One of the growing concerns today is the care of our planet. While many of the studies are certainly debatable, there is no doubt that humanity has not taken very good care of the planet earth. We have polluted the waters, the atmosphere and the land. We have hunted species to extinction. We have been poor stewards of that which was entrusted to us on the day of creation. We were given the mandate to oversee our world, and we failed. As believers living prior to the great time of judgment known as the Tribulation, what should be our response to the ecological movements of our days? How involved should we be in saving the whales or polar bears, reducing our 'carbon footprint,' using alternative energy, in getting green? What complicates this question is that we know many things those outside do not know or will not accept. We know, for instance, that our world is not going to die from a polluted atmosphere, global warming, or from all-out nuclear war. We also know that it will die, be destroyed by God following the rebellion at the end of the Kingdom of our Lord, but then it will be recreated anew, much different than it is today. We know that during the dark days of the Tribulation Period, much, if not all, sea life will die at least in some part of the oceans, and much upon the land as well. However, we know that God will restore order during the Kingdom and possibly reestablish life in the seas. Knowing these things, what then should our response be to the ecological movement? These are a few of the issues that arise as we look at chapter 7 of the Book of the Revelation.
So far, we have seen our Lord, the Lamb of God, take the scroll from the One upon the throne. He, alone of all men upon the earth, was worthy of doing this and assuming the rule over the earth. As He broke the seals upon the scroll, we saw with John events transpiring upon the earth. Having been given the power, a man begins to conquer other nations. A world war erupts, then famine. Because of the war and its aftermath of famine and disease, one-fourth of the world's population dies. Meteorite strikes and violent earthquakes announce the coming judgment of God. John also sees the believers of these days. He sees a select group, 144,000, whom God seals and will protect throughout this time. These will become the foundation of the new nation of Israel. He also sees that there are many other believers from all nations and ethnic groups. However, these are seen in heaven, attesting to the fact that they have died. In chapter 7, the Lamb will break the final seal and officially claim the regency over the earth. John writes,
Revelation 8:1-12:
| 8:1 | When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. |
| 8:2 | And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. |
| 8:3 | Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. |
| 8:4 | And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. |
| 8:5 | Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. |
| 8:6 | And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. |
| 8:7 | The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up |
| 8:8 | The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, |
| 8:9 | and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. |
| 8:10 | The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. |
| 8:11 | The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. |
| 8:12 | The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. |
In this passage, we glimpse the events that follow upon our Lord breaking the seventh and final seal on the scroll, then, as the coronation ceremony proceeds, at the sounding of the trumpets which announce our Lord’s regency and the events taking place concurrently upon the earth.
The Seventh Seal
Today we often show our reverence or respect for someone who has died by commemorating them with a moment or minute of silence. On that day when our Savior takes up His royal power and authority, at the moment after He breaks the last of the seven seals that seal the missive giving Him dominion over all the earth, all heaven in reverence and respect, not for the dead, but for He who was dead and now lives, falls silent, not for just a minute, but for about a half an hour. Imagine, if you will in your mind, that great throne room, with all its participants, with hundreds of millions of angelic beings in attendance in dead silence and stillness. All seems to pause in reverence for this moment. Our Lord is now the King of kings and Lord of lords. He has taken up His great power and will now restore all to what it should be. The joy of this great event, the knowledge that wrongs will now be righted, that justice finally established is tempered, however, by the knowledge that now also will come misery, death and destruction as has never been witnessed in all the history of our world, a judgment so severe that few will survive. Perhaps this is also a period of mourning for all that will die in this coming time of judgment. As this now stands on the threshold, silence falls upon the court of heaven. Then following this period of silent reverence, seven angels are given each a trumpet to announce the ascension of the King.
The Angel with the Censer
We learn something of the arrangement of this heavenly courtroom at this point. John describes these angels as the seven angels that stand before God. Is this a particular group, similar to the four living beings, that always seem to surround the throne, or are these seven angels that are now assigned to stand before the throne specifically to take these trumpets and play the fanfare of the King? I suspect this is something we shall learn when we witness this great event in person.
