The Mountain Thrown
into the Sea
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Let's take a moment to talk to God:
Father,
We now start on the subject of the second trumpet of Revelation.
Please guide us through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and show us the meaning of the
prophetic message announced at the sound of this trumpet.
May Your Word always be our only teacher. In Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
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Revelation 8:7
The first angel sounded.
And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a
third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
The message of the first trumpet was intended for the first major oppressor of
God's people since the first coming of Jesus: the Roman Empire.
This empire, an ardent persecutor of the Christians, had in turn to face hard times as
early as the end of the second century.
Politically destabilized, it became, for the first time, vulnerable to enemies' attacks.
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Revelation 8:8,9
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.
What happened next? The second trumpet reports the following events in a
symbolic language full of imagery.
As we usually do, let's examine the Word of God, so as to discover the exact meaning of
each symbol.
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Revelation 8:8
Then the second angel sounded. And something like a great
mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.
Jeremiah 51:25,42
«Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who
destroys all the earth,» says the Lord. «And I will stretch out My hand against you,
roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain. (...)
The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.»
In the Bible's prophetic language, a burning mountain thrown into the sea
symbolizes a kingdom condemned by God, and brought to its destruction.
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Jeremiah 51:24,25
«And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of
Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight,» says the Lord.
«Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,» says the
Lord.
«And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a
burnt mountain.»
Let's note that the punishment is falling upon the kingdom because of «all the evil they have done in Zion».
So, just like the first trumpet, the message of the burning mountain thrown into the sea
affects the oppressor of God's people.
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A mountain, then, symbolizes a kingdom, a political power...
«The stone that struck the image became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth. (...) The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed.» (DANIEL 2:35,44)
«Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and
say, "O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to
the mountains (...): Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy
your high places."» (EZEKIEL 6:2,3)
«Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, and say to it,
"Thus says the Lord God: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you; I will stretch out
My hand against you, and make you most desolate; I shall lay your cities waste, and you
shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the Lord."» (EZEKIEL 35:2-4)
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... and a burning mountain is a persecuting kingdom that will be
destroyed:
«Do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a
tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel
against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said,
"Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be
remembered no more." (...) As the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them
with Your tempest.» (PSALM 83:1-4,14,15)
«Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Flash forth lightning and scatter them; shoot out Your arrows and destroy them. Stretch
out Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of
foreigners, whose mouth speaks vain words, and whose right hand is a right hand of
falsehood.» (PSALM 144:5-8)
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Revelation 8:8
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.
Revelation 17:15
The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are
peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
As for the sea, it symbolizes «peoples, multitudes».
Consequently, an entity sitting on waters represents a power having dominion over many
people.
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Many times in the Bible, people are symbolized by the sea, by waters:
«The wicked are like the troubled sea.» (ISAIAH 57:20)
«Woe to the multitude of many people who make a noise like the roar of the seas, and to
the rushing of nations that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!» (ISAIAH
17:12)
«You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the
peoples.» (PSALM 65:7)
«Inasmuch as these people refused the waters of Shiloah that flow softly, and rejoice in
Rezin and in Remaliah's son, now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them the
waters of the River, strong and mighty - the king of Assyria and all his glory; he will go
up over all his channels and go over all his banks. He will pass through Judah, he will
overflow and pass over.» (ISAIAH 8:6-8)
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Revelation 8:8,9
A third of the sea became blood; and a third of the
living creatures in the sea died.
Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of
him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.
And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth.
As we have seen in our last lesson, in Bible prophecy, a fraction («a third», «a fourth», etc.)
indicates that the announced events will affect only a part of the world.
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Revelation 8:8,9
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.
Revelation 18:19
Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships
on the sea became rich by her wealth!
For in one hour she is made desolate.
Finally, the ships, floating on the sea, symbolize dominion over the people of
the earth by all those who hold power and wealth: kings, governments, political allies,
aristocracy, etc.
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2 Chronicles 20:35-37
Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah
king of Israel, who acted very wickedly.
And he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in
Ezion Geber.
But Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying,
«Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed your works.»
Then the ships were wrecked, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
Like the burning mountain, the wrecked ships indicate that the alliances
concluded with the kingdom doomed to destruction will suddenly come to an end.
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By wrecking the ships, God reduces all alliance against Him to nothing:
«For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by
together. They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, they hastened away. Fear
took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail, as when You break the ships
of Tarshish with an east wind.» (PSALM 48:4-7)
«They are pleased with the children of foreigners. (...) Their land is also full of idols
(...). For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon
everything lifted up, (...) upon all the high mountains, (...) upon all the ships of
Tarshish.» (ISAIAH 2:6,8,12,14,16)
«The ships of Tarshish were carriers of your merchandise. You were filled and very
glorious in the midst of the seas. Your oarsmen brought you into many waters, but the east
wind broke you in the midst of the seas. (...) You enriched the kings of the earth with
your many luxury goods and your merchandise. But when you are broken by the seas in the
depths of the waters, your merchandise and the entire company will fall in your midst.»
