Revelation Chapter 8

Revelation 8:1

When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

A mysterious verse in a very strange place is what we have today. There are several different theories about what this means exactly and the actions surrounding this time. One such theory is that this is actually the point when Jesus leaves heaven to bring judgement and all those people went with Him. This only works if the seals, trumpets, and bowls of wrath are working in tandem (which they may be), because Jesus will come at the final trumpet; so that trumpet may have sounded and He is on His way to earth. Another theory is that God is preparing for wrath and judgement and everyone is sort of on pause due to what is about to happen. Proponents cite several scriptures in the old testament where it looks like God might have been silent before the flood and before the plagues in Egypt for example. However these are mainly weak arguments and I don’t really feel hold a lot of water due to the fact when God is about to release His wrath on the earth there are movings and things happening in the temple so that just doesn’t really fit to me.

A few lessons back, we went over the festival of booths and spoke about how solemn it was supposed to be on the last day and that it might be the reason for it to now be quiet for some time. I think I like this explanation best but I do want to present you with another that may hold some water and is sort of a mingling of all these ideas. In Amos 8 we receive a warning concerning the wrath or coming wrath of God. He speaks oddly enough about the basket of summer fruit or as it may be translated “ripe” fruit. Now it would be foolish to think that this time does not coincide with the festival of booths scene that we just saw in heaven, which happens in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Soon after that the summer fruits in the promised land ripened and were soon found to be no longer good, which may hold spiritual implications to Him saying that the end has come upon Israel. “The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," declares the Lord God. "So many dead bodies!" "They are thrown everywhere!" "Silence!" These are the following lines in Amos and coincide nicely with the theories we discussed earlier. Jesus has come to turn the day that everyone was waiting for, the day we sing beautiful songs of in the church; the day He finally comes those songs become wailings in that day. So many dead bodies, they are thrown everywhere. This is not a joyous time. Remember this passage and lesson for when we get to Revelation 14, we will again look at ripened fruit and dead bodies thrown everywhere. And then the word “silence”. I don’t think this silence is something that happens by accident but looks to be more of a command from God, that the time for us to speak has ended. Its almost like Him saying “pay attention”; for all the things that He had warned us about are coming to fruition. Can you imagine all the praising and worship that has been going on since the angels were created? The heavens themselves proclaiming the work of His hands, pouring forth speech for their Creator. Now all these souls that have received salvation, praising and worshipping God...and then a stunned silence in heaven. And not a moment of silence but about half an hours worth. Try this exercise. After you read this find a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed and sit in silence, not doing anything for 30 mins. It seems like eternity flashes by, especially with words like “songs become wailings” and “so many dead bodies” racing through your minds. In today’s church, we as a people don’t much care for the “fire and brimstone” type teachers/preachers, but it doesn’t touch home much more than this lesson here. “The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," declares the Lord God. "So many dead bodies!" "They are thrown everywhere!" "Silence!"

ref: Amos 8:1-14

Revelation 8:2

Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. (ESV)

In the old testament when the trumpet was sounded its purpose was to let everyone know that something was happening or to let Israel know they were supposed to do something. Now that took on several different forms and some if not all of those forms are played out in the pages of Revelation as well. It was used in Israeli battles in order to instruct troops and people on when and where to move just as we will see in later studies. As is the main purpose of all of this, trumpets were used to announce the king's coming. An interesting use of a trumpet is used during the year of Jubilee, “On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.” I can’t but wonder if the year these trumpets are going to be sounded happen during the Jubilee year for Israel since Jesus will be proclaiming liberty throughout the land for the meek very soon. But in order to receive the blessings of being proclaimed free we must be listening for the trumpets and be ready for their sounding. Jeremiah proclaims, "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it. 'I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet! ' But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’” So because they decided not to pay attention to the warnings of God, He said, “Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.” So be prepared for the times of the trumpet sounding, lest those that ignore the trumpet stumble over the stumbling stone.

ref: Exodus 19:13-20; Joshua 6:1-21; Judges 7:18; 2 Samuel 2:28; Judges 3:26-27; 2 Samuel 15:10; 1 Kings 1:39; Leviticus 25:8-12; Jeremiah 6:16-21

Revelation 8:3

Another angel, with a gold incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne. (HCSB)

