Opening the Seventh Seal

When the seventh seal is opened there is silence. In heaven all the joy and celebration that had been going on with the opening of the other seals has stopped. Something awesome must be about to happen. Seven angels are given seven trumpets. Remember seven is a number that represents completeness and trumpets signify that an announcement is about to be made while the seven angels are probably the same seven angels we met in chapter one. So, it seems that the final message is about to be announced. God’s plan is about to be finalized and revealed to all the churches. The saints who had asked for revenge earlier are now silent when they see and realize the awesomeness of God’s plan coming to fruition. Remember that everything that is about to happen is part of the scroll and is therefore part of human history.

In this scene we also meet another angel with a golden censer, remember incense represents prayers of people on earth. The incense from his censer are combined with the prayers of the saints in heaven and do reach God. John is telling us that God does hear our prayers. The censer bowl is hurled to the earth so the saints who earlier asked for revenge are having their prayers answered, although from the silence I’m not sure they are so thrilled to get what they asked for. Because this is all part of a scroll representing all of human history it does not mean it is linear but events that happen throughout human history. In the final days things may get more intense but it’s not a this happens and then that happens story.

Suppose I try to tell you about the sun rising and setting. Should I start with the rising or the setting first? Does it really matter? It’s a continuous event while the sun is rising for me it’s setting for someone else. John in Revelation is in the same situation. He tells the story as if it was sequential but it’s not it’s ongoing.

Next we’ll look at the sounding of the trumpets. And I try to do it more frequent.

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