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If I Were Told the Future - Lesson 47

Summary of the Seven Trumpets

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Welcome to the conclusion of this section. Let's pray together:

Lord,

The prophetic set of the seven trumpets, once studied in the light of Your whole inspired Word, revealed a rousing call to repentance.

In this lesson, we want to parallel these seven messages, to better understand their impact for each one of us.

Please guide us in our search. In Jesus Christ we pray.

Amen.

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Revelation 8:1,2

When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

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Immediately after the presentation of the seven seals, a new set of seven prophecies was shown to the apostle John: the seven trumpets.

Similar to the letters and the seals, the seven trumpets describe seven periods of history, from the time of John to the glorious return of Jesus.

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Similar to the letters and the seals, the trumpets describe seven periods:

         Trumpet         |     Events marking this period     |   Dates
=========================|====================================|==========
Hail and fire with blood |  Tribulations of the Roman Empire. |  100-313
  Mountain into the sea  |      Barbarians overcome Rome.     |  313-476
 Star fallen from heaven |  The Church yields to compromise.  |  313-538
Heavenly bodies darkened |  The Church plunges into apostasy. |  538-1798
    Locusts from the     | For 150 years, the apostate Church | 1798-1948
     bottomless pit      |   loses its power and influence.   |
 4 Angels of destruction | The apostate Church is attacked by | 1948-End
                         | the spiritually wandering nations. |
   Inauguration of the   | 7 bowls are poured out, destroying |  Return
     kingdom of God      |    the nations at Jesus' return.   | of Jesus

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Ezekiel 33:2-5

When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself.

But he who takes warning will save his life.

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Just as we have seen in the preceding lessons, the trumpets aim at calling men to repentance...

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... and at punishing the unrepentant oppressor of God's people:

         Trumpet         |  Oppressor punished by the trumpet |   Dates
=========================|====================================|==========
Hail and fire with blood |      The Western Roman Empire.     |  100-313
  Mountain into the sea  |      The Western Roman Empire.     |  313-476
 Star fallen from heaven | The Church yielding to compromise. |  313-538
Heavenly bodies darkened |  The Church plunged into apostasy. |  538-1798
  Locusts from the pit   |        The apostate Church.        | 1798-1948
 4 Angels of destruction |    The apostate Church and the     | 1948-End
                         |   spiritually wandering nations.   |
   Inauguration of the   |          The spiritually           |  Return
     kingdom of God      |         wandering nations.         | of Jesus

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Numbers 10:9

When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

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In the Old Testament, the trumpets sounded many times, announcing the punishment of either the oppressor of Israel, or Israel itself, when it turned rebellious against God.

Those events clearly inspired the messages of the seven trumpets, which also announce the punishment of either the oppressor of the faithful Church, or the Church itself, when it turned apostate.

As the following two tables will demonstrate, between the punishments under the Old Covenant and the punishments of the seven trumpets, the parallel can't be missed.

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The symbolism of the seven trumpets is inspired from the Old Testament:

         Trumpet         | Inspiration from the Old Testament|  Chapter
=========================|===================================|===========
Hail and fire with blood | Plague of hail and fire in Egypt. |  Exodus 9
  Mountain into the sea  |  Announce of the fall of Babylon. |Jeremiah 51
Star fallen from heaven, | Lucifer is cast out to the earth; | Isaiah 14
  poisoning the waters   | Israel abandons the living waters.| Jeremiah 2
Heavenly bodies darkened |  Spiritual; darkness upon Israel. | Isaiah 59
    Locusts from the     |  Rebellious and obstinate, Israel |  Judges 6
     bottomless pit      |  is finally invaded by the enemy. |
 4 Angels of destruction |      Fall of ancient Babylon.     |  Daniel 5
   Inauguration of the   |  The wrath of God bursts out, and |  Psalm 2
     kingdom of God      | destroys the unrepentant nations. |

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The correlation between these two sets of judgments is striking:

      |  Identity and nature of | Target of God's judgment, | This judg-
Trum- |  the oppressor punished |  under the Old Covenant,  | ment can be
 pet  |     by this trumpet     |  inspiring this trumpet   |  found in:
======|=========================|===========================|============
  1   |    Rome, pagan nation   |    Egypt, pagan nation    |  Exodus 9
  2   |    Rome, pagan nation   |   Babylon, pagan nation   | Jeremiah 51
  3   |  The Church on the wane |    Israel on the wane     | Jeremiah 2
  4   |   The apostate Church   |      Apostate Israel      |  Isaiah 59
  5   |   The apostate Church   |      Apostate Israel      |  Judges 6
  6   |  Apostate Church allied |   Babylon, a rebellious   |  Daniel 5
      | with rebellious nations |    nation mocking God     |
  7   |  The rebellious nations |  The rebellious nations   |   Psalm 2

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Isaiah 58:1

Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

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Ezekiel 33:5

He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself.

But he who takes warning will save his life.

