Day 246, Revelation 8 
Today's reading reminds me of an old joke about a Presbyterian and a
Baptist. The Presbyterian makes the claim that Presbyterians will be the first
to be taken up in the rapture. "Does not Scripture say, 'There was silence
in heaven for about a half an hour'? (8:1). That must be when God's frozen
people, the Presbyterians, arrive!" His Baptist friend counters, "Oh
no, Baptists will be in heaven first. The Bible says, 'The dead in Christ will
rise first'!" (1 Thes. 4:16).
I suspect, contrary to that joke, that the reason for the half-hour
of silence in heaven is not due to the arrival of the Presbyterians, but
because of the solemnity of the judgments that are about to occur on earth at
the breaking of the seventh seal. This begins the seven "trumpet judgments,"
the first four of which all affect one-third of the earth in various
catastrophic ways.
You probably noticed that the seven trumpet judgments are preceded
by mention of "the prayers of all the saints" (8:3), symbolized by
the smoke of incense that arises from an angel's golden censer before God's
throne (8:4). The judgments that follow are clearly related to those prayers,
as we read that the angel fills the censer with fire from the altar and then
throws it to the earth, which results in thunder, lightning and an earthquake.
It seems that the martyrs' prayers for vengeance, of which we read in 6:9-10,
are finally being answered after an initial delay. Remember that the Lord
initially promised that He would avenge their deaths once additional martyrs suffered
their fates. If the multitude before God's throne of whom we read in the final
part of chapter 7---who came "out of the great tribulation"---were
those additional martyrs, then perhaps chapter 8 begins to describe the
answers to the prayers of the initial martyrs.
Surely, if any followers of Christ remain on the earth during those
first four trumpet judgments, they will be protected from God's wrath. Some
speculate that the repeated mentioning of the afflictions that plague one-third
of the earth indicate a geographical third of the earth. That is, when
we read that "a third of the trees were burned up," John doesn't mean
that one-third of all the trees across the entire planet will be burned, but
that in one geographical third of the earth, all the trees will be burned. This
principle would seem to be true regarding the second trumpet judgment when
"a third of the sea became blood" (8:8). Still, it isn't clear enough
to make a confident assertion either way.
To those who are inclined to believe that the trumpet judgments
should not be taken literally, it is helpful to remember that much of what John
describes of earth's future judgment is similar to the judgments that the
Egyptians experienced prior to Israel's exodus. Moreover, Jesus spoke of
similar future judgments in literal terms: “And there will be signs in sun and
moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at
the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the
expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers
of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).
Revelation offers a true revelation of God’s holy wrath, and
those who say that the God of the New Testament is different from the
God of the Old haven’t read Revelation too closely. Aren’t you glad that
you’ve been saved from the wrath of God through Jesus?
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