The sounding of the first four trumpets can be understood as the destruction of much of the world through a collision with meteors. It is inevitable and will happen at some point in the future. But I’d like to focus on something else this morning. It seems that what precipitates the end of human history is prayer.
Our focus this morning is on a few verses toward the beginning of the chapter:
4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
The incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before the Lord.
What happens when we pray?
Sometimes we may feel like our prayers go nowhere, or that God either isn’t listening or He doesn’t care. Sometimes it seems like we pray for one thing and we get the opposite.
I think this passage in Revelation is a reminder of two things:
1. Our prayers come before the throne of God.
2. Our prayers for justice sometimes seem to have no impact. We are discouraged when we see the wicked prosper-but God is just. In His time He will make all things right.
3. Our prayers make a difference; in God’s time-they can change the world.
James said
13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
This means any believer (we’re all saints), anywhere, for any reason, can pray and seek our LORD and He will hear our prayer. Notice James’ language, anyone, anyone, . . . confess your sins to each other, pray for each other. He isn’t saying you should pray to a priest or to one of the great holy ones, or pillars of the Church. In God’s eyes, the least is the greatest, and He is gracious to the humble.
Prayer for rain last Saturday-
Last week I was having lunch with my parents. They were complaining that there is a drought here and it hasn’t rained for months. Marisha looked at me and said “we should pray for rain”. I said “Ok”, lifted my hands and prayed “Lord, please give us some rain”. Marisha agreed with me “Amen!” Within five minutes large drops of water began to fall, and the next few hours Las Cruces enjoyed a nice downfall.
Our prayers come before the throne of God, and it doesn’t matter who is praying-the lowliest saint has an audience with the Most High, and He hears our prayers.
Yet there remains this nagging question which has haunted humanity for thousands of years: “Why do the wicked prosper?” I believe part of the reason Jesus gave John the vision of Revelation 8, and much of the book of Revelation, is to answer this question. The question isn’t new.
Job asked this question 4,000 years ago.
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? 8 They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.9 Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them.10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. 11 They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. 12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe. 13 They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’ Job 21:7-15
Asaph, a great musician and philosopher, wrestled with this question (please turn in your Bibles)
Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments. If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children. When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:2-26
The list of terrible men who appeared to be great successes early on but died in infamy is very long.
Adolf Hitler thought he could rule the world, rose to power unexpectedly, lead his nation to wondrous victories in battle, and used his power to destroy millions of lives, but he died in flames hiding in a hole in the ground.
Benito Mussolini
"proclaimed himself to be an atheist and several times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead." He denounced socialists who were tolerant of religion, or who had their children baptized. He believed that science had proven there was no God, and that the historical Jesus was ignorant and mad. He considered religion a disease of the psyche, and accused Christianity of promoting resignation and cowardice
While he was running, trying to escape the nation he had lead almost twenty years, he was captured by Italian forces-his own countrymen, shot to death, and his body was hung upside on meat hooks at a petrol bunk in Milan. Others who lived a life in rebellion against God and hatred toward humanity, and died in infamy, Nietzsche, Stalin, Sadam Hussein, Bin Laden
The list goes on.
But whether or not a person who embraces evil meets with a horrible end, the “end” of which the Bible speaks is the final judgment instituted by God. No one can escape the final judgment. No one.
Our prayers come before the throne of God.
In His time He will make all things right-including the judgment of the wicked.
And
Our prayers make a difference. In time they will change the world.
Our Prayers make a difference.
4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
The prelude to the horrible judgment of God-the seven trumpets, the destruction of much of the life on the planet, is the prayers of the saints, coming before the Lord with incense. God hears our prayers. He does not forget them. He does not ignore them. In His time, He will set all things right, including the judgment of evil. The time will come when evil will be destroyed and the horrific acts of human beings against each other will be punished.
-Ed Tandy & knee surgery
I met a pastor a few weeks back who related to me his story. I asked him how he came to be a follower of Jesus. He said
“My father died before I was born. My mother remarried a few years later, and my father-in-law took up the task of being a father to me. He asked me when I was eleven years old what I dreamed of being when I grew up.” He said “I looked up on my walls and saw posters of [American football players] and told him “I want to play for the NFL”.
He continued, “My father-in-law said if I wanted to do that I’d have to work harder than everyone else. The next morning he woke me up at 5 am and drove me 4 miles from home. He put 5 lb. weights on my ankles and said “I’ll see you at home. When you get there what would you like for breakfast?” Ed told him he’d like blueberry pancakes and eggs. His father-in-law was waiting for him when he got home with the requested breakfast. He was there waiting every day after that until Ed was playing football in high school, and then in college.
But when he was 19, he tore the ligaments in his knees. The doctor told him he would never play again and would have to go in for surgery. He went to the campus chaplain who asked if he’d mind if he prayed for him. They prayed together. The next day when Ed went in for surgery the doctors said “we can’t explain it. Your knee is completely healed. The tendons have re-attached. There is no need for surgery.”
Ed went back to the pastor and told him the story. The pastor asked if he’d like to accept Jesus into his heart. He did right there.
He had never even heard about Jesus all of his years growing up. But God heard a prayer prayed on his behalf.
He is now a pastor and has lead thousands of people to faith in Jesus.
A Personal Story
-My mother went in for surgery to place a stint in blocked arteries that, because of their location could not be corrected with bypass surgery-the artery was completely blocked and the probe could not be placed through for the angioplasty, so the doctor said they would try again the next day. In between many of us prayed. When she went in to have the angioplasty the next day everything went smoothly. The doctor’s wife told my mom “This is the first time in 25 years of doing this that my husband has experienced this”. The next time there was a visit with the doctor, mom asked and he said “Yes. What happened was, in my understanding, impossible. It had been completely blocked, but the probe went right through. Someone up there must love you”.
Indeed.
That was three years ago. At the last doctor’s visit, he said there was no damage to the heart, and she can return to all the same activities she had before the surgery.
Sometimes we think our prayers make no difference, but this is just the deception of the enemy of our souls. God hears and answers our prayers. In fact, our prayers will eventually change the world, as God answers our prayers and makes a new Heaven and new Earth, and brings an end to the old order.
The lessons from Revelation chapter 8 are clear:
• Our prayers come before the throne of God.
• In His time He will make all things right-including the judgment of the wicked.
And
• Our prayers make a difference. In time they will change the world.
