Revelation Chapter 8 (NIV)

The last of the seven seals is broken in this chapter. This seal opens up the terrible judgments of the seven trumpets, 4 trumpets in this chapter and the remaining in succeeding chapters. These judgments primarily are involved with the physical earth. It, too, must go through a redemption process (recall, in the Old Testament, the redemption was for land). The sin curse has been on the earth ever since the fall of Adam, first man.

This is not a pleasant chapter to read. Most of it is beyond imagination as to the magnitude of the judgments. There is one bright spot early in the chapter which indicates how our prayers are handled in heaven. Personally, I am thankful that "much incense" is mixed with my prayer as it goes before the Father. Praise to the One with the "much incense"!




































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 1(NIV)

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   1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
This is the final seal on the scroll. When it is loosened, heaven can begin to see inside and the scroll starts to unfurl. Let's take time here to review the seven seals as they give a hint of the scroll contents.
The Seven Seals
Seal Number Reference Result
1
 Revelation 6:1 ,2 Atheism
2
 Revelation 6:3 ,4 War
3
 Revelation 6:5 ,6 Famine
4
 Revelation 6:7 ,8 Pestilence & Death
5
 Revelation 6:9 Persecution
6
 Revelation 6:12 Physical disturbances
7
 Revelation 8:1 7 trumpets & 7 vials
Silence is NOT a normal state in heaven. When you read the previous chapters (Revelation 4:8), you are struck by all the praising, worshiping, and singing taking place in heaven. To have silence is unusual.

There are two views as to what causes the silence.

It is difficult to say from these two views, that either is the sole cause of the silence. Since God is all knowing (hearing), it seems a little restricting for Him to have silence to hear the prayers Himself. Rather, it may be for the benefit of the angels and saints already present.

As an aside observation, it is typical of the Revelation to have everything explained in precision. That is, the silence is for about half an hour ('not about an hour' or 'some period of time'). This would indicate that what follows with the trumpets is NOT symbolic but EXACTLY what will happen to the earth. The 'thirds' which follow in the rest of this chapter are accurate. If they were symbolic, then they would be 'some' and 'lots' of whatever are burned or destroyed, and the precision of time is not needed in this verse. This is because time is of consequence to earthly things or more precisely, due to the rotation of the earth on its axis; God has no time restrictions!






































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 2 (NIV)

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   2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Again, John is very precise when he uses 'the seven angels'; these seven angels are 'presence angels' and most likely are the same as the archangels. We know of two of them in our scriptures, while Jewish writings indicate the remaining five as shown in the following table.
The Seven Presence Angels
Name Reference Function
Michael Jude 9 ; Daniel 12:1; Daniel 10:13 General of the Heavenly Armies
Gabriel Luke 1:19 ; Daniel 8:16 ; Daniel 9:20-23 Presence of God ... Messenger
Uriel 1 Enoch 20:2-8; Tobit 12:15; Levi 3:7
Unknown
Rapheal
"
"
Raquel
"
"
Saraqael
"
"
Remeil
"
"

Offering up of the prayers of the saints in Jewish thought is connected with archangels. In Israel, the trumpet warned of danger. In Zephaniah 1:14-18 , it warns of the last days. See also Numbers 10:1-10 and Joel 2:1-2 .

Before every woe, a warning is given by an angel blowing a trumpet. Each trumpet was unique and contained its own warning upon a specific part of the physical universe.

Trumpets also are associated with revelation particularly the giving of the Law (Exodus 19:16-20) and the prophesy (Amos 3:6-7). Jericho prevented Israel from taking the Promised Land; it fell by the trumpet (Joshua 6:12-21 ); so, too, the evil one prevents or tries to prevent Christ from claiming His true inheritance. This is associated with seal seven. Satan uses the Gentile nations to hold on to this earth and to fight the Jews, God's Chosen. See Zechariah 14:1-4 and Luke 21:20-24 .

