Revelation Chapter 8
Introduction
Chapter 8 is the seventh seal opened and the first four
trumpet judgments are sounded and three woes are announced: seal 7 is silence
in Heaven, seven angels given seven trumpets, the smoke of incense and the prayers
of the Saints goes up before GOD, fire from the Altar is thrown to the earth,
there is an earthquake, peals of thunder and lightning; trumpet 1 is hail, fire
and blood thrown to the earth and a third of the earth, a third of the trees
and all the green grass are burned up; trumpet 2 is a blazing mountain is
thrown into the sea and a third of the sea is turned into blood, a third of the
sea creatures die and a third of the ships are destroyed; trumpet 3 is a
blazing star falls from the sky onto a third of the rivers and onto the springs
of water, they become bitter and many people die; trumpet 4 is a third of the
sun, moon and stars are darkened, an eagle cries out a warning of three woes to
come.
:1-5 When he
opened the seventh seal there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour
(this is different with the first four seals where an angel spoke, with seals
5-7 the angel dose not speak); and I saw the seven angels that stand before GOD
(Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10; Luke 1:19; Hebrews 1:13-14), and to them were given
seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at
the altar, he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers
of all the saints (Revelation 5:8) upon the golden altar (Exodus 30:1-3, 6, The
Holy Place)) which was before The Throne (The Ark of The Covenant with The
Mercy Seat (Exodus 37:1-9 in The Most Holy Place Exodus 26:33-34). The smoke of
the incense with the prayers of the Saints ascended before GOD from the angel’s
hand (Exodus 30:6-10; Psalm 141:1-2; Luke 1:5-10). Then the angel took the
censer filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. There were
noises, thunderings, lightings and an earthquake (Revelation 11:15, 19 –
seventh trumpet; Revelation 16:17-18 – seventh bowl; did David foresee this
event? 2 Samuel 22:8-16 ).
:6 So the
seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The
trumpet judgments could last the whole seven years of the Tribulation, one per
year. Or they could last for the last three and a half years, one every six
months. We do not know, the only one that has a time duration is trumpet 5, it
lasts for five months (Revelation 9:5). Like the ten judgments against Egypt
when GOD was bringing the Hebrew people out of captivity, we do not know how
long they lasted except the last one, the Passover judgment (death of the first
born) lasted one night. GOD rarely tells us the duration of His Judgments, He did
not tell Noah how long the flood would last; He told Abraham his descendants
would be slaves for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13); He did not tell the
Israelites how long they would be removed from their land under the king of Assyria,
that lasted until 1948; He did tell the Judeans they would be captives in Babylon
for seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11-12); He did not tell the Judeans how long
they would be exiled under the Romans, that lasted from 70 until 1948. GOD did
not tell us how long The Great Tribulation will last, but we believe because of
Daniel’s seventy weeks that it will last seven years (Daniel 9:20-27); JESUS in
His description of the last days did not say how long they would last; in The
Revelation to John he is not given any time reference about the Great
Tribulation except trumpet 5 that lasts for five months. We know there are
seven seals (I believe the first five have happened), seven trumpets and seven
bowls of GOD’s wrath but no time frame for how long any of them last except
trumpet five.
:7 The first
angel sounded: hail and fire (Exodus 9:1-26; Ezekiel 38:18-22) followed mingled
with blood and they were thrown to the earth. A third of the trees were burned
up and all green grass was burned up.
:8-9 Then
the second angel sounded: something like a great mountain* (this could be a
meteor) burning with fire was thrown into the sea, a third of the sea became
blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships
were destroyed.
:10-11 Then
the third angel sounded: a great star* (this could be a meteoroid that breaks
up and hits in lots of places on the earth as meteorites) fell from heaven
burning like a torch, it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of
water. The name of the star is Wormwood**; a third of the waters became wormwood
and many people died from the water because it was made bitter.
:12-13 Then
the fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the
moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened; a third of
the day had no light and likewise the night (Isaiah 13:9-10, so the daylight
would only be about 6 to 8 hours instead of 8 to 12 hours and during the night there
would be 3 to 4 hours of pitch darkness. So that there will be a total of 11 to
16 hours of pitch darkness over the earth each day during this time). I looked
and I heard an angel (eagle, Revelation 4:7) flying through the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice, “Woe, Woe, Woe to the inhabitants of the earth,
because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels that are
about to sound!”
* An
asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a
planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the inner Solar System or is
co-orbital with Jupiter. Asteroids are rocky, metallic, or icy bodies with no
atmosphere.
A meteoroid
is a small, rocky or metallic space rock that orbits the
sun. Meteoroids can range in size from dust grains to small
asteroids.
Meteors: When
meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere (or that of another planet, like Mars) at
high speed and burn up, the fireballs or “shooting stars” are called meteors.
Meteorites: When
a meteoroid survives a trip through the atmosphere and hits the ground, it’s
called a meteorite.
** Wormwood:
in Hebrew it means to curse it is regarded as poisonous and therefore
accursed – hemlock, wormwood. In Greek it means a type of bitterness –
figuratively calamity, wormwood.
https://youtu.be/GA0V0ne6tSg
