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Verse by Verse Bible Study Podcast with Randy Duncan
Bible study podcast that takes you through a book of the Bible verse by verse. This is not your typical life-lesson Bible study! If you are interested in a deeper-dive Bible study, this is an excellent option!
Verse by Verse Bible Study Podcast with Randy Duncan
Revelation 8 | The Seventh Seal
Dive into Revelation Chapter 8, where the Lamb opens the seventh seal, ushering in a profound silence in heaven and the beginning of the seven trumpet judgments. Join me as I explore the eerie calm before the storm of God’s divine judgment, drawing parallels to the plagues of Egypt and the undoing of creation itself. From hail and fire mixed with blood scorching a third of the earth to a blazing mountain turning the seas to blood, and the bitter star Wormwood poisoning the waters, these vivid images paint a sobering picture of devastation. We’ll unpack the symbolism of the seven archangels, the golden censer, and the prayers of the saints rising like incense, while reflecting on what this silence and these judgments mean for humanity today. As an eagle cries, “Woe, woe, woe,” signaling worse to come, this episode challenges listeners to confront the reality of sin and turn to the hope and salvation found in Jesus Christ. Don’t miss this powerful study of Revelation’s call to repentance and faith!
Intro music - Toby Mac
Outro music - Toby Mac/ Zach Williams
Well as always. Thank you for joining me in this Bible study podcast. I'm Randy Duncan and we're tackling Revelation, chapter 8. But just as a quick reminder of what we covered in chapter 7, we discussed how chapter 7 served as sort of this intermission between the intense events of the 6 and 7 seals, and it offered us a moment to sort of catch our breath after the catastrophic visions of the four horsemen. And we explored how the chapter answered that haunting question from chapter 6, who can stand in the face of God's wrath and introducing the sealing of the 144,000 servants from the tribes of Israel. We talked about that symbolizing divine protection and completeness, and it sparked that debate over whether this group represents literal Jewish believers or all redeemed Christians. And so, with that brief recap, we now turn our attention to chapter 8, which will see Jesus open the seventh seal. We now turn our attention to chapter 8, which will see Jesus open the seventh seal. Now, this isn't a long chapter. It only has 13 verses, and so we begin with the first two verses, which read and when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Now I want to go ahead and pause right here because, as you remember, we saw the first six seals open in chapter 6. Then we had a pause in chapter 7 to explain who will be spared from the wrath of God during the final days. But now the seals resume and John describes what he saw with the opening of the seventh seal. And what you're going to see is, with the opening of this seventh seal, it sets off this series of seven trumpets. These trumpets are part of the series of the seven seals, but before we get into that, notice that John says that after Jesus opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Speaker 1:Now, scholars debate the meaning of the silence that's described here. Some believe that God stops revealing truth for a period of time. Others argue that we have silence similar to that which hung over the world prior to creation, so that the new creation will mirror the old. However, the context here is judgment, not creation. The context here is judgment, not creation. Another thought is that all of heaven is silenced to allow the prayers of God's people to be heard, and they'll point out the fact that in the temple in Jerusalem, the incense and the sacrifices were to be offered up in silence. And although there are arguments to be made from each perspective, my personal thought is that this silence in heaven signals that sort of that eerie calm before the storm, the calm before the storm of God's judgment, sort of like we see in Zephaniah 1-7, where it says be silent before the Lord.
Speaker 1:God, for the day of the Lord is near, and this is in reference to God calling Judah to silence before God brings about his judgment. This is in reference to God calling Judah to silence before God brings about his judgment. That day is portrayed as a sacrifice. Only this time the victims aren't the animals, but unrepentant leaders in Israel. And so you might compare this silence to the silence in a courtroom right before the foreman of the jury reads the verdict. For a moment, there's perfect silence as everyone waits.
Speaker 1:And here in Revelation, the day of judgment will be upon those who oppress believers and bring about and practice evil. And so this silence in Revelation, it comes from the heavenly angels who are about to inflict God's judgment on the earth. And one last note here Verse 2 mentions the seven angels who stand before God. Verse 2 mentions the seven angels who stand before God. For those in John's day, they most likely thought of the seven archangels of Jewish tradition as described in the Tobit, where the angel Raphael states I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand in the glorious presence of the Lord, ready to serve him. Now, these seven angels are often identified as the archangels, who hold a special rank in the divine hierarchy.
