The Four Trumpet: Natural warnings to human race This chapter talks about God's warnings to human beings, after he had talked about the redemptive intercession of the Lamb for mankind, and sending the Holy Spirit to rebuke them. He who does not accept the love of God, revealed gently and softly on the cross, is drawn by trials and discipline. 1. Silence in heaven "the eternal rest” 1-2. 2. Redemptive intercession of the Lamb 3-5. 3. The four trumpets 6-13. The first trumpet: Throwing of hail and fire mixed with blood. The second trumpet: Throwing a huge burning mountain. The third trumpet: The fall of a great star. The fourth trumpet: Darkening of a third of the shining stars. 1 .SILENCE IN HEAVEN “THE ETERNAL REST” "When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour" [1]. Bishop Victorianus thinks that this period of silence indicated the beginning of the eternal rest. But He broke the silence, because He did not care about the temporal order of events. In the sixth seal, God revealed the events of the judgment, and the fearful state to be of the wicked, who will seek the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, and hide them from the face of the One who is sitting on the throne. He did not speak about the response of God's children, which was revealed in the seventh seal; but "there was silence in heaven," as a result of the amazement that struck the heavenly creatures, at the glory that man obtained! Thus, the Book of Revelation leaves us for "half an hour," just a short time, to admire in amazement, what He had prepared for us, forever. Yet he brought us back down to follow up the second series. "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets” [2]. The seven angels are the seven archangels that Raphael said he was one of. Ibn-el- Assal thinks that the trumpets indicate here the commands given by God, and the blowing indicates their implementation. The trumpets are used for: 1. Giving the Law (Exod. 19:16,19) and warning for the purpose of repentance and to return to God, that they may live and be engaged with God, and not to perish. 2. The call for war (Judg. 3 :27). The blowing of the angels is an indication of the state of a spiritual war, between God and Satan! 3. The celebration of feasts and jubilees (Lev. 23:24, 25:9). The trumpets will stop at the coming of the Lord Jesus (1 Thess. 4:16). Athanasius the Apostolic says, that He is our eternal feast that never ends. 4. The calling for the Kings (2 Kings 9:13). And the trumpets will end by the 7 coming of the "King of kings," accompanied by the angels who with the sound of the heavenly trumpets, will shout proclaiming the eternal heavenly kingdom. 2. THE REDEMPTIVE INTERCESSION OF THE LAMB "Then another angel, having a golden censer came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand” [3-4]. This other angel, different from the seven, indicates: 1- The Church who does not cease offering incense, either by her victorious members in Paradise, or the militants on earth. All wish the return of the sinners to Him. 2- Ibn-El-Assal thinks that he is a real angel from the order of the Cherubim, "as they take care of the sacrifices that we offer to God" (Judges 6:21, Gen. 22:11). At the end of the liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest says, “May the angel of the sacrifice who is ascending up with this praise, remember us before God...” 3- The preponderant opinion is that "the Lord Jesus," is whom the angel in the book of Revelation, symbolizes, as in (rev10:1, 18:1), and He was called the Angel of the Covenant in (Mal. 3:1,2). It is He, the Redemptive Interceder, "He ever lives to make intercession for them.” He is the Bishop of our souls and the most High Priest who stands at the altar, which is His cross, where He offers Himself as a sacrifice for us. He holds a gold censer, or a spiritual censer which is His redemptive intercession, that "gives a lot of incense." He defends and pleads for His children. In His love He accepts, "the prayers of the saints," the departed and the militants, to offer them in Him, to the Father, as a pure, appealing, and accepted sacrifice according to His promise: "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). "Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightenings, and an earthquake” [5]. If the altar is the cross, so the fire of the altar is the Holy Spirit, that rebukes, and makes one repent. He gives communion with the Holy Trinity, in the merit of the blood of Jesus, shed for us on the cross. The Son sent us the Holy Spirit. As He said, "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth" (John 15:26), "But if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged" (John 16:7-11). And this is the work of the Holy Spirit: 1- Noises were heard, when the tongues of the apostles and the preachers were released by the Holy Spirit, to preach without fear. 2- "Thunderings:" The preachers thunder by the Holy Spirit, as roaring lions with divine authority. As the Holy Bible says about Felix the governor, when he was judging Paul the captive, "Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid" (Acts. 24:25), and he could not tolerate his words and said to him, "Go away for now; when I have convenient time I will call for you.” 8 3- "Lightenings;" for the Lord's Spirit always shines with glorious and wonderful deeds before the people, beautifying His church with divine talents, through which she shines with her Groom's light on everyone. 4- "And an earthquake." It is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to rebuke the believer, that his pride might be quaked and smashed, removing away his pride, to accept the Lord Jesus as the Groom. And as the heart accepts the Lord, it will accept all mankind as dear brothers. 