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Grace & Peace: Revelation 63

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Rev. 8:13).

Just as the first four seals were set off from the last three (by the device of having the first four as the four horsemen), so also the seven trumpets are divided into four followed by three. The first four appear to be warning judgments, with the last three, each one called a woe, being the culmination or fulfillment of that judgment.

Given the context of judgment falling upon the city of Jerusalem, it is best to take the first woe as the internal strife among the Jewish rebels, the second as the besieging of the city by the Romans, and the third as the fiery overthrow of the city.

But before the woes come, the woes are announced beforehand, which is the point of this text. The King James and New King James tell us that the messenger was an angel. But there is some variation in the manuscripts—the ESV and the NASB state that an eagle is the one making the announcement. Interestingly, the Vulgate has aquila at this place—an eagle.

If we take it as an angel, we see that the last three trumpets are grim enough to require their own introduction. If the messenger is an eagle, we should remember that eagles are carrion birds, and in the toppling of Jerusalem, a million Jews were going to die. This is a common image in the Old Testament (Dt. 28:49; Jer. 4:13; Lam 4:19; Hos. 8:1; Hab. 1:8; Matt. 24:28). The image here is the swiftness of the eagle, but the reference from Habakkuk shows that the eagles fly fast in their hunger. “They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.” And the covenant judgment of being devoured by the birds of the air is also common (Dt. 28:26; Prov. 30:17; Rev. 19:17-18).

In either case, the messenger is telling the inhabitants of the land to brace themselves.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 62

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise” (Rev. 8:12).

The fourth trumpet is blown, and the visitation comes upon the sun, moon, and stars. The judgment is partial, not total, but it is nonetheless striking. The question raised by the image is this: is the sun, for example, partially eclipsed, with a third of it covered? Or is the light from the entire sun diminished by a third, as could happen with thick air pollution? I take this as symbolic, not literal, but the nature of the picture affects the understanding of what is being pictured. I take this as an indication of political upheaval in and around the time of the Jewish War—during which the Roman emperors Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius all died, and not peacefully in bed either. And yet, Rome continued.

Throughout the Old Testament, the language of a collapsing or failing solar system is the language that indicates judgment upon a nation or city. Consider the following (Is. 13:9-11, 19; 24:19-23; 34:4-5; Ezek. 32:7-8, 11-12; Joel 2:10, 28-32; Acts 2:16;21). The sun, moon and stars are representation of earthly rulers, and what is happening to them in the heavenly vision is what is actually going to happen to their counterparts on earth. In this case, the indication is of a partial judgment.

It is at least worth mentioning that later in the book, the dragon (who is the devil) dragged down a third of the stars with his tail (Rev. 12:4).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 61

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11)

“And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter” (Rev. 8:10–11).

The seven trumpets are harbingers of a coming judgment upon a wicked and unbelieving city. In the Old Testament, the Canaanite city of Jericho was solemnly sealed in her destruction by seven trumpets blasting. What this indicates is a strong reversal theme in Revelation. Here Jerusalem is in the place of Jericho, the chosen people have now taken the place of the pagan Canaanites. The plagues that rain down on Israel in this book are reminiscent of the plagues that wiped out Egypt—and in Rev. 11:8, this is a reversal that is made explicit—Jerusalem is identified with both Sodom and Egypt. These are the two great places in the Old Testament best known for the judgment that fell upon them from Heaven. What is that place now? It is Jerusalem.

The same thing is found in our passage itself. When Moses brought the children of Israel away from the Red Sea (Ex. 15:22), they came to a place called Marah. It was called that because the water was bitter. The Lord showed Moses a tree there, which he threw into the bitter water in order to make it sweet (Ex. 15:23-25). In this passage, the reversal is plainly shown—the waters are sweet, and God throws a great star, burning like a torch (reminiscent of the tree in Exodus), into the water in such a way as to make them bitter. Why is this significant? Because wormwood means bitter, and because of the warning that was given to them at Marah, with Egypt of recent memory still smoldering.

“And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).

If they kept his commandments, they would not be visited with the diseases that had afflicted the Egyptians. They would not take the place of Egypt. But unfortunately they did not keep God’s commandments, and now He was making Marah bitter again. So keep in mind, once again, that this judgment is aimed straight at Israel.

