Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Revelation Reveals About God | New Testament | Revelation 8

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

What Revelation Reveals About God | New Testament | Revelation 8 Many Christians interpret Revelation in different ways. Instead of diving into the disagreement, Jensen looks to Revelation 8 to share what exactly Revelation teaches its readers about God's character. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Revelation 8

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Revelation Chapter 8 finds itself squarely in the middle of a prophetic vision that the Apostle John has been given. This specific portion of his vision is detailing the wrath of the Lamb, meaning it's showing us an image of Jesus' final judgment on all of creation. Now, there's plenty of debate as to whether these judgments are left. literal, whether there are events that happened long ago, events that continue to unfold, or events that were waiting to see happen one day in the future. Many Christians interpret and believe differently on those points, so that won't be the aim

as we read this portion of John's vision today. Instead of reading this portion of the vision and asking what it means for you and me and our judgment, I want to instead take a look at the section of scripture and ask, what does this passage teach us about God? And to do that, we have to dive into chapter 8. So let's go ahead and do that now. Verse 6. Now, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. So John has a vision. And in his vision, there are seven angels who have seven trumpets. For the remainder of chapter 8, we'll hear about what the first four trumpet blasts spring. But before we continue on, we need to first recognize the symbolism of a trumpet blast

throughout all of scripture. You see, throughout scripture, trumpets are used to announce something. In Exodus 19, trumpet blasts announced God's descent onto Mount Sinai. We read that the nation of Israel watched as Mount Sinai was all smoke because God had come down on it as fire. Smoke poured from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain shuddered and heaved. The trumpets, blast, grew louder and louder. This scene is intense. Here, God's presence is announced with trumpets and linked to fire, smoke, and mountains trembling. We like to think of God's presence more as a soft whisper of comfort or a warm hug, which of course in some places of scripture, his presence is softer. But here, linked to these,

trumpet blasts, God's descent on Mount Sinai reminded the people of his power, his greatness, that he was to be feared, revered, respected as Lord over all of creation. And it's in this encounter that Moses is called up to meet face to face with God and receive the law from him. God's powerful presence descending on the earth is announced by the sound of trumpets. We see later in Scripture that trumpets are also linked to God's judgment on foreign powers. When the nation of Israel is entering into the promised land, they're told by God to march around the city of Jericho carrying trumpets and the Ark of the Covenant for six days. And on the seventh day, they're told to blow their trumpets as they march, and when they

complete the seventh day, the city walls fall before them, and the people are able to overtake their enemies. God's divine judgment on his enemies is announced by the sound of trumpets. And finally, in Leviticus 25, we learn that trumpets are to be sounded throughout all of Israel on the day of atonement in the year of the Jubilee. See, the day of atonement was a day when Israel's high priest would offer sacrifices to atone for the sin of all the people. It involved intricate sacrifices and traditions, but every year on this day, the people were washed clean of their sins. Now the year of Jubilee came every 50 years. Scripture tells us that during the 50th year, the people were to proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. The Jubilee was holy.

The people were to forgive debts, to allow the land to rest, to return land back to its original owners to set slaves and workers free. It was a picture of restoration for the people, of things being made right. It was to remind the Israelites that they were God's people, that he had delivered them from Egypt, and it was to point them forward to a day when he would bring true lasting justice and redemption to all the land. And so, on this day of atonement during the Jubilee year, the people of God were told to have the trumpets sounded everywhere in the land. Forgiveness of sins, justice, and restoration are all announced by the sound of trumpets. See, throughout Scripture, we see God's powerful presence, his divine judgment on his enemies, and his mercy, justice, and restoration all announced by

trumpets. Each of these days when the trumpets sounded, teach us something about God. He is the powerful God of all creation, and he has a right to rule over and judge his creation. He will not allow evil to flourish on the earth, but will enact justice through powerful displays of judgment. And he brings justice and judgment so that his mercy and restoration can flow throughout the land, bringing Jubilee, bringing justice and restoration to his people. And so, when John receives a vision of seven trumpets being sounded, he and his readers would be reminded of these days when the trumpets would sound. He would be reminded of who God is and of his larger story. We read in Joel 2 verse 1 that there is another day when trumpets will sound. Blow a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming, it is near. The day of the Lord is a day that is a reference throughout Scripture

as a time when God would return back to his creation to bring justice against the evil in the world, to free those who are oppressed and to forgive sins. It's a day when God would free creation and humanity from the curse of Genesis 3 and bring his restorative work. It's a day of great judgment, judgment, justice and restoration. And so, as we read about the first four trumpet sounds, we have to keep all that we know about the sound of trumpets in mind. We have to remember what they symbolize and what

they ultimately point forward to. Now, as we read the judgments that these trumpets bring, we may be tempted to think that God is cruel, that these judgments are terrible and terrifying. and in a sense they are terrible and terrifying. But trumpet blasts of judgment remind us that God is a God who is promised to eradicate the curse of evil that has infected his creation. The trumpet signals justice and judgment, but with it also comes the expectant hope of restoration. So let's read them now. Verse 7. The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire and fire.

mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is wormwood.

A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

Okay, so I know that was. a lot. And truthfully, I had to read it many, many times to get the full picture of what was happening here. But in these four trumpet blasts, we see a picture of decreation. We see the earth burned up, the sea turned to blood, the fresh water turned bitter, and the heavens thrown into darkness. The whole earth will sit under God's judgment. What's even more interesting is that these four trumpet blasts mirror the plagues that God sent on Egypt. Hale sent down upon the land, the Nile turned to blood, and the complete darkness that fell upon the land for three days. The judgment that God brought upon the nation of Egypt so that he could

free his people from oppression and slavery is mirrored here in these judgments of the trumpet. And as we read them and make that connection, we should also recognize what that means. These trumpets announce the judgment of the evil that has infected creation, but they also point forward to the announcement of freedom and restoration to come. You see, God decreates so that he can fully restore his creation. He sends judgment so that he can set free the land and his people from the oppression of evil. These verses of judgment can be hard to read. They can be confusing to read.

They can make us wonder what God's final judgment will look like and when it will come and how it will come and if we'll be here or not. But instead of getting caught up in all of those questions, I hope that you and I can come to these verses in Revelation and see a picture of who our God is and what he is doing in his bigger story. You see, the Bible is a book written about God meant to reveal his character, his promises, and his plan of restoration to the world. And in Revelation 8, we saw that we follow a powerful and perfect creator. That from the beginning of time since the moment that sin and evil began to curse his creation, he has begun his work to bring freedom to all of creation by enacting justice on all that is evil in this world. It is through His presence, power, and judgment that creation and humanity can have a hope to live freely. alongside him in a recreated, restored creation.

Revelation can be scary. It can be confusing. But if we are willing to dig in, to do the work, to ask the right questions, I hope that we can begin to see how these visions given to John long ago can give us a more complete, more powerful, more beautiful picture of who our God is and the work that he is doing to bring restoration and freedom to all of creation.