Second Trumpet - the Burning Mountain

The second trumpet harms the commerce on which human society and political institutions must depend for survival – Revelation 8:8-9.

The sounding of the Second Trumpet causes upheaval in the sea, disrupting a third of all seaborne trade. In the Book of Revelation, the “sea” is vital to the commerce upon which end-time Babylon and the Empire depend for power, and it is the place from which the Beast ascends. This explains why, at the end of the Book, no “sea” is found in New Jerusalem. In the symbolic world, the Sea is linked directly to the Dragon and the Beast.

[Shipwreck - Photo by Sebastian Bill on Unsplash]

After the second angel sounded his horn, a burning mountain was thrown into the Sea. This language alludes to a passage from the Book of Jeremiah that represents a judicial pronouncement against Babylon for its oppression of Israel.

• “And the second angel sounded; and as if a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third of the sea became blood, and the third of the creatures which were in the sea that had life died, the third of the ships was destroyed” - (Revelation 8:8-9. Compare Exodus 7:17-21).

• “Behold me against you, O Destroying Mountain that destroys all the earth! Therefore, I will stretch out my hand over you and roll you down from the crags, and I will make of you a burning mountain” - (Jeremiah 51:25).

John the Revelator did not see a literal mountain or asteroid falling out of the sky. This is the language of comparison (“as if”). John compared the image he saw to a burning mountain.

The first plague of the series of Seven Trumpets impacted the vegetation of the Earth. Now, the Second Trumpet harms the Sea, the highway of trade, communications, and commerce. In Revelation, the Sea is also synonymous with the Abyss. For example:

• “And as soon as they have completed their witnessing, the beast that is to ascend from the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and slay them” - (Revelation 11:7).

• “And the Dragon stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast ascending out of the sea….” - (Revelation 13:1).

The Second Trumpet also uses language from the first plague of Egypt, the one in which Yahweh turned the waters of the Nile River into blood, thereby damaging economic life in Egypt:

• “The fish in the river died, and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. And the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt” - (Exodus 7:17-21).

The prosperity of Ancient Babylon depended heavily on maritime commerce, and the Book of Revelation likewise describes the prosperity of end-time Babylon and the World Empire over which she presides as dependent on seaborne trade. Again, we see the economic infrastructure of the Empire under attack by the plagues of the first four trumpets - (Revelation 18:15-18).

BABYLON

Babylon is called “the Great Whore” in the Book of Revelation, the seductive woman who sits on “the seven mountains.” In Chapter 17, these seven mountains represent the kingdoms over which Babylon has power, especially in the economic sphere - (Revelation 17:9-10).

The image of a burning mountain cast into the Sea pictures God’s judgment of the beastly empire and the effects of that judgment on global commerce, the basis of the Empire’s control and influence. Just as the burning mountain was hurled into the sea, so also, “Babylon the Great” will be “cast into the sea like a great millstone,” causing all merchants, shipmasters, and sailors to lament:

• “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no man buys their merchandise any longer. <…> Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl! For in one hour so great riches is desolated. And every shipmaster, and every one that sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city?  <…> And a strong angel took up a stone, as if a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus, with a mighty fall, Babylon, the great city, will be cast down and be found no more at all” - (Revelation 18:11-21).

• “And the angel cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she is become a habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations are fallen, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth became wealthy by the power of her luxuries” - (Revelation 18:2-3).

The burning mountain of the Second Trumpet also causes the “the ships to be destroyed [Greek, ‘diaphtheiro’].” This clause translates the Greek verb borrowed from the Septuagint version of the passage from the Book of Jeremiah to which Revelation has already alluded: “I am against you, destroying mountain that destroyed all the earth [‘diaphtheiro’]” – (Jeremiah 51:25).

This verbal connection between Revelation and Jeremiah is deliberate. The same verb occurs again when the Seventh Trumpet sounds:

• “And the season came to reward your servants the prophets and the saints, and to destroy them that destroy the earth [‘diaphtheiro’]” - (Revelation 11:18).

The destruction of a third of all ships devastates the seaborne trade of the World Empire. Destruction will become total with the final overthrow of Babylon. The casting of the burning mountain into the Sea in Chapter 8 anticipates that final and complete destruction of the Great Whore.

• “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found” - (Revelation 16:19-20).

What is portrayed in Revelation 8:8-9 is the partial destruction of the Empire's economic base (i.e., “a third”), the source of its control over nations and kings. Similarly, the False Prophet uses economic sanctions against anyone who refuses the mark of the Beast. The primary weapon of the Beast from the Sea is economic coercion; therefore, the Empire’s economy must be destroyed in the end:

• “God uses the ‘blazing mountain’ of Babylon, the ‘destroyer of the whole earth,’ to pollute the sea on which Babylon itself depends for the maintenance of its commercial empire” [G.B. Caird, Revelation, 1999, p. 114].

• “And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or upon their forehead, and that no man can buy or to sell, except he who has the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name” - (Revelation 13:16-17).

The Church of Smyrna suffered impoverishment because of her faithful witness. Members of the congregation tasted the wrath of the Beast and the Great Whore. However, for believers who remain faithful, the value of their future reward will vastly exceed any material losses they have endured because of their witness for Jesus:

• “I know your tribulation, and your poverty (but thou art rich). <…> Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” - (Revelation 2:9-10).

In contrast, the Church of Laodicea succumbed to the economic temptation of Babylon, and so Jesus found her witness compromised. He summoned the believers of Laodicea to endure fiery trials and overcome while the opportunity remained:

• “Because you say, I am rich, and I have acquired wealth, and I need nothing; and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy of me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness be not made manifest; and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes, that you may see” - (Revelation 3:17-18).

Thus, Babylon is used ironically by God to execute His judgment on the unrepentant “Inhabitants of the Earth” and the economic system that sustains the Empire. However, in the end, the Great Whore herself, “the Destroying Mountain,” will be destroyed.

The very thing that men covet and need for wealth and sustenance, “Babylon, the Great Whore,” will become the agent of their destruction. Reliance on the economic power and material prosperity of Babylon will become the undoing of the men and women who give their allegiance to the Beast from the Sea and his realm.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Seven Trumpets - Overview - (An overview of the series of Seven Trumpets and the several intervening events between the sixth and seventh trumpets)

• The First Trumpet - Hail - (The second trumpet harms the commerce on which human society and political institutions must depend for survival – Revelation 8:8-9)

• Economic War - (The False Prophet employs economic pressure to coerce men and women to swear allegiance to the Beast from the Sea)

• The Ascent of the Beast - (To identify the Antichrist, we must first understand what the relevant passages say about him, his methods, and his agenda)