The First Trumpet: Hail, Fire, and Blood, Revelation Chapter 8 Verse 7 (NASB)

Home       New International Version       New King James Version     God's WordTM       Español       Deutsch

7. And the first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
    And THE FIRST SOUNDED, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth;
There is one similar experience recorded in Exodus 9:22-26 in one of the Egyptian plagues. However, this was localized to Egypt specifically. The first trumpet event is experienced by one third of the earth.

    There are several theories how this could happen.

  1. The earthquake in verse 5 causes massive volcanic eruptions. Water (if undersea), lava, and such are spewed into the air. The water is cooled in the upper atmosphere and become hail. Lava chunks become the fireballs when they splat and break open.
  2. The earth passes through a comet or has a near miss with an asteroid. Comet tails are thought to be mostly ice with possibly some rock pieces. Upon entry into atmosphere, charge is picked up. This turns into lightning discharges at impact. This, in turn, starts many fires.
  3. The "red as blood" coloration may be due to dust/mineral contaminates, or the deep red color of cooled lava like predicted in Joel 2:28-32
    and
  1. a third of the earth was burned up and
  2. a third of the trees were burned up and
  3.  all the green grass was burned up.
Literally, trees are harder to start on fire than grass. However, note the comment in verse 5 that there is no rain mentioned. What is clear is that fully a third of the earth is affected. Again, the Revelation is using precise numbers. Not "some" or "a lot of" but 1/3 is used. Also consider that without satellite verification, there would be no way to know if 1/3 is the amount affected. Revelation waits until mankind has the technology to confirm the scriptures.

Symbolically, the grass could mean masses of mankind and the trees are prominent leaders and/or rulers. See Psalm 103:15-18 ; Judges 9:7-15 ; and Daniel 4:4-27 . Curiously, John does not record the political environment on the earth at the time of the Revelation. This is where interpretation of prophesy and cross references to other scripture becomes vital, Ezekiel 38:21-23 .

What are some of the consequences of this FIRST TRUMPET? When grass (grains) are gone, food supply is diminished. Animals die. People die. Oxygen production will be reduced by a third also. It is unknown what affect this will have on the remaining life! 		"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 Used by permission."

References to the Revelation of Jesus Christ are in bold italics. All other references are in bold only.