The 7 TrumpetsGod’s Last Warnings to a Sinful

Planet

Trumpets in Bible• OT use of trumpets

– War, warning, coronation, gathering a people

– Num. 10: 8-10 Temple services and holy wars•Used by Priests – a reminder of God

• NT Trumpets– End time events– Matt 24 God gather’s the elect– 1 Cor. 15 Resurrection to eternal life

– 1 Thess. 4 Second coming of Christ

7 Trumpets

• An angel before the altar of God sends thunder, lightning and earthquakes upon the earth (apparently) in answer to the prayer of the saints – then the angels can sound the 7 trumpets

The Law of God

• Thunder, lightning, earthquakes

• Ex. 20:18

The Tamid

–Tamid is the daily service•Altar of incense-prayers of the people

•Priest pours hot coals from the censer onto the altar of incense

•7 priests blow trumpets

Day of Atonement

– Feast of Trumpets•For 10 days before Yom Kippur

•Each day the trumpets are blown calling for prayers of forgiveness and repentance

– Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement, Day of Judgment•Priest took coals from altar of sacrifice & put them into the censer

•Threw the spade with remaining coals to the ground

•Priest took incense into the Most Holy Place

When are the Trumpets

• Begin with the cross and end at the Second Coming

• 8:1 – 11:15

Judgment in the Bible

• Who does judgment start with in the Bible?

• Ezekiel 9:6 – “Begin at my sanctuary”• Jeremiah 25:17-26 – Jerusalem was top of the list for cities to be punished

• 1 Peter 4:17 – God’s people will be judged first

• Luke 12:48 – To him who is given much… much is expected

• Rev. 3:19 – God disciplines those whom He loves

Old Testament Model

• OT model– Isa 14-23 Judgment against the nations• Same nations God used to reform Israel• Nations did not fear God

– Isa 25 Judgment on the world– Jer. 46-51 Judgment on the nations

• They have gone too far and despised God

• God gave the nations ample time to learn about Him– Isa 56: 6, 7 God’s intent for salvation of all people

Who will God warn in the 7 Trumpets?• With this

principle – we will look for warnings in the remnant of the Jewish religion and in the newly formed Christian community

• Example: God sending judgments on Japan

Relations of the “7”s• 7 Churches = history of the Christian church until the second coming – description of spiritual condition

• 7 Seals = different description of the history of the church; result of spiritual condition

• 7 Trumpets = Judgment?• We would have to guess, that it will be another description of about the same thing as the 7 churches and seals

First Trumpet

• Hail and fire mixed with blood is thrown upon the earth

• 1/3 earth = burned up

• 1/3 trees = burned up

• Green grass was burned up

First Trumpet

• Hail, fire = battles• With blood = warfare• Green grass = people flourishing in righteousness (Isaiah 44:3,4)

• Trees = People of God (Ps. 1:3, 52:8, 92:12)

• Jeremiah 11:16,17 – Said Babylon would burn Jerusalem as branches on a tree

• Jesus compared the Jewish nation to a barren fig tree (Matt. 21:18,19)

First Trumpet

• 70 AD – Jerusalem was so destroyed by Rome that Josephus said that future visitors to the city would never “know that the city had been inhabited.”

First Trumpet

• Matthew 23:38 – Jesus said with tears in His eyes that Jerusalem, your house is “left to you desolate.”

Second Trumpet

• Great mountain, burning, is thrown into the sea

• 1/3 sea became blood• 1/3 living creatures died• 1/3 ships were destroyed

Second Trumpet

• Mountain: Jeremiah 51:24,25 – Babylon is described as a “destroying mountain”

• Daniel 2:35,44,45 – Christ’s future kingdom with all of its nations is described as a mountain

• Mountain = kingdom

Second Trumpet

• Sea = peoples, nations, languages

• Rev. 17:15• Living creatures, ships = people and their material possessions

Second Trumpet

• Judgment on next group of God’s people: Roman Empire (313 AD became Christian)

• 378 – Visigoths completely destroyed Roman army and emperor Valens

• 410 – Visigoths invaded Rome (first time in 800 years somebody came into Rome)

• 455 – Vandals invaded Rome a 2nd time and took the golden lampstand that Rome had taken from Jerusalem in 70 AD

Second Trumpet

• C.D. Gordon – observed that, “the standards of public conduct certainly had not improved with the Christianizing of the empire.”

