“And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” (Revelation 8:6-7 HCSB)
It’s Easter week and this might seem like an odd passage for us to study, but I hope you’ll stay with me. We often fail to realize that the things that are occurring around us are by design and the fulfillment of God’s purpose. That was the case with the events surrounding Easter and it is also the case with the events surrounding the judgments of God as revealed in Revelation. While I only gave you the text of the first trumpet in the quote above, I would encourage you to click the link and read the rest of this chapter and the description of trumpets two, three, and four.
We live in a world that embraces the idea of a spiritual realm to human life, while rejecting the idea of a transcendent God. Many modern people seem to believe in the reality of ghosts or spirits but seem to ignore the implications of such a belief. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not suggesting their beliefs are accurate. But they seem to embrace the belief in something they cannot scientifically validate and that often defies their physical senses and logic. In other words, they make a “leap of faith” into believing these “spiritual” things even as they criticize and reject Christian faith.
My intent this week is not to try and walk you through the details of each of the first four trumpets and their related judgments. The details of these four judgment events are very similar to and closely related to the plagues on Egypt from the Exodus story. They deal with judgments upon the ground (earth, grass, and trees), sea (water, sea creatures, and ships), fresh water (rivers and springs are poisoned), and the light sources (sun, moon, and stars). We could spend our time dissecting the details of these things and then try to associate them to modern events, but I don’t believe that’s the right approach. Most people approach Revelation that way, and I think to do so is to really miss God’s purpose for this book.
As you’ll recall, the vision John is relating to us is one that draws him up into the realm of spiritual things. Not a realm of ghosts and such, but that realm in which God and our spiritual existence and soul are much more real than anything physical could be. There is a part of every man that is deeper, richer, and more real than just those things we know through our physical senses. That’s what John is seeing, sensing, and understanding, and these things are far above and beyond anything his physical senses can know. That’s what John wants us to see, to understand, and to begin recognizing as reality.
In the gospel of John, Jesus is brought to Pilate by the Jewish High Priest for evaluation and judgment (see John 18:28-38). The High Priest has an agenda, but Pilate is a man of pragmatic practicality. He’s not going to give these religious leaders what they want unless it fits into his agenda and satisfies his own desires, so Pilate begins to question Jesus. Pilate asks, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus responds to Pilate’s question with a question: “Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about Me?” Pay attention to that exchange; it’s important. Not just for Pilate, but for you and me.
The Jewish religious leaders know Pilate, and they think they know how to manipulate him. The charges they’ve brought against Jesus and laid out before Pilate are NOT religious in nature. They’re trying to get Pilate to see this as a serious political problem and a threat to Pilate’s own power, position, and personal safety. In other words, if this man is a threat and if you don’t help us with our problem, then you’re going to have an even bigger problem.
At this point, you may be wondering how we jumped from Revelation 8 to John 18 and Jesus’ trial before Pilate. What do these two things have in common, and how in the world do they relate to each other? Let me tell you, it is much more than just the fact that today is Easter. The very foundation for the judgment we see in Revelation is built on this very exchange between Jesus and Pilate. So, pay attention to Pilate’s next question: “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation [Gr: ethnos or people] and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”
Like Pilate, our culture wants to frame this as a “religious” belief issue. The issues and questions are not really so very different today, are they? “What does this have to do with me? I’m not a Christian, am I? You can keep all this religious stuff to yourself and leave the rest of us out of it. It really doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you love others, are sincere in your beliefs, and keep them out of public life.” What they’re really saying is, you can believe whatever you like as long as it doesn’t interfere with my life.
Ah, there it is. The real issue. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as it doesn’t impinge on me, my goals, and my desires. You can do and believe whatever you like as long as it doesn’t bother me or interfere with my love of choices. Pilate is asking what Jesus has done that would cause his breakfast to be interrupted. Pilate doesn’t want some religious squabble to interfere with his day, and he sure doesn’t need some troublemaker messing up things with his boss in Rome. So, what’s all this crazy talk about you being their king?