Before the angels play the fanfare, however, another event takes place at the altar. This altar is the golden altar of incense that stands before the throne of the One. An angel approaches and stands at the altar. He holds a golden censer. This is a pot, usually carried by an attached chain, used for burning incense. John then tells us much incense was given to this angel. Its purpose was so that this angel could add it, on the golden altar, to the prayers of all the saints. When added, the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints to God.
This ritual act in the coronation ceremony is quite important for it pictures for us something that cannot be seen but which is powerfully present. How can one see a prayer? For us, they can be heard, but once uttered, they are gone and are only memories. Yet not so for God. He who is everywhere and everywhen present sees/hears all prayers as if they are being made. Saints everywhere and at all times have prayed, “Your kingdom come.” They have prayed for deliverance, for wrongs to be righted, for justice to be carried out, peace to fill the earth, balance and harmony to be established. For millennia they have so prayed. Are their prayers unanswered; have they been lost? No, God is hearing each one. They are before Him, and the time has come for them to be answered. That we might know that this is so, much incense was offered just before this fanfare of trumpets announcing the ascension of the King. This incense that we can see, picturing as it does the prayers of all the saints we cannot see, rises up with those prayers up before the One on the throne. The Lord God Omnipotent is just about to answer all these prayers!
To further declare that these prayers are about to be answered, that the judgment is about to fall upon a world in rebellion against the true King, the angel fills the censer with coals from the altar and hurls it to the earth. John states that the results were lightning, thunder and a great earthquake. The earth trembles in dread of what is about to befall it. Then the angels take their position and raise the trumpets in preparation for the fanfare. As they sound the trumpets, they play consecutively, one following upon another until all seven have sounded. As we stand in that throne room on that day, this is what we shall see and hear. However, John is enabled to see not only what transpires in the throne room; he also is enabled to see what we will not see, nor will we wish to see on that day, the terrible events taking place on the earth.
Judgment, of course, has already begun upon the earth. It began the moment the Bride was taken away to the coronation ceremony. At that time, the restraining work of the Holy Spirit was removed from the world. God’s judgment was that no longer would He restrain the rebel Satan. He is allowed to work out his plans. The judgment for mankind is just this; the world will face the consequences of Satan’s mostly unrestrained activity. War, disease, starvation ravage the world, and up to this point, one-fourth of its population at the very least has died.
Now the judgment comes directly from above. God strikes; His initial wrath falls primarily upon the natural world as the first four trumpets of the heavenly fanfare sound. The world, no doubt, will explain these judgments as cataclysmic natural disasters of a magnitude that has never before been experienced by mankind. Natural disasters they are, but of a supernatural origin. Directed by the hand of God, asteroids strike and devastate one-third of the surface of the earth. The text describes various events as the trumpets sound; hail and fire mixed with blood being thrown to the earth, a great mountain burning with fire being thrown into the sea, a great star burning like a torch falling upon the fresh waters. All of these descriptions by John closely fit with descriptions of asteroids or comets striking the earth.
The First Trumpet
With the sounding of the first trumpet fanfare, the first strike occurs. A cometary or asteroidal body or bodies enter the earth’s atmosphere and explodes over the land. Instead of vaporizing entirely, the explosion rains fragments of ice and a blood-red material down upon the surface. The detonation or detonations of this object or objects initiate firestorms that race across the landscape consuming everything in their paths. Nothing is stated about casualties of this event other than one-third of the earth’s vegetation is incinerated, yet the toll on animal and human life has to be just as great. In the area devastated, there will probably be very few survivors.
The Second Trumpet
In the second strike, the heavenly body or bodies strike the sea. While little is incinerated as the result of the detonation, the materials it deposits into the affected waters cause them to turn blood red. This may be the result of a chemical reaction with the seawater or an unusual red algal growth that depletes the oxygen content of the water, but whatever the cause, the result is all sea life in the affected area dies. The blast and shock waves from the detonation or detonations also destroy all ships on the surface of this area.
The Third Trumpet
The third wave of strikes falls upon the fresh waters. As this object or objects are incinerated in the atmosphere above the land area, the dust and ash remnants settle to the earth and fall upon or wash into freshwater sources. These toxic compounds then contaminate the water, and as a result, many die.
