Revelation 8:7 Komentář

We have already seen what occurred upon opening six of the seals; we now come to the opening of the seventh, which introduced the sounding of the seven trumpets; and a direful scene now opens. Most expositors agree that the seven seals represent the interval between the apostle's time and the reign of Constantine, but that the seven trumpets are designed to represent the rise of antichrist, some time after the empire became Christian. In this chapter we have, I. The preface, or prelude, to the sounding of the trumpets (Rev 8:1-6). II. The sounding of four of the trumpets (Rev 8:7, etc.).

Observe, I. The first angel sounded the first trumpet, and the events which followed were very dismal: There followed hail and fire mingled with blood, etc., Rev 8:7. There was a terrible storm; but whether it is to be understood of a storm of heresies, a mixture of monstrous errors falling on the church (for in that age Arianism prevailed), or a storm or tempest of war falling on the civil state, expositors are not agreed. Mr. Mede takes it to be meant of the Gothic inundation that broke in upon the empire in the year 395, the same year that Theodosius died, when the northern nations, under Alaricus, king of the Goths, broke in upon the western parts of the empire. However, here we observe, 1. It was a very terrible storm-fire, and hail, and blood: a strange mixture! 2. The limitation of it: it fell on the third part of the trees, and on the third part of the grass, and blasted and burnt it up; that is, say some, upon the third part of the clergy and the third part of the laity; or, as others who take it to fall upon the civil state, upon the third part of the great men, and upon the third part of the common people, either upon the Roman empire itself, which was a third part of the then known world, or upon a third part of that empire. The most severe calamities have their bounds and limits set them by the great God. II. The second angel sounded, and the alarm was followed, as in the first, with terrible events: A great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood, Rev 8:8. By this mountain some understand the leader or leaders of the heretics; others, as Mr. Mede, the city of Rome, which was five times sacked by the Goths and Vandals, within the compass of 137 years; first by Alaricus, in the year 410, with great slaughter and cruelty. 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. This storm fell heavy upon the maritime and merchandizing cities and countries of the Roman empire. III. The third angel sounded, and the alarm had the like effects as before: There fell a great star from heaven, etc., Rev 8:10. Some take this to be a political star, some eminent governor, and they apply it to Augustulus, who was forced to resign the empire to Odoacer, in the year 480. Others take it to be an ecclesiastical star, some eminent person in the church, compared to a burning lamp, and they fix it upon Pelagius, who proved about this time a falling star, and greatly corrupted the churches of Christ. Observe, 1. Where this star fell: Upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. 2. What effect it had upon them; it turned those springs and streams into wormwood, made them very bitter, that men were poisoned by them; either the laws, which are springs of civil liberty, and property, and safety, were poisoned by arbitrary power, or the doctrines of the gospel, the springs of spiritual life, refreshment, and vigour to the souls of men, were so corrupted and embittered by a mixture of dangerous errors that the souls of men found their ruin where they sought for their refreshment. IV. The fourth angel sounded, and the alarm was followed with further calamities. Observe, 1. The nature of this calamity; it was darkness; it fell therefore upon the great luminaries of the heaven, that give light to the world - the sun, and the moon, and the stars, either the guides and governors of the church, or of the state, who are placed in higher orbs than the people, and are to dispense light and benign influences to them. 2. The limitation: it was confined to a third part of these luminaries; there was some light both of the sun by day, and of the moon and stars by night, but it was only a third part of what they had before. Without determining what is matter of controversy in these points among learned men, we rather choose to make these plain and practical remarks: - (1.) Where the gospel comes to a people, and is but coldly received, and has not its proper effects upon their hearts and lives, it is usually followed with dreadful judgments. (2.) God gives warning to men of his judgments before he sends them; he sounds an alarm by the written word, by ministers, by men's own consciences, and by the signs of the times; so that, if a people be surprised, it is their own fault. (3.) The anger of God against a people makes dreadful work among them; it embitters all their comforts, and makes even life itself bitter and burdensome. (4.) God does not in this world stir up all his wrath, but sets bounds to the most terrible judgments. (5.) Corruptions of doctrine and worship in the church are themselves great judgments, and the usual causes and tokens of other judgments coming on a people. V. Before the other three trumpets are sounded here is solemn warning given to the world how terrible the calamities would be that should follow them, and how miserable those times and places would be on which they fell, Rev 8:13. 1. The messenger was an angel flying in the midst of heaven, as in haste, and coming on an awful errand. 2. The message was a denunciation of further and greater woe and misery than the world had hitherto endured. Here are three woes, to show how much the calamities coming should exceed those that had been already, or to hint how every one of the three succeeding trumpets should introduce its particular and distinct calamity. 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.

