1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Chapter 7 was an interlude. At the end of Chapter 6, the question was posed, Rev 6:17 “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Chapter 7 answers that question in an interlude for the world to be given an opportunity to repent and turn to Christ for salvation. God sends 144,000 evangelists, each from the tribe of Israel to minister to the world.
Now as we enter chapter 8, the full fury of the day of the Lord has begun with the opening of the seventh and final seal of the scroll, which is the title deed to the universe. The first 6 seals were somewhat simple. They were opened and an event took place. Now the seventh seal is opened, and it leads to an unveiling of 14 more judgments: 7 trumpets and 7 bowls.
Many commentators believe the opening of the 7 seals ushers in the second half of the tribulation period, known as the Great Tribulation. The seventh seal is opened. You have seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet is blown, you have seven bowls. And so they really – the last fourteen judgments, bowls and trumpets, are contained within that final seal.
Verse 1 is a continuance of the scene in Heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ standing in the throne room, having been given the scroll. The first thing it tells us is that when Jesus breaks the seal, there is silence in heaven for 1 half-hour.
Now the first thing you should remember is that John’s description of heaven is that it is a place of continual, non-stop, day and night worship:
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. (Revelation 4:8–10)
At the opening of the Seventh Seal, everything stops in heaven.
It’s kind of an interesting turn of events when you think about it. Mankind has often complained about the silence of God when in reality God has never stopped speaking. Now, heaven is truly silent.
23 And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:23–24)
It’s interesting that John measures the time in his vision experience as about half an hour. Absolute silence in that large crowd of innumerable angels running into the millions, absolute dead silence for half an hour would seem like an eternity. The margin of suspenseful expectancy seems to us brief, but it must have seemed to him very long. Some have even suggested that it is a brief half-hour for a few more on earth to repent before the next wave of judgment hits, a brief half-hour of agonizing suspense. So when the Lamb opens the last seal, all of those in heaven know what it means. It means the end has come. The final judgment is about to be unleashed. There are no more seals.
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. (Zephaniah 1:7)
Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling. (Zechariah 2:13)
Rev 8:2 “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” These angels have been worshiping God since the time of their creation. Now, remember, the angels are divided into all kinds of ranks and orders. The New Testament talks about angels who are powers. There are varying ranks and orders of angels, dependent on God’s purpose and design as He created them.
And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. (Luke 1:19)
These seven angels are given seven trumpets. Trumpets have interesting and important functions in Scripture. They were used by God to tear down the wall of Jericho
3 You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. 4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” (Joshua 6:3–5)
To Sound the alarm: Num 10:9 “And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies.”
It was also used to signal the beginning of religious feasts, Trumpets are used to assemble the people, to announce great convocations, or celebrations. Trumpets are used to introduce kings and as a call to worship. It is the trumpet that will prelude the rapture of the church.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)
Here in the book of Revelation trumpets are primarily used to announce judgment. But also, along with announcing judgment, as these angels will blow their trumpets and judgment will fall. Trumpets in the book of Revelation are also used to hail the fall of Babylon and they were used in ancient times to hail the fall of cities.
So these seven angels hold seven trumpets and each of them when blown will unleash a specific judgment. Verse 6 tells us, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.” They’re prepared to sound at the command of the Lord.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. (Revelation 8:3–4)
Here’s another angel. He’s standing at the altar and holding a golden censer which would be on some kind of a rope or a chain, and much incense is given to him that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. You have two altars there. And that was how it was in the temple in the tabernacle of old, you had the brazen altar, and then you had the altar of incense. The brazen altar was used to fire the coals to burn the sacrifices for sin. And the altar of incense was where you poured the incense, and the fragrance of the incense arose representing the prayers of the people.
The prayers of Christians are certain to be received and answered by God. This is the point of the incense that the angel mixed with the censer of prayers to offer before God. The function of the incense was to make the prayers sweet-smelling in God’s presence. The mediator between our prayers and God is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (1 Timothy 2:5)
This is why non-Christians often ask believers they know to pray for them since they sense their own lack of access to heaven.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The silence is broken. Here comes a divine firestorm. What is an amazing connection here is that the censer in the angel’s hand is inextricably linked to the prayers of those people. Because where did the angel get the fire? He went in there with the added incense and the flaming coals and put it in, mixed it in with all the prayers already going on, and then when it got all mixed together, he then reached in and took some out and put it in his censer. And what the Scripture is saying is that the final holocaust of judgment that is hurdled at the earth in the seventh seal is in direct response to the – to the prayers of God’s people.
Do you remember from the fifth seal the prayers of those who were hidden under the altar in heaven?
They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10)
Do you ever wonder if prayer is effective? It is in response to the prayers of God’s people that this judgment will fall. How amazing that the prayers of the saints become the fiery comets that strike the earth followed by peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
That leads us to the 7 Trumpets
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. 12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:6–13)
As we approach the events just described, remember that all of heaven is absolutely silent. all of the hosts of heaven gathered around the throne of God see what is written on the scroll that is unrolled, they are stunned into silence. And after a brief period of silence, then the action begins. What is described in that final seventh seal encompasses seven trumpet judgments and seven bowl judgments.
