The Calm Before the Storm (Revelation 8:1–5) | Coronation (Part 16)

Transcript

JRNT 515
The Calm Before the Storm
Revelation 8:1-5
11/2/2025
Jesse Randolph

Well good evening and welcome back. A few Sunday nights ago in our study of Revelation 6, we studied that part of the Apostle John’s vision into the future of the worthy Lamb. The One who was slain, the resurrected, ascended and glorified Lord Jesus as He opened up the first six of those seven seals on that seven-sealed scroll. With each of those seals representing these different stages of future judgment that Christ will bring one day to the earth, specifically during that seven-year period of Tribulation after He takes His church, us, after He “Raptures” us out of the world. The first four seals involved in that Tribulation-era judgment we saw will be ushered in by these four horsemen, the rider on the white horse, the rider on the red horse, the rider on the black horse, and then the rider on the pale horse. I’ve gone through a couple of times now what those horses signify and what sort of judgment and destruction each will bring in.

Then with the opening of the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9-11, we were introduced to a group of the martyred dead, the Tribulation Martyrs, who were gathered underneath the altar in the throne room, as they looked to have their blood avenged by the Lamb. And then, with the opening of the sixth seal, Revelation 6:12-17, John witnessed through his vision a series of additional destructive events, which would happen during this future period of judgment in the Tribulation. What was described there as the sixth seal was opened, was this terrifying time of cosmic chaos and upheaval, as God’s righteous wrath stored up for all of these years, and all these decades, and all these centuries, and by this point all these millennia, is now being poured out on this wicked planet.

In fact, I’ll go ahead and read John’s description of this opening of seal number six yet again, because it’s the opening of this seal that immediately precedes the opening of the seventh seal that we’ll be studying tonight. Again, this is Revelation 6:12-17, “Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and the rocks, ‘fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

Now, that’s where we left off two sermons ago. But in between, last Sunday night, was our message through Revelation chapter 7, where we saw that John experienced this break in his vision, what some have called, and I think rightly this interlude. In Revelation 7, what John was doing was describing this vision he had of these two distinct groups of the redeemed, what I called the “mixed multitude” who would be handled specially and in their own way by God during the Tribulation.

First would be the 144,000 converted and sealed Jews. We see their description picked up in Revelation 7:4. They’re described as the “144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: from the tribe of Judah, 12,000 having been sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 having been sealed.”

As we saw last Sunday night, this language means what it means. Namely, that there would be 12,000 who were sealed and protected from each of these listed twelve tribes of Israel, who would then serve as witnesses for Christ during the remainder of the Tribulation. So that was the first special group called out here in Revelation 7.

Second was the “great multitude, down in verse 9, which no one could count,” who it says come “from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” And as we’re told there this group was “clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands and they cry out, verse 10, with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” As we saw last week, this group was distinct from the 144,000 sealed Jews and this was also a group that was distinct from The Raptured Church. Instead, this was a third group of Tribulation Saints made up of different people groups who would eventually come to place their faith in Christ during the Tribulation.

Well, last week as we also looked at how this interlude in Revelation 7 sits right between the Lamb’s opening of seal number six and seal number seven. We also saw that it makes logical sense, that this material is placed here where it’s placed. Because if we look at the end of Revelation 6:17, there’s this question hanging out there as these “kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong man and every free man and slave” are begging for rocks and mountains to fall on them to protect them from the misery in the Tribulation. We see that they are not only crying out in their misery, but they are also asking this question at the end of verse 17, “Who is able to stand?” In other words, who can possibly withstand the terror and the wrath of God in this Tribulation. Well, in Revelation 7 and through the Apostle John, God answers that question through John, who is able to stand. He does so by identifying those two groups that we just worked through, the 144,000 witnesses and then this great multitude. They are “able to stand.” They will be preserved from the outpouring of further divine wrath on planet earth during the dark and traumatic days of the Tribulation.

With that interlude of Revelation 7 now in the rearview, we now resume John’s chronological account of God’s outpouring of wrath during the Tribulation. The Church meaning us, we’ve been Raptured out of the world. Seals one through six of the seven-sealed scroll have been opened. These two special groups in Revelation 7 have been sealed or marked or set apart for protection. John’s vision picks up with our text for this evening in Revelation 8:1-5. Let’s go ahead and read it and then we’ll work through it.

