Revelation 8:1-5--The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

Revelation 8:1-5
English Standard Version

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 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, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 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.

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We have discussed seals one through six, but remember that there were seven seals.  Revelation has seven vials/bowls (depending on your translation) within the seven trumpets that are within the seven seals, so the seventh seal is not a plague within itself, but the beginning of another set of judgments.  When the seventh seal was opened, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour (not very long in comparison to all eternity, but much more than the "moment of silence" that we give in some instances today) as everyone anticipated what the breaking of the final seal could mean for heaven and earth.  Then, seven angels with seven trumpets (these are probably ram's horn trumpets like those carried before the Ark of the Covenant into battle like in Joshua chapter 6.  These priests would march out ahead of the Ark of the Covenant and the people of the Lord in Battle and lead them in worship and show the enemy that the LORD went before them in battle so that their vanguard was not made of soldiers and horsemen and charioteers, but priests armed with nothing other than a trumpet and their voices as they led the people to worship and the walls of Jericho fell down as the people sang praises to God.  A similar situation is about to happen here--we are about to have the equivalent of marching around the city in silences for six days and then on the seventh day (the seventh trumpet), swift destruction is coming.

This is also probably to remind us of the Feast of Trumpets which is the first day of the Seventh Month --a day of rest unto the LORD when no work was to be done other than the trumpets were to be blown in celebration and thanks to the LORD.  Sacrifices were to be made to the LORD to honor Him and to look forward to the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths that all took place in this seventh month--the holiest of months, for the entire seventh month belonged to the LORD in the same way that the seventh day belongs to the LORD.  These trumpets are a time of celebration and thanksgiving for the people of God, but they are the sound of judgment and destruction for the people of the world that have refused the one only Way of salvation that has been provided for them.

Another angle comes forth and stands next to the Golden Altar (the Altar of Incense where the prayers of the saints have been offered by Jesus, our Great High Priest).  The prayers of the martyrs that we saw in chapter 6 during the Fifth Seal are now going to be answered as hot coals from the Altar of Incense are going to be thrown on the Earth.  This was accompanied by thunder and lightning, earthquakes, and other inexplicable rumblings as creation responds to this time of judgment that has come.  No one is going to miss these judgments as they are widespread and catastrophic in nature.  The world will instantly go from a place of feeling safe and secure under the false peace that Antichrist promised to a place of shared scarcity where the whole world will lack food, water, and the means of transportation to conduct international trade in today's global markets.  There is nothing any country can do today to escape these judgments.  It is not like the days of Joseph when the LORD told him that there would be seven "fat" years followed by seven "lean" years and that he needed to store up during the years of plenty to have enough for the lean years.  These judgments are only going to lead to even worse judgments that will be nearly complete in their destruction--only God's remnant will survive those final judgments.