Speaker 1:The book of Tobit is part of the deuterocanonical text in some Jewish and even in some Christian traditions, but even it doesn't explicitly name all seven angels, but later Jewish texts, particularly from some of the more mystical traditions like the Kabbalah and other texts like 1 Enoch, they provide the names for these angels. The seven angels' names are Michael Gabriel, raphael, uriel, raguel, sariel and Remiel. Again, these names are found in Deuterocanonical text, and when I say that Deuterocanonical text, it sounds like this long and formal name, but don't let that confuse you. That term comes from the Greek words deutero, which means second, and canonical, which means a rule or a standard, meaning a second canon, and so it refers to a set of biblical books that are considered canonical, authoritative scripture by some religious traditions but not by others, and so, in the context of Jewish and Christian traditions. These texts are part of the Old Testament in Catholic and some of the Eastern Orthodox Bibles, but they're not included in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh that's used in Judaism or in most of the Protestant Bibles, because most of the Protestant denominations they typically would classify them as apocrypha and view them as valuable for historical insight, but not divinely inspired. And so I'll tell you all that, just so you're aware.
Speaker 1:But we continue with verses 3 through 5, which read and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and he was given much 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 from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Now, the altar of incense and the golden censer that are described here they were temple instruments and they imply impending judgment. A censer was this metal container and in this case it was made out of gold and it was designed to hold burning coals and incense, and it could be either a vessel shaped like a bowl with a handle, or it could be suspended by chains which would allow the priest to carry or swing it back and forth to spread around the fragrant smoke. In the Old Testament these censers were used in the tabernacle and in the temple to burn incense as an offering to God and this incense it symbolized prayers rising up to heaven and into God's presence. And we see this link between prayer and incense even with David back in Psalm 141, where he says Lord, I call upon you, hasten to me, give ear to my voice when I call to you, let my prayer be counted as incense before you. And so David's praying that his prayers would be acceptable to God and answered by him. And this fits with what we see here in Revelation as well, because David is actually praying as a person in desperation because he's being surrounded by wicked people, and he prays that the wicked people will finally be judged and destroyed. And here in Revelation we'll see that judgment and destruction are described in the trumpets that follow. And in verse 5, we see that the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there was thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. Now some people have suggested that this angel is Michael. When we get to chapter 12, we'll see that Michael is specifically mentioned. But he's not specifically mentioned here, so there's really no way that we can know for certain.
Speaker 1:But the fire from the censer that the angel cast down to earth represents God's judgments that are going to be unleashed in the seven trumpets that follow, and we begin with the first trumpet in verses 6 and 7, which read Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up. So the first angel gives the signal, the trumpet is blown and we see the severe consequences that follow A third of the earth is burned up, a third of the trees are burned up and a third of the green grass is burned up. Now, as we go through these seven trumpets and these judgments, I want you to keep in the back of your mind the plagues that God brought upon Egypt just before the Exodus, because the judgments that we're going to read about here in Revelation resemble those in Exodus. For example, the first trumpet in judgment, where this hell and fire mixed with blood are cast down upon the earth, resembles the seventh plague on Egypt.
Speaker 1:In Exodus, chapter 9, we read, starting with verse 23, continually in the midst of the hell, very heavy hell such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation, the hell struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and the hell struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. And so that's an example of what I mean when I say that these judgments resemble those that we see in Egypt and the Exodus. Now, when John says that there was hell and fire, most commentators believe the fire referred to here is actually lightning Because, as we just read in Exodus it says there was hell and fire flashing continuously, and so it seems reasonable to assume John is describing lightning here. And just as we saw in Exodus, where the hell struck down every plant of the field and every tree of the field, we see here in Revelation that a third of the earth, a third of the trees and a third of the green grass is burned up. So one of the differences here is that the damage is limited to one third. But with that, there's good news and bad news. The good news, it's only a third and not everything. The bad news, it's only the first trumpet, and so the judgment isn't over.
