Rev. 8:1,2, When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Here we are told that with the opening of the seventh seal there is silence in heaven for about an half an hour. That silence is directly associated with the seven angels who are entrusted with the seven trumpet judgments. Why this silence in heaven immediately prior to the trumpet judgments? Because the prophet Zephaniah prophesied a command for silence associated with the outpouring of God's wrath during the day of the Lord. "Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; for the day of the LORD is at hand, for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; he has invited His guests." (Zeph. 1:7). All the host of heaven are called upon to be silent with the awareness that the day of the Lord has arrived--that divine judgment is about to fall. It will be so awesome that heaven can only observe in silence because of the eternal significance of what is about to happen as God's wrath is about to be out poured.
Remember that the seraphim have not been involved with the last three seals. That is because the seraphim was only involved with the purification of the church. Here the responsibility is given to the seven angels who will assist in caring out the wrath of God.
With the opening of the seventh seal the scroll can be opened and the wrath of God begins to be out poured with the sounding of the trumpets.
Before we go any further I want to deal with a question that many have asked. Is the last trumpet that Paul refers to, when after it is blown the dead will be raised, the seventh trumpet of Revelation chapter eleven.
Traditional posttribulation rapturists consider the seventh trumpet of Rev. 11:15-19 to be "the last trump" and understand it to occur at the end of the seventieth week of Daniel. In their view, since the rapture must occur, according to Paul, at the last trump, and the last trumpet occurs at the end of the tribulation period, the rapture must be posttributional; that is at the end of the seventieth week. Therefore the church must go through the day of the Lord judgment.
Midtribulation rapturists also appeal to the time of the last trump for support of their position. They also believe that the last trump is to be identified as the seventh trumpet. However, unlike posttribulationists, men like J. Oliver Buswell place the blowing of the seventh trumpet at the precise middle of the seventieth week. They therefore conclude, based on their understanding of (1 Cor. 15:51&52) that the rapture will occur in the middle of the tribulation.
Pretribulation rapturists do not make strong appeal to Paul's statement that the rapture will occur at the last trump to support their position. Generally speaking, if they mention 1 Cor. 15 in a rapture discussion, it is brief and without determinative significance. The reason is obvious: If the rapture occurs at the last trump, pretribulation rapturism has no way, exegetically, to associate the pre-seventieth week rapture with the last trump of God.
The rapture will be announced with the "trump of God" (1 Thess. 4:16), which Paul also refers to as the "last trump" (1 Cor. 15:52). If these passages are taken literally, the answer is easily found to the question regarding the identification of the last trump.
Contrary to what some interpreters maintain, the "last trumpet" mentioned in that passage cannot refer to the last of the seven trumpet judgments. In the first place, those seven trumpets are all blown by angels ( Rev. 8:6; 11:15), not by God Himself. Even more significantly, however, if the "last trumpet" were the last of the trumpet judgments, Christians would obviously have to endure the first six executions of God's wrath, from which we are repeatedly assured deliverance. However, if the "last trumpet" is the last trumpet blown by anyone, it will not be the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11, but rather the trumpet blown initiating the return of Israel from Assyria and Egypt after the seventieth week is complete, just before the millennial kingdom (Isa. 27:12,13). To have the rapture occur at this time would again completely negate all the promises to the church that she would not undergo the wrath of God, in that this trumpet is blown after the seven trumpets judgments, after the seven bowl judgments, and after the battle of Armageddon. And yet technically speaking, that is the "last trumpet" of end time events preceding the Millennium.
However, the text says that this is the "last trumpet" of God! The only other occasion on which God is said to blow a trumpet was during the Maccabean period in the second century BC, when He came to Israel's defense against the blasphemous and merciless Antiochus Epiphanes. In predicting that deliverance the prophet Zechariah wrote, "Then the LORD will be seen over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south. The LORD of hosts will defend them; they shall devour and subdue with slingstones. They shall drink and roar as if with wine; they shall be filled with blood like basins, like the corners of the altar. The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land--"(Zech. 9:14-16).
It is remarkable that in both cases the Lord blows the trumpet to announce His direct intervention in order to destroy Antiochus, the foreshadow of Antichrist, or Antichrist Himself in the last days.
It should be absolutely clear, then, that the trumpet spoken of in 1 Thess. 4:16 is exactly what the text says--namely, the trumpet of God, His second and last personal blowing of a trumpet, which will immediately precede the rapture of His church.
