We are back in the “Revelation to John”, after our summer break. We had last concluded with
Chapter 7. After our prayer week it
is fitting that we start with the
first 5 verses of chapter 8. Since it has been a while since
we last considered this book, it is important to revise what we have covered :
In Chapter 6 we considered the opening of the first 6 seals. We
saw that these
were all about God’s
dealings with the world, from the
ascension of Christ until the second coming of Christ. These are the
times in which we live.
The first seal,
the revelation of the rider on the
white horse, refers
to Christ who rides ahead with the gospel.
The next three seals reveal
three riders that exercise terrible judgments on the earth. We have seen these
things described in 6:3-8 happening within the
history of the world in these last 2000 years.
The 5th seal
reveals the existence and
impatience of the martyrs for Christ who were
killed for the sake of the gospel.
The 6th seal contains the revelation of the events that
accompany the second
coming and final judgment of Christ (6:12-17) when
the people of this world will be in panic, “… hiding themselves in caves and
among the rocks of the mountains, calling
to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us
and hide us from the face of Him
who is seated on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb , for the
great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” ( 6:17). Chapter 6 is
a glorious and yet at the same time a terrifying vision of the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus who holds both the history and the future of this world in
His hand. In the midst of His temporary judgments and in view of the final
judgment we are encouraged to flee to Christ, the Lamb of God before the
wrath of the Lamb becomes our ultimate judge.
The 7th
chapter is a dramatic “interruption” before the
7th seal will be opened in Chapter 8. This chapter answers the question : “What will happen to Christians in this period? “ The answer given is that God’s people (whose righteousness is in
Christ) are being kept secure through
all these times of tribulation. We have
seen that this is true of those who have
been killed for the testimony of Christ.
They are secure with God . They are alive and waiting
until the final judgment and the resurrection (
6:10-11) when the Lord Jesus will
restore all things and when He will exercise
His justice . In Chapter 7
we have then essentially a revelation of
the eternal security of the saints.
(i) from the perspective of the church in the
history of the earth (7:1-8): We note that God’s
angels exercise a restraining ministry
upon the earth (7:1). We also note
that God’s people, His servants are sealed by the angels. They are owned by
God. The seal (or the mark) is not
a literal mark, but it certainly reminds us of the fact that the Lord
knows those who are His (2 Tim 2:19). We
also read in Revelation 14:1 that this seal is the name
of Christ and of God ( cf. 9:4 and
22:4). [1] The
number 144,000 is symbolic of the
entire church, which includes the entire
number of believing Jews and
Gentiles. It is a symbolic number and it
is a fixed number, indicating that God
knows the total number of His elect sheep on earth. In Revelation 14:5 the 144,000 are said to be those
redeemed from the earth as “first fruits for God and
the Lamb.” This makes their
identity clear. The Lamb has shed His
blood for people from every nation, “from
all tribes and peoples and languages…”. ( 7:9)
(ii) From the perspective of the Church in eternity (7:9- 17): Here is the
picture of the church triumphant, as
she enjoys her
heavenly rest from her earthly labor and
hardships. This glorious scene of God’s redeemed people becomes yet
another occasion for exuberant worship. (vv.
11,12[2])
The interlude of Chapter 7
reaches its conclusion in v. 13,
when a question is put to John. The identity of the great
multitude is revealed: “ Who are
these?...These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation”. This again refers to the
entire church age which will have been a
period of great tribulation for the church
– such as Jesus had spoken of in John
15:18-21. Now these have become a happy
and thankful and therefore a
worshipping people . In verses
15-17 we see that heaven is a world of thankful worship. They are finally home from their restless
wanderings in this spiritual desert. They are
no longer hungry or thirsty. In Christ they are entirely satisfied.
There is no more sorrow . The world has
now received its just judgment. This fact leaves
them speechless, which is where
the next chapter takes us.
Revelation 8: 1-5
And so we note
that the first cycle of judgment ends quite
unexpectedly in the opening of the seventh seal in Chapter
8:1, when John reports, “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven
for about half an hour.” The opening of the 7th seal is the revelation of silence! This silence in heaven contrasts dramatically
with the loud praises of the
redeemed in heaven
(7:10-12). The silence is said to last for half an hour. Heaven
is speechless. What is the meaning of
this silence? This silence
reflects the awe in view of the revelation of God’s awesome
judgment in the earth . Heaven’s worshipers are stunned into silence when they behold the
judgment of God.