Speaker 1:But another note here is that, in addition to the hell and the fire or possibly lightning, is the mention that it was mixed with blood. Now, some people will argue that this is a reference to the rain that is blood red as it gets mixed with the red dust from the Sahara Desert. Others argue more for volcanic eruptions that turn the sky a red color. Now, both of these are speculation, of course, and so I'm only mentioning them for your awareness, but in the Bible, blood typically refers to life, as we see in Leviticus 17.11. And so if we consider the blood in a judgment context, it might refer to the death that will ensue as a result of this plague.
Speaker 1:Because think about the result of such destruction. A loss of a third of the trees would result in shortages of essential staple items like fruit and olive figs and grapes. The destruction of the green grass would result in the death of sheep and goats and cattle, and so that would impact the world's supply of meat and cheese milk, and so what's presented here is sort of a grim picture of the devastation of the world's vegetation and the resulting consequences of that. I mean, think about it A third of the world's vegetation. I mean think about it A third of the world's vegetation, gardens, parks, forests, all gone, and many people think that this would also include grain crops like wheat, rice, oats and that sort of thing. And with a third of vegetation gone, you could also extrapolate to other areas of destruction like soil erosion, mudslides, floods. I mean the air pollution from the fires would be massive, and so the vegetation that did remain might be incapable of absorbing all of our normal pollution plus all of that. And so what you end up with is basically having ecology as a whole thrown completely out of balance, and, trust me, this isn't the type of climate change anybody wants.
Speaker 1:But, as I mentioned, the bad news is that this is only the first trumpet, and we read about the second trumpet in verses 8 and 9, where it tells us the second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. And so with the second trumpet comes another wave of destruction. But let's first take a look at verse 8, which says that Now, the first thing to point out here is that it doesn't say a great mountain was thrown into the sea. It says something like a great mountain. And so if it wasn't a literal mountain, then what was it?
Speaker 1:Well, opinions among scholars vary on this, but there seems to be basically three different views. One of the views is that this is describing either some cosmic or natural disaster, like a volcanic eruption or a meteor strike, and you could visualize either of those glowing red and fiery as they erupt or they crash to earth, and each would cause this widespread destruction. Another view, though, sees this great mountain as symbolizing a great political or religious system, and this system is being judged by God and has been cast down. And it's true that, in the Bible, mountains sometimes represent kingdoms or powers. So, for example, in Jeremiah 51, 25, babylon is called a quote destroying mountain, and it's interesting, god declares that he will make it a quote burnt mountain. But the last interpretation of this great mountain that I'll mention here is the view that this mountain represents some demonic or supernatural force, meaning some fallen angel or perhaps even Satan being cast down to earth.
Speaker 1:When we get to chapter 12, we're going to read in Revelation 12 9,. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him, and so this could also symbolize God's judgment upon them. Now we've just touched on the first part of verse 8, but remember what the second half says, as well as verse 9. Something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed, and so we see a third of the sea turning into blood.
Speaker 1:And once again we see the allusion to the plagues in Egypt. Remember the first plague on Egypt was the Nile River turned to blood when Moses struck the waters with his staff. We also see that more than just a third of the waters are impacted here because a third of the life in the sea died, and we mentioned the consequences of vegetation being destroyed and the result on the availability of meat, but most people at this time ate more fish than meat, so this plague may prove even more devastating on the food supply than the first. In addition to that, a third of the ships on the sea are destroyed. Now some people may just gloss over that part of the verse, but consider this there's an average of about 50,000 merchant ships navigating the Earth's seas and oceans at any given time, and so a third would be about 17,000 ships destroyed. And on those 17,000 ships, how many people are on board each one? And this number doesn't even include smaller boats or military ships, because that data simply isn't there. And so the actual fallout from a further disrupted food supply, coupled with all of the death and destruction at sea, starts to paint a grim picture of this second plague. But there's more judgment to come, and we look now at the third trumpet in verses 10 and 11, where it says the third angel blew his trumpet, that a third of the seas were impacted, and again here we see more water affected. But whereas the second plague impacted the oceans and the seas, the salt water. This plague now affects the rivers and springs, the fresh water supplies, and this is the water supply that humanity depends on.
