Revelation 8

Context? What’s going on?
How many seals have been opened?
How many seals were there on the scroll?
What happened each time a seal was opened?

Vss. 1-5
v. 1—What/who opened the next seal?
Which seal was it?
How many seals were there?
What does it mean that this is the last one?
What happened when the seventh seal was opened?
How long did the silence last?
What significance is there in the silence? Hab. 2:20; Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 2:13

v. 2—What did John see next?
Where have we seen these angels before? Rev. 2-3;
Things on earth are often related to things in heaven:
1. Kingdom on earth come as it is in heaven—Mt. 6:10
2. Pattern of worship—Heb 8:5; 9:23-24
3. Government of the church—Matt. 16:19; 18:18
4. Worship and demons—1 Cor. 10:20
5. Angels are present in worship services—1 Cor. 11:10; Eph. 3:10
Therefore the angels in heaven before the throne of God may correspond to the angels of the seven churches. This would mean that thing that happen on earth happen in heaven and vise versa.
How many were there?
What was given to them?
What is the significance of trumpets?
A. Trumpets in the Scriptures are used for a number of purposes: 1) to call the congregation together for an assembly, 2) in ceremonial procession (as an escort for the Ark of the covenant), 3) to announce the rule of a new king (1 Kings 1:34), 4) to call Israel to covenant meetings and worship, 5) the Temple liturgy involved the use of seven trumpets (1 Chronicles 15:24; Neh. 12:21), 6) to announce the coming of judgment and to call to repentance.
B. The trumpets here announce the coming of God’s judgment upon the land and herald’s the ascension of the new King. This is the way the Day of the Lord is described in the O.T. (Zeph. 1:14-18; Josh. 6:2-5). Jerusalem, once the holy city has now become like the pagan Canaanite city of Jericho.

v. 3—Then what happened?
Where did the next angel stand?
Which altar was it?
How many altars were there?
What was this eighth angel given?
What did the incense signify? Rev. 5:8
Now the prayers and the incense are separated from 5:8?
What was he to do with the incense?
What prayers are they talking about?
Where was he to use the incense?
So there are at least 2 altars?
Where was this golden altar?

v. 4—What did the incense produce?
What happened to all the smoke?
What was the relationship between the smoke and the prayers?
What prayers are we talking about?
Where did the smoke and prayers go?
What did he mean by “from the hand of the angel”?
It gives us some new things to think about when the minister offers up the prayers of the saints to heavenly throne.

v. 5—What happened after the prayer meeting?
What is a censor?
What did he do with the censor?
What did he fill it with?
Where did he get the fire?
Which altar are we talking about now?
What did he do with the fire in the censor?
What happened when he threw the fire on the earth? Ex. 19:16, 18
What does all this mean?
It is interesting that originally the fire came from heaven to the tabernacle of God from God (Lev. 9:24; 2 Chron. 7:1) and was kept perpetually burning by the priests of God (Lev. 16:12-13). Then the fire went out when the temple was taken and God’s glory left the building. Now the fire is coming back in judgment against the same people he originally blessed with the fire.

A very interesting event occurred at the end of Leviticus 9 and the beginning of Leviticus 10. God sent fire to burn up the sacrifices in 9 and sent the same fire to burn up Nadab and Abihu for using “strange fire.” Not doing what God had commanded. Now in Revelation 8 God is sending fire to the earth to burn up Israel for offering strange fire on the earth, by breaking covenant with God.

When God told Israel to destroy cities they were told to do it in a certain way (Deut. 13:16). They were to burn it as a sacrifice to God so that God’s wrath would cease and blessing would come on the land again. This is part of God’s judgment against a nation and a land. This same judgment was about to come on the nation of Israel for the same sins that caused God to cast out the people from before them after they came out of Egypt. And according to Revelation 8 it is all part of worship, just as it was in Deuteronomy.

How should we then live in front of God? What should we spend our time doing? What should we love, serve, revere, pay homage to? Kind of makes you think doesn’t it?

Summary: From Chilton quoting from J. Massyngberde Ford
1. From the throne and altar, the “mercy seat,” comes wrath;
2. Incense, the “soothing aroma to the Lord” (Lev. 1:13), becomes an agent of death (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14-16);
3. The trumpets, which called Israel to worship, now become heralds of her destruction;
4. The heavenly liturgy itself, appointed for Israel’s sanctification, becomes the means of her overthrow and dissolution.


Context?

Vss. 6-12

v. 6—What is about to happen now?
What seven angels is he talking about? (if you weren’t here last week this is a context sort of question.) What did the 7 trumpets remind us of last week? Jericho

v. 7—What happened when the first angel blew his trumpet?
What does the green grass refer to? 7:3; 9:4

v. 8, 9—What happened when the second angel blew his trumpet? Ex. 7:17-21
Israel is God’s Holy Mountain, the mountain of God’s inheritance Ex. 15:17
By falling away from the Lord Israel had become apostate and thus they were a mountain that devoured those around them instead of feeding them. Jer. 51:25, 42; Mt. 21:21-22 (see the context) Rev. 6:9-11; 1:3 heed these things. What does heed mean?.

v. 10, 11—What happened when the third angel blew his trumpet?
What was the star’s name?
How can a star have a name?
Wormwood is the term used to describe bitterness and apostasy (Deut. 29:18; Jer. 9:15; 23:15; Lam. 3:15, 19; Amos 5:7; Prov. 5:4).
This event parallels Isa 14:12-15
What happened as a result of Wormwood falling into the waters? Ex. 7:21

v. 12—What happened when the fourth angel blew his trumpet?
The results of this angel’s blowing is thick darkness Ex. 10:21-23
This imagery describes the destruction of nations and ruler of nations Isa 13:9-11;, 19; 24:19-23; 34:4-5; Ez. 32:7-8, 11-12; Joel 2:10, 28-32; Acts 2:16-21


What things are in common in the first 4 trumpet blasts?
1. Some form of fire comes from heaven (7) fire in the hail, (8) Mountain burning, (10) blazing star fell, (12) 1/3 sun put out. God’s wrath being poured out against the ungodly.
2. They remind us of God’s judgment on Egypt: Ex. 9:22-24; Ex. 7:17-21; Ex. 10:21-23. Israel will be judged like God’s enemies who have gone before: Matt. 23:29-36.

Note all the parts of creation that will be struck.
Note the use of the word “Mountain” in the Bible—Dan. 2:35; 44-45; Jer. 51:25, 42; Ex. 15:17; Mat. 21:21-22.

Notice that this destruction was not total, but it is significant and pervasive.

v. 13—What happened before the fifth angel blew his trumpet?
Where have we seen this eagle character before? Hos. 8:1
Sometimes the eagle (4:7) in scripture is good (Deut. 32:9-11) and sometimes it isn’t (Deut. 28:49; Lam. 4:19; Job 39:30).
Warnings of Israel’s destruction are often associated with eagles and birds of prey: Deut 28:49; Jer. 4:13; Lam. 4:19; Hos 8:1; Hab. 1:8; Matt 24:28.
An aspect of covenantal cursing is that birds will eat the covenant breakers: Gen. 15:9-12; Deut. 28:26, 49; Prov. 30:17; Jer. 7:33-34; 16:3-4; 19:7; 34:18-20; Ez. 39:17-20; Rev. 19:17-18

Who is the eagle addressing his comments to? Those who dwell on the land: 14:6
Note that the woes are not simple words. They represent future events (see 9:12).

Notice too that the curses are becoming more and more terrible, just like in Egypt. The woes correspond to the 5th, 6th, and 7th trumpet blasts.