Friday Morning Manna
The Fourth of the Seven Trumpets: What the ‘smiting of the third part of the sun, moon, and stars’ mean
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.” Revelation 8: 12, K.J.V.
“The sun, moon, and stars have been interpreted to represent the great luminaries of the Western Roman government—its emperors, senators, and consuls. With the extinction of Western Rome in A.D. 476, the last of the emperors ceased to reign. Later its senate and consulship came to an end.” Elucidating on the seven trumpets, specifically the fourth, Uriah Smith, in his book Daniel and the Revelation, quotes at least three historians–Gibbon, Keith, and Elliott, whose individual works share the same interpretation of the trumpets. We read: