"The Book of Revelation, An Eschatological Study of the Endtimes", by Chad J. McCoy

Chapter Five
The Trumpets


Rev. 8:6,7: Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. 7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

This is self-explanatory, but I will briefly go over it. The angel sounds his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood was hurled to the earth. The result of this is that one third of the earth is burned up. This includes the trees and the grass. It's not hard to imagine what a rain of fire and blood will do to buildings. They will catch on fire. People will catch fire. Cars and flammable industrial plants will explode. There will be much death and destruction.
Remember 1st Cor. 1:27: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Notice how it will be raining fire, but it will also be raining hail at the same time? I imagine the Lord smirking here, saying "Ha! Figure that one out, you who think yourselves so wise!"

Rev. 8:8,9: The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

This is pretty easy to understand, as well. The only question is what the burning mountain might be. It sounds as if it might be just a huge meteor, but let's check the original Greek to see if it sheds any light on this.
Nope. This is the word "oros" which means "mountain". That means that whatever this is, if it's a meteor, it is going to be the size of a mountain! An absolutely HUGE chunk of rock is going to splash down in earth's ocean. The mountain is said to be ablaze, so I envision it as being completely engulfed by flames.
When this mountain hits the ocean, it will destroy one third of all creatures in the ocean, as well as one third of all sea-going vessels. It's no wonder one third of the sea turns to blood.

So we have the first trumpet which destroys one third of the earth, and the second trumpet which destroys one third of the sea. One for the land, and one for the sea.

Rev. 8:10,11: The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water- 11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

This "great star" we know to be an immense meteor, since the Greek word "star" actually means "asteroid". It is burning like a torch due to entering our atmosphere at such a tremendous rate of speed.
This meteor is said to fall on the rivers and springs of water. This differs from the second trumpet in that this seems to be talking about drinking water. Drinking water is taken from rivers and springs, not oceans and seas. It contaminates one third of the water, making it poisonously bitter.
Many people drank of this water (lending weight to the idea that this is talking about "drinking water"), and died.
I'm not sure how a burning meteor falling into the rivers and springs can poison the water. Perhaps it can - I'm not about to spend all kinds of time trying to learn about water purification systems and the myriad ways in which water can become contaminated.
If this can be accomplished, then fine. Someone else versed in this field can speak up.
But I doubt it. By saying the star "fell on" the rivers and springs, it seems to me that it is saying it caused the rivers and streams to become contaminated. This could be caused by the meteor falling on a major water purification center, or knocking out several, or a whole chain of them.
But the bible is very clear on what it says will happen: A meteor will fall from the sky, and hit "something" that will cause one third of the world's drinking water to become contaminated, and many people will die from drinking these waters.
It is said that the name of this star is Wormwood, which mean Bitterness. Obviously, we don't name asteroids. We name planets, suns, and constellations. But we don't have names for every chunk of floating rock in space. There is no asteroid named Wormwood, or Bitterness. I believe that this meteor is so named, AFTER it falls. After it causes the contamination. After people die from drinking the waters it poisoned. The Bitter Meteor, it might be called, reported about in the news AFTER the damage has been done.
One interesting side note: Once again, looking for truth, I checked out the word "Wormwood" in the original languages.
It turns out that the word "Wormwood" is used in the bible 9 times. Seven times, the word is translated as "la'anah", and is taken from the name of a root that was supposed to have the power to curse. Therefore it meant accursed, or poisonous, or hemlock, or wormwood.
Two times (both times used in Rev. 8:11 - the word "Wormwood", and the word "bitter" [from "waters turned bitter] are the same exact word) the word is translated as "apsinthos" meaning wormwood, or bitterness (same as the other word "la'anah") but this time meaning "bitterness on the order of a calamity".
The difference is like saying "poison" and "epidemic". If I were to predict "In the year 2027, people will eat poisoned food", I could mean that 3 people ate poisoned food, or 300 people, or 3,000. I could also mean 3 million, or 3 billion - my choice of words does not explain how widespread the problem will be. But if I said "In the year 2027, people will eat epidemically-poisoned food", then I have just stated that it will be a widespread problem. You can forget about 3 or 300 people. It might be 3,000 at the least, and actually on the order of 300,000 or 3 million people.
So the bible is using that type of wording here. The star will be named "Epidemic Bitterness", as opposed to just "Bitterness". And the waters will be turned epidemically-bitter, not just bitter.
This will be a major disaster.

Rev. 8:12,13: The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
13 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!"

