The De-Creation of Israel: The First Trumpet Text: Revelation 8:7
Introduction: The Covenant Lawsuit Intensifies
When we come to the book of Revelation, our modern evangelical sensibilities have been trained to think in terms of newspaper headlines and far-flung future dystopias. We look for helicopters, microchips, and a revived Roman empire. But in doing so, we commit a grave error. We ignore the audience to whom the book was written, and we ignore the thundering context of the Old Testament Scriptures from which John draws every last one of his symbols.
The book of Revelation is a covenant lawsuit. It is the book of God's divorce from and judgment upon the apostate harlot, first-century Jerusalem, the city that had rejected and crucified her Messiah. Jesus Himself had prophesied that all these things would come upon "this generation" (Matt. 24:34). The trumpets, therefore, are not a series of unfortunate events at the end of time; they are the battle horns of God's heavenly host, announcing the commencement of His holy war against the covenant-breaking nation. After the relative quiet of the seventh seal, the silence is broken by the blast of a trumpet, and the de-creation of Israel begins.
We must understand the great reversal that has occurred. Israel, once delivered from Egypt, has now become Egypt. The people God rescued from bondage have become the persecutors of His new people, the Church. And so, God unsheathes the very plagues He once used to judge Egypt and turns them upon the land of Judea. This is not arbitrary cruelty; it is meticulous covenantal justice. As they sowed, so shall they reap. The first four trumpets, like the first four seals, form a distinct unit, and they describe the systematic dismantling of the world of apostate Judaism before the final blow falls in 70 A.D.
The Text
And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
(Revelation 8:7 LSB)
The Sounding of War (v. 7a)
The passage begins with the first of seven angels sounding his trumpet.
"And the first sounded..." (Revelation 8:7a)
In the Old Testament, trumpets had several functions, but their primary use in a context like this was to signal the start of war (Jer. 4:19; Amos 3:6). This is the muster call for the armies of God. The prayers of the saints from the altar have been answered (Rev. 8:3-5), and the fire from that altar has been cast to the earth. Now, the judgment begins in earnest. This is not random chaos; it is orchestrated, liturgical warfare. Heaven is at worship, and as a direct result, judgment falls upon the land.
The structure here is important. The seals revealed the spiritual realities behind the coming judgment. The trumpets now announce the execution of that judgment in a series of devastating blows. This is God responding to the cry of the martyrs under the altar, "How long, O Lord?" The answer is, "No longer." The time has come.
The New Egyptian Plague (v. 7b)
The immediate result of the trumpet blast is a horrific storm from heaven.
"...and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth..." (Revelation 8:7b)
This language is not novel. John is intentionally and directly alluding to the seventh plague upon Egypt. "And the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation" (Exodus 9:23-24). The polemic is unmistakable. The land of promise has become the land of bondage. The people of the covenant have become the enemies of the covenant. God is now treating Israel as He once treated their pagan oppressors.
The elements themselves are significant. Hail and fire are instruments of divine, supernatural wrath. They come from above, showing that this is not a merely human conflict. This is God's doing. The mixture with blood points to the result of this plague: immense slaughter and death. This is not just an ecological disaster; it is a judgment that takes human life, a fulfillment of the covenant curses for disobedience (Deut. 28).
Notice they were "thrown to the earth." The Greek word here is ge, which can mean the whole planet, but in context, it most often refers to "the land," specifically the land of Israel. This is a targeted judgment. God is not throwing a global tantrum; He is executing a precise sentence upon a particular people in a particular place for their particular sin of rejecting His Son.
A Devastating Third (v. 7c)
The scope of the destruction is then specified.
"...and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up." (Revelation 8:7c)
The fraction "a third" is common in the trumpet judgments. It signifies a massive, crippling blow, but one that is still partial. It is not yet the final end. God's judgment is severe, but it is also measured. This is a devastating blow designed to bring about repentance, though in this case, it serves to harden the unrepentant for the final destruction to come.
Now, what about the trees and the grass? There are two ways to understand this, and they are not mutually exclusive. First, there is a literal, historical fulfillment. The Jewish historian Josephus, an eyewitness to the Roman-Jewish War, describes in excruciating detail how the Roman armies systematically stripped the land around Jerusalem. They cut down all the trees for miles to build siege engines and fortifications. The once beautiful gardens and groves surrounding the city were turned into a barren wasteland. The land itself was scorched and burned.
But second, and just as important, is the symbolic meaning. Throughout the Old Testament, trees are often used as symbols for great men, rulers, and the nation's leadership (Ezek. 31:3; Dan. 4:20-22). The grass, in contrast, represents the common people, the general populace (Isa. 40:6-7). So, this first trumpet blast announces a judgment that will strike down a third of the leadership of apostate Israel. The great men will fall. But notice the distinction: "all the green grass was burned up." While the leadership suffers a partial blow, the common people are completely devastated. They are the ones who are most vulnerable, most exposed to the scorching heat of this judgment. The stability and protection offered by the "trees" is gone, and the people are consumed.
Conclusion: Judgment Begins at Home
The first trumpet is a terrifying declaration. It tells us that God's judgments are real, historical, and covenantal. The judgment that fell upon first-century Jerusalem was a pattern, a template for how God deals with covenant unfaithfulness. When the people who have received the greatest light turn from that light, they invite the greatest darkness.
This is not just an ancient history lesson. The principle remains: judgment begins at the household of God (1 Peter 4:17). When a church, a nation, or a civilization that has been blessed by the gospel turns its back on the source of that blessing, it places itself in the position of Egypt. It invites the plagues. It sets itself up for a fall.
The only place of safety is not in a particular plot of land, but in Christ. The only refuge from the hail and fire of God's wrath is the cross, where that wrath was fully absorbed. The world outside of Christ is the land of Judea in 66 A.D., awaiting the sounding of the trumpets. But for those who are in Christ, we are citizens of the New Jerusalem, the city that cannot be shaken. Our task is not to cower in fear, but to heed the warning and call all men everywhere to flee the wrath to come by fleeing to the only one who can save them from it, the Lord Jesus Christ.