“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood” (Revelation 8:8).

That Fiery Mass

Can you wrap your imagination around the magnitude of John’s words in such a brief verse?  He sees a huge fiery mass flying through the air, then plunging into the sea. Approximately one fifth of the world is affected! This is obviously some object he has never seen before. Trying to describe it, he writes, “as it were” to tell us it was like a great mountain (oros), adding that it was “burning with fire.”

John has already seen mountains in previous visions. He will be shown similar scenes again. Is this particular mass symbolic of a “kingdom,” as we prophetically see described in the Old Testament? (Psalm 48:1, Jeremiah 51:25). Or – is this a literal fiery mass, streaking out of the sky towards a cataclysmic event?

The best way to get a clue is to first see how God used “oros” before in these apocalyptic visions and will use it again:

6:14        “every mountain and island were moved”

6:15        “hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains”

14:1        “Lamb stood on mount Sion”

16:20      “and the mountains were not found”

17:9        “seven mountains on which the woman sitteth”

21:10      “he carried me away … to a great and high mountain”

Do you note something interesting about these texts? Each time the word mount/mountain is used, it has a literal meaning. There is no reason to believe there is a “kingdom” application. The imagery and context leads us to conclude that John simply saw a literal mass – obviously as big as a great mountain – plummeting from the sky. Even when the Bible uses the word “mountain” to depict a kingdom, it describes a true mountain, not “as it were a great mountain.”[1]

What could this huge mass be? It obviously is so big it affects one third of the sea. In addition, it kills sea life and destroys ships. Has God ever rained fire down on this earth before? Certainly in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities were turned to ashes from showers of fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:23-29, II Peter 2:6, Jude 7).

Have you ever lived in one of the western states of the USA? You know the Sierra Nevada Mountains or the Cascade Range rise 5,000–15,000 feet above the valley floors. John lived in the area of Palestine where mountains were 1,000–2,000 feet tall. Is that what he was referring to? Did he ever travel to Northeast Asia Minor where the snow capped volcano, Mount Ararat, rises 17,000 feet above the plain? He never said. His mountain portrayal was likely of the diminutive size in Palestine.

Would a 1000-2000 foot diameter mountain-like mass be significant? It would be devastating to a large part of earth. There is only one plausible mountain-like object that could meet John’s description – an asteroid. As they streak through the sky, asteroids are on fire. Remember, God’s judgments are so singular that the world is left with little doubt that it is a divine power at work.

Is an asteroid impact a possibility? It certainly is, and becoming increasingly possible! In fact, this is of such great concern to the United States that NASA has created a special division called Asteroid Comet Impact Hazards. They have noted: “Evidence that the earth may be impacted by an asteroid or comet large enough to cause global devastation is increasing rapidly.”[2] Though the risk appears small from the known asteroids and Near Earth Objects [NEO’s] in space, God’s sovereign control can create any circumstance He desires.

Timing of This Trumpet

The four angels holding the winds of strife were told to “hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads” (7:3). Those mighty and powerful angels had been given the power to damage earth, sea and trees – but not until the 144,000 were sealed. With destructive harm now beginning to occur, the Trumpets announce that that group has been sealed.

Many readers might be squirming and thinking, “I thought that when the winds were released the Seven Last Plagues occurred!” And, that would be true.

“The nations are now getting angry, but when our High Priest has finished his work in the Sanctuary, he will stand up, put on the garments of vengeance, and then the seven last plagues will be poured out.

“I saw that the four angels would hold the four winds until Jesus’ work was done in the Sanctuary, and then will come the seven last plagues.”[3]

Expositor White has refined our grasp of these events. There is a period of time before that happens when the angels partially release the winds in destructive warnings to draw the world to its final, irrevocable decisions. Note these concepts:

“It was God that restrained the powers, and that He gave His angels charge over things on the earth; that the four angels had power from God to hold the four winds, and that they were about to let them go; but while their hands were loosening, and the four winds were about to blow, the merciful eye of Jesus gazed on the remnant that were not sealed, and He raised His hands to the Father and pleaded with Him that He had spilled His blood for them. Then another angel was commissioned to fly swiftly to the four angels and bid them hold, until the servants of God were sealed with the seal of the living God in their foreheads.”[4]

“The Lord will not suddenly cast off all transgressors, or destroy entire nations, but He will punish cities and places where men have given themselves up to the possession of satanic agencies [partial destruction]. Strictly will the cities of the nations be dealt with, and yet they will not be visited in the extreme of God’s indignation because some souls will yet break away from the delusions of the enemy, and will repent and be converted, while the mass will be treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.”[5]

These thoughts, written over many decades, reflect the judgment warning, which comes through the first four Trumpets.

