Revelation 8:1-6; Psalm 43

Rev. 8:1-6
If you will remember in Rev. 5, God the Father held a scroll sealed with 7 seals. The Lamb (Jesus) was given authority to open the 7 seals. He opened 6 of them in chapter 6; then chapter 7 was parenthetical. Now in chapter 8 we go back to the 7th seal. When the 7th seal is opened, it releases the trumpet judgments. These judgments are more severe than the previous seal judgments. The trumpet judgments will take place during the first half of the Tribulation. (Remember that the Church which is sometimes called the Body of Christ and consists of all who have trusted Christ for salvation will be removed from the earth before the Tribulation. This will happen in a event we call the Rapture or "catching away." I Thessalonians 4:13-18 teaches this concept which will include believers who have already died as well as those who remain alive at that time. "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words." vv. 16-18

The judgments we read about in Revelation are very fearful and grow worse and worse during the 7 years of the Great Tribulation. It's a comfort to know that we will not be here, but it should encourage us to share the Good News of salvation with others so they too can escape these terrible judgments.

The first reaction at the opening of the 7th seal is silence in heaven for half an hour. v. 1 We're not told the meaning of the this silence. The scroll is now open completely, so perhaps the heavenly hosts were overwhelmed by what they saw.

At the opening of the 7th seal, the 7 angels who stand before God were given seven trumpets. Before the sounding of the trumpets, a special angel with a golden censer offered incense with the prayers of the saints. (Saints are believers--you and me!) Our prayers are an offering to God! Then the angel hurled fire, thunder, lightning, and an earthquake to precede the trumpet judgments.

Psalm 43
This psalm is a companion to Psalm 42 in which the psalmists calls out to God while he is being oppressed by his enemies. It concludes with exactly the same words with which Psalm 42 ends. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."

I like the prayer in v.3, "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell." God has indeed sent forth his light and his truth in His Word. We have it before us every day to guide us and to bring us into His presence. May we never neglect it!