Chapter Eight

The appearance of seven Angels with trumpets and an Angel with a golden censer (1–4). The falling of blood and fire upon the earth after the first Angel’s trumpet (6–7), a great mountain into the sea after the second trumpet (8–9) and a great star – wormwood after the third trumpet (10–11); the striking of a third of the universe after the fourth trumpet (12–13).

Revelation 8:1. And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour. In chapter 8, the visions and images explain what sorrows will strike the world and all humanity. John again sees the mysterious book in the right hand of the One Sitting, and sees the Lamb. The Lamb opens the last, seventh seal of the sealed book. But John no longer mentions the four living creatures, nor the elders, nor the lampstands – they were no longer before John’s vision. The immediate consequence of opening the seventh seal was that silence was established in heaven as if for half an hour. Silence means not simply quiet, the cessation of sounds in general, but the cessation of human speech. And if now, after the opening of the seventh seal, silence has been established in heaven, then, it means, the song of praise of the heavenly inhabitants has ceased. All the heavenly inhabitants, involuntarily revealing reverence before the Almighty, fell silent for a short time before the forthcoming manifestations of Divine wrath as incomprehensible actions of Divine providence. But this silence could only be brief, as if for half an hour. Precisely, the expression “as if for half an hour” has the significance of an approximate indication of time and cannot be understood in the literal sense.

Revelation 8:2. And I saw seven Angels who stood before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. Revelation 8:3. And another Angel came and stood before the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he with the prayers of all the saints would offer it on the golden altar, which was before the throne. Revelation 8:4. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose from the hand of the Angel before God. Under the seven Angels, who even in the subsequent visions remain before the throne like the four living creatures and the elders (Rev 7:13), one can see an indication of Angels of a certain rank, standing before the throne of God. This significance is already foreshadowed in their attribute – the seven trumpets, which appear as trumpets proclaiming the judgment of God over the sinful world, as a kind of signals for the beginning of the subsequent phenomena. Besides the seven Angels John sees something new. The latter appeared not before the throne, but before the altar, about which mention was made in verse 9, and under which must be understood the altar of burnt offering. From this altar the Angel was to take hot coals for his golden censer. And for this the incense was given to the Angel so that he (the Angel) might help the prayers of the saints reach the throne of God, as the smoke of incense rises and becomes a pleasant fragrance of a sacrifice. The incense smoke here is not a means of offering the prayer, but merely a simple indication of this offering; and the Angel – not a mediator and the offerer of a sacrifice, but a servant, who by the command of God (the incense is given by God) is appointed to serve the saints 42. By the golden altar at the end of verse 3 must be understood a different altar, not the one mentioned at the beginning of this verse. This altar is golden and under it can only be understood the one which stood in the sanctuary before the entrance to the Holy of Holies (Exod 40:5). And before John’s vision something was happening similar to what happened in the Jerusalem temple during worship, although the resemblance was only approximate. – When the smoke of incense rose from the altar, when through this it was indicated that the Lord had accepted the prayers of the saints and had heard their request for vengeance for the blood of the martyrs (Rev 6:10), then the Angel again returned to the altar of burnt offering and again filled the censer with coals (Rev 8:5). But he filled it not in order to go again to burn incense in the sanctuary, but in order to pour out these coals upon the earth, – from the height of the heavenly vault, on which John saw the heavenly temple and throne. These hot coals, poured upon the earth, were to designate the beginning of the plagues of Divine wrath, the onset of the time of Divine judgment and vengeance.

