Consider the Terrible Acts of God – Revelation 8:6-9:21; 11:14-19
8 (6) The seven angels who had the seven trumpets now prepared to sound them.
(7) The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all the green grass was burnt up. (8) The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, (9) and a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (10) The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the heavens. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—(11) the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters were turned into wormwood, and many men died from the waters that had become bitter. (12) The fourth angel sounded 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 them were darkened. Consequently, a third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. (13) As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”
9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. (2) When he opened the shaft of the abyss, smoke arose out of it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and the atmosphere were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. (3) Out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth, and they were given ability like that of the scorpions of the earth. (4) They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those men who did not have the seal of God upon their foreheads. (5) They were not allowed to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. Their torture was like the torture inflicted by a scorpion when it strikes a man.
(6) In those days men will seek death, but will by no means find it; indeed, they will desire to die, but death will flee from them. (7) The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. (8) Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. (9) They had breastplates that were like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing to battle. (10) They had tails and stingers like scorpions, in their tails was the ability to harm men for five months. (11) They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek his name is Apollyon. (12) The first woe is past; but listen, there are two more woes yet to come!
(13) The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. (14) It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates!” (15) Then the four angels who had been reserved for this hour and day and month and year were released so that they might kill a third of mankind. (16) The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million—I heard their number. (17) The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. (18) A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, namely, the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths. (19) The power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes, having heads with which they inflict harm. (20) The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands—they did not stop worshiping demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood, idols which cannot see or hear or walk. (21) Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or of their sexual immorality or of their thefts…
11 (14) The second woe is past; the third woe is coming soon. (15) The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven that said, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (16) The twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, (17) “We give thanks to you, O Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have asserted your great power and have begun to reign. (18) The nations were enraged, and you expressed your wrath, and the time came for the judgment of the dead and the time for the rewarding of your servants the prophets and the saints, those who reverence your name, both the insignificant and the prominent, and the time for destroying those who destroy the earth.” (19) Then the temple of God that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. And there came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hail storm.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
