Revelation 8Silence, Incense and the First Four Trumpets

Verse 1 closes the seals with the seventh seal and at the same time opens an entirely new scene, where the seven trumpets will be sounded.

“Silence in heaven for about half an hour” is the definition of a pregnant pause: full of anticipation, full of awe of God. It emphasizes the finality of the seventh seal and, at the same time, introduces the trumpets.

This is purposeful silence. Nothing can be accomplished in the fret of noise and activity. No opinions are useful here. There is unity in this moment, as if all of heaven is taking a breath in before the next big breath out.

Silence is sometimes like waiting on an answer, too. Someone in the room said that silence with God is not empty: you are in His presence, and He is doing things that bring you into alignment with Him.

“The seven angels who stand before God”: in the Greek these are the angels. Not just seven angels; these are important. They are likely the seven archangels, standing before God, waiting for an assignment.

If you want an assignment from the King, you will need to hang out in His courtroom. These archangels are assigned this task because they’re here, they’re ready, they’re available and they’re capable. And when you’re in the presence of God, being nourished by His presence, you’re going to become more capable.

We had seven angels given trumpets. Now this is an eighth angel, hanging around the throne and the temple, ready for an assignment. This angel is fulfilling the role and job of a priest in the Old Testament, with the censer, in their temple duties.

The altar is described in Exodus 30: an altar of acacia wood for burning incense, square, a cubit long and a cubit wide and two cubits high, overlaid with pure gold, with rings and poles to carry it. So this altar is movable. It stood in front of the curtain before the ark, where God said, “I will meet with you.”

The pictures on the handout come from the Kingstone Bible, the largest graphic novel version of the Bible, illustrated by DC and Marvel artists. Awesome, especially in Revelation.

The smoke of the incense rising with the prayers is Psalm 141:2: “May my prayer be set before you like incense.”

In Revelation 5:8 the four living creatures had harps, showing the worship of God in the throne room, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. It’s consistent imagery. Here the harps aren’t mentioned, but the bowls and the prayers are now part of the action, going up before God. This is a powerful scene.

The martyrs were praying from under the altar for the Lord to come judge the earth (6:9–10). The expiration date was out on them being saved by God’s action: they had died. But their prayers were still before the Lord, about to be answered.

Someone in the room told of a missionary from the Welsh revival who went to India and prayed for a tribe others had given up on. Five men came to the Lord; today about 95% of that tribe is Christian. It’s never too late. What if it’s not over?

Now we see the specific answer from the throne room of heaven to the specific prayer of the saints who were killed for their faith, seen under the altar in chapter 6. Their question was: how long, O Lord, until you come and judge the earth? The answer then was, a little longer (6:11). Specifically, two chapters longer!

Now starts the wrath of God. The seals opened up the idea of wrath on earth and sealed, or protected, the servants of God. Now the seventh seal opens to the trumpets, which are specific, declarative warnings of God’s wrath. The action is intensifying; the spiral is moving closer to the conclusion.

There came “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” The phrase is used four times in Revelation:

When imagery is used specifically and consistently like that, it is demonstrating something. Here it emphasizes each of those moments and how great and awesome and final they are. It shows the progressive intensity of these judgments that God’s holiness requires.

This scene would instantly have brought to mind Mount Sinai in the desert, described in similar wording: the mountain covered in smoke, thunder and lightning, the whole mountain shaking (Exodus 19:16–18; 20:18; Hebrews 12:18–19). That too was a manifestation of God’s holiness.

How should we respond when God shows us His holiness? Answers from the room: humility and reverence, obedience and faith. One added that at Sinai Moses told the people God had come to test them (Exodus 20:20): what do you believe about God? That He is good and rewards those who diligently seek Him?

Again, anticipation. These angels are obedient servants of God, but the wrathful warning trumpets will be sounded by them without a direct command from God. God’s will is being done here without His direct action. That’s interesting: John’s theology, as revealed by the Holy Spirit, gives God a personal distance from the wrath in Revelation.

He’s not actually out there wielding the sword in wrath. It’s the angels who are doing this. That’s worth meditating on with God.

