Rev 8:1-6
A Heavenly Hush
We are studying the events of the time period called "the
Tribulation." While we have no real time indicators, it would appear
that we are well into that seven year period by now. Some would
believe that we are already into the last half of the seven years and
while that is possible, I don’t see anything to indicate it from the
text itself.
By way of review, let me remind you that the first plagues we saw on
the earth fit into the category of what I call, Man on Man plagues.
These were judgments from God but were brought on mankind by
themselves.
(Chapter 6)
1. the great war (Seals 1 & 2)
2. famine (Seal 3)
3. death (Seal 4)
4. And even the resulting damnation was caused by man inflicting
himself with death. (Seal 4)
5. Christian persecution (Seal 5)
Then we moved into the judgments of Nature on Man. These are the
judgments in which the cosmos themselves seem to torture mankind.
6. An earthquake, the sun becoming black, the moon becoming red,
and the stars rolling up as a scroll (Seal 6). Although I
made mention of the fact that man has the ability to create
these effects, I will leave them in the category of Nature vs.
Man.
(Chapter 7)
7. God paused the judgments to seal 144,000 Jews who we believe will
be witnesses for Him and, although their ministry will be short,
will begin an evangelism effort which will result in an untold
number of souls coming to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
(Today, Chapter 8)
8. The opening verse of chapter 8 tells us the seventh seal on God’s
holy book, the one taken from right hand of the One who sat upon
the throne, is opened by the Lamb.
a. That seventh seal contains a seven part series of judgments.
(1) Each part of judgment is represented by the sounding of a
trumpet.
(2) So like when a seal was opened and a judgment occurred,
now a trumpet sounds and a judgment will occur.
(3) All seven of these trumpet make up the seventh seal.
b. The seventh trumpet will also begin a seven part series of
judgments represented by seven vials (bowls) being poured
upon the earth.
c. But included in the trumpets are also 7 thunders which I
believe will also be judgments.
d. In all, the seventh seal continue from 8:1-16:21.
I. What happens when the seventh seal is opened?
A. \\#8:1\\ There is silence in heaven.
1. The Bible tells us that there had been a pause in judgment
ON THE EARTH \\#Rev 7:3\\ for an undisclosed period,
but things in heaven continued.
2. Now, for the space of 1/2 hour, there is total silence in
heaven.
a. But the silence is deafening!
(1) \\#Rev 4:5\\ The lightnings, thunderings, and
voices from the throne stop.
(2) \\#Rev 4:8\\ The four beasts standing around the
throne which rest not from saying, "Holy, holy,
holy," stop.
(3) The angels, the elders, the sounds of those under
the altar, and the millions gathered in the
heavens all cease their praise and their talk.
(4) For 1/2 hour not a sound is made in heaven.
b. It is a sign of the anticipation of terrible judgment.
3. The time period given is specifically vague, about 1/2 an
hour.
a. What a strange time!
(1) Not an hour, not a day, but half an hour.
(2) Surely, something as specific as that must have a
purpose to it.
(3) Yet, I know of nothing in the Bible that relates
to "half-an-hour."
b. But there is something in Jewish tradition.
4. Israel was commanded to keep several holy days. One of
them is Yom Kippur.
a. On Yom Kippur, several sacrifices were required but
one was made for the sins of the entire nation, to
cover their sins for the past year.
b. The blood of that sacrifice was then carried by the
High Priest into the Holy of Holies to be sprinkled
on the Mercy Seat, but something was done before
that.
c. The High Priest would take holy fire from the brazen
altar in the courtyard and a handful of frankincense
and would enter into the Holy of Holies. There he
would pour his hot coals on the designated spot and
dump the frankincense onto it, creating a cloud of
sweet odor which filled Holy of Holies.
d. Once the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies,
the people standing outside would be so silent that
you could hear a pen drop for if God did not accept
the sacrifice, He might strike the High Priest down.
e. But if the Priest lived, he would back out to receive
the blood of the various sacrifices, one at a time,
and enter inside to sprinkle them.
