The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

however, that this great hail and fire storm of the first trumpet, so destructive in its work,
most fittingly depicts the influences that worked together to cause the overthrow of the
Pagan civilization; the overthrow of the Roman government itself, as we shall endeavor to
show later, being depicted by the symbolic occurrences of the second trumpet. The hail
and lightning, etc., proceeding from the literal heavens, would represent certain influences
that had their rise in the symbolical heavens of Christianity. Hail, in this instance seems to
represent those sharp cutting truths which exposed and eventually destroyed the chief
root of the Pagan superstition---Polytheism.
A hail storm is generally accompanied by lightning and is produced by a certain electrical
state of the atmosphere. That the fire of the symbol means lightning, may be seen from
several Scriptures, "And the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire [lightning] ran along
upon the ground." (Exod. 9:23; Psa. 105:32.) "Hail" is used in the Scriptures as the symbol
of judgment truths, and in this symbol very fittingly refers to judgments upon Paganism,
which was the first enemy aside from Judaism that the Church encountered in its
proclamation of the truth. "And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:17) is
a prophecy that especially refers to the effects of judgment truths upon the false religious
systems of the last times. It is thus by comparing Scripture with Scripture that we discover
the meaning of symbols.
The hail and lightning are represented in the vision as mingled with blood. Blood, when
visible, is employed in the Scriptures as a symbol of death by violence. It is used in this
sense in Isaiah 34 in connection with a prophecy describing the final judgments of God in
the last days upon the "wild beast" nations of earth: "And the mountains [kingdoms] shall
be melted with their blood. . . . The sword [judgment truths] of the Lord is filled with
blood [evidence that these judgment truths shall produce death, destruction of the
nations]. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the
controversy of Zion." (Isa. 34:1-8.) It is used in this first trumpet symbol in the same way,
and if correct in our application, it is designed to intensify the destructiveness of the
judgments on Paganism.
Trees in the primitive method of building were used for pillars or posts. In harmony with
this we find the figure of trees, according to their size and height, employed in many
Scriptures to symbolize the several degrees of great or rich men, nobles, or subordinate
rulers of the government. In Zech. 11:1,2, we have this figurative use of trees: "Howl, fir
tree, for the cedar is fallen; because all the mighty [men] are spoiled." The inference in these
last words, "all the mighty are spoiled," is that the prophecy does not refer to literal trees, but
to men--leaders. Nebuchadnezzar, the great king of Babylon, is symbolized by a tree. (Dan.
4:20-22; see also Isa. 2:13; 10:17, 18,19; Jer. 22:7,23; Ezek. 17; 31:3,4.) The application of this
to the vision would seem to represent that the nobles, princes, and subordinate civil and
religious Pagan rulers would renounce or become dead to the Pagan superstition, thus
gradually working toward the end of Pagan civilization.
It will be seen that as trees symbolize the leaders, so grass by the law of analogy must
symbolize the common people. In applying the symbol of the vision under consideration it