Fourth Trumpet - Darkness

The fourth trumpet blast causes a partial darkening of the sun, moon, and the stars of heaven over the Empire - Revelation 8:12.

The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars as described in Chapter 8 is based on the ninth plague of Egypt, which darkened the land for three days, and on imagery from the judicial pronouncement against Pharaoh in the Book of Ezekiel, a judgment carried out by the ancient Babylonian Empire. Now, however, darkness will consume the empire of the Beast, and end-time Babylon will be the agent of its destruction, or at least, for a time:

• “And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and make the stars thereof dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven I will darken over you, and set darkness upon your land, says the Lord Yahweh. <…> For thus says the Lord Yahweh: The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you” - (Ezekiel 32:7-11).

[Eclipse - Photo by Jim Strasma (Irvine, California) on Unsplash]

The Fourth Trumpet and the Fourth Bowl of Wrath are connected by literary links. Both events affect the same parts of the creation - the luminary bodies of the heavens:

• “And the fourth angel sounded; and the third of the sun was struck, and the third of the moon, and the third of the stars, in order that the third of them might be darkened, and the day might not shine for the third of it, and the night, in like manner” - (Revelation 8:12).

• “It was poured out upon the sun to scorch men with fire; and men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues” - (Revelation 16:8).

The Greek term translated as “struck” in Revelation 8:12 is the verb ‘plésso’, which is related to the noun ‘plégé’ or “plague.” This is to remind us of the connection between the seven trumpet blasts and the plagues of Egypt - (Revelation 9:18 – “By these three plagues was the third part of men killed”).

The darkening of the sun, moon, and stars also borrows language from the Book of Isaiah, another passage with a judicial pronouncement, this time against Ancient Babylon and its king:

• “The burden of Babylon that Isaiah saw <…> Wail, for the day of Yahweh is at hand <…> Behold, the day of Yahweh is coming, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations will not give their light; the sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine” - (Isaiah 13:1, 13).

The imagery of the Fourth Trumpet draws heavily from the judgments of Yahweh against Egypt for refusing to free Israel, and against Babylon because of her cruelty to the people of God.

The Book of Revelation also incorporates verbal allusions from the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, passages with judicial pronouncements against the Neo-Babylonian Empire. This anticipates the sentences pronounced against “Babylon, the Great Whore” of Chapter 18 in Revelation.

The pronouncements against Babylon are paradoxical in this context. The “plagues” of the first four trumpets target the infrastructure of the World Empire upon which end-time Babylon sits. She is key to the commercial success of the Beast and its realm.

However, the unexpected agent of this judgment is Babylon herself, the “burning mountain” that was cast into the Sea, and the “burning star” that fell on rivers and springs.

God uses the very institution on which the Empire depends for economic security to destroy it, though at the appropriate time, Babylon will also be destroyed.

Up to this point in the narrative, one-third of the things connected to the health and prosperity of the World Empire are destroyed, including agriculture, transportation (ships), water, and light, the things on which the economic power of the Empire is built.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Seven Trumpets - Overview - (An overview of the seven trumpets and the several intervening events between the Sixth and Seventh Trumpets– Revelation 8:7-11:19)

• The First Trumpet - Hail - (The first trumpet blast unleashes forces that impact agriculture. It is modeled on the seventh plague of Egypt – Revelation 8:7)

• 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)

• Third Trumpet - A Great Star - (The third trumpet results in a great star falling into the sources of freshwater and embittering them – Revelation 8:10-11)