The Seventh Seal and the First Four Trumpets

When Jesus Christ breaks the seventh seal, thirty minutes of silence is required to finish the sealing of 144,000 bond servants on earth (Rev 7:1-3; 8:1). During that time in the Temple of God in heaven:

1. Seven angels stood before God and received their seven trumpets (Rev 8:2).

2. An angel by the altar, with a golden censer, burns incense with the prayers of the tribulation saints and emits a smoke before God and temporarily appeases His wrath (Rev 8:3-4; Num 16:46-48).

When the incense burns out, the angel fills the golden censer with the fire of the altar and throws it down to earth causing thunder, lightning and an earthquake (Rev 8:5).

In heaven, when the first four angels with their trumpets are set to sound, their role is limited to signaling an event; they are not directly involved with carrying out God's judgment. Four different and separate angels, outside of heaven and standing at the four corners of earth, throw something to earth in the process of dispensing God's judgment. This is easily seen by tracking each angel by location on a chart:

Angel in Heaven	Angel standing at the Four Corners of Earth	Harm upon Earth and Sea
#1 blows the first trumpet (Rev 8:7)	Throws hail and fire mixed with blood to earth	A third of the earth, including a third of the trees and all of the grasses, is burned up
#2 blows the second trumpet (Rev 8:8-9)	Throws something like a great mountain burning with fire into the sea	A third of the sea turns to blood, killing a third of all sea creatures and destroying a third of all sea ships
#3 blows the third trumpet (Rev 8:10-11)	Throws a great star burning like a torch called Wormwood	A third of all fresh water becomes bitter and kills many
#4 blows the fourth trumpet (Rev 8:12)	Strikes a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars	A third of a day is without sunlight and a third of the night is without any light from the moon or stars

For deeper study:

The Seventh Seal and the First Four Trumpets

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Series: The Doctrine on Eschatology
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Series: The Doctrine on Eschatology
The Fifth Trumpet

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