Chapter 8
Up until this point in Revelation, there has been a theme of God’s faithfulness, His Glory, the Majesty of Jesus, the sovereignty of the Almighty and the worship of the Redeemed. Six seals have already been opened and judgment has already been poured out, but nothing like what is contained in the seventh seal.
The magnitude of the seventh seal is so drastic and awesome that it causes 30 mins of silence in heaven. No one is worshipping. No one is talking. No one is giving praise. Not even a murmur. 30 mins of complete silence from every Angel, Saint, Church-age believer, Creatures around the throne and even from God Himself. Complete silence.
Before and after this heaven and the throne room were a hive of activity and sound, but the breaking of the seventh seal contains all the seven trumpet judgments and the seven bowl judgements. The fiercest and most fearsome aspects of God’s wrath are about to be unleashed.
I know these verses are harder to read than others, but from what we have already journeyed through we understand that God’s justice is perfect. His faithfulness is everlasting and His mercy is still being extended to everyone throughout this time. However, we also need to recognise the need for such severe judgment being poured out.
Jesus said that the days of His return would be like the days of Noah. Those days were filled with extreme violence, complete sexual depravity and a total rejection of God and all that He had established for humanity to enjoy. Humanity had turned His beautiful creation into their own sanctuary of wickedness. On top of that, evil had become so comfortable and familiar to them that they did not even recognise the remotest need of God’s judgment. ‘They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage’ (Matthew 24:37-39).
The world will look the same when Jesus returns. The world will be filled with violence, complete sexual depravity and a total rejection of God and all that He had established for humanity to enjoy. We will once again commandeer His beautiful creation to use as mankind’s personal sanctuary of wickedness. Likewise, society and culture will be so far from an understanding of Godly justice and love that wickedness will become the normal way to live and completely acceptable at every level of society. Popular opinions will call what is right wrong and what is wrong right and no one will bat an eyelid. The words of Isaiah will ring true once again when He said,
Isaiah 5:20 says,
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Why woe? Because God IS slow to anger but not eternally willing to allow evil and wickedness to cause endless suffering in the world.
So far we have seen His judgements in the form of a brutal worldwide dictator under the control of satan, as a result, war devastates the earth closely followed by famine. This brings about the logical conclusion of widespread death, including countless martyrs received by heaven and countless souls lost to hell. These are all judgments by God, no doubt, but there is also a very big mix of God delivering the natural consequences of humanity’s own choice. They have rejected God as King, much like Israel, and the natural outworking of that is slavery to a dictator and endless war and famine generated by the evil ruling of greedy sinful hearts under the control of the lord, satan.
Many times in the Bible, God’s judgements come in the form of people getting what they choose more than God outpouring active judgements. Starting from seal six and increasingly in seal seven, however, God pours out His divine wrath and before the worst of it is released, heaven takes a collective pause to breathe.
The seventh seal contains seven trumpets. Trumpets were used for several things in the Old Testament including a call to war or to bring attention to the season or time that had just begun. In a similar fashion, these trumpets seen here in chapter 8 can be seen as a warning of things to come. This once again points to the faithfulness of God that even in the midst of judgement He is trying to warn and provide ways to turn to Him.
Except for seal six and seven, many of the seal judgements were in many ways natural consequences of man’s own greed and foolishness that God allowed to unfurl without restraint (2 Thess 2:7). Seal six and the first four trumpets of seal seven, however, are primarily focused on God’s creation. Humanity has a habit of telling God that we want all that He creates and brings to the world, but without Him as part of it. This is the height of foolishness because in Him all things consist (Col 1:17). So to ask for God’s creation without the creator results in the first trumpet destroying one-third of the trees and all green grass (8:7), the second trumpet destroying one-third of the oceans, ships and sea creatures and the third trumpet destroying one-third of freshwater rivers and springs.
The second and third trumpets involve some sort of asteroids or heavenly bodies falling to earth which causes mass destruction right across the earth. Some suggest that the star that falls is Lucifer being cast down out of heaven. Much like Christ made the bitter waters sweet for the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 15:22-26), satan is the one who turns sweet waters bitter (8:11). This may very well be the case, but more likely it is a fragment of a celestial body or something else. What will be evident from this event is that God has now recruited the heavens as part of His divine judgement which intensifies again in the fourth trumpet where a third of the light and the guidance of the sun, moon and stars are now taken from humanity.
The very gifts God gave to men, not only to enjoy but also to discover Him by (Rom 1:20), are now tools in the hands of a righteous judge who is bringing His swift justice to those who have filled His creation with their evil indignation and prospered off the suffering of the oppressed.
God has ramped up His judgment to not only include the natural consequences of rejecting His providential love to now expose the wicked foolishness of rebelling against His sovereign rule.
Here’s what we can live from these verse:
- God’s wrath is deserved by those still on the earth. God is just. These judgements are not extreme or over the top. Not only is the earth at this point filled with abhorrent violence, absolute sexual depravity and evil so horrid that you would probably not be able to imagine, there has also been a sustained long period of time of God’s longsuffering and countless opportunities to turn to His loving kindness which have all resulted in absolute and utter rejection of God, His Kingdom, His rule and His love. These judgements are acts of justice by a righteous King.
- The Silence in Heaven Demonstrates the Heaviness of God’s Heart. All of heaven comes to a standstill before these final judgements are poured out. There are several reasons for this, but you would have to imagine that one of those reasons would be that God’s heart of anguish in pouring out wrath on those whom He loves is being acknowledged by all of heaven at that moment. God is love (1 John 4:8).
- The Father’s Heart is Displayed even in the Midst of Judgement. At the end of the chapter (8:13) the Father’s heart is displayed again by sending yet another warning in the form of an Angel declaring the pending judgements about to take place. At that time there will be many people coming to Christ because of either the teaching and preaching that will have been left behind by the various Churches and ministers that have been raptured (perhaps maybe even this devotional), and/or because of the 144,000 evangelists God has supernaturally protected and ordained to extend His invitation into His Kingdom. God truly is willing that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9).
