Please turn to Revelation chapter 8, and we will read verses 1 through 13, which happens to be the whole chapter of Revelation chapter 8. And then the sermon will walk through this passage to begin the third cycle of sevens, if you will, in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 8 with the seven trumpets. Please hear the Word of God with Revelation 8, starting verse 1. When He, the Lamb, opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded. and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. Then the second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Then the third angel sounded, And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water, the name of the stars Wormwood. A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died from the water because it was made bitter. Then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, a third of the stars, and a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine and had no light, and likewise the night. And I looked and I heard an angel or an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. This is the word of God and may God by his spirit teach us and convict us according to his will this morning. You may be seated. In your bulletin, you will see an outline of how we'll walk through this passage. And because Rex is here, I had to make it be an alliteration to impress him and to follow maybe what he would teach his students at CBTS. But I want to walk through this with five steps. First, we'll look at previously what has occurred for us to get here. How do we get to these seven trumpets? And then we'll look at the prayer that's expressed in the first six verses of Revelation 8. Briefly, we've looked at it a little bit, but I want us to briefly look at it again. Then we'll look at the progression from the seven seals to the seven trumpets. What is the connection between them? Then we'll look at the plagues of the sounds of these trumpets that we see in Revelation 8. And then we'll look at a preview. You notice in verse 13, there's more to come, and so we'll look at a preview. of what is to come with the remaining trumpets. You see that in your bulletin. And we'll follow that as at least a guide so you can have a roadmap of how we're going to walk through this passage and other things. And so in a sense, the previous section, the previously point is our introduction. How did we get here? And we've had so many starts and stops. And it's good to go back and review. But it's also helpful to see how we get here to know how we are to interpret what we're seeing in front of us. And Revelation, as we've said, is presented as a series of seven visions, largely showing the same time period, the time period between the two advents of Christ and the same story, but from different angles and adding different information as we go. And John Miller has said something like this, which I think is helpful. The seven cycles are like a play put on by the angels of heaven in seven acts. Each act then conveys important truths and features of human history from the perspective of heaven, to provide encouragement to the Christians on earth, even now, and warnings to the lost to come to Christ, even now. And the first vision, the first of the sevens is Revelation chapters one through three, where we saw the glorious, resurrected, glorified, ascended, reigning Christ walk in the midst of his lampstand, his churches, And he commissions John to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor, which represents all churches of all ages. Some of the churches were faithful, and they had good doctrine. Some compromised and had synchronism with the world. Some experienced persecution. Some were encouraged. Some were rebuked. You see, this is what happens throughout all of the church age. But all were given the hope of Christ ruling his people now. He's amongst the lampstands. and his and their victory to come. And the seven letters were meant to encourage, to rebuke, to exhort, to faithful endurance in the face of suffering in these last days. And it's meant to be that to us as well. And then the second cycle in Revelation chapters four through seven, we move from the seven churches to the seven seals. From the churches on earth, the letters written to them to the church in heaven and to God and the lamb in the heavenly throne room. And this picture is, again, what will happen between the advents with persecution and trial and tribulation? Times and places of ease and blessing will occur, and times and places of great difficulty and tribulation will occur, depending on who you are and where you are and what time you are. And the ascended lamb then opens the seven seals, which represent the executing of God's decrees of judgment and salvation. And the focus on these seven seals is on those who are sealed. There's a little bit of a pun there, perhaps, but the seals focus on the sealed, those who are secured in Christ in the midst of tribulation in these last days. And it's helpful to remember what the pattern was of those seven seals, because the pattern of the seven trumpets are basically the same. The first four seals were taken together as a group. As the seals were open and then Christ sends out the four horsemen in a general judgment against the sinful world, the white horse represented the conquering of external warfare, the red horse, the bloodshed of civil or internal warfare, if you will. The black horse represented the famine and the scarcity that would occur. And the pale horse was a summary of all of the above focusing on death. And these four horsemen afflicted