Once again (and it seems a trait of the Trumpet Judgements that they are simple and easy to understand - unlike the Seals), we have an angel blowing his trumpet. This heralds the fourth Trumpet Judgement, which causes the sun, moon, and stars to lose one third of their brilliance. In addition to this, one third of the day has no light whatsoever, as well as one third of the night.
When you think about all the destruction that has come upon the earth, you have to wonder if anyone still has electricity. I'm sure that power would be out over the majority of the globe. That means (among other things) that there are no streetlights. The world is going to be absolutely pitch-dark at these times of complete celestial black-out.
So now we have one Trumpet Judgement for the earth, one for the sea, one for the drinking water, and one for the light. God is systematically assaulting the component parts of this earth.
John sees an eagle flying throughout heaven, saying "Woe to the people that are still on the earth, because the Trumpet Judgements aren't over yet. There are still more to come." In effect, the eagle is saying "I pity those who haven't yet died, and still have to live through what is yet to come." Imagine the statement being made here: "You're better off dead".

Rev. 9:1-12: 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. 2 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. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4 They 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. 5 They were not given power 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 a man. 6 During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9 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. 10 They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.



Ok, just when everything was going so smoothly, we hit this judgement. Let's take this one step at a time.
John sees "a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth." Where is John? He is in heaven. The star that he sees is in heaven. He doesn't say that he sees the star fall to the earth, he says he sees a star that had fallen to the earth. (Note: KJV does say that he sees the star fall to the earth, but that translation is inaccurate. The New International Version, 1890 Darby Bible, 1901 American Standard Version, Living Bible, Today's English Version, Phillips Modern English Version, Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, and the Jerusalem Bible all translate it as some derivative of "had fallen" - The Jerusalem Bible even indicates with a footnote that the word "star" is actually a fallen angel)
This "star" is given the key to Hell. Hell is not on earth. (Never mind what some people might say - J) The star opens the gates of Hell and the locusts issue forth. We know that this is not done from the earth! Hell is not on earth!
The gates of Hell are opened from a spiritual realm, not from the earth. Let me be clear on this: A "being" opens the gates of Hell. This "being" did not fall to the earth and then proceed to open Hell's gates. It opened them from a spiritual realm.
This "being" John sees is called a "star". This is the same word "aster" that we looked up in a previous chapter. It means "spreading star". However, this word can be used to mean "spreading star" literally (as it did previously), or it can mean this in a figurative sense.
If we take this to mean John saw a literal meteor, then what we have is a ridiculous situation in which a chunk of rock is given a key, and then said rock uses the key and opens Hell.
Common sense has to play a part in deciphering the mysteries of this book. Obviously, this time the word "aster" was used in the figurative sense.
John was referring to… what, then? Well, think about it. John said he saw a being that had fallen from the sky to earth. What kind of beings do you know of that could fit this description? Only demons; fallen angels.
And it fits that this demon is referred to by John as a star, because Satan himself is not only referred to as the Star of the Morning, his name "Lucifer" translates directly to mean Morning Star.
Even Jesus calls himself the Morning Star, in Rev. 22:16: "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
There are other passages that suggest the use of the word "star" to mean demonic princes:
Amos 5:26: You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols,
the star of your god- which you made for yourselves.
Acts 7:43: You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.
So it may be that the usage of "star" may connote "spiritual being". If so, then it makes perfect sense for John to refer to angels, both holy and fallen, as stars. It would also make perfect sense for Jesus to call himself by that title, while Satan carries the same moniker. They are all spiritual beings.
So we have a demon who is given the key to Hell. The bible says that when he opens Hell, such a great amount of smoke rose from it that it blackened the sky of earth.
Out of the smoke came what John describes as locusts. Believe me, after looking at some pictures of locusts, I realize John simply meant he was looking at some hideous creatures! Take a look at some of these bizarre, even Satanic-looking things!


Katydid (Picture not available)

Can you imagine hordes of these things blotting out the sun? Crawling all over your house, getting in through the cracks, and getting on you??? Yukk! It looks like something from Mars.

Grasshopper (Picture not available)

Look closely at what is just a regular grasshopper. How long does it take for revulsion to set in? Didn't take long for me. Imagine creatures coming down to earth that look something like these nightmarish things! Creatures that look like this, but are intelligent! Yipes!


Scorpion Fly (Picture not available)

You see? The locusts are said to have tails like scorpions. We already have an ugly little insect that has one of these tails. Again, imagine the horror of things like this coming down to earth.

Emperor Dragonfly (Picture not available)

Again - Nightmarish!

So, when John said they looked like locusts, I think he meant they looked similar to these ungodly-looking creatures; not that he meant that he saw actual grasshoppers. Again, use your common sense. Read the passage. John is not talking about katydids.
He says they looked like locusts, meaning they were hideous, and that they resembled them inasmuch as they had wings and ugly tails, and … yecchhh! These things are just gross!
Use your head, think about it. Look at the pictures and then think about John describing them as looking like locusts. You should be able to get a general idea of what ghastly kinds of things John was looking at.
If not, then take a look at this photo I put together. I'll take you through the steps as I made it:
First, we have a locust. Locust is just a generic name for a flying/jumping insect.

Back
Home
Next