When the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand in God's presence, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel came with a gold censer and stood at the altar. He was given a large quantity of incense to offer on the gold altar before the throne, along with the prayers of all the saints. The smoke from the incense and the prayers of the saints went up from the angel's hand to God. The angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. Then there were peals of thunder, noises, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The seven angels who had the seven trumpets got ready to blow them (Rev.8.1-6).
When the seventh seal is opened, the angels of God present the prayers of the saints of God on the altar which stood before the throne. The prayers of the saints bring the day of retribution closer. The angels get ready to sound the trumpets. These trumpets are warning signs to the earth of the soon return of Christ. The day of the Lord’s return is a dreadful day.
The Lord’s servants must first be marked out before the four angels of destruction execute the trumpets.
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They were holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on the land, on the sea, or on any tree. I saw another angel coming from the east having the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the land and sea, "Don't harm the land, the sea, or the trees until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads." I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000. Those who were sealed were from every tribe of Israel:12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, and 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed (Rev 7.1-8).
144000 servants of God from the new Israel are marked. The 144000 are taken from the twelve tribes of Israel. They are virgins and they have no stain. The new Israel is the entire body of Christ, the true Jews (Rev 2.8).
Now it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all Israelis truly belong to Israel, and not all of Abraham's descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you." That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God's children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants (Romans 9.6-8).
These 144000 are described as the first fruits of God (Rev. 14.4). The first fruits are gathered from the entire harvest. The word “fruits” or “crops” was often used by the Lord to refer to the saints gathered to life. The harvest of the saints began from the time the gospel was first preached (John 4.36) and it will end at the time of Jesus’ return. The early harvest (the early church) contained some first fruits and the later harvest (the church at the hour Jesus’ coming) will contain some first fruits. Some in the first harvest will be last fruits while some in the last harvest shall be first fruits. “Many that are first shall become last and some that are last shall become first” (Mathew 19.16-20).
These 144000 are form part of the bride of the Lamb (Rev 21). The bride is described as a city built on the twelve foundation stones of the twelve apostles, with twelve doors bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and with a wall of 144,000 cubits high. The twelve apostles are part of the bride.
This 144000 is the church of Philadelphia. None among the 144000 will be affected by the disasters of the trumpets. None of them will suffer the great retribution, for they will be raptured (Rev. 3.10). Anyone of them present at that time of the trumpets will not be harmed by its disasters. They are protected from the trumpets and they will be raptured from facing the great and terrible day of the Lord.
FIRST TRUMPET
When the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire were mixed with blood and thrown on the earth. One-third of the earth was burned up, one-third of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up (Rev 8:7).
Fire and blood are symbols of war. The fire is linked to war weapons and blood to destroyed bodies. This trumpet is the sound of war. WW1 had a “scorched earth” policy where they would drop napalm and burn everything up. More than any war ever in the previous history of mankind, 8.3 million people were killed in this war. Trees and green plants were destroyed. The First World War occurred in 1915.
SECOND TRUMPET
When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. One-third of the sea turned into blood, one-third of the creatures that were living in the sea died, and one-third of the ships was destroyed (Rev 8:8-9).
The fire, ships and sea may be linked to a battle fought at the sea. World war 2 had similar events of destroyed ships, mountain of fire, and destruction of sea life. The US hit Hiroshima-Japan. The bomb used has the picture of a mushroom cloud which looks like a burning mountain. Japan is an island out in the sea, so the mountain would seemed to be burning in the middle of the ocean. There is no exact number of sea creatures destroyed from the explosion and the resulting radiation but there is an exact number of destroyed ships. A total of 36, 387 out of 105,127 ships were destroyed. This is approximately one third of ships. With the millions of gallons of oil which leaked into the sea, much of marine life was destroyed. The Second World War occurred in 1945AD.
THIRD TRUMPET
When the third angel blew his trumpet, a huge star blazing like a torch fell from heaven. It fell on one-third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. One-third of the water turned into wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had turned bitter (Rev. 8.10-11).
