Today’s reflection covers a bumper three and a half chapters (Revelation 8, 9, 10 and the last part of 11). They essentially cover the seven trumpets that were issued to seven angels. Once again, there is a delay in the delivery of the seventh trumpet.
But first, we’ve got the elusive seventh seal from the scroll. We’ve seen six seals open to effect judgment, but there was an interruption with the entrance of the 144,000 and the great multitude of nations.
Quite amazing is that in the midst of the drama of the first six seals, the huge group of worshippers are brought before God’s throne. And when everyone “settles down”, the angel opens the seventh seal. And there was silence.
For half an hour.
What proceeds after that is the angels doing a form of ritual. How many of us actually think of Heaven as a place with “those old fashioned rituals”? How many of us actually see Heaven silently watching the ritual? These people are not jumping up and down, hands raised, crying, “One Way, Jesus!” If anything they are regularly found bowing, putting their faces to the ground, and repeating “the same old boring stuff” over and over again. A certain Church is constantly accused of doing “the same old stuff” and saying the “same old boring stuff” and even put down for repeating prayers. Well, that Church happens to be worshipping the same way as the Heavenly Hosts are doing up there. If you haven’t got the boring stuff yet, go get used to it!
Proceeding the ritual, the seven angels blow their trumpets, and again, what follows each of the seven trumpets causes a disturbance to the neutral reader who reads the texts literally. Whatever it is, this place being judged is referred to as Sodom and Egypt (Rev 11:8). Sodom was an infamous place known for their unnatural sins of their inhabitants. That city was destroyed by "brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven", which resembles Rev 8:5: “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake”.
And who could forget Egypt? It was the pagan nation that held Israel captive for 400 years. In its episode, God sent plagues in order to release the Israelites. More so, the plagues were direct challenges to the various gods the Egyptians worshipped. The effects of the seven trumpets seem to have a striking similarity to the plight of the Egyptians. There was hail and fire (just like Ex 9:22-24), bloody waters (Ex 7:20-21), undrinkable water (Ex 7:21), darkness (Ex 10:22-23) and locusts (Ex 10:14).
Another city the seven trumpets should remind us of, is Jericho. Jericho persecuted God’s people and tried to stop the Israelites from claiming the Promised Land. There Joshua led the battle, but he was told by God to do ridiculous things. One of the instructions was to blow seven trumpets. Joshua 6:20 sums up the story as simply as God’s plan: “So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”
If you read the effects of the seven trumpets slowly, you would appreciate why many people worry about the end of the world. This is, after all, God’s judgment. But there are historical records that show quite convincingly that all that was written to Jerusalem, did happen shortly after John’s vision. A historian named Josephus was a witness to these predictions, and his witness were quite similar to what was described by John. We can read his accounts titled The War of the Jews.
If all this has already happened, then does it void any meaning for us? Of course not! I would argue that it has an even greater cause for us to sit up. Every historical event in the Bible is not meant to tell is a piece by piece account of history. God leaves that to historians. The historical events present more importantly spiritual truths, along with sound advice on how to live our lives. The Book of Revelation is the same. Here, we do see a prediction, yet many scholars agree that it’s something that has already happened. Yet, the very fact that God gave John a vision and brought it to life is testimony to God’s truth.
If we were afraid when we read it as something to happen in 2020 or 2012, we only read it as a prediction. Now, historians have given us enough to believe that those “mere” predictions actually materialised. Should that not tell us that God’s Word is true and reliable? Therefore if He tells us to watch our actions and bear the truth, and spread the Good News, to “repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” should we not heed those words seriously? And indeed, should we not heed it more seriously than ever?
Let’s recall, all those years ago, the Temple was everything to the Jews. Jerusalem was the centre of worship because God dwelt there. Yet in AD70, a full generation after Jesus predicted its fall if it refused to repent, God destroyed Jerusalem. The leaders of Jerusalem refused to obey. They refused to follow. And judgment came.
Sodom refused to repent and give up sin. The Egyptians hardened their hearts and refused to let His people go. Jericho tried to keep Israel out of the Promised Land. Jerusalem? They lived out even more what each of the previous three did wrong. And each of them paid the price.
What remains then, is our decision. Are we guilty of disobedience to God? When God’s judgment comes what will happen to us? Perhaps it's time we woke up to the sound of the trumpets. As we continue in our Lenten walk, let’s consider seriously our call out of pride. There is no better time to take a good look at our lives and make firm decisions. Recognising our human weakness is good, but certainly not enough. We must determine to do whatever God asks of us, detach ourselves from our old selves, and crucify our old selves along with Christ come Good Friday. Then, maybe on the cross, we can cry out in repentance to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom" (Lk 23:42). His response to an honest, whole-hearted conversion: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v 43).
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