30 Minutes of Silence in Heaven

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What will be the signal that marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation? Will it sound like a bomb exploding or a war breaking out? No.

Silence. Thirty minutes of ominous silence. A heavenly hush. Then comes the beginning of the end of the earth.

Why is there this strange silence? God’s patience is not exhausted. When the sixth seal was opened and nature responded with a mighty convulsion, brave men weakened for a moment. Christ gave them an opportunity to repent. But like the Pharaoh of Moses’ story who, when the heat was off, let his willful heart return to its original intention, many people return to their unbelief in the calm. They say, “It wasn’t God, after all. Everything can be explained by natural causes.”

This is the lull before the storm. God’s steps from mercy to judgment are always slow, reluctant, and measured. He is slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work (see Isaiah 28:21). He is a God of love who judges His creatures. This silence marks the transition from grace to judgment.

The Blowing of the Seven Trumpets

The second half of the Great Tribulation now breaks with fury on the earth and is signaled by the blowing of the trumpets (Revelation 8—11).

Seven angels who stood before God now raise seven war trumpets. These seven trumpets have a special meaning for Israel. Throughout their history, God used trumpets in ceremonies, journeys, special feasts, and to announce a new year. Trumpets often announced God stepping into history. Here they announce divine judgments in the day of the Lord (see Zechariah 1:14-16). They declare war.

Then, in addition to the seven-angel band, another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and fills it with fire. He then throws it on the earth, causing thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. This is the answer to the prayers of God’s people (fifth trumpet) when they prayed, “Oh, God, avenge us!” Now, the people of the earth, having rejected the death of Christ for the judgment of their sins, bear the judgment for their own sins. The Tribulation is building to a crescendo.

The blowing of the trumpets introduces literal plagues. At the first, hail and fire mingled with blood hits the earth and burns up one-third of all trees and green grass. Plant life was the first to be created, and now it’s the first to be destroyed.

This is a literal judgment upon plant life in the same way that the seventh plague of Egypt was literal (see Exodus 9:18-26). It’s no accident that this trumpet judgment has a striking similarity to the plagues in Egypt.

At the second trumpet, the sea, which occupies most of the earth’s surface, is judged. A mass as if it were a great mountain (see Jeremiah 51:25) falls into the sea, one-third becomes literal blood, and one-third of all living sea creatures die. Also, one-third of all ships are destroyed.

The third trumpet unleashes a great star, burning as it falls out of heaven. It’s a meteor of poison that contaminates one-third of the earth’s fresh-water supply. The star’s name, wormwood, suggests it’s a judgment on man’s idolatry and injustice.

The fourth angel blew the trumpet and the light from the sun and moon and stars all darken by one-third. It was on the fourth day of re-creation that these heavenly bodies appeared, and now the light is one-third less over the earth.

Now, after the fourth trumpet, a solemn, severe warning is shouted. The final three trumpets will be intensifying. “Woe!” says an eagle (ASV; rather than an angel) delivering this message. Deuteronomy 28:49 talks about judgment coming from the end of the earth as swift as the eagle flies … and that’s what happens next.

Next: You think you’ve seen weird stuff in Revelation? Wait until you see this …

1. What does it tell us about human nature that, even in the Tribulation, people are able to talk themselves out of turning to God?

2. Why do you think God is so slow to move from mercy to judgment? How do we benefit personally from this characteristic?

3. What does the continual symbolism of the trumpet in the Bible tell us about God and His plans?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teaching on Revelation 8:7-13, Revelation 8:2-6 and Revelation 8:1.