The angel here is seen in a different role we’ve never seen an angel play that I can recall. We know angels are messengers and basically general servants to God but we don’t really think of them in the role of serving before the Lord at the altar. Nevertheless, here one is with a golden censer with incense and the prayers of the saints. Now earlier when Jesus had just taken the scroll from the hand of the Father we saw each of the four living creatures along with the twenty-four elders holding golden bowls full of this incense (being the prayer of the saints). We’ve also seen the souls under the altar praying, in a sense, to be avenged. Now I don’t know if any of those prayers are the same as the ones we see here, but seeing these scenes unfold ought to change at least a little bit how and why we offer up prayers and the expectations we have in them being answered. Now sometimes the answer to them is no, and I don’t think we accept that answer often but it should be something we look at because His ways are definitely not our ways. But I can’t help but wonder how often a prayer gets put on the back burner until a time that it can be answered. We don’t know how long these prayers had been lingering here until this very time. Think about all the injustices you can that have happened over the course of history and how people have most certainly prayed to have these wrongs brought to justice. Some of them were probably answered in full in due time and some possibly in part, if at all until this very time. Finally after centuries, an answer is about to be on its way. Can you imagine the patience our God must have, that a prayer I say today might be held in waiting until I am dead and gone before it is answered? And worse, can I as a Christian accept that? We say things like “He is an on-time God”, but when we say stuff like that we really think that means that we might have to wait a few months or maybe a year for Him to answer us in the affirmative. But what if our great grandchildren never see that prayer answered, is that something we can live with and accept? Can we wait on God? In Paul’s letter to Timothy he said this, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self- control.” Talk about waiting on an answered prayer! Adam and Eve had transgressed long before you and I had read this verse and yet still she WILL BE saved if THEY continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. At this point Jesus has died, been resurrected and returned to the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made a footstool beneath His feet; and it seems that if Eve doesn't continue in those things that she might just be one of those enemies. Her fate has not yet been revealed though she might have prayed for salvation. She awaits a time such as this for the prayers of the end to come to fruition.

ref: Revelation 5:8; 1 Timothy 2:13-15

Revelation 8:4

The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel's hand. (HCSB)

Do we take the mercy and kindness of God for granted? This verse talks about incense and prayers going up in the presence of God and yet we don’t often realize just how special this is. Who can fathom anything that man can do being able to withstand the awesome presence of God? We don’t think that way but even our prayers, having come from our sinful mouths ought not be able to survive in the holy presence of our Lord. As I was looking for scripture to correlate with this scene and not finding a lot having strong relevance; I was almost at a loss as to how cover this passage without going into detail about the incense in the tabernacle that the priest had charge over. But then after looking back at yesterday’s lesson, I saw that the very first mention in scripture of the presence of the LORD God happened after the fall of Adam and Eve. It says, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Our God is a consuming fire and somehow, someway they knew that the presence of their sin before the presence of God, needed to be covered up and hidden. As Christians we say things like “come to God as you are” but I would take caution and possibly put an asterisk on such a statement. If Adam and Eve didn’t believe such a statement, and they having known God in a deeper sense than we might can imagine; how much more caution should we give before we decide to parade ourselves before the Almighty? Now by part of that statement we are expressing that if you are waiting to be perfect before you seek Him, then that will never happen; but I think there is partly an arrogance involved in that statement as well. Its an arrogance saying that God will somehow have to accept me as I am for the simple reason that I would choose to include Him in life. Now we don’t say things like that out loud but much of Christianity, especially early on, is not spent on revealing the depths of our iniquity and exactly how God would treat such wickedness had Jesus not come to be crushed because of my sin. Once we come to this realization, we should be grateful and humbled by the fact that God would let our prayers be allowed in His presence.

ref: Genesis 3:8

Revelation 8:5

The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were rumblings of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (HCSB)

Earlier in chapter 4 we saw almost the exact same thing. We saw thunder, rumblings and flashes of lightning coming from the throne. This wording will become familiar to us because it is played out several more times throughout the pages of Revelation. This is consistent throughout the bible for this to occur due to the presence or power of God coming upon the earth. One of the most memorable moments was when He was giving the commandments to Moses. “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.” This I think is a correct response as these things play out. It is interesting the words Moses uses in this scene because it is exactly what will be happening when the end times come. When the trumpets and bowls are revealed to us we will hear words like, “but they refused to repent”. There is still time and the main goal of the events we are about to encounter is that the fear of Him will be before us, that we may not sin. Many people are staunchly against “fire and brimstone” type preaching in today’s churches and to a degree I can understand their stance. Is God loving and merciful and full of grace and want us to have joy, absolutely. But as all of that plays out, we slowly forget that He is also just and righteous and holy; and whether by the soft and cuddly teaching or by the fire and brimstone type, what He is requiring of us is repentance, righteousness, and holiness.

ref: Exodus 20:18-21

Revelation 8:6

And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. (HCSB)

We have been on a ride thus far and the most fearful parts are yet to come. We have seen living creatures and elders sitting on thrones in heaven. We’ve seen angels praising our God along with slain souls lingering beneath the altar up to the time they were rewarded. We have seen the four horseman wreaking havoc with people being killed (probably from war and from our own household) along with a great famine as well as the fourth horseman being allowed to kill up to a fourth of the earth by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts. All of these things pale in comparison to the power and might of the slain Lamb. He has hardly been mentioned and yet in those few times He has shown his power and importance and that will become especially important to hold on to as we move forward. As we prepare to witness the destruction that follow the blowing of the trumpets it is important to remember that all of this is happening within the confines of His approval. Some of it will seem horrible and in fact will be but as crazy as it seems things are going it still follows the plan that He and the Father have set forth and have ordained to happen. Things are not out of control, they are just outside of our control, and all of this so that mankind (including those we call Christians) might wake up, repent, and be saved from His wrath.

