Trumpets in the Bible refer most often to calling to war. They were used for signaling and alerting the troops. The trumpets of Revelation have the same purpose. They are alerting God’s people to the major wars that will take place in the world leading up to His coming back. As such, the trumpets deal with war and conquest.
The first four trumpets deal with the military defeat of Western Rome. Since Rome was “the” nation at the time John wrote Revelation, it is only logical that God would be giving us a look at what would happen to that great nation that persecuted His people and put Jesus on the cross. It also would be destroyed.
FIRST TRUMPET: AD 395 to AD 419
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- The Alaric and Goths fight against Western Rome. “Alaric, c.370-410, was a Visigothic king whose capture of Rome in 410 signaled the final decline of the Roman Empire in the West. The leader of Visigothic mercenaries in the Roman army, he rebelled (395) and was proclaimed king by his troops. He led his army toward Constantinople and then into Greece, where he took increasing advantage of the divisions between the eastern and western halves of the empire. In 397 the emperor in the East, Arcadius, gave Alaric military command of Illyria, from which he staged (401) an invasion of Italy. Twice forced to withdraw (402, 403) by the general Flavius STILICHO, he returned after the execution of Stilicho in 408. His first two sieges of Rome (408, 409) were ended by negotiation, but in 410 he stormed and devastated the city. He died while preparing to invade Africa.”*
The descriptive language helps to explain the devastation caused by the invaders. Read your history.
SECOND TRUMPET: AD 419 to AD 456
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- “Gaiseric, also known as Genseric, d. 477, was the founder of the VANDAL kingdom of North Africa. Gaiseric succeeded his brother Gunderic as king of the Vandals and Alans in 428. In 429 he led his people from Spain into North Africa, which he gradually conquered from the Romans, taking its chief city, Carthage, in 439. In 442 the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III recognized him as ruler of a kingdom that included most of what is now Tunisia and part of northern Algeria. In later years Gaiseric dominated the western Mediterranean with a powerful fleet, adding Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands to his conquests. He plundered Rome itself in 455 and in 468 defeated an expedition sent against him by the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I. The dynasty founded by Gaiseric lasted until 534.”*
As you can see by the descriptive language of the Bible, this force was a sea power. Notice in the historical account given above that the Vandals were in control of the Mediterranean sea.
THIRD TRUMPET: AD 434 to AD 476
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- “When the Huns came into contact with the various peoples living in South Russia, they either conquered them or sent them fleeing into the Roman Empire. This caused substantial dislocation and helped them gain a fearsome reputation in the West. The great Hun leader ATTILA took control of the horde in AD 434. He obtained vast monetary tribute from the Romans and devastated large parts of the empire for almost two decades before his death (453). Shortly thereafter the horde disintegrated, and those of Hun origin disappeared rapidly, probably as a result of cultural assimilation.”*
Attila the Hun was a wild madman. The Biblical description as “Wormwood” would not be too far off. “Many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” He made the waters (nations) bitter by his conduct.
FOURTH TRUMPET: AD 476 to the end of Western Rome
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- “A Germanic warrior and king of Italy, Odoacer, also known as Odovacar, b. c.433, dethroned the young emperor Romulus Augustulus on Aug. 28, 476, bringing the moribund Western Roman Empire to a formal end. A member of either the Sciri or the Rugian tribe, Odoacer made few administrative changes in Rome. He recovered Sicily and Dalmatia, threatening the Byzantine emperor ZENO. In 488, Zeno sponsored the Ostrogothic king THEODORIC against Odoacer. Theodoric overran Italy and assassinated Odoacer at a banquet on Mar. 15, 493, a week after Odoacer had surrendered.”*
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- “A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” This is a fit description of the termination of the Western Roman Empire. When Odoacer conquered Rome, the empire that considered itself to be the representative of the sun-god went black. But, it was only a third of the empire. Eastern Rome and the North African states were still intact.”*
But the Bible goes on to say, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels.” If a person were to think that these minor wars and skirmishes with Rome were significant, be warned, what is to come will even surpass what has come.
FIFTH TRUMPET: Rise of Islam
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- “In addition, between 572 and 628 the Middle East was the scene of warfare between the Byzantines and the Persian empire of the SASSANIANS, occasionally halted by “eternal” treaties of peace that were soon violated. In 614, Jerusalem fell to the Persians, and, by 619, Egypt as well. Under the Byzantine emperor HERACLIUS (r. 610-41) the imperial armies succeeded in counterattacking and defeating the Persians decisively by 628. Both empires were left drained and weakened by this 50-year period of intermittent warfare. They were thus ill-prepared to meet a new threat, which appeared from Arabia, an area that had never before been of importance in Middle Eastern history.”*
“Mecca was the birthplace c.570 of the man who was to become known as the Prophet MUHAMMAD. In the year 610, Muhammad had the first of many experiences that he came to understand as divine revelations, calling upon him to preach to his people a monotheistic religion based on the worship of the one God, the belief in a day of judgment, and the giving of alms for the support of the poor. Persecuted in Mecca, Muhammad and his early converts migrated northward in 622 to the agricultural oasis of Yathrib (later MEDINA), which was inhabited by three Jewish tribes as well as several pagan Arab tribes. There Muhammad was no longer an outcast but was recognized by many as a prophet of God and the leader of a community that regarded him as a lawgiver, judge, and military leader. At his death in 632 this community, which called its religion ISLAM and the believers Muslims, possessed the record of Muhammad’s revelations collected in the KORAN. The migration (HEGIRA) to Medina in 622 was regarded as the beginning of the Muslim era.”*
“At Medina Muhammad won acceptance as a religious and military leader. Within a few years he had established control of the surrounding region, and in 630 he finally conquered Mecca. There, the KAABA, a shrine that had for some time housed the idols of the pagan Meccans, was rededicated to the worship of Allah, and it became the object of pilgrimage for all Muslims. By the time of his death in 632, Muhammad had won the allegiance of most of the Arab tribespeople to Islam. He had laid the foundation for a community (umma) ruled by the laws of God.”*
As you can see from the historical account, the Islamic religion did what the “Christian” religion did. It took a pagan idol (a rock) and other objects and dedicated them to the worship of the “one god”. But it is all paganism. No where in the Bible are we allowed to worship a stone at Mecca or an image in a Catholic Church or the teachings of man. You can see from the picture the worship that is given to the rock. See the people going around the black object. That black object covers the rock that they are worshiping. Even Jesus, who they claim was a prophet of God, condemned such “worship”.
