God is mighty! How is He going to show this in the last days?

Core verse:

And at the sounding of the first, a rain of ice and fire, mixed with blood, was sent on the earth: and a third part of the earth, and of the trees, and all green grass was burned up. (Revelation 8:7 BBE)

A trumpet was usually in Biblical times blown in battles. The first battle that we find in chapter 8, is God sending rain of ice (hail) and fire to the earth. This was mixed with blood, so it was red in color.

The hail and fire reminds me of the seventh plague in Egypt. This was when Moses and the Israelites were negotiating with the pharaoh to let the Israelite slaves go free. We read about this in Exodus 9:13-35. God was showing the pharaoh that He was powerful. Now in the Book of Revelations we read that God will do the same in the last days, but it will be red in color. Clearly this will demonstrate that God is all powerful.

Some people think that this “red” is significant because it is the color of lava coming out of a volcano. This might also be sand, dust or pollution that will color the skies red. Nowadays we see red skies because of pollution! This could very well also be a sign of the last days. However, the “red” colored skies could mean a lot of things. We can only speculate what this might be.

The point is that it will show the power of God for all to see. This was indeed the reason for the seventh plague in Egypt. 

The last part of the core verse is difficult to interpret. We read that a third of the trees and earth will burn but that ALL the grass will burn. This reminds me of the following verse:

The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal. (Isaiah 40:8 BBE)

The dead grass in this verse in Isaiah tells us that the grass is temporary but the word of God is permanent. Perhaps the core verse (Revelation 8:7) is referencing to Isaiah 40:8. In other words, the third of the earth and trees and all the grass that dies may very well highlight the eternalness of the Word of God.

The main purpose of this verse (Revelation 8:7) is to show the earth that God is mighty. Red hail and fire, tighter with the dead grass points to the fact that God is mighty!

Till next time!

The apocalypse and the sound of trumpets.

In the next few posts we are going to discuss the book of Revelation, chapters 8 and 9. Most scholars know this text as: “the cycle of the seven trumpets”. We know this text is about the final judgment of God. Does it tell us something about the end of time? Is it about the apocalypse? If so, how much time?

Core verse:

I noticed that the seven angels who stood before God were each given a trumpet. (Revelation 8:2 CEV)

The core verse describes a scene in front of the throne of God. In this verse we find a description about the beings and items that are going to play a vital role in the next few scenes as the “other angel” comes into play.

We read that there is going to be SEVEN angels and SEVEN trumpets. Some people regard the number seven as a lucky number; perhaps you have even seen the number seven in the slot machines of casinos. “777” is usually a winning number. But the number seven is also one of the holy numbers of God and in this case it indicates that the angels and trumpets are from God and that seven things are going to happen (discussed in later posts).

The angels in this case are referring to messengers in heaven. Their purpose is to serve God and, in this case, to blow on the trumpets as the trumpets are given to them. Some Christians have even given names to these seven angels. I, for one, don’t think that they should be named as there are many angels! (Perhaps one of them was Michael.)

But why trumpets? Throughout the Bible trumpets have been used for many reasons. A few texts come to mind:

·         Then at the sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar. (Leviticus 23:24 CEV)

·         Give a signal on a trumpet when it is time to break camp. (Numbers 10:5 CEV)

·         A loud trumpet will be heard. Then the people of Israel who were dragged away to Assyria and Egypt will return to worship the LORD on his holy mountain in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:13 CEV)

·         At the sound of a loud trumpet, he will send his angels to bring his chosen ones together from all over the earth. (Matthew 24:31 CEV)

So we know it’s something to do with a signal, perhaps sacrifices and definitely that the people of God will be brought together. This might very well be describing the end of times!

Which signal do you think God is going to use at the end of times?

Till next time!