mankind in various times and places and degrees throughout the last days, but it was limited in scope. It was the beginning of sorrows, the birth pains that Jesus spoke about in the Olivet Discourse. And the fourth horseman was said to affect one-fourth of all the earth. It's limited in scope, meaning it's a foretaste of what is to come in the final judgment when Christ returns. And in these first four seals being opened in the four horsemen, we see the punishment of sin and sinners, but the purification and the persecution of the church at the same time. And because of that, Christians will suffer inordinately during these times because of their lack of compromise and their insistence. to witness for Christ, and so they'll suffer economically and socially and even physically at different times and places. So because of that, the fifth seal, if you remember, opens up showing the saints who have been slain due to the word and their testimony under the altar in heaven. And they're crying out in that fifth seal, how long until you judge and avenge our blood on those who afflict us and who dwell on earth? And God graciously gave them white robes. You remember that? And he tells them to rest just a little while longer until the number is fulfilled. And so then the sixth seal was opened, and that leads up to the final judgment and the return of Christ with an increasing display of judgment, seemingly in response to the prayers of the saints. And then there was an interlude, if you remember, in chapter 7 between the sixth and the seventh seal. There's an interlude where we saw the church militant sealed on earth in the midst of the tribulations that we go through even now. And then the church triumphant secured in the end in heaven. And that's when the lamb shepherds his people out of the tribulation that we go through now and into his living waters. And he wipes all tears from the church's eyes, from Christian's eyes. And we are in the presence of Christ forever. brought out of tribulation to enter our eternal home and state where we glory forever in the promised land, if you will, in the final state. So then finally, the seventh seal was opened. And we saw that even as we read the first five verses of chapter eight. There's an overlap between the seven seals and the seven trumps. But the seventh seal was opened. And when that seventh seal was opened, as you saw, Initially, there is silence in heaven, representing the judgment to come. And then there are the prayers of the saints mentioned again in those first five verses of chapter 8 after the seventh seal is opened. And then the final judgment comes in response of the prayers of the saints to vindicate and avenge Christ's people. And so with that, the curtain falls on the second act of the book of Revelation with the seals being over, with its focus on believers with the seven seals. And then the angels from the third act will enter into the stage and begin a scene focused on unbelievers with the seven trumpets. We move from that focus from the seals to the trumpets. So at least we can stop and see how these seven seals would be an encouragement to Christians when it was written, but certainly even today. There's a focus on the sealed and the protection of those who are in Christ. But notice the pattern. The first four were as a group, as a general and partial judgment. Then there's a movement with the final steps to move to final judgment and return of Christ with an interlude between the last two. And we'll see that same thing when we walk through the seven trumpets. But I'd like, now that we've gone through the previously section, I'd like us to focus maybe briefly on the prayer that we see in verses one through six, in particular verses three through five. There's an overlap, it's a purposeful overlap, and we'll see it again in the book of Revelation. There's an overlap between the vision of the seven seals and then the vision of the seven trumpets. And the seventh seal is open in verse one, you saw that. And there was silence in heaven, expressing the seriousness, the solemnness of the judgment to come, a pause. And then in that pause, we saw in verse two, that there are seven angels who stood before God and to them, they were given the seven trumpets in anticipation of this next cycle of the seven trumpets, which again focuses on the judgment on the wicked. And then in verses three through five, We saw that another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. And then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and earthquake. And that's representative of the final judgment. And you see those. Those same words and symbolisms being shown later in the book of Revelation to represent the final judgment. We touched on this briefly in a previous sermon, and we also touched on it briefly in a Sunday school study hour. But this section of verses three through five, it seems a little odd how it overlaps, but it's meant to be an encouragement to the sealed of the seals. This is the third time in the midst of the seals that the prayers of the saints have been mentioned before the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb. Way back in Revelation 5, 8, we would read, now when he had taken the scroll, remember when only the Lamb was found to be worthy, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. So it's the same thing, the prayers of the saints then mixed with the incense that might ascend to the nostrils of God. And as a result, they sang a new song saying, you are worthy, you who are slain, but you are redeemed just by your blood. And then in