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2nd Trumpet

A Burning Sea-Cast Mountain – A Bloodied & Shipwrecked Sea

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; 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.” – Rev. 8:8-9

If the aforementioned interpretation is correct, the analogous illustration of the 2nd Trumpet will speak towards the same event(s) of catastrophe (a series of worldwide battles in World War III via the rise of Spiritual Babylon) resulting in the quantified amount of death and destruction, a third. The singularity of what is being spoken of through the plurality of the trumpeted event(s) simply cannot be ignored. This time, however, instead of the trees for an analogy we have the sea. Enlarging the analogy, literal aspects of things which pertain to seas are brought into view (like in the case of burning tree Orchards and the grass therein). Evidently, and understandably so, when harm is done to the sea this directly affects the living creatures within the sea and the manmade vessels afloat upon the sea (“the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died: and the third part of the ships were destroyed” (Rev. 8:9).

Firstly, and foundationally, it is important to establish the analogous term, the sea. Without coincidence, the analogy is both used and interpreted in the Book of Revelation. We read that the Beast did “rise up out of the sea” (Rev. 13:1), and, we read of “the Great Whore that sitteth upon many waters” (Rev. 17:1). Interpreting these things, a holy angel said, “The waters which thou sawest, where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev. 17:15, Jer. 51:13). This is a pointed answer, indeed, but pastime divine tutorials bore witness of this long ago. Should we be surprised? Also, having already studied the use of the term blood in the divine tutorials of the past (through examining the 1st Trumpet), one can imagine what is meant by the saying, “the third part of the sea became blood” (Rev. 8:8). Not only was this exact analogy used to describe historical Babylon’s warfare against and overthrow of Dimon (“for the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood” – Isa. 15:19), but we observed manifold uses of the term blood to describe the same event(s). The destruction of the sea in the 2nd Trumpet, like the trees in the 1st Trumpet, represent the nations of the earth experiencing the quantified death and destruction, a third of the whole.

Moreover, here we see something “cast into the sea” – namely, “a great mountain burning with fire” (Rev. 8:8). The mountain was swallowed up by the waters of the sea, in other words. Speaking of such, the divine tutorial illustrated historical Babylon’s conquering warfare against Tyre (Ezek. 26:3, 19, 27:26-27, 32, 34; Note: some aspects of these prophecies are literal). The sea-swallowing of the nation of Tyre is as the sea-swallowing of a mountain, analogously speaking, as the divine tutorial did often refer to nations as mountains (Jer. 51:25-29, Dan. 2:35, Zech. 4:7, Rev. 17:9); even so, in the event of World War III this “great mountain” could be referring to the fall of a great nation (or a union of nations) which is the primary opponent of Spiritual Babylon coming into worldwide power and government. The casting down of this great nation via the use of nuclear warfare would catastrophically harm all the nations of the world (the sea); hence the modest outcome, a third of the whole world (the sea) is killed or destroyed. This is an accurate portrayal of the truth, convincingly so (scripture-interpreting-scripture), but there is more to learn.

As a continuation of our study of relevant analogies, one is forced to look beyond what God did through historical Babylon’s rise to power through war and conquest. One is forced to look at what God did through the Medes and Persians to the destruction of historical Babylon. For, the destruction of historical Babylon was spoken of as the drying up of her sea (Jer. 51:36), and, the contrary, the swallowing up of Babylon in the sea (“The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the with the multitude of the waves thereof.” – Jer. 51:42). Both of these analogous illustrations do (certainly but incompletely) refer to the Mede’s warfare against and overthrow of historical Babylon. The common dominator is God’s use of earthly warfare. Can you see the relevance of this, my reader? Behold the diversity of the harmony and consider the implications!

The pastime, inferior, and in-complete fulfillment God’s judgment upon historical Babylon was by the Medes and Persians (“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them…” – Isa. 13:17; Jer. 50:18, 51:11, 28). The future, superior, and complete ful-fillment of God’s judgment upon Spiritual Babylon will be by Christ’s Army via the 2nd Advent of Christ (Jer. 51:19-24, 2 Thess. 1:7-10, Isa. 66:15-16, Zeph. 3:8).

For, according to Jeremiah 51:25-29, the great destroying mountain is the nation of historical Babylon, and it, like the “great millstone” of Revelation 18:21, shall be thrown down from heaven (from whence she was mounted - Jer. 51:53, Isa. 13:2, Gen. 11:4; Lam. 2:1) and burnt with fire (Jer. 51:25), which means that it will be destroyed, and the divine command was given that a trumpet would be blown to declare, standardize, prepare, and call together the earthly nations that God did use to do this (Jer. 51:27-29; “as in heaven, so in earth” – Lk. 11:2), whose armies (and the horses therein) were like “rough caterpillers” (Jer. 51:27). The fact that this mountain is at last cast into the sea confirms all the words of God spoken by Jeremiah (Jer. 51:63-64), and with all the words of God spoken before and fulfilled, the complete description would be: “a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea(Rev. 8:8)!

The analogous terms used to describe the destruction of historical Babylon, seen above, can be lawfully used for Spiritual Babylon’s destruction of other nations (World War III), and vice versa, for they all refer to the same mechanism of destruction via the divine use of earthly warfare. I say again, the common denominator is God’s use of earthly warfare. In other words, speaking in reference to the divine tutorial of old, the Day of the LORD’s visitation upon other nations through Babylon is like unto the Day of the LORD’s visitation upon Babylon through the Medes and Persians (the likeness being how the analogous terms point to the same act of God’s judgment via earthly warfare), therefore there is no transgression in how God uses the analogous terms from both (compounded together) to describe the Day of the LORD’s visitation upon other nations through Spiritual Babylon in the Book of Revelation. In other words, and in conclusion, the analogous terms are understandably interchangeable to describe the divine use of earthly warfare no matter who destroys who.