By: Tom Lowe Date: 2/2/2016
Title: Seven Angels Prepare to Sound Their Trumpets (Revelation 8:2-6)
Revelation 8:2-6 (KJV)
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Introduction
In John’s vision, God is about to deal with the sin that is in the world. At the opening of the seventh seal, the response is silence (8:1). And a new vision begins, and we have in these five verses, the beginning of the wrath of God. The judgment of Jesus is going to be carried out. This is the great moment of justice for which suffering believers have been praying. The idea presented here is that all of the prayers for justice are given to God so that God can answer them all. He is going to begin the process of retribution for the persecution of the church.
The seven angels in verse two are specific angels. They are those who stand before God. And in this case, they are the ones with the responsibility of carrying out justice on the earth. The trumpets symbolize the instruments of that judgment (8:2). The trumpet judgments, like the seal judgments, are only partial. God’s final and complete judgment had not yet come.
The difference between the seventh seal and the first six is who is implementing the judgment. During chapters six and seven, humankind and nature are having their way. During this vision of the trumpets, it is the angels who have been given the role of executing the judgment of God on earth. Did anyone notice that there is yet another difference between the seventh seal and the first six? It is that no specific judgment is mentioned when the seventh seal is broken? The narrative moves directly to the seven trumpet judgments. From this we infer that the seventh seal consists of the seven trumpets.
There are Christians who will tell you that the Book of Revelation terrifies them. But it should not terrify you. Actually, it ought to be a comfort to you. I thank God that He is going to judge this world that is running wild today. The way that mankind has blundered and gotten this world into a mess makes it look like it is filled with madman. I thank God He is going to judge it, and He is going to judge it rightly. It is very comforting to recognize that.
Maybe you don’t like the fact that the gentle Jesus is going to judge. We have already seen that the wrath of the Lamb will be terrifying to those on earth. My friend, when you talk about the gentle Jesus, you had better get acquainted with Him. He died for you, He loves you, and He wants to save you, but if you will not have Him, I’d tell you, there is waiting ahead of you a terrifying judgment. Someone will say to me, “You are trying to frightened people.” I would like to scare you into heaven if I could, but I know you are too sophisticated and too cynical for that. But, my friend, judgment is coming on this earth. I say, Hallelujah! I am glad that it is coming and that God is not going to let the world go on like it is now. It has gone on long enough.
Commentary
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God.” Strangely enough, these “seven angels” have not been mentioned before, unless they are the “seven spirits” before the throne of Revelation 1:4 and 4:5. But as you shall see, we cannot positively identify them due to the other theories around today. For example, one theory is that these are special angels; also known as “the angels of the presence.” Not all “angels” are said to “stand before God.” Gabriel, though, was one who did, as we are told in Luke 1:19: “. . . I am a Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God . . .” There were “seven” of these angels—not six, not eight—but seven, representing the full power of God in judicial judgment; the power to execute the trumpet and bowl judgments. They “stood before God” to pour out God’s wrath upon His enemies. Though the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders are portrayed as sitting, angels are almost always pictured as standing, the posture of reverence before God.
The use of the definite article (the seven angels) may designate a special group. In any event they are ministering “angels” carrying out God’s will and commands. Jewish literature names “seven” specific archangels, so these may be the ones referred to here. Their names are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel and Remiel. The seraphim are also identified as beings that “stand before God” (Isaiah 6:1-2). However, these “seven angels” are seemingly a different order from the seraphim seeing that their mission and service are altogether different.
That they are called “the angels of the presence” means two things. FIRST, they enjoyed a special honor. In an oriental court it was only the most favored courtiers who had the right at all times to the presence of the king; to be a courtier of the king was a special honor. SECOND, although to be in the presence of the king meant special honor, even more it meant immediate readiness to be dispatched on service. Both Elijah and Elisha repeatedly spoke of “the Lord God of Israel before whom I stand” (1 Kings 17:1; 18:15; 2 Kings 3:14; 5:16); and the phrase really means, “The Lord God of Israel whose servant I am.”
