Revelation's Sixth TRUMPET
    REVELATION'S
    SEVEN TRUMPETS

    The Judgment is Sure

 
 

The First Four Trumpets

The fifth Trumpet

The sixth Trumpet

The prophetic DATES in the Sixth Trumpet

Rev. 10 Events leading to 7th trumpet

Rev. 11 Events leading to 7th trumpet

The seventh Trumpet, the Time of Judgment

What does it mean for us Today?

The Feasts Give the Framework in Finding the Meaning of Revelation's Trumpets

Do the Trumpets Sound Before or After the Golden Censor is Cast Down?


 
The trumpets of history sounded to alert people of the final judgments,
to call them back into covenant relationship.
They were designed to call people to repent but "they repented not of their sins."
The Book of Revelation reveals Christ working out the provisions of God’s Covenant in the Last Days. It also reveals Christianity's Response to that Covenant
by Ulrike


 
The Sixth Trumpet

13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

It must be remembered that God's trumpet judgments are executed upon those who had received the opportunity of knowing the saving power of truth, but embraced delusions and turned the light of Christ into darkness.

The voice from the four horns of the golden altar reminds us of the fifth seal, where the blood of the martyrs slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried out with a loud voice saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"

The fifth trumpet was the first judgment on the apostate church. The Moslem hordes were sent to "torment". But, did this trouble cause the Christian church to repent and turn to God in humble obedience and faith? No! We look in the history of the Christian church and see that the years following the fifth trumpet, the papal powers persecuted the true believers ruthlessly, especially as the papacy gained more and more power between 1000 - 1500 A.D. Would God simply allow this tyrannical church to trample His people or would He send retributive judgment against them?

From A.D. 1160-1560 the Waldensians which dwelt in the Italian Alps were visited with 36 different fierce persecutions that spared neither age nor sex (Thomas Armitage, A History of the Baptists, "Post-Apostolic Times - The Waldensians," 1890).
They were almost completely destroyed as a people and most of their literary record was erased from the face of the earth. From the year 1540 to 1570 "it is proved by national authentic testimony, that nearly one million of Protestants were publicly put to death in various countries in Europe, besides all those who were privately destroyed, and of whom no human record exists" (J.P. Callender, Illustrations of Popery, 1838, p. 400).

This is the period of history when the church became the oppressor, persecuting all those suspected of heresy. Thus the sixth trumpet sounds upon it -- sending a judgment that would give them something else to worry about!

This was an age when the church popularized the "holy war" on any individual or group, proscibing them as enemies of Christ.

"There were holy wars against Muslim infidels; against heretics like the Albigensians of Provence; against recalcitrant Christian monarchs; even against humble towns that failed to toe the papal line. But the first category, war against the Muslim infidel, was always popularly regarded as the true war "for and by the cross". ("Infidels, a History of the Conflict between Christendom and Islam, Andrew Wheatcroft, p.176)

14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”

After the fifth trumpet there was a time of "restraint" on the Moslem powers.

Islam had been dealt a decisive check in the west by Charles Martel in the Battle of Tours, 725 A.D. In 762 they placed their capital in Baghdad. In 781 Caliph Haroun Al Rashid was the main ruler and for centuries the Arabs were "restrained". Though restrained, they were still a force to be reckoned with as they did try to take Rome in 846.

However, these years saw a gradual strengthening in the west, Charlemagne began the "holy Roman Empire". The kings and emperors in the west, were now being crowned BY THE PAPACY! Christianity saw considerable expansion as countries like Hungary, Poland, and Russia become Christianized. By 1000 A.D. the papacy entered into it's "apex of glory, grandeur and power". The centuries that followed 1000 A.D. are often referred to as the Monarchical Papacy. The Papal Inquisition was established and the papacy claimed authority over the whole Christian world.
In the east, from 780- 1025 A.D. the eastern Roman Empire also made remarkable recoveries! Regaining control of many of the "Christian" countries like Bulgaria, Armenia, Iberia, Cyprus, the northern Syrian coast, Crete, yet leaving the heavily populated Muslim countries like inland Syria, Egypt, and parts of Mesopotamia to the Muslims.

But then we see a remarkable shift when in 1054 the eastern church separated from the west. This "Great Schism" divided the visible Church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The primary causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—the Pope claimed he held authority over the Eastern patriarchs.

