---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Revelation 8"
description: "CHAPTER 8   :-. SEVENTH SEAL.
PREPARATION FOR THE SEVEN
TRUMPETS. THE
FIRST FOUR
AND THE CONSEQUENT
PLAGUES. 1. was—Greek, \"came
to pass\"; \"began to be.\""
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/revelation/8"
---

CHAPTER 8

. SEVENTH SEAL.
PREPARATION FOR THE SEVEN
TRUMPETS. THE
FIRST FOUR
AND THE CONSEQUENT
PLAGUES.

**1. 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* (). 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 , 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 () 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, . 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 [Revelation 8:5](../../../kjv/revelation/8/5);
[Revelation 11:19](../../../kjv/revelation/11/19)). Compare at the
seventh vial, the voices, thunders, lightnings, and earthquake, [Revelation 11:19](../../../kjv/revelation/11/19). *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 ([Revelation 11:19](../../../kjv/revelation/11/19)). 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," [Psalms 62:1](../../../kjv/psalms/62/1); "is
silent," *Margin;* [Psalms 62:1](../../../kjv/psalms/62/1), *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 ([Revelation 17:12](../../../kjv/revelation/17/12);
[Revelation 18:10](../../../kjv/revelation/18/10); [Revelation 18:19](../../../kjv/revelation/18/19)).

**2. 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 , "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 ([Revelation 6:10](../../../kjv/revelation/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 [Revelation 11:15](../../../kjv/revelation/11/15);
[Revelation 11:18](../../../kjv/revelation/11/18), end, at the close of
the seven trumpets. The Revelation becomes more special only as it
advances farther ([Revelation 13:1-18](../../../kjv/revelation/13/1-18);
[Revelation 16:10](../../../kjv/revelation/16/10); [Revelation 17:18](../../../kjv/revelation/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*
([Revelation 8:7-13](../../../kjv/revelation/8/7-13)).

**3. another angel**—not Christ,
as many think; for He, in Revelation, is always designated by one of
His proper titles; though, doubtless, He is the only true High
Priest, the Angel of the Covenant, standing before the golden altar
of incense, and there, as Mediator, offering up His people's prayers,
rendered acceptable before God through the incense of His merit. Here
the angel acts merely as a *ministering spirit* (), just as the twenty-four elders *have vials full of odors,*
or incense, *which are the prayers of saints* (), and which they present before the Lamb. How precisely their
ministry, in perfuming the prayers of the saints and offering them on
the altar of incense, is exercised, we know not, but we do know they
are not to be prayed TO.
If we send an offering of tribute to the king, the king's messenger
is not allowed to appropriate what is due to the king alone.
**there was given unto him**—The
angel does not provide the incense; it is *given to him* by
Christ, whose meritorious obedience and death are the incense,
rendering the saints' prayers well pleasing to God. 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. Christ's merits alone can thus *incense* our
prayers, though the angelic ministry be employed to attach this
incense to the prayers. The saints' praying on earth, and the angel's
incensing in heaven, are simultaneous.
**all saints**—The prayers
both of the saints in the heavenly rest, and of those militant on
earth. The martyrs' cry is the foremost, and brings down the ensuing
judgments.
**golden altar**—antitype
to the earthly.

**4. the smoke . . .*****which
came*****with the prayers . . . ascended up**—rather, "the
smoke of the incense FOR
(or '*given* TO':
'given' being understood from ) the prayers of the saints ascended up, out of the angel's
hand, in the presence of Gods" The angel merely burns the
incense given him by Christ the High Priest, so that its smoke blends
with the ascending prayers of the saints. The saints themselves are
priests; and the angels in this priestly ministration are but *their
fellow servants* ([Revelation 19:10](../../../kjv/revelation/19/10)).