3- THE FOUR TRUMPETS "So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound" [6]. This vision takes us back to an old view, when the seven priests were carrying the seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark, as they went around the city of Jericho, and the walls of the city fell down on their blowing the trumpets (Josh. 6). After the Lord revealed to us the Lamb's care for the whole world, and His sending of the Holy Spirit for reproof, He again shifted to God's work throughout history. He granted the patriarchs, the prophets, the disciples and the apostles, as His angels, to carry trumpets of continuous warning to man. That he might understand that only by the word of God (the blowing), the power of Satan is destroyed and smashed. Then man shall live with God in the highest heavens. We find that, in His warning, God is so gentle and kind, yet with firmness, for the salvation of man. For this reason, He does not haste to warning, but He lets the angels get ready for the blowing, to give those who accept the tender loving Lord, a chance. He who does not accept, will hear the warnings getting stronger and stronger, until the heart is softened before God. Two directions of interpretation; There are two directions of interpreting the trumpets. They are not opposed, but are adherent to each other: 1- St. Irenaeus believes that the following warnings happened in the world textually before the coming of the Antichrist, and during his presence, so as to terrify the believers, that they do not accept him. And to discipline those who have accepted him, in order to repent. 2- The second direction is that the four trumpets point to God's warnings to man in any age, especially before and during the time of the Antichrist, in a metaphoric and imagery language; for example: a) The first trumpet: "The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up” [7]. Hail points to the might of punishment (Isa. 28:2, 17), as fire points to God's great anger (Deut. 32:22, Mal. 4:1). God uses the opposites together, as an indicating of the strength of His warnings, as the psalmist says, "Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the hills also quaked and were shacked. Because He was angry... hailstones and coals of fire" (Ps. 18:7-12). The burning of a third of the trees and all green grass indicates that by this punishment God humiliates some arrogant and haughty persons (trees as in Isa. 2:12,13), 9 and fades the brightness of the earthly life. Thus, when people see how tyrants have fallen, and how the world was full of problems, troubles, and pains, they would come back to God with a contrite and humble heart. b) The second trumpet: "Then 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. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed” [8-9]. As the first trumpet reminds us of the first plague mentioned in Exodus 9:23,25, the second trumpet reminds us of what is mentioned in Exodus 7:20,21. May be by this trumpet, he indicates that God permits the punishment of the agitated souls, like the sea, which are not settled in the bosom of God, the king of peace. He allows a great burning mountain to fall in their midst, so that a third of them will be killed and slaughtered... this burning mountain differs from time to time, and from a person to another. As if God allows to appoint a person characterized by violence, arrogance and without pity, in a leading religious, moral or worldly position, for the punishment of a harsh and rebellious nation. History has recorded countless examples of this kind. This can happen in a simple repeated and daily manner. God may allow an arrogant person to have such a boss at work, a friend, a brother, or a disobedient violent son. Because of this boss at work, this friend, this brother, or this disobedient son, the first may lose many earthly matters and dignity. Thus his pride is destroyed and his “ego” is crushed before God. The beauty of God's love is that He allows only a third to perish, to leave the majority, the chance to repent. In some individual cases, He allows man to lose earthly matters, in order to gain heavenly ones. God does not desire to humiliate man, but he uses every way possible to lead man to repentance and return to Him. c- The third trumpet: "Then the third angel sounded, and there a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water; and the name of the star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter” [10-11]. As this great star burning like a torch had fallen from heaven, this indicates a third kind of bitter punishment. Some personalities of great religious, and spiritual positions, may be permitted by God to deviate, by their heresies, from the spiritual and heavenly worship, and get into the waters of the living rivers, the media of true faith. Thus, empoison and embitter the water, and many souls die in it. History recorded to us that great stars fell and embittered the life of God’s children. They spoiled the spiritual teachings and caused many to perish. Some of them are, Arius, Nestorius, Macedonius, Pelagius and many others. This kind of warning is extremely painful, but God permits it to make believers fetch the Holy Bible, to prosper and be filled with it’s words, thus be able to answer the heretics. At the same time, the Church does not stop to preach her message through the bitterness of heretics. Without them she could stay still and her children may love the 10 world and fall in deep sleep1. d- The fourth trumpet: "Then the fourth angel sounded, 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 were darkened; and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night” [12]. No doubt, darkness carries the meaning of tribulation in it’s strongest form as a warning. For as we know, darkness paralyses the movement of man, especially if it remains for a long time. It makes him lose his vitality and deprives him of growing the plants. Thus, when man feels a kind of despair, he comes back to the truth, and search for the true light. And that’s the aim of God concerning His beloved children. These days, we learn about the fall of some stars, and about sun explosions. Such news will strongly increase prior to the time of the Antichrist, as warnings. Another warning: "And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” [13]. Bishop Victorianus thinks that the flying eagle symbolizes the Holy Spirit who carries the testimony of the two prophets, that strong rage and tribulations are eminent. If any man wishes, even if it is at the end of ages, to repent, he will be saved. In conclusion the last four trumpets are God's warnings in all ways to humankind, before the period of the Antichrist. No matter how hard and severe these warnings may appear, they are easy and slight in comparison to the tribulations at the time of the Antichrist, who will come to reign and appoint himself as God. 1 See the sayings of St. Augustine on the benefit of Heretics. Homilies on New Testament Lessons, 1.”
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