The Seven Trumpets

The Seventh Trumpet (Third Woe)

Revelation 10:1 – And I saw another strong messenger coming down out of the heaven, arrayed with a cloud, and a rainbow upon the head, and his face as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, (YLT)

Who is this strong messenger? This is the same messenger or angel that wrestled with Jacob in Genesis:

Genesis 32:24-31 – And Jacob is left alone, and one wrestleth with him till the ascending of the dawn; […] And Jacob asketh, and saith, ‘Declare I pray thee, thy name;’ and he saith, ‘Why [is] this, thou askest for My name?’ and He blesseth him there. And Jacob calleth the name of the place Peniel: for ‘I have seen God face unto face, and my life is delivered;’ and the sun riseth on him when he hath passed over Penuel, and he is halting on his thigh; (YLT)

In Genesis it says that the sun rose on him, while in Revelation it says he has the face of the sun. This is because it is the same angel. Jacob calls the place where he encountered the angel, Peniel, which is Hebrew for the presence of God. To make things simple, I will refer to the angel itself as Peniel. Another clue about this angel is given to us in the next chapter, when we find out where Jacob was heading to:

Genesis 33:17 – And Jacob hath journeyed to Succoth, and buildeth to himself a house, and for his cattle hath made booths, therefore hath he called the name of the place Succoth. (YLT)

Jacob was going to Succoth, which as I mentioned in the Second Coming means the “Feast of Tabernacles.” This feast is symbolic of the age of Tabernacles in which Christ will rule with the Barley Overcomers. Remember that the overcomers are also called the sons of God. Jacob’s name is later changed to Israel, whose sons were God’s people. Therefore, the sons of Israel also represents the overcomers. All of these points give us the impression that the angel Peniel’s main job is to prepare people for the age of Tabernacles.

Revelation 10:2 – and he had in his hand a little scroll opened, and he did place his right foot upon the sea, and the left upon the land, (YLT)

The first part of this verse says that Peniel opened the little scroll. The scroll is referring to the Bible, which has now become little. How did the Bible become little? This was due to the invention of the wooden press in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg. Before, the Bible had to be hand written on massively large scrolls. With this invention, the Bible could now be easily distributed to common people in a reasonable size. Later, Gutenberg printed the famous Gutenberg Bible from 1452 to 1455. The fall of Constantinople in 1453 caused people to move into Europe. This included Greek theologians who could translate the Bible from Greek into English directly. This gave Jerome’s Latin Vulgate competition. We will discuss the details of how the Bible evolved in another article.

The printing of the Bible helped trigger the Protestant Reformation. Two major starting events of the Protestant Reformation include Martin Luther’s 95 Theses written in 1517, and England’s Act of Supremacy in 1534 which declared the king of England the supreme head of the church of England. These events are evidence of Peniel’s left foot on the land, as stated in Revelation.

In 1588, Spain sent 130 ships to invade England, but England destroyed them in the North Sea. This was evidence of Peniel’s right foot on the sea, also stated in Revelation.

So far we discussed the seventh trumpet as outlined in Revelation chapter 10. Revelation chapter 10 also contains the seven thunders, which we discuss at another time.

This is where Revelation starts to get very complicated. Since the age of Tabernacles requires a lot of spiritual preparation of many people, the seventh trumpet does not contain “one event” or “one period of time.” It contains many events over many periods of time. It manifests in many ways throughout history.

Summary of the Seven Trumpets

1. 410 A.D. – the Visigoths attacked Rome
2. 460 A.D. – the Vandals attacked Rome’s fleet
3. 450-451 A.D. – Attila the Hun attacked Rome
4. 475 A.D. – Odoacer destroyed Rome
5. 612-762 A.D. – the rise of Islam
6. 1063-1453 A.D. – the rise of the Turks and the destruction of Constantinople
7. 1436 and beyond – the printing press, better translations of the Bible, Protestant Reformation, many others

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