BUT GOD WILL OVERCOME! Isaiah 51:21-23 , Isaiah 26:20-21 , Isaiah 35:3-4 , Zechariah 6:9-15 , and Zechariah 13:7-9 .


















 
 
 
 
 
 
 














Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 3 (NIV)

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   3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
Bible scholars are divided as to who this ANGEL is. Some believe that he may be Christ Himself; others believe he is just another ministering angel. There are several passages in the Bible which may lead one to believe that Christ visited the earth as a messenger angel.

Hagar, Sarai's maid, sees an 'angel of the Lord' in Genesis 16:9-13, and ends up referring to the angel as "Thou art a God who sees".

The initial encounter of Gideon was with the angel of the Lord in Judges 6:11-18. Later, 'the Lord' said He would be with Gideon.

The background to Samson's birth announcement in Judges 13:2-20, Manoah's wife saw the angel of the Lord who brought her the message of her new baby to be a Nazirite. When Manoah entreated the Lord if this true, he went through a most fascinating dialogue. The angel of the Lord said His name was incomprehensible (usually an attribute of Christ's name). Furthermore, the 'angel of the Lord' ascended out of Manoah and his wife's sight in the smoke of the ALTAR they had built. This is curiously parallel to the angel standing at the alter in this verse.

The high priest, alone, carried the censer, fire pan full of coals, as a sin offering for himself, Leviticus 16:11-14.

This mediating role is Christ's alone between God and man as Paul describes in 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

Interestingly, there never has been a reference to Christ ever appearing back on earth as an angel after His ascension. However, Paul indicates in Hebrews 13:1-6 that we may have entertained angels without knowing it. Was Christ one of them?

The incense for the altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-6) was made of 4 spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense (Exodus 30:34-38). Some scholars equate this to the four offices of Christ: King, Servant, Son of Man, and Son of God. See Revelation 4:7. Thus, the much incense may be the prayers of Jesus Christ Himself before the THRONE. These prayers most likely are ones for revenge like those of the martyrs under the altar (Revelation 6:9) and the "cursive" psalms: Psalm 35:4-6, Psalm 59:13-15, Psalm 83:13-18, and Psalm 109:6-20. This type of prayer really does not have a place during the church age, but now with the seventh seal opened, it time for vengeance.

Incense also is very closely tied to Christ's name. Malachi, in Malachi 1:6-14, rebukes defiled offerings and the priests who permit them. He indicates that incense is offered to the greatness of His name.

As an observation, even the prayers coming from us are tainted with the sin curse. But the mixing of the much incense, Christ's prayers, covers our terrible sin curse odors with the sweet smelling fragrance of Christ's mediations. This parallels the blood of Christ making us spotless such that we can be presented before God, Revelation 7:9,14.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 4 (NIV)

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   4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.
This smoke is coming from the censer, and apparently the angel has moved closer to God, inasmuch, the smoke is going up before God. Also implied in this is that heaven and the THRONE must be within the atmosphere. Incense cannot burn without oxygen (or atmosphere). Symbolists would argue otherwise. However, John is writing what he saw (Revelation 1:11). These are prayers of those who have accepted or are accepting Christ as Savior . Christ (Mark 11:22-25) changes them into SAINT'S PRAYERS as they are floated before the Father.

It is not unusual for prayers to be thought of as incense. David uses the same analogy in Psalm 141:1-2-4 .

Which prayers of the saints are mixed with Christ's?
Prayer Reference
Those in His name. John 16:18-24
Those who abide in Him John 15:7
Those with faith in God Mark 11:22-25

Also, it is significant that the prayers ascended out of the angel's hand. The hand is the "working element" of a Christian.

The HAND as a "working element".


