Now we come to the seventh seal. Remember that the seals are not part of the scroll. They only bind it and keep it together. So the seal judgments that we have seen and will see tonight are events that happen before the end time itself. So, thus far, we are still before the Great Tribulation.
When the seventh seal is broken, we seen three preparations for judgment.
1. A shattering silence.
2. The instruments of judgment.
3. The signs of the coming judgment begin upon earth.
READ v. 1. Here is that shattering silence. A young man told a preacher one time, “Did you know that there won’t be any women in heaven?” The preacher said he had never heard of that and asked if he had any Scripture to back it up. He said, “Yes. The Bible says that there is going to be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. If there were any women there, there couldn’t be any silence for that long!”
So the seventh seal is opened and there is silence. This was the silence of awe and of reverence before God. So when the seventh seal is opened, nothing happens. Christ stands there in silence.
READ 2 – 4. We first see 7 angels with 7 trumpets. Picture this scene:
- Picture the heavenly host surrounding the throne of God.
- Picture all the spectacular scenes, horror, and suffering that have been witnessed.
- Picture the breaking of the seventh seal and the stone silence for 30 minutes.
- Then bursting into view are 7 mighty angels taking their place before the throne of God. Picture them standing there tall and broad. The power they possess is clearly seen in their very persons.
What significance do these trumpets have? William Barclay gives us something to think about. He gives three reasons for the blowing of a trumpet.
1. It can sound the alarm. It can waken from sleep or warn of danger. And God is always sounding His warnings in the ears of men.
2. It can be the fanfare which announces the arrival of royalty. It is a fitting symbol to express the invasion of time by the King of eternity.
3. It can be the summons to battle. And God is always summoning His people to take sides in the strife of truth with falsehood, and to become soldiers of the King of kings.
So that is the first instrument of judgment, the seven trumpets.
The second instrument of judgment is the prayers of all the saints or believers. Notice that these are the prayers of all the saints. Some were in heaven and some were still on earth. We have already seen in chapter 7 how million will be killed and persecuted.
The point is that the day is coming when God is going to answer the prayers of His people. All who have rebelled against Jesus will be judged. All his followers who suffered so much at the hands of a godless society are going to have their prayers heard and answered.
READ 5. Now we see the signs of the coming judgment upon earth. The angel takes the fire from the altar and mixes it with the prayers of the suffering saints. They are mixed together to be cast upon the earth. The justice of God will strike out in wrath against the ungodly and evil of the earth.
And when this fire and prayers hits the earth, the millions still on earth will know something terrible is about to happen because there are violent thunderstorms and earthquakes. The great tribulation is now being launched.
READ 6 & 7. Now the silence is over. The prayers of the saints have been heard. The plagues here are not symbolic, they are literal. The first trumpet sounds and it begins to hail intermingled with fire and blood. We are reminded of one of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians in Exodus 9.
One-third of the earth will be destroyed. The crops and food supply for both man and animal will be destroyed. The agricultural cycle of seed formation will be interrupted and effect the ability to plant again. There will be a shortage of food. Dry, desert lands will result from the destruction of trees. One-third of the vegetation will be destroyed.
READ 8 & 9. The second trumpet sounds. Note the exact language used here. John doesn’t say a burning mountain but a great mass LIKE a burning mountain. This literal mass falls into the literal sea. The sea occupies most of the earth’s surface by the way.
One-third becomes literal blood, and one-third of all the literal living creatures in the literal sea die a literal death. No symbols here. On-third of the nations’ ships will be destroyed.
Now, we don’t know what this mass is and it doesn’t matter. John doesn’t tell us what it is. And the believers won’t be on earth to have to worry about it anyway. That is why we have an awesome responsibility to tell others of this saving knowledge that we have—so they won’t have to go through this tribulation. We can’t keep the judgment from coming to earth, but we can get the word out and reduce the population that will be left on the earth so that fewer people will go through that terrible time. By the way, in the creation, the sea and land were separated on the same day that the plants were created. These are the first two things of creation to be effected.
READ 10 & 11. The third trumpet sounds as a flaming star falls to the waters on earth and pollutes one-third of them. “Wormwood” is used throughout the Bible to represent the idolatry of Israel (Deut. 29:18), it’s used to represent calamity and sorrow, (Jer., Lam.) and it’s used to represent false judgment (Amos). This star is CALLED “Wormwood.”