“Four mighty angels are still holding the four winds of the earth. Terrible destruction is forbidden to come in full. The accidents by land and by sea; the loss of life, steadily increasing, by storm, by tempest, by railroad disaster, by conflagration; the terrible floods, the earthquakes, and the winds will be the stirring up of the nations to one deadly combat, while the angels hold the four winds, forbidding the terrible power of Satan to be exercised in its fury until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. Get ready, get ready, I beseech you, get ready before it shall be forever too late! The ministers of vengeance will pour all the terrible judgments upon a God-forsaken people. The way of obedience is the only path of life. May the Lord help you to see it in time to open your ears, that you may hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”[6]

“Probationary time will not continue much longer. Now God is withdrawing His restraining hand from the earth. Long has He been speaking to men and women through the agency of His Holy Spirit; but they have not heeded the call. Now He is speaking to His people, and to the world, by His judgments. The time of these judgments is a time of mercy for those who have not yet had opportunity to learn what is truth. Tenderly will the Lord look upon them. His heart of mercy is touched; His hand is still stretched out to save. Large numbers will be admitted to the fold of safety who in these last days will hear the truth for the first time.”[7]

Can you see how God is bringing the great controversy between good and evil to a close? Destructive judgments come (Trumpets). But His protective care supervenes in amazing mercy for those who might yet repent. He is loath to let them go. Tenderly He waits and gives even them opportunity to come home!

The Sea Turns to Blood

Daniel, during his awesome end-time expose in the 12th chapter, observed: “Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked” (Daniel 12:10 – NIV). What is he describing? The moment in time when the whole world finally belongs forever to Jesus or Satan.

You wonder, “How can that happen? There are so many millions – maybe even billions – who have never been drawn to that forever decision! And, you would be right. That is one of the astonishing reasons that prophecy has been given to us. It reveals not only how the battle between right and wrong will end, it discloses what God permits and does to force a final decision for or against Him. These Trumpets are one of two final acts that lay bare the heart of man. The other, the work of the fourth angel of Revelation.

Hail was mixed with blood in the first Trumpet. During the second Vial Plague, which will occur after probation closes, the whole ocean turns to blood. In this second Trumpet one third of the commercial sea lanes become blood.

How dreadful! He says, “the sea became blood” – that’s for real! This horrible event will be used by God’s people to warn a faltering world that its end is in sight – repent while the last lingering elements of time still invite a decision.

Can we explain how the blood got there? No! It is so dramatic that the world will be convinced that it is an “act of God.” Therein lies the genius of our sovereign God in causing this. The unrepentant will suddenly be divided into two groups: One will see it as the fault of God’s people and will plan greater revenge; the second will see it as an admonition to urgently repent. Closer and closer will be the pressure until every person will have made an eternal decision.

“And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (Revelation 8:9).

That part (one third) of the ocean that became blood no longer sustains life. Because of the asteroid’s impact on the sea, one third of the ships are destroyed. Can you imagine this moment in time? One third of this world’s vegetation is gone. Now one third of the sea is lifeless and too dangerous to sail on!

This ties to an interesting allusion in Revelation 18:17. There it notes: “every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off.” They were mourning Babylon’s fall. Yet John tells us that at her height of arrogance and power “her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire” (Revelation 18:8).

Babylon represents the Christian world’s collective apostasy – which defies God. As His destructive plagues begin their work against the earth, its wicked inhabitants grieve their losses.

“God has a storehouse of retributive judgments, which He permits to fall upon those who have continued in sin in the face of great light.”[8]

“A world is represented in the destruction of Jerusalem, and the warning given then comes sounding down along the line to our time: ‘And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring.’

Yes, the sea shall pass its borders, and destruction will be in its track. It will engulf the ships that sail upon its broad waters; and with the burden of their living freight, these will be hurled into eternity.”[9]

“The tempest is coming, and we must get ready for its fury by having repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will arise to shake terribly the earth. We shall see troubles on all sides. Thousands of ships will be hurled into the depths of the sea. Navies will go down, and human lives will be sacrificed by millions.”[10]

Luke describes this time: “On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26 – NIV). The oceanic tumult relates to the shaking of the heavens. The outcome affects individuals, nations and the world.

The terror from the first two Trumpets might seem enough. But it isn’t. God warned His people that the end would bring utter desolation. The beginning of that process occurs with the Trumpet plagues.

Note something most fascinating: God is starting to “de-create” things He had once brought into existence. Things that served mankind in a myriad of ways are now either being destroyed or made dysfunctional. Why? Man was given dominion over all living things (Genesis 1:28). For 6000 years after sin came in he was on probation to restore that trust. He failed. What was entrusted to him is now being withdrawn.