We pray to Him with our hands 1 Timothy 2:8
We are counted by hand Jeremiah 33:12-13
We eat because we work with our hands Proverbs 19:24; 26:13-15
The good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. Isaiah 53:10-12
We give our offerings (alms) with our hands Matthew 6:1-4

Other than eating, the HAND of the angel was doing similar to what believer's hands should be doing.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 5 (NIV)

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   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.
This is the censer that has the prayers of the saints purified and filtered by the "much incense" It is not clear if there is only one altar in heaven, the incense altar. There is no need for a "sacrifices" alter because the supreme sacrifice has already taken place, Hebrews 12:28-29 . This altar is probably the one where the souls are seeking vengeance in Revelation 6:9 . This implies the FIRE symbolizes God in His holy and pure judgmental form. We are about to see another side of a loving and caring God. See the previous verse for some thoughts on where heaven is. The lull in heaven in verse 1 when the seventh seal was opened may also have been on the earth. If so, that lull is over! This is much like God's visit to Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19:16-20 . This is the tribulation saints vindication. Compare the consequences in Hebrews 10:26-31 , Luke 12:49-53 , and 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 . Note, too, there is no indication that there is any rain. This implies the fire continues on for some time, perhaps for the duration of the seven trumpets.




































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 6 (NIV)

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        6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
The sequencing of the seals, trumpets, and bowls are not necessarily chronological, and neither totally parallel. The trumpets overlap or are contained within the seventh seal. Likewise the seven bowls (the third woe, Revelation 11:14) overlap or are contained in the seventh trumpet sounding.

Yet with God being beyond the constraints of time, John, who is time limited or constrained, probably had no other way of describing these occurrences. One thing is certain, at the seventh bowl, the proclamation is given, "It is done.", Revelation 16:17. The vengeance, as horrible as it is, has been completed.

A few more words about trumpets. They have been used as "futures" signals in Isaiah 27:13, Joel 2:1, Zephaniah 1:16, Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. Look for a balance between the literal and symbolic meanings given by the trumpets. Also watch for parallels to the Egyptian plagues in Exodus.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 7 (NIV)

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        7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
There is one similar experience recorded in Exodus 9:22-26 in one of the Egyptian plagues. However, this was localized to Egypt specifically. The first trumpet event is experienced by one third of the earth.

    There are several theories how this could happen.

  1. The earthquake in verse 5 causes massive volcanic eruptions. Water (if undersea), lava, and such are spewed into the air. The water is cooled in the upper atmosphere and become hail. Lava chunks become the fireballs when they splat and break open.
  2. The earth passes through a comet or has a near miss with an asteroid. Comet tails are thought to be mostly ice with possibly some rock pieces. Upon entry into atmosphere, charge is picked up. This turns into lightning discharges at impact. This, in turn, starts many fires.
  3. The "red as blood" coloration may be due to dust/mineral contaminates, or the deep red color of cooled lava like predicted in Joel 2:28-32
  1. A third of the earth was burned up and
  2. a third of the trees were burned up and
  3.  all the green grass was burned up.
Literally, trees are harder to start on fire than grass. However, note the comment in verse 5 that there is no rain mentioned. What is clear is that fully a third of the earth is affected. Again, the Revelation is using precise numbers. Not "some" or "a lot of" but 1/3 is used. Also consider that without satellite verification, there would be no way to know if 1/3 is the amount affected. Revelation waits until mankind has the technology to confirm the scriptures.

Symbolically, the grass could mean masses of mankind and the trees are prominent leaders and/or rulers. See Psalm 103:15-18; Judges 9:7-15; and Daniel 4:4-27. Curiously, John does not record the political environment on the earth at the time of the Revelation. This is where interpretation of prophesy and cross references to other scripture becomes vital, Ezekiel 38:21-23.

What are some of the consequences of this FIRST TRUMPET? When grass (grains) are gone, food supply is diminished. Animals die. People die. Oxygen production will be reduced by a third also. It is unknown what affect this will have on the remaining life!





