Revelation 8:1 – 6

 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

We remember the seals represent future information which is released when Christ opens each seal. The seven seals were on a scroll containing the information about the future. Everytime Christ opened a seal some of the information was made available. Six of the seals have been opened they covered information about the persecutions of the Roman Empire against the church, they covered also the upheaval and disturbances in the Roman Empire when the Emperor Constantine accepted Christ and the Empire changed from the official policies of persecuting the church to the policies of supporting Christianity. The seals also revealed information about the Christians who had been killed during the persecutions.

When Christ opens this seventh seal, there is a lull in action. The sixth seal had paused the action while the faithful were marked with the seal of God, or His stamp of approval. This ½ hour break coincides with the orders to the four angels who were waiting to release God's wrath on the Roman Empire.

There were seven angels standing before God, they were each given a trumpet. But they will not all be used at the same time. The first four will coincide with the four angels who release the wrath of God against the persecutors of God's people. The first four angels will sound their trumpets one at a time.

Incense is a symbol of prayer to God, while all of this is happening those who are faithful to God and His Son are continuing to be fervent in prayer to God. That is why the incense and prayer are combined together in this verse.

The odor of incense always has been pleasing to God, (Exodus 30:7- 9; Leviticus 16:12, 13)as well as the fervent prayers of His faithful people. (1 Peter 3:12)

The angel filled the golden censer with fire from the altar, this is in keeping with the practice under the Mosaical system where the priest took the fire from the brazen altar of incense and put it in his censer (the censer was like a portable metal container to carry the cinders in). This fire which is being thrown to earth is the judgment of God against the persecutors.

The thundering is the roar of protest from the ones who had been persecuting the Christians, and were also enemies of God's truth, against the judgments of God which he is about to unleash against them. These complaints were so loud and widespread they were likened to an earthquake.

The ½ hour lull is about to end and the four angels are about to release the wrath of God, and the seven angels with their trumpets are about to sound.