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DoWeKnow Studies the Book of Revelation CHAPTER 8:2-7 (24754 bytes)

-CHAPTERS 8:1-7-

Introduction to the Fifth Rendering of Daniel's Seventieth Week

(The authors' on-line book the Clock of the Ages is a study of Matthew 24 & 25, a lengthy passage which contains the most thorough prophetic teaching given by our Lord Jesus. Because those prophecies will affect the Church and because those prophecies are essential to our understanding of the Book of Revelation, it is recommended that Clock of the Ages be read before entering this study.)

Jesus gave us the key to understanding the prophecies of the Book of Revelationn in His discourse to the disciples in Matthew 24 and 25. (This key applies to other major prophetic portions of the Bible as well.) We discussed the key in some detail in chapter twenty-nine of our book The Clock of the Ages were we referred to His prophecies as "Spiritual Replays" (See Clock of the Ages, booklet eight, chapter 29. To return to this page, use the "back" button on your browser.) In that discourse Jesus gave us ten important end-time prophecies, each prophecy to take place at the end of our age, and each prophecy ending with the same event; i.e., the Rapture of the Church. Because the prophetic portion of Revelation covers the time period from the Rapture of the Church to the end of the world at the end of the Kingdom Age, the period for each replay includes the two remaining "night watches" (See clock of the Ages, booklet seven, chapter 28) assigned to Israel: i.e., "the cockcrowing"--the first 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70th Week just prior to the installation of the Kingdom Age, and "the morning watch"--the second 3 1/2 period of Daniel's 70th week at the end of the Kingdom Age.

FIFTH SET

-The 1st 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week-
Rev. 8:1-5--The angel with the golden censer.
The language sounds as though the earth will be rocked by something powerful--perhaps, A-bombs or something stronger.		 -The 2nd 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week-
Rev. 8:6-7--The first trumpet is blown.
Again, the language suggests that the earth will suffer the violence of something powerful--perhaps something even stronger than our present weaponry.
8:2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

The things mentioned in this verse--i.e., the altar, the golden censer, the incense, the golden altar--were all were used in the Hebrews' worship of Jehovah God. And they pointed forward to the Grace Age were in men and women would worship God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23). The spiritual application is:

>as the incense is a valuable, pleasing aroma to man, so are the prayers of the saints to God;

>in our age wherein the "temple of God" is now the body of the believer, the altar is our heart (inner man);

>the golden censer is representative of our "quickened" spirits, born anew because of our faith in Christ;

>and the golden altar is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). It is as we offer prayers in His name that they are accepted of God and made to be a sweet smelling aroma to Him.

8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

Here we see depicted the offerings of the faithful during the ages of Promise and the Law coming up before God with the prayers of the saints of the Grace Age.
Think on it! If one man Noah condemned the whole world of his day, how much more will the lives and deaths and prayers of the saints of the past three ages condemn a world in a mad race to ungodliness and insanity? (Heb. 11:7)

8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Prior to the 1st 1/2 of Daniel's 70 Week, the earth's woes will have been brought about by a furious Satan and evil men; but from the Rapture forward to the time that Christ sets up His kingdom, the inhabitants of the earth who have steadfastly rejected the grace of God in Christ Jesus will enter into the wrath and fury that will be poured out on Satan and his followers--a wrath that was never intended for man. (i.e., the wrath that was absorbed by Christ on the cross for all who will believe.) However, before the judgments of God begin to fall, there is one final thing to be done. God reminds Himself and all of heaven of the tears and prayers and suffering of the saints down through the centuries.

 

 8:6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

When we consider that the angels seem to be able to come and go at will from our dimension to theirs, and that they seem to be able to do what they want, the fact that they have to prepare themselves to sound should give us some premonition of what's to come.

8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood...By this time the A/H bombs of our age will probably be extinct. But if the people used by Satan during the "little season" use the technology of the day to the making of weapons--well, they could very well produce hail (Hail is formed when extreme heat hits the cold atmosphere.), fire (It could be that they will set the atmosphere itself on fire.), and blood (?Could the atmosphere be filled with bloody fragments of the flesh of both man and animals?). This makes one to wonder if part of the angels' preparation was so as they could contain what's to come so that it wouldn't destroy the earth before its time.

...and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up...Is this to be taken literally only, or does it also apply to a third part of the sealed Israelites (the "trees" of prophecy)? If their being "sealed" means that Satan cannot touch their bodies, then it would be literal only; but if just their souls and spirits will be sealed (as it now is with the Church), then this could account for some of the martyrs of the last 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week.

...and all green grass was burnt up. In addition to the grass of the fields, could this also mean that all of the young men (and women?) who escaped the judgments up to this point will be killed by this warfare, either as combatants or victims (Lk. 12:28; James 1:10-11; I Peter 1:24)? Remember, at this point in time God is fixing to wind things down which will include destroying the present heaven and earth by fire to make place for a new heaven and earth that will have no taint of sin. ("But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness" [II Peter 3:10-11] )

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And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire...In the Scriptures "fire" is often associated with "testing" and " judgment." With the believers that God considers to be "gold" because of their standing in Christ, the fire is for refining, burning away the dross and leaving the pure gold; and much of this "fire" came at the hands of the ungodly. But with the unbelievers that are referred to in the Bible as "chaff," the fire will be of judgment and will utterly consume them.

...of the altar...God will bring to remembrance every sincere offering made from the flood to Christ and every sincere prayer that the Church has offered in the name of Jesus from the day of Pentecost till now.

...and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake...Again, these words are associated with divine judgment. It looks like nature is in for a beating. This wording brings to mind the atmospheric storms brought about by the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, only these storms and shakings will be on a more massive scale.

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