“And to them were given seven trumpets.” “Seven trumpets” were given to the angels, who then took their positions as directed, and prepared to sound their “trumpets.” But before the sounding of the “trumpets,” John saw another angel (8.3) with a golden censer{2] in his hand, and he came and stood before the golden incense altar. We are told that this angel was given much incense, and that he offered the incense with the prayers of “all saints.” These saints were the saints of the Tribulation Period. When the fire was cast into (down to) the earth, there were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and a great earthquake. The silence was broken. If you will notice, the same four things happen when the seventh trumpet sounds [“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.” (Revelation 11:19)] and when the seventh vile is poured out. All end alike.
In Revelation, “trumpets” primarily announce impending judgment. The “trumpet judgments” are of greater intensity than the “seal judgments,” but not as destructive as the final “bowl judgments” will be (16:1-21). They occur during the final three and one-half years of earth’s Great Tribulation, but the time of each is unknown to all except God Himself, with the exception of the effects of the fifth trumpet judgment, which will last five months (9:10). The first four announce the divine destruction of earth’s ecology (vs. 6-12), while the final three involve demonic devastation of earth’s inhabitants (9:1-21; 11:15).
The continuing ministry of angels is seen in this passage. The seven mentioned in this verse have the privilege to announce the administering of judgment through the sound of the “trumpets.” But they are restrained for about half an hour (8:1). This interlude is for the preparation of the judgment. Now “half an hour” is not a long period of time when one is engaged in something they enjoy, but 30 minutes of intense suspense can be nerve shattering. There are gloomy subdued moments due to the judgments which follow. This is the silent, solemn preparation for the most awful judgments ever to come upon the world. They are the judgments prophesied by Enoch [“It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads” (Jude 14)], expected by the psalmist [“Before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth” (Psalm 96:13)], and verified by the Apostle Paul [“Because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).]. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
“. . . another angel came and stood at the altar.” We are told here that the “other angel . . . stood at the alter.” We are not told exactly who he is, but he is definitely not one of the seven mentioned in verse 2. The “altar” in Revelation frequently appears in the picture of heaven (6:9; 9:13; 14:18). It cannot be the alter of burnt-offering for there can be no animal sacrifices in heaven; it must be the alter of incense. The alter of incense stood before the Holy Place in the Temple (Leviticus 16:12; Numbers 16:46). Made of gold, it was 18 inches square and 3 feet high. At each corner it had horns; it was hollow and was covered over with gold plate, and around it was a little railing, like a miniature balustrade{3], to keep the burning coals from falling off of it. In the Temple, incense was burned and offered before the first and after the last sacrifices of the day. It was as if the offerings of the people went up to God wrapped in an envelope of perfumed innocence. This was the ministry Zacharias was performing when the angel told him that he and Elizabeth would have a son (Luke 1:5). Burning incense on this altar was a picture of prayer ascending to God: “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2).
In Jewish thought the archangel Michael made prayer for the people of Israel and there was a nameless angel called The Angel of Peace whose duty was to see that Israel “did not fall into the extremity{6] of Israel” and who interceded for Israel and for all the righteous. Could the angel in question be Michael? Some teachers believe that this angel is the Lord Jesus Christ, because he ministers both Godward and manward, serving as both Priest and Judge. He is called the Angel of Jehovah in the Old Testament (Genesis 16:13; 31:11, 13; Judges 6:22; Hosea 12:3, 4). This is a possibility, but it does not really matter who the angel is.
“Having a golden censer.” See note {2]. In Hebrews 9:4 we are told that the censer used at the altar was made of gold, and was used to carry the fire from the brazen altar (Hebrews 9:1-10; Leviticus chapter 16). The censer would hold the coals, and a separate vessel would carry the incense which was to be poured on the coals once the altar was reached. The resulting smoke was typical of prayer ascending before God.