But listen to Jesus’ response to Pilate’s question: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would have been fighting to prevent this situation. As it is, My kingdom is not from here.” Jesus is telling Pilate that His kingdom is not earthly. I think a better way to translate this would be, it’s not a temporal kingdom. He doesn’t say that His kingdom isn’t real; He says it isn’t “of this world.” You might need to stop and let that statement sink in for a moment. Jesus doesn’t deny being a king, just not king of a temporal kingdom. There’s a place where He is King, and it’s out of this world!
Let’s back up in this story just a bit. Jesus is the rightful king over all He created, including this world, but He gave dominion over this world to man (see Gen. 1:27-28). Then man abdicated his authority over these things when he submitted himself to a serpent, the deceiver, and called God a liar. Jesus tells us that Satan is the liar and always has been. That much hasn’t changed. He still lies to us and deceives us every day. It really comes down to the question of who you’re going to believe, the God who lovingly created you and wants what’s best for you or the one who is always lying to you, Satan?
OK, so what does all of this have to do with our four trumpet judgments in Revelation? Stay with me for one last reference in John 18: Pilate responds to Jesus’ assertions regarding His kingdom: “So, then you are a king?” Jesus admits, “You say I’m a king. I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” There is truth and there are lies. Who are you listening to? Which are you believing, truth or lie?
“What is truth?” said Pilate…
What may surprise you is that the trumpet judgments of our focal passage in Revelation 8 are the direct result of Jesus’ testimony to the truth and our believing the lies, instead. Shortly after the incident above, Pilate agrees to the demands of the Jewish crowd and gives Jesus over to be crucified. But before we delve into that, notice something Jesus said to Pilate: “I was born for this…” He was born to be King and testify to the truth.
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6 HCSB)
Most people misunderstand the message of Jesus and the truth. They think that the way to heaven is by being good enough to earn a spot. To do more good than bad and tilt the scales of justice in their favor. But that’s not the message of scripture. The true message of scripture is that we’re all sinners before a holy God and deserving of God’s just punishment and eternal death. But God loved us SO much He was willing to send His Son, Jesus the King of kings and holy Lamb of God, to redeem us from our slavery to sin. If that sounds familiar, it should. The Exodus of the Jews out of Egypt was a foreshadowing of the primary story – the exodus of God’s people out of their slavery to sin.
Oh, there’s one more critical piece of this that you need to know. The proof of who Jesus is and His testimony to the truth is found in the story that follows Jesus’ encounter with Pilate. I would encourage you to go read the rest of the story as recorded in John’s gospel. Pilate ordered that Jesus be beaten and then crucified as a means of appeasing the crowd and stopping the riot. The crucifixion of Jesus was all a part of God’s eternal plan. Having doubts? God read it for yourself, see Isaiah 52-53, Psalms 22. Here’s the key piece to watch for in John, the tomb was empty! The proof of who Jesus is will be found in that empty tomb. That’s not speculation or myth, that’s a historical fact. The question you must be willing to answer is the very same one that Pilate stated, “What is truth?” You can kill Him but you can’t keep Him that way. He’s the way, the truth, and the life!
Now, that brings me back to our four trumpets in Revelation 8. As I stated above, these four judgments seem to be a deconstruction or an anti-creation judgment of God. God is reversing what He did in the Genesis story – but why? Because much of the world has rejected the truth, that Jesus is the gift of God’s grace if we will love Him as He deserves to be loved, confess our sin, and fall at His feet seeking His mercy and forgiveness (see Eph. 2:9-10, Rom. 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10). Those who reject the truth and believe the lie will be judged and God will deconstruct this world. Then a new heaven and a new earth will take its place and those of us who have heard and believed the truth will come to live there.
You have to admit, there’s nobody else in this world quite like Jesus. I told you that the empty tomb was important. That’s the proof of His claim to be God’s Son. If He can conquer death, then He’s your only hope in the face of God’s judgment. C.S. Lewis argued: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. [Mere Christianity]”
Jesus was born for this… how will you answer that question: What is truth?
“Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.”(John 3:5-6 HCSB)
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