Revelation 6 verses 9 through 11, the fifth seal, that's where the saints were being shown saying, how long? And they're praying out for vindication and helps. And now in verses 3 through 5 of Revelation 8, we see it again with more detail. It's an encouragement for us to pray. We have a God who hears our prayers and acts for his glory. The picture again is our prayers, which are tainted with sin. Everything we do is tainted with sin, even as redeemed believers. but it's by the merits and the intercession of Christ and the works of Christ that makes what we do for God be pleasing and favorable to him. It's all Christ, and here our prayers are mixed with the intercession of Christ personally and with his works. Christ, who by his life and death and resurrection gives us access and adoption into God's family and all, and our prayers are made pleasing, acceptable to our God. This should be an encouragement when our prayers seem like they just bounce off the wall of our skull, perhaps, not even getting to the ceiling of whatever room we're in. And we said before that God decrees the ends as well as the means. And the prayers of the saints, though imperfect, are mixed with the incense, the intercession of Christ, and presented to God, and he uses them to carry out his own decrees. And someone said, in the ways that we do not understand God uses the prayers of the saints to carry out his eternal decrees. And Derek Thomas has said our prayers may make little impact to those who hear them in this world, but when they reach heaven, they are sent back in George Herbert's phrase as reversed thunder. The power of prayer is truly immense. The prayers of all the saints rise fragrantly before God. The simplest Christian, each one of the saints who prays in Jesus name, trusting his death for sin and his never ending reign in heaven to represent the person before God can be certain that his prayers are treasured by God and will be answered according to God's good and perfect will. And Paul adds that in prayer, the spirit helps us in our weakness in Romans chapter eight, which many of us have read this past week and were encouraged by it. And Derek Thomas again says, our prayers rise with the Spirit's power, the sun's mediation, and the assistance of the angels of heaven. So be encouraged, Christian, and pray. And we should corporately pray as God's people. And we have meetings that do that very thing. So I want us to revisit the encouragement to pray through this. We've seen this before, but it's worth looking at again And on top of this encouragement to pray, understand from what we just read in verses one through six, that the silence that you see that's with the seals plays into the trumpets as well. And we'll see that hopefully. And the trumpet sounds themselves seem to be in response of the prayers again. So we saw in verse six, so the seven angels now after this vision in verses three through five, this picture, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound It seems to have the same prayer and response. And the overlap of the seals with the trumpets emphasize that the two visions are covering the same thing. So let's go into the progression from the seals to the trumpets. And certainly in verse two, I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given the seven trumpets. Then in verse six, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. Now it's going to happen. So it's good to understand. The progression, how do we move from the seals to the trumpets? Because there are similarities, but there's also symbolism that it's important for us to see, I think, from the Old Testament scriptures. There's similarities, and there's symbolism for us to see. The similarities, which might be boring, but I think it's important to see. We'll see some of these same similarities with later visions. Certainly you have seven seals in chapters 4 through 8, and you have seven trumpets in chapters 8 through 11. That's an easy similarity. There's seven. And the seals are for the sealed, but the trumpets are for the threatening warning of judgment upon the unsealed. And the seals are largely from a perspective of earth looking up, but the trumps are largely from a perspective of heaven being carried out on earth. Another similarity is that the first four are grouped together to form a more general unit of judgment during the last days. We saw that, at least we talked about the four horsemen being sent out. But here we'll see four angels sounding forth. And there's a limitation to it with the seals, one fourth of the world was under destruction. But with the seals, it's one third, but still it's limited. And it shows that this is not the final judgment. In Sinner it means there's time to repent. God is patient, there's a delay, the final judgment has not come, but it will be coming. So the book of Revelation is one of the greatest evangelistic sources we have. It's encouragement for the Christian, but evangelism for the sinner don't delay because the fact that it's limited now, it means it's foretelling the final judgment to come. And the three woes at the end of this chapter pronounce the same thing. You notice also there's an increased severity. We go from one-fourth to one-third. I think with the bowls we get even more severe. I think it expresses a heightened warning of judgment. If you didn't listen to me the first time, please listen. Final judgment is coming and it's getting nearer, I think, is what the increased severity of these visions is trying to tell us. And after the first four trumps, we see in verse 13 that there's a warning of