The sun smitten--(the fourth trumpet)--8:12-13. “ And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. 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!” 1. The sun, moon and stars: The blackout of the sun, the moon, and the stars, the darkness of the day and even the denseness of the night are the signs of the stark distress and pall of gloom descriptive of the fourth stroke of the trumpets, in the darkness that settled over the Jewish state and nation. The four trumpets have sounded a cycle of judgments, land, sea, rivers and luminaries, a complete sphere of symbols, envisioning descending distress and tribulation, suffering and sorrow, in signs comparable to the calamities of the seals in the symbols of earthquakes, famine, pestilence and carnage. All of these visions announced with profound proclamations of the trumpet symbols that the time of these terrors was at hand. 2. Angel flying midst heaven: Here is an angel differing from all others of the visions before this scene. This flying angel was the imagery of the eagle, and flying “ in the midst of heaven,” was symbolic of a swift messenger of warning to the existing powers of the quickly coming calamities. 3. Saying with a loud voice. The voice of this angel was loud, not in sound, but in meaning--a great voice, a portentous message of immediate importance, revealing its imperative character. The angelic voice vibrated with the intonations of woe--“ woe, woe, woe” --in awful refrain to enhance the gravity of the pronouncements. 4. Other voices . . . yet to come. It was “ by reason” of three trumpet pronouncements to follow that the flying angel called his woes. The fearful plagues of the four trumpets that had sounded were only a start in the succeeding terrors. The “ other voices” were the messages of the angels of the remaining trumpets “ yet to come,” which was the “ reason” for the flying eagle of woe. In the series of seven trumpets, four had sounded, three remained. The woes of “ the other voices” of the three angels and trumpets “ yet to sound,” in their respective turns, held forebodings “ to the inhabiters of the earth” beyond all that had been theretofore depicted. The “ inhabiters of the earth,” does not mean all the people in the world. The “ earth” has been defined as the place of the powers to which reference is made and is limited by such reference. Accordingly it sometimes denotes the place of the Jewish powers only, but in other instances both the Jewish and the Roman powers, as the context of the attending signs and pronouncements show. Until now the visions have surrounded Jerusalem, Judaism and the Jews, and the seals and trumpets have revealed and signaled the events that betoken the “ end of the world” to them-the Jewish world-the destruction of their state. This is undoubtedly the significance of the expression “ end of the world” in Matthew 24:3. On this point Mark records that four of the disciples (Peter, James, John and Andrew) asked Jesus privately, “ Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled” (Mark 13:3-4). In the threefold account of the same event, the end of the Jewish world, and the attending signs, Matthew, Mark and Luke join in saying the generation to whom he was speaking should not pass “ till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34); and “ till all these things be done” (Mark 13:30); and “ till all be fulfilled” (Luke 21:32). It is noteworthy that the three inspired narrators emphasize all the things set forth in the signs would reach their fulfillment in that generation. Matthew lends even greater force to the already unequivocal statements by his statement in chapter 23:33, “ Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” By no manner of means can such forthright language be circumvented. Men may talk and write about it but they can neither write nor talk around it. It is so with the opening of the seals and the sounding of the trumpets, the relation to the destruction of Jerusalem, the demolition of the temple, the downfall of Judaism, and the end of the Jewish state is too evident to be controverted. With the “ loud voice” of the flying angel, therefore, alerting the “ inhabiters of the earth,” the Jewish world, to the crescendo of woes in the “ other voices” of the trumpets of the three angels “ yet to come” --the vision increases in the forebodings of what was characterized as “ men’ s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” (Luke 21:26) In the grim contemplation of eventualities the hearts of men would fail. And of those very indescribable occurrences, in the successive events connected with the siege and desolation of Jerusalem, there is indisputable evidence to sustain their historicity.