Revelation Chapter 8

VERSE 3 continued, “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.”

THEN ANOTHER ANGEL:

This angel is Jesus —the same one who in Rev 1:13 is standing in the midst of the Seven Churches which these Seven Trumpets serve. There HE has a voice “LIKE a trumpet.” Clearly his voice also had repercussions far beyond the audiences to which he directed his message.

HAVING A GOLDEN CENSER:

This, being a golden container for coals, seems to represent the divinely-appointed experiences, the divinely-measured experiences (the censer has a specific capacity) necessary for acceptable sacrifice. Thus it shows a JUDGMENT regarding the acceptableness of the sacrifice.

CAME AND STOOD AT THE ALTAR:

Here we have several things to consider. First, we again have a connection with Rev 1:13. There Jesus is dressed as a high priest. Here in 8:3 he clearly functions in the same capacity. Secondly, Jesus is here standing AT THE ALTAR. This is the COURT altar —the place where his humanity was sacrificed and the coals (which represent the trials which accomplished that sacrifice) are available to be put in the censer.

HE WAS GIVEN MUCH INCENSE: Incense represents the perfections of Christ’s sacrifice —the thing which makes him a viable sacrifice.

THAT HE SHOULD OFFER IT WITH THE PRAYERS OF ALL THE SAINTS:

Notice that this is about ALL the saints. It represents something affecting the entire age. Jesus sacrifice accomplished this —the making valid of the prayers of the saints so that they could sacrifice WITH HIM. This is a sin-offering text. Those who blow the Trumpets (as representatives of ALL SEVEN STAGES OF THE CHURCH) have NO RIGHT to blow these unless their messages are justified. This incense from the coals of Jesus sacrifice makes their work valid. Jesus ADDS the incense to our prayers which makes them heard.

UPON THE GOLDEN ALTAR:

This is in the holy of the tabernacle —the place where the saints dwell while yet in the flesh (although their flesh is not represented in this room.) This action of incense on the golden altar is what preceded the taking of the sin-offering blood(s) into the Most Holy. This particular description is NOT, however, about Jesus’ blood, but that of the saints. When Jesus’ blood went in, HIS PRAYERS went with the incense. But here, OUR PRAYERS go with it. This verse is strong in support of the Church’s part in the sin offering.

WHICH WAS BEFORE THE THRONE: represented in the MOST HOLY of the tabernacle.

Throne symbolizes the authority of judgment. A good judgment is secured because our high priest has prepared the way with his sacrifice. (The Most Holy had no throne. John’s vision thus INTERPRETS a part of the anti-typical meaning of the Most Holy.)

A NOTE ON THE PARALLEL WITH CHAPTER FIVE:

It is difficult to miss the striking parallel of Rev 5:8 with this part of Chapter 8. The situation is SO similar and yet SO different.

In 5:8, the Lamb is pronounced worthy to open the Seals; in 8, the angels are MADE worthy to blow the Trumpets.

In 5:8, the incense is from the 24 elders; in 8 it is from Jesus.

In 5:8, the saints are probably the Old Testament faithful; in 8 it is the Gospel age saints.

But in each case, the way is OPENED so that the functions may occur —viz. Seal opening, and Trumpet blowing.

VERSE 4 “And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.”

AND THE SMOKE OF THE INCENSE: The evidence of the loving and perfect sacrifice

WITH THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS:

This is WHY we pray IN HIS NAME (John 15:16 and 1 John 2:1). Without the accompanying incense being ACKNOWLEDGED by us, our prayers and sacrifices would not be holy. The “prayers of the saints” are, on the whole, for the kingdom. This is an important item to remember here. All of the ensuing trumpeting is simply a sequence of events LEADING TO THE KINGDOM.

This preface to the seven Trumpets is to show us that the Trumpets are a gradual 7-step breakdown of society SO THAT the kingdom may be established. Thus this introduction shows us several imperative elements necessary for the kingdom’s establishment:

1) Jesus Sacrifice (Verse 3)

2) The justification of the co-sacrifice of the Church (Verse 3)

3) The gradual breakdown of society’s thinking habits by seven successive “proclamations of liberty.” (Verses 2 & 6)

4) The ULTIMATE breakdown at the end of the age (the CULMINATION of the trumpeting as in the fall of the walls in Jericho) so that the Kingdom may be fully set up (Verse 5)

ASCENDED BEFORE GOD: To complete the sin offering eventually.

