Episode 15 Revelation Study - Judgement Escalates, Chapters 8 and 9.

 

You can watch the video of this Bible Study live on my YouTube channel every Monday night from 8pm to 9pm.

Tonight, we are going to look at two chapters of Revelation which really serve as one unit. One of the interesting things about the guy who made up the chapter breaks in the Bible is that he did not always follow a consistent rhyme or reason in deciding his breaks. Though we are thankful for his service, as it makes it much easier to quote and reference the Bible than it once was.

These chapters deal with the last of the 7 seal judgements that were unleashed by Jesus beginning in chapter 6:1, and then 6 of the 7 trumpet judgements. There is no natural break in these chapters, in fact the chapter break is put after the first woe has passed with two still remaining. Showing that the considerations for where to put the chapter breaks were more likely length than a natural break in topic.

This is a chapter of terrifying judgements that some people will see as only possibly happening at the end of days. But I think we need to be not so dogmatic about that. Of course, that is possible, very possible, but can a legitimate argument be made that this imagery is used to refer to historical judgements against people? Yes it can.  

Consider this example from Joel 2, which talks about God’s judgement on Israel through the Assyrians/Babylonians. Let’s just read the first 11 verses:

“1 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand:
² A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.

³ A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
⁴ Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like swift steeds, so they run.
⁵ With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.

⁶ Before them the people writhe in pain;
All faces are drained of color.
⁷ They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ranks.
⁸ They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not cut down.
⁹ They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter at the windows like a thief.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble;
The sun and moon grow dark,
And the stars diminish their brightness.
¹¹ The Lord gives voice before His army,
For His camp is very great;
For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
Who can endure it? (Joel 2:1-11, NKJV, cf. Revelation 6:17 and compare it to his question here, who can endure it?).

Although the book of Joel predates Apocalyptic literature, this kind of scary heavenly language is a hall mark of apocalyptic visions of judgement and finds its biblical roots in Old Testament theology.

One other thing you will notice as we go through chapters 8 to 9 is how similar what is happening sounds to the judgement of God on the Egypt at the call of Moses. This sounds very much like the plagues of Egypt. This is made even more interesting by the fact that when Jerusalem was destroyed they were in the festival of the Passover. This is from the notes in Josephus’ wars:

“Here we see the true occasion of those vast numbers of Jews that were in Jerusalem during this siege by Titus, and perished therein; that the siege began at the feast of the passover, when such prodigious multitudes of Jews and proselytes of the gate were come from all parts of Judea, and from other countries, in order to celebrate that great festival. See the note B. VI. ch. 9. sect. 3.”[1]

Look as these parallels:

1. Exodus 9:22-24 (7th Plague: Hail and Fire)

• Revelation Parallel: The first trumpet judgment (Rev 8:7) describes "hail and fire, mixed with blood" burning vegetation.
• Exodus Imagery: God rains "hail and fire" (Exod 9:23-24) to destroy Egyptian crops, livestock, and trees—a direct physical manifestation of divine wrath against oppressors 68.
• Thematic Link: Both depict cosmic fire as judicial retribution. Revelation intensifies this by adding "blood" (symbolizing martyrdom; Rev 6:9-11) and scaling the disaster to one-third of the earth 711.

2. Exodus 7:20 (1st Plague: Waters Turned to Blood)

• Revelation Parallel: The second trumpet (Rev 8:8) and third bowl (Rev 16:3-4) involve seas/rivers turning to blood, killing marine life.
• Exodus Imagery: Moses strikes the Nile, turning water to blood (Exod 7:20), causing fish to die and water to become undrinkable—a strike against Egypt’s lifeline and false gods 86.
• Thematic Link: Both signify contamination of life-sustaining resources as punishment. Revelation expands this: the second trumpet affects seas (Rev 8:8), while the third bowl targets freshwaters (Rev 16:4), emphasizing comprehensive ecological judgment 611.

