev. 8:8-9

sea and

sea creatures

fifth day

(Gen. 1:20-23)

Third trumpet

Rev. 8:10-11

rivers, waters

third day (?)

(Gen. 1:9-13,

2:10-14)

Fourth trumpet

Rev. 8:12

sun, moon, stars

fourth day

(Gen. 1:14-19)

Fifth to seventh

trumpets

Rev. 8:13f

inhabitants

of the earth

(men/women)

sixth day

(Gen. 1:26-31)

Sixth trumpet

Rev. 9:13-14

Rev. 10:1-4

Rev. 11:13

river Euphrates

seven thunders

severe earthquake

in Jerusalem

derived from a headstream

in the garden of

Eden (Gen. 2:10-14)

God’s voice speaking

through powerful events in

creation (Ps. 29)

Seventh trumpet

Rev. 12:3-4,7-9

one third of the

angels thrown

out of heaven

cf. Luke 10:18

Table 17.2 The parallelism of the trumpets with the creation narrative

An observant reader of Revelation will notice that there are many references to destructive events in the created world also during the time of the seven bowls of wrath (Rev. ch.16). These happen sometime after the seventh trumpet is blown when the rule of Antichrist has been established on earth. However, the purpose of these bowls is to break down and destroy the dominion of Antichrist, rather than to warn humankind of what is to come and to call them to repentance. Their historical parallel is found in the Exodus narrative of the plagues upon Egypt, rather than in the judgements that came upon Jerusalem (see chapter 22). They are therefore of a different nature and have a different purpose to the seven trumpets, and for this reason I have not included them as part of the seventh trumpet. I have treated the seventh trumpet as opening the way to the eventual outpouring of the seven bowls of wrath.

What is the significance of the fractional number ⅓rd?

One of the themes which occurs repeatedly in the descriptions of these trumpets and their related events, is the fractional number ⅓ (one third). Many numbers in the Bible are used with symbolic significance. For example, the number 7 symbolises perfection, the number 4 speaks of creation (cf. the four points of the compass), and the number 40 speaks of a period of transition and testing. In Scripture, the fractional number ⅓ is symbolic of God’s judgement.

This symbolism of ‘one third’ is used in the descriptions of six out of the seven trumpets (see Rev. 8:7-9,11-12; 9:18, 12:4), and, again, it alludes prophetically to the graphic picture given to us by Ezekiel of the judgements which would come upon Jerusalem through the Babylonians. Each judgement was limited to a third of the people, yet, taken together, they represented total judgement on the people:

‘When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword.’ (Ezek. 5:2)

‘A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.’ (Ezek. 5:12)

This is a picture of the totality of the judgement which would come against Jerusalem: ‘one third plus one third plus one third equals one whole.’ God used three different, limited measures of judgement against Jerusalem which, taken together, would bring total destruction to the city, the temple and its people. This judgement happened in 587/586 BC. Yet, even though this judgement was total, God, in his mercy and ongoing purposes for his people, preserved a small remnant which became the seed of the future nation:

‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me…’ (Ezek. 6:8-9)

This fractional number ‘one third’ occurs again in Zechariah 13:8-9, although with a variation:

‘“In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”’ (Zech. 13:8-9)

Again, the picture here is of judgement, and it describes the final attempted holocaust that will come upon Israel through Antichrist (see chapter 21). In v.8, the fraction of judgement is doubled to ‘two-thirds,’ but it is still measured in thirds. This probably indicates a double measure of judgement in the time of the Great Tribulation. The remaining third – seen as a remnant which survives through the time of judgement – is refined and forms the renewed covenant people of God.

The phrase ‘one third’ should, of course, be taken in these passages to be a round figure, i.e. it means ‘around a third,’ rather than seeking to be mathematically precise when dealing with the numbers of people affected. It should also be interpreted this way as a round figure in the trumpet judgements in Revelation.

As I said earlier in this chapter, ancient Israel was a prophetic type for the world. God will deal with the world in the same way that he dealt with ancient Israel, in terms both of judgement and of eventual restoration. The principles of how God deals with sin in terms of judgement do not change, whether for ancient Israel or for the world in the end-times. So just as ‘one third’ was the measure of his judgement against ancient Israel, so too here in these trumpet judgements God’s measure towards the world is also ‘one third.’ However, just as God’s prophetic word to ancient Israel held out the hope of eventual restoration, so too God’s purposes for this world will eventually surpass judgement with worldwide restoration consequent to the Second Advent of Christ.