These should remind us of Exodus and the plagues that came upon Egypt. If we are to interpret the book of Revelation properly it is vital we understand the Old Testament. Most of the judgments that are described here are similar to the plagues of Egypt. God has done this before. It’s the same story. In the book of Exodus, it was local but now it’s not just in Egypt, it’s all around the world.
These are frightening, terrifying, foreboding judgments. It’s little wonder that heaven itself is stunned into stillness. I think that all of heaven is in awe of what must happen in creation for sin to be expelled. The result of one act of disobedience in the garden has brought heaven and earth to the point that the hosts in heaven are in stunned awe at this somber and grievous moment.
There is furthermore a clear parallel between the trumpets blasted in Revelation 8 and the horsemen of the four seals opened in chapter 6. The four horsemen unleashed warfare, violence, famine, and death, and the first four trumpets likewise unleash destructive forces on the earth. The seals and the trumpets follow the same progression: the first four seals are opened and trumpets are sounded, followed by two more, an interlude, and then the final seal and final trumpet, which depict the coming of Christ to judge.
What we just read in these seven verses are the first four trumpets. They’re brief and straightforward. The first four take seven verses the last three take fifty verses. The first four are all related. They are not to be taken symbolically; they are to be taken literally.
Henry Morris, the scientist writes, “It is possible that worldwide volcanic explosions would be a normal consequence of a worldwide violent earthquake. The masses of water vapor blown skyward might well condense in the intense updraft as hailstones and showers of burning lava might well be cast upon the earth. The blood of entrapped men and animals might be mingled with them, or possibly showers of liquid water drops might be so contaminated with dust and gases as to appear blood red.” And so verse 7 says, “Hail and fire mixed with blood, and they were all thrown to the earth.”
Look at the result: 1/3 of the earth was burned up. A blazing fire that’s going to burn one-third of the world. Then a third of the trees were burned up. The earth’s forests are going to be devastated, the grass is burned up, and the crops are too. The devastation will result in the loss of wood for construction, the loss of watershed for protection, the massive death of animals, and crops totally devastated, which provide food for animals which people eat as well, food directly used by us. The earth becomes devastated and the globe is scorched.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)
Look at the second trumpet which deals with the sea. It says “something like a great mountain,” burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A meteorite or asteroid will come out of the sky like a massive mountain, crashing into the ocean, just what scientists now fear, a massive rock is going to be steered right at the earth by the force of God’s power. The fiery explosions that are going on, and the gases around it are going to set off smoke which blankets the sun and the moon with a reddish color that makes everything look like blood.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. (Joel 2:30)
Again, Dr. Henry Morris writes, “The ability to turn water into blood either by filling it with the actual blood of dead animals, or more likely by transforming it chemically or biochemically into blood-red water, poisoned by multitudes of dead microorganisms as red tides which occur in modern oceans in 1/3 of the sea.
The third angel sounds its trumpet and the imagery becomes even more vivid: “A great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter” (Rev. 8:10–11). Here, a star or flaming meteor falls onto the inland waters so as to poison a third of the streams, killing many people. The star shows the heavenly origin from God. Wormwood was a foul herb that made the water undrinkable and that the Bible associates with “bitterness” (Lam. 3:15, 19).
All of this is happening because men have rejected the gospel being preached. Contrast the poisonous water on the earth with the living water promised by Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, (John 4:13)
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (Revelation 21:6)
May I also contrast this judgment on the earth with the religion of environmentalism and climate change? Then the fourth trumpet sounds: Rev 8:12 “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.”
Now the attention moves away from the earth. There is almost a deconstruction of creation happening in contrast to the order of creation in Genesis 1.
They’re desperately trying to save their earth god. “The Great Reset is a creative industry movement to embed the positive environmental shifts that have happened during the lockdown as THE new normal.” (greatreset.org)
They’re desperately trying to preserve what is their only hope. Everybody is into “saving” the earth. And before they can come up with any solution, the fourth trumpet blows, and the sun, the moon, and the stars are reduced by a third. This, by the way, is temporary. We know that because over in chapter 16 when the bowl judgments fall, the sun is given the power to burn men with fire and to burn them with fierce heat.
25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (Luke 21:25–26)
And you ask, “Could anything be worse than this?”
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (Revelation 8:13)
The eagle’s warning of woe concludes a chapter that makes three things vividly clear. First, God is certain to judge sin in terrible ways. The unbelieving world may look at the kinds of judgments symbolized in this chapter and make critical comments regarding the God of the Bible. “What kind of God is this,” people scoff, “who wields fire against the earth and sea, who causes streams to be bitter, and casts the world under darkness?” The Bible’s answer directs us to a holy God who burns with wrath against the sins of mankind.
Second, the constant allusions to the exodus plagues of Egypt communicate to believers that God is determined to deliver his people from worldly oppression.
Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)
