Revelation 8:1-5 - Homiletics

Prayer and fire.

For some time there had been "silence in heaven." During this time there was a corresponding period of calm on earth. Then the prayers of the saints were rising to heaven, fragrant with the incense which mingled with them. As the sequel to these prayers, and as the answer to them, the angel takes fire in the censer and casts it on the earth. From that point a new series of activities unfolds. On these we shall touch in the next homily. Meanwhile we are detained by the thought of the connection between the prayers of the saints and the fire cast on the earth. As far back as the times of the Hebrew psalmist, the Church of God used such words as these: "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation" ( Psalms 65:5 ). Our Lord himself declared, "I am come to send fire on the earth" ( Luke 12:49 , Luke 12:50 ). He yearned for the conflict to take place, which must inevitably come—albeit that, ere it should come, he would have to undergo a terrible baptism of suffering and of blood. So that we get revealed to us a wondrous unison of thought, as regards the Lord, and as regards his Church under the Old and New Testaments— That "terrible things" on earth will mark the advance of God's kingdom upon it, as the result of a Saviour's sufferings and a Church's prayers. £

I. THE AFFAIRS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD TOUCH THIS EARTH AT EVERY POINT OF ITS CONCERNS . There are two common defects among Christian people in reflecting on the things of God. Some concern themselves almost exclusively with the outward development of God's kingdom in national life. Others, again, are almost equally absorbed with the aspect of God's work which concerns the salvation of the individual. Both should be included in one view. Each one may begin with himself in his religious concern, but no one may end there. We may, indeed, be thankful that, in the great affairs of worlds, God does not forget our small concerns; at the same time, we should often lose the thought of our own interests in our anxious care for the honour and glory of our Lord and for the growth of his kingdom. The pith of all the concentrated prayers of the saints is, "Thy kingdom come." Earthly thrones, political parties, Church politics, are only of service as they are helping to fulfil the will of God. And never will Christian people attain to the glory of their grand confession till they have public spirit enough to lead them to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness."

II. IN THE DEVELOPMENTS OF GOD 'S KINGDOM THE UNFOLDINGS OF EARTH ARE AFFECTED BY AGENCIES ABOVE AND BEYOND IT . The main theme of our text presents us with the glorious and inspiring truth of an angelic ministry. That there should be one bond of moral sympathy uniting holy men and angels is not surprising when both are creatures of God. God uses us. He uses them. They are all ministering spirits. Among them there is no discord. They move in perfect accord with the will of him who sitteth upon the throne, wondering oft, perchance, as they look down upon earth, that it should harbour any treasonable revolt against the throne of God!

III. UPON THIS EARTH A CLAIM HAS BEEN MADE BY ONE IN HUMAN FORM , TO SUPREME SOVEREIGNTY OVER IT —a claim that, as things are, produces violent disturbance. It is true he came "not to judge the world but to save the world;" yet, from the nature of the case, even that saving process involves "sending fire on the earth." Satan is wrought up to fury when his subjects leave his bondage to serve freely their rightful Lord. "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace, but when," etc. Kings have risen in revolt against the doctrine that there is another King, one Jesus. Priests are indignant when told that the priesthood of believers renders official priests a sham. Mammon's worshippers are wroth against the claims of Jesus. And, as the result of long, long ages of sin, huge ecclesiastical establishments, despotisms, international confederacies, vast hierarchies, great commercial concerns based on selfishness rather than righteousness, have taken usurped possession. And they must all be overthrown before perfect peace can be brought in. But how it is all to be done the great Lord alone can tell.

IV. THERE ARE TWO POTENT FORCES AT WORK WHICH ARE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD THE PLEDGE THAT ALL THESE CONFEDERACIES OF EVIL WILL SOONER OR LATER BE BROKEN UP . One of these is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, followed as it is by his reigning power. In thinking of all these forces which are set forth in the chapter before us, it would be strange indeed if we lost sight of "him who is in the midst of the throne" to direct and inspire the whole. Our Lord's baptism of blood was but the earnest of his after-administrative sway. At his death the prince of this world was (potentially) cast out. "He must reign till he hath put all enemies beneath his feet." And while there is this regal force working earthward from heaven, there is another force working heavenward from earth—even the prayers of the saints. Our Lord himself has revealed the law that prayer is one of the hinges on which the world's movements turn. "Ask, and it shall be given you." And, more than all, he has not only told us to pray, but he has set us a-praying by the energies of his Spirit. Pray we must; pray we will. We cannot help it. Nor will the prayer be lost. God has not vainly said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek ye me."