Revelation 8:1-5, “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

That’s our text for this evening. As I’ve outlined here in verse 1, we’re going to have THE SOUND OF SILENCE. In verse 2 we’re going to see THE SEVEN STANDING. And in verses 3-5, we’re going to look at THE SEAL’S SIGNIFICANCE.

Let’s start with THE SOUND OF SILENCE in verse 1. It says, “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” So, John had up to this point had this vision of this opening of these six seals and all the wreckage and the carnage that each opening of each seal brought. He’d witnessed sealing and martyrdom of the two groups of witnesses mentioned in Revelation 7. By this point in the progression of events up to this point in the account, the entire world having gone through the events of the Tribulation thus far, is reeling from the plagues, and the pestilence, and the famine, and the earthquakes and the sheer terror that has already fallen upon the earth. And with the scales of judgment about to be tipped even further with the opening of seal number seven, a seal which would unleash even more fury, even more carnage, even more destruction. And with these seven angels about to make this appearance and seven trumpets about to sound, John records verse 1 that “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

Now we must remember putting this all in context and keeping the puzzle pieces connected and placed together, that before this, both heaven and earth had been completely punctuated with sound, noise, and voices. That’s what we’ve seen in these opening scenes of Revelation, specifically 4 and 5 and 6 and 7. In fact go back with me to Revelation 4. I’m going to run through all the sounds that are penetrating this account. Starting in Revelation 4:1. There is this voice which says, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

Down in verse 4, there’s this scene. “From the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.” Down in verse 8 we’re told that there’s this chorus of these four living creatures who, “day and night do not cease to say ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come.’” Then there’s this sound of the twenty-four elders down in verse 10. What they are saying down in verse 11 is “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

Then in Revelation 5:2, there’s this sound of this “strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?’” Then there’s the sound of John himself crying in verse 4. He’s “crying greatly” it says. Sobbing loudly “because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.”

Then there’s the sound of the elder in verse 5 who tells John “Stop crying!” Then down in verse 9 and verse 10, there’s this sound of this “new song” being sung by the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders who, as the fall down before the Lamb are saying, “Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And You made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”

Then in verse 11, there’s the “voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads and myriads, and thousands of thousands.” And they’re “saying with a loud voice” verse 12, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

Then added to that in verse 13, is this sound that “every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea,” they were saying, “To Him, verse 13, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be the blessing and the honor and the glory and the might forever and ever.”

Then, in Chapter 6, there’s this sound of the one of the four living creatures, who’s “saying as with a voice of thunder in verse 1, ‘Come’ as he calls the first of the four horsemen of judgment. And then, there’s this sound of the second, and third, and fourth living creatures giving that same command to the other three horsemen as they carry out their judgment or those horsemen carry out the judgment associated with the opening of the first four seals.

Then, in connection with the opening of the fifth seal there’s the sound of the Tribulation Martyrs who in Revelation 6:9 it says were “underneath the altar.” These were those who “had been slain because of the Word of God.” Look what is said of them in Revelation 6:10, “They cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” Then also in connection with this opening of the sixth seal there is this sound of the “great earthquake” mentioned in Revelation 6:12.

As one who was born and raised in California, slight detour here, I can mention that it is terrifying not only to feel the ground moving beneath your feet but actually to hear it as plates are colliding with each other somewhere down there under the earth’s crust. It is a disconcerting sound to hear what’s happening when the earth is moving under your feet. That’s what’s being described here.

There’s also the sound, verse 13 of “the stars of the sky falling to the earth.” And the sound, verse 14 of the sky being split open like a scroll when it’s being rolled up. Then there’s the sound, verse 14 of “every mountain and island being moved out of their places.” And then there’s the sound still in the context of seal number six being opened, that the “kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man” saying to the mountains and the rocks “fall on us (this is verse 15) and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”

Then in Revelation 7, there’s the sound of the “four winds of the earth” being held back by the four angels as they temporarily withhold future judgment. Then there’s this sound of “another angel” telling those four angels, this is Revelation 7:3, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”

Note, even in Revelation 7:4 which I’ve already read, there’s a sound associated with the sealing of the 144,000. Look at the word John uses there, verse 4. “And I heard the number of those having been sealed.” Then down in verse 10, there’s this sound of the “great multitude which no one could count,” as they, it says, “cry out with a loud voice saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

