Seven Trumpets, Seven Bowls

 

My imagination used to run wild when I read the descriptions of the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, in Revelation. I envisioned meteors hitting the earth, the earth ceasing to rotate, and catastrophes wiping out a third of mankind. And then, a second whammy -- God pours out seven more bowls of judgment. I was also taught that Christians would be raptured before the Great Tribulation, when all these cataclysmic judgments would occur. So, my imagination could run rampant. I was safe.

Eventually I came to understand that the trumpets were warnings, not judgments. Like a shot over the bow of a ship, they are a warning sign of impending doom and destruction. Then another light came on, the bowl judgments are describing the exact same events as the seven trumpets, just from God’s perspective, rather than from man’s own doing.

The trumpet warnings are found in Revelation 8-9, and the bowls are found in Revelation 16. The events are depicted in apocalyptic visions, obviously not in modern vernacular.

Trumpet #1 is WW1. It was the first war in the history of mankind to use aircraft, large artillery, chemical warfare, and to drop bombs from the sky. Large tracts of land were burned to eliminate camouflage. The death toll was 18 million.

Trumpet #2 is WW2. Large numbers of warships were destroyed in this war, including Pearl Harbor. The atomic bombs dropped on Japan resembled “something like a great mountain burning with fire.” The death toll: 70 million.

Trumpet #3 describes Chernobyl, using that nuclear disaster, in 1986, as a flagship of the entire nuclear age. The star that fell from the sky was nuclear fallout, poisoning the land and water throughout much of eastern Europe. The name, Wormwood, is actually translated in the Ukrainian Bible as “Chernobyl”. The nuclear age began innocently in the early 20^th century, but became a “sword of Damocles” hanging over the heads of mankind ever since WW2.

Trumpet #4 is describing climate change, a result of the industrial revolution of the last 250 years. The sun and moon are blocked out by smog in the description. The first UN Conference on Climate Change took place in 1972. Yes, I know -- liberals want to fix the problem, while conservatives deny it. But God says that climate change is real, and it is a sign of the end of the age.

Trumpet #5 is a lengthy description of the Gulf war back in 1990-91. So many details of that war were foretold – the smoke from the 600 oil wells set on fire, Saddam Hussein’s name means “destroyer”, the five-month period, and the highway of death augmented by the famous picture of an Iraqi soldier sitting in his truck “wishing he could die”.

Trumpet #6 has not yet occurred. We are in the wait and watch mode for this one. It foretells the buildup to the battle of Armageddon, which is mentioned many times in Revelation.

Trumpet #7, along with bowl #7 and also seal #6, all describe the final world-wide judgment of God upon evil, unbelieving mankind, including signs in the sun and the moon, lighting, rumblings, large hail, and severe earthquakes, The last trumpet is also the pinpoint time when Jesus Christ returns and Christians are caught up in the rapture.

And there you have it, an interpretation of the seven trumpets that may be new to you. History is the best interpreter of prophecy.