the three greater ones to come. Another similarity is with the fifth seal and the fifth trump. What these visions do, they take us to a different scene altogether, and we'll find that out in chapter nine when we get there. With the fifth seal, the vision took us up to heaven where we saw the slain saints praying in vindication on those who persecuted them. With the fifth trumpet, we go down to the bottomless pit, and the locusts that are unleashed on the unsealed, There's also a similarity with the sixth aspect. The sixth seal and the sixth trump both result in a harsher judgment on those who do not repent. And we do see the same scene of the wicked still do not repent after all of this. In fact, the sixth trump, which we'll see in chapter nine, we see that their hearts were hardened much like the Pharaoh was, and they still worship their idols in spite of the plagues that have been unleashed upon them. And so we'll read in Revelation nine verses 20 and 21, but the rest of mankind, this is after the sixth trump who are not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, which can neither. see nor hear nor walk, and they did not repent of their murders and their sorceries and of their sexual immorality. Another similarity is there are interludes between the sixth and the seventh seals and trumpets. There are interludes, and those interludes are meant to encourage us, the church, in the midst of all this. With the seals, the interludes showed the church sealed in the midst of the tribulation and then showed the church victorious in the final state with Christ. We'll see what the trumpets, The interlude shows the recommissioning of John to be faithful with the word and gospel, and then a vision of the church as the two witnesses and their commission to be faithful with the gospel in the midst of all of this. And with the seventh seal and trumpet, there's also a similarity because the seventh seal and the seventh trumpet both result in the final judgment and the return of Christ. In Revelation 8, 5, we read that, then the angel took the censer, filled it with the fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there are noises and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake that's representative of the final judgment. We'll find at the end of the seventh seal in Revelation chapter 11. In verse 15, then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And some of us want to keep singing forever and ever and ever with Handel's Messiah. And then the temple of God was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail. So both at the end of the seventh, we see the return of Christ and the final judgment. And in fact, the return of Christ and the final judgment is repeated throughout the book of Revelation to encourage us and to warn the sinner in the recapitulation and the recurring cycles in the book of Revelation. So that's the similarities, but there's also symbolism to be seen as we progress from seals to trumpets. There's symbolism to be seen. I want to look at something in general, but then something specific that I think helps us to understand the seven trumpets. Why trumpets? And I wish it was study hour and I'd wait for someone to answer. Please don't interrupt me though, but the question is, why trumpets? Well, trumpets symbolize the warning of God's coming and judgment in the Old Testament. Trumpets symbolize in general the warning of God's coming and judgment. If we had time, we could look at several places, but Joel chapter two with the judgment to come, Joel says, blow the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. In Judges chapter seven with Gideon, it was reduced to 300 men with little bitty trumpets to defeat the huge enemy and 300 men blew their trumpets. And God threw the Midianites into confusion and defeat, and as it was trumpet that was announcing it, it was the power of God that does it. In Exodus chapter 19, I think this is important. In Exodus chapter 19, in Exodus chapter 19, you have the gathering of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law. Now the king who's delivered his people, now gathered them to show him how to serve and to love and to worship him through the law. And in Exodus chapter 19 is after the use of 10 plagues upon Egypt to deliver his people. He gathers them in Exodus chapter 19 to give the law to them so they might worship and serve their king around Mount Sinai. And a key element with all the thunderings and the lightnings and the smoke and the trembling, a key element to gathering the people was a trumpet sounding loud and long to signal the people to come. There's a command then to sound the trumpets in a peculiar and a distinctive way, loud and long, to signal and to gather the people to Mount Sinai to hear the law. After they'd been delivered by the plagues. And in the New Testament, trumpets will herald Christ's return to gather his elect and to judge the wicked. In Matthew 24 and he will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. In first Corinthians 1522 in a moment in a twinkling of the eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound. The clouds will be rolled back like a scroll, and the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. And then in 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 16 and 17, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Trumpets are important in the Old and New Testament, but in general they symbolize the warning of God's coming, and his judgment, and the gathering of his people. Specifically though, I think the trumpets are drawn from the imagery of Jericho