The Seven Trumpets

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. How does God work in this world? How does God work in this world? He works through his servants, right?

Well, it's the same with the devil. The devil, he's doing things spiritually. We understand that. But Satan works through his servants. And by the way, he has a lot of servants. Have you noticed? Not least among Satan's servants is the man that we call Antichrist.

Also his cohort, the false prophet. These men are described in Revelation chapter 13. John calls what? The Antichrist is called the beast, right? The beast. And it's around the midpoint of the tribulation when the beast will sit in the temple of God demanding to be worshipped as God.

And it's around that time where the mark of the beast will be instituted. Where he, at that moment, essentially becomes the world dictator from hell, ruling over a one world government, instituting a one world religion where he's the object of worship.

And there will also be a one world economic system where nobody is able to buy or sell unless they have the mark. You see, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, people would have looked at many of the things written in the book of Revelation.

How is that possible? This could never happen. People aren't saying that anymore, are they? So if you want more on that subject of the mark of the beast and the Antichrist, I did a few sermons on this.

You can go online. Revelation 13, I did a sermon from that titled Babylon in the New World Order. Also, I did a sermon a few months ago on the mark of the beast. Also one from a few years ago titled The Coming of Antichrist.

Those are all on our website and YouTube channel if you would like to find out more. So we have plenty of material on that. But let's pick up where we left off last time from our chronology. So let's turn to Revelation chapter 8.

The Seventh Seal and the Seven Trumpet Judgments

Revelation chapter 8. I said that I believe the book of Revelation, trying to understand it, that more or less the book of Revelation is in chronological order. There's a few exceptions of parenthetical chapters that kind of fill in the overall story.

So in our timeline, before we got into the parenthetical passages, we ended last time with the sixth seal. You remember that? The sixth seal. So now let's look at the seventh seal, which leads into the seven trumpet judgments.

So to get through all of this, we're going to have to move fast. We're going to have to go through some of these things rapid fire. And that's really what's going to happen in the tribulation. As time goes on, the judgments are going to increase in both speed and intensity.

But before we see that rapid fire judgment upon the earth, we kind of get this calm before the storm. Look at Revelation 8 verses 1 and 2. When he, that is Jesus, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

I'm going to skip over the joke that all preachers make at this point. Some of you know what it is. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets.

So you can see the seventh seal contains these seven trumpet judgments, which then lead into the seven bowl judgments. So to a degree, there seems to be almost some overlap between the judgments. But let's just go through these.

So the seven angels who have the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. Okay, so this is the first trumpet judgment. What is it? The vegetation is struck. God's wrath is now at this point being poured out upon the earth.

Verse 7. And all green grass was burned up. Now, many commentators have seen in this a potential, potentially a massive volcanic explosion. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe not. I'm not going to go through.

I already decided I'm not going to go through all of the theories. I'm just going to read to you what the word of God says. Some of these things will be literal. Some will be symbolic. The second trumpet.

The seas are struck. So first, the vegetation. Now, the seas, the saltwater. Verse 8. Then the second angel sounded. And notice what it says. In something like a great mountain. Does it say it was a great mountain?

No, it says something like a great mountain. So John is seeing this vision. He's doing the best he can to describe it. And we don't exactly know what it is. But 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. Now, the third judgment. The waters, the fresh waters are struck. Verse 10.

Then a third angel sounded. And a great star fell from heaven. Burning like a torch. And it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became Wormwood.

And many men died from the water because it was made bitter. And it's interesting. The worst nuclear disaster in world history happened in 1986 at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union. And I mention that only because the word Chernobyl, guess what it means?

Chernobyl means Wormwood. And, of course, it contaminated that whole area. And I don't know that that means anything. I'm not saying it means anything. I just find it interesting. But now the fourth trumpet.

The heavens are struck. Verse 12. Then a fourth angel sounded. 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. A third of the day did not shine.

And likewise the night. And I looked. And I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, Whoa, whoa, whoa to the inhabitants of the earth. Because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound.

So you can see as we go along things are getting worse. The trumpets are clearly worse than the seals. The seal judgments were what? Warfare, famine, widespread death. That's true. Well, now with the three woes we're going to see how bad things get.

The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets: Demonic Torment and the Euphrates Army

Look at Revelation chapter 9 starting in verse 1. Then the fifth angel sounded. And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. This is an angel. It could be Satan himself. But a star fallen from heaven to the earth.

And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit. And smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree.

But only those men who do not have the seal of God on their forehead. And they were not given authority to kill them. But to torment them for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

And those days men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die and death will flee from them. So the bottomless pit. This is where God has imprisoned the fallen angels who sinned in the days of Noah.

And now it appears that many of these demons are going to be released. So the locusts are most likely demons. They come from the bottomless pit. Verse 11 it says,. And they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon, which basically means destroyer.

Verse 12,. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things. Now starting in verse 13 we have the sixth trumpet. The angels from the Euphrates River. The Bible says,. Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who has the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

So the fact that they're bound would indicate their fallen angels. Verse 15,. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

Now I want you to stop and think for a moment. With the fourth seal, what did it say? One fourth, one quarter of the earth's population was killed. And now one third of the population that remains is killed.

Now I've never been very good with math, but I'm pretty sure that means half of the earth's population at this point is gone. Did I get that right? That's right. Okay. And the people of the earth now understand.

They now understand that this is most certainly the outpouring of God's wrath. There's no other explanation for it. Supernatural things are happening everywhere. And what's their response? Well, now they know.

Now they know God exists. So they're going to believe in Him, right? Because that's why people don't believe in God. They just don't have the evidence. That's what they say, right? That's what's going to happen?

Wrong. Verse 20,. But the rest of mankind, upon seeing this, the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. By the way, the word translated sorceries in verse 21 is the Greek word pharmakia, which can either refer to drug use or the administering of drugs that essentially act as poison.

The Seventh Trumpet and the Kingdom of Christ

Now turn to Revelation chapter 11. In chapter 10, a mighty angel comes down. We don't have time to look at everything, but in chapter 10, a mighty angel comes down from heaven. This could be Christ himself, perhaps.

But this mighty angel in chapter 10 speaks a message, and John is about to write it down, and the angel tells him not to. So a secret message is proclaimed in chapter 10. Maybe someday we'll find out what he said.

But now we come to the seventh trumpet. Revelation 11 verse 15. Then 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.

And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thanks to you, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned.

The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. In the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth.

So the seventh trumpet now has sounded. And the seventh trumpet, here's the thing, the seventh trumpet includes the seven bowl judgments. So one group of judgments leads into the other, and now to the final judgments.

So we're now getting into the last days of the great tribulation. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.