After the Jews and gentiles (non Jews) who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and undergone the tribulation of atonement have been united in heaven, then the apocalyptic stuff starts up all over again with the trumpet judgements (Revelation chapters 8 and 9 ...

The apocalyptic fireworks begin in earnest with the seven trumpet judgments. From the context in which they take place, my guess is that they recount the details of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord from a Jewish perspective.

There is another lot of seven apocalyptic events that are similar – they are found in chapter 16 and are referred to as the seven bowls of wrath judgments.

They may well be describing the same events from a gentile (non-Jewish) perspective.

And while we are looking at the subtext of these apocalyptic passages, it is worth considering that the references to the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgments may well have some resonance with the plagues that God told Moses to send down on Egypt in Exodus chapters 7 through 11. It is not an identical sequence but a lot of the same examples of the excessive forces of nature occur.

The plagues of Egypt were a prelude to the redemption (Passover and baptism into Moses in the Red Sea) and atonement (forty years of wilderness wandering) of the people of Israel. Psalm 105 ties these plagues into the idea of covenant between God and Israel.

There are also some similarities with the account of Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land – check out chapter 10 of the book of Joshua. Both the accounts of Joshua and Moses include hail storms and rather unsettling accounts of the sun’s behaviour.