The Seventh Seal is Opened

Rev 8

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

Silence for a half an hour? This is the quiet time of the tribulation, the first half hour I believe represents the 1st half of the tribulation which is 3.5 years of peace, then things get tough. To support my statement here is another verse from Revelation:

Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

The beast and His Kings will rule for one hour, AKA The Tribulation time, so the silence in Heaven for the Half hour is the same period of time, (3.5 years on earth), as the peaceful portion of the Tribulation.

2) And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 3) And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4) And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. 5) And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 6) And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The Half hour of silence has been fulfilled, now for the second half hour, when all hell breaks loose on earth. With the censer being cast to the earth, the half hour of silence is finished and the seven angels with seven trumpets are preparing to sound. These are the wrath of God being poured out on those remaining who have received the mark of the beast. In later studies, we will also see the seven vials of Gods wrath which are poured out, one by one, and these also coincide with the sounding of the angels.

Rev 8:7-13 Now the trumpets are about to sound. Gods wrath is being poured out upon those remaining, who stubbornly refused to heed any of the warnings or events that have taken place. Our Father has sent his prophets, His Son, and now witnesses and messengers who warn of things to come, yet most of the people of the world still refuse to believe, so now His wrath is come. To guess or take stabs at what each of these events are actually caused by, is nothing more than mere speculation, but when it happens it should be clear. Perhaps this first trump is a war, and for this reason people do not see Gods involvement in what is happening. God is subtle, He does not give a sign to a wicked and evil generation, (to borrow from Christs own words), but He accurately describes and details history. He gives us prophecies to verify His word and the choice to believe or not to believe.

Rev 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The first half, the peaceful half of the Tribulation is now over. This first trump is the Cavalry call. Again, no one can detail for sure what is happening here, it could be a war. Remember, John is seeing the future, he is seeing things that were not even in the wildest imagination of that day and age. If he saw a massive war similar to what we saw from Vietnam, and seeing the images I've seen of the napalm attacks, had I not known of aircraft and missles, or anything more scientific than a pack mule, how would I describe it? However, this does not mean this is a war, but I'm inclined to believe so. The Devil along with man have tried to establish a peaceful world without Christ and this just cannot happen. So is this the beginning of receiving what they've sown?

 8) And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; 9) And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

Remember the angel that took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it to the earth? Is this is? Is it a meteorite? An iron meteorite could certainly turn water red as it oxidizes and it could scatter iron duest over thousands of miles as it penetrates the atmosphere. Then again, it could be a spiritual fire which causes man to react, or it could be a totally supernatural event. Use your imagination, but don't write anything in stone. God and Satan are both full of surprises.

 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. 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.

I put both these trumpets together because they could be related. Supernatural or man made? It could be a nuclear holocaust that causes radio active contamination on rivers and streams, and possibly even springs. It could cause these events both directly and as an aftermath, (like verse 12).

 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!

This verse confused me at first, because in Biblical time, they would not say the most woeful or the woefullist, if they said it once, it meant woe, if they said it twice it meant 'really, I mean it, more than just a woe', and the most woeful of all, (to the degree of Gods Holiness), it is the absolute woefullest. Jesus often said, 'verily, verily', or 'truly, truly' to let the people know that in the realm of truths, this is greater than what you know as truth. Coming from Jesus, that is REALLY deep in truth. In Isaiah 6, the Holiness of God is taken to the 3^rd degree, which by the way, is the only atribute of God that is taken to the third degree. Sorry, just wanted to mention that one. Anyway, necause of this I wasn't sure if it was a woe for each trump or three woes for each trump. As we move on, it is defined to us as one woe for each trump, however the last trump could truly be considered for all those lost souls when the final trump sounds.

If anyone tells you they know what each of these events are caused by, I would question it thuroughly. However, you can use your imagination and select some possibillities. Some of the events could be natural, some could be man made, some could be descriptive of future man made weapons of war, or they could be creatures from the depths of Hell. I believe that only the father knows what each of these events are, but when they happen they will match the descriptive verses. Still, we can use our creative thinking to explore possibilities, remembering the power of God Himself could explain everything.

Next: Woe, Woe, Woe, The Last Three Trumps
(Coming Soon)

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