Revelation 8
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
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1-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13
1-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13
1-5
1-5
Unlike the rest of John’s vision which has had constant sound, from the angels proclaiming God to be holy nonstop or the cries of praise mentioned multiple times in the past chapters there is now silence in heaven after the seventh seal is opened. Most of the commentators believe that this silence is a brief pause because of the severity of what is going to happen in this last seal, a literal 30 minute moment of silence. I say most as there are a few who view this as the 70 years between Constantine’s victory over Licinius, followed by the dissolution of the pagan heavens in AD 324 and Alaric’s revolt and the invasion of the empire on the death of Theodosius in AD 395, this commentator believes that 30 minutes in heaven is precisely equivalent to seventy years of Roman history. Or that this is symbolic of the period between the fall of Jerusalem and renewed persecutions of the Roman Christians. Some say that 30 minutes would have been the time needed for the priest to offer the daily incense in the temple and during this 30 minutes there would have been silent prayer for all of the attending worshipers. Someone else likens this to the fall of Jericho at the blast of seven trumpets, as it was preceded by a period of silence, as the Israelites circled the city for seven days without a sound.
After the silence in heaven we see seven angels standing before God, seven showing completeness of what is about to be poured out on the earth, they were given each a trumpet but they did not blow them yet. Trumpets were used very often in the old testament as a way of notifying the people, sometimes for battle, or as call to worship, at a religious feast, or to acclaim new kings. But before the angels start to blow the trumpets another angel comes with a golden censer, and it was filled with incense, probably given to the angel by God, so that the angel could offer it to God along with the prayers of the saints, and these saints could be the ones that were pictured earlier under the alter crying out to God asking when they would be avenged. The angel filled the censer with hot coals from the alter, from the burnt offerings. He then throws the censer to the earth and we hear the sound of thunder, lightning, and earthquakes.
Many see this angel that offers the incense as Jesus in his priestly roll offering the incense, but everywhere else in Revelation when Jesus is identified it is pretty clear of whom is being mentioned, using titles like the Lamb, or the Lamb who was slain, the lion of Judah, son of Man, etc. Also the way the grammar of the text is formed this angel is like the other seven who were given the trumpets. MacArthur says that one of the seven angels could be Gabriel because the verb translated as stand is in the perfect tense, which would indicate that they were in the presence of God and had been for some time and Gabriel identifies himself to Zacharias and Mary as “Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God” in Luke 1:19.
Some say that the word Earth can also be translated as “the Land” meaning the land of Israel so the throwing of the incense censer is directed at Israel as a response of the first century Jews persecution of Christians and this whole scene is depicting the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There are also some who view this seventh seal as a retelling of the prior seals in more detail and are not new judgments. I view these as all happening in order and are describing the intensifying of the judgments of the tribulations. The seventh seal being the most intense and broken up into seven parts, the trumpets, while the seventh trumpet broken up into seven more parts, the bowl judgments. The throwing of the fiery censor to Earth as the start of the last judgments.
6-7
6-7
The first four trumpets in this chapter all describe wrath poured out effecting the Earth, they do effect man but by way of the land, sea, waters and the sun and moon. This first trumpet is of fire and ice, hail and fire (or thunderbolts) mingled with blood thrown down to the earth reminiscent of the plagues in Egypt. Those that do not believe that these are depicting future events attribute these first four trumpets to the fall of the Roman empire, this first one describing the fall of the Western Empire and the hordes of Goths and Vandals burning and destroying everything in their path. Or as I mentioned earlier this is all depicting the fall of Jerusalem. If taken literally this would be diving wrath inflicted on the earth near the end of the tribulations. Hail and fire, perhaps from lightning, raining down on the lands and destroying a third of the trees and green grass. Crops and fruits would be included with the trees and green grass further impacting the previous famines from the four horsemen earlier. The reference of being mixed with blood could be that the earthquakes from the fiery censer could have triggered volcanoes that spew lava and ash into the atmosphere resembling blood, or the blood mixed in is descriptive of all of the men and animals that would be killed by the falling hail and fires.
