Revelation 8. The seventh seal is broken open (8:1) and there is a pause and silence in heaven for a bit. The first cycle of Seven Seals has ended with the Day of Judgment (chapters 6-8a) and out of the final seal come the Seven Trumpets, the second cycle of sevens (chapters 8b-11).

Did you notice the prayers and the incense before the Seven Trumpets cycle begins? “Another angel came and stood at the altar with the golden censer, and he was given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God…” (8:3-4). The prayers of the saints (that is us!) rise like incense before the throne of God.

In fact, before the Seven Seals cycle began, there was a similar scene. “The elders fell down before the Lamb each holding… golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (5:3). The imagery of prayers rising like incense before the throne of God is not new, it is mentioned in the Psalms as well. “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you” (Psalm 141:2). In the physical realm of earth, the saints and their prayers are often discounted, but in heaven and the spiritual realm they are gathered in golden bowls and presented to the Lord Almighty.

Now we come to the Seven Trumpets, and John backs up and tells the whole story again, this time using the imagery from Exodus.  The trumpets sound the alarm – blasting out a warning for all the inhabitants of earth. Awake, awake, and repent! The judgment of God is falling on the earth. The Seven Trumpets do not concern the church as such; they are God’s judgment on evil in the world.

The first four of the trumpets are forces of nature. They harken back to the plagues inflicted on Egypt (Exodus 7-11), as a warning and a punishment in hopes of bringing repentance. The trumpets bring hail, turn the sea to blood and wreck ships, poison the rivers and lakes, and bring about darkness. (Demon locusts show up in in the next chapter – this is a horror movie script!)

Human wickedness does not go unnoticed in heaven, and God has His own way of dealing with sin and evil. Judgment falls in His timing. The trumpets sound the alarm of judgment. John is careful to note that each trumpet only affects one-third of the earth – God is not trying to destroy everything, He is allowing clearly divine punishment to fall on some of the earth, so that those who witness it might choose to repent.

Will they repent? We will find out in the next chapter!