8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
After the dramatic events of chapter 7, and the first 6 seals, chapter 8 essentially begins with a half hour of silence. This silence evokes the idea of reverential awe as a fundamental aspect of worship. Make no mistake, worship is what is taking place. It is the worship of the Old Covenant, fulfilled in the New.
8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
After the dramatic events of chapter 7, and the first 6 seals, chapter 8 essentially begins with a half hour of silence. This silence evokes the idea of reverential awe as a fundamental aspect of worship. Make no mistake, worship is what is taking place. It is the worship of the Old Covenant, fulfilled in the New.
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
We started with seven seals that deal with the unsealing of truths to be revealed. Now, the Seven Angels are given trumpets to herald coming events.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne;
Once again, it is presented to us in the sense of worship.
1: Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
2: For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place.
3: Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies,
4: having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Once a year, on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) The priest would enter the sanctuary to offer incense before the Holy of Holies. In September of 3 BC, this is what Zechariah was doing when one of those 7 Angels (Gabriel) appeared to him. Jesus was born 15 months later on December 25th. Our protestant brothers have some explaining to do. As was the case in chapter 5, we now see the Angels receiving the prayers of 'the saints' (on earth) and mixing them with the incense. Are not these people constantly telling us that the Angels and Saints are not aware of our prayers?
4 and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.
This shows us two absolutely necessary elements of worship that are missing in most non-catholic churches. The first is the use of incense and the second is the intercession of Saints and Angels. Here, in a fascinating revelation, we see that the incense (among the gifts offered by the Magi to the baby Jesus) is fused to the prayers of the saints so that they become combined. We see this in the very next verse.
5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, loud noises, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The interplay is just stark. Recall in chapter 6 when the souls of the martyrs cried out for justice from beneath the sacrificial altar. We then have the Saints and Angels receiving those prayers and offering them up with incense before the altar. We then see the fire that burns the incense actually used to bring justice, as an answer to those prayers. In every Catholic Mass, incense and prayers are offered up before the altar.
Some may see this as an imitation of this heavenly worship. It's more than that! It is a direct participation in it! Because Jesus is both the Lion and the Lamb, Both the King and the Servant, both the Priest and the sacrifice, Both God and Man, Both the Lord commanding the Priest and the one acting through the Priest, the mystical worship in complete so that the Heavenly worship and the earthly worship are one and the same and inseparable
John Chrysostum, writing in the 5th century, said it so brilliantly:
“When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?” (The Priesthood 3:4:177 [A.D. 387]).
“Reverence, therefore, reverence this table, of which we are all communicants! Christ, slain for us, the sacrificial victim who is placed thereon!” (Homilies on Romans 8:8 [A.D. 391]).
“In ancient times, because men were very imperfect, God did not scorn to receive the blood which they were offering . . . to draw them away from those idols; and this very thing again was because of his indescribable, tender affection. But now he has transferred the priestly action to what is most awesome and magnificent. He has changed the sacrifice itself, and instead of the butchering of dumb beasts, he commands the offering up of himself” (ibid., 24:2).
“What then? Do we not offer daily? Yes, we offer, but making remembrance of his death; and this remembrance is one and not many. How is it one and not many? Because this sacrifice is offered once, like that in the Holy of Holies. This sacrifice is a type of that, and this remembrance a type of that. We offer always the same, not one sheep now and another tomorrow, but the same thing always. Thus there is one sacrifice. By this reasoning, since the sacrifice is offered everywhere, are there, then, a multiplicity of Christs? By no means! Christ is one everywhere. He is complete here, complete there, one body. And just as he is one body and not many though offered everywhere, so too is there one sacrifice” (Homilies on Hebrews 17:3(6) [A.D. 403]).
To get straight to the point, God shows us what worship looks like. He created it, He formulated it, He instructed it and we are not to deviate from it. From the earthly worship, comes heavenly consequences. If your worship doesn't look like what you have seen in these last 5 chapters, you are going to the wrong church.
The fire lighting the censor that burns the incense is heavenly fire and it is used in the execution of God's Judgement on the nations.
2: And he said to the man clothed in linen, "Go in among the whirling wheels underneath the cherubim; fill your hands with burning coals from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." And he went in before my eyes.
3: Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house, when the man went in; and a cloud filled the inner court.
4: And the glory of the LORD went up from the cherubim to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the LORD.
5: And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
6: And when he commanded the man clothed in linen, "Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim," he went in and stood beside a wheel.
7: And a cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it, and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
God's action of justice is intimately tied to the incense and the prayers of the saints. It is that justice now being hurled down upon Jerusalem.
I cannot help but wonder who the 8th Angel is but I see no clues in the text.
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, which fell on the earth; and a third of the earth was burnt up, and a third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Later in the Book, Jerusalem is compared to Sodom and Egypt because it's fate closely mirrors that which fell on those cities. The 7 Trumpets very closely follow the image of the 7 plagues of Egypt.
22: And the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man and beast and every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."
23: Then Moses stretched forth his rod 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;
24: 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.
Once again, author Michael Barber does a great job of providing the eyewitness testimony of Josephus, the Jewish historian (coming soon, page 124)
"Truly the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned with trees and gardens were now become a desolate country in every way and it's trees were all cut down. Nor could any foreigner who had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn, sadly at so great a change..... nor if anyone that had known the place before, had come on a sudden to it now, would he have known it again; but though he were standing at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it notwithstanding"
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea; 9 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.
This is a hard text to reconcile with a world-wide event as we would see it today.
It is easy, however, to compare it to the plague on the Nile river in Egypt that we see in Exodus chapter 7, verses 20 and 21.
The greek word for Sea is Thalassa (Strong's 2281) and it can be used in as a Sea in general, but it is often applied specifically to the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea. It is singular and cannot apply to all of the seas of the world. Certainly, The Red Sea could not apply here because of location, but the Mediterranean absolutely would. That is where the Roman attack would have arrived from or a significant part of it at least. Josephus historical accounts of the ships under assault and people shot with arrows as they tried to swim to shore is applicable. It had to have been a horrific scene, exactly as foretold here.
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 fountains of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the water, because it was made bitter.
12: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
The image of the Mountain falling in the Sea and the Star falling from heaven are both stark images of Jerusalem being knocked off it's high horse, so to speak.
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 was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
As the Jews used the sun, moon and stars to keep track of time, this dark and foreboding imagery is telling us that time is up and judgement is coming.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice, as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets which the three angels are about to blow!”
Obviously, the Eagle represents a sentinel heralding a warning. When we revisit the interpretation of the 4 living creatures as the gospel writers, we are tantalized by the prospect that the Eagle is this very writer in this very book.
Join us next time for part IX