The wrath goes off with the inevitability of clockwork, by other heavenly beings. The angels are ready, as if they’ve been prepped ahead of time for this moment in the battle. The battle strategy has been set; the timing is crucial. Holy anticipation.

The seven trumpets are grouped exactly the same way as the seven seals: four, then two, then one.

Trumpets functioned as warnings in the ancient world, like a siren in the modern world. All of the wrath in the trumpets is warning wrath. Only a third of each thing is destroyed, as an alarm to the rest of the earth to repent and come to God. There is relief from these warnings: they aren’t total and they aren’t final. The trumpet calls are meant to wake up the earth, so they wouldn’t have to experience the bowls.

The first trumpet echoes the seventh plague, the plague of hail (Exodus 9:13–35). Just like with the Egyptians, these trumpets are warnings to get right with God. Other Scriptures echo here as well: Ezekiel 38:22 (hailstones and burning sulfur) and Joel 2:31.

This destruction is aimed at the land, continuing the story from 7:1–3, where the angels were told not to harm the land. That marching order has been lifted: the destruction of the land has begun!

Some see this as warfare, because of the blood: rockets, shells or bombs. That may be, but it could just as easily be a worldwide electrical storm that causes human carnage.

Some scholars have cited the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which would already have happened at the time of this writing. It buried the city of Pompeii and went into the Bay of Naples. But the scope of that event was completely local, not global. I don’t see it as the fulfillment; maybe an echo.

A bonus that’s not in the notes: Psalm 46:2 is our response when we see a cataclysm like this. “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” If we start to see more and more of these signs, what’s our job? No fear. Look to the Lord.

“The sea turned into blood” echoes the first plague on Egypt, when the Nile turned to blood (Exodus 7:20–21). It also echoes Jeremiah 51:25: “I am against you, you destroying mountain … I will … make you a burned-out mountain.”

“Many people died.” This is the only one of these plagues where people are mentioned specifically, and there’s no number given. In other words, by far most people are left alive, in order to see and heed the warnings. This is the grace and mercy of God.

So how do we see and heed God’s warnings? Has God given you any specific warnings before? Someone in the room shared how the Lord warned them, through dreams and through words from people, about a grudge they were holding, and now there’s healing coming. Warnings from the Lord: see them, heed them.

Old Testament echoes of this scene: Isaiah 14:12, the king of Babylon fallen from heaven like the morning star; and Jeremiah 9:15 and 23:15, where the Lord makes His people, and then the false prophets, “eat bitter food and drink poisoned water.”

This plague echoes the ninth plague on Egypt, the plague of darkness (Exodus 10:21–23). It shows that even the heavenly bodies are affected by humans’ rebellion against God! That’s wild to think about.

It is an echo of Joel 2:30, which Jesus echoed in Matthew 24:29: “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.”

These signs are all incomplete wrath, trumpet-warnings to the earth to repent and turn to God. But the earth is not responding, so everything will intensify out of necessity. The warnings will intensify for us in our life too, unless we lock into a rhythm and lifestyle of repentance before the Lord.

So what are some tools and keys to having a rhythm of repentance without feeling condemned all the time? There’s a pitfall on either side. There’s a sweet spot in the Lord where you have a rhythm of repentance, but you’re not constantly feeling like you’re under wrath, because you’re not, if you’re right with the Lord.

Someone in the room added that His correction often comes as nudges: a small course correction rather than a complete turnaround. Sometimes the nudges back into alignment with the Lord’s purposes are what you need.

The Greek word here, aetos (ἀετός), refers to both eagles and vultures. Eagles and vultures were the same to Jews: unclean, detestable birds, not a symbol of good. They were ominous. If they’re around, something is either about to die (eagle) or has already died (vulture). The eagle/vulture here is about both: some things have already died, and more are about to die.

The meaning is clear: there are worse plagues coming. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. That’s true for us too, when we think about the end times. The darkness will get darker, the light will get brighter, until there’s a fight.

It’s a tale of two suppers, coming in chapter 19. The first is the banquet supper of the Lamb, and all the believers are going to be part of that. At the second one, you’re on the menu. You don’t want to be part of that!