FROM THE ANGEL’S HAND:

As the High Priest, HE is the one who offers the joint-sacrifice, the matter is all in his hands. Remember (Rev 1:16 & 20) that these seven angels are in his right hand.”

VERSE 5 “Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thundering’s, lightning’s, and an earthquake.”

NOTE: Here brethren take two views of things. Many apply Verse 5 to the Jewish Harvest; some apply it to the Gospel Harvest. We will give BOTH views here. This scribe prefers the second option for reasons which will be explained.

OPTION ONE:

If this verse applies to the Jewish Harvest, its message is basically this: Once Jesus offers his sacrifice on behalf of his Church, he re-directs the use of the rights He has purchased as symbolized in the censer and coals. He goes into the court (probably representing the Jewish nation) and casts down burning judgments against the people. His new message of the Gospel Age causes controversies, claims, blinding flashes of truth, and a revolution. Then, Verse 6, the development of the Gospel Age Church, begins.

The weakness of this view (although it certainly has enough merit to be a viable interpretation) is that the events of Verse 5 seem TO DUPLICATE in essence the events of the First Trumpet (Verse 7.) WHY should the first Trumpet events be mentioned before Verse 6 says the trumpeters begin to sound?

OPTION TWO:

If this verse applies to the Gospel Harvest, its message is basically this: Jesus rights gained from his sacrifice are first used for the development of his Church (Verse 4). The message to the church will be heard on a wider scale because the messengers are given Trumpets (Verse 2.) However, the Trumpets will not be acknowledged by society, requiring that Jesus, AT THE END OF THE AGE, re-direct the authority he had due to His sacrifice. He uses His powers of judgment in the court (representing nominal Christianity) by sending destructive elements resulting in controversies, claims, blinding flashes of truth, and revolution.

Having shown the TWO WAYS he was going to use what he gained from his sacrifice (the reason for the parenthesis or interlude, i.e., Verses 3-5), Jesus now has John return to the subject at hand, the seven angels with Trumpets —the very subject which was introduced in Verse 2 and is now being returned to so that the narrative of the Trumpets can proceed.

This option does away with the problem inherent in Option One. It has, as mentioned, its precedent set in Chapter 12, Verses 6 and 14. It also sets the stage for the Seven Plagues because it shows that the Seven Trumpets WILL NOT CONVERT the world NOR destroy the old order; something else will be necessary. It also has as a corroboration (Ezek 10:2) which speaks of the coals which would be heaped on Babylon during the Gospel Age Harvest. It is not unlikely that 8:5 is the same prophecy as Ezekiel’s in slightly different terms.

This option also has a nice parallelism to the Introduction to the Seven Seals (Chapters 4 and 5). In THAT introduction also, the RESULTS of the age of seal-openings are shown (Rev 4:9-11 and 5:11-14)

VERSE 6 “So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”

Verse 6 picks up where Verse 2 ended. Verses 3 through 5 are parenthetical to teach us the lessons outlined above. Verse 6 should be read as an extension of verse 2.

Reading verse 2 and then verse 6 without anything intervening makes perfect sense. We DO NEED the intervening information, however, and are glad for it. The precedent for this form was established in Rev 12:6 and 14. Between 6 and 14 details are given; but 14 brings us back to where we were so that the story can be continued with more detail. In Rev 14:8 and 13 we have another example of this kind of construction, although not nearly so obvious. Verse 13 RELIES on jumping back to Verse 8 in order to establish a date for the word “henceforth.” Thus we know the contemporaneous nature of 14:8 and 14:13. But the intervening verses GO PAST THAT DATE.

THAT seems to be the nature of Rev 8:2-6

 THE SEVEN ANGELS WHO HAD THE SEVEN TRUMPETS PREPARED THEMSELVES TO SOUND: Each in his own order and time as is manifest in the following multi-chapter narrative.

In our next post we will take a look at this from the perspective give in The Keys of Revelation