Revelation Chapter 8
As Chapter 8 begins the seventh seal is finally opened. The result is silence for half an hour. It is strangely anticlimactic after all that happened during the Sixth Seal. It might be better to think of this silence as a sort of calm before the storm. This seems like a very short time. The church is out, the 144,000 are sealed, wrath is about to begin and intertwined with that Israel is finally to see fulfillment of the covenant, and become the people they were always supposed to be. This is a moment unlike any other in history. After the silence seven angels are given seven trumpets. Let’s take a look at the identities of these seven angels?
In the ESV translation, they are called the seven spirits who stand before God. I believe these are the same seven angels that we saw back at 4:5 and perhaps in 5:6. There is this verse that may give us a clue as to who these angels are: 19 And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. [Luk 1:19 ESV]. We could make an argument that Gabriel, an archangel who stands before God, is one of the seven angels given a trumpet here. I believe further that these seven are the seven angels over the seven dominions of the earth. This verse from Daniel I think supports that position: 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, [Dan 10:13 ESV]. Michael is also an archangel, and perhaps all seven of these with trumpets are archangels. I connect Michael to one of the dominions because of this verse: 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." [Jde 1:9 ESV]. Now in context, this verse is not about identifying exactly who Michael is. But it does say he was powerful enough to contend with the devil. We can surely make the argument that possibly Moses died in the dominion overseen by Michael, and therefore it was Michael who was responsible for intervening in the devils plans. So from all that, the seven spirits before the throne of God were previously seen as the seven burning torches before the throne in Chapter 4 and are now seen as seven angels – seven archangels to be specific. Each is over one of the seven dominions of the earth (we will see much more about this later), and now these are designated to blow their trumpets and bring the final wrath of God toward the earth.
Next we see another angel, this one with a censer, and he is given incense to offer with the prayers of the saints. Back in the Old Testament, there was also an altar upon which incense was burned. In the Tabernacle constructed in the wilderness under the direction of Moses, the last piece of furniture before the veil behind which was the Ark of the Covenant, was the altar of incense. God met the people above that Ark, and incense was to burn continually there. Here in Revelation 8, the altar of incense is before the throne of God itself. The prayers of all the saints go up with all this incense, perhaps in an appeal to God to proceed with pouring out his wrath. We saw before that the martyrs under the altar were already asking when the time for vengeance would come, and now we see that same appeal made to God directly.
Next this angel fills the censer he has with fire from this altar of incense that stands before the throne of God. Here is the 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, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. [Rev 8:5 ESV]. I see no reason to believe this fire is taken from a different altar than the one before the throne. If that is so, then the fire would have been flame from the burning incense. It is burning incense that this angel throws down. This incense was holy, because it was offered to God. What it touches would be made holy also. So perhaps the way to see this is that the incense is thrown down to make holy the chosen of Israel. The chosen ones who will be saved here in the last days as the final redemption of Israel. It is telling that it says the angel was given “much incense” because that seems to imply – with this interpretation – that many Israelites are to be saved in these last few years of the earth.
Next we see thunder, rumblings, lightning, and an earthquake. We need to decide whether these events are the result of the incense thrown down from heaven, in which case they likely take place on earth, or whether this “selection” of the Chosen People to fulfill God’s promises provokes a reaction in heaven itself.
To understand these things, let’s take a look at other places in Revelation where we see corresponding words. Note that many of these words repeat, surely to draw our attention to events that we ought to recognize as similar, or recognize has “markers” of significant developments. We see these words repeated four times, in Revelation Chapters 4, 8, 11, and 16. Here are the relevant verses:
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, [Rev 4:5 ESV]
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, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. [Rev 8:5 ESV]
19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. [Rev 11:19 ESV]
18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. [Rev 16:18 ESV]
So the passage from Revelation 4 clearly says that these instances of lightning, rumblings, and thunder came from the throne itself. It seems likely to me that these same manifestations when seen again in Chapter 8 also come from the throne. In 8 there is the addition of an earthquake. Can there be an “earth”quake in heaven? Well it could be that this was the only word that John had available to him to describe the shaking. But looking ahead to Chapter 11, we see heavy hail added to the signs, and that seems far more likely to be describing something happening on earth. This idea gains credibility when we see that the earthquake in Chapter 16 is the greatest earthquake “since man was on the earth”. This seems to place the earthquake in 16 squarely on the earth, and I think that makes it likely that the earthquakes in 8 and 11 are also on earth. A further point is that in Chapter 4, when John is describing the scene in heaven and earth is not in view at all, there is no earthquake. Therefore, we would interpret the lightning, rumbling and thunder to proceed from the throne of God, perhaps heralding events that are about to occur. The corresponding sign on earth would be an earthquake, presumably a worldwide earthquake.