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 8 (NIV)

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   8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,
This is a difficult one for John to describe; what he sees is "something" like a great mountain. This one is on fire, and clearly it lands in the sea. The literal view of this is that it is a meteorite hit on the earth (ocean). In John's time, the sea usually meant the Mediterranean Sea, but the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans, as we know those bodies of water, are roughly a third of the earth's water. Hence, this burning meteorite could have hit any one of them. The consequences would be a tidal wave (estimated between 1000-2000 feet high) would cause much destruction of coastal property and life.

The symbolic view would indicate a great purging among godless mankind. Isaiah 57:20 says the wicked are like the tossing sea. The mountain could be a destroying nation as in Jeremiah 51:24-26. Or as in Daniel 2:31-35, Nebuchadnezzar's dream and its interpretation, Daniel 2:44-45, the nation is indicated as the Jewish nation and the Lord's coming empire. The literal view would be that the meteorite caused a water heating with a tremendous growth of red colored plankton, for example. Be aware that this isn't BLOOD. Or it could be a naval battle with chemical warfare and actual BLOOD being spilled. Or, most likely, a THIRD of the sea will be turned into BLOOD using an undetermined method. Remember, this is God's judgment.

The symbolic view says this is a judgment of the spirit of mankind. The water and blood are the same as the spirit as indicated in 1 John 5:6-12. So this trumpet blast affects the spirit of a third of mankind.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 9 (NIV)

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   9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

This is a continuation of the previous verse or the SECOND trumpet.

This may be a partial fulfillment of the prophesies in Hosea 4:1-3 and Zephaniah 1:2-6. It is partial in that only a THIRD are removed with this trumpet. How this will be done is a mystery. However, once it will be accomplished, the stench will be noticeable on the earth. Furthermore, we know so little about the inhabitants of the sea, how will we know that a THIRD of them died. We just have to take God at His Word.

A symbolic view would be that a THIRD of the "sea" of unbelievers would die. This is plausible given that the FIRST trumpet destroyed so much in the way of trees and green grass (grains or sustenance). When this happens, the shocker here will be how many religious people (aka church goers) die.

The literal view says a meteorite impact would toss ships to and fro, and obviously sinking some. Furthermore, the tidal wave would create much damage to ships in port.

The symbolic view is that the ships are representative of vessels of war and commerce. This implies that a THIRD of businesses would fail because of economic depression, and hence the business community is slowly destroyed. A world in depression really does not have a need for war ships. "Every trading ship" and the "stately vessels" are equated with human pride. They are prophesied to "be humbled" in Isaiah 2:12-22.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 10 (NIV)

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        10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water --- 
The literal view of this is that this is something entering the earth's atmosphere from outside or above the clouds. Some scholars believe this may be a nuclear missile (like a torch) and use the next verse to authenticate the nuclear warhead. Whatever this GREAT STAR is, it is burning up in the atmosphere and pieces apparently are landing in rivers and other bodies of water. It is not clear why the surrounding land is not included in this verse.

The symbolic view is that there is a "high-level" purging of demonic forces in heaven. It is possible that what is visibly shown here during the THIRD TRUMPET, is also what the rejoicing is over in Revelation 12:12 , where the down casting of the devil is in the past tense, "has come down". The fact that the devil, a fallen angel, is equated to a great star is supported by the fact that the seven angels of the seven churches are also refereed to as stars in Revelation 1:20 .

The literal view is that if it is a nuclear explosion, the residue radioactivity would run off in the rivers and seep into the ground water (springs). This may be what this is, however, ground seepage to cause springs to be radioactive is a longer process -- longer than the seven years of tribulation.

