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Harry Whittaker
Revelation - A Biblical Approach

Chapter 21 - The Fifth Trumpet: The Last Days (9:1-11)

A careful comparing of Scripture with Scripture reveals that the Trumpets, especially the Fifth, are partly a re-statement and partly an interpretation of the Prophecy of Joel, which students of prophecy have long recognized as one of the outstanding prophetic forecasts of the great Day of the Lord. The parallels between Joel and Revelation 8 and 9 are certainly impressive.

		Joel	Revelation
1.	Locusts.	1: 4	9:3.
2.	Symbolic of a nation.	1:6.	9: 4, 7.
3.	Teeth like lions.	1:6.	9:8.
4.	Trees and pasture withered and burnt up.	1: 12, 18-20.	8:7.
5.	Destruction from the Almighty.	1: 15.	9: 11.
6.	Fire.	1: 19; 2:3, 5.	8:7; 9:17.
7.	Rivers of waters dried up.	1:20.	8: 10; 9:14
8.	Blowing of trumpets.	2:1, 11, 15.	8:6.
9.	Darkness.	2:2.	9:2.
10.	Horses.	2:4.	9:7, 9.
11.	Chariots.	2:5.	9:9.
12.	Torment.	2:6.	9:6.
13.	Earthquake.	2:10.	8: 5.
14.	Sun, moon, and stars darkened.	2:10, 31; 3:15.	8:12, 9:2.
15.	“Turn ye to me ... “	2:12.	9:20, 21.
16.	The locust army goes back into the abyss.	2:20.	9:1.
17.	Deliverance for the faithful remnant.	2:32.	9:4.

Could any more conclusive demonstration of the Last Day application of the Trumpets be wished for? Joel and the Trumpets stand or fall together. A detailed exposition of Joel 1, 2 will be found in “The Time of the End,” Chapter 8.

The interpretation of the details of this Fifth Trumpet beforehand regarding the Last Days is no easy matter. Any conclusion reached can be, at best, tentative. In this field of Bible study only the fool can afford to be dogmatic and confident.

The star fallen from heaven suggests, in these days, the Star of David, that is, the state of Israel. Modern Israel is still as averse to the Truth of Jesus Christ as ever Capernaum was (see previous chapter). It deems itself a morning star destined to rise to great heights, yet it is to be thrust down to hell. In the “apocalyptic” sense the star is already “fallen from the heaven,” for this symbolism implies (see Chapter 4). an Israel which has lost fellowship with God. Sadly the fact has to be faced that ever since A.D. 70 and the destruction of the temple (perhaps even before that) the Beauty and Bands of God’s covenant with Israel have been disannulled (Zechariah 11:10, 14) until the time of repentance and re-acceptance.

THE FINAL CONFLICT

“To him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” The familiar suggestion that this abyss symbolizes “Arabia physically and politically” comes in with great appropriateness here. Here is the final conflict between Jews and Arabs, with a catastrophic outcome for desperate Israel. Is this key, which opens up such an era of horror and torment, given to the angel or to the power represented by the star? Grammatically, it could be either. If the former, then here is emphasis of the fact of angelic control of inexorable political developments in the Last Day. If the latter, then this foreshadows that as on three occasions already Israel has been goaded into taking the initiative in violent action against Arab enemies, so also again by dint of cunning political maneuvering, Israel will be pushed into taking the first militant steps which will serve to label that little state the aggressor and will also cause sympathizers like America to hold back support until it is too late. In the last Days Israel will fight without a friend in the world, just as in A.D. 70.

In terms of modern warfare, “the smoke of a great furnace” darkening sun and air suggests the violence of modern war comparable to the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:28). Jerusalem (for obvious reasons) will be the only city of Israel, which will be spared this fate. All this can happen within a few minutes, and without a single tank or battalion crossing Israel’s border.

Then, when the back of that stout little country’s strength is broken, the locust hordes will move in. Of course there will be desperate resistance in many places. Masada will be fought afresh, but without any of the blithe confidence which the Israelis have had hitherto. Now there will be a horror of torment for those in the Land - for “those men which have no’ the seal of God in their foreheads.”

HOW WILL IT WORK OUT?

