CHAPTER 8

Revelation 8:1

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

Seventh Seal: When the 7th Seal is opened there is a striking, awesome silence throughout Heaven for about a half an hour possibly signifying the anticipation that those in Heaven have for the events soon to unfold. What a sharp contrast from the shouts of praise and off the multitudes worshipping before the throne and the joyous sounds that echoed throughout Heaven that we read about in the previous chapters. Some believe it is brought about by the reality of what has already happened and at the judgments that were soon to come and God once again extending His Grace and mercy and giving man the opportunity to ponder his fate and to repent for God is not willing that any should die in sin. A half of an hour is a long time to think.

Ezekiel 18:23

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? asks the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their evil ways and live?

Ezekiel 33:11

'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their evil ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die,

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Revelation 8:2

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets.

This Seventh Seal is actually the releasing of the 'Seven Trumpet' judgments by the Seven Angels, these could possibly be the Seven Angels represented by the Seven Stars we read about in Chapter 1: 20. The Seven Seals where opened by the Lamb but these Trumpets are sounded, blown by the Angels signifying the disastrous events that are about to happen.

Revelation 8:3-5

3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.

4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints went up before God from the angel's hand.

5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Before they could blow the Trumpets another angel appears holding a golden censer in his hand filled with special incense along with the prayers of all the Saints that are before the throne of God. He offers this incense and the prayers of the Saints up to God. After this the angel fills the censer with fire from the alter of God and hurls it down upon the earth which causes much lightening and thunder followed by an earthquake. We need to remind ourselves once again that what has already been seen and what is about to be seen is being witnessed by a man from the 1st Century who has been transported miraculously into the 20th Century. We will now read how God will use mans own destructive weapons of mass destruction to bring upon himself a terrible holocaust as described by John.

Revelation 8:6

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

Again we are reminded of the patience and mercy of God by the delays in the sounding of the Trumpets. As the Seven Angels prepare to blow their Trumpets man has the opportunity to turn around, to repent and ask for God's mercy and forgiveness from the coming judgments which will occur in shorter intervals and with increased severity and at this point there will be no turning back of God's awesome wrath.

Revelation 8:7

The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The first trumpet: What is to follow has been called the, 'The Judgment of Global Thirds' for one third of the earth s essential assets are completely obliterated, the earth itself, the trees and the grass. We today have seen a preview of this with the devastating fires raging out of control around the country destroying everything in its path, now multiply this scenario many times over and happening all over the world at the same time and we get a small idea of what is going to happen. Then we have to think of what this is going to do to an already severely strained world food and water supply. Farm crops, cattle, cows, milk, sheep, goats, etc will be killed or destroyed by mans own devices, we are talking literal destruction brought about by Nuclear war, Radiation fallout and the pollution from all of this, the consequences are enormous and mind-boggling, never before has such destruction been witnessed by man and it will never be seen again.

Revelation 8:8-9

8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,

9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Second Trumpet: We need to remember that John is describing what he sees in terminology that is familiar to him and he is not saying it is an actual mountain but a blazing mass as large as or like a mountain to him. He could be actually describing an enormous meteor falling to earth such as scientists are warning us could happen. Icarus is a small asteroid only 1mile in diameter and then there is Ceres, which is 480 miles in diameter. Or he could be describing an attack of Hydrogen or Thermonuclear bombs exploding under or on the oceans caused by nuclear powered submarines patrolling the oceans of the world armed with and capable of launching ICBM's from under the water with devastating results. The USA and Russia alone have over 100 of these nuclear powered submarines and many other nations such as N. Korea and Iran are in an arms race to obtain these weapons of mass-destruction. We can be sure that what he is seeing is literally happening, whether supernaturally or by man and what has happened is a third of every creature in the sea is destroyed and the ships sailing the seas are destroyed also.

Revelation 8:10-11

10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky 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 turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

The third Trumpet is blown and John describes what he sees as a great star falling from heaven burning like a torch as it falls and it pollutes a third of all the fresh water on the earth and he names this star Wormwood for whatever it touches becomes unpleasant and bitter. Many people around the world die from drinking this polluted water. Again there is only speculation as to what this great star represents from Johns description. It could refer to an enormous meteor or asteroid which when they do enter the earth's atmosphere are trailed by tails of fire and possibly breaking up and scattering over the earth's surface and impacting the earth with devastating results. Greek word for star is Aster, we get Asteroid But it could also be the result of the MIRV's we spoke of previously, fired into the air on the top of ICBM's and re-entering the earth's atmosphere with tails of fire trailing behind them. These weapons could be armed with biological chemicals which many nations have already developed and could very easily poison the earth's water supply. Something we need to think about.

Revelation 8:12

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

Fourth trumpet: The sounding of this Trumpet causes at least one third of the light earth receives from the sun and moon to be blocked out and this plague will cause the day to be in absolute darkness for one third of the time. We can understand from what we have read so far how this can happen. Combine the results of nuclear explosions that fill the earth's atmosphere with all kinds of debris (nuclear winter) with the enormous volume of smoke coming from the burning of one third of the earth's trees and grass and it is not hard to envision the moon, sun and stars losing a third of their light. The impact of this added to the other disasters will be more than men have ever encountered in the past, with food and water resources already strained and millions already starving along with the weather patterns drastically altered and the air filled with radiation, all this in such a short period of time, mankind will not be able to cope with it. These four judgments reveal the severity and the scope of God's judgments as He assaults the subsistence that man depends on to live. This is not a complete destruction on man's domain, these are partial judgments and God is still giving man the opportunity to repent and yet they will not turn to the only source of hope available, the same hope that has always been there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 8:13

And I looked, and I heard an Angel who was flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the Trumpets of the three Angels who are about to sound!"

John now sees an Angel flying through the air crying out in a loud voice warning of three more Woes yet to come upon mankind. It was a warning to those left on planet earth that it is going to get drastically worse with the blowing of the next three Trumpets for one third of all the God-rejecting, God defying humanity will die in the period covered by the three Trumpets. These final three Woes should be considered by mankind as a solemn and final warning from God, but the indication is that man will not heed these warnings. The first Four Trumpets were directed mainly at the earth's environment, nature, the final Three Trumpets, the Three Woes, will be directed towards man himself and will speak of Hell in terms of the demonic and presents the great final, all encompassing judgment, which will affect all of mankind.