In verse 12, there’s this sound of “all the angels who were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures.” What they’re saying in verse 12 is “Amen, the blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

In other words, in what John has recorded here of what he’s seen in his vision up to this point from Revelation 4 and 5, that heavenly throne room scene, to the starting of the opening of the seals in Revelation 6. The interlude in Revelation 7. What we see over and over is that John and His vision is not only seeing things, but he is also hearing things. He’s hearing sounds. He is hearing cries. He is hearing shouts. He is hearing songs. He’s hearing statements. He is hearing proclamations. He is hearing the elements of nature. He is hearing the consequences of the judgment of God starting to fall on the earth during the Tribulation.

But now in Revelation 8:1, John is describing something very different. He says this, “When He,” meaning the Lamb, “opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Up to this point, there have been sounds aplenty. But now evidently at the command of God, heaven is completely hushed. Heaven goes quiet.

Jenna and I have discovered through the years that one of our gifts apparently and maybe it’s a spiritual gift, who knows, is to raise very loud boys. We’re really good at raising really loud boys, which is kind of odd. If you spent time with us, I know I always wear this microphone, you might think of me as loud. But I think if I sat across a table with you, you’d probably recognize, I’m actually pretty soft spoken and so is my wife. But we’ve raised these loud boys. One thing we’ve learned, especially when those boys were younger, is that when an always-loud house goes suddenly silent you know something’s wrong. You know something’s up, right? Either somebody is downstairs, decorating the walls with a permanent marker or they’re de-clawing a cat or who knows what might be happening. But you know that something is very wrong. Concerning. Disconcerting is happening. And you know that whenever you go downstairs to uncover whatever this source of silence is, you’re likely to stumble into some sort of chaos or problem.

In a sense, that’s what’s going on here Revelation 8:1. As the Lamb opened this seal as “He opened the seventh seal” when this “silence” fell over “heaven for about half an hour.” What John was communicating through this vision given to him by the Lord Jesus was that something was up. Something was about to happen on the earth. John here was recording an intense silence of “about half an hour” it says.

But surely, from his vantage point as he took in this vision and surely from heaven’s vantage point it seemed like an eternity. In fact, I appreciate how John MacArthur summarized heaven’s perspective on these 30 minutes of silence. He writes “The implication is that when the judgment about to happen becomes visible as the seventh seal is broken and the scroll unrolled, both the redeemed and the angels are reduced to silence in anticipation of the grim reality of the destruction they see written on the scroll. The half an hour of silence is the calm before the storm. It is the silence of foreboding, of intense expectation, of awe at what God is about to do.” I think that’s right.

Now what about those on earth, during these 30 minutes of silence? Would those who are on earth at this point, those who were still in rebellion, would they take this 30 minutes of reprieve and perhaps second-guess their rebellion against their Maker? Would they take advantage of these 30 minutes and repent before God brought about His next outpouring of His divine wrath and judgment on this planet. Or instead, would they harden their hearts even further in this half-hour of deafening silence as they prepared to face this next storm of God’s wrath?

It’s interesting. This isn’t the only instance in Scripture where we see silence in heaven associated with God’s judgment. We read this in Psalm 76:8-9, “You made Your cause to be heard from heaven (that’s speaking to Yahweh) the earth feared and was quiet when God arose to judgment.” Or this, in Zephaniah 1:7, “Be silent before Lord Yahweh! For the day of Yahweh is near.” And then there’s this one after pronouncing on the Chaldeans the “woes” that I took us through this morning in the Gospel of Luke, the prophet Habakkuk says this, in Habakkuk 2:20, “But Yahweh is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

Now back to our text here in Revelation 8:1. What John is describing is this ominous silence. What MacArthur calls “the calm before the storm.” Everything is on hold. There is this hush in heaven before hell breaks loose on earth. For believers in Christ today, this has been true of our sermons the last couple of Sundays in Luke. We say things like this, and we say them because it’s true. For us the best is yet to come. We’re not living our best life now. The best is to come in the future in the coming kingdom. But for those unrepentant souls living in The Tribulation at this point, the opposite principle is true. For them, as they stare down the barrel of God’s judgment, “the worst is yet to come.”