in Joshua chapter six. If we had time I'd read through it, but there's only so much time. You can turn there and look at it while I'm talking to keep yourself awake if you'd like. But in Joshua chapter 6, you have the story of Jericho, and most people at least have heard about it, and the marching around Jericho, and the blowing the trumpets. I think it's significant to see how it fits into God's deliverance of his people from Egypt and into the Promised Land. God had used the plagues, the 10 plagues, to judge Egypt and to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. Keep that in mind when you think of the trumpets of Revelation chapter 8. And the trumpets were used to gather the people to God at Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19. And after their wilderness experience, God is now delivering them his people from the tribulation wanderings to enter into the promised land when we get to Joshua chapter six in Jericho. And so trumpets are used in the first conquest to begin entering this promised land with the conquest of Jericho. And at Jericho, you might remember that they were told to march around the city once for six days blowing the trumpets as they go. And seven priests with seven trumpets were to be marching before the Ark, blowing as they go. Did you catch the numbers? It was on the seventh day then, they were told to march seven times around the city. And then those seven priests with their seven trumpets were told to blow with a distinctively long and loud sound to say, this is different. You've been warned for six days with trumpets, now this is the final blast of the trumpet. And then with that loud and long blast, then the people then would just shout with a loud shout at that point, and the walls then would fall flat, and the enemies of God would be conquered by God's power, even though his people were acting in faith and carrying it out. And so at Jericho, the trumpets were announcing God and his judgment were coming on behalf of his people and against the enemies of God. And so it is in Revelation chapters eight through 11, and the angels sounding the seven trumpets to warn the wicked and to encourage his people. And the silence of the seventh seal represents the pause before the judgment that comes with the seven trumpets as well. And the trumpets represent the coming of God in judgment upon the world. That means trumpets are sounding even now. Did you notice the emphasis in the first four trumpets on God's judgment using imagery from creation of land and sea and sky and water? It means when you see natural disasters and travesties are going even out, you understand that's even God's judgment. Those are warning calls and trumpets being blasted now of what's to come. So these trumpets represent the coming of God in judgment with the final seventh trumpet representing the louder, longer blast of the priests, if you will, preceding the final judgment of conquest of God's enemies and the gathering of his people to rest, finally, in the promised land. That's the overall symbolism that we see in the seven trumpets. So we've gone through the privilegedly aspect. We've talked about prayer. Now we've seen the progression from the seals to the trumpets. Let's look at verses seven through 12 and the actual plagues, the plagues that come from the sounding of these trumpets. I think it's important to understand that these trumpets and the plagues that come from them are purposely reflecting the plagues against Egypt that we just referenced. It's not in the same order, they're not even the same form, but the wording is clear, especially if one looks at the original. And if you compare the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament, and see how that compares with the Greek that's being used here, it seems to be unmistakable that this is referring to the 10 plagues upon Egypt to deliver God's people from them. And so as we look at these, In verse seven, the first angel sounded and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up. And that green grass and those trees represent basically the things that are profitable for mankind, even grain crops and things that they would use. This is clearly a reflection of what you see in Exodus chapter nine in plague number seven, where hail was mingled with fire. Did you know that? If you go back, look, it's not just hail, it's hail with fire. It almost is described as hail with fire inside of it that's hitting the earth. It wasn't just hitting the earth, it was actually coming upon man and beast and herb and tree and the tree of the field that says in Exodus chapter nine. But notice that only the Egyptians and not the Israelites were bothered by this or judged by this, again, making the point that the trumpets are largely then focused on the wicked. It's divine judgment on those who reject Christ. And we even were looking at that in Psalm 2. But it was a limited judgment. It's only a third here. It's not the whole thing. It's a foretaste of the final judgment. In verse eight, then a second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire. Keep in mind that mountains oftentimes in the Old Testament represented nations and kingdoms. I think that's the point. But we'll get to that later. Something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. Well, in plague number one in Exodus chapter seven, The waters, the rivers, the streams, the ponds, the pools, all were turned to blood, and the fish in the water died, and men could not drink it lest they would die. So the second angel's sound of a trumpet is reflecting that. Then trumpet