Framework:
Sections 2 A and B -
literary patterns, seals, censer, trumpets

Overview

Background: this study introduces a new macrostructure for Revelation, based upon a spatio-temporal analysis. The cosmic spaces recognised in this study represent heaven’s throne-room and its outer environs, the earth/ below-the-earth boundary and two versions of earth (see Framework 1 for more information). The first earth follows the biblical meta-narrative and it begins with Creation; and the second is a physical-spiritual dimension that begins after the Cross (the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ) (see Framework 1A.d).

The story so far: in the previous section, after the introduction (1:1-3:22), the story in Revelation began with Creation from three perspectives: the throne-room, heaven’s environs and the biblical earth. The climax of Section 1 (Framework 1) is the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, i.e. the Cross, and the appearance of the slain Lamb in heaven’s throne room. The Lamb receives a sealed scroll from the right hand of the one seated on the heavenly throne and the seals are broken.

This section follows the impact of Creation and the Cross (Framework 1). The structure of the vision in this section is a chronologically linear pattern of the seals breaking, censer emptying and trumpets sounding, which represent activity in heaven’s throne room and on the physical-spiritual earth (Figure 2). Satan is still standing by the seashore on the biblical earth (12:18, Framework 1) and there is no recorded activity in heaven’s environs or below-the-earth. There are no time-parallels in this period. The key events in this section are the earthquake and cosmic upheaval of the sixth seal (6:12-17) and the casting of the censer to earth (8:5).

Figures in this chapter follow the Macrostructure Model, so their numbers do not restart in following sections. For example: the first is Figure 1 (Framework 1); the next is Figure 2 (Framework 2) etc. In each figure, the x axis is location and the y axis is relative time. This section has a Construction (Framework 2A; how the model was deduced) and the spatio-temporal analysis of the classic structural patterns (linear; recapitulation, repeated or patterned repetitions; telescopic, developed or encompassed; chiasms; see also Framework 1). The Interpretation includes thoughts on the seal era (2B.a and b) and the Day of God’s Wrath and the Great Tribulation (2B.c). For further reflection on the eschaton (or ‘last days’ or ‘end times’), see Framework 2C.

2A) Section construction

At the time of the Cross, the Lamb enters the throne-room and he receives a sealed scroll from the right hand of the one seated on the heavenly throne (Framework 1). When the first four seals are broken, four horsemen appear on earth and there is a linear progression of inter-weaving events (on earth/ in heaven’s throne room) as torments unfold (from 6:2). The physical-spiritual earth is the victim of the opening seals, censer and trumpets because they follow the introduction (1:1-3:22) and then they follow one another sequentially. It would be a temporal violation for them to interrupt the progression from chapter 12 to 13 on the biblical earth (see Towards … 3b).

No specific events are recorded on the biblical earth until the beasts appear (13:1, Framework 3) – so there is war on earth (as warned in 12:12 and 12:17) and the dragon/ satan continues to stand by the sea (12:18, biblical earth, Framework 1); this may be a time of relative evil spiritual inactivity. The seals themselves are times of suffering, waiting, preparation and anticipation – and persecution (7:14). The key events in this section are the earthquake and cosmic upheaval of the sixth seal (which was thought by the victims to be part of the Day of God’s Wrath, 6:12-17) and the casting of the censer to earth after the silence of the seventh seal ends (8:5). The censer is the prelude to the sounding of the seven trumpets. The torments of the first four trumpets are cosmic/ environmental. No activity is recorded in heaven’s environs or below-the-earth.

2A.a) Seals, golden censer and trumpets

When the first four seals are broken, the ‘four horsemen of the Apocalypse’ appear – bringing with them conquest, war, famine and death. The martyrs under the altar in heaven are told to wait for justice (6:9-11, seal five) and there is no record of when the influence of the first five seals ends. John sees the torments and hears the laments when the seals are opened and he sees the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth and the faithful 144,000 representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel being sealed (6:2-7:8). John could be waiting in the throne-room for half an hour during the silence of the seventh seal (8:1) or he may leave the throne-room and move to the physical-spiritual earth when the first seal or last seal is opened, or when the censer is empties and the trumpets sound (Frameworks 1 and 2). John is definitely on earth again by 10:1, when he sees ‘another mighty angel coming down from heaven’ (10:1-3, Framework 3).

