Seven Trumpets [part three] ...

We resume our examination of the seven trumpets continued from part two of this series.  The first intermission concluded, the first four trumpets having sounded, what we prepare to explore are the three remaining “woes” that are to accompany the last three trumpets sounding.  Having examined the first four trumpets sounding from either a spiritual or political context, there seems to be parallels from a timing perspective to the first four seals being opened, or the first four messages to the churches and periods of church history.  This is not to preclude any more modernistic methods of also interpreting the trumpets sounding, but it does seem to continue a pattern of prophetic interpretation that began in chapter one, and appears to hold true throughout the series-of-seven prophecies outlined so far.  John continues his revelation of the sounding trumpets now in chapter nine of his book of Revelations of Jesus Christ.

He begins in verse 1 … “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. [verse 2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”  In prior applications, the symbolism of a star falling might have been applied to Attila who descended upon the Roman Empire.  Originally it was applied to Lucifer who fell from heaven.  Now it seems again that another person will play the instrumental role in what is about to transpire by reason of their “fall”.  The bottomless pit symbolism would seem to imply a nearly endless source of darkness.  In this case the darkness rises out of the pit in the form of smoke, and is so thick it blankets the air, and nearly blots out the sun. 

John continues in verse 3 … “And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. [verse 4] And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. [verse 5] And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. [verse 6] And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”  First we should note that what comes next, proceeds from out of the smoke, or out of the darkness.  Often when light is forsaken, and darkness is embraced, the fruit of darkness is pain and death.  In this case, an army like that of locusts emerges from the smoke.  But instead of just being plant eaters, these locusts behave more like scorpions.  In fact, they are told to avoid injuring the planet, and instead to focus only on the men “which have not the seal of God in their foreheads”.  This distinction is therefore quite important.  As stated earlier, claiming to serve God, is quite different than actually submitting ourselves to Him, in order that we might be remade by Him.  Obedience is not a pre-requisite to God, but it is a symptom that He is at work in our lives, altering what we want, and therefore what we do, and how we love.  To be “sealed” of God, does not require living in some particular time in earth’s history, but it does require living in submission to God, in order that He might work the work of perfection within us.

The Commandment laws of God, which were the beginning of the definition of how to love, were not discarded by God at any point in time.  To live by them, to obey them, is simply NOT possible, WHILE we refuse to submit our will to God.  We can claim obedience.  We can make efforts to do, and not do, what is required by the law.  But we will not be in harmony with it.  We will struggle against our own desires, while our own desires remain in harmony with the service of self.  It is this condition that God wishes to change.  He wishes to bring us into harmony with His laws, in point of fact, to teach us what it truly means to love someone else.  When we submit our selfish will to Him, our motives begin to change.  Our desires begin to change.  And what emerges is a natural inclination to obey His laws.  They become engrained within us, a part of how we think, and how we feel, and what we want.  They are “sealed” into our foreheads, as the culmination of His work within us.  We cannot do it for ourselves.  It must be done “to” us, and done “for” us, not attempted “by” us.  This sealing is possible in any age, for its requirements of submission have been the same from Adam to you and I.

Next, the scorpion locust army does not have the primary purpose of killing men who remain unsealed by God, but instead to torment them for 5 months.  If we apply the day-for-a-year principle and use a traditional Hebrew calendar, we arrive at 150 years (30 day months times 5).  Though from a modernist perspective we might truly look for a 150 day event to match this timeframe with as well.  It is important to note, that the result of the scorpions poison, is that men would choose to seek death, rather than to endure the poison’s pain it brings to them.  Whatever the nature of this woe, it must be so dark in nature, that it tends to inspire death over light.

John continues in verse 7 … “And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. [verse 8] And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. [verse 9] And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. [verse 10] And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.”  This series of texts seems to describe characteristics of the locust army as it prepares for war.  It is interesting that locusts are not similar to ants or bees in that they follow no central leader, yet they do attack in swarms.  So in this instance the killing of a particular leader would not cause the swarms to dissipate or change in intentions.

John continues in verse 11 … “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. [verse 12] One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.”  So while being compared to bugs, this particular locust army does follow a particular king, or leader, or inspiration.  It is this central motivation that keeps the locust army on the march for a period of 5 months to hurt men.  Again, important to note, that the purpose of this woe is NOT to kill men, but only to hurt them by reason of the effect of the poison.  Men may wish for death, given the pain of the poison, but that was not the goal of the locust army.  In verse 12, is the epitaph of this woe, one down, two to go.