V. IT IS THE DIVINE APPOINTMENT THAT , AS THE OUTCOME OF THIS DOUBLE FORCE , THERE SHOULD BE A DOUBLE SET OF RESPONSIVE PHENOMENA .

1 . There is a new creating force of the Holy Spirit, slowly it may be, but surely, building up the new heavens and the new earth, which will emerge when all that must be shaken and overthrown is put away. This work is essentially and exclusively con structive.

2 . There is another kind of agency—the providential—which is largely de structive, which clears the ground for a new advance. It is this overturning force which we have yet to see in action. The Jewish temple and nation had to be overthrown to prepare the way for a new step in advance. Struggle and bloodshed in Italy prepared the way for the downfall of the pope's temporal power. The war in America proved the destruction of slavery. Thus, as we look back on them, we see how destructive action hastens the progress of the world. So it has been. So it will be.

VI. IT IS DISCLOSED TO US IN THIS BOOK THAT MANY OF THE MOST FIERCELY DESTRUCTIVE EVENTS BY WHICH THE ILL IS TO BE OVERTHROWN , are the Divine method of answering his people's prayers. It is in response to prayer that the angel casts fire on the earth. Prayers sent up in calm are answered in storm.

"When we stand with Christ on high,

Looking o'er life's history,"

then—then shall we see more clearly than it is possible to do now, that the most "terrible things" have but prepared the way of the Lord. Difficulty: A difficulty may here suggest itself to some. The question may be asked—But are we to understand that God's saints are expected to pray for, or even that it is right for them to pray for, terrible judgments? We reply—Not so do we understand the matter; but thus: believers pray, "Arise, O God, plead thine own cause;" and then they leave it in the hands of God to answer the prayer in the way which seems best to him. Note: Do not let us be alarmed if, when God rises up, some tremendous shaking occurs. Such shakings must come. Empires, monarchies, kings, tyrannies, priesthoods, visible Churches, hierarchies, creeds, must be shaken. But why? "That those things which cannot be shaken may remain." Let Christians hold fast, watch, pray, wait, in perfect calm. Finally, let all preachers and hearers summon each other out from the prayerless crowd, and gather in among the praying ones. History gives us many an instructive parable. There was once a little company in an upper room—not more than a hundred and twenty—praying. At that very time there sat on his royal seat a Roman emperor, surrounded with all the pomp and power of the world. In the little company in the upper room there was a seed of life and progress that has been fruitful ever since, and is more so now than ever. In the court of Rome there was a worm of corruption silently and surely gnawing all the splendour, and bringing it to utter ruin. If we court the world's smiles and wealth and applause, we may make a show, but only for a time. If ours is the breath of prayer, we shall reign when the pomp of earth has vanished forever away!

Verse 7-Rev 9:21

The first six trumpets.

The eighth and ninth chapters are confessedly the most intricate part of the book. Yet they are full of Divine teaching which we could ill afford to lose—teaching thrown into a form altogether peculiar to this Apocalyptic book, which will amply repay the closest attention which we can give to it. Here we have the sounding of the first six trumpets under the seventh seal. According to historical interpreters of the two main schools, their fulfilment was accomplished, at least in part, in the events indicated in the following table:—(Fulfilment according to Archdeacon Farrar £ ; Fulfilment according to Rev. E.B. Elliott £ )

First trumpet—

Hail and fire mingled with blood are cast upon the earth, and one third part of earth and trees and all green grass is burnt up.

Farrar— Years of burning drought, rains of blood, disastrous conflagrations and earthquake, as those in Lyons, Rome, Jerusalem, Naples, etc..

Elliott— The invasion of the Roman empire by Alaric, King of the Goths.

Second trumpet—

A great mountain is cast into the sea: one third part of the sea, of the creatures therein, and of the ships, is smitten.

Farrar— Great calamities connected with the sea and ships such as those of which the time of Nero furnished abundant instances.

Elliott— The invasion of the Roman empire by Genseric, King of the Vandals.

