8:1-6 How are we to interpret the opening of the seventh seal here?
8:1-6 How are we to interpret the opening of the seventh seal here?
The opening of the seventh seal here reveals the seven trumpet judgments of God about to be unleashed upon the earth in response to the prayers of saints (cp V4 with Re 5:8; 6:9-11).
When the seventh seal is opened there is silence in heaven for half an hour. Most bible commentators agree that this silence signifies the awe and anticipation in heaven at the grim reality of the seven trumpet judgments about to be unleashed on the earth.
The trumpet judgments will not affect the church; it has already been raptured and is in heaven when the trumpets sound, as our previous studies on Rev 1:19 and 3:7-13 clearly prove. Many in the church see the trumpet judgments as symbolic, not literal, but they are to be taken just as literally as the seven seals that precedes them, and the seven vial, or bowl judgments which follow (cp Rev 8:7; 8:8-9; 8:10-11; 8:12; 9:1-12; 9:13-21; 10:7).
The trumpet judgments are also as literal as God's judgments which brought plagues upon Egypt in the Old Testament (cp Ex 7:19-21; 8:5-6, 16-17, 24; 9:5-6, 8-10, 22-26; 10:12-15, 21-23; 11:1, 4-7; 12:29-30).
These were all literal judgments and so are all the judgments God will pour out upon the earth in the tribulation. They have been foretold throughout scripture (cp Mt 24:7-8, 21-22; Lk 21:22-26; Ro 2:5-9; 5:9; Eph 5:6; Col 3:5-6; 1Th 1:10; Rev 6:12-17; 16:1-12, 17-21).
The first trumpet judgment in Rev 8:7 is similar to the seventh Egyptian plague in Ex 9:22-26, and will be just as literal (cp Rev 8:7 with Ex 9:22-23). The second trumpet judgment in Rev 8:8-9 undoubtedly refers to a huge meteorite cast into the sea. (Meteorites burn up when they enter earth's atmosphere).
It contaminates a third of the sea, turning it into blood and killing a third of all the sea creatures. It also destroys a third of the ships. In the first plague in Egypt in Ex 7:19-21 every drop of water in the land turned to blood: streams, rivers, ponds, even pools of water (cp Rev 8:8-9 with Ex 7:19-21).
The same thing will happen in the second and third vial judgments, after the trumpet judgments are complete (cp Rev 16:3-6).