The seventh seal is opened and heaven was silent for half an hour. I think the silence in heaven was something real to John. To him, the vision actually went on a hiatus for half hour. This underscores the power of the seventh seal.
He then sees an angel with the prayer and incense censor. The contents of the censor is flung back to earth and causes physical anomalies. I interpret this to mean that our prayers go to up to heaven, they are collected, and then they come back to earth as divine action. How much do we have to pray for something for the action to occur? Who knows.
Beyond that, little of this makes sense to me. I have a working hypothesis though.
The opening of the seventh seal starts seven angels blowing trumpets.
Trumpets 1-4 have physical affects and devastation
Trumpet 1 - destroys 1/3 of the earth,
Trumpet 2 - destroys 1/3 of the sea
Trumpet 3 - destroys 1/3 of the river waters
Trumpet 4 - 1/3 of the sun, stars, and moon become black
We see a pattern of "1/3" for each of these. We will see a more concrete use of the "1/3" later on in association with the heavenly war in that the devil took out 1/3 of the angels. I think this is what is being described here. Satan's rebellion had the effect of turning the earth, sea, and rivers to muck. As a consequence, people were dragged into the death.
For trumpe
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