The Fourth Trumpet: Darkness

"The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!' " (Revelation 8:12,13 - New American Standard)

I believe that the forth trumpet will sound around the beginning of the fifth year of the Tribulation. By this time, the volcanic ash will be so thick in the atmosphere that there will be total darkness where it is overhead. In these areas, it will be as if the sun, moon and stars do not exist.

In verse thirteen, most Greek texts have the word for eagle. Others have the word for angel. Regardless, the meaning is clear. The last three trumpets will usher in disasters worse than the first four. On the basis of this verse, these last trumpets are called the Three Woes. Mankind might think at this point of the Tribulation that he has survived the worst that could possibly happen; if so, he would be wrong.