The name of the star is Wormwood, which means bitterness, and the falling star turns the water to wormwood, which still means bitterness. Because of it, men die—either because the water is poisoned, or because they refuse to drink it because it is so bad. And that is what every form of disobedience and idolatry always produces (Dt. 29:18). When they follow after the Baalim, God gives them wormwood to drink (Jer. 9:14-15). Because the prophets are profane, God will feed them with wormwood (Jer. 23:15). This was a signal mark of God’s fierce judgements (Lam. 3:15, 19). And in one instance, it was the sin—turning judgment into wormwood—that invites the further judgment from God (Amos 5:6). This was precisely the great sin on the part of the Sanhedrin—that of condemning the Lord Jesus to a cross of wood, where He would be offered vinegar mixed with gall. What was this but the crime of turning justice into wormwood? This is what invited the cataclysmic destruction of 70 A.D.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 60

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (Rev. 8:8–9).

The doom predicted by Jesus is falling upon Jerusalem, and these events are fulfilled in the Jewish War of 66-70 A.D. In order for this to become plain to us, we have to begin with how the Bible talks about such things. Kingdoms are frequently spoken of as “mountains,” and the judgments that fall upon them are described with appropriate imagery. We see this both with expressions of faith in times of trouble, and expressions of dismay in times of judgment.

Here is an expression of faith:

“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Ps. 46:2; cf. Is. 2:2; Zech. 4:7).

And how is a terrifying judgment against Babylon described?

“Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, Which destroyest all the earth: And I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain” (Jer. 51:25).

So we have Old Testament expressions of judgment on nations in terms of mountains being burnt, and mountains being thrown into the sea. And recall what happened when Jesus cursed the fig tree—which was a sign of the coming judgment upon Israel. What does Jesus say?

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done” (Matt. 21:21).

What mountain? This mountain, the mountain they were standing on, the mountain that the city of Jerusalem was built on (Matt. 21:18). In other words, Jesus cursed the fig tree, representing Israel, and then told His disciples that their authoritative command, delivered in faith, would be the instrument that would cause Jerusalem to be thrown into the sea. Who overthrew Jerusalem? In one sense, the Roman Titus did. But in another sense, Jerusalem was thrown down by the twelve apostles.

That sea probably represents the Gentile nations, as it does throughout Scripture. The image of a mountain city being thrown into the sea is an image of judgment, and is not meant to be taken literally—as though Mount Zion was destined to go whistling overhead. And in the same way, the sea is symbolic of the Gentile world, into which the Jews who survived the war would be dispersed. The burning object, like a mountain, was thrown into the ocean and quenched, and it caused devastation there as well.

There may be a literal element in the fulfillment however. Josephus records a battle between the Romans and the Galileans that occurred on the Sea of Galilee. It was a slaughter—“one might see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped.” The result is not hard to compare to the results of the second trumpet: the “dead bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and putrefied, they corrupted the air . . .” (Wars III.10.9).

Jerusalem was cursed. Jerusalem was burned in 70 A.D. Jerusalem was settled on a great mountain. Jerusalem persecuted the apostles as they had done with their Lord. And so the apostles commanded, and it was done.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 59

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)

“The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (Rev. 8:7).

The seven trumpets follow the same general pattern that the seven seals did—in that the first four are divided from the final three. In this case, the last three trumpets are identified as “woes.” With the seals, the first four were associated with horsemen. There is no pressing reason to take all these in a serial fashion, as though we now have a total of fourteen railroad cars, or beads on a string. The description is of the apocalyptic destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and each trumpet gives us a fuller picture of what was going to happen in the one cataclysmic judgment that was going to fall upon that wretched city. The symbolic language here is of an exhaustive devastation, but the plain warning of Jesus indicates that these symbols are not overblown when we consider what was actually going to happen to the city and the surrounding territory of Judea.

“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (Matt. 24:16).

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

The sounding of the trumpets signals the commencement of battle—this is God’s war against an apostate nation. The combination of hail and fire and blood make us think of the judgment that God rained down upon Egypt (Ex. 9:23; Ps. 18:13; Ps. 78:48; Ps. 105:32). The destruction of Jerusalem occurred in 70 A.D. but there was plenty of devastation to Judea in the years running up to that fateful year. Israel, once gloriously delivered from Egypt, had herself become Egypt.

In this passage, it says that a third of the trees were destroyed. Josephus records that the Romans cut down all the trees around Jerusalem for about ninety furlongs out (with a furlong being 220 yards). Jerusalem was also surrounded with pleasant gardens, which were also wiped out. This was devastation enough, but it is also possible that the grass and the trees represent men (as possibly indicated in Rev. 7:3 and 9:4)—the trees being kings, princes and rulers, and the grass being the ordinary folk. In any case, whether it was one or the other, or both, it was a grim situation.

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