Rev. 8:3,4,5,6.
3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand.
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
In chapter 5 verse 8, we saw that the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders had golden bowls filled with the prayers of the saints that were on earth during the tribulation. These prayers avail to bring upon the earth God's judgments, for the destruction of evil and the establishment of righteousness upon the earth. Now these prayers are not for personal vengeance, for it comes out of a concern for God and the establishment of His righteousness Kingdom upon the earth.
Although in chapter 8 the church is raptured, the prayers that the saints prayed earlier have not yet been answered, but they are not forgotten by God. In verse 3, the angel, having a golden censer filled with incense came and stood before the altar to offer it (the incense) with the prayers of the saints that is already on the altar. The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders must have placed these prayers upon the altar to await their being answered by the outpouring of God's wrath. Verse 4, tells us that the angel takes the prayers of the saints and they ascend to God with the incense. Verse 5 and 6, tells us that God responds quickly to the prayers of the saints, for the angel throws the censer filled with fire from the altar and throws it to the earth causing cosmic disturbances. In answer to the saint’s prayers the angels prepare to sound and the wrath of God begins.
Let's look at how people explain the wrath of God. Most commentators try to allegorize or symbolize the scriptures pertaining to it. They try to make it something that it is not so it can be understood. Hal Lindsey in his book " The Late Great Planet Earth" displays a classic example of this. His whole book takes all of the events and tries to make them a mistake that some world ruler initiates when he hits the button causing a nuclear war thus explaining the wrath of God as natural occurrences by man made phenomenon.
Let me tell you something people, when God's wrath comes there will never have been anything like it and there will be no question in anyone's mind that this is nothing but the wrath of God. There was no question in Pharaoh's mind that the plagues were God's doing. There was no question in the peoples mind that the flood was God's doing and there will be no question when the wrath of God is poured out in the day of His wrath. When the sign is given in the sun, moon, and stars announcing God's wrath and right after the church is taken, it says that the world will be fainting in fear in expectation of things to come (Luke 21:26). The reason they are in that position is because the wrath of God will be mistaken by nobody for Isaiah 2:17, says that, "...the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." God does not allow his church to go through this time for He promises that before His wrath comes we will be gone.
Rev. 8:7-13.
7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell 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 became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
12 Then the fourth angel sounded: 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 were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
13 And I looked, and I heard an angel 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 trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!
The trumpet was used primarily for two purposes, you will see this in Numbers chapter ten.
#1. The trumpet was used when God wanted to summon His people to His presence.
#2. When they were to go to war under divine direction.
Now what happens between the sixth and seventh seals? The calling of God's people to His presence when the great multitude suddenly appears in heaven. Then the outpouring of God's wrath, or God going to war. Now notice that there is no way that we can relate these trumpet events as natural phenomena. It is not the results of a nuclear war it is God initiated.
Verse 7, the first trumpet is targeted to the earth as hail and fire mingled with blood is thrown upon it. This causes one third of the trees and all green grass to be burned up.
Verses 8 & 9, the second trumpet is targeted against the sea as something like a great fiery mountain was thrown in the sea causing one third of it to become blood, killing a third of the sea life and destroying a third of the ships sailing upon the sea.
Verses 10 & 11, the third trumpet is targeted against the rivers and the springs of water that come up from the earth as a great star burning like a torch causing one third of the rivers and springs to become bitter causing many of the people who drank it to die.
What or who is the star? I don't know. The word in the Greek is ASTER which means any heavenly body other than the sun or moon. We get the word asteroids from this Greek word. Other commentators say it could be an angel. To be honest with you I don't know what it is, but God does therefore, I will leave it in His hands. But one thing for sure, when it hits it will cause great devastation, unknown yet, to man.
This is the only place in the New Testament where the word wormwood is used and it means an ingredient that is known to be deadly. In the Old Testament it referred to again, something poison that caused death. So whatever it is, it will come and poison a third of the water.
Verses 12&13, the fourth trumpet is targeted at the sun and moon causing one third of them to become dark losing a third of their energy source, thus a third of the day and a third of the night is lost. In what way this is accomplished, I don't know but if the heat source is cut back by one third you will have major problems. The angels threefold cry of woe is to warn that the next three trumpet judgments will be much more intense and devastating than the first four. The fifth and sixth trumpets will involve demonic forces.
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