The Last Three Trumpets
In the previous chapters, we read how the Martyrs in Heaven will pray for their blood to be avenged and for the Inhabitants of the Earth to be judged. In answer to their prayers, the martyrs will be told that they must wait a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters were killed just as they had been (See Chapter 6). Accordingly, after the martyrs pray for revenge, the First Three Trumpets will be sounded that will announce the Plagues on the Land, the Sea, and the Trees that will serve as a warning to the Inhabitants of the Earth before the prayer of the martyrs is answered. Rather than being humbled by these plagues, the Inhabitants of the Earth will respond to God’s warning by persecuting His people and attacking Jerusalem, as described in the events of the Fourth Trumpet. The Attack on Jerusalem will be followed by the war that Satan will wage against the rest of God’s people, known as the Great Tribulation, when the full number of God’s will be killed, as repeated below.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been. Rev. 6:9-11
The killing of God’s people in the Great Tribulation will fulfill the condition given to the Martyrs in Heaven and will lead to the sounding of the Last Three Trumpets that will announce the plagues that will avenge their blood. Unlike the plagues of the First Three Trumpets, which will strike the land and the sea in order to test those who live on earth, the plagues of the Last Three Trumpets will strike the Inhabitants of the Earth, themselves, as announced in the final verse of the last chapter.
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!” Rev. 8:13
Those who will be on earth at the sounding of the Last Three Trumpets will include the 144,000 who be sealed with the Mark of God on their forehead, and the Inhabitants of the Earth, which is a description of the unrepentant from among mankind. Not on earth will be God’s people from every tongue, people, tribe, and nation who will be killed in the Great Tribulation.
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:9-13
From Heaven, the martyrs will watch as the Wrath of God is poured out, beginning with the First Woe of the Fifth Trumpet.
The Fifth Trumpet
The First Woe to strike the Inhabitants of the Earth, will be announced by the Fifth Trumpet when a cloud of locusts that have the sting of scorpions will descend upon the earth.
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. Rev. 9:1-3
In Chapter 8, we learned that the star that falls to the earth is a description of Satan, who will fall to the earth when he loses the War in Heaven. When the Fifth Trumpet is sounded, he is again identified as the star that fell from the sky and who will be given the keys to the shaft of the Abyss. The Abyss, itself, is where the rebellious angels are held until the Day of Judgment as can be seen in the following verse where we read of the possessed man, who was filled with a legion of demons.
Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. Lk. 8:30-31
The fear that the demons had of being cast into the Abyss corresponds with how in the original, the word Abyss comes from two words that describe a bottomless pit. Accordingly, the Abyss serves as the temporary prison of the rebellious angels and is where Satan will be imprisoned during the 1,000 Year Reign of Christ. (To read more about Hades, see Chapter 1)
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. Rev. 20:1-3
“And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day”. Jude 1:6
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;” 2 Peter 2:4.
When Satan is given the key and unlocks the Abyss, it will trigger the release of great cloud of locusts that will darken the sky. The locust will be given power like that of scorpions and the agony resulting from their sting will cause people to long to die.
They (the locusts) were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. Rev. 9:4-6
The command given to the locust to not to harm the grass or any plant or tree is in contrast to the plagues of the First Three Trumpets, which will harm the land, the sea, and the trees, but not the Inhabitants of the Earth themselves. In this way the judgments of the First Three Trumpets will serve as a warning to the Inhabitants of the Earth, and the plagues of the Last Three Trumpets will judge the Inhabitants of the Earth. In addition, we read how the locust will be forbidden from stinging those who have the Seal of God on their foreheads, which is a reference to the 144,000 from all the Tribes of Israel, who will be sealed before the plagues on the land and the see begin. In this way, we learn that the 144,000 will live through the events of the Seven Trumpets but will not be harmed by the plagues.
The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer). The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. Rev. 9:7-12
In the Scriptures, plagues of locusts are often compared to the marching of armies, which devastate the land, as exampled in the following verse.
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. Joel 2:25
As in the above case, the locusts of the Sixth Trumpet will have the characters of a human army, and their tails will carry the sting of scorpions in order to torture those who live on earth. During the Plague of Locust, the people will seek death but will not find it. Instead they will be tortured by the sting of the locusts for five months in order to avenge the blood of the Martyrs in Heaven. The description of the Plague of Locusts ends with the statement that the First Woe has past, which corresponds with how the angel announce earlier that the Last Three Trumpets will bring Three Woes to the Inhabitants of the Earth.
The Sixth Trumpet
The sounding of the Sixth Trumpet will announce the release of Four Angels, who, in turn, will release a two-hundred-million-man army, and a third of mankind will be killed in the ensuing war.
The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand (two-hundred million). I heard their number. Rev. 9:13-16
The reference to the river Euphrates, which formed the original eastern and northern borders of Israel, implies that the two-hundred-million-man army will come from the lands east and north of Israel. Accordingly, we can conclude that this war will be between the ruler that will attack Jerusalem, and a massive army from the east and north that will challenge his rule. We have not yet been introduced to this future ruler, who will lead the nations into attacking Jerusalem, but he will be explained in upcoming chapters. For now, we can say that when he conquers Jerusalem, his authority over the nations will be challenged by a massive army from the East resulting in the war when a third of mankind will be killed.
The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
Rev. 9:17-19
In the First-Century, horses were instruments of war. Accordingly, John used the image of horses with the heads of lions to describe the modern-day weapons that he saw being used in this war and that will carry riders. Accordingly, the fire (red), smoke (blue), and sulfur (yellow), which will come out of the mouths of the horses, is most likely a description of the fiery discharges that will come from these weapons when a third of mankind is killed. In this way, the Three Plagues of Fire, Smoke, and Sulfur are a First-Century description of a Twenty First-Century war.
Those Who Did Not Repent
As mentioned before, the events of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets will occur after those who hold to their testimony of Jesus are no longer on earth, having been killed in the Great Tribulation. This is confirmed in the following passages which tells us that those who suffer through the Plagues of Locusts and the Plague of Smoke, Fire, and Sulfur will refuse to repent.
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. Rev. 9:20-21
The description of the events of the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets adds to our order of events as follows.
Order of Events of the Last Days
1. The Ascension of Jesus Christ
2. Wars, Rumors of Wars, Earthquakes, and Famines (Seals 1-4)
3. The Martyrs Pray for Judgment and Revenge (5th. Seal)
4. The Hour of Trial when the Inhabitants of the Earth will be Tested
– A third of the earth is burned up (1st. Trumpet)
– A third of the sea turns to blood (2nd. Trumpet)
– A third of the waters turn bitter (3rd Trumpet)
5. The Attack on Jerusalem (4th. Trumpet)
6. The Great Tribulation when the Full Number of Brothers and Sisters will be Killed
7. The Blood of the Martyrs in Heaven is Avenged
– The Plague of Locusts (5th. Trumpet)
– The Plague of Fire, Smoke, and Sulfur (6th. Trumpet)
– To be announced (7th. Trumpet)
8. The Great Earthquake and Severe Hailstorm(6th. Seal)
9. The Silence in Heaven (7th. Seal)
Revelation Chapter 8
Revelation Chapter 10
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Bryan Coray is the author of Keep Watch: The Order of Events of the Last Days, available
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