With the breaking of the sixth seal, John saw the final judgment of God upon the fallen creation (6:12-17). The seven trumpets present another vantage point of the Lord’s judgment. There seems to be an intensification which may be due to the fact that the trumpets are instruments of warning. This descriptive intensification may also be due to the fact that the trumpet judgments depict the experience of God’s judgment from the experience of unbelievers.

Chapter eight ends with the sound of an eagle warning the world of judgment. This is yet another link with the Old Testament which employs the image of an eagle announcing divine judgment (Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 4:13; 48:40; 49:22; Ezekiel 17:3; Hosea 8:1; Habakkuk 1:8). The messenger in John’s vision is announcing that judgment will fall on “those who dwell on the earth.” Although Christians dwell on the earth even as God’s judgment is being poured out, the phrase “those who dwell on the earth” always refers to unbelievers in the Book of Revelation.

The terrifying visions unfolded in the trumpet judgments depict the spiritual warfare to which this world is subjected: a war in which all Christians are called as soldiers. These visions are meant to sober, not terrorize God’s people. God aims not to make us predictors of future events but to call us to repentance and faithfulness. The answers are not found in newspapers but in discerning the condition of our hearts. “John recounted his vision to elicit a response of faithful commitment and patient endurance in his first readers, and that is what the text should provoke in us too” (Ian Paul).