The Seven Trumpets and the Two Witnesses

In this chapter

In this chapter, you’ll:

Read the text: Rev 8 · Rev 9 · Rev 10 · Rev 11

Key takeaways

• The trumpets are alarms: real judgments, still partial, sounded while there’s time to turn. Their pictures come from the plagues of Egypt.
• Trumpets 5 and 6 bring torment and death, and still people don’t repent. The problem isn’t that God is too severe; it’s that we are that hard.
• The two witnesses are read as future prophets, as Moses and Elijah (my lean), or as the witnessing church (many scholars today); whoever they are, God keeps a voice in the world, and death doesn’t silence it.
• The seventh trumpet doesn’t destroy. It declares: Christ reigns.
• The ark in heaven says the covenant was never lost.

Reflect & discuss

• Read Revelation 8:7–12 alongside Exodus 7:20, 9:24, and 10:22. Which plagues on Egypt do the trumpets echo? Why might John want his readers to think of Egypt?
• The trumpets are partial — “one third,” again and again. What does that restraint reveal about God’s heart even in judgment?
• Even after devastating warnings, “the rest of mankind didn’t repent.” Why do warnings alone so rarely change a hard heart?
• The seventh trumpet doesn’t destroy; it declares Christ’s reign. How does knowing the ending change how you read the middle?
• (Personal; feel free to pass.) Where might God be sounding a merciful wake-up call in your own life?

The last question is personal — no one should be required to answer it.