A nuclear reactor in Russia called Chernobyl (wormwood in Russian language) blew up in 1986. Its explosion sent nuclear radiation up one mile into the atmosphere. From a couple of miles away, the fire looked like a big lamp, 10 times as much as the radiation released at Hiroshima bombing. The nuclear fire in the sky lasted for three weeks. The radiation cloud moved across Sweden, Italy, and Great Britain and all the way to East coast of America. It rained heavily incessantly for 5 days such that the water flowed into the rivers and the rivers was contaminated all the way to Europe. The radiation infected an estimate of two million people. The waters were made bitter and as such many died from it. The number of deaths and kind of diseases that erupted because of this radiation is not known.
FOURTH TRUMPET
When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the stars were struck so that one-third of them turned dark. One-third of the day was kept from having light, as was the night (Rev. 8.12).
In the year 2004, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of earth from the late 1950’s to early 90’s. Satellite measurements show that the sun remains as bright as ever, but that less and less sunlight has been making it through the atmosphere to the ground.
THE FIFTH TRUMPET
When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star that had fallen to earth from the sky. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. It opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke came out of the shaft like the smoke from a large furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Locusts came out of the smoke onto the earth, and they were given power like that of earthly scorpions. They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone. In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were victor's crowns that looked like gold, and their faces were like human faces. They had hair like women's hair and teeth like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like iron, and the noise of their wings was like the roar of chariots with many horses rushing into battle. They had tails and stingers like scorpions, and they had the power to hurt people with their tails for five months. They had the angel of the bottomless pit ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. The first catastrophe is over. After these things there are still two more catastrophes to come (Rev. 9.1-12).
The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running for battle. The word “battle” is an indication of war.
This trumpet may be the Gulf war of 1991.
The “smoke of a large furnace” as well as the “sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft” may be linked to the Iraq bombing of Kuwait. For three months, Kuwaitis could not see the sunlight because of massive oil well fires set by Saddam Hussein’s military strikes.
The “Locusts” could be the military helicopters used during the war.
“They were told not to harm the grass on the earth, any green plant, or any tree. They could harm only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads”: The war was fought in the desert. In the desert of Iraq, there is no Green thing, and no Green trees. The Iraqi forces are almost 100% Muslims. There was only a little chance of finding a Christian in their midst or anyone who had the seal of God.
“They were not allowed to kill them, but were only allowed to torture them”: The Coalition forces were careful not to target or damage civilian areas, unlike other wars such as WW1 & WW2.
“Five months”: The Persian Gulf War or “Desert storm” took place between August 1990 and February 1991. George Bush issued the Executive order calling troops to a six months’ period of service on November 12, 1990. On April 11, 1991, a cease-fire went into effect. The war was exactly five months.
“Their torture was like the pain of a scorpion when it stings someone”: The Military in the Gulf war used artillery ordinance using depleted uranium (BU) shells. Their bullets were radioactive. The depleted Uranium was used on the tips of the armor-piercing shells because it is denser than lead. It “self-sharpens” as it ignites and burns on impact. Consequently, these depleted Uranium shells produced an extraordinary amount of dangerous Shrapnel. The shrapnel that comes from these shells pierces like a razor-blade, and because of its radioactive nature, it stings like a scorpion.
“In those days people will seek death, but never find it. They will long to die, but death will escape them”: Reports and photos of the war showed entire battalions of Iraqi soldiers surrendering to Coalition forces. They were begging for their lives. They hated the war and wanted out of it.
“They had the angel of the bottomless pit ruling over them as king. In Hebrew he is called Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon”: The name Apollyon in Greek and Abaddon in Hebrew language means the “destroyer”. The name Saddam means “the destroyer”. An elderly midwife who delivered Saddam Hussein, recounted the events of his birth. She recalled that Saddam’s mother named him destroyer because she had such a difficult time delivering him. According to New York times (Oct 7, 2007), Saddam murdered about one million of his people, many with poison gas. He tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is estimated to have left another one million people dead. His seizure of Kuwait threw the Middle East into crises. More insidious was the psychological damage he inflicted on his own land. He created a nation of informants—friends on friends, circles within circles—making an entire population complicit on his rule.