“And there was given unto him much incense.” And he offered it with the prayers of the saints. The incense was to be offered on the golden altar before the throne. Note that the angel does not provide the incense; it is given to him by Christ, whose meritorious obedience and death is the incense, rendering the saint’s prayers well pleasing to God. It is not the saints who give the angel the incense; nor are their prayers identified with the incense; nor do they offer their prayers to him. Christ alone is the Mediator through whom, and to whom prayer is to be offered. The question is, who are these saints, why are they praying? It does not seem reasonable to suppose that these are the saints that make up the bride of Christ . . . those of us who are members of the True Church. At the time of the removing of the seventh seal, the Church will be in Heaven, having been raptured before this time of terrible judgment. The Church is raptured at the beginning of chapter four, and at the time of revelation 8:3 have been with Jesus in the clouds in the air for several months. These “all saints” are the converts of the 144,000 sealed messengers of God, about whom we studied in Revelation seven. They are a part of the great multitude which no man could number. They are praying because they are going through hell on earth under the mighty hand of the rider of the white horse of revelation 6:1. We are not told what their prayers are, but no doubt their general burden will be for deliverance and judgment on their ungodly oppressors. God answers their prayers by pouring out unheard-of judgment upon the peoples of the earth. God deals again with His people Israel as He dealt with them in the days of old and the case of Joshua and the battle of Jericho.
This incense was burning morning and evening in the tabernacle (Exodus 30:7-10). The sweet savor of Christ is set forth in the incense burning, signifying what He wills for us, what He did for us, and what He suffered for us. Why did this other angel, holding the golden censer, stand before the golden altar before the golden throne to offer Him incense with the prayers of all saints? Why this demonstration? The answer: The whole action is called for because of the great body of saints on earth during the last half of the Great Tribulation . . . the time of the trumpet judgments. They need heavenly help . . . They must have help from Heaven . . . In this time of terrible, terrible tribulation. “If the days were not shortened and if Heaven did not help them, there would be no flesh saved.”
The fire for burning the incense was lit by God Himself, and afterwards, was kept burning by the daily sacrifices offered there.
“That he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” These prayers soon result in judgment, so evidently they were prayers for vengeance, the kind of prayer already heard ascending from the brazen altar at the breaking of the fifth seal. In a coming age, the imprecatory psalms{1] (e.g., 35:4-6; 59:13-15; 83:14-17 and 109:6-20) will come into their own. They are not expressions of selfish personal vengeance, but rather cries for God to uphold His holy Law and vindicate His people. Such prayers as these, holy unfit for any age of grace, will be most fitting for the persecuted martyrs of the tribulation age. So then, God waits while His tormented and terrified people on earth pray.
This other angel serves both God and men, for He is One who is between the suffering, praying saints{4] on earth and their God. The angel was not an intermediary, as Christ is (Hebrews 7:25; 9:24), nor did the angel make the prayers acceptable. There is “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). The angel acted in the role of a priest, presenting the prayers of the saints to God. The incense symbolized the offered prayers, and the angel was merely the agent. No one should conclude from these verses that anyone should pray to angels. Remember, the promises on earth are to God’s chosen people, Israel. We, the Bride of Christ, will reign with Jesus over the restored Paradise on earth. God’s people Israel are an earthly people with earthly promises. The Bride is a heavenly people with heavenly promises.
In Revelation 6:9-11, the souls of the saints who had been martyred were crying out to the Lord, but no provision for intercession was made for them. They were out of their suffering at that time. They were resting under the altar. They were told to rest a little longer, until their fellow servants would be killed as they had been. The saints who are praying and crying unto God in chapter eight are the “other servants” to whom God refers. The intercession of the angel with the censer shows the longsuffering of God toward man, even until the end.
The “prayers of the saints” are not the prayers of a special group of people in heaven who have arrived at “sainthood.” To begin with, all God’s children are saints—set apart for God—through faith in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1, 12; 13:13). And there is no definite teaching in the Scriptures that people in heaven pray for believers on earth, or that we can direct our prayers to God through them. Moreover, there is no reference here to the Roman Catholic doctrine of intercession by angels or saints. We pray to the Father through the Son, for He alone is worthy (Revelation 5:3). The thunder, voices, lightning, and earthquakes are the symbolic announcements of the divine judgments about to fall upon the earth. They represent the very end of human history and the coming of the Lord, but the prophet was not yet ready to describe the Lord’s return. He still had too much to say (based on what he saw) about the nature of judgment, the mission of the church, and the persecutions of the beast to bring his prophecy to an end.
