In order to get a clearer picture of John’s Apocalypse, you have to read Revelation in one hand and the Old Testament in your other hand. So many of the symbolic images and pictures are directly derived from Old Testament passages that to ignore it is to set yourself up for misunderstanding and confusion. One of the more overlooked texts John uses is Exodus.
In some sense, the Trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9 are God’s way of answering the prayers of the saints offered up in 8.1, when God silenced heaven for half an hour so that he could hear their concerns, namely, “How long until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” He has, indeed, heard their cries and begins the process of answering them, in the same way he heard the Israelites’ cries from Egypt in Exodus 3.7-8:
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
In fact, there are so many parallels between what John’s original audience was experiencing and what the Egyptian slaves experienced, it is no wonder the trumpet judgments are based on the 10 Plagues as described in Exodus. God’s people are being oppressed and abused -- even killed -- by an enemy that has no shame in mocking their God. They are being tortured, mistreated, denied justice and basic human rights all because of their identity. As the Israelites longed for justice and deliverance, so the first-century Christians also longed for justice and deliverance, and as God demonstrated his power and judgment over Pharaoh and Egypt, so Jesus Christ will do the same against Caesar and Rome. You might say that the story in Revelation actually pictures a New Exodus.
The first trumpet parallels the seventh plague of hail, as described in Exodus 9.13-35. It is not necessarily a literal fiery hail; in the Old Testament, fire and burning were typical metaphors for famine, which stays in line with the Exodus plague since the result was the destruction of Egypt’s livestock and crops. This trumpet is a figurative way of portraying nationwide famine.
The second and third trumpets parallel the first plague, where Egypt’s water supply, especially the Nile, was turned to blood. In Revelation, the flaming mountain resulted in a third of the sea being turned to blood, killing it’s fishing industry. The falling star caused the remaining water to become poisoned. As with other images in Revelation, neither the flaming mountain nor the great star should be taken literally. Instead, throughout the Old Testament, “mountains” were metaphors for kingdoms, and one that was “flaming” could indicate that the kingdom in question was evil.
For instance, Jeremiah 51 pronounces judgment upon Babylon saying, “I am against you, O destroying mountain. . .. I will... make you a burned-out mountain” (Jer. 51.25). (It is perhaps no coincidence that John identifies first-century Rome with two of Israel’s greatest historical enemies, Egypt and now Babylon. Rome is just another one of them and God will deal with Rome just like he dealt with Egypt and Babylon). In the way that the burning mountain symbolizes the evil Roman kingdom, the falling “Star” likely represents it’s leadership, which is also subject to judgment.
As the ninth plague in Exodus 10.21-29 brought darkness upon Egypt, so the fourth trumpet brings darkness in Revelation. On one hand, “light” and “darkness” are typical biblical metaphors to describe spiritual states of individuals or groups. 1 Peter 2.9 puts these two together, proclaiming that God has called us out of spiritual darkness into his marvelous light.
On the other hand, in the Old Testament, one of the more terrifying indications of spiritual judgment is when the regular patterns of day/night and light/darkness are cosmically interrupted. In Jeremiah 31 and 33, God says that only if the sun, moon, and stars stop appearing at their appointed times will God revoke his covenant, which would signify judgment on his people. Then, a chilling promise is made by Amos who pronounced judgment on God’s people for their misdeeds:
I will make the sun go down at noon
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
... I will make that time like mourning for an only son
and the end of it like a bitter day (Amos 8.9, 10)
The fourth trumpet probably implies both of these metaphorical uses: the darkness that comes to God’s enemies is both a reflection of their spiritual state and an indication of impending doom.
Separating the first four trumpets from the last three is a mysterious eagle flying in midair declaring three woes. In essence, the eagle (a symbol often used of vengeance) promises that things will get worse. There is an apparent escalation with respect to these trumpet judgments, each one being just a little worse than the previous. Now, while the first four trumpets had an indirect effect on humanity (destroying food and water supplies and interrupting daylight), the next two will directly attack God’s enemies.
The fifth trumpet is an allusion to the eighth plague of locusts (Exodus 10.1-20). A fallen “star” now opens the “Abyss”, the place where it was believed demons were kept in prison. In Luke 8.31, a “legion” of demons begs Jesus to be sent into a herd of pigs rather than imprisonment in the Abyss. Here, those imprisoned demons are released, escaping as a plague of locusts.
Whereas a normal locust plague would devour crops and vegetation, as had happened in Egypt, these locusts attack people. They are told not to harm grass, plants or trees (which would have been devastated during the first trumpet), but to torture for five months. The five months could be the literal time period for a locust’s life cycle, but might also metaphorically symbolize “a short time.” The destruction they cause is severe, but limited.
The “demon-locusts” are further described as having power like a scorpion whose sting could be lethal, then again it could make you wish it were lethal should you survive. The result leaves the survivors longing for death. There are worse things than death. For the believer, turning your back on the God who saves you is worse than death; for the unbeliever, surviving the first four trumpet judgments only to experience a plague of “demon-locusts” is worse than death. Death, which alludes them at every point, would be a welcome friend.
In Revelation 9.7, John tries to describe the locusts more precisely using images from Joel 1 and 2, where invading locusts are said to have “the appearance of horses with a noise like that of chariots” (Joel 2.4-5). This was an image portraying the coming destruction of Judah, God’s own people! In this way, the fifth trumpet would have warned unfaithful Christians inside the church, those who compromise with the pagan world, that their fate is the same as that of unbelievers.
The sixth trumpet does not parallel any of the Egyptian plagues, but uses another Old Testament reference, the Euphrates, to envision judgment on God’s enemies. The Euphrates may be the prophetic place from where an army would come to judge God’s enemies, an image reinforced in Revelation 16.12 where the Euphrates will be dried up to make way for a conquering army from the East. The “mounted troops” that emerge are numbered at two-hundred-million, which is not so much an exact figure, but a symbol that may be interpreted, “Holy Crap! Look at the size of that thing!” Not only is it large, it is fierce, inflicting injury by their heads and tails, breathing fire, smoke, and sulfur. It should not escape our attention that the images of fire, smoke, and sulfur first appear together in Genesis 19 when they rain down destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
I would like to think these cosmic judgments would be enough to change one’s mind about the course of his or her life. Such is not the case in Revelation. Those who survive do not repent, but instead, they prove to be no better than the Egyptians who continued to harden their hearts after each successive plague. The idolatry and evil behaviors remain unchanged after the trumpet judgments.
You have to imagine what the original audience of Revelation felt reading this. John is comparing their situation with Israel’s situation as slaves in Egypt. First-century Christians were, like their ancient forefathers, enslaved by a cruel and oppressive regime which had no shame in mocking their God. Like their predecessors, Christians were being tortured, mistreated, denied justice and basic human rights all because of their loyalty to Christ. In the same way the Israelites longed for justice and deliverance, so the first-century Christians also longed for justice and deliverance, and as God demonstrated his power and judgment over Pharaoh and Egypt, so Jesus Christ will do the same against Caesar and Rome.
Not only that, but when the prayers of the saints go up before God in Revelation 8.1-4, you can hear God answering his people in the same way he answered his people in Egypt:
The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in ROME. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the ROMANS and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Indeed, the answer for the suffering of God’s people at the hands of God’s enemies IN ANY GENERATION is nothing less than a new Exodus. When things start to get bad, all one has to do is think of Egypt. If God was able to release his people from bondage under Pharaoh, then releasing them from bondage under Caesar is a piece of cake.
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