Jesus is going to return to this earth to rescue his church from the coming destruction. He will sound a series of warnings before the end of all things that we might know of the impending doom – these warning are recorded beginning in Revelation 8 as the 7 Trumpets.
Trumpet #1 will be a massive meteor storm that will devastate a large swath of the earth. It will be of sufficient magnitude as to pollute the air and disrupt power-distribution and communication systems.
Jesus told us that this world would experience a series of environmental catastrophes before his return that, should he not return, would wipe human life from the face of the earth. These catastrophes are heralds of the Return given in mercy to give us a final warning that Man is not the measure of all things, but that God will judge humanity in righteousness. The second of these catastrophic warnings is the 2nd Trumpet of Revelation 8: a huge rock into an ocean producing a massive tsunami destroying a large swath of coastal areas. This could be either the prospective fracture of La Palma in the Canary Islands which, if it happened at its most dramatic, would produce a tsunami that would wash clean most of the US east coast as well a much along the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Or it could be an asteroid that strikes one of the earth’s oceans producing the same massive wave and destruction. Either way – massive destruction and death.
Advent is about the End of the World! (Just in case you’ve been wondering why I’d be writing about the 7 Trumpets during Advent.) Christmas and Easter seal the deal. With the resurrection of Jesus, the End of Time and of life as we know it was assured.
Yesterday I gave a brief description of the 3rd Trumpet and its impact upon the world. Jesus said this time would be a period when men’s hearts are failing them for fear. And these will be the scariest of times!
I live in the Pacific Northwest. This little strip of America is easily isolated by a major natural disaster. We’re surrounded by mountains and setting on a major fault zone. If we have a major earthquake and consequent tsunami, or if our chain of volcanos including our beautiful Mount Rainier lets loose, we will be cut off from the rest of the nation for some time. We would be like Puerto Rico after the hurricane: no power, no water, and no relief in sight if the rest of the nation is also experiencing a disaster. Our weather patterns are “interesting” even in good times with a growing season that cannot support the food needs of the population in the best of times.
Now envision the state of the environment after the first three Trumpet warnings. The air was choked by the fires of the 1st, then millions of cubic meters of water was thrown into the atmosphere at the 2nd Trumpet (if the great rock was an asteroid), and then with the millions of cubic meters of debris thrown into the atmosphere by the asteroid striking a landmass and the resultant near-global volcanic eruptions, the 4th Trumpets sounds. All of that stuff in the atmosphere blots out the sun. Global temperatures drop immediately and, if my guess is correct and these Trumpets sound at or near the time of the Jewish Feast of Trumpets (September – October), endless winter begins for most of the world. There will be no growing season, no vegetables flowing across the border from Mexico. Famine will set in almost immediately and countless millions will die. The disabled, the very young, and the very old will be the first to perish. There will be no medicine and no medical system to deliver it. Armed conflict will break out between neighbors, neighborhoods, and eventually nations as people search for the few resources that will keep death from their door. If you want to get a glimpse of what the world will be like, read the bible about the siege of Samaria by the Assyrians or the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
The human race will die off as a result of these first four Trumpets. If anyone is to survive, rescue from off-planet will be required. And what do we hear? An angel flying past crying out that if we think it has been bad thus far, just wait!
Again, the End of the Age was guaranteed at the resurrection of Jesus Christ almost 2,000 years ago. In a very real sense the End began on that day. But like all Ends, this End has a final ending.
As I have briefly outlined, the first four Trumpets have signalled that It’s the End of the World as We Know It. (To quote an old song.) One horror has followed the other and at the time of the 4th Trumpet the earth is an environmental wreck from which we cannot recover. A human race that has been largely in rebellion against its Creator is about to be extinguished.
As I said yesterday, now a heavenly messenger delivers the message that the really bad stuff comes next. I loved most of the Star Trek movies (Star Wars not so much). My personal favorite was First Contact. Earth is staggering under the effects of massive self-destruction, an alien enemy (the Borg) is on the attack, and an alcoholic mad-scientist is working to develop a warp drive for interstellar travel. When all appears lost, who should come on the scene but the Vulcans! An advanced civilization who have overcome their fleshly impulses, they make first contact, and as any Star Trek fan knows, the path to a glorious future is opened.
Well, that is the 5th Trumpet. I’ve been asked on multiple occasions if I believe in alien visitations. And the answer, of course, is, “Yes.” The bible tells us that there are beings of an entirely different order than ourselves, beings of an entirely different substance than ourselves – spirit beings of incomprehensible power – who are in our time and space, and who can act upon us at will. Super Vulcans if you will!
We call these beings, “angels.” The bible says there was a rebellion at the very center of the universe against the rule of the One who made all things. One third of these spirit beings went into rebellion under their rebel general – an archangel we call Lucifer or Satan. The remaining 2/3 stayed loyal to their Creator and under the command of Michael.
