III The Vision of the Seven Trumpets (A Vision of Threatening). Ch. 8:2‐9:21, and 11:14‐19
The vision of the seven trumpets sets forth in pictorial form a divine proclamation of the judgments of God upon the sinful world, especially those to be experienced throughout the prospective history of mankind until the final consummation of all things. It consists of another group of seven that are parallel in a certain sense to the vision of the seals, covering like them the path of the ages, but that form a separate series complete in themselves and that are issued for a different purpose, the seals specially manifesting God’s care of his people in the midst of trial, while the trumpets reveal the divine punishment visited upon the sinful. These two lines of judgment are conceived of as occurring mainly in the same period, but looked at from another point of view: or, perhaps, it might better be said, that we have here another group of seven which follow the whole course of history and develop a new line of divinely ordered occurrences that neither follow nor precede, but are quite independent of any time‐relation to the preceding series of the seals. The number of the trumpets, like that of the seals, is intended to indicate the completeness of the series, for seven is the number of completeness. They are general indications of God’s judgments, and though particular events may be partial fulfilments, the complete fulfilment is in all time.(418)
A The Preparation for the Trumpets, Ch. 8:2‐6
In a short intervening section preparatory to the trumpets, we are shown that the prayers of the saints lead to the manifestation of divine wrath against sin. These verses, it may be said, form a transition from the vision of the seals to that of the trumpets, and are in fact included by some under the seventh seal, though not properly belonging to it. The former vision reaches a fitting close in the period of eternal rest which is looked upon under the seventh seal, and we wait in the quiet that it brings, expecting the end to be announced at once. But instead of that a further vision is revealed to the seer, and we again traverse the course of history by a different path to its ending. In another series of seven under the trumpets the punishment of the ungodly is reviewed, and divine wrath is seen to fall upon the heads of the sinful. This succeeding series of trumpet visions is introduced by verses two to six in the eighth chapter.