See God has been and is exceedingly patient with the wicked. That’s II Peter 3:9. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

We also know from Ezekiel 18:32 that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. But God is a righteous Judge and as patient as He’s been, as perfectly patient as He’s been, that self-imposed levee of His perfect patience will one day break. II Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be found out.”

Those living in the Tribulation at the time recorded here in Revelation 8, those who are unrepentant will be “found out.” For them, it won’t be that “the best that is to come” but again that “the worst is to come.” And the worst will come at this point, through the opening of this “seventh seal” mentioned here in verse 1.

Now we do need to work through another question. It’s an important question which is what is this seventh seal and how does it and in fact, how do each of the seven seals of judgment tie in with the other instruments of judgment like the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of wrath mentioned elsewhere and ongoing in the book of Revelation?

That’s actually a nice segue into verse 2 where John says this. Look at Revelation 8:2. “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” Here’s our second point, THE SEVEN STANDING. So, we’ve seen THE SOUND OF SILENCE. Now it is THE SEVEN STANDING.

John witnessed the Lamb opening the seventh seal and what follows we’ve just seen was this thirty-minute period of breathless silence, this holy hush in heaven and on earth. then he says, “I saw the seven angels who stand before God.” Now there’s some interesting things going on here in this verse 2. For starters, note that John uses the definite article there, meaning he uses the word “the.” I sometimes wonder why we use that word as preachers. (This is the definite article. We just mean the word “the”) He uses the word the. “The seven angels.” He saw the seven angels. Not just any angels, the seven angels. Then he fills in the details of the profile he’s painting of these angels even further when he says next, that these are “the seven angels who stand before God.” Now standing before God here is signifying a place of power, a place of dignity, a place of service.

Now this by the way, not to talk out of both sides of mouth, this is a time in which I think it is kind of fun to Geek out with some Greek for you guys. Because I think it actually emphasizes and even underscores some of what was happening here in this text. That word “stand” there in Revelation 8:2 is in the perfect tense. And the perfect tense form in Greek typically describes something that happened at some point in the past but has ongoing consequences or it continues on into the future. It has a lasting and ongoing effect into the present day. So, to bring out the fullest meaning of the expression here in verse 2, to acknowledge that we’re dealing with the perfect form. A good and a solid translation of what John is saying here, you could emphasize this, underscore this by saying “the seven angels who have been standing before God.” So, it’s not just that they are standing before him present, though that’s true, they actually have been standing before him for some time. That’s the sense here.

See sometimes when we dig deeper into that Greek it does brings out some nuance and yields some rich exegetical gold. Because that’s telling us something. That’s telling us that these angels didn’t just show up for this occasion. It’s telling us that these angels, these seven specific angels, have been in this position, standing before God, for some period of time. These seven angels who are about to put their lips to these trumpets of judgment upon the earth, are a distinguished and select group of angels. They’re in this highly honored place that they stand before God. And not only do they stand before God for some time apparently, but they stand ready to serve Him by carrying out the tasks He’s appointed for them.

So, they’re not independent agents, in other words. They’re not any threat to go rogue. No. They stand in God’s presence ready to do His bidding, ready to do His work. God is in charge of course as He is today in the Church Age of everything that’s going to take place during the Tribulation. And these angels are portrayed as standing before Him and awaiting His orders. They have the mentality of what’s described in Psalm 103:20 which says “Bless Yahweh, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” The work that they’re ready, that these angels are ready to do for the Lord, to serve as His instruments is to blow their breath into these physical instruments, trumpets as God brings out the next round of judgment in the Tribulation period.

Now speaking of those trumpets, look at the next part of verse 2. It says, “And seven trumpets were given to them.” Meaning to those seven angels. Now, we will get into this further when we go deeper in our study of Revelation 8 and 9 as these seven trumpets sound, as these seven trumpets are blown.

But I think it’d be worth our time to note here that God has continually over the course of history used the blast of the trumpet to announce or to herald some important news. We think of trumpets, and we think of orchestras like ours. We think of people who play the trumpet and they’re in the brass section of our orchestra. And the trumpet players produce this beautiful sound, skillfully, as they vibrate their lips into their mouthpiece. But trumpets, as we see them in Scriptures, aren’t so much commended for their musical beauty, as they are tied into the seriousness of the announcement that their sound precedes.