• 476 AD – the ten tribes of Daniel 2 and 7 finally ended the almost 650-year reign of the Roman Empire

Third Trumpet

• Star fell from Heaven, blazing like a torch (Wormwood)

• 1/3 of the water and fountains became bitter

• Many men died• Rev. 8:10,11

Third Trumpet

• Wormwood – bitter plant that makes poisonous juice

• Stars = angels (Job 38:7)

• Luke 10:18 – Jesus spoke of Satan as having fallen from Heaven

• Revelation 12:7-9 = Satan was kicked out of Heaven

Third Trumpet

• Fountains, springs of water: source of “drinking water” for spiritually thirsty people (Isaiah 12:3, Prov. 13:14, John 7:37)

• Satan made the church become “bitter” after Rome fell

Fourth Trumpet

• 1/3 of sun and• 1/3 of the stars and

• 1/3 of their light• Were struck with darkness

• 1/3 of the day and night were kept from shining

• A DARK trumpet

Fourth Trumpet

• Sun of righteousness = Jesus (Malachi 4:2, John 8:12,9:5)

• Church is the light of the world (Matt. 5:14)

• Because of Satan’s entrance into the church – the light of Christ’s ministry was darkened on the earth

Fourth Trumpet

• From 500 – 800 AD – the only serious place of education and learning was located in Ireland

• 1054 AD – Catholic church excommunicated Orthodox church because, among other matters, they observed Sabbath on Saturday as Bible commands-by 1500 Catholic church had made 150 non-biblical “sabbath days”

Fourth Trumpet

• Many men died of the water and the darkness

• Only eternity will tell how many people got turned away from Christ during the Dark Ages

Relation of the Trumpets

• 1st and 2nd trumpets: destruction of Jewish “kingdom” by Rome, destruction of Rome by invading tribes

• 3rd and 4th trumpets: Satan pollutes the church on earth, Satan obscures Christ’s work in Heaven

• 5th and 6th trumpets: also a pair that concern the Eastern Orthodox church and the religion of Islam

Fifth trumpet

• Revelation 8:13 – Angel cries out, “Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth” when these last 3 trumpets will be sounded

• As if the first four trumpets weren’t bad enough, these last three are going to be very bad

Fifth trumpet

• Angel, who has fallen, receives a key to the shaft of the Abyss

• Smoke arose from the Abyss when opened – sun and sky darkened

• Locusts came rushing upon the earth with power of scorpions to sting

• Harm only the people that don’t have the seal of God

• Tortured them for “five months” – these people will want to die

Fifth trumpet

• Locusts look like horses prepared for battle

• On their heads = crowns of gold; faces = human faces; hair = like women’s hair; teeth = lion’s teeth

• Breastplates of iron, loud wings, fast

• Tails that stung• Their king = Angel of the Abyss – Abaddon (Hebrew), Apollyon (Greek) = Destroyer

Sixth Trumpet

• 200,000,000 horseman – were bound at great river “Euphrates”

• Ruled for “hour, day, month, year”• Breastplates – “fire, sapphire, sulfur”

• Lion’s heads • Fire, smoke, sulfur came out of mouth• Power in mouth and tails – like serpents

• Kill mankind

Fifth and Sixth trumpets

• Martin Luther, Joseph Mede, Isaac Newton, among others = believed that this trumpet signified the rise of Islam

• It is a serious accusation – one that we have not met in Daniel or Revelation, so we need to document why our church would think so.

• 1300 years Islam existed – deserves a place in Bible prophecy

Similarities of Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

• 5th trumpet 6th Trumpet• Horselike Horses• Locusts Locustlike• Tail like scorpion Tail like serpent

• Time – 5 monthsTime – 391 days• Torture Kill• Seems to be same group – with a few different features

Fifth trumpet

• Smoke that came from the bottomless pit (Abyss) –

• Abyss – Greek word – boundless -Gen. 1:2 – ocean-Ps. 71:20 - grave

• Smoke – the strength and density of the armies that came from Arabia

• Teachings that came from the “boundless” desert of Arabia

Fifth Trumpet

• “fallen star” – God’s messenger (Rev. 20:1)

• “crowns” – turbans• “women’s hair” – long hair of Muslim conquerors

• “wings” – speed of conquest• “Forbidden…to harm green grass or people with seal of God” – Islam granted Jews and Christians freedom to worship in their kingdom

Fifth Trumpet

• “Five months” – “torture” – 5 months x 30 days = 150 days = 150 years

• Early Adventists saw this as being the time from the first battle with Byzantines by the Ottoman Turks on July 27,1299

