What is the meaning of the seven thunders in Revelation 10:1-7?

Revelation 10:1-7 discusses seven thunders that the apostle John heard in his apocalyptic vision. What do these seven thunders mean?

The seven thunders sound between the sixth and seventh trumpets. John saw a mighty angel with one foot in the sea and the other on land, holding a little scroll open in his hand. The angel called out with a voice like the roar of a lion. Revelation 10:3 says, "When he called out, the seven thunders sounded."

In verse four John writes, "And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down'" (Revelation 10:4).

While this message of the seven thunders was not written down, some of the message of the angel was communicated: "And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets" (Revelation 10:5-7). The prophecies given in the past were all about to come to fulfillment.

Perhaps the exact details of the information shared by the voice of the seven thunders were not recorded because the judgment was too severe to share. We can only speculate what was written, but this does take place at about the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation as part of the second woe.

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