The opening of the seventh seal unleashes another series of signs, heralded by seven angelic trumpet blasts. The events accompanying the first four trumpets form a single picture (8:7–12); the events accompanying the fifth and sixth trumpets are different in kind (9:1–21); and an interlude of visions that reveal God’s plans for his people (10:1–11:14) precedes the sounding of the seventh trumpet (11:15).
The first four trumpets depict grave disruptions of nature. God’s throne in heaven is the center from which the seven trumpet judgments issue, and the Lamb, the risen Christ, remains in control. But something intervenes before the angels sound the seven trumpets. The prayers of God’s people are offered and heard in heaven.
The Church is no merely passive observer. All that transpires is subject to the control of a God who is listening to the prayers of his people.
The seventh seal: the beginning of the seven trumpets (8:1–13)
a). The seventh seal: seven trumpets and the saints’ prayers in heaven (8:1–5)
(1) The seventh seal and silence in heaven (8:1)
(2) Seven angels receive seven trumpets (8:2)
(3) The saints’ prayers in heaven and omens of judgment on earth (8:3–5)
b. Four trumpets (8:6–12)
(1) The first trumpet: fiery hail burns the earth, trees, and grasslands (8:6–7)
(2) The second trumpet: fiery destruction on the sea and its creatures (8:8–9)
(3) The third trumpet: fiery poisoning of rivers and springs of water (8:10–11)
(4) The fourth trumpet: partial darkening of sun, moon, and stars (8:12)
c. Announcement of the three woes of the remaining three trumpets (8:13)
8:1–2
When the Lamb opens the seventh seal, a half hour of silence replaces the loud praise that has characterized heaven up to now, signalling readers to get ready for what will happen next.
It recalls the silence that Old Testament prophets proclaimed before God intervened in judgment (Amos 8:3–4; Hab 2:20; Zeph 1:7; see also Zech 2:17).
The silence can also represent God’s attentiveness to his people who cry out to him in prayer. It can also represent the silent moments before the prayer is being spoken out.
Half hour symbolises a brief period, but enough to prepare for what is about to take place.
The seven angels who stand in God’s presence are likely the archangels, the most important angels according to Jewish intertestamental writings. They include Gabriel (Dan 9:21; Luke 1:19), Michael (Dan 12:1), and Raphael (Tob 12:15).
Notice also that there is no specific judgement associated with the seventh seal; thus, the content of the seventh seal are the seven trumpets and the disaster they bring upon the universe.
In the life of Israel, trumpets were blown to announce solemn feasts (Ps 81:3), to herald the beginning of a king’s reign (1 Kings 1:34), to warn of trouble, and to summon the people to war (Num 10:8–10).
A divine trumpet sounded when God manifested himself at Sinai (Exod 19:16, 19) and will again sound when he acts to save his people (Isa 27:13; Zech 9:14; see also Josh 6:1–20).
In this context they signal end-time destruction and judgment often associated with the day of the Lord (e.g., Isa 58:1; Joel 2:1–2; Zeph 1:14–16; Zech 9:14–15).
8:3–6
In the Jerusalem temple, directly in front of the holy of holies stood a gold altar, on which a priest offered incense twice daily (Ex 37:25–26; 40:5; Lev 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48). Here in the heavenly temple, an angel offers the prayers of all the holy ones, a practice the angel Raphael mentions in Tobit 12:15.
But this “another angel” seems to be different from the seven angels mentioned above.
The previous mention of the prayers of God’s people (Rev 5:8) identified the prayers with the incense in the golden bowls held by the elders, but here the incense and prayers are distinguished.
The great quantity of incense the angel is given to mix with the prayers symbolizes the favor with which God receives his people’s prayers; to him they are a pleasing fragrance. It seems the focus here is prayer for vindication (Luke 18:3, 7–8; Rev 6:10).
God’s people throughout history have cried out to him for deliverance and justice amid opposition from a fallen world (e.g., Gen 4:10; Deut 32:43; 2 Kgs 9:7; Ps 79:10; Matt 23:35).
The hurling to earth of burning coals from the altar in heaven symbolizes the answer to this prayer (see also Ezek 10:1–7).
Here we can see the relationship between the prayer of Christians and the course of history.
The peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake, which are similar to the signs that manifested God’s presence at Sinai (Exod 19:16–18) and that appeared in the heavenly throne room (Rev 4:5) - see also Rev 11:19; 16:18–21.
8:7–12
These trumpet judgments strike the “inhabitants of the earth” (8:13) by harming the natural order on which human life depends; they unleash ecological disasters. They strike every aspect of creation—the land, sea, springs and rivers, and sky.
The greater severity of these events is signaled by the fact that one-third of the world is affected by each, rather than one-quarter (see Rev 6:8).
