8:1
SILENCE contrast with 4:5,8,11; 5:12,13;
6:1,3,5,7,10; 7:10,12.
This is the silence that falls upon those in awe of what is about
to happen.
8:3
STOOD OVER THE ALTAR, HAVING A GOLDEN CENSER: AND THERE WAS GIVEN
UNTO HIM MUCH INCENSE Cf. Lev.
16:12-13.
8:3-4
ADD IT UNTO THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS In
5:8, the incense was
said to be the prayers of the saints. Even in the O.T., David
associated incense with prayer (Ps. 141:2). This is another
example of an O.T. element of worship involving something
tangible, but representing something spiritual. In John's
visions, the paraphernalia of O.T. worship once again serves the
same purpose.
8:5
TAKETH THE CENSER AND FILLED IT WITH THE FIRE OF THE ALTAR AND
CAST IT UPON THE EARTH Assuming this to be
the same altar as
that mentioned in 6:9, a connection is established between the
martyred saints' plea for vengeance and the fiery judgment that
is now hurled upon the earth. They had cried, "How long . .
.
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
the earth?" (6:10). As the seven angels sound their trumpets
and
the scene of judgment progresses toward its climax, the response
will come, "there shall be delay no longer" (10:6).
THUNDERS, AND VOICES AND LIGHTNINGS AND AN
EARTHQUAKE Not unlike
the picture of God's coming against the enemies of his servant,
David (Ps. 18:7, 13-14).
8:6
SEVEN TRUMPETS Trumpets were used for
various purposes including
summoning the congregation and warning defenders to prepare for
an expected attack. Here, however, the significance is best
illustrated by Amos 3:6 and Joel 2:1, where the trumpet announces
an imminent Day of the Lord, and the appropriate response is
trembling.
8:7
THE FIRST SOUNDED John is still seeing
what is revealed with
the opening of the seventh seal. The seven trumpets are to be
thought of as announcing the events which unfold as a result of
the opening of the seventh seal, rather than as subsequent to and
distinct from the seventh seal. (See the chart on p. 11.)
Many interpreters focus on trying to
explain the symbolism
of Revelation in terms of specific historical events, or specific
natural phenomena. The following is an example:
"Blood-red rain is not unknown in nature; in the spring of 1901 the daily journals contained accounts of this phenomenon, which was then being witnessed in Italy and the South of Europe, the result, it was said, of the air being full of particles of the red sand from the Sahara." (Swete on Rev. 8:7)
While such explanations may occasionally be on the mark,
generally it seems best to concede that apocalyptic symbolism
often conveys an impression, whether of severe calamity or
incomprehensible glory, and that only the impression is
significant. To do otherwise is comparable to viewing an
impressionistic painting up close and debating whether a
particular brush stroke represents the froth of a wave's crest,
the sunlight glistening on the water, or simply the color of the
water itself.
THE THIRD PART OF THE
EARTH This was
burnt up, as was the third part of the trees. Also, as the six
trumpets sounded, a third of the sea became blood (8:8), a third
of the sea creatures died (8:9), a third of the ships were
destroyed (8:9), a star fell upon a third of the rivers resulting
in the deaths of many men (8:10-11), a third of the sun, moon,
and stars were smitten (8:12), and a third of men were killed
(9:15).
When the seventh trumpet sounds, it is to announce the
victory: "The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of
our
Lord and of his Christ" (11:15). At that point the judgment
revealed within the scroll is completed. And yet only a third of
the world and the things therein were destroyed. Contrast with
this 2 Peter 3:10 which speaks of a day when "the earth and
the
works that are therein shall be burned up." There, the whole
world is destroyed. Here in Revelation, only a third part is
destroyed. The judgment revealed to John is devastating, and even
climactic; but it is not the judgment of which Peter wrote. It is
not the end of time. The world would go on after the judgment
described in the scroll had been accomplished.
8:8
A GREAT MOUNTAIN BURNING WITH FIRE WAS CAST INTO THE
SEA The
precedent for the imagery is found in Jeremiah 51, where
Babylon's fall is foretold. Babylon was described as a mountain
which God would roll down from the crags and make a "burnt
out
mountain" (Jer. 51:25).
Furthermore, it was said, "The sea
has come up over Babylon;
She has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves" (Jer.
51:42). As
the first of the world empires described in Daniel 2 and 7,
Babylon was a fitting symbol of the last of those empires.
(Compare the use of David in Ezek. 37:24 to represent the
Christ.)
8:10
THERE FELL FROM HEAVEN A GREAT STAR The
trumpet is sounded by
the third angel, but the imagery continues to hark back to God's
judgment upon Babylon. In Is. 14:12-14, Babylon's powerful king
was pictured as a star which would fall from heaven whither he
had aspired to ascend.
WORMWOOD associated with bitterness, and
with poisoned food or
water (Dt. 29:18). In prophesying of the captivity, Jeremiah
spoke of God's intention to feed Israel "with wormwood and
give
then poisoned water to drink" because of their idolatry
(Jer.
9:15, cf. 23:15).
8:12
THIRD PART See the
note on verse 7.
This should not be viewed as a lesser calamity than that
described in connection with the opening of the sixth seal
(6:12). "Third part" is merely consistent with the
numerology
used throughout chapters 8 and nine.
8:13
AN EAGLE The same word, a)eto/j, is used
in Mt. 24:28 and Lk 17:37 where the reference is apparently to a
vulture. However, here, most take it to mean an eagle. Dt. 28:49,
Hosea 8:1 and Hab. 1:5 are examples of the use of the eagle in
O.T. prophecy. The reading "angel" in the KJV is found
in no extant Greek manuscript dated prior to the eleventh
century.
WOE, WOE, WOE Each of these woes corresponds to one of the trumpets yet to sound. This is the meaning of the phrase, "by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound." The woes are for them that DWELL ON THE EARTH. These are identified as those "whose name hath not been written in the book of life" (17:8), and those upon whom judgement will come in vengeance for the blood of the saints (6:10). See also 3:10, 11:10, 13:8,12,14, and 17:2. The woes do not represent the sufferings of God's people, but God's judgement upon the worldly.