3. Exodus 10:12-15 (8th Plague: Locust Invasion)

• Revelation Parallel: The fifth trumpet (Rev 9:1-11) unleashes demonic "locusts" with scorpion-like stingers to torment the unsealed.
• Exodus Imagery: Literal locusts "cover the land" (Exod 10:15), consuming all remaining vegetation after the hail—an invasion representing God’s controlled army (Prov 30:27) 311.
• Thematic Link: Both use locusts as agents of inescapable torment. Revelation transforms them into apocalyptic hybrids (e.g., human faces, lions' teeth) led by "Abaddon" (Rev 9:7-11), merging Exodus’ imagery with Daniel’s visions of cosmic war (Dan 7-10) 37.

There is also the similar imagery that is used in Isaiah 13:6-13, and Jeremiah 1:13-15. Look at the Isaiah example:

Isaiah 13:6–13 (Judgment on Babylon)

• Revelation Parallel: Cosmic collapse in the sixth seal (Rev 6:12–17) and trumpet judgments (Rev 8:12; 9:2).
• Isaiah Imagery:
• "The stars of heaven... will not give their light; the sun will be darkened... and the moon will not shine" (Isa 13:10).
• "I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken" (Isa 13:13).
• Thematic Link: Both depict cosmic dissolution as divine judgment on wicked nations. Revelation expands this:
• The fourth trumpet specifically darkens sun/moon/stars by one-third (Rev 8:12).
• The fifth trumpet unleashes smoke that "darkens the sun and air" (Rev 9:2), evoking Isaiah’s language of creation recoiling before God’s wrath.

There is also very much, and I think this is very significant, a connection between much of what we read in Revelation and Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. We will focus on this especially later on in Revelation.

This is a much more extended introduction than usual. But I think it is necessary, because it ties us down more deeply to the kind of imagery that the Bible uses when talking about judgement. This helps us to ground our interpretation in scripture and not get carried away with trying to apply it to modern armies, technology, or other things like this. Let’s see how far we can get with the Bible interpreting itself, and then we may discuss if there is a current or future application.

The Judgement of God Continues

1.     Why do you think there was silence in heaven for half an hour when the seventh seal was opened?

 

2.     How can 30 minutes pass in heaven, a place which is outside of time?

The Trumpet Judgements Begin:

3.     How terrifying would it be to experience the events of vv. 7-9? Now is this talking about all the earth, or just the nation of Israel?

 

4.     What could possibly cause such a terrifying result?

 

5.     Why would God poison the water like this? Also do you know what the Greek word for star is? Why is it important to ask?

 

6.     Is there a possible connection between Trumpet 3 and Trumpet 4?

 

7.     8:13-9:6 – There are those who take this literally and believe that in the future, in the Tribulation, for a time, God will release demons on the earth to torment people. There are those who believe this whole book is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem, there is a line in this chapter that fits with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the part where it says death flees them:

 

“So all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come.

 

Nor was there any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked upon those that were gone to rest before them with dry eyes and open mouths. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night, had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake open those houses which were no other than graves of dead bodies, and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the points of their swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to prove what metal they were made of they thrust some of those through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that entreated them to lend them their right hand and their sword to despatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath.”[2]

 

Is this passage possibly about the destruction of Jerusalem? Why or why not?

 

8.     Vv. 7-11 John describes these terrifying beings, what do you think they are? Are they demons, or is John struggling to explain some future fearsome technology?

 

9.     What’s happening in verse 13-19? (cf. 2 Kings 6:17).

 

10.  Vv. 20-21 – Why do you think people refused to repent, even in the midst of such destruction as described in these two chapters?

 

11.  What is clear, and what is not clear about this judgement?

List of References

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[1] Josephus, Flavius. The Wars of the Jews; or the history of the destruction of Jerusalem (p. 428). Kindle Edition.

[2] Josephus, Flavius. The Wars of the Jews; or the history of the destruction of Jerusalem (p. 420). Kindle Edition.