The Tribulation (Part Ii) Series

“The Tribulation”

Part Two

Soap Opera

Revelation 8:1-5

We are told that after the opening of the seventh seal for half an hour there will be silence in Heaven.

What does this silence stand for?

Some have suggested there will be no women in Heaven but I wouldn’t dare say that.

Seriously--why does heaven come to a standstill? What does this silence represent?

When John says the silence lasted about half an hour he was saying it was a long silence.

In the Bible, silence would often come before God’s Judgments. In Habakuk 2:20 says, “But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.”

And in Zechariah 2:13 we read, “Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”

So God is about to hand down the trumpet judgments that are so terrible, so horrendous, so incredibly frightening, that no one in heaven dares to breathe a word.

I believe that all of Heaven is holding its breath.

Illustration: Verdict in a courtroom.

At this point in the book of Revelation, judgment is about to come to the earth like never before.

The storm is about to break in all of it’s fury, and what is about to happen is so enormous it causes everything in Heaven to come to a stand still.

Even God pauses to assess what must be done.

What is it about the opening of the 7th seal that is so awesome it brings silence?

No wonder heaven stood still for half an hour, when they saw 7 angels preparing to sound 7 trumpets in a row! Something big was about to happen!

Trumpets have been used to announce, direct, and get the attention of people since they were first invented.

1. They called the people together. Remember a trumpet was sounded to call the people together when Moses was given the Law at Mt. Sinai.

2. They announced war. Joshua had the people blow the trumpets at the conquest of Jericho.

3. They announced special times. In 1 Kings 1:34-39 trumpets were sounded when the king was anointed and enthroned.

Illustration: Calvary in the movies.

The trumpet judgments we are about look at here are of greater intensity than the seal judgments, but not as destructive as the final bowl judgments

These trumpet blasts have three purposes:

1) To warn that judgment is certain.

2) To call the forces of good and evil to battle.

3) To announce the return of the King, the Messiah.

These warnings urge us to make sure of our faith is in fact firmly fixed on Christ.

Verse three says an angel holding a golden censer.

A censer was a container for burning incense.

The reason it is associated with prayer is because the both ascend toward heaven.

So the prayers and the incense went up to God’s Throne.

Revelation 8: 6-13

Read verse 6&7

Trumpet Judgments are known as judgments of one-thirds.

It shows that the destruction of Creation will be catastrophic, but also limited by God.

We are told here that 1/3 of the trees and grass was destroyed.

This would include the grains we depend on for food such as wheat corn rice oats, ect.

So 1/3 of the food supply from these grains will be gone.

The hail & fire mixed with the blood I believe could be compared to the fire & brimstone that God cast down on Sodom & Gomorrah.

And John could be describing another nuclear attack.

Illustration: Star Wars Technology.

Read verse 8&9

John says that when the second trumpet sounded, “something like a great mountain all ablaze was thrown into the sea”.

Some theories of what John was describing have been a meteor shower and some believe it is thermo–nuclear warheads attacking ships at sea.

It could be but if you keep in mind that this is God’s Judgment on the physical world and is a severe warning to sinful people.

Now when you couple the destruction of 1/3 of all vegetation with 1/3 of all marine life, this is a massive reduction of the worlds food supply.

Add to this 1/3 of all the worlds ships and this would virtually stop food from being distributed to starving countries.

Read verse 10-11

The third trumpet judgment brings a great star called Wormwood which means bitterness.

So 1/3 of the water on the earth becomes poisonous and many people will die because they drank the polluted water.

Read verse 12

Remember what I said earlier that the 1/3 of the destruction of Creation will be catastrophic, but also limited by God.

This could possibly mean that the destruction of the first three trumpets, no matter how it happened, caused a global pollution that reduces visibility by 1/3.

Read verse 13