Revelation 8:7
7[kai] The first[protos] angel[aggelos] sounded,[salpizo] and[kai] there followed[ginomai] hail[chalaza] and[kai] fire[pur] mingled[mignumi] with blood,[haima] and[kai] they were cast[ballo] upon[eis] the earth:[ge] and[kai] the third part[tritos] of trees[dendron] was burnt up,[katakaio] and[kai] all[pas] green[chloros] grass[chortos] was burnt up.[katakaio]
KJV-Interlinear
7 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. NASB
Thus far in Revelation,
we have seen all sorts of metaphors and symbolism, but now the text takes on
more than just imagery, the descriptions will be transformed in to very real
disasters, storms, and judgments.
The repetition and
rapidity of all of these things as they begin to occur, will serve to eventually
convince every person on the planet that they are not freak occurrences of
nature, or just a bad bit of weather, but are actual events occurring at the
personal direction from God.
What is left with them is
to figure out, just which side they are going to stand on in life – Gods side
through faith in Christ, or the opposite (whatever that might be).
With this first trumpet,
comes an explosion of a hail storm across a third of the earth. Mixed with hail and blood and fire, indicates
the massive force and violence of the storm.
Across a third of the
earth the hail will fall, killing and destroying, or injuring all who are
caught out in the open.
Buildings, power lines,
anything that might be explosive or volatile, will most likely start fires, that will spread rapidly. The blood is both symbolic (the fierceness of
the storm) and literal, and will come from people and animals who are caught
out in the storm.
To be burned up, ‘katakio,’ means to be consumed wholly or thoroughly
destroyed or to be burned literally.
Fire is not required for something to be beaten apart and destroyed. So this description gives us an indication of
the fierceness of the storm, which will span a third of the planet.
One third is the boundary
of this storm.
It was thrown down from
heaven which makes it obvious that this storm is not an occurrence of nature,
not a result of weather trends, not a result of global climate change, but at
the direct command of God.
A third of the trees and
all of the green grass, were destroyed.
And though this does not define the one-third as all of the trees on
this one-third of the earth, or only one-third of the trees that are hit by the
storm, it does make it clear that the storm, regardless of the tree count, is a
massive storm, the likes of which the world has never seen before.
All of the green grass
limits the killing of the grass to the green grass. Grass in not green all over the world simultaneously,
so only the green grass which comes under the storm is destroyed. The fifth trumpet will kill off more grass,
so the grass either has grown back, or it is likely to be grasses that have not
yet been destroyed.
When the grass is killed
off, then that means that the pounding of the hail on the ground, is beyond
extreme, and is not the result of a short or brief storm, but from a drawn out
and lengthy storm.It does take some
considerable and repetitive pounding to kill grass.
And remember that the Tribulation
is only seven years in length.There are
not that many growing seasons.
Furthermore, these judgments have been delayed until the 144,000 Jewish
evangelists have been counted in, so that further reduces the number of growing
seasons.Most of these judgments are
designated for the latter half of the Tribulation, and that makes the growing
seasons limited to perhaps three or four at the most.
Needless to say, time is
short for humanity, and the many judgments that are going to be unleashed are
going to make life, normal life, non-existent.
Those who get hyped on
earth day, are in for a shock, as God systematically dismantles
the very fabric of the planet.All of
the things that man deems as important, will be
destroyed.
One of the many things that
man values most, the environment, even to the extent of making it more valuable
than human life or God, is going to be the target of the very first attack
against evil. And it is only beginning.
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