Here begins a second series of plagues under the figure of trumpets. Since the seals came to a climax with the second coming under the seventh seal, the trumpets will mark a stepping back to sometime earlier in the great affliction. As in the seven seals, the first four trumpets will form a quartet; and again as in the seals, for suspense there’ll be an interlude prior to the seventh trumpet. This suspense enhances the climactic character of each seventh.