Speaker 1:But we read that a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and we're told the name of the star is Wormwood. Now, images of stars falling from heaven are used in different ways, including divine judgment, like we see in Isaiah, chapter 34, or Revelation 6, daniel 8. But we also see the same imagery associated with fallen powers or authorities, and maybe the most notable is seen in Isaiah 14, starting in verse 12, where it says how you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn, you have been cast down to earth, you who once laid low the nations. This is usually interpreted as referring to the king of Babylon or metaphorically even to Satan. Interpret as referring to the king of Babylon or metaphorically even to Satan. And so the morning star falling signifies the collapse of a proud ruler. And we'll see in the next chapter that John sees a star fall from heaven because he tells us I saw a star that had fallen from sky to the earth, and we know this is a metaphor for an angel, because he continues by saying the star was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. And so what we see is that the fall of a star usually reflects spiritual or some sort of moral corruption, and it emphasizes the consequences of turning away from God.
Speaker 1:And so here in Revelation 8, wormwood's fall could carry a secondary meaning, representing a sort of physical manifestation of the spiritual bitterness infecting humanity. Now, just for the sake of thoroughness, there are other interpretations of what this falling star represents, because there are some who believe it's a meteor or a comet that falls to the earth, breaks up and then pollutes the water. Meteor or a comet that falls to the earth, breaks up and then pollutes the water. And still others think that perhaps this is a description of another thermonuclear weapon. But the main point here isn't exactly what it is, but what the result is. What's the physical manifestation that we see here? It says that a third of the water became wormwood.
Speaker 1:Now, wormwood was a bitter tasting plant known in the ancient world for both its medicinal and its toxic properties. In small doses wormwood was used medicinally, but in larger amounts it could be poisonous, causing sickness and death. But not only is wormwood a real plant, it was also used as a metaphor for sin and for bitterness and judgment. And so, for example, in Jeremiah 9 and Jeremiah 23, god promises to feed his people water poisoned with wormwood as a punishment for their unfaithfulness, and so it was associated with suffering and judgment. So the use of wormwood here in Revelation draws on this imagery as an instrument of divine judgment that brings bitterness and death.
Speaker 1:But let's move on now to the fourth trumpet, where John tells us in verse 12,. And likewise a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. Now, this fourth trumpet and plague may be the most difficult to understand. There's a change we see from the land and sea to the sun, moon and stars, and what we see is a darkening for a third of the time. And this plague of darkness. It would definitely conjure up visions of the plague of darkness over Egypt and Exodus.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the interesting things about the ten plagues of Egypt, by the way, is that they were divine judgments sent by God, demonstrating his supremacy over Egypt's gods, and so each plague targeted Egyptian gods like Hapi, who was the god of the Nile, which was struck by blood or the sun, god Ra, when Egypt was obscured in darkness, or the plague of hell and fire, which challenged Nut, who was the sky goddess, and even the death of the firstborn, judged Pharaoh's divine status as well as Osiris, who was the god of the firstborn. Judged Pharaoh's divine status as well as Osiris, who was the god of the afterlife. And so, by orchestrating these plagues, god exposed the impotence of Egypt's pantheon, of these so-called gods, and in Exodus 12, 12, god says and on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. And here in Revelation, we see judgments that are reminiscent of those plagues on Egypt.
Speaker 1:Now, some commentators understand this plague to be literal, but it's difficult to see, just from a physics standpoint, how the sun, moon and stars would not produce light only a third of the time. Now, certainly God could cause that to happen miraculously. I mean, he's God, he can do what he wants. But perhaps a better explanation, if you take this in a literal sense, is to imagine that for some reason, the sun, the moon and the stars are obscured for a third of the time. And what I mean is, for example, even though the sun doesn't literally stop shining for a third of the time. It may be the case that it's somehow obscured from our vision for a third of the time, perhaps by heavy cloud covering or dust and debris from the other plagues.