number three. Then the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became Wormwood, and many died from the water because it was made bitter." I think that's an extension of plague number one. Again, the waters made bitter. couldn't be drank, couldn't be taken part of. The idea of wormwood, wormwood was a poisonous, bitter herb that was used in the Old Testament to represent bitter grief and even bitter judgment of God upon people. It was reflective of those who would live a life of idolatry and sin, and it would lead to a bitter wormwood of a life. The fourth trumpet Then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, a third of the stars, that a third of them were dark, and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night." Well, next is chapter 10. You have the ninth plague, where there's a thick darkness that was over Egypt for three days. Did you realize it was for three days? Christ spent three hours in complete darkness taking the judgment that we deserved. He spent three days in the grave. I think there's symbolism there, but the darkness on Egypt was for three days as judgment. There's really nothing as terrorizing and bitter as darkness, and it doesn't end. Although the darkness was not for the Israelites, they had lights in their houses. It was for the wicked themselves and not for God's people. and it was limited. If we would get to chapter nine, the fifth trumpet releases a plague of locusts, which is similar to Exodus chapter 10 in the eighth plague of locusts. And possibly, this is stretch alert, this might be a little bit of a stretch, but still I think the sixth trumpet that emphasizes death upon the wicked, death on men, death upon the people, I think that could easily be made to compare to the 10th plague of the death of the firstborn for those who are without the blood of the lamb, those who are outside of God's covering of the blood of the lamb. And so in trumpet number six, you see death of those who are outside of God's covering through Christ. It's interesting with the 10 plagues of Exodus, Pharaoh, his heart was hardened. He did not repent. And what we find at the end of the trumpets is the people did not repent. They did not repent. So the trumpets were purposely used in this picture to reflect the plagues against Egypt. And like the plagues, these judgments that we see in Revelation chapter 8 were for or because of the persecution of God's people. Part of the reason for the plagues in Egypt were these were the people that enslaved God's people, and there needs to be punishment as a result of that persecution. The plagues did not affect Israel. And in Revelation, the saints had just prayed for vindication, for judgments to come upon the wicked. So as a result, this is occurring. I do want to remind you, though, that Christians are not kept from bad things. The shrapnel of this sinful world, even the shrapnel, if you will, of the judgment of God upon the wicked hits Christians and sometimes quite in a difficult way. But still, this is a comfort to us. That God does hear and he does care for his people and his church will be avenged. And he's already judging and avenging now during these last days. even through natural disasters in creation. And like the plagues, the judgments we see in Revelation 8 are against the idols of God's enemies. The judgments are against the idols of God's enemies. You've probably heard it said many times, we're not going to go through and look through all this because there would not be time. You can study this, that the plagues against Egypt were directly against the many gods that the Egyptians held dear and they trusted in. And the whole point was Jehovah God, or for you young people going to seminary, Yahweh God, was proving that he's the one and only God and there is no other. And before that last plague of the death of the firstborn, God says, I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods of Egypt, I'll execute judgment, because I am the Lord. And so these plagues were not just indiscriminate. What can I do next? These plagues were purposeful against the many, many gods of the Egyptians to show his superiority and the foolishness. In a sense, the father is laughing. So you think of Psalm 2. I mean, some examples that the Egyptians who worship the Nile, they had a God for Nile. Why? Because life came from the waters of the Nile and commerce comes from the waters of the Nile. And so God then turns the Nile into blood. He turns that life into death. The Egyptians worship the sun. We need the sun for life. And so we worship the sun that would be fruitful. But God turns the sun to black. The Egyptians worshipped Pharaoh as God, and so his son, his firstborn son would be worshipped as God. God then kills the firstborn. But what idols do we see in the four trumpet judgments here in Revelation chapter eight? Now this is where you're gonna be disappointed, because there's just not time to go into details, and sometimes you can get carried away with details, but I think there's some general idols that we see in these four trumpet judgments. Number one, I think, the basic necessities that mankind thinks he can control in creation. That's an idol. Crops, food, water. Notice that the emphasis in these first four trumpets, and even the fifth with locusts, it's on creation. It's on the common kingdom of things, which makes sense because we're having judgment against the wicked who are not in the redemptive kingdom. So crops and food and water. You have imagery. It's not to be taken literally, but you have the imagery of natural disasters and creation run