After the schism the hostility between the two mounted to very unChristian levels. 1025-1143 A.D. saw internal problems in the eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern emperors were constantly fighting against invading Normans, invading or rebelling Hungarians, Serbs, Venetians, Bulgarians, etc. In the meantime, new groups of Muslims were coming on the scene-- like the Seljuks and the Uzes and the Cumans, these Turks were nibbling at the eastern frontier. At times the eastern Emperor hired Turks to help them defeat the Normans, while other Turks were taking over some of the territory.

In 1095 Pope Urban announced the first crusade to drive back the Turks and free Jerusalem! The crusaders managed to drive out the Turks from many cities, but then Bohemund the Norman became more interested in attacking the Byzantine empire.

In 1147 the second crusade came through the eastern Roman Empire, plundering on their way.

Had the Christian countries united against the Turks, the Turks would not of had a chance, as it was the Eastern Empire suffered as much as the Turks under the crusades!

The great blow came with fourth crusade. April 13, 1204 instead of marching against the Turks, the crusade leaders responded to the bribes of a young man whose father had usurped the Byzantine throne only to be removed, this young man, Alexius, promised the crusaders money and that he would accept the authority of the POPE, if they gave him the throne. So the crusaders turned on Constantinople and conquered it, placing Alexius on the throne. But Alexius could not pay the bribe, so the crusaders pillaged and ravaged Constantinople. They seized both the city and the empire for themselves. They divided the empire in sections with different rulers, and placed a Latin emperor on the throne in Constantinople. Byzantium had lost its central government which had successfully resisted its enemies so many time before.

But the Byzantine empire was not yet dead-- in 1261-1328 a strong leader, Michael VIII, began making headway in restoring the eastern empire. However, his advantage turned when Charles, a younger brother of Louis IX of France, and a devotee of the Papacy joined up with the deposed Latin Emperor Baldwin with the ambition of retaking Constantinople. As the empire's enemies multiplied, Pope Gregory X asked Michael VIII to negotiate a reunion of the two churches and he would restrain Charles's crusade against Constantinople. Michael agreed, but was not supported by the eastern church leaders. He appointed a new patriarch, John Beccus, who persecuted enough to bring the church under "outward control", but most eastern Christians rejected the union. Michael went on to recapture more territory and rebuild the empire.

Back in the west, Charles made fresh plans for a crusade against Byzantium, with the help of the Pope on the basis that Michael VIII had failed to achieve a genuine reunion of churches. But Sicily rose in revolt against Charles and Charles had to abandon his crusade.
Michael VIII was the last strong ruler, corruption in the Byzantine empire itself as well as the many attacks from all sides, were destroying it.

Why, all this history?

It reveals Papal policy. They wanted all Christianity under their control. During this time they launched some of the bloodiest crusades against Christians, brutally killing thousands. We already mentioned the wars against the Waldensians. The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) is an example of a brutal 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate a Christian group which the Roman Catholic hierarchy considered heretical. The violence inflicted was extreme even by medieval standards. Lands were confiscated and given to France.
It was the crusades that ravished Constantinople with terrible brutality, not only killing, but also smashing and plundering religious objects.
As one historian, Runciman in "History of the Crusades III" (p. 474 and quoted by Philips in "The fourth Crusade" xiv) wrote: The harm done by the crusaders to Islam was small in comparison with that done to the Eastern Christians."

Indeed the blood of the martyrs under the altar was crying out -- "How long, O Lord, till you judge and avenge our blood".

People believe it was the crusaders that held back the Turks-- no, the crusaders helped RELEASE the restraint on the Turks.

The terror of "holy war" which had been such a popular "church institution" would now be unleashed upon them! Thus the sixth trumpet judgment began to fall-- a curse the Christian world brought upon itself!

“Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 So the four angels,

Revelation 7 speaks of "four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea". Those "four angels [are] standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth".

The four angels mentioned in the 6th trumpet are NOT the same as those mentioned in Revelation 7, yet they have the same function. These four angels are not evil because they carry out judgment just like the four angels in chapter seven, and the seven trumpeting angels. Till the time is right they have been holding back the "winds of strife", in this case they have been holding the strife that comes from across the Euphrates River. The Euphrates River is the place where the great powers of Old Testament times arose: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, as well as the Sacreans of the fifth trumpet. Another great power arises, like the winds whipping together the disorganized tribes of Muslims into one formidable wave, to come crashing down on the corrupted Christian church that had lost true faith in God and had engaged it's brutal warfare against other Christians.

who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year,

They were being prepared long before they were released.

Prepared, how?
Hundreds of years had passed as Moslems and Christians lived side by side. What did the Moslems see? Did they see a Christlike, elevating life of a people committed to and serving Christ their Savior? No! They saw every abomination practiced by Christians. Fighting and feuding amongst Christians was constant. Muslims were convinced THEIR RELIGION was better, the Christians were "infidels". Osman, a Turkish emir, began conquering the countryside, and uniting Moslems under what would become the Ottoman Empire.

