THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 8 – The 7 Trumpets
Episode 10
(These Episodes are meant to not only ask and answer the questions, “When, Why, How and What?”, but also the question, “SO WHAT?”)
Revelation chapter eight begins with the conclusion of the Seal Judgments with the breaking of the Seventh Seal and the ‘interlude’ seen in chapter seven. Then a strange thing occurs: “there was silence in heaven for about an hour”.
The Book of The Revelation – Chapter 8 – The Text
Revelation 8:1, When He (the Lamb) broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Verse 2. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven, [footnote ‘a], trumpets were given to them.
Commentary break: Scripture does not specify the reasons for this silence, but if it is kept in context of what has already occurred, it is doubtless, an ominous sign and a deafening hush.
Here are some possibilities for the silence in heaven of half an hour. (from Got Questions website):
1) The silence in heaven for the space of half an hour is a sign of deep respect and awe in the presence of the Judge of all the earth. Just as earthly courtrooms demand silence when the judge is presiding, so does the heavenly courtroom. “Be silent before the Sovereign LORD, for the day of the LORD is near” (Zephaniah 1:7). “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
2) The half-hour silence in heaven is the result of somber reflection on what has just been revealed. When Jesus Christ breaks the seventh seal, the scroll of God’s judgment is fully revealed for the first time. Now all heaven can see God’s plan to judge the wickedness of the earth, destroy the kingdom of the beast, and set things right. All heaven remains silent as God’s righteousness is on display. At the sight of full scroll and all the judgments about to fall, the denizens of heaven take their cue from Job, who, faced with God’s awesome presence, said, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth” (Job 40:4).
3) The silence in heaven is due to the severity of the actions the Lord God is about to take. With the scroll fully open, heaven can now see the trumpet judgments (in the next verse, seven nearby angels are handed seven trumpets of judgment, Revelation 8:2) and the bowl judgments (which the seventh trumpet introduces). These judgments are more terrible than anything the world will have ever seen (Mark 13:19–20). The final catastrophes are about to befall the earth, and silence and stillness fill the time of tense expectation. “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused Himself from his holy dwelling” (Zechariah 2:13, ESV).
In a way, the silence in heaven could be seen as the calm before the storm—the storm of final judgment coming upon the earth. The silence emphasizes the importance and impressiveness of the seventh and final seal. With the opening of the seventh seal comes a climax in the Day of the Lord. Evil has had its day; now the Lord will have His. (End of Commentary break).
Verse 3. Another angel came’ and stood at the altar. He had a golden, [footnote ‘b’], censer, and much, [footnote ‘c’], incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints (God’s people) on the golden altar in front of the throne. Verse 4. And the smoke and fragrant aroma of the incense, with the prayers of the saints (God’s people), ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Verse 5. So the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder and loud rumblings and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Commentary break: Verses 3 through 5 are ripe with significant symbolism. Please use the “footnote links” for details. However, for the imaginative mind, just read these verses as God’s opening salvos of the final war. It would be as if God were ‘softening up’ the front lines of the enemy’s forces, in preparation for His final assault and the absolute victory over the Dragon and the Beasts of the earth,
(a.) In Revelation 13, John sees a nightmarish vision of a dragon and two beasts.
The first Beast comes out of the sea and receives power from the dragon, or Satan. This beast is a true monstrosity: “It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion” (Revelation 13:1–2). Daniel’s vision of the beast is similar in many ways to John’s (Daniel 7:7–8, 19–27). Studying both Daniel and Revelation in tandem is profitable.
In Revelation, the term beast refers to two related entities.
(a .) Sometimes “the beast” refers to the end-times’ empire. The seven heads and ten horns indicate that the beast will be a coalition of nations that rises to power to subdue the earth under Satan’s control.
(b .) Later references to “the beast” in Revelation picture an individual, the man who is the political leader and head of the beastly empire.
The beast will receive a deadly wound and be healed of it (Revelation 13:3). He will exert authority over the whole world and demand worship (verses 7 and 8). He will wage war against God’s people, and he will prevail against them for a time (Revelation 13:7; Daniel 7:21). However, the beast’s time is short: according to Revelation 13:5 and Daniel 7:25, he will only be permitted absolute authority for forty-two months, (which are the three-and-a-half years that make up the second half of the Great Tribulation, also known as The Wrath of the Lamb. This will commence at or after the 6th Trumpet Judgment and will conclude at the end of the 7th Bowl Judgment.)
We believe that the beast in Revelation is the Antichrist, the one who will “oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He is also called “the man of lawlessness” and “the man doomed to destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). In Daniel’s vision, the Antichrist is the “little horn” that rises from the head of the terrifying beast (Daniel 7:8). (End Commentary break).
Verse 6. Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them [initiating the judgments].
Verse 7. The first [angel] sounded [his trumpet], and there was [a storm of] hail and fire, mixed with blood, and it was hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Verse 8. The second angel sounded [his trumpet], and something like a great mountain blazing with fire was hurled into the sea; and a third of the sea was turned to blood; verse 9, and a third of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Verse 10. The third angel sounded [his trumpet], and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch [flashing across the sky], and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of [fresh] waters. Verse 11. The name of the star is [footnote ‘d’], Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters, because they had become bitter (toxic).
Verse 12. Then the fourth angel sounded [his trumpet], 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 a third of the daylight would not shine, and the night in the same way [would not shine].
Verse 13. Then I looked, and I heard a solitary eagle flying in, [footnote ‘e’], mid-heaven [for all to see], saying with a loud voice, “[footnote ‘f’], Woe, woe, woe [great wrath is coming] to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpets which the three angels are about to sound [announcing ever greater judgments]!”
It is clear from the final verses of this chapter, that another intensification of God’s Judgments, the likes of which the world has never been seen before, and never will again, are about to occur. These final Trumpet Judgments and the Bowl Judgments will serve, according to the context of the Greek language, as ‘a sundering, and a separation of right from wrong’, and the ‘Righteous from the Unrighteous’.
God’s ‘beach head’ has been, is being and will be established and the final assault for a complete destruction of the enemy force, is coming.
NEXT: THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 9 – The Abyss & The Army of the East – Episode 11.
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
PREVIOUS: The Book of The Revelation – Chapter 7 – Episode NINE
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