“Muawiya inaugurated an almost 90-year rule by the UMAYYADS (661 -750), who made Damascus their capital. A second wave of expansion followed. After they conquered (670) Tunisia, Muslim troops reached the northwestern point of North Africa in 710. In 711 they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, rapidly overran Spain, and penetrated well into France until they were turned back near Poitiers in 732. On the northern frontier Constantinople was besieged more than once (though without success), and in the east the Indus River was reached; the Islamic empire now bordered China and India, with some settlements in the Punjab.”*
Islam had now arisen and became another false teaching by another false prophet to become another false religion. The devil is always attempting to draw man’s eyes away from the truth with man-made opinions, religions and beliefs.
SIXTH TRUMPET: Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Out of the Islamic faith came a very powerful empire. The Ottoman Empire ruled over much of what once was the Eastern Roman Empire.
“The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim Turkish state that encompassed Anatolia, southeastern Europe, and the Arab Middle East and North Africa from the 14th to the early 20th century. It succeeded both the BYZANTINE EMPIRE, whose capital, Constantinople (modern ISTANBUL), it made its own in 1453, and the Arab CALIPHATE, whose mantle of descent from Muhammad it claimed after conquest of Egypt in 1517. The Ottoman Empire was finally broken up at the end of World War I, when its heartland of Anatolia became the Republic of TURKEY.”*
When you read the history and see the breastplates and the armor the military used in their battles, you will see a correlation between them and what is written in Revelation 9:7-19. As gunpowder began to be used for war, you can see a correlation for “out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.” Verse 17. Tremendous devastation took place during these wars. But more important than just “civil” wars between nations, these wars had to do with religion and religious ideology. That is why they are recorded in the Bible. God is only concerned about one thing, the maintaining of His truth.
By the way, you may ask, isn’t the Koran from God? No, it isn’t. How do I know? Because I have read it. Let me give you the four reasons why it is not from God.
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- It cannot be proved to be from God. It has no prophecies that are provable. The only way God can prove that He is God is through prophecies. Only God can tell us what will happen in the future since He knows the end from the beginning. You have already seen the prophecies of Daniel chapter 2. You have also read some prophecies from Revelation. In this section you will read more prophecies which were written before the events by hundreds and thousands of years. Only God can do that.
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- The Koran has no Savior. Since you cannot save yourself, you need a Savior. The wages of sin is death. Either someone else must pay the penalty for your sins, or you must. There is no other alternative. The Koran simply lets man work his way into “paradise”, adding up the good points from the bad. Much like doing “Community Service” for breaking the law. Sorry, that won’t work. You must stop sinning and become righteous, holy and sinless. It has no one who died for your past, confessed, turned-away-from sins.
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- It contradicts itself. The Bible does not contradict itself on any point in the plan of salvation. From Genesis to Revelation it tells us to stop sinning, be perfect and to keep the Ten Commandments in order to earn “get” our eternal life.
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- It has to be “interpreted” by the Mullahs in order for their people to follow it. The Bible doesn’t need any interpretation. In fact, the Bible condemns private interpretations. We are not to add to or subtract from it. It is to be obeyed just as God has given it. The trouble in the Islamic world and in the “Christian” world is the result of private interpretations.
“At various times in the last twenty-three years of his life Mahammed dictated some fragment of this revelation;… No collection of these fragments was made in the Prophet’s lifetime; but several Moslems knew them all by heart, and served as living texts. In the year 633, when many of these qurra had died and were not being replaced, the Caliph Abu Bekr ordered Mahammed’s chief Amanuensis, Zaid ibn Thabit, to ‘search out the Koran and bring it together.’ He gathered the fragments, says tradition, ‘from date leaves and tablets of white stone, and the breasts of men.’” (The Story of Civilization, the age of faith, Durant.)
As you can see, the Koran is totally man-made.
SEVENTH TRUMPET: The Seven Last Plagues
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- These plagues will fall when probation closes. Probation will close on Passover when the International Sunday Law goes into effect. Christ will come 7 months later at “Feast of Trumpets”. Since there is no longer any opportunity for a sinner to confess or be saved, the plagues can now be poured out without mercy. All the world will have made its decision to follow the worldly churches and the pagan Sunday, the 1st day sabbath. This will include the Muslims.
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- Only the remnant few will have decided to follow Christ and keep His Ten Commandments and His 7th day Sabbath. They will be saved. The choice is yours. Christ stands at the door and knocks. Will you let Him in today?