Warning Shots

Vs. 1-6: the seventh seal

So as we begin tonight we see the seventh seal on the scroll opened and the judgment of God begin. There is a few things to keep in mind here first judgment is from God, secondly we must see mercy in the midst of madness. He opened the final seal and before anything else could take place we see a deafening silence come upon heaven. Perspective. See silence is a perspective thing in that if I stayed here for 10 min and did not speak it would seem like an eternity. In this case heaven(which is never silent) goes completely silent for around 30 minutes. That is a big deal. Truth be told we most likely see here a calm before the storm a silence of reverence before God moves. Anticipation. - Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, For it is an evil time. We see so much evil that need to be moved by the judgement of God.

The New King James Version Psalm 37

7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him;

Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,

Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

After this silence we see that an angel with a golden censer is there to offer incense to the Lord from the altar. He offered it with the prayers of the people to make it acceptable to God. Pallet. Of course we know that this was a common practice that occured in the OT yet in the NT we don’t see it as often. What we know is that the smoke from the incense gave the people hope that God heard their prayers. We should stop for a moment and begin that discussion. We have to understand that God hears our prayers. When? When we are crying out to him, God is faithful to hear. At this point we see that the angel adds to the prayers some fire from the altar and then throws them to Earth. Upon impact we see that these prayers produce, thunder lightning and earthquakes. Power. Do we use that power? Are we standing in anticipation?

The New King James Version Chapter 5

13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time,

For it is an evil time.

For it is an evil time.

VS. 7: The first trumpet

So at this time we see the judgement begin the first trumpet led to fire and hail coming from heaven and burning up one third of all the vegetation on the Earth. These will mirror creation and the plagues and what we see here is that God has control over all the Earth.

VS. 8-9: The second trumpet

This trumpet affect the sea. Now in John’s time the sea always referred to the Mediterenean, however it could mean the seas in the world. A third of the sea become blood a third of the living creatures died and a third of the ships were destroyed, when something like a mountain fell into the sea. Now we see the difference in revelation between literal and figurative, the word like shows that it was not a mountain but he had no other way to describe it. Language is important, but what we see here is that no matter what fell into the sea the point is the same. Let’s not speculate.

VS. 10-11: The third trumpet

This one shows a star that fell called wormwood that made the water so bitter that anyone who drank it died. The bitterness. It is interesting to me that bitterness kills people and yet we are so willing to keep it.

VS. 12-13: The fourth trumpet:

Finally for tonight we see that the darkness begins to come as the sun and stars are destroyed by a third. That is incredible destruction that we have seen tonight and yet the worst is yet to come. That is why these were God’s warning shots. In other words we see judgment mingled with mercy. He could have just destroyed the world but He only destroyed one third. Mercy. Are we following the warning? Are we considering what God wants to do in our lives? God is bringing witnesses for the Earth but is first showing mercy, I love that about God that He warns us about judgment.