("The Temple, It’s Ministry and Services," by Alfred Edersheim; WM.
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, Michigan, p.315)
f. The entire ceremony took ABOUT 30 minutes.
https://bannerministries.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/why-half-an-hours-
silence-in-heaven/
5. What we are reading here is very similar except for one
thing.
a. No one takes the hot coals into the temple!
b. Instead, the fire is poured out upon the earth.
c. What might that mean? It might mean that there wasn’t
to be a covering sacrifice! There wasn’t going to be
another Yom Kippur, but God was going to deal with the
sins of the planet, thus the fire is thrown down upon
it.
d. It is Judgment Day and so \\#5\\ voices, thunderings,
lightnings, and ANOTHER earthquake is released upon
the planet.
B. \\#8:2\\ The seven angels take up seven trumpets.
1. Apparently in the silence, the seven angels collect their
trumpets.
2. John uses the definite article "the" in referencing these
angels, but we do not. They have not been mentioned
before.
3. Although not mentioned, I believe we can add to the list
of beings and things around the throne, these seven
angels.
4. The list is getting long: the throne, a rainbow of light,
the 24 elders, the four creatures, the seven lamps of
fire, the sea of glass; AND NOW, the seven
angels which stand before the throne of God.
5. We have the name of one of them.
Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him,
I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God;
and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee
these glad tidings.
6. We have mentioned that as the angels each sound a
trumpet, another judgment will fall on the earth. They
will start sounding the trumpets in \\#Rev 8:6\\.
C. \\#8:3-5\\ Smoke that ascends to God.
1. I have already mentioned the cause of the smoke on Yom
Kippur.
a. It came from the frankincense being poured on the hot
coals.
b. That smoke represented the presence of God.
c. I take it that is what the smoke means here too.
2. But what of the incense \\#4\\?
a. \\#3\\ "Another" angel, like the others, comes to the
altar.
b. Here we see yet another item near the God’s heavenly
throne. It is the altar on which incense is burned.
(1) There were two altars in the Old Testament
Tabernacle and Temple.
(2) The brazen altar was outside in the courtyard of
the temple and was used to offer the many
sacrifices.
(3) However, inside the Holy Place, just outside the
Holy of Holies, stood the Altar of Incense.
(a) It was a gold covered altar.
(b) The only thing offered on this altar was
incense, like a scented candle only it was
a special blend of oils which had a
powerful odor while being burned.
3. Incense is the symbol of prayer.
4. The Holy of Holies had incense burring 24 hours a day to
demonstrate that the prayers of the saints are always
before God.
5. \\#8:3\\ Much incense is given to the angel to offer.
a. When he burns it, the smoke ascends to God.
b. This indicates that what is about to happen is to
fulfill the many prayers which have been offered up
to God.
c. As God never issues justice without love so God never
sacrifices justice for love. "Venganence is mine
saith the Lord!"
d. It is again time for the Avenger of the Saints to seek
their revenge. It is time that justice was done.
D. There is more that can be said but let’s move on.
II. What happens when the trumpets are blown? There will be seven of
them. Like the seals being opened, John merely records what he
sees without a lot of detail. And while I could spend some time
speculating how the seals might be fulfilled, I cannot offer
much relating to the trumpets. Why? Because while we have seen
war, famine, and death, we have never seen anything like what
happens when the trumpets are sounded.
A. \\#8:7\\ The First Trumpet
1. Hail and fire mingled with blood are cast to the earth.
a. Is that literal or just a figure?
(1) Unless there is a reason to think the language
is figurative, I will take it literally.
(2) When would there be a reason to think
figuratively?
Re 8:8 And the second angel sounded, and AS it
were a great mountain burning with fire was cast
into the sea….
Re 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there
fell a great star from heaven, burning AS it
were a lamp….
b. How could this happen? At present, I have no idea
other than that God will do it!
c. Something similar happened with Moses in Egypt (Ex 9),
a rain of hail and fire destroyed that their fields.
d. The exception here is that this is not confined to one
location but is worldwide.