The first key event in this section is the breaking of the sixth seal because everyone, including kings and generals, thinks the Day of God’s Wrath has come (6:12-17). Instead of facing the Wrath, the four angels hold back the four winds (7:1) so the devastation the winds will bring is delayed until they are released later (9:13-21, Framework 3) and the 144,000 faithful are sealed (7:2-8). This assumes the first four angels are those four angels released at the Euphrates. In the following Interpretation, it is proposed that the torments of the sixth seal may represent the fall of Jerusalem. There is silence in heaven for about half an hour when the seventh seal is opened (8:1).

The second key event in this section begins after the silence in heaven ends, when seven angels are given trumpets and another angel flings a golden censer to earth (8:3-5a). The censer is a container filled with incense and its smoke and the prayers of the saints rise up as an offering before the heavenly altar and the throne; fire from the altar is added to the censer before its contents are thrown to earth. Earth responds with a tremendous storm and an earthquake (8:5b). When the trumpets sound, new torments begin (from 8:7). In the following Interpretation, it is proposed that the censer may represent the beginning of the eschaton (‘last days’) and the trumpets warn of the imminent Parousia (appearance of Christ, or his ‘coming’ in Revelation).

2A.b) Classic literary patterns

Some of the classic literary patterns are present in this section (see Framework 1.h): linear; telescopic, developed or encompasse; chiasms:[1]

Linear plot progression is not the overall macrostructure because of the steps back in relative time in the story at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1 – and without these relocations, there are no time-parallels. At this point in the vision, the story in Revelation is told as two dramas (from 4:1 and 12:1, Framework 1), with chronologically linear physical-spiritual earth and heaven’s throne room time-lines as the best structural fit for the text. This is similar to Jan Lambrecht’s proposal that there is ‘progression in time’ (i.e. no recapitulation) between the septets (Lambrecht, 1998: 219). This is also similar to Marko Jauhiainen’s proposal of a linear progression for the septets, with the seals corresponding to events recorded in the Synoptic Gospels (Jauhiainen, 2003a: 557-559). However, Jauhiainen suggests the seventh seal ‘ushers in’ the ‘Day of the Lord’ and this interpretation is not fully supported by this study because it is the censer which begins the Day (see the following Interpretation).

Telescoping within the sixth seal implies that the sixth seal heralds the true Day of God’s Wrath (6:12-17) and it requires three earth time-lines. Telescoping the trumpets and bowls within the seventh seal creates a temporal paradox because the text indicates the trumpet and bowl preparations (from 8:2) occur after the silence of the seventh seal ends (8:1). This paradox can be avoided by introducing a second heavenly throne-room space so that the seventh seal’s silence continues in one time-line whilst the trumpet and bowl preparations occur in the second one. Therefore, Lambrecht’s suggestion that the seventh seal encompasses/ envelopes/ encloses the seven trumpets, and perhaps the seven bowls, is not supported in this study (Lambrecht, 1998: 219). Seventh trumpet/ bowls telescoping is technically viable if the Lamb appears on the physical-spiritual earth after the trumpets, and the bowls empty onto the biblical earth; this will be considered when the Lamb appears on Mt Zion (14:1, Framework 4);

Extensive chiasms lose their structural integrity during this spatio-temporal analysis, but small chiasms often highlight structures in the text, such as changes in subject matter or spatial or temporal relocations (see Towards … 3a).

A macrostructure based upon recapitulation requires three earth and two heaven’s throne-room time-lines to avoid most of the spatio-temporal paradoxes it creates. Despite using additional time-lines to avoid the paradoxes, the beast rises before the abyss opens and the heavenly sanctuary opens twice in this option (see Framework 3).

What might be the cosmological or theological purpose for structuring the vision with three earthly time-lines or two heavenly time-lines – especially when there is a simpler option available (the proposed model)?

[1] Chiasm: a symmetrical repetition of phrases, for example phrases A, B, C whose meanings are repeated using different words in A’, B’, C’ – often with a climactic center (D); see Towards… 3a – it is like a symmetrical literary sandwich. See Towards … 3a.

