February 14 - The Seventh Seal - The Angels

February 14 – The Seventh Seal – The Angels
Revelation 8:2

“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.”

Who are the seven angels that sound the trumpets. We get just a little bit of information about them from Rev. 8:2. We find that they stand before God. If they are given the trumpets which sound the announcement of the end of days, they have to be fairly powerful. While there is a little information in our scriptures regarding them, there is much more found in Apocryphal or extra-biblical sources.

I will start with the sources from the Bible. In Isaiah 6:1-4, we find a description of the seraphim. They have six wings and are singing a doxology quite similar to that sung by the four living creatures in Revelation 4.

Isaiah then identifies the angel of God’s presence who saves his people in their distress in Isaiah 63:9, “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.”

One of the most exciting verses is often passed over and is found in Luke 1:19, “The angel answerd, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God …’”

We see him moving throughout history. In Daniel 8:16-26 and Daniel 9:20-27, we find him interpreting dreams for Daniel. We also see the angel Michael in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 10:13 and Daniel 10:21, he is identified as one of the chief princes of God. That’s kind of a cool interpretation.

Some of the extra-biblical information is quite interesting as well. Tobit 12:15 says “I am the angel Raphael, one of the seven who stand before the Lord.” He comes from the presence of the Lord!

1 Enoch lists the seven angels as Uriel, Raphaelo, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel and Remiel.

Whether or not we can actually name the “Angels of the Presence” here in Revelation, they are about to move us into another chapter in the story of the end of the world.