Revelation 8 Series

Revelation 8

1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

(Silence) Pauses are a curious thing aren't they? In things like movies pauses are added many times as a buildup to something extremely important or dramatic that is about to happen. Can you imagine what anticipation was happening in heaven after Jesus had opened up this seventh seal and everything came to complete silence? Can you imagine John envisioning this and the anxiety he must have felt with this long bout of silence? The only thing I can think of is, as this tension was building-up that everyone must have been thinking this can't be good.

In verse 2 it says that John saw 7 angels who were standing before God, and each was given a trumpet. Then another angel who stood at the alter was given a golden censor and that censor was to hold the incense that were also given to him.

This censor with the incense were an offering we are told to God along with the prayers of all the saints who were there.

In verse 5 things are about to take a turn and we are about to see what this build up was all about. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

For those who will be on earth seeing this, this fireball could possibly look like a huge asteroid coming out of the sky on fire and crashing to earth. What will probably seem strange is the thunder and lightning and earthquake that follows it.

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

I had mentioned before even within God's wrath we still see His mercy and grace. God could have just ended everything in one single blow but he doesn't. There is thought and intention in which God's will is unfolding here.

Think of what Jesus had to go through as he was beaten, tortured and nailed on the cross. That was God's will unfolding as well. As I thought about this my personal thought is that God is in a way subjecting the earth to a slow drawn out punishment just as Jesus had to endure. He wasn't going to make it easy, God was saying I am in control and you will feel my wrath.

Joel 2:30 ~ And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Notice hear that John uses the term “something like” when he describes this mountain like object that was thrown into the sea. Again he is doing his best to describe what it is he is envisioning. But when he says”a third of the sea became blood” he doesn't use that term. He says it was blood, not like blood. So a third of the sea became blood.

An interesting thing is usually when we see blood used in scripture it is a good thing, it is a sacrifice thing or payment thing. With Jesus it was a sacrifice and payment but here we have seen blood twice and now it has become a wrath thing. And a third of the living creatures in the sea die and a third of the ships are destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.