Revelationchapter 8
13 verses · John, by tradition · AD 95 or 96 · Revelation
Then another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
Introduction
John, by tradition, Revelation, Revelation Overview.
This chapter comes from John, an exile on Patmos, who wrote down his visions for seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. Those churches had heard the martyrs under the altar ask how long in chapter 6. Here the last seal is broken and heaven goes quiet. Then the prayers of the saints rise with the incense and come back to the earth as fire. Listen for the trumpets, the measured third that each one strikes, and the echoes of the plagues of Egypt. Listen also for the eagle's cry, which divides the seven trumpets into four and three.
Context
- Who
- Congregations who had asked how long, and are shown what their prayers do
- What
- The opening of the seventh seal, the offering of the saints' prayers at the golden altar, and the first four of seven trumpet judgments.
- Where
- Seen by John in exile on the island of Patmos and written for seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.
- When
- Late in the reign of Domitian, about AD 95 on the majority view, with a minority dating the book before AD 70 under Nero.
- Why
- To show suffering churches that their prayers reach God and that He answers them with judgment on the earth.
Historical context
The seventh seal opens and nothing happens for about half an hour. In a book this loud, silence in heaven is the most striking effect in it, the whole court stops.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
What breaks the silence is incense. An angel takes a golden censer, and the smoke of the incense goes up with the prayers of the saints, and then he fills the censer with fire from the altar and throws it down to earth. Anyone familiar with temple worship knew the picture: incense was offered while the people prayed outside, the smoke standing for the prayers rising. Here the same censer that carried their prayers up comes back down carrying fire.
Then trumpets. Trumpets in Israel called an assembly, sounded an alarm at the approach of an army, and marked the great festivals. Seven priests with seven trumpets circled Jericho before its walls fell.
The first four trumpets strike creation itself, land, sea, fresh water, and the lights in the sky, and each takes a third, not the whole. The pattern deliberately recalls the plagues on Egypt: hail and fire, water turned to blood, darkness. The readers' own scriptures had a precedent for God dismantling an empire's world one system at a time.
The star called Wormwood poisons the rivers. Wormwood was a real bitter plant, used in the Old Testament as a byword for bitterness and grief.
Significance
The silence and the censer answered the martyrs of chapter 6 directly. Their "how long?" did not evaporate. It was collected in a golden bowl, mixed with incense, and presented at the altar, and the answer came back as fire on the earth.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The repeated "third part" mattered too. These are not the end. They are warnings large enough to be unmistakable and limited enough to leave room to repent.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Half an Hour of Silence and the Prayers of the Saints
Revelation 8:1-2
there was silence in heaven: When the Lamb opens the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour, after the praise of chapters 4 to 7. The seven angels who stand before God then receive seven trumpets, so the last seal opens into the trumpet series.
Revelation 8:1
"And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." Whereby is signified the beginning of everlasting rest; but it is described as partial, because the silence being interrupted, he repeats it in order. For if the silence had continued, here would be an end of his narrative.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Revelation 8:1
“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven - Such a silence is mentioned but in this one place. It was uncommon, and highly observable: for praise is sounding in heaven day and night.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
the seven angels who stand before God: Clarke reads the seven angels who stand before God as the seven spirits before the throne in Revelation 1:4. Wesley looks at the trumpets they were given. In Israel a trumpet was blown in worship and in war, and here seven trumpets sound the works of God on the earth.
Revelation 8:2
“The seven angels which stood before God - Probably the same as those called the seven Spirits which are before his throne, Rev 1:4 (note). There is still an allusion here to the seven ministers of the Persian monarchs. See Tobit 12:15.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 8:2
“The Israelites, in particular, used them, both in the worship of God and in war; therewith openly praising the power of God before, after, and in, the battle, Josh. vi, 4; And the angels here made known by these trumpets the wonderful works of God, whereby all opposing powers are successively shaken, till the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of God and his Anointed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 8:3-5
the prayers of all the saints: An angel offers much incense along with the prayers of all the saints on the altar of the martyrs' cry at 6:9-10. He took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth, so the saints' prayers are answered in judgment.
