Of all the seals opened in the book depicted in the Book of
Revelation, the seventh seal has the most events associated with it. It stretches over whole chapters and
involves seven angels sounding, seven plagues, etc.
If you have the view that Christ comes again as soon as the
seventh seal is opened, this chapter shows that is not so. There’s still a lot to happen.
I’m going to examine the events at the very beginning of the
seventh seal as described in Revelation 8 and try to make sense of it. I believe there is much symbolic
language there that are usually interpreted literally, but I think a symbolic
reading is more helpful. As
always, my thoughts are my own, they are subject to revision as I learn more, and
they are not to be considered general belief of the church at large.
1 And
when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the
space of half an hour.
If we take this as
literal, it is very odd. Life is
noisy; what do we care if heaven or space is silent for half an hour?
However, if we take
it as symbolism, it is rather shocking. As members, we live in a time of
continuous, incremental revelation.
The heavens are not silent; they have much to tell us. For the heavens to be silent for a half
an hour tells us that it will seem as though no one is getting any revelation.
This is not to say that no one is worthy of it, but that no direction is given
for a time. It is like a period of
testing similar to that in the life of Job when he kept asking when the Lord
would answer him and for a time the heavens seemed to be made of brass.
But just because the
heavens are silent doesn’t mean the Saints stop praying.
2 And I
saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven
trumpets.
3 And
another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there
was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Heaven seems silent,
but in verse 2 we are to understand that God is giving out trumpets to angels.
That means that preparations are
being made for future messages. In
the meantime, ALL THE SAINTS are praying.
We are shown imagery
of an angel offering incense at an altar, which is similar to the service of
the temple among the Jews. The priest would burn incense in the holy place and
pray for the people while the people were praying outside the temple. To me, this gives a sense of leaders
advocating for the people to God and also prayers in the temple.
4 And the
smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up
before God out of the angel’s hand.
To me, this verse
communicates that God hears all the prayers, even if He doesn’t answer yet. This reminds me of Jesus’s parable of the woman importuning
the unjust judge, that men ought to pray always and not faint, even if it seems
we get no answer. Keep praying,
stay hopeful.
5 And the
angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into
the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an
earthquake.
Oh, look! Something
finally happens! I will say
frankly that I don’t know whether the act of throwing the censer to the earth
is an act of frustration, or if it is to represent holy things brought to the
earth. However, I remember that the censer is associated with the prayers of
the Saints, and the fire of the altar represents the purifying power of the
Atonement of Christ, so it seems like the combination of prayer and Christ’s
atonement is what breaks the silence in heaven and begins the subsequent
events, difficult as they may be.
It might represent a divine gift or blessing that is camouflaged as a messy,
scary thing.
The silence is broken
in a very dramatic way – voices, thunderings, lightning, and an
earthquake. These are very visible
and obvious things, some of which can be destructive. I think the Saints will see them as obvious answers to
prayer, even if no one else does.
6 And the
seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Once again, the preparation is brought to our attention.
Heaven continues to prepare further revelation for us, and messengers must be
spiritually prepared to share it.
As the angels begin
to sound and these plagues begin, I think it is important to note that these
plagues do not come without an announcing trumpet. This reminds me of that scripture from Amos about how the
Lord won’t do anything unless he reveals it to His servants the prophets. I have noticed that when the prophets
warn us, they don’t tell us the scary things that will happen. They only tell
us what we should do to prepare.
This is the most spiritually beneficial for us. It protects from FUD
(fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
And it gives us the opportunity to exert our faith and obey, trusting
that it is for a wise purpose.
7 The
first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and
they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and
all green grass was burnt up.
There are some
strange things in this verse which should tip us off that it is symbolic.
First, if hail, fire, and blood fall from the sky, why is it that we are only
told the green things are burned, but
there is no mention of green things beat down by the hail? It is a physical impossibility. Also, how does blood fall from the sky?
There have to be mortals bleeding outside high up for that to happen, and that
is not our reality. So it has to
be symbolic.
I think the green
things represent spiritually living people. There are trees, which are mighty and tall, and could be
spiritual giants. Then there is green grass, which is like people who are a
little bit spiritually alive and growing.
Hail beats things
down, so it might be likened here to persecution and oppression. But that
doesn’t seem to cause much damage.