Given the symbolism that is described above, if we look first for a spiritual application of this revelation, we might find it in several interpretations.  First, this could have been Satan’s attack on the Reformation of the church by his counter-reformation.  The woe begins from an emergence of darkness.  While the church began to struggle to break free of practices of paying money for salvation, and trying to compel the conscience of others, keeping the Word of God from the public – Satan had no intention of seeing these victories undone, he therefore intensifies his efforts to inspire persecution of change and reformers.  From a spiritual context, the torture used by the Catholic church in the dark ages would make men long for death, rather than endure the poisoned doctrines that brought about so much misery and pain. 

Another spiritual context of this “woe” might be found in rise of secular atheism throughout the world, and particularly in this country and in Europe.  While Satan might truly be the author of this ideology and its unofficial leader, the locust army would no sooner recognize a dark supernatural leader than it would the God it disdains the idea of.  Secular atheism teaches us there is no God greater than ourselves.  It poisons the meaning of our existence by reducing it to a mere series of purely random events with no greater purpose than chemistry, biology, and science.  Morality becomes a social norm, required cooperation to avoid species extinction, and therefore completely subjective.  Loving of self is actually praised as being this highest form of self-preservation, and therefore perfectly acceptable and understandable.  Sacrifice for others runs counter to this ideology and can rarely be understood by it, because it runs counter to the central premise – preserve self at all costs, no matter who they affect.  This is truly a darkness that has spread across our world with relentless effect, and brings with it a sense of depression and meaninglessness that makes death appear as our only release from its grip.

A third way of seeing this in a spiritual context is through the rise of Islam.  Given the horrific corruption of the Catholic church during the dark ages and the picture of Christ it would have presented to the world, it is hardly surprising that a young seeker of God, who claimed his ancestry back through Ishmael to Abraham would have looked for another way.  Mohammed thought of himself as a prophet of God, and shunned the corruption and materialism he witnessed in the purportedly “Christian” faith, choosing rather to find the purity of a simpler view of God.  It is interesting that Mohammed did not discard the Bible in full, or deny its heroes and patriarchs.  Instead he considered them prophets and men of God as well.  Mohammed embraced the ideas of being a gracious host, caring for the stranger, and the downtrodden.  He embraced the ideas of modesty as well as clean and unclean dietary habits.  He prayed systemically, instead of three times a day like Daniel who faced Jerusalem while in captivity, Mohammed faced Mecca, and prayed five times a day instead.  He bows all the way to the floor to show the Father God, his reverence and acknowledgement of the superiority of God.  On the surface, the comparison with what Mohammed advocated against the practices of the Catholic church in the dark ages, Mohammed seems clearly better.

But where Islam might have been a better restoration of truth, it instead rejected the cornerstone of faith in the person and divinity of Jesus Christ.  Mohammed was willing to accept Jesus as a prophet, but not as the divine incarnation of the Son of God Himself.  The idea of having “one” God, from the perspective of Islam precludes the concepts of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (united in one purpose), and instead equates only to one entity with no distinct divisions.  So while nearly the entire remainder of Islam is something worthy of aspiration, the absence of our Savior, leaves it with no method of achieving perfection or change outside of the power of self-will.  It is this deficit that throughout history has witnessed no “perfect” Islamist person, one without sin.  Instead, it offers the idea that evil is a choice to man, not inherent within him.  Yet no man, seems to have ever chosen to be free of evil.  And thus darkness remains, for the darkness of serving self has no answer in Islam.  For all of its benefits and good intentions, Islam offers no savior, and therefore no way for our escape from ourselves.

The political interpretations of the fifth trumpet in a historical context then become obvious.  The rise of Islam brings with it, a quest for political power and counter-power.  The locust army of the heretofore little considered Saracens sweeps across Africa, and Middle East, united by the far more pure teachings of Islam.  But when political aspirations begin to blend with spiritual fervor, power and control become the primary goal.  The religion of peace, becomes an instrument of war.  Christianity takes up the sword, to rid Jerusalem of Islamic forces.  Islam takes up the sword to conquer Constantinople and threaten to de-seat the evil pontiff from Rome itself.  Both sides consider their own motives pure, and believe that they must kill in the name of their respective God.  Both are wrong.  Satan stands behind the carnage of man with an evil sense of fulfillment.  He entices man to kill man, knowing that we are ALL treasured by our God.  As we kill each other in the name of our God, we heap insult and injury on the God who has died to see us redeemed.  And so it seems the whole of the world was thrown into Religious purification at the point of a sword.  Whether it was 150 years of crusades, or Islamic expansion, or the counter attack on the Reformation, the net result was the same to the world – misery.

