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 to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the Throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Rev. 8:1-6)
 
A.    The seventh seal judgment on the Antichrist is the release of anointed prayer (Rev. 8:3-4) that releases God’s fire to the earth (Rev. 8:5) and the seven trumpet judgments (Rev. 8:6). There will be a dreadful yet glorious silence in heaven in the awful anticipation of the full release of God’s judgments because of seeing the seven angels positioned to release the End-Time judgments that culminate with Jesus’ return to earth and the complete destruction of wickedness. It took the priest about a half an hour to offer incense in the temple (Lev. 16:13-14; Lk 1:10, 21).
 
B. The five aspects of the seventh seal include the commissioning of the seven trumpet angels, an eighth angel is given heavenly incense to help the End-Time prayer movement which releases fire on earth with cosmic disturbances and an earthquake. We see the “incense ministries” in heaven which consist of prayer, worship and prophetic proclamations around the Throne.
 
C.    God’s judgments are not released on the saints but by the saints. The purpose of the 7 trumpets is to release judgment on the kingdom of darkness to hinder the Antichrist’s empire from spreading evil and from persecuting the saints while creating the optimum context for many to be saved.
 
 

3 He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints… (Rev. 8:3)
 
A.    An angel will be given “much” heavenly incense to offer with the prayers of the saints to provide a new measure of supernatural strengthening of the End-Time global prayer movement. The fifth seal focuses on the prayer of the martyrs and the seventh seal points to heavenly help we receive.
 
B.    The prayers of the saints are imperfect in our human weakness. The only thing needed to be "added" to our prayers is the perfect intercessions (incense) of Jesus “given” to the angel by God.
 
34 Christ...at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Rom. 8:34)
 
C.    The End-Time prayer movement releases God’s trumpet judgments on the Antichrist (8:6–9:21).
 
Christianity isn’t about escaping hell but reigning with Jesus our Bridegroom King in bringing His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven and driving evil entirely off the planet through prayer.
 
 

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Rev. 8:6)
 
A.    The trumpet judgments have a 3-fold purpose: ¹judgment on the Antichrist’s empire, ²a redemptive warning to unbelievers and ³vindicating and rallying the saints. Trumpets warn in declaring that more is coming. Their judgments are limited to 1/3 as highlighted 12 times in Rev. 8:7-12.
 
B.    The 7 trumpets are literal (not merely symbolic), future (their greatest fulfillment is future), numbered (released in a sequential order) and progressive (increasing in intensity). The first four trumpets punish the Antichrist’s empire through destroying natural resources that support life yet without directly touching people. The next two trumpets are intensified in directly afflicting humans by demonic torment then killing 1/3 of the human race.
 
C.    The trumpet and bowl judgments parallel the ten plagues of Egypt against Pharaoh (Ex. 7-12).  They will destroy the resources of the Antichrist’s armies. The walls of Jericho fell after Joshua blew seven trumpets (Josh. 6). This is a prophetic picture of the fall of the Antichrist kingdom.
 
D.    As Moses released the plagues or tribulation on Egypt through prayer and as the first apostles released God’s power through prayer in the Book of Acts, so the Tribulation will be released by the praying Church.

The miracles of Exodus and Acts will be combined and multiplied on a global level. The OT prophets prophesied that the miracles of Egypt would occur in the End-Times (Mic. 7:15; Isa. 10:22-25; 11:12-16; 30:30; Jer. 16:14-15; 23:7-8; Ezek. 38:22; Joel 2:30).
 
12 The works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do… (Jn. 14:12)

15 As in the days when you came out of…Egypt, I will show them wonders. (Mic. 7:15)
 
E.    The Book of Revelation is the End-Time Book of Acts given so we may walk with a unified prayer focus by knowing the sequence of the judgments. It is a “canonized prayer manual” that equips the Church to partner in prayer with Jesus. Imagine 100s of millions unified with this “infallible prayer guide” that reveals Jesus’ action plan. The Church in unity will release Jesus’ “smart missiles” of judgment on Satan as Moses did. The End-Time prayer movement will need global unified prayer to release this level of authority against the Antichrist to shift history.
 
F.    The primary theme of the Tribulation is God’s judgment against the Antichrist’s empire that is being released by the End-Time Church under Jesus’ leadership. The secondary theme is tribulation against the saints from the Antichrist (Rev. 12:12; 13:4, 8). In the Book of Acts, some were martyred, yet its primary theme was the acts of the Spirit through the praying apostles.
 
G.    Some are waiting to be raptured so as to escape the Tribulation. Jesus is waiting on the Church to be prepared in love, wisdom and faith to release the Tribulation through prayer. We need not fear it as powerless victims who are seeking to escape it. Rather, we release it under His leadership.
 