2. Results
a. 1/3 of all trees and all the grass (including
vegetation) are destroyed.
b. The world will already be reeling from war, two
supernatural earthquakes, disease, death, and famines.
c. That will only be made much worse by 1/3 of the growth
on the planet being destroyed.
d. With the conditions of these earthquakes, fresh air is
probably going to be at a premium as well. 1/3 of
the planet’s trees being destroyed will not help that
situation.
B. \\#8:8-9\\ The Second Trumpet
1. What appears to be a burning mountain plunges into the sea.
a. We have already had "stars" (meteorites) falling to
the ground.
b. This one is being described as much bigger, like a
mountain.
c. The size of a mountain…. That is big!
2. As I mentioned two weeks ago, meteorites strike the earth
often and some of them can be pretty large.
On October 9, 1992, a fire ball was seen streaking across the sky all
the way from Kentucky to New York. A 27-pound stony meteorite
(chondrite) from that fireball fell in Peekskill, New York, punching
a hole in the rear end of an automobile parked in a driveway and
coming to rest in a shallow depression beneath it. Falls (have also
been documented) into a Connecticut dining room and an Alabama
bedroom… in this century. A 10-meter (33 foot) body typically has the
kinetic energy of about five nuclear warheads of the size dropped on
Hiroshima, however, and the shock wave it creates can do considerable
damage even if nothing but comparatively small fragments survive to
reach the ground.
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back2.html
Meteorites with the energy of 15 million tons of TNT typically fall
to the earth once or twice every 1,000 years but normally fall either
into the oceans or our uninhabited frozen lands.
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back2.html
3. Such will be the case with this meteorite. It will fall
into the sea; yet, not without serious consequences.
a. Because the salt waters are all connected, the results
of this falling mountain are likewise worldwide.
(1) 1/3 of the salt waters either become blood or
blood-like.
(2) 1/3 of the life in the seas die.
(3) 1/3 of the ships in the waters are destroyed.
(4) Floods, tsunamis, and probably storms will be
caused - all of these do to the seas what the
last judgment did to the land.
b. However those effects will not stay in the sea.
(1) Shipping and fishing will come to a halt,
increasing the famine.
(2) Japan’s 2011 tsunami, caused by an earthquake,
killed more than 16,000 people and caused a
nuclear meltdown that they people are still
having to deal with.
C. \\#10-11\\ The Third Trumpet
1. A much larger meteorite (a great star) falls from the
heaven to the earth.
a. At some point I suppose these rocks might cease to be
a meteorite and be an asteroid.
b. The difference is that asteroids travel in an orbit
around the sun while meteorites are just flying free.
2. For it to spread across 1/3 of the fresh waters, it would
seem as though the meteorite would need to break up and
scatter across the land over a period of time.
3. The meteorite is called WORMWOOD which we understand
means BITTER or POISON.
4. Results - 1/3 of the rivers, lakes, and water tables are
polluted directly causing human death.
5. Notice the use of the THIRD.
a. It is used 11 times (not counting the reference to the
angel).
b. This repeated result will surely demonstrate to the
world that these catastrophes are not hap-hazard
but designed.
c. Why 1/3? Could it be because of how this world
treated one Member of the Trinity?
D. \\#8:12\\ The Fourth Trumpet
1. 1/3 of the sun, the moon, and stars stop shining.
2. Results
1. This reduces heat and light for a time. In
\\#Rev 16:9\\, the sun will shine too hot.
2. This judgment again demonstrates the judgments are not
limited to the earth. All of creation is being attacked.
CLOSE - \\#8:13\\ The Warning - Probably unseen to the inhabitants of
the earth, an angel tells us this is nothing compared to what is
about to happen! A woe is pronounce for each of the remaining
trumpets! The world is on fire, the sun has cooled, the seas and
waters are polluted. The world would seems to be on the break of
annihilation, but God is just starting to judge this planet.
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