Revelation 8:3
“And much incense was given-Incense generally signifies prayer: here it signifies the longing desires of the angels, that the holy counsel of God might be fulfilled. And there was much incense; for as the prayers of all the saints in heaven and earth are here joined together: so are the desires of all the angels which are brought by this angel.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Revelation 8:3
“It is not the saints who give the angel the incense; nor are their prayers identified with the incense; nor do they offer their prayers to him. Christ alone is the Mediator through whom, and to whom, prayer is to be offered. offer it with the prayers--rather as Greek, "give it TO the prayers," so rendering them efficacious as a sweet-smelling savor to God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 8:3
“The prayers of the saints themselves stand in need of the incense and intercession of Christ to make them acceptable and effectual, and there is provision made by Christ for that purpose; he has his incense, his censer, and his altar; he is all himself to his people.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 8:3
“And another angel came - Who this angel was is not mentioned, nor have we any means of determining. Of course a great variety of opinion has been entertained on the subject (see Poole’s Synopsis) - some referring it to angels in general; others to the ministry of the church; others to Constantine; others to Michael; and many others to the Lord Jesus.”
Revelation 8:3
“I SUPPOSE that there will be very little doubt among you that the "Angel" mentioned here was either our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, or a special angelic messenger sent to represent Him. You remember that under the Mosaic dispensation, there was to be an altar of shittim wood, overlaid with pure gold, and that Aaron was to burn sweet incense thereon every morning and every evening.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3282: “Preparing for the Week of Prayer” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
together with the prayers of the saints: Clarke reads the wording closely. The angel offers the incense and the prayers rise with it, so the smoke going up shows that both were accepted. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, on verse 3, add that the saints do not pray to the angel, since Christ alone is the Mediator.
Revelation 8:4
“The smoke of the incense - with the prayers - Though incense itself be an emblem of the prayers of the saints, Psa 141:2; yet here they are said to ascend before God, as well as the incense. It is not said that the angel presents these prayers. He presents the incense, and the prayers ascend With it. The ascending of the incense shows that the prayers and offering were accepted.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
filled it with fire from the altar: The censer that carried prayer up now carries fire down. Barnes reads the act as a new symbol, showing that fearful calamities would come on the earth even while much prayer was offered. Wesley reads the thunder, lightning and earthquake as signs of the judgments about to follow.
Revelation 8:5
“And the angel took the censer - Rev 8:3. This is a new symbol, designed to furnish a new representation of future events. By the former it had been shown that there would be much prayer offered; by this it is designed to show that, notwithstanding the prayer that would be offered, great and fearful calamities would come upon the earth. This is symbolized by casting the censer upon the earth, as if the prayers were not heard any longer, or as if prayer were now in vain.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 8:5
“And there were thunderings, and lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake - These, especially when attended with fire, are emblems of God's dreadful judgments, which are immediately to follow.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 8:6-7
prepared to sound them: The first trumpet brings hail and fire mixed with blood, the seventh plague in Exodus 9:24, and A third of the earth was burned. The third, repeated through the trumpets, marks judgments severe yet partial, short of the full wrath of the bowls.
Revelation 8:6
“And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets,.... Given them, Rev 8:2; prepared themselves to sound; they stood up, took their trumpets in their hands, and put them to their mouths; this was giving notice of what was coming upon the earth, and a kind of warning to men, and a call upon them to repentance, and to prepare to meet God in the way of his judgments.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 8:6
“Prepared themselves to sound - Each took up his trumpet, and stood prepared to blow his blast. Wars are here indicated; the trumpet was the emblem of war.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Four Trumpets Strike Earth, Sea, Rivers, and Sky
hail and fire mixed with blood: Gill sets the first trumpet beside the plague of Exodus 9:23, where hail fell mingled with fire. Ticonius reads it as a figure. For him the earth stands for everything earthly, and the burned trees are people blown about in their faith.
Revelation 8:7
“The first angel sounded,.... Or blew his trumpet: and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood; somewhat like one of the plagues of Egypt, Exo 9:23; in which was hail mingled with fire, only no blood, but what was caused by its fall on man and beast.”
Revelation 8:8-9
a great mountain burning with fire: The second trumpet throws something like a great mountain into the sea, and A third of the sea turned to blood, as the Nile did. The words something like mark an appearance John describes rather than names.
Revelation 8:8
“A great mountain burning with fire - Supposed to signify the powerful nations which invaded the Roman empire. Mountain, in prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jer 51:25, Jer 51:27, Jer 51:30, Jer 51:58. Great disorders, especially when kingdoms are moved by hostile invasions, are represented by mountains being cast into the midst of the sea, Psa 46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean peoples, as is shown in this book, Rev 17:15. Therefore, great commotions in kingdoms and among their inhabitants may be here intended, but to whom, where, and when these happened, or are to happen, we know not.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 8:8
“The fire may mean the fire of war, and the rage of those savage nations. And the third part of the sea became blood - This need not imply, that just a third part of the Roman was slain; but it is certain an inconceivable deal of blood was shed in all these invasions.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 8:8
“In these calamities, a third part of the people (called here the sea or collection of waters) were destroyed: here was still a limitation to the third part, for in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 8:8
“The overthrow of Jericho, the type of the Antichristian Babylon, after which Israel, under Joshua (the same name as Jesus), victoriously took possession of Canaan, the type of Christ's and His people's kingdom, is perhaps alluded to in the SEVEN trumpets, which end in the overthrow of all Christ's foes, and the setting up of His kingdom.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a third of the ships were destroyed: The judgment reaches all that lives or sails on the sea: a third of the living creatures in the sea died. The measure of a third keeps the blow partial, as in every trumpet before the last three.
