Day 154

“Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” Rev 8:13 NASB.

The role of the trumpets in Revelation is marked out more clearly than most people realize. The key to understanding them is Rev 6:9-11 (NIV). There the “souls under the altar” cry out, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” The “inhabitants of the earth” are those who have persecuted and martyred God’s faithful people. These “inhabitants” appear again in Rev 8:13 (NIV). The three woes of trumpets five, six and seven fall on “the inhabitants of the earth.” The seven trumpets, therefore, are judgments on those who have martyred and persecuted the faithful people of God.

Revelation 8:2-6 tells us that the trumpets are blown in response to the prayers of the saints, which rise up like incense from the altar (Rev 8:3-4). What are those prayers? They are the prayers of the martyred people of God (Rev 6:9-11), calling out for justice. When those prayers reach heaven mingled with incense, judgments are hurled down to the earth (Rev 8:5-6). The seven trumpets, therefore, carry a powerful message to those who have been abused, neglected and killed on account of their faith. The trumpets assure them that God is actively confronting those who oppressed them. Those judgments begin already in this life.

Christians suffering at the hand of others should never envy the position of those who persecute them. The seven trumpets are poured out on “those who live on the earth,” the very ones who persecuted the faithful, as described in the seals (Rev 6:9-10). Those who have hurt or killed the faithful people of God are marked in the “books,” (that’s the concept of remembrance – God doesn’t need books,)and if they do not repent, they will suffer as much as or even more than those they persecuted. It isn’t a pretty picture. I’d rather face the wrath of man than the wrath of God.

The trumpets assure us that God marks the injustices of this world and will make them right in His time.