The modernist view of the fifth trumpet sounding might be found in the Gulf War under Saddam Hussein.  It was during this war that the emergence of the Black Hawk and Apache helicopters came into particular significance, the resemblance to locust’s who behave like scorpions is not lost there.  It was also during this war where Saddam elected to poison the well, so to speak.  He set ablaze the oil wells (from the bottomless pit) that burned for quite a while, before they could be extinguished.  The smoke from these wells, turned the air nearly black, and just about blotted out the sun.  It is not too difficult to see the application of the symbolism described in this revelation applied to this series of modern day events.

Bu the most important question in any of the above applications is again, what does it reveal to us about Jesus Christ and His mission of our redemption?  From a spiritual point of view, I believe the message is a consistent one.  We need a Savior to be saved.  Our salvation is not found in our works.  Our salvation is not found in our will.  If evil were merely a choice we could freely choose to avoid, why have we not made this simple choice?  The pain evil brings to ourselves and to others is obvious.  It is no secret.  Yet we embrace it with regularity.  That is not free choice, and it is not logical.  That is slavery, pure and simple, even if we remain slaves to only serving self.  Secular Atheism offers no relief from this darkness.  Islam offers no relief from this darkness.  The idolatry, forms, and rituals, of the Catholic church of the dark ages offered no relief from this darkness.  All three have in common the idea, that man can liberate and ennoble himself, by what he does, and what he chooses.  All are wrong.  Man is slave to himself.  We require an external force to break our chains, and free us from our slavery to self.  The blowing of the fifth trumpet is sounded to wake us from our sleep, and see us be made free from our darkness, by the only one who can make us free – Jesus Christ.

The message and revelation of Christ is also made clear in the political context; when religion is blended with politics, war and death are the only result.  Christ did not attempt to unseat the pagan Roman Empire that ruled His land in His day.  He made no effort to overthrow the corrupt Roman government.  He made no war with them.  He made no war with anyone.  He did NOT use religion as a motive for war.  Instead He offered LOVE to His enemies, whether Roman or Jewish, or Gentile.  Islam could have been known forever as a religion of peace, but instead it took up the sword, for the same reasons the Christian religion did – to defend itself, and its beliefs.  Today the sword is no less unused.  Christians feel persecuted by secular and Islamist influences and feel the need to once again dust off the sword and “defend ourselves and our beliefs”.  Islam is misused by those with political and powerful ambitions and Jihad is misapplied to “defend Islam from the great Satan, the United States”.  Christians do not look inwardly to see themselves made new through a gentle submission to Christ.  And Islamists do not wage the war of Jihad within themselves to see their better natures emerge in peace and gentleness.  Instead we would rather war with each other to insure we “defend” ourselves, never realizing that in our “defense” is the aggression that all wars rely upon.  War, whether in the Crusades of old, or in the Gulf in recent years, is NEVER the tool by which the Kingdom of God is advanced. 

The religion of peace cannot advance at the point of the sword.  It is the LOVE of God that lures us to follow Him.  It is the LOVE of Christ that caused Him to offer Himself as our sacrifice, in order that He might be allowed to work His work of redemption within us.  He paid our price, so that we might enjoy His benefit and never know the full cost of what we had chosen.  Jesus Christ never took up the sword, not even once in His entire life.  He cleansed His own temple, by overturning tables, and moving out the livestock with the cracking of a whip.  But no one died.  No one was ever killed by Him.  Many were healed.  All who sought salvation, found it.  Who are we, to believe our existence is so important it must be defended by the point of a sword?  Our perceived threats may not be threats at all.  And our ideology should be able to stand on its own, without the need for defense by a sword.  If the Truth of Jesus Christ cannot stand against argument, it is not truth.  But if His Love endures forever, as David said so many years ago, what sword could ever hope to triumph against it?  His Love cannot be defended by our swords; nor can His love be demonstrated by us while we hold on to our swords.

It is from this darkness the fifth trumpet sounds to wake us from.  And there are two more yet to sound …