Revelation 8 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Revelation 8

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 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,¹ flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood.² A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

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!”

Footnotes

[1] 8:5 Or voices, or sounds
[2] 8:11 Wormwood is the name of a plant and of the bitter-tasting extract derived from it

Commentary

v1: The seventh seal brought a half hour of silence. There is a similar pause after the sixth trumpet (10.7). This is quite striking, since Heaven is generally described as a place of sound. 'What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.' (Zimbabwean proverb) The human mind will try to unwrap and explain all the details of Revelation. This period of silence tells us to stand still and wonder at the greatness of God (Job 37.14).

v2-5: As God's wrath is poured out on the earth, we see control and order, not the uncontrolled unrestrained anger of a man, but the proper response of the holy God towards those who refuse to believe and to obey Him.

There are the prayers of the saints; this must include the prayers of those slain for their testimony (6.10). The prayers are offered as incense, but fire from the altar is thrown down to the earth.

This silence ends as the angels take the seven trumpets, which are described in chapters 9-11.

v7-13: The first four angels bring widespread but again restricted judgments upon the earth; in each case, one third only is affected. God's wrath remains controlled. It is still a serious matter to fall into the hands of God; "Woe! Woe! Woe! to the inhabitants of the earth!" This statement introduces the three "woes" which fall on the earth and its people.

The later trumpets are much worse than these first four.