Revelation 8 Study Notes

8:1 When the seventh seal is lifted, the scroll is finally opened (5:1), so that its contents can be released. The half an hour of silence in heaven echoes Zph 1:7: “Be silent in the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near.” This implies that the day of the Lord (see note at Rv 6:12-17) begins with the trumpet judgments. The half hour of silence appears to serve as a literary break in the action before everything moves full speed ahead toward the final judgment.

8:2-6 This pause while the saints pray implies that God’s answer to the prayers for the avenging of the blood of the martyrs (6:10) upon the “earth dwellers,” who are the focus of the “hour of testing” (3:10), begins with the judgment of the seven trumpets. The phenomena around the throne in heaven in 4:5 is intensified in 8:5 and poured out in the trumpet judgments.

8:7-12 The first four trumpet judgments in this section mirror the plagues upon Egypt in Ex 7-11. The trumpets are stronger than all the effects of the seals being lifted, except for the sixth seal (Rv 6:12-17). Even the scope of the fourth seal (6:7-8)—in which “a fourth of the earth” is selectively impacted but not totally destroyed—is less extensive than the early trumpet judgments.

8:7 The effects of the first . . . trumpet are hail . . . fire, and blood, which combines what happened in the first (Ex 7:19-20) and seventh (Ex 9:22-25) plagues on Egypt.

8:8-9 The description of the second . . . trumpet sounds like the eruption of a great island volcano. A third of the sea becoming blood and a third of the living creatures in it dying is similar to what happened to the Nile River and its fish in the first plague on Egypt (Ex 7:17-21), but on a global scale.

8:10-11 The effects of the third . . . trumpet are like a meteorite (i.e., a falling star) hitting the earth and causing toxic water pollution, killing many people. Wormwood is a nonpoisonous but bitter plant common to the Middle East. Biblical authors use it as an analogy for bitterness, sorrow, injustice, etc. (e.g., Jr 23:15; Lm 3:15; Am 5:7).

8:12 It is difficult to understand the exact effects of the fourth . . . trumpet, though it clearly echoes the ninth plague on Egypt (Ex 10:21-23). For the sun . . . moon, and stars to be darkened by a third could mean one of the following. (1) These heavenly bodies are visible for “a third” less time than is normal. (2) The intensity of their light is reduced by “a third,” as if by the recent cosmic disturbances (see notes on the first three trumpets at vv. 7,8-9,10-11).

8:13 The remaining three trumpet judgments will maximize the woe upon the “earth dwellers,” whom God has previously spotlighted for judgment and vengeance for spilling the martyrs’ blood (6:10) during the “hour of testing” (the tribulation period, 3:10).