Revelation 8:2 Kommentar

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.).

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.

And I saw the seven angels,.... Not the seven spirits of God, Rev 1:4; their names, as well as their office, differ; nor the ministers of the word, though these are often called angels in this book, and blow the trumpet of the Gospel, and lift up their voice like a trumpet; but the angelic spirits, and these either evil ones, since they are the executioners of wrath and vengeance, and bring judgments on the earth; and who, are sometimes said to stand before God, Kg1 22:21; or rather good angels, who are sometimes ministers of divine wrath; see Sa2 24:16; "seven" of them are mentioned, as being a proper number for the blowing of the seven trumpets, which would complete all the woes that were to come upon the world, and in allusion to the seven princes the eastern monarchs used to have continually about them, Est 1:14, as it follows: which stood before God; and denotes their nearness to him, and familiarity with him, they always behold his face; and their service and ministrations, and their readiness to execute his will: the allusion is to the two priests standing at the table of fat, with two silver trumpets in their hands, with which they blew, and another struck the cymbal, and the Levites sung, which was always done at the time of the daily sacrifice (p): and to them were given seven trumpets: everyone had one; and which were an emblem of those wars, and desolations, and calamities, which would come upon the empire, and upon the world, at the blowing of each of them; the trumpet being an alarm, preparing for, proclaiming, and introducing these things; Jer 4:19; these are said to be given them; either by him that sat upon the throne, about which they were; or by the Lamb that opened the seal; and shows that they did nothing but what they had a commission and order to do. Here is manifestly an allusion to the priests and Levites blowing their trumpets at the close of the daily sacrifice, and at the offering of incense (q) as before observed. (p) Misn. Tamid. c. 7. sect. 3. (q) Maimon. Hilch. Tamidin, c. 6. sect. 5.

In the seven angels we shall recognize again the church according to that rule that indicates that universality is often to be acknowledged in the number seven. [The church] is said to have received a most powerful trumpet of proclamation by which she is strong and by which, we believe, every age comes to faith. For we read, “Life up your voice like a trumpet.”

Then it is said that seven trumpets were given to the seven angels so that they might sound them as a king takes his place. With these same trumpets, the dead were also about to be awakened; for the wise apostle to the Thessalonians, writing about divine matters, says in the first epistle that "the Lord Himself will descend with a command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." (1 Thess. 4:16) And again, he says, "for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible." (1 Cor. 15:52)

And I saw seven angels standing before God, etc. The Church, often commended by the number seven, is devoted to the duty of preaching, the first trumpet signifying the common destruction of the impious by fire and hail; the second, the devil expelled from the Church, more fervently inflaming the sea of the world; the third, heretics falling away from the Church, corrupting the rivers of the Holy Scripture; the fourth, the downfall of false brethren in the obscuration of the stars; the fifth, the greater infestation of heretics preceding the time of the Antichrist; the sixth, the open war of the Antichrist and his followers against the Church, and, by recapitulation from the coming of the Lord, the insertion of the destruction of the same adversary; the seventh, the day of judgment, when the Lord will render the reward to His own and will destroy those who have corrupted the earth.

And I saw seven angels standing in the sight of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer. In this place he upsets the order of the narration and interposes something; for, as the following will show, the angel with the censer came and stood before the altar before they received the seven trumpets. He interposes something because he introduced this angel with the censer in the middle before he had finished talking about the others. So, what do we understand by the seven angels but the holy Church in its preachers, who are the announcers of eternal life? It is also right for them to be said to be seven in number, because they are filled up with the sevenfold Spirit, or because they are put in charge of the totality of believers. They are said to be standing in the sight of God because they have trodden earthly desires underfoot and stick to divine contemplation. What is shown by their seven trumpets but the perfect preaching of the Old and of the New Testament? According to this: Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. [Is. 58:1] By the fact that it is the office of a priest to stand by the altar and burn incense prepared with spices, we realize that this angel is the Mediator between God and men, the Angel of the seven angels, and, so to speak, the Pontiff of the seven priests, he about whom the prophet said, angel of great counsel. [Is. 9:6 acc. to LXX, where the verse is number 5.] From this we clearly gather that he came before the seven angels received the trumpets. By the altar are represented the elect, in whom a spiritual sacrifice is being performed. So, the angel came by the flesh, and stood by the divinity. Also, what is represented by the censer but Christ's humanity? It is appropriate for it to be called golden, because the flesh assumed by the Word of God is, together with him, the wisdom about which it is said, Take wisdom as gold. [Variant of Prov. 16:16] The censer, in which spices are burned, may also symbolize the Church, which says every day, kindled by the fire of divine love, Let my prayer be directed as incense, etc. [Ps. 140:2] Then it is rightly said after that concerning Christ alone: And there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. Just as smoke comes out of burned spices, so is the virtue of devotion produced by zeal for prayer. However, in order for the incense to become pleasing to God, it is given to the angel, which means that the zeal of prayers is entrusted to our Redeemer. The body is totally unable to speak to God but by the agency of the Head. The fact that the incense is offered on the golden altar shows that the sacrifice of prayers is accepted by him nowhere else but in the body of Christ, all of which shines with the wisdom of the divine Word. Note also that the throne and the altar before the throne do not signify two Churches, but one, just like Noah's ark and the eight souls in it. [Cf. Gen. 6; 1 Peter 3:20]

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.

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.

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 seven angels--Compare the apocryphal Tobit 12:15, "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One." Compare Luk 1:19, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." stood--Greek, "stand." seven trumpets--These come in during the time while the martyrs rest until their fellow servants also, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled; for it is the inhabiters of the earth on whom the judgments fall, on whom also the martyrs prayed that they should fall (Rev 6:10). All the ungodly, and not merely some one portion of them, are meant, all the opponents and obstacles in the way of the kingdom of Christ and His saints, as is proved by Rev 11:15, Rev 11:18, end, at the close of the seven trumpets. The Revelation becomes more special only as it advances farther (Rev. 13:1-18; Rev 16:10; Rev 17:18). By the seven trumpets the world kingdoms are overturned to make way for Christ's universal kingdom. The first four are connected together; and the last three, which alone have Woe, woe, woe (Rev 8:7-13).