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 8 This chapter contains the opening of the seventh seal, and the things that followed on it, and particularly the sounding of the first four trumpets. Upon the opening of the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for half an hour, Rev 8:1; then follows a vision of seven angels, who stood before God, and had seven trumpets given to them, Rev 8:2; then of another angel, described by his position, standing at the altar; by his having a golden censer, and by much incense being given him, the end of which was to offer up the prayers of all saints, which with it went up to God, and were acceptable to him; and by filling his censer with the fire of the altar, and casting it to the earth; the effects of which were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake, Rev 8:3, after which the seven angels prepare to sound their trumpets, Rev 8:6; the first blows his, which brings hail and fire, mingled with blood, upon the earth, which burns up the third part of trees and all green grass, Rev 8:7; the second blows, upon which a burning mountain is cast into the sea, and a third part of it becomes blood, a third part of the creatures in it die, and a third part of the ships upon it are destroyed, Rev 8:8; the third angel blows; upon which a star, like a burning lamp, falls upon the third part of rivers and fountains, whose name is Wormwood, and embitters them, so that many men die of them, Rev 8:10; the fourth angel blows, and the third part of the sun, moon, and stars, is smitten, and becomes dark, so that there is no light for a third part of the day and night, Rev 8:12; and the chapter is concluded with the vision of another angel flying through the midst of heaven, proclaiming three times woe to the inhabitants of the earth, on account of what would be uttered by the three following angels, who were yet to blow their trumpets, Rev 8:13.

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. Some have thought the Arian heresy is here intended, which may well enough agree with the time; and which may be compared to "hail", for the mischief it did to the vines, the churches; and because of the violence with which it came, and the chillness of affection to Christ and his people, which it brought on professors of religion; and the barrenness which followed upon it, it making men barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Jesus; and to "fire", because of the wrath, contentions, animosities, and divisions it occasioned among those who were called Christians: and "blood" may be brought into the account, since the like persecutions under Constantius and Valens were raised against the orthodox on account of it as were against the Christians under the Heathen emperors: and this storm fell upon "the earth"; the whole Roman empire; for even all the world was once said to be Arian, except one Athanasius; and particularly upon the carnal and earthly part of the church, who were seeking places and preferments under the Arian emperors: "and burnt up the third part of trees"; the trees of righteousness, the saints, particularly the doctors of the church, the tall cedars in Lebanon; who either seemed to be such, and were infected with this heresy, and destroyed by it, as many were; or were truly such, and were greatly oppressed, afflicted, and persecuted for not embracing it: and also "all green grass"; the common people, private Christians, weak believers, who had the truth of grace in them, and suffered much for not giving into this heresy; or who seemed to have it, but had it not, but withered away, being scorched up and destroyed with this pernicious notion: but rather this trumpet regards not the church, but the empire; and this storm of hail, fire, and blood, designs the irruption of the Goths into it, from the year 395, in which Theodosius died, to the year 408, under Radagaisus their general; with two hundred thousand of them, some say four hundred thousand, be entered and overrun all Italy, but was stopped and defeated by Stilicho; also Alaricus, king of the Goths, penetrated into Italy, came to Ravenna, and pitched his camp not far from Polentia, to whom the Emperor Honorius gave up France and Spain to make him easy, and that he might cease from his ravages and depredations (h); and these irruptions and devastations may be fitly expressed by hail, fire, and blood, just as the coming of the Assyrian monarch into the land of Israel is signified by a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, Isa 28:2; and it is remarkable, as Mr. Daubuz observes, that Claudian the poet (i), who lived at the time of Alarick's war, compares it to hail: and they were cast upon the earth; the Roman empire, the continent more especially, as Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, which were particularly affected and distressed with these barbarous people: and the third part of trees were burnt up; by which seem to be meant people of the higher rank, the richer sort of people, who suffered much in these calamities; see Isa 2:13; yea, princes, nobles, and rulers, both civil and ecclesiastical, who suffered much at this time, as Jerom (k), who was then living, testifies; and so "trees" are interpreted of kings, rulers, and governors, by the Targum on Isa 2:13; "the trees of the field", in Isa 55:12; are interpreted of kingdoms (l): the Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read before this clause, "and the third part of the earth was burnt"; that is, of the Roman empire: and all green grass was burnt up; the common people, who may be compared to spires of "grass" for their multitude, being as it were innumerable; and to "green" grass, for their delightful, comfortable, and flourishing condition before these calamities came upon them; and for their weakness and impotency to withstand such powerful enemies; see Job 5:25; and these commonly suffer most when a country is overrun and plundered by an enemy. (h) Cassiodor. Chronicon in Arcad. & Honor. 42. Petav. Rationar. Tempor. par. 1. l. 6. c. 10. p. 275. Hist. Eccl. Magdeburg. cent. 5. c. 16. p. 871. (i) De Bello Getico, v. 174. p. 209. Ed. Barthii. (k) In Epitaph. Nepotian. fol. 9. I. (l) Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 50. 1.

