Tag: Seven trumpets

Overview

The Seventh Seal is a single verse, saying, “There was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Rev 8:1). Many assume it includes the Seven Trumpets. However, that is not possible because, in the trumpets, people still repent, while the Seventh Seal is too late to repent.

This article proposes that the silence of the Seventh Seal is caused by the immeasurable sorrow in the hearts of God and His people when the multitude hiding in the mountains in the Sixth Seal is killed at Christ’s return. To support this, this article argues as follows:

God has been delaying the execution of His judgments until all understand that His judgments are perfect. The Sealed Book symbolizes God’s judgments. That it is sealed symbolizes that His judgments are not understood. But when the Seventh Seal is broken, all understand that God’s judgments are perfect. Then, there would be no further need to allow evil to continue.

Introduction

The breaking of the Seventh Seal is minimal in the extreme. It is devoid of action:

“When the Lamb broke the Seventh Seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Rev 8:1)

Not including the Seven Trumpets

Many assume the Seventh Seal includes the Seven Trumpets (Rev 8-11). That would mean that the Seven Trumpets follow chronologically after the Sixth Seal. Show More

However, the trumpets cannot be included in the Seventh Seal because people repent in the trumpets, but there is no repentance in the Seventh Seal:

The fact that people still repent in the plagues is clearly shown in the interlude, where a special message is brought to Earth, and the Church has to “prophesy again” (Rev 10:1, 2, 11).

That the Seventh Seal is too late for repentance is shown by the fact that it follows after the Sixth, and the Sixth is already too late for repentance:

In the Sixth Seal, people attempt to hide from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev 6:15, 16), meaning Christ has already returned. Show More

While hiding in the mountains, they say, “the great day of their wrath has come” (Rev 6:17), and “the great day” is Armageddon, which is too late for repentance. Show More

For these reasons, the trumpets represent a time before the Sixth Seal. For here for a more detailed discussion.  Another article supports this view by showing that the main parts of Revelation, such as the Seven Seals and the Seven Trumpets, are parallel. (Read Article)

Put to Death when Christ returns.

Since the Seventh Seal is so brief, it must be understood relative to the context. The multitude that hides in the mountains in the Sixth Seal (Rev 6:15) is killed at the return of Christ (Rev 19:21; 14:20). For the following reasons, it is proposed that the silence of the Seventh Seal is caused by the immeasurable sorrow in the heart of God and the hearts of His people at the destruction of billions of people at Christ’s return or the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:15).

1) When the Seventh Seal is broken, all of Satan’s objections are refuted, and evil may be destroyed.

Previous articles concluded as follows:

The Seventh Seal is the last seal of the Book of Life, which identifies the people whom God has elected to eternal life.

The Seals of the Book are Satan’s informed and brilliantly articulated objections to the grace God grants those people.

That nobody is able to open the Book (Rev 5:3) symbolizes that the heavenly beings are unable to refute Satan’s objections and show that God’s judgments are always perfect. 

That Jesus breaks the seals (e.g., Rev 6:1) means that He directs events on earth to refute Satan’s objections and shows that God’s judgments are perfect.

Consequently, when the seventh and final seal is broken, all of Satan’s accusations are refuted. Then, there would be no need to allow evil to continue to reign on this planet, and God can put an end to the reign of evil through Christ’s return. God would not allow evil to reign a second longer than necessary.

2) The Sixth Seal is Christ’s Return, when God’s enemies will depart into the eternal fire.

The Sixth Seal begins with the signs of Christ’s return (Rev 6:12-14). It then shows the people hiding because they see Christ is coming. They ask, “Who will be able to stand” on “the great day of their wrath” (Rev 6:17)? Then it describes a great multitude standing before the throne (Rev 7:9). They are the answer to the question of the hiding multitude, implying that the Sixth Seal describes a point during Christ’s return when humanity is divided into two great multitude (Read Article). “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire” (Mt 25:41). Show More

3) All main visions end with Christ’s Return.

Revelation consists of five main visions. Three of them (the Seven Trumpets (Rev 8-11), Revelation 12-14, and the Seven Plagues (Rev 15-20) end explicitly with Christ’s return. The Seven Letters also end with a reference to His return when it says that God’s people will sit on Jesus’ throne (Rev 3:21). Therefore, it is fair to assume that the Seven Seals also end with Christ’s return. Show More

4) Including the Seventh Seal in a chapter with the first six trumpets was a mistake.

The Seventh Seal is the first verse of chapter 8. The rest of the chapter describes the first six trumpets. Some take this as evidence that the Seventh Seal belongs to the Seven Trumpets. That was possibly the view of the person who divided the text into verses and chapters. However, the chapter divisions are not inspired. They were not part of the original text. They were added many centuries later.–

5) The Old Testament associates silence with God rising for judgment.

For example, He “caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment” (Ps 76:8-9; See also Zeph 1:7; Zech 2:13 and Hab 2:20).

Conclusions

It is not literally 30 minutes.

This is the only place in the New Testament where the word translated as “half-hour” appears. “The ten horns … receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour” (Rev 17:12). Since this cannot be one literal hour, we should not interpret half an hour as a literal 30 minutes. Perhaps the kings will rule for a few years or a few months. “Half an hour” could be a shorter period.

The sorrow in God’s heart

Every person is a miracle of God’s creation. The unnumbered miracles of the human body result in the astounding miracle of a living, thinking human being. God is love, and His people have become like God. When billions of people are destroyed, Heaven will fall silent. All the singing, glorifying, and praising will cease.

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Other Articles

The Seven Seals

• • • • NEXT: Why has Christ not yet returned?
      • All articles on the sealed book (Rev 4:1-8:1)
      • People’s deeds will refute Satan’s criticism.
        

Other

• • • • Origin of the Trinity Doctrine 
      • All articles on this website
      • Is Jesus the Most High God?
      • Trinity Doctrine – General
      • The Book of Daniel
      • The Book of Revelation
      • The Origin of Evil
      • Death, Eternal Life, and Eternal Torment

I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary on Revelation for further reading. For general theological discussions, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.