2B) Section interpretation

When John is taken into the heavenly throne-room (4:2, Framework 1), he sees the most important event in the whole vision: the appearance of the slain Lamb on the heavenly throne while he (John) watches. The Lamb takes the sealed scroll from the hand of the one seated on the throne and breaks its seals (5:5-6:1). This section describes the torments that the opening seals unleash. These are followed by a series of torments associated with the emptying censer and trumpets.

2B.a) The seals

When the first seal is broken, the rider on the white horse appears. He represents conquest (6:2) and the four horsemen may be an allusion to the Roman occupation of Judea and/ or to the feared Parthians (Fiorenza, 1991: 63; Mounce, 1997: 142-145, Jauhiainen, 2003a: 548; Smalley, 2005: 150-151). Depending upon when Revelation was first circulated in the second half of the first century A.D., some of its audiences may have recognised in Rome’s actions and the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) the tribulations described in the vision, i.e. persecution (the martyrs of the fifth seal are told to wait for justice) and Jerusalem’s fall (sixth seal). When Christ appears later as the Rider (19:11-16), he looks similar to the conquest rider so either the first rider is a parody of Christ or this is a generic warrior image. The first rider is not Christ because the first one is given a crown and he holds a bow (6:2) and Christ as the Warrior and the Rider has sword coming out of his mouth and the Rider has many crowns (1:16, 19:11-16). The four horsemen of the first four seals unleash conquest, war, famine and death (6:2-8). In Framework 1B.d, it is suggested the horsemen may be the spiritual initiators of tangible torments on the visionary physical-spiritual earth. There is no record of when the first four seal torments end. The torments were evident before the Cross (the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus) and continue with us today, but their association with the breaking seals at the time of the Cross indicates they may have either intensified in the first century A.D. or been of particular significance to Revelation’s first audiences.[1]

It is possible that the seal torments represent warnings, not punishments from God,[2] and there are indications in the text that they are a time of suffering, waiting and anticipation. The first key event in this section is the major earthquake and cosmic upheaval associated with the sixth seal breaking. This is so catastrophic that everyone, including kings and generals, thinks the Day of God’s Wrath has come (6:12-17). This Jewish interpretation of events as the Day of God’s Wrath may correspond to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. According to Eusebius Pamphilius,[3] Christians ‘commanded by a revelation’ heeded warnings to flee Jerusalem before the Jewish wars (A.D. 66-70) and they escaped to Pella (Ecclesiastical History Book III.V.3).

Instead of the Wrath of God being unleashed, the four angels who are holding back the four winds at the four corners of the earth are told to wait while the 144,000 of the tribes of Israel are ‘sealed’ (7:1-3). The ‘sealing’ of the 144,000 (7:4-8) may be protection (Osborne, 2002: 304) in anticipation of the later trials and ‘marking’ by satan’s beasts (13:16-17, Framework 3). The marking may be an imitation of the 7:4-8 sealing, or of Jewish practices or Roman protection, loyalty or ownership practices (Osborne, 2002: 34, 517-518). The devastation the four angels will bring is delayed until they are released later (9:13-21, Framework 3). This assumes the four angels who were restrained (7:1-3) before the Silence may be those released at the Euphrates when the sixth trumpet sounds and they are given permission to facilitate the killing of a third of humanity (9:14; Framework 3).

Depending upon when Revelation was first circulated in the second half of the first century A.D., some of its audiences may have recognised in Rome’s actions and the fall of Jerusalem the tribulations described in the vision, i.e. persecution (the martyrs of the fifth seal) and Jerusalem’s fall (sixth seal). If the vision occurred in A.D. 95-97, i.e. accepting as truth Irenaeus’ comment that Revelation was written towards the end of Domitian’s reign (Irenaeus, Against Heresies V.30.3) some of the first audiences may have experienced the fear of Nero’s cruelty and persecution (A.D. 64), fled from the Jewish wars (A.D. 66-70), known the temple and Jerusalem had been destroyed (A.D. 70) and they were recovering from oppression under Domitian (A.D. 81-96). If an earlier date is correct (A.D. 68-70; Hengel, 1989: 126-127), Nero’s persecutions would be a recent memory and Jerusalem was still standing, but under threat. The time of the first six seals culminates in heaven with celebration that the martyrs’ time of tribulation is over (7:9-17) and then there is silence in heaven for about half an hour (8:1, seventh seal).

