The Seventh Seal
And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3And another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar, and much incense was given to him, that he will offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense went up before God, with the prayers of the saints, out of the hand of the angel.
5And the angel took the censer, and filled it from the fire of the altar, and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. – Rev.8:1-5
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Chapter 7 consists of two parenthetic pauses or interludes following the opening of the sixth seal and prior to the sounding of the first trumpet which consists of the introduction and sealing of the 144,000, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the first fruits to God. Following that is John’s vision of another group being introduced who are numerous in number wearing white robes, and who are the saints that come out of the great tribulation from every nation, tribe, people and language, which would make them all Gentiles.
As the seventh seal is opened there is about a half hour of silence, which is most likely due to the severity of the trumpet judgments which are about to take place. I have come to think of it as “the calm before the storm.” In various scriptures, the word of God compares His coming wrath as a woman having birth pains. The seals, being opened by the Lamb, were the beginning of those birth pains, and now things are going to get even worse with the sounding of these seven trumpets, with trumpets 5, 6, and 7, being referred to as Woes!
Each of the seven angels are then given a trumpet to sound, which when blown initiates each successive plague of wrath. Prior to the angel’s sounding their trumpets, another angel at the altar offers much incense with the prayers of the saints, which would be in reference to those in Christ who will be on the earth during the time when God’s wrath is being poured out, as well as all that they will have to endure regarding the beast who makes war against them.
After the angel offers up the incense with the prayers of the saints, he then takes the same censor and fills it with fire from the altar and throws it upon the earth the result being, thunders, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
http://christianchat.com/blogs/ahwatukee/
And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3And another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar, and much incense was given to him, that he will offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense went up before God, with the prayers of the saints, out of the hand of the angel.
5And the angel took the censer, and filled it from the fire of the altar, and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. – Rev.8:1-5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 7 consists of two parenthetic pauses or interludes following the opening of the sixth seal and prior to the sounding of the first trumpet which consists of the introduction and sealing of the 144,000, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the first fruits to God. Following that is John’s vision of another group being introduced who are numerous in number wearing white robes, and who are the saints that come out of the great tribulation from every nation, tribe, people and language, which would make them all Gentiles.
As the seventh seal is opened there is about a half hour of silence, which is most likely due to the severity of the trumpet judgments which are about to take place. I have come to think of it as “the calm before the storm.” In various scriptures, the word of God compares His coming wrath as a woman having birth pains. The seals, being opened by the Lamb, were the beginning of those birth pains, and now things are going to get even worse with the sounding of these seven trumpets, with trumpets 5, 6, and 7, being referred to as Woes!
Each of the seven angels are then given a trumpet to sound, which when blown initiates each successive plague of wrath. Prior to the angel’s sounding their trumpets, another angel at the altar offers much incense with the prayers of the saints, which would be in reference to those in Christ who will be on the earth during the time when God’s wrath is being poured out, as well as all that they will have to endure regarding the beast who makes war against them.
After the angel offers up the incense with the prayers of the saints, he then takes the same censor and fills it with fire from the altar and throws it upon the earth the result being, thunders, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
http://christianchat.com/blogs/ahwatukee/