Chapter 8

1 At the opening of the seventh seal, 2 seven angels had seven trumpets given them. 6 Four of them sound their trumpets, and great plagues follow. 3 Another angel puteth incense to the prayers of the saints on the golden altar.

1. Seventh seal. Chapter 6 portrays the opening of the first six of the seven seals. Chapter 7 is parenthetical in that it interrupts the opening of the seals to show that God has a true people who will be able to stand through the terrors that have been portrayed (see on ch. 6:17). Now the vision returns to the opening of the seals.

Silence in heaven. In contrast with the spectacular events that follow the opening of the other seals, an awesome silence follows the opening of the seventh. This silence has been explained in at least two ways. Some hold that this silence in heaven, following upon the terrible events that take place on earth immediately preceding the second coming (ch. 6:14–16), is caused by the heavenly hosts’ having left the celestial courts to accompany Christ to the earth (see Matt. 25:31).

Another view explains this silence in heaven to be a silence of awesome expectation (cf. references to silence in EW 15, 16; DA 693). Thus far the heavenly courts have been portrayed as filled with praise and song. Now all is quiet, in awesome expectancy of the things that are about to occur. So understood, this silence of the seventh seal forms a bridge between the opening of the seals and the blowing of the trumpets, for it implies that with the seventh seal the revelation is not complete—there is still more to be explained concerning God’s program of events in the great controversy with evil (see on v. 5).

Half an hour. Some interpreters have understood this in terms of the prophetic time formula of a day representing a literal year (see on Dan. 7:25). On this basis “half an hour” would be equal to about one literal week (cf. EW 16). Others hold that there is no clear warrant in Scripture for taking as prophetic time any period less than a whole day, and so have preferred to understand “for the space of half an hour” as signifying simply a short period of unspecified length. Seventh-day Adventists have generally favored the first view.

2. I saw. See on ch. 4:1.

The seven angels. Although he has nowhere previously mentioned these seven angels, John evidently takes for granted that their identity is sufficiently established by the statement of the fact that they are “the seven angels which stood before God.”

Stood. Rather, “stand.”

Seven trumpets. In the present vision the seven angels blow their trumpets to announce forthcoming divine judgments (see on vs. 5, 6).

3. Another angel. That is, not one of the seven angels with the trumpets.

The altar. Compare Ex. 30:1–10.

Censer. Compare Lev. 10:1.

Much incense. See Ex. 30:34–38.

With the prayers. The picture is that of the angel adding incense to the prayers of the saints as these prayers ascend to the throne of God. The scene portrayed may be understood as symbolic of the ministration of Christ for His people (see Rom. 8:34; 1 John 2:1; cf. PP 356; GC 414, 415; EW 32, 252). Christ, as intercessor, mingles His merits with the prayers of the saints, which are thereby made acceptable with God.

4. Smoke of the incense. See on v. 3.

5. Filled it with fire. A change suddenly comes in the scene of intercession. Once more the angel fills his censer with coals of fire, but adds no incense.

Cast it into the earth. The meaning of this act is significant for the understanding of what follows as the trumpets are blown. Two interpretations may be suggested.

According to the view that Seventh-day Adventists have favored, the cessation of the angel’s ministry at the altar of incense is symbolic of the end of the ministration of Christ for mankind—the close of probation. The voices, thunderings, lightnings, and earthquake that ensue when the angel casts the censer into the earth describe events to take place at the end of the seventh trumpet, following the opening of the temple (ch. 11:19), and at the seventh plague, when a voice comes from the temple declaring, “It is done” (ch. 16:17).

Some prefer to see ch. 8:3–5, not so much in its chronological, as in its logical, relationship to the seals and the trumpets. This view agrees with the preceding one that the ministry of the angel at the altar of incense is representative of Christ’s intercession for His people throughout the Christian Era. But it emphasizes the fact that the prayers of the saints are seen ascending, and interprets the significance of these prayers in terms of the prayers of the martyrs revealed under the fifth seal: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” (ch. 6:10). Not only was this the prayer of the martyrs, it was also the theme of the prayers of all God’s children who suffered under the horrors portrayed when the seals were opened. Thus when the prayers of ch. 8:3 are taken in the setting of the seals, the action of the angel in throwing a censer of fire unmixed with incense into the earth may be seen as symbolizing that these prayers are now being answered. In ch. 6:11 the suffering saints were given a temporary answer in that they were told to wait until the number of martyrs was made up. Now the real answer to their prayer comes. God’s wrath against the persecutors of His people is not withheld forever. Finally it is poured out, and without benefit of the intercession of Christ. The trumpets are regarded as portraying these judgments. This second view attempts to tie together the seals and trumpets by setting forth the trumpets to be the answer of God to the events portrayed under the seals.

Voices. For repetitions of these portents see chs. 11:19; 16:18; cf. above on “cast it into the earth.”

6. Seven angels. See on v. 2.

Seven trumpets. See on v. 2. A number of views have been set forth as to the interpretation of the successive scenes that follow the blowing of the trumpets.

One view of the trumpets is based on the assumption that since the symbolization of v. 5 points to the end of Christ’s intercession, the events that follow might logically be taken to represent judgments of God poured out on the earth after the close of probation. According to this view these judgments parallel the seven last plagues (ch. 16). The proponents of this view point to certain aspects of each of the trumpets that find similar features in each of the plagues.

According to another view the seven trumpets should not be thought of chronologically, but as symbolic of the divine answer to the prayers of God’s suffering people of all ages. In other words, this interpretation sees the trumpets as God’s reassurance to His persecuted saints that in spite of the wars, plagues, famines, and death through which they may pass, He has not lost control of the world. He is still judge and will punish unrighteous men. See on v. 5.