Revelation 8:7

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. (ESV)

Trumpet number 1 brings hail and fire mixed with blood being thrown to the earth with the Lord coming close behind them. We have seen a similar scenario play out before with the plagues God performed in front of Pharaoh; He truly is the same yesterday, today and forever. In Exodus it reads, “Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.” There’s a little change in outcome with the fire being the destroyer of the grass and trees here instead of the hail but nonetheless a frightening scene. This is also similar to what David spoke of in the 18th Psalm when God had rescued him from his enemies. If war is not happening at this time it is well on its way. The prophecies of hail, fire and blood play out several times in the old testament and especially in Exodus 38-39 when God fights against Gog and Magog (which we will discuss later); and also a few other times throughout Revelation we especially see the destruction of hail. Now I don’t know how long it will be until these events unfold fully but can you wrap your mind around the fact that God is or has already stored up hailstones for this very time? As it is written, “"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?” I don’t know exactly how this happens because we think of hail as simple drops of rain that have frozen in the atmosphere and falls to earth. But God says here that he has a place that keeps a reserve for such a time as this. I can’t help but wonder how that might play out because I don’t for a second think this is outside the realm of His power, to have an unseen storehouse of hail. I wonder if in some places if we will see this hail, fire and blood fall out of a clear blue sky; no clouds or thunderstorms around, just blocks of ice falling from heaven...And we say we can’t wait for the day of the Lord. Now it doesn’t say directly but it is also hard to imagine that people will not be dying during all of this. A third of the grass and trees burn up from the fire, not to mention the blood falling from the sky. That is the part that gives me goosebumps the most, the rest of what Joel had prophesied about fire and blood. Where is this blood coming from, what is the purpose of it; and most importantly who’s blood is it? Well we know that He has storehouses of hail (presumably in the heavens) and the fire will no doubt be coming from the heavens so it stands to reason that is where the blood is coming from as well. One theory I would like to put forth is that some sort of judgement has already begun in the heavens where the heavenly host dwells. “For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.” The sword of God is soaked in blood, in fact the word scripture uses is sated, meaning satisfied to the full or as much or more of something than is desired or can be managed. Before the sword of God comes to the earth, it receives its fill of blood from the host of heaven; so the blood that rains down along with the hail and fire may very well be the blood of angels. Now this may very well not be the case but that would not change the fact that a sword that has had its fill of blood is soon coming to earth in order to judge the nations.

ref: Exodus 9:23-25; Psalm 18:7-15; Job 38:22-23; Joel 2:30; Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 24:21

Revelation 8:8-9

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. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (ESV)

This is an interesting verse and its timing can add confusion but as we’ve stated before the things that happen in Revelation are not necessarily in a chronological order but a laying out of prophecies one puzzle piece at a time for us to assemble. In Revelation 17 & 18 we read the story of the prostitute Babylon and her destruction and compare them with scripture it seems that this destruction may be finished at this second trumpet. “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, declares the Lord, which destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain.” So this Jeremiah verse describes the destruction of Babylon, this destroying mountain that the Lord is destroying, which happens to be on fire just as it is seen in Revelation 18. I don’t want to spoil too much of our later lessons but the people of God are called out of Babylon before it is thrown down. Strange are the words that God uses later that Babylon be thrown down never to be seen again, since this mountain is being thrown into the sea. The amount of people being slain in Babylon must be great to cause a third of the sea to become blood. It is mind boggling to think that a simple defeat of the great prostitute was not enough but she must be removed from her place as well so she will not be seen again. And all of this is what is to be prayed for and desired in faith to happen to her by faith having Christians. You ever wonder how many words Jesus spoke that we don’t realize might very well have been prophecy of something to happen? Speaking of faith He said, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” What purpose would we have for needing a mountain being thrown into the sea other than Him making a point that in studying His word we might realize that we should pray faithful prayers that His word be fulfilled “on earth as it is in Heaven”.

ref: Jeremiah 51; Mark 11:20-25

Revelation 8:10

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. (ESV)

