As the time of the opening of the seventh seal approaches, we find in Revelation 7:9 “a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands”. As described in Revelation 7:14 “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation”. The seventh seal is opened and the prayers of the saints, those that could not be answered immediately, have been held, and are offered up before God in Revelation 8:4. As they are thrown down to the earth with coals from the altar, a third of the earth is burned, a third of the ocean is turned to blood, and a third of the people are killed. But for those that were not killed, they went on as usual and did not repent in Revelation 9:20–21.
I Saw Four Angels Standing
From Every Nation and Tribe and People
Revelation 7:9–17
God has just finished marking the faithful in Revelation 7:3 so they will not be harmed by what is about to happen. Now, we find a great crowd in
Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great crowd that no one was able to number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands.
These are all crying out praising God and acknowledging his wisdom and power and they are joined by the angels and the elders and the creatures around the throne in
Revelation 7:10-12 And they were crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And they are identified as those that have suffered and have “washed their robes” in
Revelation 7:14 And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
There is a time when the church will be taken out of the world, then comes the “wine press of the wrath of God” in Revelation 14:19 on those that remain in the world. Here, “they are seen taken out of the earth before the judgments on the Antichristian apostasy; with their Lord, they, and all His faithful witnesses and disciples of past ages, wait for His coming and their coming to be glorified and reign together with Him”1
Silence in Heaven
TheSevenTrumpets
Revelation 8:6–9
The seventh seal is open, the prayers of the saint, those that could not be answered immediately, have been offered up before God in Revelation 8:4 and have been thrown down to the earth and the seven angels “who stand before God” in Revelation 8:2 are ready to blow their trumpets in
Revelation 8:6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves in order to blow them.
as they begin to sound their trumpets one by one, judgments fall on the earth. With the first, “there was hail and fire mixed with blood … and a third of the earth was burned” in Revelation 8:7. with the second, a third of the sea in
Revelation 8:8–9 And the second angel blew the trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures in the sea—the ones which had life—died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
A Great Star Burning
Revelation 8:10–13
The First Woe
Release the Four Angels
Revelation 9:13–21
As “the sixth angel blew the trumpet” in Revelation 9:13b-14 and I heard one voice from the horns of the golden altar that is before God 14 saying to the sixth angel, the one who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates!” to in Revelation 9:15 “kill a third of humanity”.
The horns of the altar were known as a place of protection as in 1 Kings 1:50 and while this might be interpreted in different ways, it seems that there was safety and protection as long as these were bound. And “The fact that they have been bound shows that they are not good angels going forth voluntarily to do God’s will. They are evil beings who have been restrained until now”.2
Even so, will all of this destruction before them, the rest of the world seems to have continued their lives as usual. The deaths of so many didn’t affect them in
Revelation 9:20–21 And the rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, in order not to worship the demons and the gold and silver and bronze and stone and wooden idols, which are able neither to see nor to hear nor to walk, 21 and they did not repent of their murders or of their magic spells or of their sexual immorality or of their thefts.
Study Verses
- Revelation 7:9–17 From Every Nation and Tribe and People
- Revelation 8:6–9 The Seven Trumpets
- Revelation 9:13–21 Release the Four Angels
Today’s Reading
- Revelation 7:1-17
- Revelation 8:1-13
- Revelation 9:1-21
References
- 1. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 570). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
- 2. Morris, L. (1987). Revelation: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 131). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
