# 47 2021 Dev. Revelation 8:1. Silence! Read all of chapter eight first. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Revelation 8:1 “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
Intro. This vision that John sees is put into the words of men so that those who believe will understand by the power of the Holy Spirit. What is being described here is from eternity to eternity. God, who is outside of time, operates in the eternal present, represents to us what is about to happen in time, as long as time lasts.
We need to go back a bit; Chapter 6 brings us to the end of the world; “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Rev.6:15-17) We now expect the beginning of judgment, but no, chapter 7 shows us the sealing of all of God’s children from the beginning of time to the end of time.
Chapter 8 is the beginning of judgment; the seventh seal is opened and there is a great calm, silence, where before we saw constant praise and worship. God’s answer to Habakkuk 2:20 “The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” It is the quiet before the storm but the stillness has a purpose. We see seven angels, standing before the throne of God, mentioned only here in all of scripture, are given trumpets, ready to blow the warning of the judgments of God. But not yet, there appears another angel holding a golden censer standing at the altar. “He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne.” This is a vision of all the prayers of God’s people from the beginning of time up to the end of time. Prayers, validated by the Atonement of Jesus and the Intercession of Jesus, that is the meaning of the incense. After the offering the angel fills the censer with coals from the altar and hurls it on the earth, “causing peals of thunder, flashes of lighting and an earthquake,” as if God begins to answer some of the prayers of the saints. Particularly, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true… ” Rev. 6:9-11.
The first trumpet is sounded, “hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up”. This covers all of time. Fires we have experienced, is it the result of climate change, or is it a lack of forest management, or is it a warning about the beginning judgment of God? You choose.
The second trumpet is sounded, “and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.” A third of the water is polluted, a third of the sea creatures died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Think about all the damage to shipping and coastal areas by great storms, think about depletion of whales, tuna and other species, think about all the plastic and oil polluting our oceans. Climate change, or the result of greed and over fishing, and / or a warning from God?
The third trumpet is sounded, “and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water – the name of the star is Wormwood”. Many people died. Who or what is this star? Luke 10:18, Jesus says: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The pollution of the water on earth (rivers) is due to greed, lack of awareness about lead, PFAS, or name the chemicals, but it is all rooted in the evil brought on by the subtle influence of the evil one. Even so, God is warning us.
The fourth trumpet is sounded, a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, Jesus gives us the signs of the end of time Matt. 24:29 ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’” We are seeing the beginnings of those signs, the sun, moon and stars are darkened by the air pollution of many major cities, or blocked out by huge fires, it is caused by man, by greed, by disregard for God’s creation but all this is a warning from God.
Is there any hope? Yes, there is! The first 4 trumpets are a warning; full judgment is not yet poured out. There is opportunity to change, to repent, to turn back to God. For the followers of Jesus, we know that God is in control, we have been sealed, Rev. 7. God is answering our prayers, there will be persecution, but our spiritual life is with God from the day we believed into eternity. Praise the Lord!
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Heavenhigh 