Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
October 18, 2026
  • Holy Holy Holy
  • Lord From Sorrows Deep I Call (Psalm 42)
  • I Will Wait For You (Psalm 130)

  • 1. Silence Speaks Volumes. 8:1.

    The seventh seal is a prelude to the trumpet and bowl judgments to come.
    The seventh seal is unique among the seals broken by the Lamb. Instead of an immediate action taken, there is a “silence in heaven for about half an hour.” This is a brief time period that is mentioned, enough for the events of vs. 2-5 to occur.
    Why was heaven silent? It has been suggested that it is a pause to contemplate the severity of the judgment upon the earth-dwellers, or possibly so God could focus on the prayers of His people for His judgment to fall on the wicked.

    2. Powerful Prayers and Incense, 8:2-5.

    v. 2 - John saw “the seven angels who stand before God.” These angels appear to be familiar to those who received this letter. Jewish tradition knew of seven archangels, the responsibility is important enough to entrust to God’s chief angels.
    They were given seven trumpets. Those trumpets are a part of the telescoping, or nesting together, of the series of judgments God will bring upon the earth and its inhabitants. This means that the seventh seal contains all seven of the trumpet judgments and all seven of the bowl judgments. This is because the seventh trumpet reveals the seven bowl judgments, just as the seventh seal revealed the seven trumpet judgments.
    The trumpet biblically heralds impending action and momentous events. Here the trumpets signal the end-time judgments and destruction often associated with the Day of the Lord. Here are two examples: Joel 2:1-2
    Joel 2:1–2 NASB95
    Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
    Zephaniah 1:14–16 NASB95
    Near is the great day of the Lord, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the Lord! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers.
    v. 3 - Another angel, a different one came, and his actions foreshadow what the trumpets will signal. He stood by the altar (golden) holding a golden censer (actually a shovel-like tool which would hold coals to heat the incense on the golden altar).
    There was much incense given to him (by God or another angel) and it was added by him to the prayers of all the saints. I think it is correct to understand the “prayers” are prayers for relief and vindication for all the saints, “all” reinforcing the need for “much incense.”
    Deuteronomy 32:43 NASB95
    “Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.”
    Psalm 79:10 NASB95
    Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let there be known among the nations in our sight, Vengeance for the blood of Your servants which has been shed.
    All of this incense was placed on the golden altar
    v. 4 - The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints “went up”
    Psalm 141:2 NASB95
    May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
    The image here is of “lifting up” prayer to God like in Jeremiah 7:16
    Jeremiah 7:16 NASB95
    “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.
    It went out of the angel’s hand before God, and then the unexpected happened.
    v. 5 - Following the angel’s act of worship, he makes three rapid actions: “took,” “filled,” “threw.” it is a gesture of judgment which foreshadows the trumpet judgments. This act, like the trumpets following, show that judgment is originating from heaven, and that they visit destruction upon the earth.
    It is following the pattern of judgment see in Ezekiel 10:2-7
    Ezekiel 10:2–7 NASB95
    And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight. Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks. It came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. Then the cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
    The same pattern occured when God rained “brimstone and fire” on Sodom and Gomorrah: source is from the Lord out of heaven (Gen. 19:24). The seventh plague on Egypt likewise “ran down to the earth” (Exodus 9:23-24).
    The last part of verse 5 declares the omens of God’s appearance as judge of the whole cosmos. These represent awesome presence with the addition of the earthquake being a portend of God’s judgment on the whole universe.

