The Christians in Asia Minor, in the first century, are being tempted to compromise their faith and their doctrine. They were told, in essence: “You must change or you will make yourself irrelevant!” Part of this temptation stemmed from their pagan surroundings. The threat of death was a reality for some (Antipas) and on the horizon for others.
So, Jesus gives them a description of Himself (Revelation, chapter 1). In a series of letters to each congregation, He tells them what they are doing right and what they need to correct. At the end of each letter, He promises blessings if they will overcome (chapters 2-3). Next, Jesus gives them a description of God in heaven and Jesus at His side (chapters 4-5).
In chapter 6, God begins showing the Christians what type of future lies in wait for the Empire and all of its inhabitants, including Christians: war, famine, death, fear for those who refuse to repent. In the middle of that type of imagery, Jesus reminds the Christians what awaits them in chapter 7 if they keep their robes white.
That brings us to the seven trumpets, or at least the first six (the seventh picks up at 11:15). Through these trumpets, God calls on Rome and unfaithful Christians to repent. In this imagery, God uses many allusions to the plagues He brought on the nation of Egypt under Moses. Just as Egypt persecuted the Israelites and God punished her, so Rome persecutes Christians and God will punish her.
Eight times through these trumpets, we are told that one-third were punished, destroyed, or killed. God begins by affecting the grass, then the sea, then the rivers, then the daylight. Slowly but surely, God is moving in on the very people who are persecuting His beloved children.
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In the fifth and sixth trumpets, God unleashes a horrible army of 200,000,000 locusts dressed in military attire led by King Destroyer. This army passes over the Euphrates River just as other nations did in Old Testament history. Rome is going down.
But the matter I wish to bring to your attention, the rich reality in Revelation that gives us hope, is that God still wants mankind to repent. These seven trumpets, in fact, might be viewed as God’s call for man to repent. The last two verses of the sixth trumpet (9:20-21) show us that God really did want man to repent. Yet, they refused.
The truth is still germane; God does not wish “any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That was true of Rome and it is true of you and me today. If we repent, He will gladly forgive.
–Paul Holland