These words, “that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints,” have in them the idea that prayer is a sacrifice to God; the prayers of the saints are offered on the alter and, like all other sacrifices, they are surrounded with the perfume of the incense as they rise to God. A man may have no other sacrifice to offer to God; but at times he can offer his prayers and there are always angelic hands waiting to bring them to God.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
“And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints.” Verse four tells us that the smoke of the incense came with the prayers of the saints, and ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand—not out of the golden censer, but from the hand of the angel. This signifies even further that this angel was none other than the Lord’s eternal High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible knows of no other than Him who does the work of mediating “the prayers of all the saints.” “The prayers of the saints” must be for judgment on their oppressors (in keeping with a time of judgment, but not in this day of grace), because this is the nature of those dispensations; the end times, and the age of grace in which we are living.
“Ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.” The cloud of fragrant smoke rose, much as it did in the tabernacle and the temple. A sensor filled with live coals was used in temple worship. Incense would be poured on the coals, and the sweet-smelling smoke would drift upward, symbolizing believer’s prayers ascending to God (Exodus 30:7-9). This would be done twice a day, at the morning and evening sacrifices. These prayers are most likely prayers for justice and deliverance, as described in Revelation 6:10: “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?. God brings judgment in response to the prayers of His people. One of the reasons for the trumpet judgments is God’s answer to the prayers of the saints.
When the prayers of the saints and the incense from the censer have gone up to God out of the angel’s hand, the angel then takes the empty censer, goes again to the altar, fills the censer with fire from the altar—but there is no incense mixed with the fire! The incense was mixed with the prayers of all saints.
On some unknown day (unknown to all except God) in the future, as the saints pray, “the angel of the Lord” (surely the Lord Jesus Christ Himself) will come forward and add to the groans and cries the perfume and the fragrance of His finished work. For prayer never reaches God in the clumsy, inept, feeble way it leaves our lips. So then, there was silence in heaven for half an hour (of heaven’s time) while God graciously takes into consideration the prayers of His own.
The point for emphasis here is that the prayers of saints are given effectiveness through the incense added by the angel. Who are these saints, and for what are they praying? Under the fifth seal the souls of the martyred saints cried for just judgment (6:9-10). It seems that their petition is being taken up here by the Jewish remnant on earth. Apparently their prayers of imprecation, like those in the Imprecatory psalms, meet with divine approval, for they are furthered and benefited by the angel. It is immediately made clear that their prayers have a profound connection with the sounding of the trumpets and the coming judgement. The prayers of the saints in that day will be for vengeance, and God will answer without delay.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
“And the angel took the censer.” In direct answer to prayer, God acts by setting in motion the trumpet judgments. John tells us, “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the alter, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.” Preliminary rumbling is heard in advance of the great upheavals soon to take place. Voices! Thunder! Lightning! Earthquakes! In essence, this formula, sometimes called a formula for catastrophe, is repeated four times during the Apocalypse (4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18). Prayer which can bring on such things must be potent indeed! The saints go into their bedroom, close the doors, kneel down, and pray. They spread out their petitions before God, and God hears. So the silence ends. Immediately after the prayers ascend, the judgment descends. The prayers of God’s people have been flung into the scales of judgment and have tipped the balance in favor of an immediate resumption of hostilities by Heaven.
“And filled it with fire of the altar.” The altar from which the angel filled the sensor with fire represented the place of judgment. The fire represented the judgment of God upon sin as seen in the Levitical offerings. One teacher writes: “As the altar was the expression of His holiness and righteousness in dealing with the sin of the people of old, so that same holiness and righteousness will search the earth and judge and punish it accordingly.”
“And cast it into the earth.” The fire from the altar was emptied upon the earth and at once there followed voices, and thundering, and lightning, and an earthquake. These convulsions causing disorder in the earth are just the beginning of terrible calamities which follow the sounding (playing) of the trumpets. Those on the earth in that day will have rejected the all-sufficient Sacrifice, therefore “. . . if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). The Savior has become the Judge. The casting of the fire into the earth is merely a token judgment indicating that the sound of the trumpets will follow. Note: the incense and prayers went up to God; the fire was cast down upon the earth. This symbolizes the prayers of the saints on earth being answered. God was about to act on their behalf.
