Chapter 8

1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  

Starting from the end of chapter 6, we are at the time of Constantine.  Complete amnesty and freedom were attained with the Edict of Milan in 313 AD by which Christians were guaranteed the fullest liberty in the practice of their religion. In addition to removing the ban from the Christians, Constantine ordered that the property of which they had been deprived during the persecutions by seizure or confiscation should be returned to them at the expense of the State. Christians were allowed to worship freely and peace was enjoyed for 24 years until his death.  See the Roman coin issued in 322 - "Beata Tranquillitas" meaning Blessed Tranquility.  About half an hour would be the 24 years from 313 – 327 AD

2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

In prophetic books, trumpets were used to unite troops to battle to exact God's judgement.   

3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Biblehub.com - Joseph Benson commentary: "And the smoke of the incense ascended before God — In an odoriferous cloud, with the prayers of the saints — A testimony of God’s gracious acceptance, both of the intercession of the great High-Priest, and of the prayers of his believing people, proceeding from devout hearts; and consequently of the continuance of his protection and blessing to his faithful worshippers. And when the angel had performed this office, in order to show the awful manner in which God would avenge the injury which his praying people upon earth had received from its tyrannical and oppressive powers, he took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar — Not of the golden altar, upon which there was no fire, (except that which was in the censer, and which burned the incense,) but from the brazen altar of burnt-offerings; and cast it into the earth — To denote the judgments about to be executed upon the earth, as in Ezekiel 10:2 coals of fire are taken from between the cherubim and scattered over Jerusalem, to denote the judgments of God about to be executed upon that city;"

Rumblings and thunder is the warning of a strong storm.  See Strong's Hebrew 7494: 1) quaking, rattling, shaking 1a) earthquake 1b) quaking, trembling (of person) 1c) shaking, quivering (of dart) see Jeremiah 10:22 A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!— a great commotion out of the north country to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.  The peals of thunder (loud) and rumblings (less loud) were the commotions over the Roman empire.  After the death of Constantine in 337, his three surviving sons divided the empire among themselves, then had all the other members of their family killed.  Constantine's efforts to unify the empire failed with the final split in 395 AD.  The dividing of the empire shows another earthquake.        

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

Verses showing hail and fire:

Job 38:22-23 Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? 

Isaiah 28:2 Behold, God has a mighty and strong one, like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.

Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hail is part of the storm that destroys and if mixed with blood it speaks of death.  In the Old Testament, hail speaks of warfare in the likes of arrows, and they were even lit on fire to attack strongholds.  The arrows kill and the fire levels the place.  Fire is a constant attribute of God.  His flame warms our hearts, his refiner fire is intense and uncomfortable, and his fire of judgement falls on the unjust in the likes of battle.  Just as God used Nebuchadnezzar to conquer the Jews and to take them into exile, God uses other empires to exact his judgements.  This perspective is critical in understanding both prophecy and the nature of God.  

A third of the earth speaks to a third of the Roman Empire.  Rome was divided into the east and west, and the prophecy deals with attacks on western Europe.  The 3 parts of the "earth" are Western Europe, Eastern Europe, (both the western Roman Empire) and the Byzantine Empire/Eastern Roman Empire.  We see the trumpets affecting the eastern portion of the western empire, which would be the third of the earth.  In 401 AD, Alaric I would plunder Italy, and besiege its cities and towns.  They reached Rome in 410 and imposed a strict blockade, with no bloodshed at this time.  He tried using hunger as a force for negotiations to surrender, but that did not succeed and he sacked Rome.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Jeremiah 51:24 Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD. 25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain (Babylon/Chaldea), says God, which destroys all the earth:  and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.  

The Vandals were the next judgement against Rome.  From Wikipedia "The Vandal Kingdom"  The Vandal Kingdom…was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which was a barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric, a Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and the Mediterranean for 99 years from 435 to 534 AD.  Gaiseric was also known as “The Tyrant of the Seas” and attacked the Mediterranean coastline of the Roman Empire.  They eventually sacked Rome, and the western Roman Empire declined significantly. 

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.  11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

A great star and not sun shows that the next attacking force would not be in leadership so an offspring or general will attack, and will have the blessing of God.  The next mighty force against Rome would be Attila, a nephew to the leaders of the Huns that stretched from modern-day China to Eastern Europe.  Attila is also commonly known as the “scourge of God.”  The Huns attack Eastern Europe following the path of the many rivers in that area.  See the Wikipedia page “Attila” to view the map.

Wormwood suggests a severe drought and suffering/death.

Jeremiah 23:15 Therefore thus said the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

Jeremiah 9:15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink. 

Lamentations 3:19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

A very key finding just discovered in 2022...” The Huns faced starvation, so they transformed into merciless raiders, spilling out from the Carpathian Basin to loot and pillage across Western and Southern Europe. In fact, the most devastating Hun incursions took place in A.D. 447, 451 and 452, all of which had extremely dry summers” (Live Science website https://www.livescience.com/attila-the-hun-raided-to-escape-drought ).  

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

There is a final conquest of Rome and Italy by Odoacer, and later jointly by him and Theodoric from 476 – 490 AD where the sun and moon is struck.  The sun, Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 AD by Odoacer.  He took control of Italy and the Roman Senate had little real authority, and declined in their influence. Concerning the stars, that their light might not shine would be the conflict between the Roman and Byzantine churches.  The popes of Rome and the bishops of Byzantine created a controversy which culminated to the Acacian Schism in 484 AD.  The conflict was between the single-nature of Jesus or the divine nature of Jesus. In 551AD at the Council of Chalcedon, the head of the church in Constantinople was declared to be the head of the Eastern branch of the church, equal in authority to the Pope. This effectively was the start of the division of the church into the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches.  The popes in Rome were kept from shining and were darkened in the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

Woe is destruction.  From biblehub.com under Topical The term "woe" is a strong expression of grief, distress, or lamentation, often used in the Bible to denote impending judgment or calamity. It serves as a prophetic warning or denunciation, highlighting the seriousness of sin and the consequences that follow.  Jesus pronounced woe to the Pharisees seven times and 40 years later was the siege of Jerusalem and the temple destroyed.