The Lambs opens the seventh seal, and there is a silent half-hour break in heaven before the next seven-long sequence commences: the Seven Trumpets, blown by seven angels. Seven is a holy number; John's Revelation uses it a lot.
Trumpet 1: hail and fire and blood rains on the earth, burning trees and grass.
Trumpet 2: a flaming mountain crashes into the sea, poisoning the water, killing a third of oceanic life and destroying a third of ocean-going ships.
Trumpet 3: the star called Wormwood falls from Heaven, poisoning a third of the world's rivers.
Trumpet 4: a third of the moon, a third of the Sun, and a third of the stars are obscured by darkness.
Trumpet 5: an angel, carrying the key to the bottomless pit, descends from Heaven and unlocks the abyss. Black smoke rises from the pit, darkening the sky. Demons emerge from the pit: they are like locusts the size of horses, with human faces, long feminine hair, and stinging tails like scorpions. They wear crowns of gold, and breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings is like chariots going into battle. These demons are led by Abaddon, AKA Apollyon, the angel of the bottomless pit. The demons are tasked with targeting those not graced with God's seal, and torturing them for five months. But they are not allowed to kill them.
Trumpet 6: The four angels bound in the River Euphrates are freed, and they lead an army of 200 million mounted soldiers (I'm imagining angels), whose lion-head mounts spew fire, and smoke, and brimstone, which kills one-third of the human population.
Revelation was written in the decades after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the coast of the southern Italy. The mountain exploded with a deafening roar, shaking the earth. Dense black smoke rose from the crater, darkening the sky for 3 days, and poisoning the sea and rivers nearby. Molten lava rained from the sky. Not long afterwards, the Roman oracle Sibyl of Cumae, based nearby, issues an oracle that was widely circulated in the Roman world: earthquakes, darkening skies, and raining fire were signs the world was coming to an end.
This event may have been on John's mind as his own vision of the End of Days came to him.
Interlude: an angels descend to the earth, and says, depending on which translation you're using:
"There will be no more delay... When the seventh angel blows his trumpet, God's mysterious plan will be fulfilled."
or
“Time shall be no more... when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed."
The angel gives our delightful narrator a book, and tells him to keep prophesying to many people.
Are we ready yet to sound the seventh trumpet?
No.
There is some admin to take care of first. John measures the Temple of God, but not the outer court. He sees two unnamed prophets who have an assortment of powers: fire breath, rain prevention, turning water to blood, and smiting the earth with plagues.
When they have finished prophesying, the beast rises out of the bottomless pit to make war on them, and kill them in the city 'where our Lord was crucified' - Jerusalem. People are happy the prophets are dead, for they had been tormenting the people of the earth.
After 3 days, the prophets are raised from the dead and ascend to Heaven. An earthquake destroys part of the city.
Trumpet 7: a great voice in Heaven cries, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." The Divine Assembly praises God, and his Heavenly Temple is opened for business.
There is lightning, and thunder, and earthquakes, and great hail.
To be continued...
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