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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 8:1 - 8:6
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Third Vision and the Opening of the Seventh Seal.
The preparation for the sounding of the trumpets:
v. 1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
v. 2. And I saw the seven, angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 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.
v. 6. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
The narrative at this point, with all its simplicity, is full of dramatic intensity: And when He opened the seventh seal, silence reigned in heaven for about a half-hour. It was a silence of strained expectation, of breathless suspense. The plagues that were about to be shown in symbols were the greatest, the most horrible of all, the tribulations which would strike the Church would be awe-inspiring in their intensity. It was an ominous period of direst portent.
After the half-hour had elapsed, an activity ensued which prepared for the coming events: And I saw the seven angels that stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. The use of trumpets is always associated in Scriptures with important announcements intended for great multitudes. Here the seven angels are mentioned, the spirits that were in the immediate service of the Lord, just as Gabriel calls himself one of those that stand in the presence of the Lord, Luk_1:19. They were His servants, to carry out His commands, and the trumpets were given to them in order that they might be the Lord's heralds. They now stood ready, with their trumpets at their mouths, waiting for the signal to proclaim doom.
The idea that heaven is a vast temple now again comes to the foreground: And another angel came and stood next to the altar, having a golden censer, and to him was given incense in abundance, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. Here again everything points to the solemnity of the occasion. There is no hurry, no confusion: the act of worship is performed with all the impressiveness of holy dignity. Many commentators identify this angel with the one great High Priest of the New Testament, Jesus Christ Himself. Just as the high priest of the Old Testament took a golden censer to sacrifice incense in the Most Holy Place, so the prayers of the saints, a great mass of them, are here pictured as being offered up to God. This was acceptable to the Lord: And the smoke of the incense arose with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the angel before God. The straight ascent of the smoke of a sacrifice signified that God looked upon it graciously, that the prayers of the saints met with His approval, as they are sure to do if made according to His will, for the sake of the precious merit and the powerful intercession of the great High Priest and Mediator Jesus Christ.
The last action of the angel was also significant: And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there occurred thunderings and voices and lightnings and an earthquake. The fire from the altar is a manifestation of the sevenfold Spirit in the Word. The proclamation of this Word is like thunder in shaking hard hearts, like a mighty voice in penetrating the minds, like lightning in revealing the innermost recesses of the heart and in working knowledge of divine things, like an earthquake in working mighty changes, not only in the heart and mind of the hearers, but in their entire life. These preliminary acts having taken place, everything was ready for the sounding of the trumpets: And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to trumpet.