The proposed macrostructure indicates war against God’s people continues both before and after the Cross (12:17) but the dragon/ satan himself remains standing by the sea (from 12:18, Framework 1). The presence of the impatient martyrs in heaven implies there was a time of persecution of the faithful (fifth seal) who are then told to wait for justice, until future victims join them (6:9-11). The waiting, delay, heavenly silence, satan’s pause, and the absence of time-parallels and evil beasts in this section indicates this may be a time of relatively quiet suffering, compared to later times. However, for some individuals, the suffering leads to martyrdom (6:11).

[1] A scroll was unsealed at its time of fulfilment, or it may be a legal document (Smalley, 2005: 127).

[2] So Biguzzi that the seals are not punishments, as such, because the faithful have not yet been sealed (Lambrecht, 1998: 202).

[3] Eusebius Pamphilus, Bishop of Caesarea, c. A.D. 301-400, translated writings: https://ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/npnf201/cache/npnf201.pdf Classics Ethereal Library [Accessed 9 July 2024].

2B.b) The ending of the seal era

The heavenly silence of the seventh seal (8:1) is a pause in the celebrations in heaven by the victors of the ‘great ordeal’ (7:9-17), before the victims of satan’s beasts join the heavenly celebrations and rejoice in their deliverance (15:2-4). This is illustrated in the Macrostructure Model, Figures 2 and 3. There are many options for what the Silence may represent, and these may not be mutually exclusive: it is a reminder that God rested on the seventh day of Creation before a new era began (Gen.2:2-3); it may be a repeat of the implied primeval silence of post-Creation (Gen. 1:1-2); or a prelude to prayer or a time for prayers to be heard; or a pause in divine revelation; or it is hushed expectation before judgement or before new events begin; or it indicates the seal breaking era has ceased (Osborne, 2002: 336-338). Jauhiainen describes it as a time that precedes judgements, and God is listening to the prayers or he is about to act (Jauhiainen, 2003a: 550). The prayers of all God’s people are mixed with incense in the golden censer and they rise before God (8:3-4).

The linear chronological progression between the seals, heavenly silence, censer and the trumpets in the proposed macrostructure suggests the Silence signifies the ending of the seal era. It is not a time of preparation (because there is silence) and this may represent a pause in divine revelation, but the prayers of God’s people can rise up to heaven (8:3-4). This study suggests that the Silence may be part of the ‘times of the gentiles’, in which Jerusalem will be downtrodden (Lk. 21:24). The beginning of the Silence may end the immediate post-Cross era, and its ending (when the golden censer is filled with fire from the altar and thrown to earth and the trumpets are ready) may be the prelude to the eschaton, i.e. ‘last days’ or ‘end times’. The Silence is like an hiatus between John’s era (seals, 6:2-8:1) and the eschaton (post-censer, 8:5).

2B.c) The Day of God’s Wrath (part 1) and the Great Tribulation

The Great Tribulation and the Day of God’s Wrath are two iconic events in Revelation and they underlie the litany of suffering anticipated for the earth and its inhabitants sometime in the future. This study proposes that they will not occur concurrently because the Day is the culmination of the outpouring of God’s judgement in the eschaton that has been expected in the Hebrew Bible for millennia; whereas the victims of the Great Tribulation were martyred during the time of the sixth seal (7:9-17), i.e. before heaven goes silent for thirty minutes (8:1). The proposed macrostructure indicates that six of the seven seals were immediate post-Cross tribulations, and in 2B.b, it is proposed that the Silence (seventh seal, 8:1) represents a hiatus between the seal torments and the eschaton.

