One of the most common arguments people make against the accuracy of the Scriptures is that God is inconsistent between the Old and New Testaments. God, they (always) claim, is all about wrath and judgment in the Old Testament, but suddenly He becomes all about love and grace in the New Testament, and that sort of inconsistency is unacceptable to them. But, as is the case with inconsistencies in the Bible, there actually is no inconsistency. God has always been, and always will be, a God of justice, and justice will always involve punishing the wicked.
But . . . God is also a consistent God of love Who offers grace as a means of fulfilling His wrath, which is poured out on Jesus, instead of the wicked. So God's wrath (the "Old Testament God") is most visible in His greatest display of love: the Cross. Grace and wrath are not two opposing entities, but are very closely entwined, and God's grace can be found just as much in the Old Testament as His wrath can be found in the New Testament; the Trumpet Judgments are a clear example of God's wrath in the New Testament. So let's back up and re-read what happens prior to the sounding of the trumpets:
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.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up (8:1-7).
As we looked at last time, the 144,000 Israelites were sealed so as to protect them from whatever harm would befall "the land or the sea or the trees" (7:3). The first trumpet, which I personally believe may be the beginning of God's Judgment against the Tribulation of the Saints, does almost exactly what the angel in 7:3 predicted: it harms the land and trees. While some speculate that this judgment only falls on a third of the earth - hence only a third of the earth and a third of the trees being burned up - the fact that "all the green grass [will be] burned up" indicates that this fiery, bloody hail will indeed fall on the entire planet, but will "only" destroy a third of the world's forests. At this point, I'm going to issue a magnificently large conjecture alert, and comment that this could be God's judgment against our world's ever-increasing environmental worship. One of the mantras that has been chanted over and over and over again for decades is "Save the Trees." Here in America, we even have a day set aside and dedicated specifically to trees. Sounds an awful lot like worship, to me, but that's just my opinion, and I wouldn't make that the bedrock of your interpretation of Revelation.
So the First Trumpet harms the grass and the trees, right? But wait, doesn't 7:3 specifically references the "sea" as well? Yes, but so does the Second Trumpet.
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed (8:8-9).
Obviously, the Big Asteroid that astronomers keep going all Chicken Little on us about will eventually hit, and when it does, it will turn a third of the sea into blood. Now, it's unclear whether this happens because a third of the ships - and the people on them - die, as well as a third of the sea creatures, or whether the sea turns to blood in a First Plague of Exodus sort of supernatural event. Either way, God reveals that we really aren't in control of anything. All of our attempts at only eating sustainable food sources, all of our attempts at removing mercury, all of our fretting over contamination, all of it comes to naught when God pours out His judgment on the earth.
I'm not suggesting we keep pouring mercury and other harmful substances into the ocean, or that we bulldoze every available piece of land in order to build yet another strip mall, but I am suggesting that protecting the environment as an expression of our worship for Mother Earth is idolatry, and for those who continue to worship false gods, these judgments will bring the global economy to a grinding halt. It will also cause massive destruction and mayhem. This is what makes the sealing of believing Israel so important. Remember, part of the reason for sealing the Israelites was to protect them from these two Judgements. But, for believers in Jesus, there will be a stark contrast when they are unharmed by the judgments, and I believe that this will be a means of preaching the Gospel and declaring God to be God (c.f. Exodus 9:16).
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water - the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter (8:10-11).
We should take a moment here and examine some claims that the Trumpet Judgments are largely symbolic. This is mostly due to the fact that the third trumpet is a little hard to interpret. There are, for instance, persistent rumors that "Wormwood" in Russian is "Chernobyl." This has led many to believe that the "star" is actually a bomb. Truthfully, I can see this; it makes sense . . . if it were accurate. As it so happens, "chernobyl" translates to "mugwort," rather than "wormwood" (although, interestingly, both are part of the artemisia family, although mugwort is properly called artemisia vulgaris, whereas wormwood is artemisia absinthium - so the "chernobyl" plant is related to Wormwood, but they are not the same thing). Also, if you are interested, "wormwood" is gorech' - bitter - in Russian. But this is neither here, nor there.
What we know - beyond speculation - is what John tells us:
1) it's a star
2) it blazes like a torch
3) it has a name - Wormwood
4) it poisons a third of the earth's freshwater supplies
We know what is is, what it looks like, what it does, and even what its name is. Where the Second Trumpet was clearly a large asteroid, this is most likely a meteorite (i.e., a "shooting star"). I do not know the mechanism by which it poisons a third of the earth's fresh water, but, once more, the destruction of our so-called "fragile" environment - the environment that so many people today try to "save" - is merely a reminder that it all belongs to God anyway. Folks, if the bedrock of your faith, if the hope you have for our future, if your most persistent worry is finding clean energy and sustainable food sources, then you need to throw out that flimsy false god that we call "the Environment," and you need to replace it with Jesus.
The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, 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 turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!" (8:12-13).
Where I live, I currently have about twelve hours of light each day, depending on the season; winter is a little less, summer is a little more. At night, we have the moon and stars to provide some light, and those usually last for twelve hours. Imagine, then, eight hours of complete and total blackness each day, leading well into the night. Imagine the looting that will happen during these eight hours. Oh, and lest you think, "I'll just turn on the lights," do you think the power plants will be working after the previous three trumpets?
An alternative reading is that the light is diminished by 33% each day and night. Better, perhaps, than the first reading, but would you want it to be dusk all day, every day? It would be absolutely maddening to be able to see, but not to be able to see well enough to do anything. And night would be virtually impossible. It would be like going blind. You know, upon reflection, I think this reading is worse than the first interpretation.
But the most alarming part is the eagle, telling us all that things are going to get worse.
Worse than fire, blood, and hail raining out of the sky. Worse than watching all of the grass burn up. Worse than the largest forest fires anyone has ever seen. Worse than the smoke that comes with those. Worse than an asteroid plummeting into the sea. Worse than the stench of rotting sea life. Worse than the loss of ships and their crews. Worse than the tsunamis that will inevitably follow. Worse than losing the earth's freshwater supplies. Worse than rampant looting, or "going blind" but still being able to see.
Folks, are you looking for legislators to save us through their laws and regulations? Are you looking for us to save ourselves through recycling and "going green?" Are you counting on the earth being here for future generations, as long as we take action immediately to save it?
God is the God of our earth. He does not bend to its will, but it bends to His, and the first four trumpets of Revelation prove it.
"You shall have no other gods besides Me" (Exodus 20:3).
No comments:
Post a Comment