What’s the Meaning of the Second Trumpet of Revelation?
Bible Study Guide
Are nuclear weapons behind the mystery of the second trumpet of Revelation?
On Monday, July 16, 1945, the United States detonated the first atomic bomb in the northern section of White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Exactly three weeks to the day on Monday, August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first nuclear weapon on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, it detonated the second nuclear bomb above the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
Eighty years ago the first nuclear weapon was tested and used against a foreign nation. It’s estimated that somewhere in the vicinity of 200,000 people perished in this attack.
Nuclear Complacency
Since 1945, mankind has become complacent and has lost track of the progression of nuclear weaponry in the world. This is especially true since the end of the Cold War.
It’s estimated today that roughly nine nations have nuclear capabilities. Between the nine, approximately 13,000 nuclear warheads exist in the world. These are not the nuclear warheads of the 1940’s.
The nuclear bombs that were detonated above the Japanese cities of Japan had an explosive yield of 15 to 20 kilotons. Their bulkiness required them to be transported by plane. Technology has changed all of this.
The explosive yield of the most advanced atomic bombs today are no longer measured in kilotons, but in megatons. It’s almost incomprehensible for the human mind to fathom the destructive power of these weapons.
It’s estimated that the U.S. has 650 nuclear bombs in service with a 1.2 megaton yield. This is 60 times more powerful that those dropped on Japan in 1945.
Even so, this bomb pales in comparison to the Russian made “Tsar Bomb” which has a destructive yield of 50 megatons. This makes it 2,500 times more powerful than the nuclear bombs of 1945.
The Mystery Behind the Trumpet Judgments
Is nuclear weaponry behind the mystery the first four trumpet judgments? Now that we understand a bit more about the nuclear situation that exists in our world today, let’s dive in a bit deeper to see if we can find answers to John’s visions of the trumpet judgments.
I’ve found that reading through the first four trumpet judgments of Revelation is like reading through a scientific journal on the effects of the detonation of nuclear bombs.
In February of 2015, there was an article written in “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.” It explained through the eyes of scientists what would occur if an 800-kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated above Manhattan. Keep in mind this is a kiloton weapon and not a megaton.
Are These the Forces Behind the Mystery of the Trumpets of Revelation?
An excerpt from the article concerning the detonation of a nuclear warhead reads this way.
“The warhead would probably be detonated more than a mile above the city, to maximize the damage created by its blast wave. Within a few tenths of millionths of a second after detonation, the center of the warhead would reach a temperature of roughly 200 million degrees Fahrenheit (about 100 million degrees Celsius) or about four to five times the temperature of the sun.”
“After one second, the fireball would be roughly one mile in diameter. It would have cooled from its initial temperature of many millions of degrees to about 16,000 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly 4,000 degrees hotter than the surface of the sun.”
“Within seconds after the detonation, fires set within a few miles of the fireball would burn violently. There fires would force gigantic masses of heated air to rise, drawing cooler air from surrounding areas toward the center of the fire zone from all directions.”
“As the massive winds drive flames into areas where fires had not yet fully developed, the fires set by the detonation would begin to merge. Within ten minutes of the detonation, fires from near and far would join to form a singe, gigantic fire. The energy released by this massive fire would be 15 to 50 times greater than the energy produced by the nuclear detonation.”
When we look closely at each of the first four trumpet judgments, there is one commonality – fire. Fire is contained in each of the four visions that John sees from the first four trumpets.
Is this the answer to the mystery of this second set of judgments? Does this answer point to mankind’s initiation of the use of nuclear warheads in the Tribulation? The possibility certainly exists.
Let’s take a closer look at the second trumpet of Revelation to see if we can learn more about this mystery.
The Mystery of the Mountain of Fire
(Verses 8-9) We see in the John’s vision of the first trumpet event, fire ravages a third of all vegetation on the planet. This came from fire mixed with hail and blood.
Notice what John records in this second vision. He states “something like” a mountain all ablaze was thrown into the sea. So John sees something out of the sky. He does his best to describe it considering he likely doesn’t now what it is.
In reading John’s account of the vision, we don’t know the vantage point he has in relation to his vision and the thing that looks like a mountain. If he were standing on the ground nearby this mountain of fire, is it possible he’s looking at something that resembles the mushroom cloud filled with fire that we’ve all seen in pictures of the explosions on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Keeping in mind that he’s seeing the future Tribulation events. Using today’s nuclear warhead capabilities, it’s entirely likely that it could produce a mountain size ball of fire as explained in the article excerpt above.
John’s vision could hold the answer to the future use of nuclear weapons. It can also explain man’s natural escalation in pride of self and hatred for one another.
Does John See Nuclear Size Devastation?
The effects of this mountain of fire kills a third of all living creatures in the sea. And destroys one third of the ships on the sea. So this destruction will be equally evident above and below the surface of the oceans.
To put this in perspective, almost three quarters of the earth is covered by salt water. In other words, the devastation of the mountain of fire is almost beyond the imagination.
In 2023, it was estimated that there was in the vicinity of 3.5 million merchant ships and other commercial, tanker, and fishing vessels on the world’s oceans. This tells us that in today’s numbers at least 1.1 million of these ships and vessels will be destroyed from effects of the second trumpet of Revelation.
If we’re to look at the wrath of God that comes from this second judgment trumpet, is it safe to say that it’s all man’s doing and God is just allowing man to do what man has done best over the centuries? And that is to destroy himself.
How much does God intervene in the events of the Tribulation? Is He merely standing back and allowing the remainder of sinful humanity to destroy itself?
The answer lies in what Jesus spoke while he stood on the Mount of Olives teaching on the events of the last days.
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