of this to say: we are to see these—yes, triply—complete judgments as the deepest desire of the oppressed for justice. The specific judgments in the seals, trumpets, and shallow bowls are common tropes recognizable by those who have studied the Old Testament. Think of them as graphic images similar to those we see in John Milton’s Paradise Lost or J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or even science fiction. Think of them then not so much as literal events that God will cast forth onto the world but as rhetorical displays of warning for the dragon and comfort for the oppressed.
