The Seventh Seal

1 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. And 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. (Rev. 8:1-6)

A. The seventh seal judgment on the Antichrist is the strengthening of the prayer movement by angels offering heavenly incense as directed by the Spirit (v. 3-4) that results in fire being cast to the earth (v. 5). It is followed by seven angels preparing to sound their trumpets (Rev. 8:6).

B. The five specific aspects of the seventh seal include: (1) Seven angels are given trumpets; (2) An angel is given heavenly incense to strengthen the prayers of the saints; (3) Fire is cast to the earth; (4) Cosmic disturbances occur in the sky; (5) An earthquake occurs on earth.

C. Premise: The power of our prayers ultimately come from the generosity of God’s heart in desiring to answer them, the work of Jesus on the cross that makes them acceptable, and the ministry of the Spirit on earth and in heaven throughout the entire process of our praying.

D. Our access in prayer to the Father is given to us by the cross and the name of Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit who apparently uses angels. Saints have a superior status to angels.

E. Heavenly incense: I see the heavenly incense as consisting of the intercession of Jesus and the Spirit with “much” incense offered by the angel. Together they strengthen the prayer movement. The fifth seal focuses on the prayer movement being strengthened by the prayers of the martyrs.

F. The prayers of the saints are imperfect because of human weakness. Even so, what best helps our prayers are the intercessory prayers of Jesus and the Holy Spirit arising as heavenly incense.