There is one more sequence in these four verses that we ought to notice. The first time it happens, we are at the throne itself, before any of the sevens begin – there will be seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, and seven bowls. The second time is right after the Seventh Seal has been opened, the altar before the throne is the focal point of events, and the fire is thrown down, possibly heralding the salvation of Israel on the earth. In the third case, in Chapter 11, the Seventh Trumpet has just sounded heralding the presentation of all the kingdoms of earth to Jesus, and the Temple of God is the focal point, and has opened up in heaven. Finally, in 16, these things happen just after the Seventh Bowl is poured out and a loud voice declares that “It is done”. In the next few verses we see a sort of final devastation of planet earth. So the rumblings in each case occur as markers of the end of a phase of God’s wrath against those who have rejected him right up until the end. The focal point moves from throne, to altar, to temple, to Earth. Surely that sequence is important, but I have no theory on the progression of the focal point.
In 8:7 the First Trumpet sounds and is followed by hail and fire mixed with blood. We have a hard time imagining what this combination of things might look like. Was the hail on fire? Was the blood flammable in some way? Fire seems to be the primary factor here because we are told that a third of all the trees on earth are burned up, along with all the all green grass on earth. It also says that a third of the earth itself was burned up. We recall here that there were four angels who stopped the wind back at the Sixth Seal, and we speculated that the earth might grow steadily hotter since normal air currents were stifled. We don’t know how much time has passed since then but I would imagine that all the vegetation near the equator is already pretty crispy when the fire and hail and blood begin to fall. They might well go up like tinder, and any cities, towns, or dwellings – anything in the area that was flammable – would be burned up also. We note that this judgement affects the earth itself – there is no mention of direct harm to men, though surely there will be deaths incidental to these fires. And if there weren’t any food shortages before, there certainly will be after so much vegetation has burned. The atmospheric oxygen would be somewhat depleted by this much fire, and with the tree and grass gone, it will not be replaced in a hurry. This first trumpet alone is going to be devastating to all those still alive on the earth, and this is only the beginning of God’s wrath.
The Second Trumpet sounds in 8:8. The result is that “something like a great mountain” also on fire, is thrown into the sea, with devastating effects similar to the First Trumpet, but against water rather than land. A third of the sea turns to blood. I believe as a result of this, a third of sea creatures die, and also a third of all the ships are destroyed. We don’t have a lot to go on here. As I read it, the third of the sea that turns to blood is likely contiguous. The fish present in the that part of the sea can no longer breathe – their gills weren’t made to extract oxygen from blood, and so they die. But what “kills” the ships? The density of human blood is 1.06 gm/cc or so – just a bit heavier than fresh water. The specific gravity of sea water is about 1.03 gm/cc, so the ships don’t sink because of any big drop in buoyancy. We have to conclude then that it is the impact of the burning mountain-like object hitting the sea that kills them, perhaps in a sort of basin-wide shock wave and tsunami that overcomes all the ships near the point of impact. This second trumpet should also be seen as a judgement on the earth itself. We should also consider the possibility – as we have explored before – that this burning object is in fact an angel dispatched to damage the sea. Remember that Revelation 8 is John’s description of what this event looks like as he sees it from heaven itself. Perhaps an angel racing to earth to turn the sea to blood and sink ships looks like a great mountain – or fiery asteroid colliding with earth.
The Third Trumpet sounds in 8:10. Here we see a “star” fall from heaven, on fire and blazing like a torch, which affects a third of the rivers on the planet, and all the springs of fresh water. This phenomenon is named Wormwood. It is hard to see how a single object with a single point of impact could affect a third of all the rivers. But if it breaks up as it falls through the atmosphere, pieces could fall in rivers over a wide area. And, as in the Second Trumpet, if Wormwood is the name of an angel rather than the name of a star, the angel can purposefully embitter whatever rivers he chooses. Because the water is now too bitter to drink, “many people die”. They will die of thirst. Again, judgement is on the earth, though men die as a result.