12 Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God… (2 Pet. 3:12)
 
 

7 The first angel sounded: hail and fire followed…they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8 The second angel sounded: something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood…10 The third angel sounded: a great star fell from heaven…on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water…11 a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. 12 The fourth angel sounded: a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened… (Rev. 8:7-12)
 
A.    The first four trumpets destroy the resources of the Antichrist’s empire (8:6-12) affecting areas of the environment (trees, grass, sea, rivers, sky), food supply (vegetation, meat, fish) as well as sea trade, water supply and light and heat (sun, moon, stars). Their purpose is to punish not kill. The limitation of the trumpets to a 1/3 partial judgment warns and gives opportunities to repent.
 
B.    They are supernatural acts of God through nature (first four trumpets) and demons (fifth and sixth trumpet). They are not to be understood as natural acts portrayed in symbolic language.
 
C.    The first trumpet will destroy the food supply in burning 1/3 of the earth's vegetation (Rev. 8:7). A supernatural ‘meteor storm-like’ event with hail and fire will burn the earth’s trees and grass.
 
D.    The second trumpet will destroy food supply and sea trade (Rev. 8:8-9). A huge burning object like a mountain will fall from heaven turning 1/3 of the sea into blood and destroying 1/3 of the sea and ships. Is there one specific sea like the Mediterranean Sea? (Rev. 18:18; Isa. 2:12-16). The second trumpet corresponds to the first plague of Egypt where the rivers became as blood causing the fish to die and filling the land with pollution (Ex. 7:14-25; Ps. 105:2 9; 78:43-44).
 
E.    The third trumpet will poison 1/3 of the earth’s fresh water supply (Rev. 8:10-11). A great burning star will fall from heaven. This meteoric mass will poison the fresh water (rivers and springs) causing the inland fresh water supply to be poisoned. The saints will be protected as they were during the Egyptian plague on the Nile river (Exod. 7:14-25).
 
F.    The fourth trumpet will destroy light and heat in darkening 1/3 of the sun, moon and stars (Rev. 8:12). This supernatural work of God will affect heat, health, agriculture, navigation, etc. Our lack of understanding of how this will occur is not a sufficient reason to see this as symbolic. This trumpet corresponds to the ninth Egyptian plague yet Israel was spared (Ex. 10:21-23). 
 
21 Over the land of Egypt…22 .there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days… 23 the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. (Ex. 10:21-23)
 
G.    The first five trumpets (Rev. 8:7-12) parallel the plagues of Egypt. The first (8:7) parallels the seventh plague of fire with blood (Ex. 9:22-26). The second and third (8:8-11) parallel the first plague of the Nile turning to blood (Ex. 7:19-25). The fourth (8:12) parallels the ninth plague of darkness (Ex. 10:21-23) and the fifth (9:1-11), the eighth plague of locusts (Ex. 10:12-20).
 
 

A.    The fifth and sixth trumpet judgments release two demonic armies on the earth. In one sense, the demons come in answer to the worship and intercession of their loyal followers (Rev. 13:8).
 
B.    Demons hate the people who worship them as much as they hate Christians because demons are filled with anger and hatred. Satan’s hatred is not manifest openly until the fifth and sixth trumpet. Satan is a murderer from the beginning (Jn. 8:44). He never changes. Many will be deluded in thinking that Satan will give them favor for their loyal worship and service to him.
 
C.    In these trumpets, people will be turned over to Satan to experience the terrors of his rage so they have opportunity to repent before progressing in evil in taking the mark of the Beast which is blasphemy against the Spirit (Mt. 12:31-32). God wants unbelievers to see the truth about Satan.
 
19 Some… whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. (1 Tim. 1:19)

5 Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. 5:5)
 
D.    Jesus honors the choice of the wicked by turning them over to the sin they love (Rom. 1:24-28).
 
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies...26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions...exchanging the natural use for what is against nature....28 God gave them over to a debased mind… (Rom. 1:24-28).
 
E.    God will honor the free will of wicked people by giving them what they ask for in wanting to participate more in the kingdom of darkness. In the first four seals, God lifts His restraints off humans so their hatred is manifest. In like manner, in the fifth and sixth trumpet, God lifts His restraints within the demonic realms. The wickedness of the kingdom of darkness is manifest. The fifth and sixth seals open the heavens in releasing angelic activity (Rev. 6:9-11; 8:3-5). In contrast the fifth and sixth trumpets open the demonic realm beneath the earth to release demons.
 
F. Sin will reach the greatest heights ever in all of history in the generation in which the Lord returns. The fullness of man’s sin will be seen in their actions (Rev. 9:21).
 
23 In the latter time…when the transgressors have reached their fullness… (Dan. 8:23)

21 They did not repent of their murders...sorceries...sexual immorality or thefts. (Rev. 9:21)
 
G.    Antichrist’s empire will be an “End-Time corporate Pharaoh” with hardened hearts. There will be more demonized people on earth than any time in history. It truly will be a very terrible day. Sin will become ripe worldwide (Rev. 14:18; 17:4; 18:5). The wheat and the tares, the righteous and the wicked, mature together at the end of the age (Matt. 13: 29, 30).
 
