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8
The seventh seal
1 And when He opened the seventh seal there was a stillness in heaven for about half an hour.* A ‘deafening’ silence! I wonder why. Well, there has been a lot of noise up to this point, and there will be plenty more later, so the silence acts as an emphasis by contrast. The outpouring of wrath will now build to a crescendo. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.† One gains the clear impression that the seven trumpets form the content of the seventh seal.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer.‡ See Hebrews 8:5. He was given lots of incense so that he could offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it at the earth. And there were noises and thunders and lightnings and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to trumpet.
The first trumpet
7 So the first one trumpeted, and there appeared hail and fire mixed with blood, and it [the mixture] was thrown at the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up; that is, a third of the trees was burned up and all green grass was burned up.
The second trumpet
8 So the second angel trumpeted, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the creatures with souls§ That is what the Text says. Just as food for thought, I would suggest that God is Spirit and has soul; a human is soul and has spirit; an angel is spirit with no soul; an animal is soul with no spirit; insects and lower forms have neither. I imagine that the reference here is to mammals in the sea (like dolphins). in the sea died. And a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third trumpet
10 So the third angel trumpeted, and a great star fell out of the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell upon a third of the rivers, and on the springs of waters.* If the springs are hit, does that include the aquifers that supply their water? If so, a third of the sweet water on the earth is ruined. 11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; so a third of the waters were turned into wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
The fourth trumpet
12 So the fourth angel trumpeted, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them was darkened; so a third of the day did not shine, and the night likewise.
13 And I saw and heard an eagle† Over ⅔ of the Greek manuscripts, including the best group, read “eagle” rather than ‘angel’. Since the fourth living being is similar to a flying eagle, the idea here is not new. flying in midheaven saying with a loud voice, three times: “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to trumpet!”
The fifth trumpet

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*8:1 A ‘deafening’ silence! I wonder why. Well, there has been a lot of noise up to this point, and there will be plenty more later, so the silence acts as an emphasis by contrast. The outpouring of wrath will now build to a crescendo.

†8:2 One gains the clear impression that the seven trumpets form the content of the seventh seal.

‡8:3 See Hebrews 8:5.

§8:9 That is what the Text says. Just as food for thought, I would suggest that God is Spirit and has soul; a human is soul and has spirit; an angel is spirit with no soul; an animal is soul with no spirit; insects and lower forms have neither. I imagine that the reference here is to mammals in the sea (like dolphins).

*8:10 If the springs are hit, does that include the aquifers that supply their water? If so, a third of the sweet water on the earth is ruined.

†8:13 Over ⅔ of the Greek manuscripts, including the best group, read “eagle” rather than ‘angel’. Since the fourth living being is similar to a flying eagle, the idea here is not new.

© 2016 Wilbur N. Pickering, ThM, PhD