From 1300 A.D. onward, the Turks made serious inroads into the Byzantine lands. The eastern Christian population began to panic as the Turks took over the countryside.

Yet, even now other Christian countries, rather than rallying to help seemed more interested in getting their advantage from the greatly weakened Byzantine Empire. The Catalines first offered to help the Byzantines, but pillaged and robbed the countryside as well. Eventually the Catalans joined the Turks in destroying and capturing Byzantine lands. Civil wars further weakened the Empire. The Turks were swarming in with little resistance.

The Byzantine emperor, John V, sought help from the pope, again promising the reunion of the eastern church under the western church. While he was in Rome, the Turks advanced through the Balkans. On his return in 1371, John V meekly became a vassal of Turkish emir, Murad. By 1391 the shrunken Byzantium empire consisted of Constantinople and a few nearby ports and islands. The Turks had taken most everything else. In 1394 Constantinople almost fell to the Turks, when the emperor refused a new summons from the sultan The Ottomans blockaded Constantinople, but due to their own problems they pulled the army away again, giving Constantinople a moment of reprieve. Finally, in 1430 the west became alarmed at the progress of the Muslims, and Pope Martin V began talking about reunion of the churches with the prospect of another crusade to drive back the Turks, but he died before anything was organized. 1443 A.D. Pope Eugenius began preparations for a crusade. This raised the hopes of people and some rebelled against the Turks. The crusaders battled the Turks at Varna, but were defeated, however they had inflicted considerable damage to Maruad's (Turk's) army.

Constantine XI had fought against the Turks during the crusade. When the emperor, John VIII die in 1449, Constantine inherited the throne. Yet he postponed his coronation until he made a new truce with the Turk, Murad II, who accepted him as a vassal.

For many historians, this was the "turning point" -- the emperor in Constantinople publically showing that he could not rule till the Muslim leader sanctioned it!

an hour, a day, a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men.

This period amounts to three hundred and ninety-one years and fifteen days; during which Ottoman supremacy was to exist in Constantinople. It began in 1449 with the voluntary submission of the emperor to the sultan, and ended in 1840 with the voluntary submission of the sultan to Christian Europe. From 1840 onward, the Ottoman government was under the dictation of the great powers of Europe, which reorganized it's govenment and supervised it's policies.

This event which marked the end of the time period, made a large impression on the Advent movement. "Two years before in 1838, Josiah Litch, one of the leading ministers preaching the second advent, published an exposition of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman empire, and specifying not only the year but the very day on which this would take place. According to this exposition, which was purely a matter of calculation on the prophetic periods of Scripture, the Turkish government would surrender its independence on the eleventh day of August, 1840. The prediction was widely published, and thousands watched the course of events with eager interest." At the very time specified, Turkey, through her ambassadors, accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe, and thus placed herself under the control of Christian nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. {GC88 334.4}

And they set out to kill......

When Murad II died, and his son Mehmed II became sultan. This new Sultan soon began preparations for the siege of Constantinople which began April 6, 1453. May 16th the Byzantine empire ceased to exist, it's capital now became the seat of the Ottoman empire.

When the eastern empire went down, the Turks were "released". There was no powerful empire whih stood in their way.

16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.

17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision:

those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow;

and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions;

and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

A Book of Horsemanship and the Art of War was written in 1285 by Najm al-Din Ahdab, a Syrian officer. It is packed with information on how to distill oil to make a clear fuel similar to gasoline; how to prepare explosives from gunpowder; how to fit the multiple fuses into the various kinds of "naphtha pots"; and even how to build "flying fire"- rockets! The painting to the right shows "the Iron Cavalry" - wheeled machines made to look like horses that spit out fire. These weapons were used in the 14th century in Persia and are naphtha fire weapons common at that time. [Persian miniature from the Demotte, shown in Aramco World Magazine, "The Oil Weapons", Jan. - Feb., 1995]

Muslim warriors used naphtha (the fuel made from oil) and soaked fireproof cloth with it, they had fireproof uniforms and padding for the naphtha troops and their horse, they would then then lit the naphtha on fire. At night they charged into the camps of the European crusaders who thought the devil was after them! Fearful of the flaming "warriors from hell", the crusaders fled.

18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.

19 For their power[a] is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues,

did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

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The prophetic DATES in the Sixth Trumpet

Revelation 10

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