Revelation 8:9
“And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died - The effect was as if one-third of all the fish in the sea were cut off. Of course this is not to be taken literally. It is designed to describe an effect, pertaining to the maritime portion of the world, as if a third portion of all that was in the sea should perish. The natural interpretation would be to apply it to some invasion or calamity pertaining to the sea - to the islands, to the maritime regions, or to commerce.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 8:9
“The symbolical interpreters take the ships here to be churches. For the Greek here for ships is not the common one, but that used in the Gospels of the apostolic vessel in which Christ taught: and the first churches were in the shape of an inverted ship: and the Greek for destroyed is also used of heretical corruptings (1Ti 6:5).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 8:10-11
a great star burning: The third trumpet drops a great star burning like a torch on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. Its name is Wormwood, the bitter herb of Jeremiah 9:15 and 23:15, and many people died from the bitter waters.
Revelation 8:10
“There fell a great star from heaven - This has given rise to various conjectures. Some say the star means Attila and his Huns, others, Genseric with his Vandals falling on the city of Rome; others, Eleazer, the son of Annus, spurning the emperor’s victims, and exciting the fury of the Zealots; others, Arius; infecting the pure Christian doctrine with his heresy, etc., etc. It certainly cannot mean all these; and probably none of them. Let the reader judge.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 8:10
“And thus Arianism was the inlet to all heresies and calamities, and at length to Mahometanism itself. This great star was not an angel, (angels are not the agents in the two preceding or the following trumpet,) but a teacher of the church, one of the stars in the right hand of Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
The name of the star is Wormwood: , and Albert Barnes points to Jeremiah 9:15, Jeremiah 23:15 and Lamentations 3:15, where wormwood is a judgment. The name tells what the star does to the water, which turned bitter like wormwood oil.
Revelation 8:11
“And the name of the star is called Wormwood - Is appropriately so called. The writer does not say that it would be actually so called, but that this name would be properly descriptive of its qualities. Such expressions are common in allegorical writings. The Greek word - ἄψινθος apsinthos - denotes “wormwood,” a well-known bitter herb. That word becomes the proper emblem of bitterness. Compare Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15; Lam 3:15, Lam 3:19. And the third part of the waters became wormwood - Became bitter as wormwood.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 8:11
“And the name of the star is called Wormwood - The unparalleled bitterness both of Arius himself and of his followers show the exact propriety of his title. And the third part of the waters became wormwood - A very considerable part of Afric was infected with the same bitter doctrine and Spirit.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 8:11
“The symbolizers interpret the star fallen from heaven as a chief minister (ARIUS, according to BULLINGER, BENGEL, and others; or some future false teacher, if, as is more likely, the event be still future) falling from his high place in the Church, and instead of shining with heavenly light as a star, becoming a torch lit with earthly fire and smouldering with smoke.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 8:12-13
a third of the sun: The fourth trumpet strikes a third of the sun and moon and stars, like the darkness of Exodus 10:21. An eagle then cries Woe to those who dwell on the earth for the last three trumpets, which strike people directly.
Revelation 8:12
“And the fourth angel sounded,.... His trumpet. Some think this refers to the Eutychian heresy, which confounded the two natures of Christ, and of two made one mixed nature, neither human nor divine; and brought great darkness upon the doctrine of Christ's person, the sun of righteousness and into the church, signified by the moon, and among the ministers of the word, the stars.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 8:12
“This partial obscuration, therefore, comes between the prayers of the martyrs under the fifth seal, and the last overwhelming judgments on the ungodly under the sixth seal, at the eve of Christ's coming. the night likewise--withdrew a third part of the light which the bright Eastern moon and stars ordinarily afford.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 8:12
“The third part of the sun - moon - stars, was smitten - Supposed to mean Rome, with her senates, consuls, etc., eclipsed by Odoacer, king of the Heruli, and Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, in the fifth century. But all this is uncertain.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Woe to those who dwell on the earth: Barnes hears the three woes as one loud cry of great woe, and notes that the remaining three trumpets are grouped together. Victorinus reads the voice flying overhead as the Holy Spirit calling before the plagues. Those who dwell on the earth may still turn.
