"The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up"(Revelation 8:7.)
Here in this chapter we hear the blast of four trumpets, warning of imminent danger. They precede the destruction of a third of the earth, the trees, the sea and its creatures, the rivers, and the atmosphere above. The fourth trumpet warns: “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth” (8:13).
This is a pictorial representation of environmental disaster designed to awaken those whom John describes as “earth-dwellers”—those who look no further than Mother Earth for answers and take no thought of the One who made the heavens and the earth.
So-called natural disasters awaken us to our limitations and the folly of thinking we can control our environment and resolve the earth’s problems. Typhoons, tsunamis, tornados, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic flooding, forest fires, drought, pollution, pandemic and extreme heat, show us how helpless we are.
May these forces awaken us to give honor to the one who rules heaven and earth and whose voice commands the winds and seas (Mark 4:39).
David Roper
6.28.21