By the fire and blood he signifies the wrath of God, which devours the multitude of the impious.

A third of the earth and the trees and all the grass is said to be burned up. The “earth” represents everything terrestrial, while persons who wave about through unfaithfulness are depicted as “trees.” For those blown about by “every wind of doctrine” are mentioned by the apostle Jude, “fruitless trees in late autumn, uprooted, twice dead.” The green grass represents flesh fattened with luxury, for “all flesh is grass.” Although in an earlier passage three fourths were set against one, that is, the church, this passage confines those opposed to the church to two thirds. One third consists of the false brothers who are mixed in among the good within the church, and another third that is separated by the error of the Gentiles or by heretical depravity or by open schism. And so the church (namely, the one third) must struggle against a double evil, as though it were simplicity resisting duplicity. It is as we read in the Gospel that a king with ten thousand went out to war against twenty thousand. And God did make a promise concerning this through Zechariah, saying, “In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds shall be dispersed and perish, and one third shall remain in it; and I shall lead the third part through fire, and I shall refine them as one refines silver, and I shall test them as gold is tested. It shall call my name, and I will answer them and say, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

The “trees” and the “earth” represent people who are the internal enemies of the church and whom [God] shall punish by a future judgment to everlasting punishment. The “grass” represents the flesh, which is fattened through the vices of sins and whose strength and beauty have dried through the heat of the sun. To be sure, the third part which it said was destroyed by being burned up refers to the heretics. For anyone who is found outside of the true church shall be condemned to perpetual torments, along with the devil, who is the author of such division. And so through Zechariah the Lord promised to strike the false shepherds and to free his sheep from their difficulties and to separate the third part, which he says is like the nations and “Sodom,” from the midst of his sheep, that is, from the midst of the pious. “Awake, O sword,” it says, “against the shepherds and those who are next to me, says the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherds and scatter the sheep,” that is, my people. “And I shall test it as gold is tested. It will call me and I will answer it and say, ‘You are my people,’ and it will say ‘You are my God.’ ” Before this separation occurs, all are regarded as the people of God. However, after the separation has happened, then it will become apparent who are the people of God and who are of the devil.

Of the righteous, having been deemed worthy of the blessed end [λήξεως], as it is said to me concerning the release of the sixth seal at the fulfilment, like those who are also caught up before the Lord's coming in the clouds, into the air so that they may meet the coming Lord according to the testimony of the apostle presented to me there (1 Thess. 4:17), the vision then proceeds to the end of the rest of humanity and to the punishment of sinners. When a complete defeat is about to occur, various forms of death and the punishment of the impious will inevitably follow; most of these will be brought about by fire, for on that day fire is destined to reveal itself, as the divine apostle wrote to the Corinthians in his first epistle. (1 Cor. 3:13) For if there are many abodes of rest, as the Lord says (Jn. 14:2), and different places of punishment, the same trumpets that bring death to those on earth will also afterward awaken the dead. What then does it mean when the first angel sounded the trumpet, and hail and fire are cast down upon the earth? One who considers this literally will not stray from the correct interpretation; and if one understands it figuratively, nothing inappropriate will be said. The fire in this context signifies destruction and deep suffering; it represents the pain of sinners who see the saints "caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord," (1 Thess. 4:17) while they themselves remain on earth dishonored and deemed unworthy of any consideration. For the word metaphorically refers to sinners as trees and grass burning, because of their folly, and the insensibility of the soul, which is wooden and suitable for burning.

Some have interpreted these things to depict the punishment of sinners in Gehenna, which is symbolically described as various kinds of physical torment. However, we think it more likely that the third portion is not of those from the totality of people who will be punished in the coming age, but rather—“for the way which leads to destruction is broad”—this passage shows the plagues that will occur before the consummation. The hail indicates the scourgings that will come from heaven for righteous judgment, and the fire mixed with blood indicates the destruction by fire and slaughter at the hands of the barbarians that will occur daily.

By these torments not less than one third of all the creatures on the earth will be physically killed, for wars destroy not only human beings but also everything that is produced upon the earth. And the blessed Joel confirms our understanding of what will come when he says, “Blood and fire and vapor of smoke will come before the great day.”