The FourthTrumpet sounds in 8:12. This results in a third of the sun, of the moon and a third of the stars dim. Since we don’t see anything fall from heaven to bring this about, we might speculate that smoke from the fires as vegetation burned, from the impact of the burning mountain, and from the flaming star have put a lot of smoke and debris into the air. This will interfere with light from all three of the sources mentioned and so the day will not be as bright and the night will be darker than usual. We would also expect it to get a lot colder with less sunlight reaching the earth. Think of how it gets cooler and darker during an eclipse even though visually the sun still appears to be unchanged.
Notice how the results of the first three trumpets seem to amplify, or contribute to Fourth, just as we saw the Fourth Seal as a sort of combined consequence of the first three. It is interesting that the first three trumpets cause something to "fall" from heaven onto the earth and damage it - all the wrath is coming from above - and then the Fourth Trumpet affects sun, moon and stars, dimming them down, mitigating their light. It is easy to imagine all these things happening in quick succession if not simultaneously, and combining to bring about more destruction and death than they could if sequential. Burning hail and blood - burning up trees, grass, earth and putting a ton of smoke in the air, then a mountain burning with fire hits the ocean - a meteor perhaps burning its way through the atmosphere and then sending up smoke and steam and debris of all kinds into the air, and then Wormwood, blazing like a torch, falls to earth, and poisons much of the fresh water of the planet, maybe from poisonous heavy metal fallout as it impacts the earth. All of these things would send smoke, debris, and ash into the atmosphere, reducing the amount of light that could get to earth.
Think for a moment about the combined effects of the first four trumpets. Much of the planet has burned, especially the vegetation. Most crops will fail and food will be in short supply. It will be difficult or impossible to grow more because the oxygen is depleted and there is only a fraction of the sunlight that was there before. Domestic animals – that is, non-plant based food sources - are also likely to die from these fires. Man cannot turn to the rivers or the sea for fish to eat because a third of the rivers are dead and a third of the fish are dead. Somewhere along here, there will be widespread unmitigated panic. Imagine the escalating violence as people try to secure some kind of food security for the future. Wouldn’t this be an appropriate time for a popular world leader to seize the world’s remaining food supply and distribute it only to those who swear loyalty to him – those who have some identifying mark to show that they have chosen him as their leader?
I notice also that as each of the first four seals was opened, a horse and rider – an angel on a horse – was dispatched to earth. In the first four trumpet judgments, events may also have been carried out by angels, these just don’t ride horses and look more like objects falling from heaven.
Let’s look closely at the final verse of Chapter 8: 13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!" [Rev 8:13 ESV]. Doesn’t this verse seem almost overly descriptive? An eagle, with a loud but easily understandable speaking voice, cries out from DIRECTLY overhead. I would point out first of all that eagles do not talk. Donkeys have talked on occasion, but talking eagles are unprecedented. But remember this description from Chapter 4? 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. [Rev 4:7 ESV]. I suspect that the announcement here is being made either by this living creature from Chapter 7, or some other angel of the same type. Since John is still near the throne, and that creature looks like an eagle in flight, and is directly overhead, I believe it is in fact the living creature from Chapter 4.
Now look at the message he brings. He says "Woe, woe, woe...". A warning, certainly, of horrendous things to come. He addresses those who dwell on the earth - men. I believe his message is essentially that those first four trumpets were about the earth, but these next three are about those who dwell on earth – they will affect mankind. We get the impression that not a lot of people died during those first four trumpets. The deaths seemed more incidental than primary. But the eagle tells them that the next three are about men.
Let’s consider one more idea that sometimes comes up about the seals and the trumpets. Some think these judgments happen simultaneously. That is, the trumpet judgments are happening at the same time as the seal judgments. And perhaps the thunders and the bowls are also happening at the same time. They see each of these “sevens” as concurrent in time, if not in actual effect, rather than each playing out in turn. As I look back at our interpretation, I do not see a way to "overlay" the trumpets and the seals. We know that John is still in heaven, observing what happens there as cause, and also observing what happens on earth as effect. He describes them in sequence, rather than giving us the First Seal and First Trumpet, followed by the second of each and so on. So I see no support for saying the seals and trumpets are concurrent.
I would also point out that other than the previous argument that it was Jesus opening the seals, there is nothing to say that the 70th week didn't start until the trumpets. And maybe that is in fact marked by the fact that Jesus himself ends the church age with the seals and then the rapture, and then the wrath of God begins with ANGELS carrying out the wrath of God. After all, we don’t see the Lamb that was Slain again.