It is the fire that causes problems, burning one
third of the trees (but not all) and burning all the grass. The
fire might be symbolic of serious opposition that must be met with
determination and maybe even martyrdom to stay true. It could be a social firestorm of persecution. For green things to survive the fire,
they’ll have to have deep roots in themselves. (I’m thinking of Elder Oak’s conference talk about the
parable of the sower [https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/the-parable-of-the-sower?lang=eng]. The lesson for us here is that to
survive we do not merely want to have a “grass” testimony. We need to have a “tree” testimony because
even if some of the trees get burnt up, only trees survive, not grass.
What does it say
about a society if good people are persecuted and oppressed? Can a nation with that kind of society
endure? Can its justice and
political system be trusted?
8 And the
second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was
cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the
third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the
third part of the ships were destroyed.
I sense that this is
also symbolic as well, though that is less obvious. We know about volcanoes,
but it seems odd that one mountain
could cause 1/3 of the sea to become blood. Where does the blood come from? That is a lot of blood that is not diluted. Oceans are very big places. In the
Bible, oceans were considered places of chaos, so that may be what the ocean is
meant to represent here—chaos.
So, I think the great
mountain burning with fire represents a great nation that is thrown into chaos,
with lots of arson and such. If
so, we can easily imagine violence spreading without dilution and eventually
corrupting a significant portion of the population as people realize that the
system is being twisted and the rule of law is being abandoned because the
system no longer protects those who do the right thing.
It is likely that
people will form institutions to try to navigate the chaos and anarchy (like
boats navigate the sea), but these may or may not work. But we can at least do our part to keep
order by living the laws of God and being willing to work together with others. The church gives us lots of
opportunities with this.
10 And
the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it
were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the
fountains of waters;
11 And
the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters
became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made
bitter.
We should easily be
able to tell this is symbolic because even if a meteor were to fall to earth,
it is too much to ask it to have such a precise trajectory as to fall just on the rivers. And to fall on precisely one third of the rivers even more
improbable. There’s no concern
about impact or splash, just on the taste
of the water that got hit. But
reading it as symbolism tunes us into a spiritual situation that is worrisome,
but something we can cope with.
So this star is a
great spiritual light, most likely a church leader, who falls from grace and
from their high responsibility.
And they are BITTER. Probably very bitter about the trouble
they have to face in a very risky world.
Sadly, when they
fall, their bitterness infects many people who should be spreading the refreshing
message of the gospel, which is probably what is represented by Wormwood
falling on the rivers and fountains. One third of the waters become bitter too
and send out that bitter message.
When it says many men die of the bitter waters, that probably means that
the bitter message kills a lot of people’s faith. Very sad.
One of the ways these
verses help us is by reminding us that we are responsible for maintaining our
own testimonies, whether or not members or leaders in the church around us stay
faithful. I also think it says
something about how we need to strive to maintain a positive, hopeful outlook
and share that with others, even if others in the church do not share it.
12 And
the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the
third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part
of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the
night likewise.
This should be pretty
easy to tell that it is symbolism.
While we might be able to imagine a situation where the sun loses 1/3
its luminosity, it is very strange that it would go out completely for 1/3 of
the day time.
Instead, we can see
that there is some kind of persecution that prevents people from sharing the
spiritual light they have during the day, whether they are celestial,
terrestrial, or telestial people.
This hints that freedom to talk about religion has been abridged at this
time.
13 And I
beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a
loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the
other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
And of course, it
would make sense for there to be warnings about the woes to come if the freedom
of religion is stifled. I’ve read
that freedom of religion nourishes all others.
I suppose some might
look askance at how I read these symbolically instead of literally. I don’t doubt that there will be
physical upheavals in the land and sea, and disaster preparedness can help with
that. But I think this chapter
tells us spiritual truths when read symbolically, and it helps me begin to see
what steps should be taken to prepare and stay strong:
--Pray always. When
no answers seem to come, we can at least know the Lord is preparing to answer.
--Follow the counsel
of the prophets.
--Nourish your
testimony so it’s tree-sized, not grass-sized and won’t get beaten down or
burned.
--Live the laws of
God, no matter what chaos comes.
Keep participating and contributing in church.
--Share positive,
uplifting messages with others.
Share hope for the future.
--Even if religious
freedom is abridged for part of the time, share your faith in your families.