The war that began in the heavenly realms transferred here, to earth, and it became a struggle for the souls of men.
Now imagine, if you will, an earth devastated by these environmental disasters, a human race dying from its effects, and to a large extent in rebel alliance with the extra-stellar rebellion. And the rebel angels become visible! They are glorious and they are powerful, and they have come to rescue humanity from total destruction. If we will give them our allegiance, they can save us. But we must unite under their guidance understanding that the exclusive claims to religious truth are superstitious nonsense, that they have appeared in many different incarnations in the past to guide our destiny. They are, they say, the return of Jesus that he had foretold – he being their commander.
This is the 5th Trumpet, so hang on! The End is almost but not yet.
Continuing my Advent musings, it would be impossible to overreach in describing the terror that will grip humanity as a consequence of the first four Trumpets. Millions, possibly billions dead or dying making every catastrophe that has come before in human history to be like a pebble in a puddle.
This will be the time when God’s elect from every nation, every race, and yes, out of every religion, will unite in heralding the returning King. The three religions that have honored the God who created heaven and earth, the God of Abraham (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) awake to the realization that this is the End for which they have been longing. Men and women who have been worshipers of the only God out of every Christian communion (Roman, Orthodox, and the many branches of Protestant) will unite their voices in heralding the Return of the King. They will be joined by our fellow God-worshipers in Judaism, the root from which all Christian branches grow, as they see that the Returning King is the messiah for whom they have longed. And even the spiritual descendents of Ishmael, the child of Abraham’s concubine, the Muslims, have a contingent who will see in these Trumpets the truth that Jesus was no prophet, but God incarnate and will turn to him in worship. These God-fearers will be joined by men and women from the pagan religions who are awakened to the worship of Jesus, and all will join their voices in declaring the signs of his Return.
The time period of the 5th Trumpet when the forces of the Great Rebellion have become visible and present, and present themselves as the saviors of mankind, is also the time when the final proclamation of the gospel goes to this dying world. The satanic army is saying, “Don’t listen to these religious fanatics,” but the worshipers of the Lord God are unstoppable in their warning of final judgment. Many of them will die in the process. The stories recorded in Foxes Book of Martyrs will be repeated.
Even with this “rescue” from outer space, conditions on the earth continue to deteriorate. Like Elijah of old, the God-fearers are blamed for the death and destruction rending the earth. As they lift up their voices to denounce the alien rescue as a fraud, every human and demonic hand is raised against them to silence and destroy. This is the 6th Trumpet. The gospel call comes to an end. The judgment is pronounced in heaven, “Let the righteous stay righteous, and the wicked stay wicked.” Every person’s fate is sealed. As God’s restraining hand on the wickedness of men is removed, nations fall upon nation, and man upon man. What nature has not killed, humanity under the influence of the Great Rebel appears about to do.
But the end is not yet. Here comes the 6th Trumpet! Trumpet #6 is most likely that event that is called elsewhere, “The Battle of Armageddon.” As the so-called natural disasters wreak their havoc on the earth, and as the satanic forces rally the unregenerate to their cause and against the people of God, the human condition will continue to deteriorate. Satan convinces his human allies that the only hope for the survival of the human race is found in complete allegiance to him. He demands that those who insist he is the Evil One, the Antichrist, be exterminated. Human armies join forces with demons and fall upon one another and seek to destroy those who remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Things look hopeless for God’s elect. How can they remain when every hand is raised against them and Satan seeks to destroy them? How indeed! Only God can save. When all seems lost, the resolution of God’s chosen is: In God do we trust!
The consummation of all things promised in the birth of the Babe of Bethlehem is finalized in the 7th Trumpet. The period of the 6th Trumpet is to be one of absolute horror and terror. It makes a zombie apocalypse look like a walk in the park. This is one of those times when reality is worse than anything that can be imagined.
Jesus said that this time will be so dreadful that, should it not be cut short in mercy, all humanity would perish. When God’s restraining hand is removed from the human heart, there is no depth of depravity to which it cannot plummet. As his last call of grace is sent into the world, and the numbers of his elect are fulfilled, he places a protective covering over his Church – those who he has called to himself from every nation, people, and language – and surrenders the rest of humanity to its own desires.
Cut it short, he does, and comes in the glory of the Holy Trinity and with all the armies of heaven. The rebel alliance of man and demon retreat in horror – man to await the 2nd resurrection, and demon to await the final judgment. The redeemed of the Lord are lifted up to dwell with him in glory and in the promise of heaven and earth made new and without even the hint of the sin that has tainted our every thought and action.
This is what Advent anticipates! Glory!
An Old Warrior's Meditations 