In fact, this goes back to the announcement of the giving of the Law to Israel in Exodus 19:16, it reads this way: “So it happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.” What follows after that trumpet sound, is the giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments specifically. Trumpets were blown in Israel to summon the people to assemble. That’s recorded for us in Numbers 10:1-3, “Yahweh spoke further to Moses, saying, ‘Make yourself two trumpets of silver of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for having the camps set out. So, both will be blown, and all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the doorway of the tent of meeting.’” In the days of Joshua as we see in Joshua 6, trumpets of rams’ horns were used to bring down the walls of Jericho. Then in the book of Judges, we see that Gideon in Judges 7:18 as he sent his 300 men into battle, he gave each of them a trumpet and they were to blow those trumpets as they announced, “For Yahweh and for Gideon.” And in the days of the prophets, trumpets were blown as a call to war as we see in Ezekiel 33:1-6. Trumpets were blown to the sound the alarm that invaders were on the way as we see in Jeremiah 4:5,6. That passage reads this way. “Declare in Judah and make it heard in Jerusalem and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land; call out, make your voice full, and say, “Gather yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.”

Now with the exception of the Exodus account that I just mentioned at the beginning, each of those trumpets that I just listed off, these trumpets mentioned in the Old Testament, were trumpets that were blown by men. By people. And they were for a set and designed purpose as they blew those trumpets.

Now when we go over to the New Testament, we learn of a different trumpet. We learn of the trumpet of God as He summons His church to Himself as He snatches us from this polluted planet in this event called The Rapture.

For instance, here’s I Corinthians 15:51-52. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.” We know this is the trumpet of God by the way from I Thessalonians 4:16-17 which says “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”

These Scriptures that I’ve just rattled off, we have both the trumpets of men being blown, namely in the Old Testament, and now we have the trumpet of God being blown at The Rapture.

Well, back here in our passage in Revelation 8:2, we have the trumpets of angels being described. “Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.” Now as we go deeper into our study of Revelation 8 and 9 in coming weeks, we’re going to see what happens as these trumpets are raised to each angel’s lips. We can go ahead and peek ahead for a moment, though. We’re going to see that the angels’ blowing of these trumpets is going to bring about all sorts of horrific judgment on the earth during the Tribulation.

I’m just going to skim here through Revelation 8 and 9. But starting in verse 7 and following, we’re going to see hail and fire and burning. A mountain burning with fire being thrown into the sea. A third of the sea becomes blood. A third of the creatures in the sea are dying. A third of the ships are being destroyed. The falling of this star called Wormwood down to the earth, causing all sorts of havoc in the waters of the earth. A third of the sun and the moon and the stars being struck so that the world becomes even darker than it is now on November 2. A pit being opened with smoke coming out and then locusts swarming the earth who have the sting of a scorpion. And then a third of mankind being killed by plagues brought about by fire and smoke and brimstone.

So, these trumpets, in other words, once placed to the lips of these angels will each signal in the ushering of this next wave of severe judgment that God will bring on this planet, during this future period of Tribulation.

An interesting parallel is found in Joel chapter 2:1-2 where that prophet, he’s prophesying of the events of the coming “day of the Lord” which in some ways overlap with this period of Tribulation that we’re studying in Revelation. But Joel ties in trumpet language there too. Joel 2:1-2 he says “Blow a trumpet in Zion and make a loud shout on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh is coming; surely it is near, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of clouds and dense gloom.”

But here in our passage, in Revelation 8, the trumpets that will be sounded by these angels will announce the fact that further calamity is coming. They’re going to sound an alarm of war, the war of heaven against earth.

Now a question that often gets asked is how do these trumpets, as carried out by the blowing of those trumpets by these seven angels, connect with the seal judgments that we’ve been studying so far in Revelation 6 and here into Revelation 8. How do the seals connect to the trumpets and how do the trumpets, the next question is, connect the bowls of wrath that will be poured out later.

Is what John’s seeing in this vision of seals and trumpets and bowls, is it overlapping? In other words, was John in this vision, seeing the exact same, singular sequence of judgment through seals and trumpets and bowls. Or instead, was he seeing three successive waves of judgment being laid out through these three means. First, THE BREAKING OF THE SEALS. Second, THE SOUNDING OF THE TRUMPETS. Third, THE POURING OUT OF THESE BOWLS.

