THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Part 23
The Trumpets
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And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them
were given seven trumpets.
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the
altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on
the golden altar before the Throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the
prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. 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.
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to
sound them.
Rev 8:2-6 NIV
“The Trumpets” are
a chain of events; one part linked to another (where one ends another begins), though
they may differ in nature and in time, they all make up a well-connected,
uniform design in the hand of God.
The trumpet events
occur in the Seventh Seal.
After the opening
of the Seventh Seal there will be a profound silence in Heaven for the space of
“half an hour” (prophetic time). The Rapture of the saints will take place ‘within
this time.’
The Great Tribulation
begins after the Rapture.
The Seven Trumpets
are events that will occur in the time of the Great Tribulation.
The trumpets were delivered to the angels who were
to sound them. The angels are God’s divine messengers willing to convey His
divine Will, Purpose and Providence, and they are furnished with all the
associated materials and instructions from God.
As the angels to the seven churches were entrusted with
the Testimony of Jesus, to convey to the believers in the Church Age (chapters
2 and 3), so the angels of Heaven will be sent to sound the seven trumpets
after the breaking of the Seventh Seal.
“The Seals” are opened in the Church Age, but “the Trumpets”
occur after “the Rapture.”