The Seventh Seal

By Ashley R. Clarkson
1 December, 2003

"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." - Revelation 8:1

The Great Shaking

The Sixth Seal has been broken, and all the earth has shaken under the great wrath. We have just seen an intermission in the book of Revelation as God has sealed his chosen 144,000 from the tribes of Israel, and the great multitudes worship God in heaven, wearing robes washed clean of sin. Now the the Seventh Seal is about to be broken.

The Seventh Seal

"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." - Revelation 8:1

Silence. Yes, silence in heaven. No rumblings, no horses, just silence. Silence as those on Earth are given a chance to pause and realise what has thus far taken place. One question which can be asked here is whether the pause is actually half an hour. Well, firstly it is about one half of an hour, so the figure is not definite but approximate. Secondly, since time does not transact in heaven, it is likely that this is an impression of the time - in other words, it literally felt like about half an hour of silence passed (and if we consider that this vision was given whole, it is possible that half an hour of time transpired on Earth at this period of the vision), as opposed to what the actual time was. Whatever the answer, this time represents a short period in which man is forced to consider and reflect on what has occured and what is likely to come.

Prepare for the Trumpet Judgements

"And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound." - Revelation 8:2-6

After the silence, the seven angels standing before God are given seven trumpets. Another angel approaches the altar with a golden censer, is given some incense, and offers it along with the prayers of the saints upon the altar. He then takes the censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and casts it into the earth, from which resounds voices, thunder and lightning, and more shaking of the earth. The use of the preposition "into" is interesting here, as it adds another intricacy to this act - the fire from the altar should pass not only onto the earth, but also inside it. Perhaps this suggests that the fire from the altar descends even to hell itself, adding to the suffering of those damned. However, that is mere speculation on my part, and should not be taken as gospel.

Raise Thine Instrument to Thy Lips

The angel casts forth the contents of his censer into the earth, and seven angels with seven trumpets line up and raise their trumpets to their lips, preparatory to sounding. The first angel takes a deep breath, and exhales through the trumpet...