The Fourth Trumpet
The aftermath of these strikes is seen in the description of the judgment following the fourth trumpet blast. The debris of the strikes, the ash and smoke are lifted high into the atmosphere and block out the sun’s light during the day, the moon and stars at night for about one-third of the earth’s surface.
The Word of God does not tell us where upon the earth these strikes occur, but we can speculate. This probably does not take place in the Middle East. If it did, the text would have no doubt stated this fact, that the land of Israel was destroyed. However, much is still to take place there before the end. Nor does this probably take place in the nations associated with the Beast, the Antichrist, which will almost certainly be Europe and perhaps parts of Asia and Africa. The most likely area would then seem to be the continents of North and South America or perhaps the far eastern nations. Many have wondered why the nations of this area seem not to be mentioned or hinted at in the description of the end times. If the Antichrist is the leader of a confederacy of nations comprising the remnants of what was the Roman Empire and this confederacy is the world power, then what has happened to the United States? Perhaps this is the answer. We are only told one-third of the world will be affected; we do not know precisely where. Wherever it will be, that part of the world will be devastated and destroyed. Perhaps the judgment upon our nation for turning away from the God who brought it into existence will take place during the first part of the Tribulation Period. That is a sobering thought. Look around you at those who will remain after the rapture, friends, family, loved ones. Their only hope is to put their faith in Jesus Christ, the coming King. Who will tell them?
I mentioned the ecology movement at the beginning of this chapter. It is indeed a responsibility given to mankind right after our creation. Without any doubt, we have failed in this as in any other directive God has given, with the possible exception of being fruitful and multiplying. Indeed, we have filled the earth to excess in many places! These events, which take place upon the sounding of the first four trumpets, are an ecological nightmare. The carbon emissions from the firestorms, the ash and toxic debris thrown up from impacts and detonations in the atmosphere will be unbelievable. Species will die and become extinct. Knowing this is coming, what should be our response?
Allow me to suggest this. We certainly are not to ignore directives from God, and taking care of the planet was one such directive. However, given all that we know and must do, there are priorities that we must set. While it is true many species are in danger of becoming extinct, and we are polluting our world, it is also true many people will also be facing death in these coming days. Billions will die and, once they have died, there is no hope for them if they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. What should be our primary concern? Can we forestall the coming destruction of our world? Not at all! That is coming; it is assured. However, we can share the good news with those that are lost in the hope that they may escape this destruction! That, of course, points the way for us. While we do not ignore the ecological issues of our day, we cannot afford to spend the majority of our time and effort on these issues. Our Lord will deal them with at the time of the Kingdom, and until then, the issues will only grow steadily more critical.
What we must concentrate on is the sharing of the message of hope so many can escape this great destruction that is coming and the eternal destruction that awaits all who reject faith in Jesus Christ.
In Revelation 8:1-12, we see in heaven the Lamb breaking the final seal upon the document giving Him the right and authority to rule the kingdoms of this world. There is one-half hour of silence following that event. Before the fanfare announcing our Lord as King of kings and Lord of lords, a symbolic enactment takes place. An angel approaches the altar of incense and is given a large quantity of incense to burn upon the altar. As he adds it to the coals, we see the smoke of its burning rising up before the throne of God. This represents the prayers of the saints who have prayed for the Kingdom to come for ages. God is about to deliver on that promise. The angel then hurls the golden censer to the earth as a sign that judgment is coming, and the earth trembles in dread of this.
Then the fanfare starts. In the courtroom of heaven, we see and hear the first four angels sound their horns. On the earth, we see devastation and death. God strikes one-third of the surface of the earth. The vegetation is burned up, one-third of all sea life dies. All ships in this area are destroyed. The freshwater sources are poisoned. The sky is darkened, and there is little light from the sun, moon or stars.
The question that faces us is this, knowing what we do, what is our response going to be? Let us share the good news now, while there is still time, for when our Lord takes up His authority, the judgment of the earth will begin with devastating strikes upon the earth, sea, freshwaters and sky itself. On that day, many will go into eternity lost. What will we tell them now?
