The Lamb opens the 7th seal
8
📚And when he had opened the seventh seal 📖, there was silence 📖 in heaven for about half an hour. 2 📚And I saw the seven angels who stood before God; and seven 📖 trumpets 📖 were given to them.
3 📚And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer 📖; and much incense 📖 was given to him that he might offer it, with the prayers of all the saints 📖, on the golden altar 📖 which was before the throne. 4 📚And the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up out of the angel’s hand to the presence of God. 5 📚And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it onto the earth, and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightning flashes, and an earthquake 📖.
The first six trumpets
6 📚And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to blow them.
Hail, fire and blood
7 📚The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and a third part of trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8:7 Compare Ex 9:22-26. What once happened in one country (Egypt) will happen on the earth at large. And it will be a worse disaster – fire and blood will be mixed with the hail and lightening. See also Ezek 38:22; Joel 2:30; Acts 2:19.⚜
Blood in the sea
8 📚And the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and a third part of the sea became blood, 9 📚and a third part of the creatures which were living in the sea, died; and a third part of the ships were destroyed.
A star called Wormwood
10 📚And the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and it fell upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the springs of waters. 11 📚And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from these waters, because they were made bitter.
8:10-11 Could this blazing star be some sort of comet or asteroid or huge meteor? Possibly, but we cannot say with any certainty. In Rev 9:1-2 “star” symbolizes a living being. In Rev 12:4 stars symbolize angels. Could this star be an angel who is given power to poison a third of the sources of fresh water on earth? We do not know. “Wormwood” means bitterness.⚜
Darkness
12 📚And the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them were darkened, and a third part of the day had no light, and likewise the night.
13 📚And I looked and heard an angel flying through the middle of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe 📖, to the inhabitants of the earth because of the other trumpet blasts of the three angels who are yet to sound!”
8:13 God gives warning of terrible disasters still to come before He actually sends them.⚜