There are several significant examples of this measure of ‘one third’ being present in well-known catastrophic historical events. For example, the so-called ‘Plague of Justinian,’ an outbreak of bubonic plague which continued to recur from 541 to 767 AD, is reliably estimated by many historians to have killed several tens of millions of people, totalling between 33% to 40% of the world’s population at that time.[4]

As another related example, although estimates vary, many historians think that about one third of the whole population of the Middle East died during the outbreak of the ‘Black Death’ bubonic plague in the 1300s, together with up to 45-50% of the population of Europe. The general figure given for the whole world population ranges from one-quarter to one-third who died. Interestingly, this plague was followed over the next century or so by a profound ecclesiastical and spiritual restoration in Western Europe brought about by the Reformation movement.

Again, depending on the source consulted, the world’s population of Jewish people in 1940 numbered around 18 million, with 9.3 million of these living in Europe. By the end of World War 2 in 1945, around 5.8 – 6 million of these had been killed in the genocide of the Holocaust. That is roughly about two-thirds of the European population figure, or one-third of the world figure. This Holocaust was followed very soon afterwards by the restoration of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland in fulfilment of God’s prophetic word to them (Ezek. 36:24 – 37:28; Isa. 11:11-13, 66:8).

The trumpets are of a localised and limited nature

Whereas the seals pertain to human life and relationships, the trumpets are concerned with creation. Many of these events are therefore of a geographical nature. Furthermore, it seems that they are also of a localised and limited nature.

We can see from the narrative that several of these trumpets are geographically localised. They do not happen to the whole world. The word ‘earth’ in the first trumpet (8:7) is better translated as ‘land,’ and does not refer to the whole globe. The effects of the fire are localised, and it is one third of the earth, trees and grass in that area which are burned up. In the second trumpet, the area of the sea which is affected is local to where the huge blazing mountain-like object falls. It affects marine life and shipping in that particular area (8:8-9). Similar too with the third trumpet. The rivers and waters are affected in the area where the object from space hits the earth (8:10-11). However, in the fourth trumpet, it would seem evident that the whole planet appears to suffer from the atmospheric effects described (8:12).

We are not told where or exactly who experiences the effects of the fifth trumpet, except that those who were sealed are not affected (9:1-11). The events connected with the sixth trumpet take place in the area of the Euphrates and, later on, in and around Jerusalem (9:13-21, 11:1-13). The NIV uses the word ‘mankind’ in verses 9:15,18, but the underlying Greek word anthropos is better rendered as ‘men’ or ‘people.’ It refers to the people (and military combatants) who are killed during the war that ensues in and around the area of the Euphrates. It is probably a third of the total number of people who live in that area of the world who are killed. The rest of humankind is expected to observe and repent from their sin, but they fail to do so (9:20-21). However, the events of the seventh trumpet, the Great Tribulation, do affect the whole of humankind (11:15f, and see later).

Furthermore, the fractional number ‘one third’ which is used repeatedly, implies that, whatever destructive consequences these events will have, yet these consequences are ultimately limited. It means that ‘two thirds’ are not touched or seriously affected. So, bad as they may be, yet these judgements are only partial. Many people will not directly experience their effects. They will only observe or hear about them, and therefore have an opportunity to heed the implicit call to repentance which is wrapped up in them. So there is a measure of divine mercy even in this time of judgement.

We may not be able to speak with exactness in regard to how these trumpet judgements are fulfilled, but we can speak with clarity as to on whom they fall (creation and humankind) and why they happen (they are partial judgements).

Copyright Notice

[1] I noted in chapter 14 a comment that the Prime Minister of Australia made to the effect that the Australian public now need to accept to live regularly in the face of multiple concurrent natural disasters. The prevalence of prolonged droughts, extreme heatwaves, extensive flooding and unprecedented wildfires in Australia over the last decade, and a major pandemic on top of all that, provides a case in point and it is deeply sobering.

[2] The seventh trumpet also involves a judgement on the angelic realm, with the dragon and one third of the angels being thrown out of heaven onto the earth for the duration of the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:3-4,7-9). The angelic realm is, of course, part of the created order.

[3] The period beginning on Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets) and ending on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) is known as the High Holy Days or as the Days of Awe. Every morning during this period, a trumpet (shofar) is blown to ‘awaken’ the people, and to warn them to repent, to put their lives right, and to return to God, because judgement is coming. According to some commentators, this suggests a prophetic eschatological parallel between these daily shofar trumpet blasts and the seven trumpet blasts of Revelation whose purpose is similarly to warn people to repent and to return to God, because the judgement and wrath of the Great Tribulation is imminent. The period of the seven trumpets after the rapture will be a time when Israel and indeed the whole world enters its days of awe and needs to repent and turn back to God in faith.

[4] See www.statista.com/statistics/1114242/justinian-plague-estimates, accessed on 06.01.2022.

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17c Characteristics of the Trumpet Judgements

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