Revelation 8:5. And the Angel took the censer; and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it on the earth: and there came thunders and voices, and lightnings and an earthquake. Revelation 8:6. And the seven Angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. Revelation 8:7. The first Angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and it fell on the earth; and a third part of the trees burned up, and all the green grass burned up. Revelation 8:8. The second Angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast down into the sea; and a third part of the sea became blood, Revelation 8:9. and a third part of the living creatures that were in the sea died, and a third part of the ships perished. As soon as this action of the Angel took place, the voices of glorification that had been interrupted for a time again sounded in heaven among the heavenly inhabitants, and on earth an earthquake occurred. Following this, at the sound of the first Angel’s trumpet, John sees an extraordinary instrument of punishment (cf. Exod 9:24; Joel 2:30), which must correspond to the special sinfulness and guilt of the world. At the sound of the first trumpet hail will fall, mixed not only with fire, but also with blood; consequently, this hail will have the appearance of balls which will be moistened with blood, with the smell and appearance of actual human blood 43, and besides will be accompanied by destructive fire. If it is permissible to allow that the very punishment, despite its inexplicability from the point of view of present-day experience, is a real physical phenomenon, then its consequences must be explained as physical disasters in terrestrial nature. This actual destruction by hail and fire of a third (approximately) of the trees on the entire terrestrial surface, which will be burned together with the grass. To avoid alarm, it must be remembered that this terrible and incomprehensible punishment is not a punishment of our time, but of the distant future, near the end of the world, when the entire world will be renewed through terrible physical upheavals 44. The falling of a mountain from heaven at the sound of the second trumpet points to the heavenly origin of the punishment, that is, to the fact that it is accomplished as a providential action of Divine omnipotence and judgment. The epithets “great” and “burning with fire” require understanding as a tremendous mass of fire, which will fall from heaven in the last time. This will be an extraordinary action of Divine omnipotence, displaying its wrath over sinful humanity. From the fall of the great mountain, the waters of the entire sea will be corrupted, losing both their former appearance and former taste, and through this a third of all living things in them will die. But besides, a third of the ships on the sea will perish. This disaster too is external and physical, which will strike people through the disastrous condition of visible nature, subjected to corruption on account of their sins.

Revelation 8:10. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third part of the rivers and on the fountains of waters. Revelation 8:11. The name of the star is “wormwood”; and a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter. Revelation 8:12. The fourth Angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened, and a third part of the day was not light—as also the night. The next plague also speaks of the sufferings of people through the striking of the physical nature. – At the sound of the trumpet of the third Angel, a star (named wormwood) falls from heaven, is cast down directly to the earth, and this fall must be understood in the literal sense. For the seer himself this falling star was an actual star 45, and he distinguishes it from other stars only in that it was large. But, adding to it the name “wormwood,” John gives reason to suppose that this star was upon this appearance a miraculous phenomenon and contained in its nature something more than the other stars. Therefore it is depicted as resembling a torch, fixed and burning by the action of Divine Providence. – The consequences of the star’s fall are foreshadowed in its name – wormwood, bitter herb. It can be supposed that the waters were poisoned by its bitterness not in some space of the earth, but throughout the earth, so that people of the entire universe without any exception were forced to use somewhat bitter water; this bitterness of the water, to which must be added the consequences of the preceding plagues, produced a great mortality of people. It is undoubted that all this is very difficult for us to imagine and in our present time, since we do not observe anything like it in our contemporary life. But from this it does not follow that we should refuse to understand this plague literally (Matt 19:26). This is an event of future time. After the sound of the trumpet of the fourth Angel, John in his ecstatic state of spirit observed some damage, a change for the worse in the luminaries of heaven. The darkening of a third of each luminary of heaven was not temporary, quickly stopping, but, like the plagues of the first trumpets, permanent for that future time. Apparently, the heavenly luminaries will give people light a third less than what they gave before their damage. And since a third of the light-giving ability of all the luminaries of the heavenly vault was struck, both day and night became less bright by a third of the light that belonged to them before. And in this plague we do not have anything that would be completely inadmissible and impossible. If for Egypt a plague in the form of three days of darkness was possible, then it is also possible that in the future times, as the world approaches its end, our solar day and lunar nights will be considerably darker. It can be thought that, judging by their unusualness, the impression of the plagues will be irresistible. But people will try to explain all these disastrous phenomena in nature by natural causes both to themselves and to others. Therefore, then directly news is given of new punishments of the sinful world.

Revelation 8:13. And I saw and heard one Angel flying in the midst of heaven and saying with a loud voice: woe, woe, woe to those living on the earth from the rest of the trumpet sounds of the three Angels, who will sound! The Angel, messenger of these new punishments, appears flying in mid-heaven, which means the place where the sun is at the time of its higher position. The cry of the Angel: “alas,” “woe,” brief, fragmentary and loud, entirely suits the whole setting of the apocalyptic vision. It is only necessary to awaken in the hearts of people the feeling of fear. * * * Kliefoth, Lutardt. Kliefoth. Cornel a Lapide, Suller. Kliefoth.