Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses you through this material.
Stacey
Take a few minutes to savor Revelation Chapter 8. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations.
8:1 — 7th seal — silence in heaven for about half an hour. ALL of the praising stops abruptly. This is the calm before the storm. Some scholars believe that the Bema (judgment seat — see below) judgment of believers takes place at this time, before God's wrath is poured upon the earth in verse 2.
judgment seat — bema — a step, pace, the space which a foot covers, a foot-breath; a raised place mounted by steps; a platform, tribune of the official seat of a judge, of the judgment seat of Christ, Herod built a structure resembling a throne at Caesarea, from which he viewed the games and made speeches to the people. (See Matthew 27:19, John 19:13, Acts 7:5, 12:21, 18:12, 16, 17, 25:6, 10, 17, Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10)
8:2 - seven angels who stand before God - In Luke 1:19, Gabriel identifies himself as one of these angels. Could these be the seven angels mentioned in the apochryphal book of 1 Enoch 20:2-8? The angels listed there are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel and Remiel.
seven trumpets - Trumpets announce important events and give signals in time of war.
remember that seven represents completeness and perfection.
8:3 - great amount of incense - does this mean that there are a great amount of prayers? Or that the prayers are too few?
See Psalms 141:2 (AMP)
8:5 - the silence ends in "peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake." The birth pains are now over. The actual birth begins. NIVSB says this is symbolic of the awesome majesty and power of God.
Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786). Describing censer filled with fire, hurled upon the earth.
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
God's people are gone, so how can they offer prayers in 8:3 above? The fire announces the start of the trumpet judgments.
Earthquake = divine visitation.
See Leviticus 16:12; Ezekiel 10:2 (AMP)
8:7-12 - 1/3 of targets effected. God is still only exercising partial judgment. Still time to repent?
8:7 - 1st trumpet - hail and fire (Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786)) mixed with blood is hurled upon the earth. 1/3 of the earth, tree and green grass is burned up. Hail-fire-blood reminds us of the imagery of the 7th plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 9:13-25 and Ezekiel 38:22)
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
Fire hurled upon post-rapture earth. 1/3 of earth, trees, grass destroyed because of corruption? Pollution? This decay is our fault.
See Exodus 9:23-25 (AMP)
8:8 – 2nd trumpet - something like a fiery (Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786)) mountain is thrown into the sea. 1/3 of the sea turned to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures died, 1/3 of ships destroyed. This is reminiscent of 1st plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 7:20-21)
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
Fire again destroys corrupted (polluted) sea, sea creatures, ships.
See Jeremiah 51:25 (AMP)
8:10 - 3rd trumpet - great blazing star (named wormwood, meaning bitterness) fell from the sky on 1/3 of the rivers and springs. 1/3 of water turned bitter. Many died. See Jeremiah 9:15, 23:15.
Blazing star - like fire?
8:11 — My Bible's study notes say that wormwood is a bitter tasting plant, and it represents the bitterness of God's judgment.
8:12 — 4th trumpet — 1/3 of sun, moon and stars struck and turned dark. So, 1/3 of day and night were without light. Reminds us of the 9th plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 10:21-23) By referring to the Egyptian plagues of Exodus, it is suggested that Revelation describes the final deliverance of God's people from the bondage of a world controlled by evil powers.
8:13 — Eagle cries out "Terror, terror, terror..." to announce the last three trumpets. (NLT) It truly is terror — the world is about to behold demons! And incredible creatures!
Stacey
Take a few minutes to savor Revelation Chapter 8. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations.
8:1 — 7th seal — silence in heaven for about half an hour. ALL of the praising stops abruptly. This is the calm before the storm. Some scholars believe that the Bema (judgment seat — see below) judgment of believers takes place at this time, before God's wrath is poured upon the earth in verse 2.
judgment seat — bema — a step, pace, the space which a foot covers, a foot-breath; a raised place mounted by steps; a platform, tribune of the official seat of a judge, of the judgment seat of Christ, Herod built a structure resembling a throne at Caesarea, from which he viewed the games and made speeches to the people. (See Matthew 27:19, John 19:13, Acts 7:5, 12:21, 18:12, 16, 17, 25:6, 10, 17, Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10)
8:2 - seven angels who stand before God - In Luke 1:19, Gabriel identifies himself as one of these angels. Could these be the seven angels mentioned in the apochryphal book of 1 Enoch 20:2-8? The angels listed there are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel and Remiel.
seven trumpets - Trumpets announce important events and give signals in time of war.
remember that seven represents completeness and perfection.
8:3 - great amount of incense - does this mean that there are a great amount of prayers? Or that the prayers are too few?
See Psalms 141:2 (AMP)
8:5 - the silence ends in "peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake." The birth pains are now over. The actual birth begins. NIVSB says this is symbolic of the awesome majesty and power of God.
Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786). Describing censer filled with fire, hurled upon the earth.
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
God's people are gone, so how can they offer prayers in 8:3 above? The fire announces the start of the trumpet judgments.
Earthquake = divine visitation.
See Leviticus 16:12; Ezekiel 10:2 (AMP)
8:7-12 - 1/3 of targets effected. God is still only exercising partial judgment. Still time to repent?
8:7 - 1st trumpet - hail and fire (Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786)) mixed with blood is hurled upon the earth. 1/3 of the earth, tree and green grass is burned up. Hail-fire-blood reminds us of the imagery of the 7th plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 9:13-25 and Ezekiel 38:22)
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
Fire hurled upon post-rapture earth. 1/3 of earth, trees, grass destroyed because of corruption? Pollution? This decay is our fault.
See Exodus 9:23-25 (AMP)
8:8 – 2nd trumpet - something like a fiery (Fire - pyr - fire, flames (Strong's 4442/KWSB 4786)) mountain is thrown into the sea. 1/3 of the sea turned to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures died, 1/3 of ships destroyed. This is reminiscent of 1st plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 7:20-21)
What do you think the fire represents? Does this appear to represent judgment due to sin? Can you see the fire destroy what has been corrupted by sin?
Fire again destroys corrupted (polluted) sea, sea creatures, ships.
See Jeremiah 51:25 (AMP)
8:10 - 3rd trumpet - great blazing star (named wormwood, meaning bitterness) fell from the sky on 1/3 of the rivers and springs. 1/3 of water turned bitter. Many died. See Jeremiah 9:15, 23:15.
Blazing star - like fire?
8:11 — My Bible's study notes say that wormwood is a bitter tasting plant, and it represents the bitterness of God's judgment.
8:12 — 4th trumpet — 1/3 of sun, moon and stars struck and turned dark. So, 1/3 of day and night were without light. Reminds us of the 9th plague of Egypt. (See Exodus 10:21-23) By referring to the Egyptian plagues of Exodus, it is suggested that Revelation describes the final deliverance of God's people from the bondage of a world controlled by evil powers.
8:13 — Eagle cries out "Terror, terror, terror..." to announce the last three trumpets. (NLT) It truly is terror — the world is about to behold demons! And incredible creatures!
- Remember that the main message of the book of Revelation is the infinite love, power and justice of the Lord Jesus Christ. How is this evident in today’s text?
- What attributes of God do you see in this chapter?
- What scripture seemed to be God speaking directly to you? What is He teaching you in these verses? How does He want you to respond?
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