Miscellaneous Notes
Ed Tarkowski

I want to further what I said about the seven seals in a previous article. I am basing what I write here on verses that say AFTER the four judgments, if Israel does not turn and walk according to God's ways (in other words, repent), God promises to "punish you seven times more for your sins." What are these seven more punishments, and and is there any hint of them in the Book of Revelation? I ask the question because

1. God is an unchangeable God

2. these are the established ways of God with Israel, and they are firmly set in His word

These plagues escalate from the mid-point of the tribulation until Israel's power is finally broken because they refuse to repent, a non-repentance Revelation speaks of. God says, "I will break the pride of your power." Remember what Daniel heard: "and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (Daniel 12:7). This verse in Daniel very aptly describes the curses of Leviticus 26 for breaking the covenant. And Moses goes on from here in very descriptive language what is related in the third and fourth seals:

Lev 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. . . .
14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits [part of the famine of the 3rd seal].
21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins [notice the escalation of tribulation by the use of the phrase, "I will bring seven times more plagues."].
22 I will also send wild beasts among you [part of the 4th seal], which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number [reduction in numbers]; and your high ways shall be desolate [desolation - another part of the Revelation judgements].
23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me;
24 Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
25 And I will bring a sword upon you [part of the 4th seal judgements], that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you [part of the 4th seal]; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy [part of the Revelation judgements].
26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread [part of the 3rd seal judgement], ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight [the balance of the third seal]: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied [not eat their bread to the full].
27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28 Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.
29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you [complements the 6th seal].
31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. [This is exactly what will happen during the Tribulation: the sanctuary will be made desolate and the sacrifices will be stopped, but it more refers to the altar of incense, the coals of which the high priest would put in a censor as a sweet odor to the Lord when he went into the Holy of Holies. This complements the 7th seal].
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it [again, this is what happens in the tribulation].
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen [spoken of in Matthew 24 and Daniel], and will draw out a sword after you [found under the 4th seal]: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste [more judgement of the seals and Daniel's prophecy; Armageddon].

There two very plausible considerations in Revelations: the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. From the descriptions given in these verses, it would be more plausible that these would be the trumpets more than the bowls. There are no mental gymnatics in this scenario, and it gives some legitimate basis for placing the trumpets in the scheme of things concerning these Old Testament verses and the Book of Revelation. Placing the emphasis, not on where the trumpets are to be placed, but the purpose of them, I believe, will reveal a reasonable scenario as to where they belong in the scheme of things.

Applying what God said in Leviticus 26 to the fourth seal in Revelation 6:7-8, we have the following chart as a beginning to chart these things out:

Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

What is contained in the Seven Trumpets of Revelation?

Rev 8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

The following events then occur through the seventh trumpet:

• The angel with golden censor throws it to earth as an answer to the prayers of the saints and there were "voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake" (Rev 8:3-5).

• The seven angels prepare to sound their trumpets (Rev. 8:6).

Ezek 5:12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. . . . .
Ezek 6:8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. Ezek 6:9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. Ezek 6:10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

• The First Trumpet: Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

• The Second Trumpet: Rev 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
  9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

• The Third Trumpet: Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
  11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

• Rev 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

• The angel announces the next three trumpets as woes, completing the seven punishments: Rev 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

• The Fifth trumpet: The locusts headed by Apollyon (Abaddon) are released to NOT KILL, but torment men for five months: Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
  2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
  3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
  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.
  5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
  6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. . . . 12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

• The sixth trumpet or second woe is followed by the loosing of four angels bound in the great river Euphrates: Rev 9:13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
  14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
  15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. . . .

• Finally, the seventh trumpet, or third woe, is blown: Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.