The Trumpet Judgments
Suffering and death summarize
these two chapters well. Chapter eight begins with the breaking of the seventh
seal which brings about severe weather (8:5). This then leads straight into the
trumpet judgments as each angel, one by one, toots his horn. These continue
throughout all of chapter nine. However, the final trumpet is not blown until
chapter eleven.
Many scholars in the past have
proposed that the breaking of the seventh seal is distinct from the others
because, opposed to having a singular judgment, it looks like it comprises the
seven trumpet judgments. However, upon closer examination you will find that
the seventh seal really does have its own judgment (8:5). Yes, the trumpet
judgments follow soon after, but it seems clear to me that they themselves make
up their own set of plagues.
I Plead the Fifth
While many of the plagues are
relatively easy to understand, there are those [like the 5th
Trumpet] which have boggled the minds of scholars for two thousand years.
Scores of men and women have attempted to relate these demonic beings with
military weapons of a technologically advanced age. Others have chosen to
simply read the text as saying that literal demons will sting people with their
scorpion like tails. No matter the case, this is not a judgment that any of us
want to face.
Although we may come away with
different interpretations to the exact form this judgment takes, the 5th
Trumpet should never result in us dividing.
This is a hard book to understand. I plead the fifth because I am not sure, at
least at this time, what exactly to do with the passage. Do I believe it?
Absolutely! Do I fully understand it? Sadly, no.
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