Revelation 8:13 sounds a solemn warning before the remaining trumpets. God’s warning reveals the reality of judgment, the continuing invitation of grace, and the urgency of responding today by turning to the Lamb in repentance and faith.
By Paul Zhang
Revelation 8:13 (KJV) — “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”
Text note: The Chinese manuscript follows the Chinese Union Version wording “eagle” in Revelation 8:13, while the KJV quotation above reads “angel.” The sermon’s Chinese wording is preserved as approved, and the English Scripture quotation follows the site’s KJV policy.
God’s warnings grow louder because the opportunity for repentance is increasingly precious.
The real question is not how great the disaster is, but whether my heart is still willing to repent after God warns me again and again.
Brothers and sisters, when we reach this point in Revelation 8, the scene suddenly pauses.
The first four trumpets have already sounded.
The first trumpet—the earth is struck;
The second trumpet—the sea is struck;
The third trumpet—the rivers and springs become bitter;
The fourth trumpet—the sun, moon, and stars lose part of their light.
In the previous sermon, we saw this:
God shakes what we depend on so that we will seek again the Kingdom that cannot be shaken.
We might expect the fifth angel to sound his trumpet immediately.
But he does not.
John suddenly looks up.
He sees an eagle flying “in the midst of heaven.”
The Greek word here, mesouranēma, refers to the high point of the sky, the zenith—a very conspicuous place in Revelation. It is not hiding in a valley or whispering in a corner. It is flying high in the sky and crying out with a loud voice:
“Woe! Woe! Woe!”
It is as though the whole world is forced to stop and listen.
In the Old Testament, the eagle carries rich imagery. In Exodus 19:4, God says, “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (KJV).
But in the prophets, a swiftly flying eagle can also become an image of approaching judgment (Deuteronomy 28:49; Hosea 8:1; Habakkuk 1:8).
So the picture in Revelation 8:13 is very serious:
Judgment is drawing near, yet the warning is still sounding.
This verse is like a huge warning sign that God sets up on the road of history before the fifth trumpet sounds:
Stop!
Wake up!
Turn back!
“Woe! Woe! Woe!”
Why three times in a row?
Because three angels still remain to sound their trumpets, and these final three trumpets therefore become the “three woes.”
The first four trumpets primarily strike the created order.
The disasters that follow will fall more directly upon “the inhabiters of the earth.”
The judgment in Revelation is intensifying.
This reminds us of a truth that is very easy to neglect today:
God is loving,
and He is also holy;
God is full of mercy,
and He is also just.
We love to hear, “God so loved the world.”
Amen.
But the God who loves the world is also the God who judges sin.
If God never judges evil, then what about the cries of those suffering saints beneath the altar in Revelation 6?
They asked:
Revelation 6:10 (KJV) — “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
God’s judgment means this:
Evil will not have the last word in history.
Violence will not.
Injustice will not.
Death will not.
And Satan certainly will not.
At this point, we cannot stop with:
“God will judge, so you should be afraid.”
Because the center of Revelation is not disaster.
It is:
The Lamb.
Revelation 5 has already shown us that the One standing in the midst of the throne is:
“a Lamb as it had been slain.”
Why is the gospel so precious?
Because Scripture tells us:
1 Peter 2:24 (KJV) — “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
And it also says:
Romans 8:1 (KJV) — “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
So the cross tells us two things:
Sin is more serious than we imagine—so serious that Christ had to give His life for sin.
At the same time:
Grace is greater than we imagine—so great that sinners can be forgiven because of Christ.
Therefore, when we hear:
“Woe! Woe! Woe!”
we do not run away from God in despair.
We run all the more quickly:
to the Lamb.
Because the warning is not meant to block the road home.
Before the final judgment comes,
it is calling us to hurry home.
Here is a very important question:
If God only intends to destroy,
why does He warn us beforehand?
If judgment were already completely finished,
there would be no need for trumpets.
If there were no longer any possibility of turning back,
there would be no need for the eagle to cry out in the sky.
Yet God allows the trumpets to sound one after another.
This tells us:
Judgment is drawing near, but God is still warning.
And the warning itself is a form of mercy.
Do you remember the number that repeatedly appeared in the first four trumpets?
“One-third.”
One-third of the earth.
One-third of the sea.
One-third of the rivers.
One-third of the sun, moon, and stars.
Not all of it.
This does not mean the judgment is not serious.
On the contrary, the judgment is already very serious.
But it is still:
limited.
The final judgment has not yet come.
So the first four trumpets are both judgment
and an alarm bell.
2 Peter 3:9 tells us:
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV) — “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
It is like driving down the road and seeing a huge sign ahead:
DANGER — ROAD CLOSED AHEAD
Why is that sign there?