“And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake”—and judgment, raw judgment, judgment in such fury as this earth has never known nor will know up to that moment, which is still in the future and will occur during the last half of the Tribulation period. God is bringing to pass the redemption of all creation—“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22). “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” One day God will renovate this old earth a second time, removing every trace of evil and of the curse, and we will have one great Paradise such as God placed Adam and Eve in when He created man.
When the angel took the censer, filled it with fire and cast the fire into the earth, the stage was set for complete catastrophe . . . “voices” in the sky, “thunder,” and “lightning,” and a great “earthquake.” Immediately the seven angels prepared to sound their trumpets, for God is about to take action and answer the prayers of His people.
“Thunder” denotes the approach of the coming storm of God’s judgment.
“Voices” reveals that this is the intelligent direction of God and not the purposeless working of natural forces. God is in charge.
“Lightning” follows the thunder. This is not a reversal of the natural order. We see the lightning before we hear the thunder due to the fact that light waves move faster than sound waves. Actually, the thunder comes first, but we did not hear it until after we have seen the lightning.
The “earthquake” is the earth’s response to the severe pressure which will be placed upon it during the judgment of the Great Tribulation Period.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Each of the seven angels holds a trumpet{5]. Trumpets in Scripture are used in various ways. Their sounding was a summons to worship (Numbers 10:3, 7; 23:15-24; 1 Chronicles 16:42) and warfare (Numbers 10:5-9; Judges 3:27, 30; Nehemiah 4:9-20). The idea of the trumpet originated with God and He controlled its use (Numbers 10:1-10). Only priests were qualified to blow them (Numbers 10:8). There were different sounds for each occasion, thus it was important that the priest blow with accuracy. How important it was that the summons to warfare not be confused with that which called the people to worship (1 Corinthians 14:8)! The sound of the trumpet in Israel indicated the intervention of God in the affairs of men on earth.
We have now come to the middle of the Tribulation. These trumpet judgments take us on to the time when Christ descends to the earth, destroys His foes, and ushers in His kingdom. The first four judgments affect man’s natural environment, the last three affect man himself. Many commentators note the resemblance between these plagues and the ones which fell on Egypt (Exodus 7-12).
In the next lesson, and verse 8:7, the trumpet judgments begin: “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up” (Revelation 8:7). Just as the seven seals fall into two groups of four and three, so the seven trumpets divide themselves, the first four having distinct reminiscences of the Egyptian plagues at the Exodus. In 15:3 the second coming is tacitly compared to the Exodus (the redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb); so here that redemption is heralded by similar plagues on the ungodly.
NOTES
{1] Imprecatory psalms, contained within the Book of Psalms of the Hebrew Bible, are those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one's enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God. Major Imprecatory Psalms include Psalm 69 and Psalm 109, while Psalms 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 58, 69, 79, 83, 137, 139, and 143 are also considered imprecatory.
{2] A Censer (or firepan; see 1 Kings 7:50) is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. These vessels vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times in many cultures, in both secular and religious contexts. In many cultures, burning incense has spiritual and religious connotations, and this influences the design and decoration of the censer.
{3] Balustrade—a kind of low wall that is placed at the sides of staircases, bridges, etc., and that is made of a row of short posts topped by a long rail.
{4] Saints—scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ, Christians, the church. All Christians are considered saints. All Christians are saints—and at the same time are called to be saints. First Corinthians 1:2 states it clearly: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy…” The words “sanctified” and “holy” come from the same Greek root as the word that is commonly translated “saints.” Christians are saints by virtue of their connection with Jesus Christ. Christians are called to be saints, to increasingly allow their daily life to more closely match their position in Christ. This is the biblical description and calling of the saints.
{5] Trumpet—the Greek salpinges, meaning “trumpets,” could be either the Roman army type trumpet, or possibly here a ram’s horn shofar trumpet “used in Jewish life as a signaling instrument. They sounded alarms for war or danger as well as for peace and for announcing the new moon, the beginning of the Sabbath or the death of a notable.”
{6] Extremity—“an extreme condition or state (especially of adversity or disease).” The duty of the Angel of Peace was to see that Israel “did not fall into the extremity of Israel,” that is, was not harmed by other nations (war) or sickness.