**5. cast it into the earth**—that
is, *unto* the earth: the hot coals off the altar cast on the
earth, symbolize God's fiery judgments about to descend on the
Church's foes in answer to the saints' incense-perfumed prayers which
have just ascended before God, and those of the martyrs. How
marvellous the power of the saints' prayers!
**there were**—"there
took place," or "ensued."
**voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings**—B places the "voices" after "thunderings."
A places it after "lightnings."

**6. sound**—blow the trumpets.

**7.** 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* (), 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* (), the WATER
*turned to blood* ([Exodus 7:19](../../../kjv/exodus/7/19)),
the *darkness* ([Exodus 10:21](../../../kjv/exodus/10/21)),
the *locusts* ([Exodus 10:12](../../../kjv/exodus/10/12)),
and perhaps the *death* ([Exodus 10:12](../../../kjv/exodus/10/12)). 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 ([Revelation 16:3](../../../kjv/revelation/16/3);
[Revelation 16:4](../../../kjv/revelation/16/4)).
**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
[Zechariah 13:8](../../../kjv/zechariah/13/8); [Zechariah 13:9](../../../kjv/zechariah/13/9)
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.*

**8. as it were**—not literally a
mountain: a mountain-like burning mass. There is a plain allusion to
[Jeremiah 51:25](../../../kjv/jeremiah/51/25); [Amos 7:4](../../../kjv/amos/7/4).
**third part of the sea became
blood**—In the parallel second vial, the *whole* sea (not
merely *a third*) becomes *blood.* 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. On the *seventh* day, at the
*seventh* time, when the *seven* priests blew the *seven*
ram's horn trumpets, the people shouted, and the walls fell flat: and
then ensued the *blood-shedding* of the foe. A mountain-like
fiery mass would not naturally change water into blood; nor would the
third part of *ships* be thereby destroyed.

**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* ().

**10. a lamp**—*a torch.*

**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. And "wormwood,"
though medicinal in some cases, if used as ordinary water would not
only be disagreeable to the taste, but also fatal to life: so
"heretical wormwood changes the sweet Siloas of Scripture into
deadly Marahs" [WORDSWORTH].
Contrast the converse change of bitter Marah water into sweet, . ALFORD gives as
an illustration in a physical point of view, the conversion of water
into *firewater* or *ardent* spirits, which may yet go on
to destroy even as many as a third of the ungodly in the latter days.

**12. third part**—not a *total*
obscuration as in the sixth seal ([Revelation 6:12](../../../kjv/revelation/6/12);
[Revelation 6:13](../../../kjv/revelation/6/13)). 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.

**13. an angel**—A, B, *Vulgate,
Syriac,* and *Coptic* read for "angel," which is
supported by none of the oldest manuscripts, "an eagle":
the symbol of judgment descending fatally from on high; the king of
birds pouncing on the prey. Compare this fourth trumpet and the
flying *eagle* with the fourth seal introduced by the fourth
living creature, "like a flying eagle," [Revelation 4:7](../../../kjv/revelation/4/7);
[Revelation 6:7](../../../kjv/revelation/6/7); [Revelation 6:8](../../../kjv/revelation/6/8):
the aspect of Jesus as presented by the fourth Evangelist. *John*
is compared in the cherubim (according to the primitive
interpretation) to a flying eagle: *Christ's divine majesty* in
this similitude is set forth in the Gospel according to John, His
*judicial visitations* in the Revelation of John. Contrast
"another angel," or *messenger,* with "the
everlasting Gospel," [Revelation 14:6](../../../kjv/revelation/14/6).
**through the midst of
heaven**—*Greek,* "in the mid-heaven," that is, in
the part of the sky where the sun reaches the *meridian:* in
such a position as that the eagle is an object conspicuous to all.
**the inhabiters of the
earth**—the ungodly, the "men of the world," whose
"portion is in this life," upon whom the martyrs had prayed
that their blood might be avenged ([Revelation 14:6](../../../kjv/revelation/14/6)). Not that they sought personal revenge, but their zeal was
for the honor of God against the foes of God and His Church.
**the other**—*Greek,*
"*the remaining* voices."

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