• 1299-1449

Sixth Trumpet

• The Turks became the most energetic of all the Muslim nations – and also the most aggressive

• They divided around popular leaders (possibly “four angels”) and headed out for Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), the heart of the Eastern Empire; but were held in check by the Byzantine guards in the Pontic and Taurus mountains (“River Euphrates”)

Sixth Trumpet

• Rev. 9:15 – “kill a third of mankind” with “fire, smoke and sulfur”

• Entity: Constantinople and the Byzantine empire

• Turks had designed firearms – and especially used cannons – “tails”

• “Sulfur” is a main ingredient of gunpowder – which is caused by “fire” and causes “smoke”

Sixth Trumpet

• Turks used cannons especially in destroying cities

• May 29, 1453 AD – overcame Constantinople and made it an Islamic city (Istanbul)

• Mohammed (Mehmet) II, was only 23 at the time, but before his death at age 50 he established the powerful and wealthy Ottoman empire

Sixth Trumpet

• Muslims help the Protestant Reformation

• During the critical time for the Reformation (1520-1560) – the Ottoman policy was to support the Protestants against the Roman Catholics and Charles V

Sixth Trumpet

• “Hour, day, month, year” – 9:15• Different interpretations of this time

• 391 years – most agree (1+30+360)• If we add 391 years to 1453 we come to the year of 1844 (Daniel 8) – close of 2300 days judgment

• By the year 1844 – the Ottoman empire was significantly weaker

Combination of 5th and 6th Trumpets

• Swiss reformer, Heinrich Bullinger, was first to see the Turks in the 6th trumpet (1575 AD)

• William Miller (1832) was the first person to put the two time periods together from the fifth and sixth trumpet – 5 months and 391 years

William Miller’s Interpretation

• 5 months = 150 days = years• Hour, day, month, year = 15 days + 1 + 30 + 360 = 391 years, 15 days

• 150 years + 391 years, 15 days =• 541 years and 15 days• 1298 AD + 541 years, 15 days = 1839• 5th trumpet = rise of the Turks• 6th trumpet = dominance of the Turks

Josiah Litch’s Interpretation

• In 1838 he revised the dates to July 27,1299 – battle of Barpheum – first attack of the Turks on the Byzantine empire

• Adding 541 years, 15 days = August 11, 1840 – he declared that the Turkish empire would be broken

August 11, 1840

• 1839 – Egypt rebelled from Turkish empire – conquered their navy

• Leaders of Egypt and Turkey proposed a settlement to the problem

• Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia intervened – didn’t like the agreement – signed the Treaty of London on July 15, 1840

• Litch said that the Tukish power would fall on August 11,1840

August 11, 1840

• On August 11, 1840 the Turkish representative arrived in Alexandria where all the countries involved signed the Treaty of London

• Sultan sent a communication on that very day to the four main powers inquiring what provisions had been made in the treaty

• Litch believed this showed that Turkey had lost its independent empire

Lesson of the Six Trumpets

• Rev. 9:20,21 – the people that weren’t destroyed by these trumpets didn’t learn their lesson. They still didn’t worship God and still didn’t repent of their murders.

• God gave warnings about the awfulness of sin – but people rejected them.

First Six Trumpets - Review

• First: Fall of Jewish nation• Second: Fall of Roman Empire• Third: Fall of Christian Church

• Fourth: Fall of Christ’s ministry in Heaven

• Fifth: Attacking of Byzantine Empire by Turks

• Sixth: Fall of Byzantine (Eastern) Empire

Fifth trumpet

• By 651 AD – Islam had conquered Egypt, Iraq, Mesopotamia, Iran, and Syria – “sound of their wings” – very fast

• By 711 AD – controlled from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean and in North Africa

• 732 AD Battle of Tours – defeat by Charles Martel in France

Sixth Trumpet

• After conquests of the Muslims from 674-823 AD – the Muslims broke up into several different nations and the Eastern Empire left to itself had its own problems to deal with

• 1000 AD – the Seljuk Turks came south from the plains of Russia, invaded Iran, and accepted the Muslim religion

Sixth Trumpet

• 1071 AD – Battle of Manzikert (near the headwaters of the Euphrates River) – Turkish forces defeated the Eastern Empire forces

• Their forces “flew” into Asia minor and quickly conquered it – and even gave it the name by which we know it today – Turkey

• Othman took control – and the empire became known as the Ottoman empire