Those of us who live in hurricane and tornado country know all too well how awesome “peals of thunder, rumblings, and flashes of lightning” (v. 5) can be. We’ve seen the largest of trees uprooted and the sturdiest houses flattened in an instant.

And that’s exactly the way John always describes the presence of God. Back in chapter 4 verse 5, John said that lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder surround His throne. But such imagery wasn’t new to John. After all, way back in the days of Moses, when God appeared on Mt. Sinai to give His people His Ten Commandments, “there were thunders and lightnings” in the thick cloud on the mountain, as God “descended on it in fire” (Exodus 19:16, 18).

So, we should not be surprised to see all these signs at the beginning of chapter 8 when the seventh seal on the scroll of history is opened. For we know how the book ends – with the return of Christ to reign on earth. So of course we should expect God’s amazing power to be displayed at that time just as it was revealed on Sinai.

But this isn’t the only time we see these signs in the Revelation. No, when the seventh trumpet is blown, we also see “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and heavy hail” (11:19). And when the seventh bowl of God’s judgment is poured out, once again we see the “flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake” (16:18). These are the kinds of things that happen whenever God shows up.

So, unless we want to believe that Christ will return three times, we need to at least entertain the notion that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls all have the same cataclysmic conclusion: Christ’s return to reign on earth. After all, Jesus Himself said He would come “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). What could be more powerful than a hurricane and an earthquake and a hailstorm all rolled into one?

Revelation 8:1-5 (ESV)

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
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.