A Bible School Manual: Studies in the Book of Revelation / An introduction, analysis, and notes, containing a concise interpretation according to the symbolic view, numerous references to authorities, and general mention of other interpretations, with the text of the American revised version edited in paragraphs, for the use of Bible students

by Stephen Alexander Hunter

7 The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, Ch. 11:15-19

The sounding of the seventh trumpet is followed by great voices in heaven, declaring that the kingdom of the world is now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ;[430] by the elders praising God that the time of judgment and reward has come (the Victory Chorus); by the ark of the covenant, the token of God's abiding presence, being revealed in the opened temple in heaven—a traditional sign in the later Judaism of [pg 150] the coming of the Messiah;[431] and by lightnings, voices, thunders, and an earthquake with great hail, the necessary accompaniments in Jewish thought of the great and final day of wrath: the multiple symbol of the final judgment, and of the glorious triumph of God's kingdom. The contents of the seventh trumpet are not fully developed, perhaps because they are too great for description, but in it we reach the climax and issue of the whole process of judgment that is exhibited in the series, the full and final establishment of the kingdom. The result is viewed in its entirety, and the millennial period of victory is not brought separately into view. The unveiling of the ark of covenant mercy and the ushering in of the kingdom close the vision, and constitute an informal transition to the vision of conflict through which the triumph has been effected.

If we now rapidly recall the whole course of the seven trumpets, we can see how with progressive movement they increase in severity as they go forward; the judgments they prefigure fall first upon the land, and then consecutively upon the sea, upon the fountains of water, and upon the heavenly bodies, as signs of God's judgment upon the physical universe, and thus upon men who in their earthly lives form part of the natural world; then with the fifth trumpet the judgments take a wider trend, and point to and include the setting free of numberless demonic forces of evil from the pit of the abyss to prey upon men, and under the sixth trumpet the loosing of the multitudinous world-forces of heathenism from the banks of the Euphrates to bring world-wide judgments upon the race, thus preparing the way for the blowing of the seventh trumpet which ushers in the day of cumulative wrath upon sin, and the final triumph of God's kingdom. This onward progress of the plan of the ages is only broken by a passing view of the possibility of recovery for men in the episode of the angel and the book, and of the two witnesses, which follows. The whole sweep of the judgments of the trumpets, in the view of Apocalyptic perspective, is toward the end of the present world and the triumph of righteousness in the final judgment. There the redeemed are left with God in his glorious kingdom; the after life is not attempted to be described; its blessings are evidently [pg 151] too great for our present comprehension. But the triumph would not be so definite, without the vision of conflict which follows, for it presents the path to victory through prevailing trial and opposition as ever leading on to complete and final triumph in the end, that is to be realized in the glorious presence of the Lamb who is revealed as standing upon Mount Zion in the midst of the redeemed.

IIIb The Episode of the Angel with the Book; and of the Two Witnesses (A Vision of Divine Help). Ch. 10:1-11:13

This twofold vision forms a digression between the sixth and seventh trumpets, similar to the episode between the sixth and seventh seals, setting forth the opportunities which God has afforded men of escaping his wrath, showing the divine method of help through the institutions of religion, and affirming the permanent value of the church's witness,—a paragraph that notwithstanding its acknowledged difficulty, is manifestly interposed for the comfort of the church as well as to prepare the way for the last woe of the remaining trumpet.[432] The restraint of wrath indicated by the destruction of only the third part under the trumpets, is now further developed by showing the divine offer of escape; and also man's common neglect of that offer, which leads at length to final doom under the seventh trumpet. The episode, it will be seen, differs in theme from the one under the seals, the former setting forth the divine side of redemption, and the surety of its accomplishment through the act of sealing, the latter showing the human side of redemption as it is made known to men through the institutions of religion, and the failure of its universal operation through unbelief, leaving the world without excuse to bear the weight of judgment—the one throwing light upon God's relation to the church, and the other upon his relation to the world, in accordance with the general theme of the seals and the trumpets. Though many are unable to agree that John had such a comprehensive view in mind, or that it is to be looked for in a writing of this class, yet when we consider the various marks of elaborate structure in [pg 152] the book, exhibited in the relation of its different parts, and the deep prophetic insight and poetic intuition manifested by the author in his idealization of the course of the church, we need not be surprised to find a broad and perspicuous view of redemption such as this, especially since the plan of salvation had already been so fully elaborated in an earlier period by the great Apostle to the Gentiles.

A The Angel with the Little Open Book, Ch. 10:1-11

The first part of the episode exhibits the revelation of God's will and purpose as a source of help. The little book in the vision is evidently the Apocalypse, though in a broader sense it doubtless represents as well the general purpose and beneficent effects of all God's revelations to men; and the book is found open to indicate that its contents are made known to the world. Some regard the little book to be the remaining part of the Apocalypse, beginning with the succeeding chapter;[433] by others its contents are considered to begin with chapter twelve, the first break in continuity after the episode; but it seems more likely that the whole book is intended. In any case it is clear that the prophetic form in which the writer's ministry is to be realized (viz. “thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”, v. 11) serves to link the center of the book (ch. 10:11) with both the beginning (ch. 1:3) and the end (ch. 22:19),[434] and thereby furnishes an incidental proof of its unity of design.