Third trumpet—

A star falls from heaven: one third part of the rivers and fountains is smitten, and the waters are made bitter.

Farrar— The overthrow of Nero, the ominous failure of the Julian line, and the bitterness occasioned thereby.

Elliott— The invasion of the Roman empire by Attila, King of the Huns (A.D). 433 to A.D. 453).

Fourth trumpet—

A third part of the sun, moon, and stars is smitten.

Farrar— Ruler after ruler, chieftain after chieftain, of the Roman empire, and of the Jewish nation, died by murder or suicide.

Elliott— Final conquest of Rome and the Western empire by Odoacer, King of the Heruli.

Fifth trumpet—

A star falls from heaven: a great swarm of locusts from the abyss.

Farrar— The star = Nero. The host of locusts = demons. Stier is quoted as saying, "In the period between the Resurrection and the fall of Jerusalem, the Jewish nation acted as if possessed by seven thousand demons."

Elliott— The star=Satan. The locusts = the sudden rise of Mohammedanism. The five months = a hundred and fifty years. In 612 Mahomet commenced his prophetic mission. In 762 Christendom was delivered from the terror and persecution of the Saracens.

Sixth trumpet—

The army of the horsemen is seen, numbering two hundred millions, with fire-breathing horses.

Farrar— "The swarms of Orientals who gathered to the destruction of Jerusalem in the train of Titus, and the overwhelming Parthian host which was expected to avenge the ruin of Nero."

Elliott— The Turks from the Euphratean frontier, subverting the empire of Eastern Christendom, and taking Constantinople. The ensign of one, two, or three horsetails marks distinctively the dignity and power of the Turkish pacha. From the loosing the four angels to the slaying the third part of men was an hour, a day, a month, and a year; i.e. 396 years, 118 days, which is just the time from the loosing of the united Turco-Moslem power from the Euphrates to the fall of Constantinople.

That there is, in both the earlier and later series of events given in the above table, a remarkable correspondence between the symbolic pictures in the text and the recorded facts of history, no one who has studied the whole matter can question. Nevertheless, we cannot but agree with a remark of Archdeacon Farrar himself, who, after pointing out the incidents given in the centre column as a fulfilment of the Apocalyptic visions, says," These vaticinations do not belong in the least to the essence or heart of the Apocalypse. They are but passing illustrations of the great principles—the hopes and warnings—which it was meant to inculcate. £ So, also, it is remarked by another singularly able and luminous writer on this book, £ "The predictions of these two chapters are manifold, not single, in their fulfilment. Wherever war has been employed, under God's overruling providence, to humble pride and to break up overgrown and overbearing powers, there have these chapters had an accomplishment again and again, and each separate accomplishment has been in its turn a prediction of the prognostication of the greatest accomplishment and of the last. Those hordes of invading barbarians which broke up the monster empire of Rome, and out of whose conquests modern Europe eventually grew, were one fulfilment—they were not the only fulfilment of these prophecies. Never were the figures of the locust swarms, with their teeth as of lions and their hair as of women, more strikingly exemplified than in those irruptions. But they did not exhaust the prophecies before us. When the mighty power of the French empire at the beginning of this century was broken up by a coalition as of God's hosts mustering for the battle against human pride and human ambition, then was there a new fulfilment, itself prophetic of another and another, till the last of all. The words of God are manifold in their application, just because they deal, not with instances only, but with principles." It is also obvious that since there are given in the tabular form above at least two distinct series of events, illustrating and confirming the prophecy, it is not possible, in the face of such well-known historic facts, to regard the prophecy as fulfilled completely in either. We have deemed it needful, at least once, more fully than is our wont, to draw this out and set it before the eye, that the student may see that in the fact of several fulfilments being already accomplished, there is a distinct proof of the main thesis on which our homiletic exposition of the Apocalypse is based—that we have before us a series of pictures and parables designed to set forth the principles and methods of the Divine government, and the varied fortunes through which God's Church must pass on her way to the consummation of all things. These principles are indicated in the chapters before us, and we will now endeavour to set them forth.

