The Seventh Seal and the First Trumpet

Rev 8:1. With the breaking of “the seventh seal” the book is fully open. That means that the time of the end has come, for it was said to Daniel of this book that he had to seal it until the end time (Dan 12:4; 9). That means that the time has come that many prophetically announced events will be fulfilled. With a view to that a dead silence arises in heaven. It is the calm before the storm, a silence in which everything and everyone holds their breath in anticipation of what is about to happen.

That there is mention of “about half an hour” seems to be a symbolic indication for a very short period of time. It is presumably the period in which happens what John sees in the Rev 8:2-4. In the following verses the first trumpet judgments are executed.

It is also possible that the “silence in heaven” of half an hour shows something of the mercy of God. God is slow to anger. He doesn’t like to judge, it is an unusual act of His (Isa 28:21; Lam 3:33). The judgments under the sixth seal have not led to repentance. Following that, another half hour is waited. When there is no sign of repentance to be noticed, God must act, which implies that the judgments burst forth under the trumpets.

Rev 8:2. While there is, most likely, a dead silence in heaven, during that silence preparations are made for the trumpet judgments. John sees “the seven angels stand before God”. That seems to indicate that it is about seven specific angels, the seven angels, who are in an exceptionally privileged position, before God. These seven angels with their seven trumpets form together the judgment of the seventh seal.

Each of them receives a trumpet. No one else than the Lord Jesus will have given them those trumpets. That there is mention of “trumpets” here, means that God speaks with a loud voice through the judgments which are being poured out at the sounding of each trumpet. A trumpet which is sounded is a command for attention.

Rev 8:3. Then “another angel” comes. That again is no one but the Lord Jesus (cf. Rev 10:1; Rev 18:1), for only He is able to give strength to the prayers of the saints. He came and “stood at the altar”. An altar is an offering place where offerings are brought to God. At the end of this verse it is said that it is a “golden altar” and that it is “before the throne”. The offering place bears the mark of Divine glory, of which the gold speaks. The offering which is offered here to God, is not a bloody offering, but consists of “the prayers of all the saints”. Of prayers, you read that they are compared to incense (Psa 141:2). Each sincere prayer is pleasing to God and will be answered by Him.

Because it is about the prayers of ‘all’ the saints, it is nice to consider that at that very moment the prayers will be answered which through the ages have been sent up to heaven by all the saints. It concerns the prayers of the believers who do not belong to the church. That becomes clear from the fact that these prayers are not connected with the throne of grace, but with the throne of judgment.

In the time of the great tribulation the saints cry out to the ‘God of vengeance’ (Psa 94:1) to come into action. They ask of Him to judge the wicked, from which they will be redeemed. This is again a proof that the church is not on earth anymore, for we are told to pray for those who persecute us and to bless them and not to curse them (Mt 5:44; Acts 7:60).

Each prayer only gets its full value to God because the Lord Jesus has a golden censer with much incense in it. The purpose of it is also described: “That he might add it to the prayers of all the saints.” No one but He is able to give strength to the prayers of all the saints (cf. Rev 5:8). He is the true High Priest. Everything you offer to God is only pleasing to God through Him (Heb 13:15; 1Pet 2:5).

‘Incense’ represents the personal glories of the Lord Jesus, which became visible in His life on earth and His dying on the cross. Thinking especially of prayer, you read of Him that His whole life on earth was ‘prayer’ (Psa 109:4b). His life was also thereby a sweet incense to God.

Rev 8:4. Everything the Lord Jesus is as a Man to God ascends together with the prayers of the saints to God. It says so characteristically “before God out the angel’s hand”. In this way the involvement of the Lord Jesus with the prayer of the saints is presented greater than when the incense would ascend to heaven from the altar.

Rev 8:5. When the censer is empty, when the prayers have reached their destination, the Angel returns to the altar with the empty censer. He fills the censer with the fire of the altar which He then throws to the earth. Here you see that the Lord Jesus gives, as it were, the starting signal for the judgments. When fire is thrown to the earth, we observe impressive accompanying signals occur.