These plagues are comparable to the plagues against Egypt in that they demonstrate God’s supreme power against those who oppress his people.
8:7 - see Gen 19:24; Ex 9:22–25; Ezek 38:22
Fire coming from the sky characterizes the first three judgments. Conquering armies often used fire to totally destroy a city, and fire was a potent Old Testament symbol of judgment (e.g., Amos 1).
Blood characterizes the first two trumpet judgments. It recalls the plague of blood against the land of Egypt (Exod 7:17–21) and prophetic threats of judgment that mention blood (e.g., Isa 63:3–6; Joel 3:3). Even without these allusions, the mention of blood arouses a feeling of danger.
Hail was the seventh plague on Egypt that struck humans, animals, every plant, and every tree (Exod 9:23–25). Here the damage to the land . . . , the trees . . . , and the green grass comes from the fire rather than from the hail.
But, the plagues are restrained - the third of the land and the trees are burned.
8:8–9
In Jeremiah, Babylon is seen as a fiery “destroying mountain” that will in turn be destroyed (Jer 51:24–26, 63–64).
Some scholar indicate that this judgment, which so drastically affects the sea and its commerce (fishing, ship-born trade, etc.), foreshadows the destruction of “Babylon” and its commercial empire as described in chapters 17 – 18 (especially 18:21).
Turning a third of the sea . . . to blood recalls the first plague against Egypt, when Aaron struck the Nile (Exod 7:17–21). The food supply affected—a third of the creatures living in the sea died—and sea commerce also is dramatically disrupted by the destruction of a third of the ships.
8:10–11
The large star burning like a torch and falling from the sky recalls Jesus’ prediction that “the stars will fall from the sky, / and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matt 24:29 // Mark 13:25) before the coming of the Son of Man.
It strikes the sources of freshwater, a third of the rivers and the springs of water, making them bitter and poisonous.
Wormwood - actually not poisonous - is an extremely bitter-tasting herb. Scripture associates it with poison, and it symbolizes the bitter consequences of wrongdoing (Prov 5:4; Jer 9:14–15; 23:15).
Here drinking the water turned to wormwood is poisonous and causes many people to die.
8:12 - see Amos 8:9
When the fourth angel blows his trumpet, a third of all the heavenly luminaries—the sun . . . moon . . . and stars—are blasted, but in a peculiar way.
All the light in the sky are eliminated for a third of the day and a third of the night (see Ex 10:21–22; Mark 13:24–25). This darkness for one-third of the day and night is best understood as symbolizing a partial judgment, intended to deliver a solemn warning.
In the prophetic books the day of the Lord is marked by darkness and gloom affecting the sun, moon, and stars (e.g., Joel 2:10, 31; 3:14–15; Amos 5:18–20; 8:9; cf. Ezek 32:7–8).
it seems best to interpret the first four trumpet judgments as symbolizing natural disasters that God allows to occur in various times and places, perhaps becoming more severe toward the end of history, rather than a series of four specific historical events.
There are parallels between the calamities depicted in Rev 6 and 8 and events in Jesus’ eschatological discourse in the Synoptic Gospels.
Jesus begins by warning his disciples of disasters like those inflicted by the four horsemen: wars, rumors of wars, pestilences, and famines (Matt 24:7; Mark 13:7–8; Luke 21:9–10). Toward the end of the discourse Jesus warns of signs in the heavens and natural disasters similar to those announced by the four trumpets—darkness, falling stars (Matt 24:29), and “the roaring of the sea” (Luke 21:25).
Both in Jesus’ prophecy and in Revelation, things get worse as the end draws near.
These partial judgments are tempered by mercy, to give the inhabitants of the earth an opportunity to repent, as a comment after the sixth trumpet indicates (9:20–21).
These two series of warning judgments, the seals and the trumpets, contrast with the seven bowl judgments that come later and bring total destruction (16:1–21).
8:13
As bad as things are after the four trumpet blasts, worse is yet to come.
The messenger is an awe-inspiring bird of prey due to its size and speed, and a harbinger of destruction in Old Testament prophecies of judgment (Deut 28:49; Jer 48:40–42; Hosea 8:1).
The word “woe” in Greek is an exclamation, either a warning of imminent disaster or a cry of anguish.
Such “woes” are pronounced also in the Old Testament (e.g., 1 Sam 4:7–8; Isa 1:4, 24; Jer 4:13; Zeph 2:5; see the double “woe, woe” in Ezek 16:23; Amos 5:16) and frequently by Jesus as well (e.g., Luke 6:24–26).
The threefold “woe” corresponds to the three trumpet blasts that are coming and the judgments they bring to the inhabitants of the earth, those who do not belong to God’s people.