The symbolic view would say that fully a THIRD of the spirit side of this earth is affected. Recall that the serpent in Revelation 12:15 tries to flood out the woman (Christianity) with a great flood of water. That this is an evil tide affecting a third of the people is confirmed in Revelation 17:15 . Note that this verse does not say that the THIRD dies ... it just fell on them. The consequences would be a populace "hell bent" on evil and crime. It will not be fun to live during this period.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 11 (NIV)

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   11 the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.  The plant, Artemisia absinthium, is known as wormwood. From it, a dark green oil, which is very bitter, is produced. It is lethal in water as the rest of the verse shows. There are two literal possibilities: The symbolic view is that if this is the devil and his followers who are being thrown from heaven, then he brings bitterness and death.

Wormwood as bitterness


Deuteronomy 29:18 Forsaking the covenant brings ....
Proverbs 5:4 What an adulteress is in the end.
Jeremiah 9:13-15 Forsaking the Law brings ...
Jeremiah 23:15 What false prophets can look forward to ...
Lamentations 3:15-19 How solitary real prophets sometimes feel!
Amos 5:7 Subverted justice
Amos 6:12-14 The fruit of righteousness is turned into ...

This trumpet is a direct judgment upon mankind because many men died from the waters; the previous two trumpets were upon the earth itself with man involved as an innocent bystander.





































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 12 (NIV)

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        12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.
This trumpet alters the amount of light the earth receives to one third less than what is normal now. Since the earth revolves around the sun, having listed the SUN, MOON, and STARS in equal THIRDs indicates that they did not change their positions, but rather, something on earth changed just that we see this change to our surrounding cosmos. If the third trumpet was a cosmic impact with the earth, the rotation of the earth could be sped up such that the days and nights would be a third shorter than what they are now. That is, the earth would make a complete revolution on its axis every 16 hours instead of 24. It would be an interesting calculation to determine the size of the invading cosmic object which would cause the earth to increase its angular momentum by that much.

It is interesting that this is put into THIRDs. This keeps this verse "season" neutral. That is, the DAYLIGHT and NIGHTTIME is a different length depending whether it is winter or summer, for example. But using THIRDs will work no matter what day of the year one is talking about. Recall Jesus' words in Mark 13:32-37.

Let's look at the expression 'turned dark'. There was darkness in one the of plagues on Egypt in Exodus 10:21-23. The darkness was so thick you could feel it, and, curiously, the Israelis light worked while the Egyptians didn't (implied). This Egyptian darkness was for three days and then, apparently, the normal day/night cycle returned. In this fourth TRUMPET, this appears to be a permanent effect on the earth's rotation.

At Christ's crucifixion, darkness fell upon the land for 3 hours from noon until 3 pm as given in Matthew 27:45 . This was a one time occurrence on that day.

From a symbolic view, darkening of the sky is connected with the appearing of God's judgment.

Darkening the sky ... appearance of God's Judgment
Isaiah 13:9-13 Punish the world for its evil.
Ezekiel 32:7-8 Cover the heavens and darken the stars.
Joel 2:10-11 Sun and moon grow dark.
Joel 3:14-15 Valley of God's verdict see sun and moon grow dark.
Matthew 24:29-31 After tribulation of those days ...

As a footnote, most crimes are committed in darkness. Does this imply the number of crimes will go up by 33%?






































Revelation Chapter 8, Verse 13 (NIV)

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    13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
The oldest manuscripts all translate to EAGLE. This may be one and the same as the fourth living creature in Revelation 4:6 ,7 . This is a special message to earth that John both saw and heard.

In "midheaven" tends to indicate this eagle (angel) physically flies over the earth visible to all below.

It is not so unusual to have angels (eagle) make announcements to earth. The birth of Christ was announced to shepherds in Luke 2:8-11 . In Luke, that was a joyful announcement; in the next chapter , the WOE, WOE, WOE here indicates evil, psychological mind games, and mental anguish will be played out. In this chapter, the TRUMPETS mainly did physical damage to the earth.

The prophesy of Deuteronomy 28:49-57 may finally be fulfilled in these three WOES. It is described as "an eagle swoops down" meaning it will be carried out silently yet powerfully.