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The seven trumpets also correspond to the seals.

But the trumpets aim at denouncing apostasy, and there is no apostasy in the first and last seals.

The trumpets thus correspond to the seals 2 to 6.

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Correspondence between the seven seals and the seven trumpets:

Seal |      Description      # Trumpet |           Description
=====|=======================#=========|=================================
  1  |   Victorious Church   #    -    |     No apostasy, no trumpet
  2  |   Great persecution   # 1 and 2 | Earth and sea in fire, in blood
  3  |    Spiritual famine   #    3    |         Waters poisoned
  4  |  Generalized apostasy #    4    | Darkening of the heavenly bodies
  5  | Souls require justice #    5    | The locusts attack the oppressor
  6  |  Distress of nations  # 6 and 7 |  Spiritually wandering nations
     | and wrath of the Lamb #         |         and wrath of God
  7  |   Silence in heaven   #    -    |     No apostasy, no trumpet

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First seal: Revelation 6:2

And I looked, and behold, a white horse.

And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

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Colossians 1:23

The gospel which you heard (...) was preached to every creature under heaven.

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Let's look at the seals one by one, with their equivalent in the seven trumpets.

No trumpet corresponds to the first seal, because it presents the victorious Apostolic Church of the years A.D. 31 to 100, in which there was no apostasy.

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Second seal: 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.

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First and second trumpets: Revelation 8:7-9

And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth (...).

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.

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Afterwards, the Roman Empire intensified its persecution against the Christians.

It was then struck by the first two trumpets, and fell in A.D. 476.

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Third seal: Revelation 6:5,6

And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creature saying, «A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius.»

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Third trumpet: Revelation 8:11

And a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

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As the Roman Empire became weaker, the Church of Rome grew in power, by making a lot of doctrinal compromises with the surrounding nations.

The shortage of bread and water, sources of life, illustrates the spiritual famine brought about by this falsification of truth.

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Fourth seal: 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, to kill with (...) hunger.

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Fourth trumpet: Revelation 8:12

And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.

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The many doctrinal compromises of the Church plunged it into deep apostasy throughout the Middle Ages, from 538 to 1798.

This situation is illustrated by the deadly famine and the darkening of the heavenly bodies.

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Fifth seal: Revelation 6:9,10

I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, «How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?»

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Fifth trumpet: Revelation 9:4,5

They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, (...) but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months.

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During the 1260 years of its reign, the Church of Rome killed more than 50 million believers who disagreed with it.

In 1798, it finally lost its power and influence, and recovered them only 150 years later.

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Sixth seal: Revelation 6:15-17

And the kings of the earth (...) said to the mountains and rocks,

«Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?»

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Sixth and seventh trumpets: Revelation 9:21;11:18

They did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (...)

The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come.

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Unfortunately, the apostate Church and the nations won't learn a lesson from all these punishments.

Choosing to persist in their apostasy, they will soon have to face the wrath of God, and will be destroyed.

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Seventh seal: Revelation 8:1

When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

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Matthew 25:31

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

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Finally, the seventh seal presents a silence in heaven, which is empty because Jesus and «all the holy angels» are coming to gather the faithful believers who eagerly await this moment.

There is no apostasy, so no trumpet corresponds to this last seal.

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Revelation 11:18

Then the seventh angel sounded. (...)

«The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come.»

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Revelation 16:1

Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.

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In our lesson «The Book of Revelation», we have seen that this book displays a mirror-like structure, in which the historical part (first section) corresponds to the eschatological part (second section).

In this structure, the seven trumpets (chapters 8 to 11), punishing the oppressor of God's people throughout history, perfectly correspond to the seven bowls (chapters 15 and 16), punishing the rebellious nations at the end of the world.

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First, let's remember the mirror-like organization of Revelation:

Historical part:Conflict in progress| Eschatological part: Conflict ended
==+=======+=======+=======+=======+=+=+=======+=======+=======+=======+==
P |  1-3  |  4-7  | 8-11  | 12-14 |   | 15-16 | 17-18 | 19-20 | 21-22 | E
R |Counsel| Jesus |Severe |Trials | M | Severe| Down- | Jesus |Reward | P
O |to the |  com- | judg- |of the | I | judg- |fall of|  en-  |to the | I
L |church,| forts | ments | pure  | R | ments |impure |thrones|church,| L
O | scat- |His af-| warn  | woman | R | punish| woman |  His  |gather-| O
G | tered |flicted|  the  |and her| O |  the  |and her|resur- |ed and | G
U |  and  |people | world | chil- | R | world |daugh- |rected |  at   | U
E |at war |       |       | dren  |   |       | ters  |people | peace | E
==+=======+=======+=======+=======+===+=======+=======+=======+=======+==
A     B       C       D       E           D'      E'      C'      B'   A'

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The trumpets (chapters 8 to 11) correspond with the bowls (chap. 15 and 16):