1. The “peals of thunders” make clear that God speaks through the judgments.
2. “Sounds” are no rumbling noises at a distance, but terrible deafening blows that make everything shake.
3. “Flashes of lightning” put everything in the light and are blinding.
4. “An earthquake” causes that the earth suddenly is ripped open under the feet and every hold is taken away.

The fire is taken from the burnt offering altar on which it burns ceaselessly. The burnt offering altar is the place where the burnt offering is consumed by fire, for the benefit of those who are reconciled and sanctified by it. That same fire is also used to consume those who have no part in the burnt offering. That the fire is put into the censer first, indicates that the following judgments are connected with the prayers of the saints and in that way are the answers to those prayers. It is all symbolic language to make clear the exercise of these judgments.

Rev 8:6. Then it is the angels’ turn to carry out their duty. They prepare themselves to sound the trumpets that were given to them. A trumpet announces judgment, but it also serves as a warning signal, so that people will flee the announced judgment (Eze 33:2-4). The destruction and siege of Jericho was also preceded by the blowing of trumpets (Jos 6:4). This will also happen when the judgments and the taking possession of the earth will come to pass.

As is often the case, here also the number seven can be divided into four and three. Just as the first four seals form a whole, so do the first four trumpets. These four relate to creation, divided according to the four major domains: 1. the earth, 2. the sea, 3. the rivers and springs of waters, and 4. the sun, the moon and the stars. However, it does not yet concern the whole world, for there is constant mention of “the third part” in the following verses.

Rev 8:7. When the first angel sounds, “hail and fire, mixed with blood … were thrown to the earth”. “Hail” is a judging power that comes from heaven (Rev 11:19; Rev 16:21; Exo 9:23-24; Isa 28:2; Eze 38:22). “Fire” is God's consuming judgment (Rev 20:10; Lk 16:24). “Blood”, separated from the body, speaks of death (Rev 16:3). The fact that hail and fire are mingled with blood therefore means that those judgments will result in death.

The fire does its work and consumes the world wherever there is still a certain order of government, that is “the earth”. Arrogant powers, represented by “the trees” (Dan 4:19-27), will be consumed, as is all prosperity, represented by “all the green grass” (Isa 15:6). Grass represents both Israel (Isa 40:7) and all of humanity (1Pet 1:24). That it mentions the green grass, seems to emphasize that it concerns man in his prosperity.

In this verse “burned up” occurs three times. It is a verb that indicates ‘completely burned up’. It is about being burned to the ground. Although I prefer a symbolic explanation of this trumpet judgment, it is not unthinkable that this judgment is to be taken literally. It seems difficult to me to consider a literal event in connection to each trumpet judgment. I would like you to ponder on that yourself, without letting your fantasy run free. Of course that also applies to me. Therefore you need to read even more carefully what I propose to you as a possible explanation.

“A third part of the earth” means that the judgments will strike a limited territory and not the whole earth. It has all the appearances that this “third part” regards to the nominal Christian part, the false Christianity, which probably refers to the restored Roman empire or the united Europe. That is my opinion, because in this part of the world the light of the gospel has shone most clearly. That makes the responsibility of the people who live here greater than that of other people. And God always begins with His judgment with those who are most responsible (cf. 1Pet 4:17; Lev 10:3).

Now read Revelation 8:1-7 again.

Reflection: What does the power that the Angel gives to the prayers of the saints consist of?

The Second, Third and Fourth Trumpet

Rev 8:8. When the second angel sounds the trumpet, something like “a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea”. After the earth also the sea will be the object of judgment. The sea represents the disordered world (Isa 17:12; Isa 57:20), countries where revolution and anarchy are in control, in contrast to the earth of Rev 8:7. Great powers go down in it, while other powers come out of it.

The great mountain, or anyway something which reminds us of that, is a symbol of a strong worldly power (Jer 51:25; Isa 2:2; Dan 2:35; cf. Psa 46:2). This is not the restored Roman empire, for that will not go down in the sea of nations, but will arise from it (Rev 13:1). Some interpreters refer to the United States. This great power is burning with fire. It is an object of God's wrath.

Rev 8:9. The fall of this burning, great power sows death and destruction in the midst of a third part of the nations. The third part of the inhabitants of these nations will die. The fall of the great power also causes the destruction of “the third of the ships”. That may mean that parts of trade and communication will be paralyzed, preventing, for example, relief supplies from more distant countries.

