Trumpets Blast

Day 352: Revelation 9:1-21

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”  - Revelation 9:20-21 ESV

As you may have noticed, with the trumpets being blown, pretty much a third of everything was taken out. With each trumpet blast, there is a parallel to the Exodus story with the plagues in Egypt.

Trumpet #1 - Hail and fire mixed with blood, 7th plague (Exodus 9:13-35)

Trumpet #2 - Sea turned into blood, 1st plague (Exodus 7:14-24)

Trumpet #3 - Many people died, 1st and 10th plague (Exodus 7:14-24,11-12)

Trumpet #4 - Sun, moon, stars grow dark, 9th plague (Exodus 10:21-29)

Trumpet #5 - Locusts emerging, 6th and 8th plagues (Exodus 9:8-12,10:1-20)

Trumpet #6 - Demonic army kills, 10th plague (Exodus 11-12)

In all of these, we see the emphasis is on a third being taken away. It won't be till the 7th trumpet (Revelation 11:13-15) that all will be laid waste (at Jesus' second coming).

During the first six trumpets, there is time to repent. It isn't too late for those who have defiantly denied Jesus.

Paige Patterson says it well: Even when they see the penalty of their actions, they determine to continue the practices of evil that brought about these judgments, preferring to satiate physical appetites rather than to nourish their spirits with the presence of the living God.

I've often wondered what the tipping point is for those who have yet to say yes to Jesus. What is it going to take? In the trumpets scene, we see plagues that are provided as a wake-up call to those who are lost without hope (see Ephesians 2:12).

There will come a time when it will be too late to repent. I pray that all of us would not wait for a cataclysmic event to repent, but may we return to Jesus today.