The Seven Trumpets

Overview

• Testament: New
• Book: Revelation
• Chapters: Revelation 8:2–11:19
• Summary: Seven angels blow trumpets of escalating judgment upon the earth — plagues that echo the Exodus, devastating a third of creation in sequence — culminating in the cosmic announcement that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.”

Details

The seven trumpets begin after the dramatic half-hour silence of the seventh seal. An angel at the heavenly altar fills a censer with fire and hurls it to the earth, producing thunders, lightnings, and an earthquake (8:5) — a throne-room commissioning scene before the seven angel-trumpeters sound. The imagery throughout is heavily indebted to the plagues of Egypt in Exodus, but escalated in scope and applied to the cosmos.

The first four trumpets bring devastation in thirds rather than the total destruction of the bowl plagues, suggesting a partial and warning character: hail and fire mingled with blood burns a third of the earth and trees and all green grass (8:7); a great burning mountain falls into the sea, turning a third of it to blood, killing a third of sea creatures, and sinking a third of ships (8:8-9); a great star called Wormwood falls on a third of rivers and fountains, turning them bitter and causing death (8:10-11); and a third of the sun, moon, and stars are struck, darkening a third of day and night (8:12). An eagle cries three woes over the remaining three trumpets, signaling escalation.

The fifth trumpet (first woe) opens the abyss and releases locusts under Apollyon — not locusts that eat vegetation but demonic creatures that torment those without God’s seal for five months “as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man” (9:5). Men seek death but cannot find it. The sixth trumpet (second woe) releases four bound angels at the great river Euphrates who lead a vast cavalry of 200 million, killing a third of mankind with fire, smoke, and brimstone from the horses’ mouths. Strikingly, “the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands” (9:20) — the trumpet judgments are designed to provoke repentance, but the hardened hearts refuse.

Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, Revelation intercalates two visions (chapters 10-11): the mighty angel with the little scroll that John must eat, sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly — a commission to prophesy to many nations (echoing Ezekiel’s scroll-eating in Ezekiel 3); and the two witnesses who prophesy for 1,260 days in sackcloth, are killed by the beast, lie dead in the streets for three and a half days, and then are raised and ascend to heaven while their enemies watch. The seventh trumpet then sounds, and heaven breaks into the great doxology: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (11:15). The twenty-four elders worship, the temple in heaven opens, and the ark of the covenant is seen — the heavenly counterpart to the earthly sanctuary, signaling that God’s covenant faithfulness will be vindicated.

Important Verses

“And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” — Revelation 9:1

“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands.” — Revelation 9:20

“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” — Revelation 11:15

Cross-References

• OT Background: Exodus — the plagues of Egypt as the template for the trumpet judgments
• OT Background: Ezekiel — the scroll-eating commission (Ezekiel 2-3) paralleled in Revelation 10
• OT Background: Joel — the locust army of Joel 2 as the background to the fifth trumpet
• Related: The Seven Seals — the seventh seal opens into the trumpets
• Related: The Seven Bowls — the trumpets prepare for the bowl plagues
• Related: The Dragon — the cosmic adversary behind the abyss and the beast
• Related People: John (Apostle)