Revelation 8

1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

I have heard that this is strong evidence that “preachers and women may not make it to Heaven…”

There exact reasoning for the silence is not clear maybe people are in awe of standing in the presence of God or perhaps they are caught up in the scrolls being opened…whatever the reasoning one thing is for sure, “Heaven is quite.”

Remember there are seven seals total, six of which we cover two weeks ago with the seventh being exposed tonight in chapter 8.

The seventh seal is the seven trumpets

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.

The seven trumpets held by the seven angels are used to announce war, worship and judgment .

While the angel with the golden censer offered incense and the prayers of vengeance from the tribulation saints to the Lord

These trumpets of judgment begin here in Chapter 8 and extend to Chapter 11 .

During The tribulation: 5 of the 10 Egyptian plagues are duplicated. This plague is like the 7th plague found in Exodus 9: with Hail, fire, and blood.

There is no reason to interpret these verses as anything but literal.

Jesus walked on water, the apostles raised the dead , Jonah was swallowed by a fish.

The supernatural phenomena of the OT and Apostolic times will once again be on display during the tribulation.

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.

The first trumpet of judgment is sounded in verses 6-7: Hail , fire and blood.

This event will destroy much of the plant life on the earth. Vegetative resources will be greatly diminished.

The words of the Prophet Joel are being fulfilled:

2:30-31 - “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

8 Then 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.

Verses 8 & 9 describe to us “something like a great mountain” - Not a literal burning mountain but the closest example given to John was it was like a burning mountain.

The water will turn to blood and as a result - 1/3 of all sea life will die!

This judgment corresponds to the text below:

Exodus 7:19–21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ” Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

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.

Verses 10-11 explain that a cosmic event will contribute to 1/3 of earth’s potable or drinking water to become poisonous .

The word Wormwood is mentioned only here in the New Testament, but it appears eight times in the Old Testament, each time associated with bitterness, poison and death.

Humanity may not know the star as Wormwood but in biblical times Wormwood was a well-known bitter, poisonous herb, the contents of which will fall into a third of earth’s drinkable water and make it poisonous.

Just think if drinking water is unavailable to 1/3 of the earth’s population, it’s easy to see how chaos and terror will result.

UNICEF, or the United Nations Children’s Fund estimate that 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to safely managed water services.

Do the math: 2.2 Billion people/ 0.33 = approx. 733 million people

The human body can only go a few days without water . To give you an idea of how catastrophic that will be: 3.4 million people died of covid in 2020. It is possible that this 733 million people could die within a week

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.

This part of the seventh seal seems to be a recurrence of the 6th seal which we read about in Rev 6:12-14

Revelation 6:12–14 - When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

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!”

Verse 13 tells of an angelic judgment that is spoken upon the earth… he cries with a loud voice and acknowledges before men that God is pouring out his wrath on an unrepentant world.

The fifth, sixth and seventh trumpets of judgement will be sounded in the next couple of chapters. They are referred to as the “3 woes .”

5th Trumpet (Woe) - demonic locusts that will prey upon the unsaved

6th Trumpet (Woe) - Release of the four angels bound at bottom of Euphrates River.

7th Trumpet (Woe) - Are the seven bowls of God’s Wrath. The Lord is about to wrap things up!

I am so grateful that we live in the age of grace. God is long-suffering with us but there will come a day when He says enough is enough and on that day He will bring His righteous judgment!