Revelation 8

This chapter of Revelation marks the end of the seal judgments and the beginning of the trumpet judgments. Following Revelation 7, which shows the sealed multitude after the sixth seal, the seventh and final seal is opened.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 When the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in heaven for about half an hour, and the seven angels who stand before God are given seven trumpets.
• Verses 3–5 Another angel, holding a golden censer, is given incense and offers it, together with the prayers of the saints, upon the golden altar (the altar of incense) before the throne. He then casts fire from the altar onto the earth, and there are thunderings, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake.
• Verses 6–12 Four angels sound their trumpets in turn. Hail and fire mingled with blood burn up a third of the earth and of the trees, and something like a great mountain burning with fire turns a third of the sea into blood. A star called "Wormwood" falls, making a third of the waters bitter, and a third of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened.
• Verse 13 An eagle flying through the midst of heaven cries out that, because of the three trumpets yet to sound, there will be "woe, woe, woe" to the inhabiters of the earth.

Key Verses

• Revelation 8:4 "And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God" — a scene showing that the prayers of the saints reach God and are bound up with the unfolding of judgment.
• Revelation 8:13 "Woe, woe, woe" — anticipating the fifth through seventh trumpets that follow.

Figures and Places

• Seven angels: The angels who stand before God and receive the trumpets.
• Another angel: The angel who offers the prayers of the saints with a golden censer.
• Eagle: A creature that warns of the plagues still to come.

Points for Reflection

• Regarding the structure in which the trumpets follow the seven seals, futurist interpretations such as dispensationalism often view the seals, trumpets, and bowls as events occurring in chronological sequence. By contrast, recapitulation (parallel) interpretations hold that the same period is presented repeatedly from different perspectives. For details, see The Seven Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls.
• The hail, the waters turned to blood, and the darkness recall the Ten Plagues (Exodus 9, among other passages). "Wormwood" appears in Jeremiah 9 as a bitter substance symbolizing judgment.
• The image of prayer as incense also appears in Revelation 5 and Psalm 141.
• After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, stories linking the event to this passage circulated widely because the place name refers to a species of wormwood. However, the text itself makes no such connection.

In the Korean Church

Verses 3–4 are reportedly cited often in sermons and at prayer meetings to emphasize that prayer reaches God.