Speaker 1:If you've listened to my Genesis study and if you remember the days of creation, we discussed the creation of the sun, moon and stars on day four and that's been a point of attack for non-believers for years. Remember I explained that it's possible that the sun wasn't actually created on day four but that it became visible on earth on day four. But as we look at this trumpet series so far, we now have four trumpets and plagues. But have you noticed what's been impacted by these plagues? But have you noticed what's been impacted by these plagues?
Speaker 1:These first four plagues exhibit remarkable parallels with the first four days of creation in Genesis, but in a mode of divine judgment that reverses or sort of disrupts the created order. And so, for example, on the first day of creation, god creates light and he separates it from darkness, while the fourth trumpet darkens a third of the celestial lights and symbolizes sort of this partial undoing of God's cosmic order. The second day of creation is where we saw separation of waters above and below, and it contrasts with the second and third trumpets, where the sea and the fresh waters are corrupted by this blazing mountain and wormwood, and so it turns the life-giving waters into agents of bitterness and death. The third day's creation of dry land and vegetation it's partially destroyed by the first trumpets, hail and fire, which burn a third of the earth, trees and grass. And then, finally, the fourth day of creation of the sun, moon and stars is now disrupted by the fourth trumpet's darkening that we just saw. And so these parallels seem to frame the trumpets as a sort of a deliberate de-creation, if you will, where God's judgments target the elements of his original creation. But this signals both his sovereignty over the universe and it also recalls the plagues of Egypt as acts of divine power over those false gods.
Speaker 1:Now one other observation here regarding the judgments that we've seen so far. If you remember, when we discussed the four horsemen of the apocalypse, in chapter 6, the fourth horseman was given power to harm a fourth of the earth. But as this series now of the trump, in chapter 6, the fourth horseman was given power to harm a fourth of the earth. But as this series now of the trumpets and plagues have begun, the destruction has intensified because it's now one-third that is affected. The judgments are intensifying, but we finish this chapter with the last verse, verse 13, which reads Then I looked and I heard an eagle chapter, with a pause in the series of trumpets, as John sees an eagle flying overhead.
Speaker 1:Now the eagle symbolized strength and speed. But it also symbolized the Roman Empire. The primary emblem of a Roman legion was an aquila, a silver or gold eagle carried on a pole. But more important than what the eagle represents is the message it brings, and it clearly brings a message of continued judgment, because the eagle cries out Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the trumpets the angels are about to blow. And this three-fold repetition of woe does a couple of things. It serves to emphasize the severity of each, but also we see three woes because we still have three trumpets remaining.
Speaker 1:In both the Old Testament and the New Testament we often see woes warning of God's impending judgment. And this verse also serves as a sort of a transition in what John has seen, because it marks the escalation of divine judgment from the first four trumpets. The first four plagues affected the natural world. The final three plagues will bring intensified suffering directly upon humanity, because what we're going to see over the next three chapters is that the fifth, sixth and seventh trumpets will bring demonic forces and widespread death upon the world, which is why John sees and hears the message of woe to those who dwell on the earth. And so, as we conclude our study here of Revelation 8, we're confronted with the sobering reality of the trumpet judgments which echo the plagues of Egypt and sort of this partial undoing of God's creation. And all of these images underscore the seriousness of humanity's rebellion and the urgency of the times, and it's warning us of the consequences of turning from God. So let this serve as a wake-up call to turn from sin to seek God's mercy and forgiveness and turn to Jesus Christ, who offers salvation to all who trust Him.
Speaker 1:The ground is sinking. Sand Across the solid rock, I'm standing. Yes, lord, you're the only one that I will build my life on. Through it all you remain. The sun goes up, sun comes down. This old world keeps spinning around and I'm here traveling down this long and wide new road. Seasons come, seasons go. I've been high and I've been low, but I'm standing on the only rock I know. You're my cornerstone, no matter where I go. You're my cornerstone, no matter where I go. No matter where I go, the sun goes up and the sun comes down, but I feel my life On this solid ground oh, the only rock I stand on.