Zephaniah spoke of silence in
connection with the day of the Lord: “Be silent before the Sovereign LORD,
for the day of the LORD is near.”
Habakkuk did the same: “But the LORD is
in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
The first cycle of “seal
judgments” is now complete. God has
brought final judgment upon all those who have rejected Christ – His Son- the Mediator and Saviour for all who would
believe in Him. History as we know it, is
over! The great judgment has taken place – and now
the choirs of heaven cease their singing. All creation stands in awe of
him who is seated upon the throne. There is nothing left to say. God has
brought all things to their appointed end. Silence!
THE SEVEN TRUMPETS
[2] Then I saw the
seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. The vision of the 7 seals
now gives way to the vision of the 7 trumpets, but before that happens
we read this :
[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.
Note the reference to the prayer of the saints. We have seen
this before in 5:8 . This is an
astonishing bit of information, for it
makes much more of prayer than you had perhaps
imagined. What do we learn here?
(i) We learn that the prayers of all the
saints appear before the throne
of God (vv. 3 & 4)
(ii) The prayers of the saints set in motion
the judgments upon the earth (v.5)
The prayers of the saints here are rising before God from the hand of the angel. They are a
“pleasing aroma”[3] to God as were the offerings of the OT that were
brought with a sincere heart. Prayers
are associated with sacrifice. You give up time to pray. These then are the prayers
that are truly according to God’s will, offered with Christ’s help (Rom
8:24) and the Spirit’s enabling ( Rom.
8:26,27) . They, like the smoke of
incense ( 8:4) are a pleasing aroma to
God.
What do these
prayers accomplish? I remind you of something very important which we
learned from our recent study of the
Lord’s prayer in Luke 11. Jesus taught us
to pray in the first place: “Our Father in heaven , hallowed be your
name. Your kingdom come…” (Luke 11: 2).
Prayer occurs against the background of a
world in sin and in need , in which Satan
deceives gullible , naïve people, in which he distorts and dilutes
truth, in which he distracts us from true worship by tempting us with respectable idols of our
time, and in which he seeks to destroy Christian testimony and of course the Christian church.
The Christian man and
woman sensitive to these things, see
these things and they strongly desire that
God’s Name would be honoured in
all the world. They desire that Satan’s
power and this earthly mess would be
soon substituted by the glorious
rule of the great King .
Here is the question :
Do you not think that God intends
to honour this prayer ? Remember Proverbs
15:8 : “ …the prayer of the
upright is acceptable to Him.” Do you not think that sooner or later this
must happen? Well, here it is. Here is
the revelation and the promise that
God hears this prayer, and that in time
He will do what He already told
you to pray for .
The next question is this : How
will He answer this prayer ? Verse 5
gives us the answer. [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, flashes of lightning,
and an earthquake. This is the picture of the final judgment , of which the
OT prophets had spoken , and of which the Lord Jesus had spoken .[4]
Remember that in pleading
with God that He would vindicate His Name and His cause would
require such answers , and that is
what the
vision of the 7 trumpets is all about – in fact it is what the visions of the seals, trumpets and bowls are all about . This is the reason
why this insight about prayer is found
here. The prayers of the saints play a necessary part behind the bringing about of the judgments of God. Yes, it is terrifying to an
unbeliever (and it ought to be) , but this is so encouraging to every believer
who is sick and tired of this
ungodliness . Our prayers are more powerful than all the evil that is arrayed against us. Our prayer is the fuel that sets ablaze the fire of the judgment of God.
The prayers of the martyrs ( see
6: 10- 11) are being answered . The
final judgment of which Sodom and
Gomorrah was a foretaste has now become a reality , and the words of our Lord Jesus have come true :
“ I came to cast fire
on the earth…” (Luke 12:49)
[1] For other uses of the Spirit’s sealing see: 2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:13f; 4:30.
[2] Blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and
power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” -
Note – a seven fold acknowledgement of God and His attributes for which the church worships Him .
[3] A term often used in connection
with the burned offerings
of the OT in Exodus , Leviticus and Numbers .
[4] E.g. Matthew 24:29-31
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