amok. Mankind must understand that he's dependent on God for these things. We cannot control the weather. We can't even predict it. We can't control the environment. We should be wise stewards of it, but we can't control it. We can't even control whether we have another breath coming in the next two seconds or not. Everything is dependent upon God. Yet we in our pride, we make idols, really it's making idols of ourselves because we think we can control all these things. I think it's helpful to understand that God controls all of it and that means that even natural disasters are part of the trumpet calls and the judgment of God against sin. It also reminds us how sin affects all the created order. We know that from Romans chapter eight. affects all of the created order, and creation itself longs for redemption, we read in Romans chapter 8. I think also we see the idols of political powers and economic systems, and we'll see that even more so as the book of Revelation moves on. Keep in mind that the judgments we see with the trumpets should be added on to what we saw with the seals, and it's going to be added on to what we see with things that come next. We're not giving the whole picture every time. And so we'll see the reliance on political powers and economic systems and wealth and all the things of of life that we hold as idols instead of our God. In verse 8, when the burning mountains cast into the sea, I think that's a symbol of the destruction of godless kingdoms and empires. You can see in the scriptures where mountains are used for kingdoms and especially kingdoms that will be judged. Isaiah 41 and 42, Ezekiel 35 and Zechariah chapter 4. You think of Daniel's vision of actually a mountain, a rock being being used to destroy all the kingdoms. But in Jeremiah chapter 51, Babylon is described as a destroying mountain. And then God says, but I'll make you a burnt one, and you'll be covered by the sea. I think that's what we're seeing here with the burning mountain being cast into the sea. Nations and kingdoms all deserve judgment. And the fire that you see is the judgment that comes, and it's God who causes nations to rise and to fall, but man makes idols out of Babylon, out of Rome, out of Nazi Germany, out of Russia, even out of the United States of America. Is that where your trust is? I don't want to ruffle feathers, but I think the last The last election for president was proof that there's judgment against the country. There's no good candidates. And our country is sliding into an abyss. We love our country. We love the blessings we have through our country that God has given us, but we must not put our trust in America. There's no guarantee America lasts another 10 years. I think in verses 7 and 9, the idea of vegetation being burnt and ships being destroyed then points to the economic systems that we put our faith in. It doesn't matter that our budget in our country is so many bazillion dollars in debt. We'll always exist. And we'll always be wealthy and rich. We put our trust in our economics, in our wealth, and not in God. All of the things that we have, the gifts that God gives us, become the things that we idolize and we worship instead of the giver of those gifts. I think that's what's being said here, and we see more of it as we go through the Book of Revelation. I think ultimately then, yes, it's the basic necessities of creation, the political powers and economic systems, but it's also the idol of self. The idol of self. Wormwood describes the bitter consequences of sin and idolatry. If you look at Jeremiah chapter 9 and Deuteronomy 29, where it speaks of wormwood, it's God's judgment on those who are attached to their sin and their idolatry. And the wormwood represents the bitter consequences of that sin. And mankind is thrust into it. It's almost as if God doesn't have to zap you with lightning to judge you. He just has to turn you over to your sin. If that's what you want, have it. and you're the cause of your own grief, if you will. It's wormwood, it's bitterness. And the darkness in verse 12, I think, speaks of spiritual darkness, of rejecting the one true light in Christ Jesus and rejecting God and his ways for one's own self. It plunges you not just into bitterness, but into darkness. And there's nothing more despairing and terrorizing than the darkness of being separate from God. I told you you wouldn't be satisfied. That's all I really want to say about the trumpets. Maybe we'll come back next time and do more with the details of the trumpets, but I don't know if the details matter so much as those general principles. The last section of what we're looking at today is the preview of what's to come. If you look at verse 13, the preview of what's to come. There's still trumpets to come as we walk through this Final thoughts, I'm going to steal liberally from Richard Phillips' ending of his commentary on this section, which I think was wonderful, so why do something else if it's already there? But in verse 13, and I looked and I heard an angel, or really it's probably better to think of it as an eagle flying through the midst of heaven. saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe. And woe usually means oracles of judgment. Three times means it's really bad to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. In other words, if you think this is bad, look. And Richard Phillips says, these calamities that we've looked at already in Revelation 8 are meant to show that the utopian schemes of man are doomed to failure and to warm idolatrous people of the bitterness that sin earns us now and of