There was persecution of the faithful by/ during the time of the fifth seal, because John sees the souls of the martyrs under the altar who are impatient for their blood to be avenged (6:9-11). They are told to wait, because soon other martyrs will join them (6:11). During the sixth seal, John sees a great earthquake and cosmic upheaval that is so catastrophic that everyone, including kings and generals, thinks the Day of God’s Wrath has come (6:12-17), but it has not. Victims in 6:9-17 and the ‘great multitude’ of martyrs who worship God in front of the heavenly throne (7:9-17) are part of the ‘great tribulation’.

It is suggested shortly (in Framework 2C) that everything changes after the Silence, the golden censer is thrown to earth (8:3-5) and then the trumpets are prepared and new torments begin (8:6-7). The four angels who restrained the four winds before the Silence (7:1-3) may be those released at the Euphrates when the sixth trumpet sounds and they are given permission to facilitate the killing of a third of humanity (9:14; Framework 3). Even after the trumpets begin sounding, there is delay in the completion of God’s plans – until ‘there will be no more delay’ after the seventh trumpet sounds (10:6-7).

The interpretation of the proposed macrostructure in this study suggests that the faithful victims of the Great Tribulation were victims of post-Cross persecutions (the seals) and they are not martyrs in the eschaton. The Day of God’s Wrath, on the other hand, is part of the eschaton and it is defined by events in chapter 14, i.e. the appearance of Christ the Lamb on Mt Zion with the 144,000 ‘redeemed’, the three angels and the harvests, and their corresponding events in the other cosmic spaces (see Framework 4B.c).

The structure of the seals, trumpets and bowls is linear, so there is no recapitulation and they are not repetitions of one series of events. In Framework 2C it is suggested that similarities in the nature of the torments reflect cycles that affect succeeding eras: the seals are the outcome of a change in authority from satan to Jesus Christ (at the Cross) and satan was at war with the children of the ‘celestial mother’ and this now includes the followers of Christ (12:17); the trumpets are warnings of impending judgement; and the bowls represent the outpouring of God’s judgements. There is no telescoping or encompassing within the sixth or seventh seal or seventh trumpet. The bowls are the third woe (see Frameworks 3 and 4), but they follow the seventh trumpet and they are not telescoped within it. In Framework 3 it is suggested that while everyone is ‘marked’ on the biblical earth (13:16-18) events in 10:1-11:19 occur on the physical-spiritual earth, but this is not telescoping – it reflects the parallels between the two earths in Revelation (representing the biblical and the physical-spiritual narratives).

2) Summary and conclusions

This section may represent a time of relative evil spiritual inactivity (12:18) but the seven seals herald times of suffering, waiting, preparation and anticipation – and the persecution of the ‘great tribulation’ (7:14). During the sixth seal, catastrophic destruction led people to believe that the ‘day of God’s Wrath’ was upon them (6:12-17); instead of this being the prelude to the ‘Final Judgement’, this may represent the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Times quieten (the heavenly ‘silence’, 8:1), but there is no indication when, or if, the actions of the four horsemen of first four seals cease, because conquest, war, famine and death continue with us today. After the Silence, the seven trumpets are prepared (8:2). The casting of the censer to earth (8:5) may represent the start of the eschaton (‘last days’ or ‘end times’) because the warnings of the trumpets (from 8:7) ultimately herald the Parousia (Christ’s appearance or his ‘coming’, in Revelation; see Framework 3 and 4). No specific events are recorded on the biblical earth so war on earth continues (as warned in 12:12 and 12:17) and the dragon/ satan continues to stand by the sea (12:18). There is no recorded activity in heaven’s environs or below-the-earth.

In conclusion, events are controlled from the heavenly throne and the literary structure in this section continues the chronologically linear pattern from 4:1 and 12:1 (Creation and the Cross): early trials (first four seals) / waiting (fifth seal) / cosmic upheaval (sixth seal: perhaps the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D and the ‘great tribulation’) / preparation (seventh seal: heavenly silence) / protection and purification (censer: the eschaton, i.e. ‘last days’ or ‘end times’ may begin) / warnings (trumpets begin). The cosmic/ environmental torments of the trumpets (and the bowls after the trumpets end) are more extensive than the seals so circumstances get progressively worse as events unfold in Revelation

Page updated 30 October 2024

Framework: Sections 2 A and B - literary patterns, seals, censer, trumpets