Not because someone hates you.
It is there because someone knows:
If you keep going, something terrible will happen.
The very existence of the warning means there is still an opportunity to turn around.
So:
God’s warning is not the opposite of grace.
The warning itself may also be a form of grace.
When God’s Word pierces us,
when the Holy Spirit rebukes us,
when circumstances wake us up,
when a sermon points out a problem in our lives,
we should not immediately resist.
Sometimes we think:
“Why does God keep reminding me?”
Perhaps what we should really be thankful for is this:
God is still reminding you.
The truly frightening thing is not that God speaks.
The truly frightening thing is that
our hearts have become so hard that:
God speaks, and we no longer care.
This brings us to the most important question in Revelation 8:13.
It is not:
Has God warned us?
It is:
Have I responded?
This verse is the bridge from chapter 8 into chapter 9.
The fifth trumpet sounds.
The sixth trumpet sounds.
The disasters become increasingly severe.
But when we reach Revelation 9:20, John writes a shocking sentence:
Revelation 9:20 (KJV) — “And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands...”
Notice this:
The circumstances have been shaken,
but the human heart has not been shaken.
The earth was shaken.
The sea was shaken.
The waters became bitter.
The light grew dark.
The trumpets sounded.
The eagle also cried out with a loud voice.
And yet:
people still did not repent.
This is what is truly frightening about Revelation 8–9.
The first time we hear God’s Word,
perhaps we weep.
The second time we hear it,
our hearts may still be moved.
The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time...
If every time we say:
“I’ll deal with it later.”
gradually,
we may hear the same words
and no longer feel anything.
So a person’s greatest spiritual danger
is not necessarily:
never having heard the truth.
Sometimes the greater danger is:
hearing a great deal of truth, yet becoming increasingly accustomed to not responding to it.
Listening to a sermon every week
does not necessarily mean that your life is changing.
Attending Bible study
does not necessarily mean that you are obeying.
Knowing a great deal of Scripture
does not necessarily mean that your heart is soft.
James says:
James 1:22 (KJV) — “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
So the real question today is not:
“Did I understand this sermon?”
It is:
“How am I going to respond to what God has said to me today?”
Perhaps God has been reminding you for a long time:
There is a sin you need to leave behind.
There is a relationship that needs reconciliation.
There is someone you need to forgive.
There is someone who needs the gospel, and you need to speak.
There is a way of life that needs to change.
There is a spiritual habit that needs to be rebuilt.
But we always say:
“Later.”
When I am less busy.
When the children are grown.
When my career is stable.
When I retire.
Someday...
But Revelation 8:13 cries out like that eagle flying high in the sky:
Do not wait any longer.
Brothers and sisters,
today’s message is not meant to send us away from church in fear.
Quite the opposite.
God placed Revelation 8:13 here
not to make us despair,
but to call us:
to turn back while we can still hear the warning.
Repentance is not God’s way of humiliating sinners.
Repentance is the road home that God has opened for sinners.
You do not need to get yourself all cleaned up before you come back.
You do not need to prove first that you are good enough.
You do not need to repair everything in your past before you return.
What you need to do is:
turn around.
Come back to the Lamb who gave His life for you.
In Revelation,
the God upon the throne sends judgment;
but standing in the midst of the throne
is also:
the Lamb who was slain.
So today:
The trumpets have not finished sounding.
The warning is still sounding.
The gospel is still being proclaimed.
The invitation of grace is still going out.
If the Holy Spirit brings a sin to your mind today,
do not delay any longer.
If He brings to mind someone you need to forgive,
do not delay any longer.
If He brings to mind an area of your life that needs to be surrendered to God again,
do not delay any longer.
Not because you should panic because you do not know what will happen tomorrow,
but because:
today, the Lamb is still calling you to come home.
Revelation 8 ends this way:
Verses 1–6:
Heaven is silent—God hears the prayers of the saints.
Verses 7–12:
The world is shaken—God shakes humanity’s false sense of security.
Verse 13:
The warning sounds—God calls people to repent.
Chapter 9 will then press the question to its sharpest point:
God has warned again and again.
Why do people still refuse to repent?
So today, do not ask only:
“What exactly are the three woes?”
First ask:
“Is my heart still soft?”
Do not only study when the final trumpets will sound.
First ask:
“Have I heard God’s voice today?”
Do not wait for the next warning.
Come to the Lamb today.
Because:
God’s warnings grow louder,
and the opportunity for repentance is increasingly precious;
and while the door of grace is still open,
the wisest response is not to keep delaying, but to turn and take refuge in the Lamb.
Lord, I have heard You.
I am willing to turn back.
Amen.
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