the final judgment that will come at the end of the age. And Revelation 8.13 drives home that point. The eagle flying high above the world is like when it's circling its prey and in warning of worse judgment yet to come. And we'll see that in Revelation 9 and following. And that eagle looks down expecting to eat men's flesh, warning of woes of judgment. And that represents how the upheavals of nature warn mankind to beware of greater spiritual consequences of sin. You see difficulties in nature, it's nothing compared to the spiritual consequences of your sin. And so Richard Phillips has three thoughts to close, and that's what we'll close with. Number one, God is certain to judge sin in terrible ways. These are simple points, but that's good. God is certain to judge sin in terrible ways. Unbelievers may look at the scriptures and scoff and say, what kind of a God rains fire on earth causes the waters to be bitter, makes darkness. Who would want to serve such a God? What kind of a God is that? And the Bible answers very clearly, the holy creator God who burns with wrath against the sins of mankind. He would not be God if he wouldn't do these things. When Adam fell, God told him the natural order was judged as well. It was said that cursed is the ground because of you, and the plagues of the four trumpets show that mankind can never escape the curse of sin apart from Christ. Each natural disaster is a reminder of God's judgment and a call to repent and believe. So God is certain to judge sin in terrible ways, but secondly, God is determined to deliver his people from worldly oppression. God is determined to deliver his people from worldly oppression. Flee to Christ, you will be delivered. Each calamity is not only a reminder of judgment, the judgment we escape through Christ, think of that, the next natural disaster, you say, Christ has taken the judgment I deserve. But each calamity is also to be seen as an emblem of deliverance by which God will break the will of worldly powers that oppose the truth and grace of Christ, just like the plagues were for the Israelites. Jesus tells us that when natural upheavals occur in Luke chapter 21, that we're to begin to when these things are to begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. And by the power of God, believers in Christ can be certain that just as we have been set free from the penalty and power of sin through the blood of Christ, God will set us free from the powers of history so that we will continue in faith until our salvation is achieved. And then lastly, Christian, in the trumpet blasts, we hear our own call to arms. In the trumpet blast, we hear our own call to arms. The trumpets signify what God is going to do, just as with Jericho, the trumpets summon God's power to break down the walls. And like Joshua and the Israelites did, we are to act in faith by advancing under God's banner as well. We are to go on lifting our hearts in worship, Richard Phillips says. Whatever restrictions the world may place on us, we are to continue speaking the truth of God's word, bearing witness to God's judgment on sin and God's gracious forgiveness through faith in Christ. And we are to go on calling on God in prayer, knowing that through Christ, God hears us and will answer even with the trumpets of heaven. And the trumpets blare to announce God's victory over the world through Jesus Christ. And by his grace, we are to triumph as well, not with worldly power attainments, but in the fulfillment of our calling as God's people in Christ. In the interval between the sixth and seventh trumpets, we'll see that the angels marvel at us in Revelation 12, verse 11. It says in the angels are marveling. They overcome. They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Richard Phillips ends with this, this is our calling. The hearing of the trumpets of revelation with those we are now summoned to battle. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I do pray that those of you who have saved, that you would remind us that judgment has been taken in Christ. That doesn't mean we're relieved from difficulties in this life. But when we do see difficulties and natural disasters, it's a reminder that the judgment that we deserve has been taken in Christ, and we will be delivered from this. And it makes us have a call to arms that we are about the business that we're called to do, just like the Israelites, when your power was displayed, then they were called then to be obedient servants, to do what you called them to do. May we do the same thing, but not with the weapons of the world, with the spiritual weapons that are ridiculed by the world, but through them the power of God is unleashed. May we be faithful in our love for Christ and our gratitude to you, Lord, to be a people who would have this call of arms and take it seriously. I pray also for those who are outside of Christ, Lord, As revelation is meant to be, I pray, Lord, this would be a warning to them that the trumpets are blaring even now, but the long, loud trumpet of the seventh trump is not sounded yet. There is still time. I pray, Lord, that you'd move upon the hearts of those who are outside of Christ. You do not have the blood of the lamb put on the doorposts of their home, and death is coming. I pray, Lord, that they would come to Christ even now in repentance and faith. You give them new life. and have them be part of this call out of the slavery to the world and to sin and to the slavery and the obedience to Christ where there's great glory both now and forever. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.