The Merciful Judging God: Daily Thoughts from Revelation (Revelation 8:6-13)

Many people find the final judgment of God hard to square with His love and mercy. I suspect, if they thought about it, they would find the absence of such judgment hard to square with his love and mercy, as well, not to mention with His justice. How could He lovingly let slide the horrible things people have done to one another. The souls of those slain for their faith demand more.

With the last of the seven seals opened there follows what we have come to refer to as the trumpet judgments. They are devastating in scope but even in their devastation we find mercy.

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:6-13 ESV)

Whereas the seven seals being broken on the scroll anticipated the judgments to come, the blowing of the trumpets is an actual outpouring of judgment.  Whatever the fiery and bloody hail of the first trumpet signifies, it results in the destruction of a third of the earth, a third of its trees, and all of its grass, which would have devastating consequences for all life.  The second trumpet poisons a third of the sea, its inhabitants and human sailing vessels.  The third trumpet poisons a third of  the fresh water supply, and many people die.

Why does God limit the judgment to a third of earth’s resources?  Judging by the “woe” which an angel announces about the coming three trumpets, it is undoubtedly an offer of mercy from God for those will repent.  Only extreme rationalization can explain away what is happening.  Revelation 7:9 indicates that many will indeed repent and be saved.

Does it surprise us that God is still giving people a chance to be saved? It shouldn’t. Think of Jonah’s message to the Ninevites that in three days their city would be destroyed and how they responded in repentance and were spared. Jonah said to God, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). Do we also know this?