“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (1). This dramatic silence introduced something seemingly ordinary: the prayers of God’s people. An angel was given incense and “the prayers of all God’s people” to offer together on the heavenly altar. “The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God” (4). Then the angel took the fire of this same altar and threw it down to earth, and it produced “thunder ...lightning and an earthquake” (5), and judgment (6-13).

Our prayers are significant. Though we don’t understand how, they play a part in mountains being thrown into the sea (8) and God putting things right in His universe (13).