8 When the Lamb 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 seven trumpets were given to them.
3 Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is 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.
This set of verses is the predecessor to the descriptions of great catastrophes that follow the opening of the seventh seal. I had to look up the word 'censer' since having been raised protestant I did not know what kind of object this referred to; it's easily recognizable when you see one in a photo with a priest waving smoke from the incense and giving blessings. link
In verse three there is a reference to "saints"; I wondered what 'saint' referred to in this time period before official canonization. It's confusing because I have a Greek interlinear Bible that translates the word in the Greek as 'soul' in one line and 'saint' the next, though the Greek word does not change. Wikipedia asserts that Catholicism believes in sainthood for people whether they were canonized or not; it apparently refers to those people who inhabit heaven.
Verse five introduces the apocalyptic events that unfold on earth after the opening of the seventh seal: the foreboding thunder and lightning and then a great earthquake. This earthquake is a very common Christian vision; I have read testimonies of many people who follow Jesus have had dreams or visions of a cataclysmic earthquake (this is something I have experienced in dreams as well.)
The first verse of this grouping is very somber, describing how the opening of the seventh seal caused all those present to fall into silence for a half an hour. When I read this I imagined it had to do with awe and grief at the tragedies about to befall the inhabitants of earth; I could visualize those present being overwhelmed with the level of tragedy they saw unfolding before them. Biblehub.com has a great section of commentary on this particular verse: link
A Prayer for Salvation from Christ:
Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer.
A more detailed step by step process:
