Futurist, Preterist, or Historicist view of Revelation's 7 Trumpets
For many years I have been curious about the meaning of the 7 trumpets in Revelation 8-11. Are they similar in interpretation to the 7 seals, the 7 churches, and all the other symbolic imagery found in that book? To my mind, the 7 Seals and 7 Churches can best be understood via the historicist interpretation. I started by fitting the 7 Trumpets in with this model.One of the more common interpretations of the 7 Trumpets is to apply the 1st through 4th trumpet to the repeated invasions of the Roman Catholic Empire by successive tribes, such as the Vandals, Visigoths, etc. The 5th and 6th trumpets were then the Muslim attacks upon the Eastern portion of the Roman Catholic Empire, by that time known as the Byzantine Empire. I have examined parallels between the uniforms commonly worn by the soldiers of that era, trying to match them with the various colors used to describe the armor of the locust army. It does fit. Timewise, there are also fits with various epochs.
However, it seemed like the fit wasn't as tight as it should be, because other Biblical prophecy fulfillments seem to fit like a glove. So the jury is still out on a strictly past interpretation of the first 6 trumpets. I haven't rejected a past fulfillment, but am currently examining a possible future enactment of these dire happenings.
I must keep in mind the main purposes of prophecy. God does not let any major thing happen without giving warning to His people through prophets. Prophecy is for the warning of the children of God. They also can be useful for building faith, as God predicts, as only He can, what is to happen. When it is fulfilled as predicted, it can reaffirm your faith in all the other things which He has said.
So, the 7 trumpets are for a warning (and faith). I will have to continue this post at a later time, as it is dinner time with my family.
posted by JCclimber @ 17:57
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