I. THE WORLD IS HERE LOOKED AT AS BEARING A GREAT BURDEN OF SIN . ( Revelation 9:20 , Revelation 9:21 .) And to such a height is sin seen to rise that it is as if the Most High were practically excluded from his own world. Two classes of evils are specified here—one in which that which is no god is worshipped; another in which the commands of God for the regulation of life are entirely ignored. And these are precisely the two forms in which in every age the claims, of God have been set at nought. That which we call idolatry is such whether man worships idols of wood and stone, or whether he regards matter and force as potentially adequate to all things. Yea, if there be a difference, the idolatry of the heathen is preferable to that of the materialist. For in pagan idolatries the worship is paid to that which is fashioned by the hand of man—or to that which is brought into being by a Supreme Power, as representing the Power which is at the back of all. But in materialism there is no Being of any kind, no Power to which worship is paid. The Maker of all is ignored. Paganism worships that which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk, as representing that which can. But materialism knows no object of worship at all, and is chargeable with the supreme absurdity of attributing the evolution of sight, hearing, thinking, loving, from that which can neither love, think, hear, nor see! It is not, however, the absurdity of this which is noted in the text, but its sin. It is a robbery of God. "If I be a Father, where is my fear? If I be a Master, where is mine honour?" The second form of evil is immorality—murders, sorceries, fornication, thefts—sufficiently suggestive of all the violations of the laws of morals under which this earth groans. And these two evils—irreligion or false religion, and immorality—are the sum of all ill in the world. Could we but see the whole mass of sin in its combination, it would be to us most amazing that the Most High God did not sweep away at once all these abominations. God's patience is the most wonderful of all his attributes. "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

II. THE PERIODS OF QUIETUDE WHICH EARTH MAY WITNESS WILL NOT ALWAYS CONTINUE . ( Revelation 8:5 , Revelation 8:6 .) We had occasion to observe in a previous homily that there are apparent lulls in the Divine procedure. God "keeps silence." There may, for a while, be no "taste of thunder in the air," nor any threatening sign of gathering hosts. Men may be reckoning, as in 1851, that a time of unusual peace is near. And to this conclusion they may come hastily, through forgetting that universal peace never can be assured till there is universal righteousness. Following in rapid succession on the apparent auguries of peace in 1851 were the Crimean, the American, and the Franco-German wars. The time will come when war shall cease unto the ends of the earth. But it is not yet.

III. THERE ARE PENT UP DESTRUCTIVE FORCES ONLY WAITING TO BE LET LOOSE . ( Revelation 9:1 , Revelation 9:14 .) The "abyss" was full of "locusts;" the "four angels" were bound in the great river Euphrates. In both cases these were tremendous destructive forces, "shut up" or "bound" for a while. But they could only exert their power under Divine permission. Not till the command is given to loose them can they show themselves. No seal can be opened nor any trumpet sounded save under the direction of him who is in the midst of the throne. "The Lord reigneth," and foresees all with exact precision, to the year, the month, the day, the hour.

IV. WHEN SUCH FORCES ARE LET LOOSE , THE EFFECT WILL BE STARTLING AS THE BLAST OF A TRUMPET . ( Revelation 8:2 .) The imagery of the Apocalypse is gathered in the main from the Old Testament. Of old, trumpets were sounded, mainly, for one or other of two purposes—they marked an epoch for the Church; they proclaimed war upon the world. And we cannot but be struck with the variety of symbolism under which the effect of the trumpet sounding is set. But however great the variety in each case, there is indicated the smiting, even to its overthrow, of some great world power. By the first trumpet, destruction sweeping over the earth is shown. By the second, the downfall of some nation or empire. By the third, the overthrow of some sovereign. By the fourth, a widespread storm. By the fifth, a tremendous rush of evil, as if organized by the very devil himself. By the sixth, a succession of destructive plagues. And who can read history and not know that precisely such events are ever recurring again and again?

V. WHEN IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD SUCH DESTRUCTIVE FORCES ARE LET LOOSE , THEN THE MAIN FACTORS ON WHICH NATIONAL WEALTH DEPENDS INSTANTLY FAIL . ( Revelation 8:9 .) How much is indicated in that symbolic expression, "a third part of the ships were destroyed"! If anything like this were to occur to British ships, a large portion of our material defences, and even of our supplies of food, would be in a moment withdrawn! Yes; we are absolutely in God's hands. We hold the common blessings of life most entirely at his disposal. The world is governed for God's purposes, and not for ours.