8-9
8-9
The second trumpet effects the seas, the sea life, and the ships that sail them. This is separate from the fresh waters as we will see in the next trumpet. For the fall of Rome belief the great mountain would be the Vandals and their decimation of the Roman ships and commerce, slaughtering the Roman mariners and coloring the water red with their blood. For the fall of Jerusalem view, the nation of Israel was God’s Holy Mountain, its destruction is the burning of it by Romans and the sea is where you throw things to forget them, as our sins are thrown into the sea never to be recalled. As for the sea becoming red with blood that would be all those who were killed on and around the sea of Galilee during the invasion. Or, this flaming mountain is a meteorite or asteroid in flames as it falls from the sky and into the ocean. Its impact and devastation causing a third of all sea live to die tuning the sea red with their blood or the seas become blood through divine intervention, it would also cause major tidal waves and tsunamis that will destroy a third of all sea vessels impacting commerce and global shipments of food and goods.
10-11
10-11
This trumpet judgment is on the fresh waters on the land turning them bitter, or poisoned. The fall of Rome view is this star falling from heaven is Attila the Hun suddenly coming and conquering the Roman Empire with 800,000 men. Some say as the Vandals were the masters of the seas, the Huns were the masters of the rivers and it is estimated that they killed 300,000 men in and around the Rhine, Danube, and Po rivers, and the Italian Alps polluting them with dead bodies so that their blood and decomposition would have poisoned the rivers and the source of many water supplies in the Alps. The fall of Jerusalem view is that all of the dead bodies from the sea of Galilee and in other rivers and waters from the Roman invasion would have turned the water supply bitter and spread disease if drank. Another theory is that the falling star is the Pope, and this scenario is given. What if the Pope, who’s decrees are taken by the Catholic church to be as good as if they came from God, declares that all of Christianity is a sham and that religion is a fraud. He would turn what should be the living waters of life in to poison for a third of the people on Earth.
The literal interpretation would be that the flaming star is multiple meteorites or comet fragments that fall to the earth and land in a third of the fresh water supplies and rivers polluting them with whatever they were made of and turning them foul and bitter. There is also some speculation that all of these trumpets could be describing nuclear bombs and this one in particular is the radiation polluting the waters of the earth rendering them unfit for consumption. Notes on the name Wormwood, Wormwood or the Greek word apsinthos, is only used here in the New Testament and is a shrub whose leaves are used in the manufacture of absinthe, a liqueur that is said to have psychotropic effects and is so toxic that it is banned in many countries. Wormwood is mentioned eight times in the Old Testament where it is associated with bitterness, poison, and death, and in three of the eight it is connected with poisoned water. Lamentations 3:15 “He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood.” Also the name Chernobyl, as in the nuclear power station that had a catastrophic meltdown in the former Soviet Union, is a Russian word meaning Wormwood.
12-13
12-13
The fourth trumpet sounds and a third of the sun, moon, and stars were darkened. Also a third of the day did not shine and likewise the night. The fall of Rome line is that the sun, moon, and stars represent the political establishment of Rome and that this represents the end of their rule but the authority of the Roman name did not entirely cease and there remained an often faint recognition of their supreme authority for some time. The fall of Jerusalem this represents much the same as the fall of Rome, the nation and rulers of Jerusalem and Israel falling. The literal interpenetration, the word that is translated here as smitten or struck is the verb form of which the noun plague derives and this is a plague from God on the heavenly bodies so that they would not shine a third of the time. This could be a partial eclipse likened back to the ninth Egyptian plague, or a darkening of the sky from all of the calamity that has transpired, or nuclear fallout that darkens the sky, but this will only be temporary as later in chapter 16 God will increase the heat coming from the sun scorching the people. But this darkening of the sun would cause global temperatures to plummet severely disrupting the earth’s weather patterns and produce violent and unpredictable tides and storms further killing people and destroying crops.
Then we see an angel, also translated as an eagle bringing an image of a large bird of prey, flying directly overhead, or also translated as midheaven meaning the height of the mid-day sun so it is visible to all, crying out with a loud voice for all to hear a warning of the remaining three trumpets. As bad as it has been it is about to get much, much, much worse. This is also interpreted as the Western Roman Empire fell and the Eastern Empire is next and from its destruction we will turn back to the west where Rome will rise again in the form of the Catholic papacy. Or these woes refer to the destruction of Jerusalem; the first woe the seditions among the Jews themselves, the second woe the besieging of the city by the Romans, and the third woe the taking and sacking of the city itself. This is also a warning as the judgments will turn from natural disasters to more supernatural in nature. God is still warning the people and trying to get them to repent just as it it written in Hebrews 3:7-8 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,” God wants the people to hear him and turn from their sin and rebellion to repentance and be saved, its still not too late and the final judgement has not taken place.