The question is an important one because it bears on how we are going to interpret the book of Revelation as a whole moving all the way into Revelation 19. Now the reason the question gets asked is that John’s vision of the angels with these trumpets here in our passage in verse 2, it comes immediately after his report of this opening of the seventh seal in verse 1. You see in verse 1 no other specific judgment is immediately associated with the seventh seal at the moment that that seal is broken. Rather the narrative moves right into the trumpet judgments. In verse 2. So, the seven trumpet judgments flow out of the breaking of this seventh seal. And then we’re going to see later the seven bowl judgments flow out of the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

I’ll get into this more later, as we get into the actual trumpet judgments in Revelation 8 later and Revelation 9. But I take a sequential interpretation of the opening of these three different segments of judgment and wrath. I take a sequential interpretation that there’s first the opening of the seven seals, and then there’s the sounding of the seven trumpets, and then there’s the opening or the pouring out of the seven bowls. They’re not stacked on top of each other as though they’re all describing seven incidences. Instead, we have seven and then seven and then seven, each happening in order chronologically in progression with the judgments escalating in their intensity as further and further judgment is poured out on the earth.

We’ve looked at THE SOUND OF SILENCE in verse 1. We’ve seen THE SEVEN STANDING in verse 2. Now in verses 3-5, we’re going to consider THE SEAL’S SIGNIFICANCE. Look at verses 3-5, “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

Now before the trumpets sound, here we get to what might be described as another interlude. As, you see it there, it says “another angel came and stood at the altar.”

Now the first question we have to answer is who is this “angel,” the one described here as another angel. Many different suggestions have been offered for the identity of this additional angel over the years. But the two main arguments that have been offered are that this angel is either Christ or alternatively, and I almost don’t like to say it this way, but it’s “just an angel.” Just another angel.

Now, the argument that this “angel,” this one identified as “another angel” is Christ, as it’s been argued, it rests on a number of theological arguments that are deductively drawn which have been sort of pieced together to make the case through a variety of different Scriptures, that this seems to be Christ.

If I can give you a few examples of the types of arguments that are made for that position, we do know for instance that there are instances in the Old Testament where the preincarnate Christ presented Himself to different Old Testament folks as “the angel of the Lord.” That would be true of Hagar in Genesis 16. It would be true of Jacob in Genesis 31. Here’s another data point. We do know that in Hebrews 4:14, Jesus is called our “great high priest.” And we do know from Hebrews 9:24, that Christ now, in heaven, “appears in the presence of God for us.” We do know from I Timothy 2:5 that Christ is our mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” We do know from Ephesians 2:18 that it is “through Him that we have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”

So those are some of the Scriptures that people will point to and piece together as they make the argument that what John is saying here, in Revelation 8:3 about “another angel,” this angel who “came and stood at the altar” that this must be Christ. They’ll point to Scriptures like the ones I just mentioned.

I’d actually be on the other side. I’d be in the other camp where I’d see this reference to “another angel” as being to “another angel.” That’s my interpretation. This is another member of the created heavenly host. And my reasoning for landing where I land is pretty simple and pretty straightforward. It’s a lexical, grammatical, contextual reason. It is all centered on that word “another” alios in Greek. It’s an adjective and it’s describing this noun here; this adjective informs the meaning of that noun “angel.” The word alios means “another of the same kind.” So, we have this reference to the “seven angels before God back in verse 2 and then here in verse 3 there’s this different angel, “another angel” one of the same kinds as those seven other angels who’s now being mentioned. So, in my judgment it’s a pretty straightforward call. You’ve got the seven angels in verse 2, you’ve got another angel of the same kind mentioned in verse 3. It’s an eighth angel if you want to put it that way.

Now another reason I land there on the “this is an angel” interpretation rather that “this is Christ” interpretation is the near context of our passage. By that I mean if you just go back one chapter to Revelation 7. Go and turn back to me in Revelation 7:1-2 what we studied last Sunday night. This I think informs us of our question once again. Look at verses 1 and 2, “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. (now get this in verse 2) Then I saw (same construction here) another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,” and then we have his quote there.

