Bible Gem 2267 – Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth – The Seven Trumpets (Revelation 8:6 – 11:19)

⁶Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts. ⁷The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned.

⁸Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and a great mountain of fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the water in the sea became blood, ⁹one-third of all things living in the sea died, and one-third of all the ships on the sea were destroyed.

¹⁰Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. ¹¹The name of the star was Bitterness. It made one-third of the water bitter, and many people died from drinking the bitter water.

¹²Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and one-third of the sun was struck, and one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars, and they became dark. And one-third of the day was dark, and also one-third of the night. ¹³Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, “Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.”

Revelation 8:6-13

9

¹Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. ²When he opened it, smoke poured out as though from a huge furnace, and the sunlight and air turned dark from the smoke. ³Then locusts came from the smoke and descended on the earth, and they were given power to sting like scorpions. ⁴They were told not to harm the grass or plants or trees, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵They were told not to kill them but to torture them for five months with pain like the pain of a scorpion sting. ⁶In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them! ⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. They had what looked like gold crowns on their heads, and their faces looked like human faces. ⁸They had hair like women’s hair and teeth like the teeth of a lion. ⁹They wore armor made of iron, and their wings roared like an army of chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰They had tails that stung like scorpions, and for five months they had the power to torment people. ¹¹Their king is the angel from the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon—the Destroyer. ¹²The first terror is past, but look, two more terrors are coming!

¹³Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. ¹⁴And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.” ¹⁵Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth. ¹⁶I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops. ¹⁷And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths. ¹⁸One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses. ¹⁹Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people. ²⁰But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! ²¹And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 9:1-21

10

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire. ²And in his hand was a small scroll that had been opened. He stood with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. ³And he gave a great shout like the roar of a lion. And when he shouted, the seven thunders answered. ⁴When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.” ⁵Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven. ⁶He swore an oath in the name of the one who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and everything in them, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it. He said, “There will be no more delay.

⁷When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.” ⁸Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angelwho is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!” ¹⁰So I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach. ¹¹Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

Revelation 10:1-11

11

¹Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, “Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. ²But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months. ³And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days.” ⁴These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. ⁵If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. ⁶They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish. ⁷When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them. ⁸And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified. ⁹And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. ¹⁰All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them. ¹¹But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them, and they stood up! Terror struck all who were staring at them. ¹²Then a loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, “Come up here!” And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched. ¹³At the same time there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people died in that earthquake, and everyone else was terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. ¹⁴The second terror is past, but look, the third terror is coming quickly.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” ¹⁶The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him. ¹⁷And they said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. ¹⁸The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come. It is time to judge the deadand reward your servants the prophets, as well as your holy people, and all who fear your name, from the least to the greatest. It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth.” ¹⁹Then, in heaven, the Temple of God was opened and the Ark of his covenant could be seen inside the Temple. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and roared, and there was an earthquake and a terrible hailstorm.

Revelation 11:1-19

You may well be wondering why you are getting this same Gem a second time. The truth is I missed out 19 verses after being interrupted over a very busy two days juggling multiple things. As a result I just plain forgot the fact that I hadn’t added the final section of Revelation 11:1-19 in order to complete the set for the Seven Trumpets. I glanced at it when I finally got back to sending the Gem and read the ending as it was Revelation 10:7-11 and in my busy, befuddled brain I somehow thought it was finished. I had forgotten I hadn’t pasted in the last section but was happy reading the first verse of Revelation 10:1-11.

⁷When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled. It will happen just as he announced it to his servants the prophets.” ⁸Then the voice from heaven spoke to me again: “Go and take the open scroll from the hand of the angelwho is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹So I went to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. “Yes, take it and eat it,” he said. “It will be sweet as honey in your mouth, but it will turn sour in your stomach!” ¹⁰So I took the small scroll from the hand of the angel, and I ate it! It was sweet in my mouth, but when I swallowed it, it turned sour in my stomach. ¹¹Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”Revelation 10:1-11

Not realising I hadn’t pasted the last nineteen verses. Until I started on the next Gem yesterday later in the night after another busy day and realised my mistake. Here then is the end of the block of text for the Seven Trumpets. I must say I was surprised that I didn’t get an email or a text from one of you asking me “How come you didn’t include Chapter 11 Ian? Oops, I didn’t realise what I had done to you.

Now you have The Complete Set of Verses for the Seven Trumpets (Revelation 8:6 – 11:19) You could call this a red letter Bible, not because they are the words of Christ, even though they are, but because of Ian’s blue.

I am sure you can see at a glance what I have done for you. I say ‘done for you’ not ‘done to you’. After all it is for your benefit! I have told participants in Deeper Bible over and over, over the years, that we need to pay careful attention in all directions when it comes to the Word of God. We need to take in the big picture on the macro scale and we need to examine the details on the micro scale. Following that, we need to put it all together. So now that we have moved on to the next section, it is crying out for our attention. We need to pay careful attention to what is across the other side of the chapter boundary and how it fits with what went before it and what follows it.

The next section we are faced with is an easy one, well perhaps I should say an easier one. I have been kind to you in that I have left the verse references in the text for you and not taken them all out. Therefore you can still find your way and see which verse you are dealing with. If you were dealing with the original text John wrote there would be no verse references in the text. That’s right, in the original text there was no John 3:16! Now look at the text I have given you and see what you can find in the way of big picture markers, as well as noticing the details of the text piece by piece. If you do that, you will be grappling with the text in the way John intended and I could also include there, Jesus. Yes I believe God and the Lamb want us to grapple with the text in an up close and personal and intimate way.

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.”

John 5:39-40

That is the same John who wrote Revelation and the same Jesus, Lamb of God. Pay attention, look at the detail, look at the big picture, look for repetitions at word level and patterns in the structure. You might be surprised at what you find. Just a glance at what I have given you and the way I have set it out will hopefully trigger ideas for you to follow up. I will look at what is there in the next Gem. But in the meantime you are on your own.

See what you can find. Send me your findings and your questions.

The quality of your life is set by the questions you ask yourself. The more honest and brave the questions, the further you’ll go.

Rick Warren

Many readers of the Bible want to understand the big picture more clearly, but in order to do that we need to pay more attention to the small things.

Ian

In order to understand the whole we need to see the patterns present and the way in which the biblical writer has glued things together to gain that writer’s perspective.

Ian

Expect all of the Bible to make sense and be connected. Not one verse of Scripture was put in there by mistake or without purpose.

Dr Basil Brown