The view favored by Seventh-day Adventists is that these trumpets retrace, to a large extent, the period of Christian history already covered by the seven churches (chs. 2; 3) and the seven seals (chs. 6; 8:1), and that they emphasize outstanding political and military events during this period. These events will be discussed below in the comments on the various trumpets.

7. Hail and fire. The picture here is that of a great storm of hail mixed with lightning, reminiscent of the seventh plague in Egypt (Ex. 9:22–25).

Earth. The earth, with its vegetation, is shown as the particular target of this scourge (cf. ch. 16:2). The scourge is singularly descriptive of the invasion of the Roman Empire by the Visigoths under Alaric. This was the first of the Teutonic incursions into the Roman Empire that played such an important part in its final downfall. Beginning about a.d. 396, the Visigoths overran Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece in the eastern part of the empire. Later they crossed the Alps and pillaged the city of Rome in a.d. 410. They also ravaged much of what is now France and ultimately settled in Spain.

Third part. This fraction occurs repeatedly in the Revelation (see vs. 8, 9, 11, 12; chs. 9:15, 18; 12:4; cf. Zech. 13:8, 9). It probably implies a substantial part, but not a major portion.

All green grass. The severity of this tempest is dramatized by showing it as destroying much of the vegetation of the earth.

8. As it were. John apparently finds in a burning mountain the closest representation of the scene that takes place before his eyes. The figure of “burning mountains” occurs in Jewish apocalyptic literature (see Enoch 18:13; R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2, p. 200), but there is no evidence that John derived from that source his description of the phenomenon he now sees. Compare Jer. 51:25, where the prophet describes Babylon as a “destroying mountain” that will be made a “burnt mountain.”

Sea. The sea, with the life in it and upon it, is shown as the special object of this judgment (cf. ch. 16:3).

The catastrophe announced by the second trumpet has been seen as describing the depredations of the Vandals. Driven from their settlements in Thrace by the incursions of the Huns from Central Asia, the Vandals migrated through Gaul (now France) and Spain into Roman North Africa and established a kingdom centering around Carthage. From there they dominated the western Mediterranean with a navy of pirates, pillaging the coasts of Spain, Italy, and even Greece, and preying upon Roman shipping. The high point of their depredations came in a.d. 455, when for two weeks they looted and pillaged the city of Rome.

Third part. See on v. 7.

Sea became blood. This judgment is reminiscent of the first plague in Egypt (Ex. 7:20). In the second plague (Rev. 16:3) the sea “became as the blood of a dead man.” “Blood” here doubtless implies wholesale human slaughter.

9. Creatures. Gr. ktismata, “things created.” The Greek word does not necessarily imply life, hence the qualification “which … had life.” See Ex. 7:21.

Life. Gr. psuchai (see on Matt. 10:28).

10. Fell a great star. This has been interpreted as portraying the invasion and ravages of the Huns under the leadership of their king Attila, in the 5th century. Entering Europe from Central Asia about a.d. 372, the Huns first settled along the lower Danube. Three quarters of a century later they were on the move again, and for a brief period raised havoc in various regions of the tottering Roman Empire. Crossing the Rhine in a.d. 451, they were stopped by combined Roman and German troops at Chalфns in northern Gaul. After a short period of marauding in Italy, Attila died in a.d. 453, and almost immediately the Huns disappeared from history. In spite of the short period of their ascendancy, so rapacious were the Huns in their devastations that their name has come down through history as synonymous with the worst slaughter and destruction.

Lamp. Gr. lampas, here probably meaning a torch (see on Matt. 25:1).

Third part. See on v. 7.

The rivers. This judgment falls upon the sources of fresh water, as contrasted with the salt-water bodies affected under the previous trumpet (v. 8; cf. ch. 16:4).

11. Name. As the “name” often denotes a characteristic of that to which it is attached, the name of this star may be taken as descriptive of the judgment that falls under this trumpet (see on Acts 3:16).

Wormwood. Gr. apsinthos, a notoriously bitter herb, Artemisia absinthium. In the present passage the waters themselves become wormwood.

12. Third part. See on v. 7.

The sun. The sun, moon, and stars have been interpreted to represent the great luminaries of the Western Roman government—its emperors, senators, and consuls. With the removal of its last emperor, in 476, the extinction of Western Rome began (see pp. 21, 22; cf. p. 111). Later, its senate and consulship came to an end.

Shone not for a third part. The thought seems to be that these bodies would be smitten during one third of the time of their shining, not that one third of the bodies themselves would be smitten so that they would shine with two-thirds brilliance. Thus one third of the day and one third of the night would be dark. Applied to the divisions of the Roman government, the figure may describe the successive extinction of the emperors, senators, and consuls.

13. I beheld. See on ch. 4:1. This temporary break in the sequence of the trumpets calls special attention to the last three, which are specially designated as “woes.”

An angel. Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) the reading “an eagle.” The eagle may be thought of as an omen of doom (see Matt. 24:28; cf. Deut. 28:49; Hosea 8:1; Hab. 1:8).

Midst of heaven. That is, at the zenith, so that all may hear his message.

Woe, woe, woe. The woe is repeated three times because of the three judgments yet to come at the blowing of the three remaining trumpets. Each of these is designated a “woe” (see chs. 9:12; 11:14).

Inhabiters of the earth. That is, the unrighteous (see on ch. 3:10).

Ellen G. White comments

3    GC 414; PP 356; SR 377

3, 4 ChS 263; COL 156; DA 667; EW 32, 252; LS 100; ML 29; MYP 96; PP 353, 367; TM 93; 6T 368, 467; 8T 178