SEVEN SEALS (6)

SEVEN TRUMPETS

SILENCE IN HEAVEN

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. – Revelation 8:1.

Recap: The opening of the 6th Seal triggers the Rapture and the Day of The Lord, the time at which God will pour out His wrath on the unbelieving world. Revelation chapter 6 ends with the powerful people of the world fully understanding that the cataclysmic global earthquake and events of the 6th seal are of divine origin.

OPENING OF THE SEVENTH SEAL

REVELATION 8:10-13

KING JAMES VERSION (KJV) 

10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

Fourth Trumpet

12 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.

13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! 

"Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation."– Zechariah 2:13.

As soon as each of the first six seals was opened, John either "saw" something or "heard" something, or both. When the seventh seal was opened, however, he saw nothing and heard nothing for about half an hour.

The silence is total. It is said to be in heaven (v. 1) only because heaven has been the scene of all that John has just heard and seen in Chapter 7:9-17. 

The silence in Heaven is a sign of God’s impending devastating judgment. When a people or nation or even the world is so far gone into rebellion against God with no repentance, The Lord removes His Holy people and allows for a period of 'silence', right before His judgements are unleashed onto the world. How can this be? 

The silence is broken by a great dispense of noise, peals of thunder, rumblings . . . an earthquake (v. 5) and the blasts of seven trumpets, argues for the second of these alternatives.

The altar, traditionally the place of God's mercy, ironically becomes here the very source of divine judgment. When the angel pours fire on the earth, John says, there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake (v. 5). Such details echo the scene in heaven before the Lamb appeared, when "from the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder" (4:5). Wonders that John saw in heaven now make their appearance on the earth, framing the account of the seven-sealed scroll and the opening of its seals, and suggesting that the series is now at an end.

It is possible that these phenomena are intended to introduce the new sequence of seven angels blowing their trumpets, a sequence that will end in much the same way in 11:19: "And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm" (compare also the end of the sequence of seven bowls, 16:18). 

The great "storm" is under control in heaven because it comes from the very throne of God, but when the angel unleashes it on earth, it brings only turmoil and chaos. The terrible toll of the fire from the altar and the resulting thunder, lightning and earthquake (v. 5) are set forth sequentially in the next four chapters, as the seven angels introduced in verse 2 begin to blow their trumpets.

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre o

Fine & Performing Arts

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