Historical part:Conflict in progress| Eschatological part: Conflict ended
====+=============================+=+=+=============================+====
R   |    Severe judgments warn    |   |   Severe judgments punish   | R 1
E 8 |   the world (7 trumpets)    |   |     the world (7 bowls)     | E 5
V   |-----------------------------| M |-----------------------------| V
E t |       1. Earth (8:7)        | I |       1. Earth (16:2)       | E a
L o |       2. Sea (8:8,9)        | R |       2. Sea (16:3)         | L n
A   |3. Springs of water (8:10,11)| R |  3. Springs of water (16:4) | A d
T 1 | 4. Sun, moon, stars (8:12)  | O |       4. Sun (16:8,9)       | T
I 1 |      5. Darkness (9:2)      | R |    5. Darkness (16:10,11)   | I 1
O   |6. River Euphrates (9:13-21) |   |6. River Euphrates (16:12,16)| O 6
N   |  7. Loud voices (11:15-18)  |   |   7. Loud voice (16:17-21)  | N

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Genesis 6:5-7

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

So the Lord said, «I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth.»

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Finally, similar to the Flood, the seven trumpets are the reply of God to men's wickedness.

With these trumpets, God reverses the work He did at Creation, and will, after that, create a new world for His people.

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The trumpets reverse the work God did at Creation:

         First day of Creation         |  The work of the seven trumpets
---------------------------------------|---------------------------------
«God said, "Let there be light (...)." | «And  a third of the day did not
And  God  divided the light  from  the | shine,  and likewise the night.»
darkness.» (GENESIS 1:3,4)             | (REVELATION 8:12)
=======================================|=================================
        Second day of Creation         |  The work of the seven trumpets
---------------------------------------|---------------------------------
«God said,  "Let there be a  firmament | «Smoke arose out of the pit like
in the midst of the waters, and let it | the  smoke  of a great  furnace.
divide  the waters (...)."  God called | And  the  sun and the  air  were
the firmament Heaven.» (GENESIS 1:6,8) | darkened.» (REVELATION 9:2)

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The trumpets reverse the work God did at Creation:

        Third day of Creation        |   The work of the seven trumpets
-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
«God  said,  "Let  the  earth  bring | «A third of the trees were  burned
forth grass, (...)  herb (...),  and | up, and all green grass was burned
(...) fruit tree."» (GENESIS 1:11)   | up.» (REVELATION 8:7)
=====================================|===================================
       Fourth day of Creation        |   The work of the seven trumpets
-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
«"Let  there be lights in the firma- | «A third of the sun was struck,  a
ment  of  the heavens to divide  the | third of the moon,  and a third of
day  from  the night; (...)  to give | the stars, so that a third of them
light on the earth."» (GEN. 1:14,15) | were darkened.» (REVELATION 8:12)

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The trumpets reverse the work God did at Creation:

       Fifth day of Creation        |   The work of the seven trumpets
------------------------------------|------------------------------------
«God said,  "Let the waters  abound | «A  third of the sea became  blood;
with  an abundance of living  crea- | and a third of the living creatures
tures (...). Multiply, and fill the | in the sea died.»
waters in the seas."»               |
                  (GENESIS 1:20,22) |                  (REVELATION 8:8,9)
====================================|====================================
       Sixth day of Creation        |   The work of the seven trumpets
------------------------------------|------------------------------------
«God said,  "Let Us make man in Our | «By  these three plagues a third of
image  (...).  Multiply;  fill  the | mankind  was killed -  by the  fire
earth."»                            | and the smoke and the brimstone.»
                  (GENESIS 1:26,28) |                   (REVELATION 9:18)

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Genesis 2:2

On the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

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Revelation 11:15,18

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!» (...)

«Your wrath has come, and the time (...) that You (...) should destroy those who destroy the earth.»

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At the seventh and last trumpet, God will put an end to the destruction of His creation, and establish His kingdom in a world where evil will be no more.

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Revelation 1:1

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants - things which must shortly take place.

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Each of the seven trumpets gives us a valuable message that strengthens our confidence in the prophetic Word.

These messages also make us realize that this world will end very shortly.

It is up to each one of us to make the proper choices, right here and now, in light of the vital information the book of Revelation gives us, so that, when Jesus returns, we may be numbered with His people.

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2 Chronicles 13:11,12

We keep the command of the Lord our God, but you have forsaken Him.

Now look, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with sounding trumpets to sound the alarm against you.

O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you shall not prosper!

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It is also up to each one of us to take heed to the messages of the trumpets, which call us to repentance and obedience to the Word of God.

May this study guide help us to do so.

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«The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God.» (Revelation 8:4)

Heavenly Father,

The study of the seven trumpets has helped us to discover the wonderful richness of the prophetic book of Revelation.

We humbly and sincerely ask You to help us properly prepare ourselves for the glorious event which will take place at the sound of the seventh trumpet: the return of Your Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

In His name we pray.

Amen.

  The test of Lesson 47 is waiting for you!