Now many scholars have varying views on what is happening in the next couple of verses. No matter what their view most of them agree that once a symbol is used in a specific book then the meaning of that symbol does not change meaning (especially in Revelation). Now they say and write this belief but when it comes to this verse they tend to change tune. Now I don’t necessarily believe this as a hard fast rule because then you tend to back yourself into a corner, theology wise; although I do lean toward this teaching. That being said it is commonly accepted that when Revelation says stars it means angels or possibly another heavenly being; but many don’t believe that this star is an angel but some sort of meteor or something. So if this is an angel what would cause him to be blazing like a torch and to fall from heaven. Now some make a case for this star being Satan falling from heaven and this is a very interesting theory, especially if we think the second trumpet is showing the defeat of Babylon as the beast is instrumental in the destruction of Babylon. Now afterward it would not be outside the realm of possibility that Satan might then look to finish this war in heaven before being defeated and thrown down by Michael. Another interesting twist to this fact is that when He is finally thrown down, he spews water like a river out of his mouth and we see here that a third of the rivers and springs are affected by this star’s falling. I do however hold judgement on this verse that it may possibly be another angel (for Satan is not the only one who gets thrown down), or it may in fact be some other entity that would fall into the rivers and springs.

Revelation 8:11

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. (ESV)

In the previous lesson we discussed that this star may be Satan. Scripture tells us the name of the star is Wormwood meaning bitterness, but the root of that word in Hebrew means “to curse”. So here we have this star that is the essence of bitterness with a hint of a curse. Satan is often associated with being a prideful being and if his pride is like mine, I can imagine him being bitter over being defeated in the very heaven he wanted to rule over. If this is indeed Satan or has something to do with him I want to explore this curse root, especially with the connections we have already made with him being thrown to earth and having an association with water; with a third of it becoming bitter.

In the law when a wife was being tested for adultery scripture reads, “And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbind the hair of the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away. ’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen. “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain.” This sounds an awful lot like what we are experiencing in this verse due to these being judgement trumpets and Jesus testing His bride to find out if she has been faithful or not. Strong words from the bridegroom but necessary to have a bride that is without blemish.

“Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!” Apparently we have a bad habit of drinking things that expose us for what we are. We drink up curses, corruption, and injustice like water and as in the verse we are studying it says that some people will die because of this bitter water that we drink. I don’t believe it was an accident that in the Job verse that it speaks of humans drinking those things like water and relating those people to His holy ones. He puts no trust in any of us and therefore we must make every effort to try and be perfect just as our Father is perfect, lest we too die from the waters that have become bitter.

ref: Job 15:16; Numbers 5:11-28

Revelation 8:12

The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. (ESV)

Several times throughout the bible it is prophesied regarding the shining of the sun, moon and stars, and even a few times within Revelation itself, but this is a little different than the rest. In most of them it talks about “stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light”’ and “sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining” and similar passages. But for some reason it talks about a third of the light from the sun, moon, and stars will be darkened in addition to a third of the day and night will be kept from light. Now we can speculate as to what might be happening but outside of all the reference verses (which are slightly different), that's all it would be is speculation. So if we do daydream about what’s going on, there could be a couple of options. Take the sun as an example; we don’t know if the sun becomes ⅓ dimmer or if an actual third of it just does not shine. Then we get to the second part of the verse which explains that a third of the day will now be blackened along with a third of the night. Now if we were to go and study bible prophecy and read up on what scholars say concerning the heavenly bodies, then we would very often hear them explain away these things with blood moons and eclipses and such and that makes me sad concerning our faith as Christians because part of us believe that much of what God has in store is already in motion and no longer needs Him to oversee these events. But then we see things like these, where God does something we have never seen and is near impossible to explain away (though we will certainly try) and it shows us just how little faith we have in God and His abilities to rule over His creation.

ref: Isaiah 13:9-10; Joel 2:10

Revelation 8:13

And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (KJV)

By this time people are probably outside of their mind. Experiencing fear, confusion, despair, among other emotions in reaction to what has happened. They’ve seen hail, fire and blood, along with a third of the trees burned up. They’ve seen Babylon thrown into the sea and sea creatures and ships destroyed due to a part of the water becoming blood. Then they saw many people die due to the bitter water of the enemy, along with the sun, moon and stars giving up a third of their light. But it is only now that we hear woe to the inhabitants of the earth. First, I switched to the KJV on this verse because the word used in the greek is translated as messenger. Many other translations use eagle as the word here, and while it most certainly can be an actual eagle or an angel, the main point that is being made is that it is some sort of flying being giving a message. That message is woe to us. The earth has seen some frightening things that seem to come so close to one another that we can’t seem to catch our breath, but here we receive a message that we haven’t really seen anything yet. True fear and terror are going to be released upon the sounding of the other three trumpets and at least we are receiving a warning from God for what is about to occur.