seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
this is from Bible-studys.org.
Throughout the Bible, all of these natural disasters mentioned (here in verse 5): “thunderings, lightnings, earthquake”, are God dealing with mankind. This is no different, and I believe these are literal. A terrible storm takes place above ground and a terrible shaking beneath takes place, as well. The Wrath of God has begun as the world enters into the Great Tribulation.
Are the Trumpet Judgments Literal Judgments? The best way to decide if the trumpet judgments are literal or symbolic is to study them in connection with the plagues of Egypt (as found in Exodus 7-11). Five of the plagues of Egypt are repeated in the book of Revelation. No one suggests that what happened in Egypt was not literal in its form of judgment on the rebellious Egyptians. Thus, we can conclude that the same thing applies during the Tribulation period and that the trumpet judgments introduce physical judgment on the earth. The only exceptions are those trumpets that introduce events beyond human understanding, and even they affect human beings physically.
I was just telling Hubby, the other day, how I miss the hurricanes back east. We are out in Arizona right now.... and the weather is weird. There are mountains all around and the weather seems to bounce off them.... so circulation of a storm is hard to see. On top of that.... the heat radiates and it dries out the rain before it gets to the ground. If we had a smart weatherman like Topper.... he would call that verga. Tracking weather in the desert is like trying to call a horse with no name. It's futile sometimes.
Anyway.... back to the story.... John's Vision has taken him to Heaven..... There has been a horrible horrible earthquake on earth..... It leveled mountains and islands raised out of the sea to form new land. The plates are shifting.... humans were hiding in the caves to get away from the earthquakes... and they had to run when the rocks started to scream..... we're talking way beyond a 10 on the richter scale.... and now.... in Heaven..... it's silent.
Which brings me back to the hurricane...... can you imagine..... being in an earthquake that flattens the Smoky Mountain Range..... while a massive hurricane.... way above a 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale... is roaring on land.... can you imagine being in a major hurricane and a major earthquake combined? If the ground was shaking so violently the mountains were turning to grains of sand..... and the sky was full of tornadoes and hail..... while the oceans were churning up waves that would break on land miles in from the shore..... moved by wind as well as tsunami..... trees crashing everywhere... not one left standing.... and the rocks screaming in the howling wind....
I remember when a tornado went through Wayson's Corner and it took out the roof of a tobacco storage barn. That same tornado moved my stick built home off its foundation a little..... if my daughter put her ball down on the kitchen floor.... it would roll all the way to my bedroom at the back of the house picking up a little speed as it went. I also remember the only earthquake I have ever experienced. The quake was in Virginia.... but we felt it in Lusby.... I had no idea how to react.... by the time I figured out what was going on.... I was stupid and ran into the house.... instead of going outside. Had that been the earthquake in Chapter 7..... I would have heard the rocks screaming... and I would have been one of those morons hiding in a cave during an earthquake. Go outside... hubby told me.... right before the quake stopped.
After the quake...... before the next move..... there is silence. John says everything was silent for half an hour. One of the commentaries used a preacher stopping in the middle of the sermon.... for ten minutes.... The commentary said that ten minutes would seem like an hour..... I bet after an earthquake of biblical proportions.... a half hour of silence would be horribly frightful..... even for those who are biblically aware [those who know the verses by heart but never accepted Jesus] would know God was up to something.....
Imagine a time of no electric, no internet, no television, no radio, no newspapers, no information accept conjecture. Wouldn't that be a kind of silence? What if all this natural stuff was going on.... the earth shaking, the tornadoes, the wind, the lightning, the thunder.... the screaming boulders.... the enormous breaking waves.... buildings and trees falling everywhere.... and then.... complete silence.
No one to stop the quaking and shaking and blowing.... no one to forecast the storm.... no one to tell us what is going on..... Silence.
Anticipation......