But that’s the same exact construction in chapter 7 as we have in chapter 8. You have the “four angels” mentioned in Revelation 7:1 and then “another angel.” And it’s that same adjective, alios, another of the same kind, and then the description. I think those two pieces of the puzzle cement the case that this angel in verse 3 of our chapter, Revelation 8:3, this “another angel” is not Christ. Rather this is an angel whose acting on behalf of Christ as angels do, he’s “another of the same kind.” Another angel as the text says. And note what this “angel” is doing. Still in verse 3. First it says, he “stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and much incense was given to him.” The next two verses, verses 3 and 4, they can really only be understood in light of having a basic conception and understanding of the Old Testament system of worship.

I can’t go into crazy detail here tonight but in the ancient Tabernacle, when a sacrificial lamb was offered, two priests would come. One would take hot coals and ashes from the golden altar as they entered the Holy Place which was adjacent to the Holy of Holies. So, they would bring in ashes and hot coals into this very sanctified space just outside the most holy place in the Tabernacle Then one priest of these two, he would fill his censer which was essentially a saucer, a fire pan of sorts, with grains of incense. And then the other priest would fill his with hot coals from the golden altar and pour those into a golden bowl. Then the incense from the one priest, what he had been cooking up, would then be sprinkled on top of the coals that had been cooked up by the other priest. The smoke of the coals heating up the incense would waft upward creating this pleasant aroma ascending, as it were, into the nostrils of God. While all of this was happening, we know from the Old Testament Tabernacle scene, that people would have been praying outside the court as that incense was going up to God. The incense was representing the prayers that were being offered outside. Those prayers were being lifted up to God.

Now that ties into this next description of what this angel was doing here in verse 3, where we see that he was adding the incense that was given to him “to the prayers (it says, verse 3) of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.” We are told in verse 4, that “the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints, out of the angel’s hand, before God.”

Now which prayers, of which saints, are being referred to in this passage? Some would say that it’s all of the prayers of all of God’s people, for all time that are being lifted up or going up with the incense from the alter before the throne in this scene. So that when the smoke of the incense goes up in verses 3 and 4 here, “out of the angel’s hand,” it says before God. It’s literally every prayer that’s been prayed from little Suzy’s bedtime prayer when she was six to the prayers our elders prayed for our church services this morning and everything in between.

Again though, context matters. Recall that the text that we’re in tonight is set in the context of the Tribulation. I you go back to Revelation 6:9-10, you’ll see that a very specific plea, a very specific cry, you could even call it a “prayer,” came from a very specific group. Namely the Tribulation Martyrs.

Look at what’s recorded there. Revelation 6:9, “And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the witness which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’”

Now could the “prayers of the saints” in our passage Revelation 8:3-4, be referring to all prayers of all saints, all God’s people of all time? Sure, it could. You can hold that view and we’re still brothers and sisters in Christ and I still love you. But I don’t want to be led by my emotions, I’ll speak for myself, in reading or interpreting the Scriptures. I mean honestly, I’m just like the next guy. I do like the idea to think that my prayers today might be used by God in the Tribulation as He pours out His wrath on a wicked world. I like that thought in a sense because it just goes back to God’s faithfulness and answering prayer. It always is a heartwarming thought to think about God answering our prayers of any kind, whether it’s our prayer for the next meal or prayer through a trial or even prayers related to the Tribulation down the road.

But more important and more faithful than reading the Scriptures emotionally, and reading myself into those Scriptures, is reading the Scriptures consistently and contextually. Considering that those who had just been martyred during the Tribulation as we just saw in Revelation 6, were crying out, in prayer, “How long, O Master, holy and true? Will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” The context here would seem to dictate in Revelation 8:4, that “the prayers of the saints” that are going up with the “smoke of the incense,” “out of the angel’s hands,” “before God,” are the prayers, the imprecatory prayers of the Tribulation Martyrs back in Revelation 6. That prayer whereby they are beseeching God to act toward those who acted so unrighteously toward them during the period of the Tribulation. So, I would take the position that the prayers of Revelation 6 are being answered now in Revelation 8. And where their prayers are headed is this “golden altar” before God’s throne mentioned in verse 3. This seat of heavenly power, the very place from which these trumpet judgments are going to be shot from.

