The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

"Voices" in the visions of Revelation represent human agencies who speak for God, or as in
some instances, for others. In the instance under consideration, it represents the inspired
teachers of the early Church beginning at Pentecost. "Lightnings" symbolize flashes of
truth, proceeding from these divinely chosen human agencies. Thus do we have pictured
before us the wonderful illumination of truth concerning the Divine Plan that broke the
symbolical silence. Thunders symbolize controversies. Here we have depicted the effects
of this apostolic preaching, causing discussions and controversies especially amongst the
Jewish leaders and peoples. "Earthquakes" symbolize revolutions, or the overturning of
governments. Several revolutions in different periods of the Gospel Age are described by
earthquakes. While the meaning of the symbol is always the same, they are to be applied
to different periods of the Church's history. As an illustration, in connection with the
pouring out of the seventh vial (Rev. 16:18), which, as will be seen later, depicts the final
scenes of the Church's history, all of these symbols are employed--"voices, thunders,
lightnings, and a great earthquake." The "earthquake" there, however, describes the
complete overturning of the present order of things. It is described as "an earthquake, such
as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great."
The "earthquake" in the vision we are now considering refers to the overthrow of the
Jewish polity in the year 70 AD. These judgments, however, did not reach their full
termination until 135 AD. We quote the International Cyclopedia:
"The suppression of Bar-Cochba's insurrection (135 AD) marks the final desolation of
Judea, and the dispersion of its inhabitants. . . . These last attempts to throw off the Roman
yoke . . . were defeated after enormous and almost incredible slaughter."
Note also the following statement from Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History:
"The God who had for so many ages protected the Jews with an outstretched arm,
withdrew His aid. He permitted Jerusalem with its famous temple to be destroyed by
Vespasian and his son, Titus, an innumerable multitude of this devoted people to perish
by the sword. . . . From this period the Jews experienced, in every place, the hatred and
contempt of the Gentile nations, still more than they had formerly done. And in these,
their calamities, the predictions of Christ were amply fulfilled, and His Divine mission
further illustrated."
Chapter 17: Rev. 8:6-9
The First and Second Trumpets
"And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound."--
Rev. 8:6.
We logically look for the sounding of trumpets to follow the fiery judgments which were
poured upon the Jewish nation in fulfillment of the symbolic picture of Christ casting the
golden censer filled with fire to the earth. These judgments as we have seen resulted
finally in the complete overthrow of the Jewish polity. The city of Jerusalem and the