H.    People will deeply hate Jesus, the truth, and the saints, and will love sin and the Antichrist. The saints will be killed (Dan. 7:21, 25; 8:24; 12:7, 10; Rev. 6:9-11; 7:9, 14; 9:21; 11:7; 13:7, 15; 16:5-7; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2; Mt. 10:21-22, 28; 24:9; Lk. 12:4-7; 21:16-19; Jn. 15:18- 16:4). 
 
 

1 The fifth angel sounded: I saw a star fallen (descended) from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the bottomless pit…3 out of the smoke locusts came on the earth. To them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth…but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months…like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men…11 They had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. (Rev. 9:1-11)
 
A.    The fifth trumpet releases an army of demonic locusts who inflict great pain by stinging people who do not have the seal of God. The details of this prophecy include the specific names, rank, description, and torment. Specific details in Scripture demand to be interpreted at face value.
 
B.    A holy angel falls, comes down or descends from heaven with the key to open the bottomless pit (abyss). Jesus has all keys in the spiritual realm (Mt. 16:18-19; Rev. 1:18; 3:7). The activity of this angel parallels the actions of a holy angel with the key to the bottomless pit to bind Satan.
 
1 I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit... (Rev. 20:1)
 
C.    Some demons are bound by chains (2 Pet 2:4) as instruments of God’s End-Time judgment to inflict torment on those who receive the mark of the Beast. The bottomless pit or the abyss (Greek) is a temporary place of prison for fallen angels that will be released in the End-Times. There is a huge shaft extending from the earth’s surface to its depths that is currently sealed.
 
D.    These locusts are supernatural demonic beings not natural locusts. They can distinguish between unbelievers and believers who have God’s seal which is not limited to the 144,000 in Rev. 7.  The saints receive a divine sealing that gives them physical and spiritual protection (Rev. 9:4).
 
4 They were commanded not to harm the grass…but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev 9:4)

19 I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (physical and spiritual), and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Lk. 10:19)
 
E.    The scorpion sting does not bring its desired repentance, but instead men desire death. The anguish of a scorpion sting drives men to great despair and even panic so much so that men seek suicide and are unable to do it. In an unspecified way, they cannot kill themselves. There is some reference to the eighth plague of locusts (who destroyed food but not inflicting pain; Ex. 10:12).
 
F.    John described the demonic locust army (9:7-11) by comparing them to horses prepared for battle wearing golden crowns with human faces. Satan’s hierarchy includes a demonic king named Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon (Greek) or destroyer (English) to describe his purpose.
 
 

13 The sixth angel sounded: I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them…out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed…20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent…that they should not worship demons…21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Rev. 9:13-21)
 
A.    In the sixth seal and the fifth trumpet men will seek to die (Rev. 6:16; 9:6). Their prayer is now answered as the demons they worship kill them. Four demonic beings are released to lead a large demonic cavalry to kill 1/3 of the human race paralleling the tenth plague (Ex. 12:29-32).
 
B.    For emphasis, John repeated twice that 1/3 of the human race will be killed (Rev. 9:15, 18). By 2025 AD the world population will be about 8 billion people. After 1/4 of these die in the fourth seal in Rev. 6:8 (2 billion) about 6 billion will remain. The sixth trumpet points to an additional 1/3 of these 6 billion dying (another 2 billion) totaling 4 billion deaths in these two judgments. If 4 billion people die in the last 3½ years (1260 days) then just over 3 million will die on average every day or 50 million will die (death total of WWII) every two weeks. In just 3½ years, the total will be approximately 100 times the death toll of World War II.
 
C.    The sixth angel is commissioned by the angel who serves at the golden altar of intercession to release the four angels of death in answer to the End-Time prayer movement (Rev. 8:3-5). The horns of the altar was a place of asylum to cry for mercy. Good angels are not bound, but only evil angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) until the End-Times to be released as instruments of judgment.
 
13 I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the Trumpet, "Release the four angels…" (Rev. 9:13-14)
 
D.    God commissions them to kill 1/3 of the human race. They are "demons especially prepared" for a specific work of judgment in the End-Times. The four angels give leadership over the demonic army of 200 million horsemen. Possibly each commands 50 million demonic horsemen.
15 The four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day…were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million… (Rev. 9:15-16)

E.    Antichrist’s empire will be an “End-Time corporate Pharaoh” with hardened hearts. There will be more demonized people on earth than any time in history as the earth is dominated by these the four primary spiritual strongholds in society: murder, sorcery, immorality and theft. 
 
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent…that they should not worship demons…21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Rev. 9:20-21)