That takes us to verse 5. Where we’re told this that “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” What John saw next, which really portends the escalating judgment that’s coming, with the sounding of the seven trumpets, was both a shocking and a terrifying visual. You know in the Old Testament the golden censer was used to take the fire off the altar so that it could be carried into the Holy of Holies, where it could be added to incense to the praise and worship of God. It was mixed in, and it was picturing the prayers of the people.

But here what’s described is the angel taking this censer, taking some of these burning coals from the altar, the “fire of the altar,” and now casting it down to the earth. So, the same instrument, in other words that was used to offer up the incense and the prayers of the saints up to God, these Tribulation martyrs, is now being used to cast fire down on the earth. While I would certainly take the fire and the coals that are being described here as being cast down as literal fire that’s coming down on the earth at this point, there’s also another truth being communicated here which is that God has been faithful to answer the prayers of His faithful ones. Just as He’s faithful to answer our prayers in the age in which we live, the Church Age, He is faithful to answer the prayers of these Tribulation Martyrs. He’s using the very instruments by which these prayers were brought to Him, this censer. That censer is going to be used by this angel to rain fire now on the wicked and unrepentant during the Tribulation. As one commentator notes, “The prayers of the saints return to the earth in wrath.”

The scene then closes with these words. End of verse 5, “And there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” Though it appears in slightly different language at times, this is a regularly repeated expression in the book of Revelation. Revelation 4:5, we’ve seen this already, “And out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder.” Revelation 11:19, “And the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.” Revelation 16:18, “And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.”

In each of those instances, what’s being intimated is the arrival of immediate judgment. Truly a “storm of the Lord.” Here in our context, in Revelation 8:5, as the first embers were thrown down from the altar of the throne room of God as they reached the earth. What we’re seeing here is they brought about this cataclysmic storm. This precursor to these escalating judgments that are still and yet to come.

So, in just these five verses this evening we’ve gone from this deafening sound of silence at the outset in verse 1 as the seventh seal was opened. To now these “peals of thunders.” These “sounds and flashes of lightning” and the rumble of this “earthquake” ending the silence and now preparing the earth for the blares of the seven trumpets and the devastating judgments that each will bring. Again, a terrifying time. Horrific to really think about. But it’s one that I pray all the time as I prepare these messages from Revelation, it will spur us on to remember the era in which we live. The age in which we live. The grace that we’ve been shown through Jesus Christ. What privileged people we are to live in the times that we do, the times that we’re here. To know that we are not going to be here for any of this. We read this as, I think I can use the expression, future history. It’s so settled, it’s so sure. It’s what’s going to happen and yet it’s future. But we can also read ourselves out of this if we’re in Christ. Because we know that we will be gone. We will already have been taken out of this world. We will already be worshipping around this throne from which these judgments are being issued, and we won’t have to worry about this.

On the other hand, if there’s anyone here tonight who does not know Christ, if you have not put your faith in Jesus, I would just warn you that judgment is coming for those who have not put their faith in the world’s one Savior. And that the Bible teaches very clearly that there is one way to salvation. You heard it in the songs that we had sung tonight. You heard it in the Scripture that was read from Acts 4:12 that there is only one name under which men might be saved. It's the name of Jesus Christ. So, if you have any questions about what that looks like to put one’s faith in Christ or what it means to follow Christ or to give your life to Christ, I, the other pastors, elders, leaders here in the church would be happy to discuss with you this evening before you go. Let’s pray.

Father thank You for a chance this evening to open your Word and to look ahead to what Your plans are for the future. And again, for we who have believed upon the name of Jesus, they provide us with great hope and comfort, knowing that You will bring about Your perfect divine justice on Your perfectly and timely schedule. At the same time, we will not face the horrific wrath that is coming to this earth. That it is not because of anything we did or anything we earned or anything we merited or any favor that we earned for ourselves. But it’s all because of your grace. All because of your mercy. All because of your love. So, help us God to remember that truth, to live in light of that truth and also to be zealous and eager to share the truth of the Gospel message with the unbelievers you might put into our path. Help us to have a passion for souls. Help us to desire earnestly to see people saved from the wrath that is to come, as they come to faith in your Son. God go before us this week. Strengthen us for your service. May you be glorified in our lives. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.