260 in 2012 DEVOS - Day 246 - Revelation 8: Seventh Seal & First Four Trumpets

Yeah, yeah, so my title is not that creative, but it IS what happens in this chapter! Anyway, take the next 60 seconds and be absolutely quiet. Our scene has shifted back to the throne room of God – and there is silence for 30 minutes - a reverence to God. This is the calm before the storm. The opening of this seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments, which will make the previous judgments look puny. First off, an angel delivers the prayers of the saints and they are offered to God as a sweet aroma. It’s amazing to think that our prayers are sweet to God! “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.” Look out, here it comes… 1st Trumpet – 1/3 of Vegetation Burns Up: “…hail, and fire mixed with blood” is sent to earth. God is using nature to punish mankind. These are the judgments that are held back in 7:3. 2nd Trumpet – 1/3 of Sea Life Destroyed: “…something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea.” Fish can’t live in blood and ships burn from this mountainous size chunk. And remember, we get much of our oxygen from algae & stuff in the sea. 3rd Trumpet – 1/3 of Fresh Water Poisoned: “…a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.” There will be a water shortage and many people will die from the lethal & bitter poison of the wormwood. 4th Trumpet – 1/3 of the Heavenly Bodies are Darkened: “…a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” Imagine the affect on agriculture, navigation, human health, productivity, etc… The chapter ends with yet another announcement, this time by an eagle: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” Let me translate – It’s gonna’ get worse. SO WHAT?! *There is a lot of similarities in the seals & trumpets to old testament plagues & prophecies that are too numerous to go into. But this I know. This is God’s judgment on a world that didn’t want Him. How about you & me. Do we “desire” God more than anything else. Well, probably not, at least not on our own. But by His Holy Spirit we can! Lord, we love you, we need you and we don’t stand a chance without you!