The seal judgments are followed by the trumpet judgments and parallel the seven bowl judgments. These judgments will carry us through to the middle of the tribulation period. The seven angels with the seven trumpets now prepare to sound. Let's look at the first four.

(1) The earth - This first judgment impacts one-third of all green grass and trees on the earth. Hail and fire mixed with blood devastate the plant life on the planet. This is compared to the first bowl judgment.

(2) The sea – Next the second trumpet sounds and something like a great burning mountain is cast into the sea turning one-third of the sea into blood. This destroys a third of all creatures and ships in the sea.

(3) The rivers – The third judgment is a star called “Wormwood” which falls and turns one-third of the rivers bitter which causes many men to die.

(4) The heavens – The fourth judgment causes the third part of the sun, moon, and stars to darken, both day and night are affected. After this an angel is seen flying through heaven announcing the “three woes” that are yet to come.

The Three Woes

(5) The first woe - The fifth angel sounded, and a star was seen falling from heaven that had the key to the bottomless pit. This is not Satan, but an angel that is given permission to open the abyss. Smoke billows forth heralding an army of demonic locusts that have power to inflict torment on men for five months. Men will desire to die during this time, but death will flee from them. Those who are sealed are not affected by this plague of locusts. The king of this demon army is named Abaddon in the Hebrew tongue or Apollyon in Greek.

(6) The second woe – The sixth trumpet judgment sees the four angels bound in the Euphrates River released to kill a third of mankind. This demonic army of horsemen numbers two hundred million. Nevertheless, men are still unrepentant after these startling judgments. Including the fourth seal this judgment sees half the population of the earth destroyed.

The Angel and the Little Book

After this John sees a mighty angel coming down from heaven with a rainbow on his head, whose face shown like the sun and had feet like pillars of fire. He was holding in his hand a little book or scroll. He set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land indicating worldwide dominion of the earth. When the angel cried seven thunders uttered their voices. John was told not to write what the seven thunders were but to seal up the sayings. He was then told to take the little book from the hand of the angel and eat it. It was sweet like honey in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach. He was then told he must prophesy again to many peoples, nations, languages and kings.