Gropingly, and with much need for further light, the following is suggested. Corresponding to the three and a half years’ Jewish War, A.D. 67-70, it seems right to look for a corresponding period in the Last Days. Will this begin with the next Middle East crisis? Or should it be reckoned from the Feast of Trumpets in some year in the 1970’s? Or from some Passover, as in A.D. 70?

It is a fact that in the early days of their First Century rebellion the Jews scored some sensational victories over the Romans. Then came a quieter period before the Roman steam-roller proceeded to suppress all resistance first in the north, and then ultimately in Jerusalem and the strongholds of the wilderness. Is this the pattern of events to be expected again in this century?

“For the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Because saints in Christ all over the Roman Empire were praying for Jerusalem, those days in A.D. 70 were shortened to five months. Then perhaps in the days ahead the power of prayer will again be seen in the shortening of Israel’s time of trouble.

There is clear implication in the Fifth Trumpet of some kind of protection for those who do have “the seal of God in their forehead.” If this is the period when the Elijah ministry of the still small voice is bringing persuasion and conviction to an obscure remnant in Israel, somehow - the how is not specified - these will be saved from the horrors which the rest, unspiritual and self-reliant as always, have to endure.

PROTECTION

Jerusalem is to be captured by the enemy (Zechariah 14:2) but not destroyed. Certain Scriptures suggest that it is to be the place of safety of the Lord’s elect. Perhaps - one cannot be sure - he will come to his city, the city of the Great King, and by his angels will call together those in Israel who believe in him: “In mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be those that escape” (Joel 2:32). The language of Isaiah 26:20, 21 had its first fulfilment in the time of Hezekiah’s Passover, when the whole Land was overrun, and only Jerusalem was safe for those whose godliness was also wisdom in taking them to the sanctuary of the Lord for worship as well as protection: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over past. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

The period of five months so prominent in the Trumpet was also the precise time during which “the waters prevailed upon the earth” (Genesis 7:24). During this time divine wrath prevailed over all except those in the ark of safety. Then is it possible to infer that the three Woe-Trumpets describe judgements from the scope of which the saints of God in the Land (and perhaps elsewhere) will have been withdrawn? “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be ... “ (Luke 17:26). Maybe the eagle-angel flying in mid-heaven is the leader of those who will be sent to “gather together the elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31; Exodus 12:23; 19:4; Deuteronomy 30:4). “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads” (9:4).

The allusions in these Trumpets to plagues in Egypt are significant. The earliest plagues were on Egyptians and Israelites alike. The later plagues hit Pharaoh and his people. But it was only the man with faith in the blood of the Lamb and with a ready obedience to the instructions and call of God’s appointed Leader who could be sure of escape from the last great manifestation of heavenly anger. Those without faith, those who did not deem obedience necessary, were involved in the same judgement as befell the uncovenanted Egyptian.

Similarly, in that great deliverance yet to come, protection will be for those who are truly, and not just nominally, Christ’s. It was in this kind of context that Jesus warned: “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord: And he said unto them Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together” (Luke 17:31-37).

The assumption usually made in the interpretation of these concluding words is that the disciples’ question means: “Taken where, Lord?” but this can hardly be satisfactory, for three reasons:

(a)

“Taken where?” is a question the disciples would not need to ask, since the answer so obviously is: “To meet the Lord.”

(b)

The reference to vultures and carcase is extremely difficult of interpretation as an answer to: “Taken where?” Any attempt to liken the Lord of Glory to a carcase and his saints to vultures must be emphatically disallowed.

(c)

“One shall be taken, and the other left.” “Left where, Lord?” is surely the natural way as well as the most grammatical way of filling out the ellipsis in their question.

As an answer to “Left where, Lord?” the mention of vultures and carcase is perfectly appropriate. Let it be noted that the two classes Jesus alludes to are not those in Christ and those not in Christ. He is speaking of those truly in Christ and those who are only nominally his servants. His warning: “Remember Lot’s wife,” demands such a view. Hence in answer to the question: “Where will the unworthy be left, Lord? What will happen to them?” there comes the reply: “Those who are spiritually dead (Revelation 3: 1) will be left to be preyed upon by the vultures of the world.”[39] And what that will mean the Fifth Trumpet attempts to make clear beforehand, that none may be without excuse: “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”

[39] There is no intention here to disallow the responsibility of all Christ’s servants to appear before his judgement. “We shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ,” whether sooner or later.