(EZEKIEL 27:25,26,33,34)
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Revelation 8:8,9
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.
Revelation 6:4
And another horse, fiery red, went out.
And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people
should kill one another; and there was giving to him a great sword.
Now, let's look at the global picture of the second trumpet.
Like the first one, it confirms the second seal with its scene calling to mind war and
bloodshed.
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Revelation 8:8,9
A third of the sea became blood; and a third of the
living creatures in the sea died.
Exodus 7:20,21
[Aaron] lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were
in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants.
And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the
river died, the river stank.
Similar to the first trumpet, the second trumpet refers to one of the plagues
which struck Egypt, another oppressor of God's people.
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Exodus 7:16-18
And you shall say to [Pharaoh],
«The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, "Let My people go, that
they may serve Me in the wilderness"; but indeed, until now you would not hear!
Thus says the Lord: "By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will strike
the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be
turned to blood.
And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians
will loathe to drink the water of the river."»
Like Pharaoh, the oppressor of God's people didn't repent after the first
trumpet.
This is why the second trumpet had to sound.
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Revelation 8:8
Then the second angel sounded.
And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.
In our last lesson, we saw that the oppressor struck by the first trumpet was
the Roman Empire, until the Edict of Milan, which made Christianity the Empire's official
religion in A.D. 313.
But, after Constantine, other Roman emperors followed. Much less favorable to
Christianity, they revived the persecution of the believers.
So the second trumpet will strike again this unrepentant oppressor. Now, what does history
relate about this?
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Revelation 8:8,9
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.
The Bible has given us, so far, the following keys to understand the message of
the second trumpet:
- a «burning mountain» is a kingdom doomed to
destruction;
- the «sea» represents people;
- «ships» symbolize those who hold power and wealth.
With the help of an encyclopedia, we can easily discover what actually happened...
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Revelation 8:8
Then the second angel sounded. And something like a great
mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.
Jeremiah 51:25,42
«Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who
destroys all the earth,», says the Lord. «And I will stretch out My hand against you,
roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain. (...)
The sea has come up over Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves.»
Inspiring the symbolism of the second trumpet, this prophecy against Babylon
also presents some interesting parallels with the fall of the Roman Empire...
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Jeremiah 51:9,24,25
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven
and is lifted up to the skies. (...)
«And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have
done in Zion in your sight,» says the Lord.
«Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth,» says the
Lord.
«And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a
burnt mountain.»
Just like the Roman Empire, Babylon was an unrepentant oppressor of God's
people.
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Jeremiah 51:27-29
Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations
against her, call the kingdoms together against her: Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz.
Appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up like the bristling locusts.
Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its
rulers, all the land of his dominion.
And the land will tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed
against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.
Like the Roman Empire, Babylon had to face a coalition of peoples, the Medes
and the Persians, who executed the divine punishment: its total destruction.
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Jeremiah 51:42,43,55 (New International Version)
The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will
cover her.
Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through
which no man travels. (...)
Waves of enemies will rage like great waters; the roar of the voices will resound.
Finally, similar to the Roman Empire, Babylon fell, overwhelmed, not by real
waves, since she is «a dry and desert land», but rather by waves of enemies.
And, just like the Roman Empire, Babylon will never be restored.
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Revelation 8:8
A great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the
sea.
Daniel 9:26
The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the
city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood.
Daniel chapter 9, which we will study in a future
lesson, foretells the attack of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman Empire, in A.D. 70.
Interestingly enough, this chapter also says that the end of the Roman Empire will «be with a flood», thus confirming the prophecy of the second
trumpet.
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Revelation 8:8
A great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the
sea.
Mark 11:22,23
So Jesus answered and said to them,
«Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be
removed and be cast into the sea", and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that
those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.»
Finally, the symbolism of the second trumpet reminds us of Jesus' words,
teaching that everything is possible with God.
No obstacle, not even the mighty Roman Empire, will prevent His work from progressing.
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Let's pray together:
Lord,
Your Son said: «There will be (...) on the earth distress of
nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.» (Luke 21:25)
The Roman Empire experienced these things, at the sound of the second trumpet, and the
whole world will experience it too in the last days.
But Your peace dwells in the hearts of all those who put their lives into Your hands. May
this peace also dwell in our hearts. In Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.
Source of the Pictures of this Lesson
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The test of Lesson 41 is waiting for you!