This will be a literal star which is a meteor containing poison which contaminates one-third of the earth’s fresh water supply. The star’s name suggests that this is a judgment upon man for idolatry and injustice. Calamity and sorrow are the natural by products that will come to man because of this judgment.
READ 12. So we have seen the 1/3 of the vegetation destroyed, 1/3 of the sea, its creatures and ships destroyed, 1/3 of the fresh water destroyed, and now 1/3 of the light is destroyed. So the sun will not be seen for 1/3 of the day and the moon and stars will not be seen for 1/3 of the night.
The intensity of the light will be 1/3 of what it usually is. This will affect the laws of nature. It will effect the germination time, the growth time, and the harvest time. But it won’t stop. God said in Genesis 8:22, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
READ 13. After the fourth trumpet is sounded we see an announcement of woe and judgment that is coming on the earth. The last three trumpets are separated from the first four; they are the “woe trumpets.” The first 4 trumpets dealt with the elements of the earth. The last three will deal with the ungodly and evil. And the eagle says, “Woe to you who are left on the earth because you are about to experience the blowing of the last three trumpets which is even worse than the first four.
READ 1. A star falls from heaven. This star is a person. This time the word “star” is symbolic to represent the high position of this person. Who is he? First, he has “fallen.” That is past tense. It means that he was already fallen when God gave him the key to the bottomless pit.
Christ said that He saw Satan fall from heaven. (Luke 10:18) So Scripture gives us a glimpse into the fall of Satan. He apparently was the highest arch angel created by God. But when Satan began to look at himself and choose to go his own way, God cast Satan out of heaven. He is given the key to the bottomless pit, the Abyss, the place where Scripture says the demons and devils are kept.
So this fallen star appears to be Satan. Presently Jesus Christ has the keys to the bottomless pit. But in the great tribulation, He hands them to Satan and allows him to afflict the earth with his demons.
READ 2. The pit is opened. Smoke comes out and darkens the earth. The darkness of the underworld will attack the ungodly. They will have the breath of life suffocated out of them by trouble after trouble. They will experience horror after horror rising out of the bottomless pit.
READ 3-6. The antichrist is alive and well. Governments are insisting that the people bow to them as the great provider and protector. This is happening today by the way. 1/3 of the plants, the sea, the fresh water and the light have been destroyed. Now, we hear the 5th trumpet sound. The plague it brings is demonic-like locust plague on the ungodly and evil of the earth. These are some ugly grasshoppers. They will have the power of scorpions. The scorpion stings with its tail. The sting doesn’t kill but causes agonizing pain. These locusts will not damage nature. They are to afflict only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They won’t kill the people; only torture them for 5 months. The people will be in such agony that they will beg to die, but they won’t die.
READ 7-10. We are given 8 detailed descriptions of these monsters.
1. They are like horses. This could mean that they will be larger than the average size locusts. And they are prepared for battle.
2. They will have heads that look like they are crowned with gold. They will have authority to afflict men.
3. Faces of men. Symbolizing the determination and intelligence of men.
4. Hair like hair of women. Beauty to seduce and ensnare, to help them seem innocent and harmless at first.
5. Teeth like a lion. Devouring, fierce, ferocious, cruel.
6. Breastplates like iron. People will be helpless in killing them.
7. Wings that sound like many chariots rushing into battle.
8. Stinging tails like scorpions.
READ 11. These locusts will have a king. 4 things are said:
1. He is an angel. A creature of enormous beauty and strength.
2. He is the angel of the Abyss, a fallen angel.
3. He is the king, the ruler over the Abyss. He rules over the power of darkness.
4. He has both a Greek and a Hebrew name. The Hebrew name, Abaddon means destruction. The Greek name, Apollyon means destroyer.
Who is this fallen angel? It either has to be Satan or one of his commanding angels.
We stop here for tonight. But let’s end it with this thought.
The enemy of man is the spiritual force that lies behind this world—a force that the Bible calls Satan. We only deceive ourselves if we don’t cast ourselves upon the power and salvation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus delivers us from the grip of this evil force and person who leads us into evil and dooms us to death. Jesus has defeated Satan in order to deliver us from the grip of Satan and his power of sin and death.
It is most important that we tell the world.