And the first angel sounded the trumpet. Rightly, the preaching of the plagues of the trumpet, which is a sign of war, is compared. “Lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgressions” (Isaiah 58). And elsewhere, “Set the trumpet to your lips, like an eagle over the house of the Lord” (Hosea 8), that is, preach loudly that Nebuchadnezzar will come to destroy the temple.

And there was hail and fire, mixed with blood, etc. It is proclaimed by the voice of preachers that the punishment of hell is due for bloodstained deeds, saying: “From excessive heat they will pass by the waters of snow” (Job 24). The name blood can also mean the death of the spiritual soul itself. Tyconius interprets this verse thus: “the wrath of God was made, which had in it the death of many.”

And a third part of the earth was burned up, etc. The life of the good consists in teachers and listeners. “Blessed is the one who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy” (Revelation 1). The third part of the wicked lacks both of these. For good earth, bringing forth fruit with patience (Luke 8), receives blessing from the Lord (Psalm 23). But the bad produces thorns and thistles, whose end is in burning. Thus, the farmer Father cultivates the fruitful tree, but cuts down the barren one, providing it as fuel for the fire (Matthew 7).

And all green grass was burned up. All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40), which now, fattened with the softness of luxury, loses the flower of beauty under the burning sun of judgment, and, as the Lord says, today it is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven (Matthew 6). Tyconius says about the third part in this place. He calls the third part the internal enemies. However, anything outside the Church is called the third part, and the Church is the third part, which fights against the double evil.

And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the earth, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. By hail is represented the wrath of God Almighty, according to this: The wrath of the Lord is like hail coming down. By fire is indicated jealousy or hatred, and it is right to say that it is mingled with blood, because, according to John's saying, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. [1 John 3:15] The Lord promises through Isaiah that the Church cannot be burned by this fire, saying, When thou shalt walk through fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flame shall not burn in thee. [Is. 43:2] Moreover it should be noted that when he says the third part perished, we should not think that two parts consisting of the elect remained, which would contradict this: Many are called, but few are chosen. [Matt. 22:14] Indeed this number does not seem to pertain to literal quality, but to figurative quantity, and this is shown by the very change that says in one place that two thirds came into the lot of the reprobates, in another place that it was three thirds, and in a third place one third. What is more, above he divided the whole body of the Devil into four parts, now in two thirds, then in three, then in one; but one third is not smaller than two or three; for when he divides the Devil's body into four parts, he wants us to understand one part in the Church, consisting of false brothers, and three outside, namely the heretics, the Jews, and the pagans. When he divides the whole body into three thirds, we should understand one onefold part inside consisting of the wicked faithful, one twofold part outside consisting of the Jews and heretics, and also one onefold part outside, consisting of the Gentiles. When he symbolizes one part of the body by the same tripled number three, making two parts in all out of the three thirds, he wants us to understand there both hidden and overt heretics. There remains one third inside and outside, which retains in itself the symbols of all. When he divides the Devil's body into two thirds, he wants us to understand one onefold third inside consisting of bad Christians, and one threefold third outside consisting of the Jews, heretics, and pagans. One should also know that the earth is the same as the trees, that is the sum of the wicked encompassed in two thirds, one of which is onefold, and the other threefold: for sinners are the earth because they seek earthly things, and they are trees because they sway to and fro in their instability. About these it is said by Jude, These are trees of the autumn, unfruitful, plucked up by the roots, twice dead. [Jude 12] So two thirds are burned up by the sending of hail and fire with blood, and one is left unharmed by this, because, as the wrath of the heavenly Judge increases and the society of the old enemy is not gathered together by the preaching of the saints, this society is put on fire by the flames of its own hatred, whereas Christ's congregation is harassed by the hatred of the wicked, but it is not consumed by it. As for what is said after that, All green grass was burnt up, it seems to be a repetition of the same idea: all green grass was burned up in the two thirds; all green grass, that is the said part of the wicked, consumed by the flames of its own hatred. The greenness of grass indeed signifies here the enticements of the flesh, according to this: All flesh is grass; [Is. 40:6] whence, on the other hand, it is told that the crowds fed by the Lord sat upon green grass, [Mark 6:39] which means that they subdue the pleasures of the flesh by repressing them.

The opening of the seventh seal, Rev 8:1. The seven angels with the seven trumpets, Rev 8:2-6. The first sounds, and there is a shower of hail, fire, and blood, Rev 8:7. The second sounds, and the burning mountain is cast into the sea, Rev 8:8, Rev 8:9. The third sounds, and the great star Wormwood falls from heaven, Rev 8:10, Rev 8:11. The fourth sounds, and the sun, moon, and stars are smitten; and a threefold wo is denounced against the inhabitants of the earth, because of the three angels who are yet to sound, Rev 8:12, Rev 8:13.

