Now, the seven trumpets. This is bad stuff. All sorts of plagues and judgments, and even so, John writes: “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood . . . nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (9:20,21). It’s pretty amazing, but not unexpected if someone reads the Bible carefully, that people refused to turn from their sins even in the face of all these judgments.
In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 1, the Lord spoke through the prophet and asked, “What more can I do? I have disciplined Israel from head to toe, but still she does not repent.” From the New Testament and from history many other examples can be given. It’s all a testimony to the hardness of the human heart; so hard that only a gracious work of God’s Spirit can break it and soften it. And how graciously he has done so in our hearts and so many others. And, so, we sing and we pray, “Thank you, Lord for not leaving us alone in our wickedness and hardness of heart.”
When judgment day is drawing nigh,
Where shall I be?
When God the works of men shall try,
Where shall I be?
When east and west the fire shall roll,
Where shall I be?
How will it be with my poor soul;
Where shall I be?
Oh, where shall I be when the first trumpet sounds,
Oh, where shall I be when it sounds so loud?
When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead?
Oh, where shall I be when it sounds? --Charles Price Jones (19th century)