Revelation 8 King James Version (KJV)
8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
Commentary
Seventh seal (8:1-5)
As the ungodly suffered the increasingly heavy judgments of the first six seals, they turned against the Christians with greater persecution. This had caused believers to ask God how long it would be before he dealt with those who were killing them (see 6:9-10). God is now going to answer that prayer. He has postponed judgment as long as possible, but now the time has come. All heaven waits silently. But when the seventh seal is broken, it reveals judgments so terrible that a new set of visions will be needed to explain them. The new visions will be announced by the blowing of trumpets (8:1-2).
Before seeing the new visions, John sees in picture form how the prayers of the persecuted Christians have brought about these judgments. He sees the prayers held by an angel in a golden container, then mixed with incense and burnt on the golden altar. As the smoke of the burning incense rises, it pictures the prayers going up to God (3-4). The angel then takes fire from the altar, puts it in the incense container, and throws the container to the earth. As soon as it hits the earth, terrible judgments break out. The whole vision is a dramatic way of showing how the prayers of God’s people play an important part in his dealings with the ungodly world (5; cf. Matt 24:22).
8:6-11:19 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS
First four trumpets (8:6-13)
In the visions revealed by the breaking of the seals, the judgments arose largely from human sin. But in the judgments announced by the blowing of the trumpets, the judgments seem to come direct from God without the use of a human agency. The trumpet visions reveal another way of looking at God’s judgment, but like the seal visions they build towards a climax.
The first trumpet announces widespread devastation on the land (6-7); the second, on the sea (8-9); the third, on the waters of the land (10-11); and the fourth, on the moon and stars (12). The destruction of the symbolic ‘one third’ is slightly more extensive than the ‘one quarter’ in the seal judgments (cf. 6:8), but is not a total judgment. It is a warning of what will happen if people do not repent. The three woes (GNB: horrors) announced by an eagle correspond to the three remaining trumpet judgments (13; cf.
9:1,12-13; 11:14-15).