Rev 8:10. At the sounding of the third angel “a great star fell from heaven”. As with the first two trumpets, there is fire. Only it is not that much about a consuming fire here, but about something that burns “like a torch”. The effect is also similar to the previous trumpets, for here too many die (Rev 8:11). However, there is still a difference. The cause of death is not fire, but wormwood caused by this star.

The star is a symbol of a ruler that must radiate heavenly light (Rev 1:20). You may think of a great person with authority or a religious powerful system, probably someone who or something that impresses people, in the expectation that he or it will supply religious leadership to the (western) world. This star is not thrown as it was in the previous verses, but falls from heaven (Isa 14:12). It will burn like a torch and in that way it is an imitation of the seven Spirits of God (Rev 4:5). That leads to the thought that with this star it is about a spiritual power. The Spirit of God spreads the truth; this star spreads lies and destruction, doctrines of demons (1Tim 4:1).

The star falls on “a third of the rivers and on the springs of water”. “Rivers” represent the normal life of a nation which is characterized by certain principles. “Springs” refer more to the influences that are based on the principles. In the symbolism of this description you may say that this star causes the destruction of spiritual springs instead of giving wholesome heavenly light.

After the two domains of life (earth and sea) are struck by the previous trumpets, now the springs of life that determine the quality of life are struck. You recognize this if you for instance look at marriage and family. Marriage and family are given by God as a spring of happiness. When this is separated from God, it becomes a spring of unhappiness. Or: the womb is a spring of life, but separated from God life is being killed there, so that it is now a great place of murder. That's what makes life bitter.

Rev 8:11. Wormwood represents bitterness (Pro 5:4). That's what this ruler causes to those who are within his reach. All who think they can lavish themselves on him will find that they have drunk death. The water is not only bitter, but it also appears to be poisonous. Dying is not the bodily death, but the moral death, that is, that there is no connection anymore with what God has given concerning the good things in creation. Therefore there is no possibility to enjoy those things anymore. Life becomes all bitterness and embitterment. As a believer, then, you must be very careful not to become embittered from whatever cause (Heb 12:15). Embitterment strangles life in yourself and also in others.

Rev 8:12. The trumpet judgments step by step deprive people of life and deliver them to the powers and forces of death. The fourth angel sounds. Thereby the celestial bodies are affected which are set to give light on the earth (Gen 1:14-19). The punishment of this judgment is the removal of light. In that way another spring of life is struck, for without light life cannot grow and flourish.

Of sun and moon it is said that they ‘rule’ (Gen 1:16). Stars serve to give us orientation. These celestial bodies refer to the whole system of government in all its parts, from the highest authority to its lowest forms. These light bearers, authority figures in different layers, will be partly, “a third”, clothed in darkness. That takes any orientation they might provide away from them, both in daytime and during the night.

Rev 8:13. After the fourth trumpet has sounded John sees and hears “an eagle flying in midheaven”. An eagle is the symbol of the speed with which the judgment is exercised. It sees its prey from a far distance and dives at a high speed to catch it. The eagle flies “in midheaven”, so that it can be seen and heard by everyone on earth. It announces the judgment of the remaining three trumpets.

Because of fierceness of these three trumpets the eagle cries out a threefold “woe”. This threefold ‘woe’ corresponds to the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet. As a result, the last three trumpets also form a whole. The three coming trumpet judgments or woes do not so much affect the circumstances in which people are, as has been often the case up to now, but they now strike the people themselves. They ae no longer indirect judgments.

These people are referred to as “those who dwell on the earth”. In the book of Revelation this expression always refers those who feel themselves at home on earth and live only for that. For them, nothing else exists. God has no place in their thinking and life. Therefore they will be judged with the earth, which they love that much and to which they attached their fate. Believers do not ‘dwell’ on the earth, but they are pilgrims there. Their home is heaven (Phil 3:20).

The judgments that follow are terrible, with those of the third woe, which includes the seven bowls, being the very worst. The first ‘woe’ comes on the unsealed Jews, the second ‘woe’ afflicts Christless Christianity.

Now read Revelation 8:8-13 again.

Reflection: What is all affected by judgments in this section?