B. The Second Trumpet (8:8-9)
B. THE SECOND TRUMPET (8:8-9)
8. In response to the second angel’s trumpet comes something which is not described exactly. It is not a burning mountain but like one (‘what I can only call a great mountain’, Barclay). As with the previous phenomena it is not said who threw it into the sea. We must understand once more that it is a divine visitation, but that the precise agent is unimportant. Whereas the first trumpet had been concerned with the land this one deals rather with the sea, of which a third became blood. This may be meant to remind us of Exodus 7:20-21. Indeed the plagues of Egypt are recalled by quite a few expressions in this part of the book. We are perhaps meant also to remember the words of the psalmist: ‘Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea’ (Ps. 46:2). The throwing down of mountains is indeed a terror to the wicked. But God’s people have nothing to fear from God’s judgments on the godless.
9. Whatever it was that happened in the waters destroyed a third of all marine life. This is not pollution of water on a grand scale because a third of the ships were destroyed. John is not describing natural happenings but a divine intervention.