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This passage is
little commented upon.
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Remember the
discussion we had during the Sixth Seal?
Sun, moon and stars (following Joseph’s dream) are supposed to be
kings and authorities. So we may begin
by stating that the symbolic side of this must be the fall of a third of the
kings, etc.. to which this applies.
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Note also that we
explicitly mention not only the stars, etc.. but also the light. Light is seen symbolically as the light of
God (“God is Light” said John -- remember in our preliminary study?}. Darkness, the lack of light, is a plague,
as it was to the Egyptians.
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There are some
interesting parallels. The point of
the plagues in Egypt was to warn Pharaoh;
the point of these trumpets is to warn men (which is probably why the
damage is partial).
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Another parallel
concerns the fact that this is the fourth trumpet. Recall that in Genesis the fourth day
saw the creation of the sun and
moon; the fourth trumpet sees a third
destroyed. Make of it what you will.
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The literalists
(notably Lindsey, as usual) hold this to be nuclear in nature (or volcanic,
Smith). Talbot and others place this
as a moral darkness.
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The Historicist
approach sees this in the start of the Dark Ages. The Latin Roman Empire (or “Western
Empire”) was finally destroyed from within.
A minor German tribe, the Heruli, under their king Odoacer. demanded
one third of the lands of Italy in payment for their services in keeping out
the (other) northern barbarians. This
was refused. Odoacer then entered
Rome, deposed the emperor and abolished the Senate -- effectively ending the
Roman Empire in the west. In its last
act, the Senate petitioned the Eastern emperor, Zeno, to accept
Odoacer as his viceroy for the west (the actual title was “patrician.”) Zeno did so, and the proud city of Rome
ceased to be independent. Thus began what
classic historians call The Dark Ages.
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