Hail and fire mingled with blood - This was something like the ninth plague of Egypt. See Exo 9:18-24 : "The Lord sent thunder and hail - and fire mingled with the hail - and the fire ran along upon the ground." In the hail and fire mingled with blood, some fruitful imaginations might find gunpowder and cannon balls, and canister shot and bombs. They were cast upon the earth - Εις την γην· Into that land; viz., Judea, thus often designated. And the third part of trees - Before this clause the Codex Alexandrinus, thirty-five others, the Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate, Andreas, Arethas, and some others, have και το τριτον της γης κατεκαη· And the third part of the land was burnt up. This reading, which is undoubtedly genuine, is found also in the Complutensian Polyglot. Griesbach has received it into the text. The land was wasted; the trees - the chiefs of the nation, were destroyed; and the grass - the common people, slain, or carried into captivity. High and low, rich and poor, were overwhelmed with one general destruction. This seems to be the meaning of these figures. Many eminent men suppose that the irruption of the barbarous nations on the Roman empire is here intended. It is easy to find coincidences when fancy runs riot. Later writers might find here the irruption of the Austrians and British, and Prussians, Russians, and Cossacks, on the French empire!

SEVENTH SEAL. PREPARATION FOR THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. THE FIRST FOUR AND THE CONSEQUENT PLAGUES. (Rev 8:1-13) was--Greek, "came to pass"; "began to be." silence in heaven about . . . half an hour--The last seal having been broken open, the book of God's eternal plan of redemption is opened for the Lamb to read to the blessed ones in heaven. The half hour's silence contrasts with the previous jubilant songs of the great multitude, taken up by the angels (Rev 7:9-11). It is the solemn introduction to the employments and enjoyments of the eternal Sabbath-rest of the people of God, commencing with the Lamb's reading the book heretofore sealed up, and which we cannot know till then. In Rev 10:4, similarly at the eve of the sounding of the seventh trumpet, when the seven thunders uttered their voices, John is forbidden to write them. The seventh trumpet (Rev 11:15-19) winds up God's vast plan of providence and grace in redemption, just as the seventh seal brings it to the same consummation. So also the seventh vial, Rev 16:17. Not that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, though parallel, are repetitions. They each trace the course of divine action up to the grand consummation in which they all meet, under a different aspect. Thunders, lightnings, an earthquake, and voices close the seven thunders and the seven seals alike (compare Rev 8:5, with Rev 11:19). Compare at the seventh vial, the voices, thunders, lightnings, and earthquake, Rev 16:18. The half-hour silence is the brief pause GIVEN TO JOHN between the preceding vision and the following one, implying, on the one hand, the solemn introduction to the eternal sabbatism which is to follow the seventh seal; and, on the other, the silence which continued during the incense-accompanied prayers which usher in the first of the seven trumpets (Rev 8:3-5). In the Jewish temple, musical instruments and singing resounded during the whole time of the offering of the sacrifices, which formed the first part of the service. But at the offering of incense, solemn silence was kept ("My soul waiteth upon God," Psa 62:1; "is silent," Margin; Psa 65:1, Margin), the people praying secretly all the time. The half-hour stillness implies, too, the earnest adoring expectation with which the blessed spirits and the angels await the succeeding unfolding of God's judgments. A short space is implied; for even an hour is so used (Rev 17:12; Rev 18:10, Rev 18:19).

The common feature of the first four trumpets is, the judgments under them affect natural objects, the accessories of life, the earth, trees, grass, the sea, rivers, fountains, the light of the sun, moon, and stars. The last three, the woe-trumpets (Rev 8:13), affect men's life with pain, death, and hell. The language is evidently drawn from the plagues of Egypt, five or six out of the ten exactly corresponding: the hail, the fire (Exo 9:24), the WATER turned to blood (Exo 7:19), the darkness (Exo 10:21), the locusts (Exo 10:12), and perhaps the death (Rev 9:18). Judicial retribution in kind characterizes the inflictions of the first four, those elements which had been abused punishing their abusers. mingled with--A, B, and Vulgate read, Greek, ". . . IN blood." So in the case of the second and third vials (Rev 16:3-4). upon the earth--Greek, "unto the earth." A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac add, "And the third of the earth was burnt up." So under the third trumpet, the third of the rivers is affected: also, under the sixth trumpet, the third part of men are killed. In Zac 13:8-9 this tripartite division appears, but the proportions reversed, two parts killed, only a third preserved. Here, vice versa, two-thirds escape, one-third is smitten. The fire was the predominant element. all green grass--no longer a third, but all is burnt up.