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"The TEMPLE of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the
ark of His covenant: and there were thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
This temple scene is closely connected with the proclamation, "The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ: and He shall reign for the
ages of the ages."
We will now consider a little more closely the record of chapter 8: The prayers that
ascend, with the incense offered by the angel, are answered by a symbolic action of
judgment:--
"And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the
earth: and there were cries, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."
This answer to the prayers which is here given, covers the period of the seven
trumpets. The prayers of those under the altar who cry for vengeance are last to be heard.
The "little season" (Rev. 6: 11) has passed, the seventh of these angels shall introduce
the time when the dead should be judged, and rewards given to the Lord's servants and
saints. The judgments do not fall in one stroke. Each trumpet sound introduces an added
plague. This sevenfold judgment seems to be a fulfillment of Psa. 79: 12. "And
render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom." The whole psalm is prophetic of
the period. The heathen have come into the Lord's inheritance. The holy temple is
defiled, Jerusalem is in heaps. The dead bodies of servants and saints are devoured by
the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the earth. Their blood has been shed round about
Jerusalem like water. The heathen have taunted Israel with the silence of God. They
pray:--
"Let Him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of
Thy servants which is shed."
This prayer ascends unto the Lord. It is answered with fire from the altar. FIRE
FROM THE ALTAR (8: 5). Then these judgments are temple judgments. Let us look
at the fire from the altar as it falls upon the earth at the sounding of these trumpets.
"The first angels sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and
they were cast upon the earth, and third part of the earth was burned up, and the third of
the trees was burned up, and all green grass was burned up."
Here is the effect of the fire from the altar. All human life is dependent upon the
vegetable kingdom. It is not possible for man to assimilate for himself the elements
which form his food. The lower orders of creation must lay hold of these for him. With
an atmosphere around him four fifths of which is nitrogen, he would die of starvation. So
with all the other necessary elements. What a stroke then it will be when a third part of
the earth which stores the food, and the trees and grass which render that food available,
are burned with fire.
Under the third seal famine is seen and here is a parallel affliction. The affliction of a
third part is a feature of these early trumpet judgments. Let us, to save space, tabulate
the references:--