READING TIME: 3 MINUTES
December 18, 2019
Could you please give an overview of the Trumpet and Bowl Judgments in the future 7-year Tribulation?
The seven trumpet judgments occur which increase the devastation to the earth – Rev 8:1-9:21; 11:15-19
The first four trumpets are considered a unit.
1st Trumpet (8:6-7) – 1/3 of the earth, trees and green grass burned up by hail and fire mixed with blood thrown down upon the earth (cf. Gen 18:16-19:28; Ex 9:22-26).
2nd Trumpet (8:8-9) – 1/3 of the sea turned into blood, death of 1/3 of sea creatures, destruction of 1/3 of ships (cf. Ex 7:16-21).
3rd Trumpet (8:10-11) – a large meteor or star falls on the earth from heaven and causes the water to become bitter so that people who drink it will die.
4th Trumpet (8:12-13) – the light of the sun, moon, and sky reduced by 1/3 (cf. Ex 10:21-23)
The Remainder of the Trumpet Judgments
5th Trumpet (1st Woe) (9:1-11) – Satan is given a key to the shaft of the Abyss and uses this key to let the demons in it out to afflict/torture the earth for five months
6th Trumpet (2nd Woe) (9:12-21) – an angel is instructed to release the four demons bound at the Euphrates River and they kill 1/3 of the world’s population. This release of the demons results in a release of a 200 million army (human beings, demons, or demon-possessed human beings from the East.
7th Trumpet (11:15-19) – this trumpet introduces and includes the seven bowls judgments of God’s wrath (see Rev 16).
The bowl judgments (the most severe and intense series of judgments) begin; it seems like these judgments will occur in quick succession near the end of the Tribulation – Rev 16.
1st Bowl (16:1-2) – people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped him receive painful and malignant sores (cf. Ex 9:9-11); in a sense, this is a fulfillment of Rev 14:9-11.
2nd Bowl (16:3) – every living sea creature left alive from previous judgments dies (cf. 8:8; Ex 7:17-21).
3rd Bowl (16:4-7) – rivers and springs become blood (cf. 8:10-11)
4th Bowl (16:8-9) – the sun becomes very intense; people curse God and refuse to repent (cf. 8:12; 13:5-6).
5th Bowl (16:10-11) – judgment against the beast’s throne (cf. 2:13), darkness on the earth, and more painful sores on people (cf. Ex 10:21-23).
6th Bowl (16:12-16) – the river Euphrates is dried up (cf. 9:14-16; Is 11:15) to prepare the way for the kings or rulers from the East/the Orient who will participate in the final world war. Satan gathers all of the human kings to vainly resist the Lord’s soon coming with the saints and angels (in 19:11-21).
7th Bowl (16:17-21) – a bowl is poured into the air, resulting in lightning flashes, thunder, and a very severe earthquake; hailstones of about 75 pounds fall on people; people cursed God because of the plague of hail.