The seventh seal contains the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, the great tribulation.1 The hour of trial,2 which lasts longer than an hour is in fact ‘forty-two months’,3 twelve hundred and sixty days,4 ‘a time, (two) times and half a time’,5 three and a half year. The earth comes under the direct Kingship of Christ after six seals and seven trumpets.6 The sound of the trumpet is God’s declaration of war upon the earth’s inhabitants. The history of the earth under the first five seals is the history of humanity during the past two thousand years. God intervenes at the sixth seal, and the warning character of the five seals is past. Man has brought God’s judgment upon himself. It is called for by the spilling of the blood of the martyrs under the fifth seal. The earth will become a desert because of what its inhabitants did. Their evil deeds like mass abortion, suicide/euthanasia killings, the pollution of the earth, of air and water; the ‘en masse’ produced weapons of even ‘overkill’, like neutron bombs and other ABC weapons (Atomic, Bacteriological and Chemical); lawlessness and decadence; in short: the modern ‘towers of Babel’ that have been built by science and technology to create a man-made culture without God or respect for divine laws, leading towards the worldwide anti-God rule of the anti-Christ.7 The Day of the Lord is coming, but first half an hour of silence.
The seven angels or archangels8 are standing ready with the ‘trumpets’ that will scourge the earth and the nations, turning everything into chaos. But first comes this impressive silence. Christ is silent. The celestial choirs fall silent. Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the Day of the Lord is near.9 Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because He has roused Himself from His Holy dwelling.10 What is happening? ‘Another angel’, probably the same as in Revelation 7:2, is going to stand at the golden altar before the throne with a censer of incense, and the prayers of all the saints11 are placed upon it – all the prayers of every century, of all the ages, including those of the souls under the altar are brought before God. Now these prayers are going to be answered. “Will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?” 8 ‘I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly.’12
All the spiritual energy of the persevering prayers of faith embodied in millions and millions of prayers, the culmination of the power of prayers of centuries is placed, sanctified, and cleansed upon the golden altar before God. Justice will now be done. “It is Mine to avenge; I will repay”, the Lord says.13 Justice will be done. Finally. Heaven, which sometimes seemed like copper and brass, has in fact always been listening to all these prayers. Action will be taken when the iniquities of the world led by Satan and incredible godlessness and appalling unrighteousness has reached its limits, its full measure. It has become almost absolute, like in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 18:16-19:29. When sin, manifested in violence, iniquity and lawlessness reaches its full measure, then judgment must come. Cleansing judgment must come as all wickedness must be destroyed before the Kingdom breaks through. An example of a moment in history when judgment was meted out only after the sins reached their brink, is recorded in Genesis 16:16 “Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” Judgment first, and then this prayer: “Thy Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven”14 will be answered.
• Also the number of souls of the martyrs under the altar has to come to completion before their cry for righteous revenge will be answered. Revelation 6:11 “…they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
• The souls of the martyrs are under the brazen altar, the altar of sacrifice in the forecourt. The golden altar is the altar of incense that stood in the Holy Place, close to the veil of the Holy of Holies.15 That was torn at the death of Jesus on the cross, so that the golden altar of incense came to stand just before the throne of God. Everything has come to stand in one line and becomes an open way leading directly to God’s throne.
Bible References:
1.Matthew 24:21 2.Revelation 3:10 3.Revelation 11:2 4.Revelation 11:3, 12:6 5.Revelation 12:14; Daniel 7:25, 12:7 6.Revelation 11:13 7.Micah 7:13 8.Jude 8; Daniel 4:13,17 and 23 9.Zephaniah 1:7 10.Zechariah 2:13 11.Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8 12.Luke 18:7–8 13.Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35 14.Matthew 6:10 15.Exodus 30:6
