THE SEVEN SEALED BOOK
and a different pre-trib rapture view
To the Church,
the Body of Christ, of which I am most grateful to be a part.
The first four trumpets will effect the destruction of the lands that are not in Israel's hemisphere.
PROPOSITION 3
As the first four trumpets are sounded, one-third of the earth suffers devastation by what appears to stem from an extensive meteor bombardment, followed by the impact of a couple of much more massive objects. John likens one of these to "a great mountain burning with fire" and refers to the other as "a great star from heaven." Here is his account of this from Revelation 8:
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the THIRD PART of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the THIRD PART of the sea became blood;
9 And the THIRD PART of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the THIRD PART of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the THIRD PART of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the THIRD PART of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the THIRD PART of the sun was smitten, and the THIRD PART of the moon, and the THIRD PART of the stars; so as the THIRD PART of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a THIRD PART of it, and the night likewise.
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What John is here describing results in the devastation of a "third part" of the earth's land and water masses and the diminishing of day and nighttime light by as much. With such a large percentage of destruction, I have wondered if what he describes as being "a great mountain" (vs. 8) could be a mountain range, such as the Rockies or the Appalachians. Also, the casting into the sea (or ocean) of a great mountain large enough to wreck havoc on a scale of what he here describes would be devastating for the continent as well. Try to imagine a mountain range being cast into one of the oceans and what this would mean for the area from which it came.
When I think of the great mountain that John speaks of and the possibility of this relating to the Rocky mountain range (just as an example), it is certainly conceivable that what he is describing could be the result of nuclear explosions hurling this into the ocean, especially with so much of the United States' nuclear arsenal being located in that vicinity. Also, for the great star (or asteroid) impact of verse 10 to adversely affect one-third of the earth's rivers and drinkable water sources would involve the disturbing of an enormous amount of land mass or masses. What John is describing clearly bespeaks an unimaginable amount of destruction.
In my late twenties, when studying John's account of this, I (like everyone else at that time) only envisioned cataclysms occurring all around the earth, resulting in a cumulative destruction of one-third of it, and this may be what he is describing. But, one day it occurred to me that there is another equally as valid possibility. What if he is describing a cataclysm occurring TO ONE SIDE OF THE EARTH, resulting in a concentrated destruction of one-third of it? The thing of a great mountain being hurled into the sea would certainly fit a concentrated destruction and an asteroid impact even more so. The possibility and implications of such a concentrated destruction has engaged my thinking ever since.
In the previous proposition I mentioned that the land area we normally consider to be in Israel's hemisphere represents two-thirds of the land area of the earth. But, what about the rest of the earth's land area, the other one-third? If this happens to be the "third part" destroyed with the sounding of the first four trumpets, it concerns us what this "third part" is. This is the subject of my next proposition.
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NOTES:
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Concerning what John wrote about "hail and fire mingled with blood" (Rev. 8:7), we find no similar phenomena happening in the Bible days where that something "mingled with blood" was observed to fall from the sky. But, in our day, there is an average of well over a gallon of blood in every adult flying in a plane. Jet airliners carrying 300-500 passengers are common. Easy internet searches reveal that there are some 7,500-15,000 planes in the sky at any given time. Images of maps depicting these over the United States show them to be so numerous that they look like grains of sand that have been poured all over the map. Explosions and/or collisions of these would result in tons of debris raining down, "mingled with blood."
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Another modern day possibility lending to what John saw has to do with all the satellites that are presently in orbit around the earth. Also an easy internet search, images depicting these resemble grains of sand as well, sprinkled in abundance all around the earth. It's not hard to imagine what the result would be of something happening that would disturb the orbits of these satellites, causing them to re-enter the atmosphere. With many meteors (which look like falling stars) being as small as a pea, there's no telling what a large number of satellites would look like on their re-entry. Things seem ripe in our day for something to happen that would exactly fit what John tried to describe. I am reminded of what he wrote concerning what he beheld when the 6th Seal was opened: "And the stars (meteors, satellites?) of heaven (the sky) fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind" (Rev. 6:13).
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