    3. Trumpet Warnings and Wake-Up Calls, 8:6-12.

    v. 6 - The seven angels are now ready to sound their trumpets. These trumpet judgments are clustered in two groups. The first four will impact the earth; the last three, the “woes” will impact mankind.
    v. 7 - The first trumpet judgment’s focus is on earth’s vegetation. Like the judgments on Sodom and Gomorrah and the seventh plague on Egypt, there is another verse that speaks of similar judgment, Ezek. 38:22
    Ezekiel 38:22 NASB95
    “With pestilence and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, with hailstones, fire and brimstone.
    The difference is that the trumpet judgments are more widespread:
    “a third of the earth,” “a third of the trees,” and “all the green grass” was burned up. The word here means consumed by fire; it emphasizes that this is a severe catastrophe.
    v. 8 - The second trumpet judgment focuses on the sea.
    The pattern of the judgments strongly suggest that the trumpet judgments will be supernatural plagues from God that have horrific natural effects.
    The judgment here mirrors the first plague of Egypt but this time it affects the sea, not the Nile River! One-third of the sea became blood.
    v. 9 - The effects of this second judgment killed a third of living sea creatures and destroyed a third of all sea trade.
    v. 10 - The third trumpet judgment focuses on fresh water. Here is another heavenly object falling on the earth, specifically affecting a third of the rivers of the earth and on the springs of water (scholars debate whether this is all springs of water or a third of them). What does seem evident is that these judgments demonstrate an escalation of destructive objects raining down in judgment from heaven like those of Sodom and Gomorrah and Egypt’s seventh plague. They are much bigger in scope, thereby being more destructive.
    v. 11 - The effect of this judgment is that one-third of the fresh waters were poisoned, signaled by the name of the burning star, “Wormwood.” Wormwood is a shrub/herb whose leaves are used to make a bitter-tasting medicine to treat intestinal parasites and other ailments. It contains a compound safe, yet bitter in low concentration, but can cause fatal seizures in higher amounts.
    The OT associates punishment for sin with bitter drink or a bitterness that often leads to death. Numbers 5:24
    Numbers 5:24 NASB95
    ‘Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness.
    Numbers 5:27 NASB95
    ‘When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.
    Deuteronomy 29:18 NASB95
    so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
    Jeremiah 9:15 NASB95
    therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
    Many died from the waters because the water was made bitter; the bitter is toxic.
    v. 12 - The fourth trumpet judgment is on heavenly bodies: sun, moon, stars. One-third of each were struck, its effects remind us of the ninth plague of Egypt, but foretold in Joel 2:10
    Joel 2:10 NASB95
    Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness.
    Amos 5:18–20 NASB95
    Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light; As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
    It is a substantial disruption but not a final one. This judgment is complete darkness for a third of daylight and a third of nighttime.

    4. Warnings from the Eagle, 8:13.

    There is strong manuscript support for the translation “eagle” in verse 13; there are a few copies from the Byzantine tradition that read “angel” — this is the source material for the KJV and Textus Receptus versions. This variant is most likely a scribal correction, where an angel was thought to be more fitting for this announcement, as in Rev. 14:6
    Revelation 14:6 NASB95
    And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
    The eagle speaks of three “woes,” a triple lament regarding those who dwell on the earth. The reason for these woes is the remaining three trumpet judgments. The three-fold repetition of the word “woe” indicates that the remaining three trumpets are even more ominous than the first four. A new and greater level of judgment is about to unfold. This is a solemn warning.
    We see in these verses that sin brings bitterness. Revelation gives us a preview of prophetic events to come. All evil in the world today will pale in light of God’s coming judgment, implying that the world is not getting better and better. It is true that we have more conveniences today. But the corrupt nature of sin in humanity since the fall is getting worse just as Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:13
    2 Timothy 3:13 NASB95
    But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
    Human beings rationalize away the idea of catastrophic judgment. We will do anything to stop thinking about the implication of a holy God. We do not want to deal with the consequences of sin. We avoid facing our fears.
    These judgments chill our blood, as they should. People who go through tragedy often rearrange their values, putting greater emphasis on the things of greater value. As C. S. Lewis said, God uses pain as a megaphone to get the attention of morally deaf people.
    For the church, these judgments emphasize our need to live with an eternal perspective, knowing that God’s judgments are real and His grace is available to those who turn to Him in faith.
    So while there is still time, let us be faithful witnesses of that grace we have received, so that others may be persuaded to believe in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, being saved from the wrath of God to come by grace through faith in the risen Lord.

      • Joel 2:1–2NASB95

      • Zephaniah 1:14–16NASB95

      • Deuteronomy 32:43NASB95

      • Psalm 79:10NASB95

      • Psalm 141:2NASB95

      • Jeremiah 7:16NASB95

      • Ezekiel 10:2–7NASB95

      • Ezekiel 38:22NASB95

      • Numbers 5:24NASB95

      • Numbers 5:27NASB95

      • Deuteronomy 29:18NASB95

      • Jeremiah 9:15NASB95

      • Joel 2:10NASB95

      • Amos 5:18–20NASB95

      • Revelation 14:6NASB95

      • 2 Timothy 3:13NASB95

  • Holy Spirit
Bethel Baptist Church of Tillamook, OR
revrlcasper@gmail.com
(503) 842-5598
https://bbc-tillamook.faithlifesites.com
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