By ©1999 by James A. Fowler. All rights reserved. (Please click the link BELOW to get FULL ARTICLE)
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The risen Lord Jesus reveals to John the third vignette of His divine perspective. The first "frame" or "camera angle" was what we called "religion and the churches" (2:13:22). The second "view" was what we called "religion and the seals" (4:18:1). The third way of looking at the situation we shall call "religion and the trumpets" (8:211:19). These visions are not in chronological sequence, one following after the other as later events in history or in the projected future, but rather are synchronous, giving another viewpoint of the same period of time. They are parallel images so that Christians can see what God is doing from another viewpoint, or through another filter of the Divine intent. Jesus' intent in the Revelation is to reveal Himself as the victor over Satan, evil and religion. That victory was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross and exclaimed, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). In the "enigma of the interim" between His first coming and His second coming there is continued spiritual conflict and warfare as the diabolic Evil One operates as "the god of this world" (II Cor. 4:4) and disguises himself in the activities of religion (II Cor. 11:13-15). Jesus wants to assure His followers that despite the present turmoil and tribulation wherein they may have to suffer or even die, He is still victorious and in control of the universe, and they can have the confident expectation of the hope of His ultimate consummation of victory when He returns. Such a trans-generational and trans-locational message of hope and assurance is the revelation by which Jesus seeks to encourage Christians in every age and every place throughout Christian history.
The primary imagery that Jesus employs in this third revealing "view" is that of seven angels blowing seven trumpets which introduce a particular revelation of God's activity. What is the significance of the trumpets? Throughout the Scripture record trumpets have been employed for various purposes. While the Israelites were still in the wilderness God instructed Moses to make some trumpets which were to be used for summoning the people together (Numb. 10:3), to sound a warning alarm (Numb. 10:6; Jere. 6:1; Ezek. 33:3), to be used in battle (Numb. 10:9; Jere. 4:5; 51:24-30; Ezek. 7:14), and to be used in the celebration of feasts (Numb. 10:10; Joel 2:15). The trumpet sound is also used to announce the coming "day of the Lord, the day of wrath, destruction, darkness, gloom and clouds" (Zeph. 1:14-16; Matt. 24:31; I Thess. 4:16). The trumpet blasts pictured here in chapters eight through eleven of the Revelation signify an alarm that God is about to engage in battle and there will be horrible effects of destruction and death when God begins to act against the enemies of His people, Christ's church. God's objective in having the angels sound the trumpets before He begins His acts of judgment is that the religious "dwellers of the earth" (8:13;11:10) might hear the warning and repent. God is not a blood-thirsty God who delights in vengeance and death. God "has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, rather that he should turn from his ways and live" (Ezek. 18:23). The Lord does not "wish that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9), that "all men everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30).
Only when men obstinately refuse to repent and submit to the One who created them, rejecting the reconciling mediator and Messiah, Jesus Christ, does God act in judgment, and especially on those who choose counterfeit religion instead of Christ. The judgment images that God displays toward religionists when the trumpets are sounded have some obvious correlations with the plagues that came upon Egypt preceding the exodus in the Old Testament. God, acting through Moses, was engaged in the preserving of His people in the old covenant era. He was demonstrating His divine power to prevail over satanically energized human authorities and institutions. He was bringing judgment on those who would oppress His people and enslave His people in bondage. In like manner, the trumpets portrayed in this part of the revelatory vision reveal that God is preserving His Christian people in the victory that Christ won on the cross. God is demonstrating that He is in control and will prevail over the satanically energized authorities and institutions of religion. He will bring judgments upon those who enslave people in the oppressive bondage of religion. What an encouragement this should be to Christians in every age between the two advents of Jesus Christ. Remember that the etymological meaning of "religion" is to "bind up," in contrast to being "set free" in Jesus Christ to be all that God intends man to be (John 8:32,36; Gal. 5:1,13).