1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, then threw it on the earth. Thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake followed.
6The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8The second angel sounded, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood, 9and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of water. 11The name of the star is “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
12The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars, so that one third of them would be darkened; and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way. 13I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the other blasts of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!”
The apostle John identifies several congregations of believers in southwestern Asia Minor (Turkey), in a clockwise path from the southwest, to whom he sent this book. The first one mentioned in his letter is Ephesus, where he apparently lived, and the remainder on a Roman circuit, which are Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev 1:11 lists each of these).1
John greets his readers similar to the apostle Paul, with the Greek and Hebrew words grace (charis, a Greek greeting) and peace (shalom, a Hebrew greeting), from the eternal God (Heb 13:8) and (most likely) the seven spirits before the throne.2 The apostle Paul greets in a similar manner to churches to whom he wrote. This grace and peace comes from the eternal God and the seven Spirits who are before His throne.
These seven Spirits may refer to the seven angels of the seven churches in chapters 2-3, to the seven angels mentioned in Rev 8:2, or to the fullness of the Spirit of God referred to in Isaiah 11:2.3 At times numbers in the book of Revelation, and other places in the Bible, have meaning beyond the literal meaning of the text.4
See Map of Seven Churches. ↩︎
See the Word Study on grace and peace in 1 Corinthians 1:3. ↩︎
See the discussion on the "seven spirits of God" in Isaiah 11:2. ↩︎
Reference to John Jefferson Davis, Biblical Numerology: A Basic Study of the Use of Numbers in the Bible. ↩︎