Revelation 8:13
“And I beheld - My attention was attracted by a new vision. And heard an angel flying, ... - I heard the voice of an angel making this proclamation. Woe, woe, woe - That is, there will be great woe. The repetition of the word is intensive, and the idea is, that the sounding of the three remaining trumpets would indicate great and fearful calamities. These three are grouped together as if they pertained to a similar series of events, as the first four had been.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 8:13
"And I saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven." By the angel flying through the midst of heaven is signified the Holy Spirit beating witness in two of the prophets that a great wrath of plagues was imminent. If by any means, even in the last times, any one should be willing to be converted, any one might even still be saved.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
Revelation 8:13
“If less judgments do not take effect, but the church and the world grow worse under them, they must expect greater. God will be known by the judgments that he executes; and he expects, when he comes to punish the world, the inhabitants thereof should tremble before him.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: A vision of trumpet judgments still to come, falling in part on the created world before the final judgments at Christ's return, as Jamieson, Fausset & Brown classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Eleven thirds | The words a third of appear eleven times in verses 7 to 12. Each of the first four trumpets strikes a measured part of its region and leaves the rest standing. Verse 12 alone uses them four times, at the fourth trumpet.the site's count of the Berean text, the verses of Revelation 8 in the store, translation id 3, the Berean Standard Bible. | Revelation 8:7, Revelation 8:8, Revelation 8:9, Revelation 8:10, Revelation 8:11, Revelation 8:12 |
| The plagues of Egypt | The first trumpet brings hail and fire, as the seventh plague did in Exodus 9:23 to 24. The second turns a third of the sea to blood, as the first plague turned the Nile in Exodus 7:20. The fourth darkens the sky, as the ninth plague did in Exodus 10:21 to 23. John Gill sets the first trumpet beside the hail mingled with fire of Exodus 9:23.John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748, on Revelation 8:7. | Revelation 8:7, Revelation 8:8, Revelation 8:12 |
| The censer that goes up and comes down | In verses 3 and 4 the angel's censer carries incense up before God with the prayers of the saints. In verse 5 the same censer is filled with fire from the altar and hurled to the earth. Adam Clarke notes that the angel offers the incense and the prayers rise with it. He reads the rising smoke as the sign that they were accepted.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Revelation 8:4. | Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4, Revelation 8:5 |
How the chapter is built
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
Chapter 7 held back the winds of judgment until the servants of God were sealed. Chapter 8 opens the seventh seal, and the seal opens into seven trumpets. Verses 1 and 2 give the silence and the seven angels, and verses 3 to 5 give the altar, the incense and the fire. Verses 6 to 12 sound the first four trumpets in quick order. Verse 13 sets the eagle's threefold woe before the last three, which chapter 9 begins to sound.
How the trumpets have been read
The trumpets are read in several ways, and each reading has its holders. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read them as judgments still to come. They place them on the eve of Christ's coming (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 8:12). John Wesley reads them as the history of the church and the empire. He names the star Wormwood as Arius (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on 8:10 to 11). Adam Clarke lists the names proposed for the star, Attila, Genseric, Eleazer and the Zealots, and Arius. He leaves the reader to judge (Commentary on the Bible, on 8:10). Ticonius reads the burned trees as people who waver in their faith (Commentary on the Apocalypse, on 8:7). Victorinus of Pettau takes the silence of verse 1 as the beginning of everlasting rest (Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John, on 8:1). He holds that John breaks off there and tells the story again in order.
Where it draws on the Old Testament
The incense of verses 3 and 4 takes up Psalm 141:2, where prayer rises like incense. Adam Clarke names that psalm on verse 4. The trumpets follow the plagues of Exodus 7 to 10. Albert Barnes reads the name Wormwood beside Jeremiah 9:15, Jeremiah 23:15 and Lamentations 3:15, where the herb stands for bitterness. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear the seven trumpets of Jericho in Joshua 6 behind the whole series.
Where to go deeper
The book as a whole has its page at /book/revelation. The three series of judgments are set side by side at /featured/seals-trumpets-bowls. The plagues behind the trumpets are at /featured/the-ten-plagues, and the four ways of reading the book are at /featured/four-schools-of-revelation. Incense and the prayers of the saints is listed as an owed feature page.
Keep studying
Studies6
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 8:12; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755, on Revelation 8:10 and Ticonius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 390, on Revelation 8:7.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Ticonius, Commentary on the Apocalypse and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.