VI. HOWEVER ACTIVE THESE DESTRUCTIVE AGENCIES MAY BE , THEY HAVE THEIR LIMIT . ( Revelation 9:4 , Revelation 9:5 .) Neither nature nor man can be injured beyond God's permissive line. To the men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads, there should be distress and torment; but even their lives should not be at the mercy of others, but should be guarded by a higher Power. Albeit in some cases so great should be the distress that men should seek death and should not find it. But the text implies that to those men who have the seal of God on their foreheads no harm of any kind should come. In the worst of times there should be round them a special guard. Nothing will be lost or hurt that is God's. The mightiest agents of destruction, though apparently uncurbed, yet have their curb. God girds them, though they do not know him. We have seen in the appalling wildness and savage grandeur of a mountain pass, when the wild winds were howling as if they would rend the very rocks in pieces, a tiny flower sheltered in its little nook, safe in its little bed of earth, turfed as richly as though on it God had spent special care; and the same wind that rent in pieces the rocks before the Lord, blew to that little flower the tiny morsel of soil that was wanted to nourish its roots, and the little drop of spray from the roaring cascade beneath that was needed to refresh its petals. Wild winds were roaring, torrents were rolling, dashing, and foaming, yet the little flower bloomed up on high, safe, serene, and calm. So shall it be in "the great tribulation" with those who have the seal of God in their foreheads. As Paul Gerhardt sings, in respect of the Thirty Years' War, "As faithful mothers in severe storms on earth anxiously keep and guard their little ones, so also does God, when tribulation and distress arise, press his children to his bosom" (cf. Hengstenberg, in loc. ) .

VII. IT IS THE FUNCTION OF THESE WILD DESTRUCTIVE AGENCIES TO CLEAR THE WAY OF THE LORD . That is implied in the whole series of trumpets. In every case there is very much that is swept out of the way. As settlers in regions of forests have first to clear the ground, so is it with these overturning providences. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence … a fire shall devour before him." "I will overturn, and overturn, and overturn, till he shall come whose right it is." £ This is the meaning of the whole.

VIII. THERE IS ONE EFFECT WHICH THEY WILL NOT ACCOMPLISH . ( Revelation 9:20 , Revelation 9:21 .) They will not bring men to repentance. It is not by such judgments of terror that men will be converted. A thunder peal may alarm, but it does not cure disease. The earthquake may shake a house, but will not repair or cleanse. So the judgments of God may make the heart tremble, and yet not subdue it. Men who have resisted the gentler calls of God's grace will steel themselves against the smart of his rod. Pharaoh's plagues terrified him, but yet hardened him. We are often tempted even now to say, "Oh, if God would but break the awful stillness, or if he would show us in letters of flame that he is—men would hear!" No, they would not. They would begin to try to account for the sound and the flame By attributing them to some purely physical cause. "Lord, when thine hand is lifted up, they will not see." "If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

These truths, so clear amidst all the difficulty of detail, should lead us to ponder such thoughts as these:

1 . If now, with us, it is a time of comparative calm, do not let us think God unobservant, nor reckon securely on a continuance of ease and quiet. Your home is peaceful just now, perhaps; you may be comparatively free from care. And because of this you may be at ease in Zion. But it will not always be a time of ease with you. The day of cloud and care will come.

2 . Let us regard every common providential mercy as the voice of God. There is a sacredness surrounding us always. God is in the gentle light and dew, as well as in the lightning and the tornado. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord."

3 . Let us bless God that he speaks to us ever in the mild and gentle voice of the gospel. This is his sweetest, clearest voice.

4 . It is by the Word of his grace that he will do his constructive work, and by the energy of his Spirit. The throwing down of obstructions may he effected by providential events. The building up of the new heavens and the new earth will be secured by his conquering love. "The Lord will send forth the rod of his strength out of Zion." "The sword of the. Spirit is the Word of God."

5 . Then do not let us wait for God to thunder ere we listen to his voice. "One thing hath God spoken, yea, two things are there which I have heard: that power belongeth unto God; and that unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for thou renderest to every man according to his work" ( Psalms 62:10 , Psalms 62:11 ). If he repent, mercy will forgive. If he finally rebel, justice must condemn.

6 . Seeing we know not when any of these trumpets may again be sounded, let us learn to hold everything we have at the Divine disposal, and to say," If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that."