Revelation · Section 5 of 10
The Seven Trumpets
Revelation 8:1–11:19 · days 15–19
Chapters 8 to 11 begin with the seventh seal and move through seven trumpets, with two interludes along the way: the little scroll and the two witnesses. The trumpets echo the plagues of Exodus and show a world that keeps refusing to repent.
Studies in this section
Revelation · Day 15Silence, Incense, and Fire
Revelation 8:1-13When the seventh seal opens, heaven goes quiet so that the prayers of God's people can be heard, and the fire that answers them lands on earth as seven trumpets begin to warn a world that has not yet turned back.
Revelation · Day 16The Abyss Opens, Hearts Stay Closed
Revelation 9:1-21The fifth and sixth trumpets unleash terrifying, tightly limited forces from the abyss and the Euphrates, yet the saddest line in the chapter is that the survivors still refuse to repent.
Revelation · Day 17Sweet in the Mouth, Bitter Within
Revelation 10:1-11Between the sixth and seventh trumpets, a mighty angel swears that God's delay is nearly over, and John is told to take God's open word into himself, taste both its sweetness and its bitterness, and speak it to the nations again.
Revelation · Day 18Two Lamp Stands in the Great City
Revelation 11:1-14While the nations trample the outer court, God keeps his people safe within and sends faithful witnesses who speak until their work is done, are killed, and are raised by God, so that even the death of a witness is not the world's victory.
Revelation · Day 19The Kingdom Changes Hands
Revelation 11:15-19When the seventh trumpet sounds, heaven does not describe a catastrophe but sings a coronation: the rule of the world passes openly to God and his Christ, the nations meet their judgment, the faithful receive their reward, and God's covenant faithfulness stands revealed.