The Seventh Seal
1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence a in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; b seven trumpets were given to them. c 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. d 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand. 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, e and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. f
The Seven Trumpets
6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
The First Trumpet
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. g So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. h
The Second Trumpet
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. i So a third of the sea became blood, j 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The Third Trumpet
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. k It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood, l and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter.
The Fourth Trumpet
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night. m
13 I looked and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! n Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound! ”
8:1. When the seventh seal breaks, appropriately there is silence. The eschatological half hour denotes a limited period of time before divine judgment can commence (Dn 7:25; 9:27; Hab 2:20), but here, as part of the liturgy, the silence is also a moment of reverent awe.
C. The seven trumpets: Why history belongs to the intercessors (8:2–11:19). 8:2–5. As part of the daily sacrifices of the Jerusalem temple, the priest usually made an incense offering during a time of silence and prayer. The priests typically sprinkled sacrificial blood on the altars of the outer temple courts (cf. Lv 1:5) and later entered into the inner sanctuary to burn the incense on a separate altar before the most holy place (cf. Ex 30:1–9; Lk 1:8–12). In John’s vision of the heavenly temple, there is only one altar, which fulfills both functions.
8:6–7. The seven seals are followed by the seven trumpets (8:6). With the blowing of the first trumpet (8:7), the heavenly liturgy moves forward with greater drama. John and his readers brace themselves for the next set of divine judgments. The account of the first four trumpets (8:6–13) employs imagery from the Exodus plagues. The ten plagues (Ex 7–12) were designed to attack the gods of the Egyptian pantheon as well as Pharaoh himself, considered to be a living deity. One by one God defeated these idols and demonstrated that Yahweh is Lord over Egypt, the one true Creator, and the Redeemer of Israel (Ex 9:14–16; 10:1–2). With the first four trumpets, the same Creator and Redeemer exposes the idolatrous values of the Roman world.
8:8–9. The second trumpet features a burning mountain being thrown into the sea. This disaster evokes again the first Egyptian plague (the Nile to blood) and especially the aftermath, in which all the fish die (Ex 7:21). We are also reminded of Jr 51:25, where God promises to make the “devastating mountain,” Babylon, into a “charred mountain.” Here the burning mountain (8:8) is Rome, which the Jewish people considered a second Babylon. The destruction of the ships in the sea (8:9) is a symbol of Rome’s decline as an economic power, since the sea was a means for prosperous trade and international commerce. Those remembering the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and the scorched lands and dead life in its wake would find this vision especially terrifying.
8:10–11. The third trumpet focuses on a huge burning star falling from heaven and into a third of the earth’s rivers and springs (8:10). The star’s name is Wormwood (a particularly bitter herb used medicinally, of which one ounce can treat up to 524 gallons of water), and it has the effect of poisoning the water supply (8:11). As with the previous two, this disaster evokes the first Egyptian plague, but in this case the aftermath, in which the smell of the Nile makes the water undrinkable (Ex 7:21). The event is also a reversal of the miracle at Marah (which means “bitter” in Hebrew), when Moses—because Israel was grumbling—threw a piece of wood into the region’s bitter waters and turned them sweet (Ex 15:23–25).
8:12. The fourth trumpet strikes a third of the sun, moon, and stars with darkness to such an extent that there is no light for a third of the day and night. This catastrophe recalls the ninth Egyptian plague, darkness (Ex 10:21–29), which crushed the pride of Pharaoh’s court magicians, who claimed that they could read the stars and from them discern Egypt’s destiny, and demonstrated that Egypt does not rule the world. John’s community would have understood the fourth trumpet as an indictment against the imperial cult and its inability to save, guide, or help its devotees to manage their destiny. Despite legends surrounding the birth and death of Augustus Caesar with celestial signs, it is God, and not the emperor, who is the author of all history. He alone has the power to judge the Roman Empire and cover it in darkness (cf. Am 8:9; Mk 13:24).
8:13. This vision is interrupted by the sight of an eagle flying overhead. The eagle symbolizes God’s imminent judgment swooping down on Israel’s enemies (Jr 48:40–42), but it was also the insignia of Rome. The eagle’s interruption places some restraint on the reach of the previous trumpet visions. Before God judges Rome completely, he will use Rome as an agent of divine justice to the world (cf. Hab 1:8). But the eagle inspires both dread (for the unrepentant) and hope (for God’s people). In the midst of judging a sinful world, God will strengthen his people through the trials to come. He will mount them up on eagle’s wings and sustain them with the winds of his Spirit (Ex 19:4; Is 40:31).