Book of Revelations
Notes
Transcript
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
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,
and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
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.
Silence in Heaven. Can you imagine so much awe and wonder that heaven is silenced. Angels worship day in and day out. The glory of God radiates, but then Silence upon opening the 7th seal.
There are several reasons theologians believe there was silence in Heaven that day:
The awe of God’s plan unfolding.
The wonder of what comes next
But I like to think it’s the somber moment of realizing the mass casualties that will be lost. Everyone is given a chance to come to God and everyone has the freedom of choice, but I can imagine the sorrow and finality of opening the 7th seal. Yes it had to happen, and we are glad it is happening, but for many this means the finality of death and judgement. This final seal is God’s final judgement on the Earth. As glorious as that is it’s also very saddening.
7 angels with 7 trumpets. 7 is the number of completion and trumpets—trumpets in the biblical day had 3 uses.
They called people together
They announced war
They announced special occasions.
I think we see all three being displayed here in the seventh seal. The coming together of Heaven as they witness the final days of the Earth. The announcement of War on the antichrist and the coming creation of the new Heaven and Earth.
The alter with a Golden Sensor-The sensor carried burned incense which often symbolized the prayers of God’s people.
Prayer of the Saints. We don’t believe there is a special group of people in God’s kingdom-This symbolizes all who were saved. The pray of the total number of Christians.
v5- this is interesting because typically the high priest would prepare the incense and the coals along with a blood sacrifice and bring them into the Holies of Holies for the forgiveness of sins.
However this time the coals are thrown to the Earth. We see this Illustrated in Ezekiel 10 and the coming judgement it brought upon Isreal. This would correspond with our current verse as Jesus is bring the final judgement upon the Earth in a statement that says: There isn’t atonement for your sins to be had.
This also shows the rule the prayer of God’s people plays in the judgement sent out. We are intricately woven into the unfolding of the plan of God. Everday. That’s why it’s important to pray and Jesus showing us how to Pray God’s will instead of our own.
Then we transition is v7. I love the way Warren Weirsbe sums up the seals.
The first four trumpets are natural in the way they affect the land. The saltwater, fresh water, and the Heavenly bodies. The fifth and sixth seal judgements involve demonic forces that torment then kill. The last seal creates a crisis among all nations of the world.
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 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.
A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
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.
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.
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.
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!”
The hail, fire, and blood remind us for the seventh plague against Egypt.
“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.
The target of this destruction in v7 is green vegetation source for all living creatures. The greek word for trees here means fruit trees.
v8-9- first plague in Egypt. Oceans occupy 3/4 of the worlds surface.
V10-11 Desolation of fresh water-removal of drinking water. Turned bitter. Wormwood-translates to English as Asinthe which is a popular liqueur drink which means undrinkable.
v12-removes 1/3 of the light from space.—this may be temporary because the fourth bowl will reverse the third. As the sun’s power will intensify Rev 16:8-9
V13-an eagle declairs the woes. This could possible be one of the seraphem that looks like an eagle or it may be a physical Eagle no one knows for sure.
To dwell on the Earth---means more than those who live on the earth. It techincally is speaking to those who live for the Earth-talking to those who aren’t God’s people.
and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.
And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,
their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth;
they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.
They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
