Revelation 8:1-13 - "The Seventh Seal"

We are continuing our study in the book of Revelation.  This morning we are in the eighth chapter of Revelation. To this point in Revelation, John has witnessed Jesus open six of the seven seals of judgment seen on the scroll in heaven (Revelation 5:1–5). After the opening of the sixth seal and its consequences, John described the sealing of 144,000 Jewish believers, listed by their tribe. This was followed by a vision of an enormous crowd of people, of every possible race and language, worshipping God (Revelation 7). The reprieve of the picture from chapter 7, this magnificent worship, changes as Revelation 8 opens with the 7th and final seal breaking open. And what it brings is silence for half an hour. All of the angelic adoration ceases; the scene of great worship becomes mute; silence envelops the command center of the universe.  When the Lamb breaks opens the seventh and last seal on the scroll to the title deed to the earth, the judgments of the "Day of the Lord" intensify dramatically. The final seal contains within it all of the remaining judgments of the Great Tribulation.