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Revelation 8:5 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it from the fire of the altar, and cast [it] on the earth: and there were voices, and thunders and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Cross Reference

Revelation 4:5 DARBY

And out of the throne go forth lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

Revelation 11:19 DARBY

And the temple of God in the heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Leviticus 16:12 DARBY

And he shall take the censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and both his hands full of fragrant incense beaten small, and bring it inside the veil.

Matthew 27:52-54 DARBY

and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints fallen asleep arose, and going out of the tombs after his arising, entered into the holy city and appeared unto many. But the centurion, and they who were with him on guard over Jesus, seeing the earthquake and the things that took place, feared greatly, saying, Truly this [man] was Son of God.

Revelation 16:1-21 DARBY

And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the fury of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and there came an evil and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped its image. And the second poured out his bowl on the sea; and it became blood, as of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea. And the third poured out his bowl on the rivers, and [on] the fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art righteous, who art and wast, the holy one, that thou hast judged so; for they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; they are worthy. And I heard the altar saying, Yea, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [are] thy judgments. And the fourth poured out his bowl on the sun; and it was given to it to burn men with fire. And the men were burnt with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues, and did not repent to give him glory. And the fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast; and its kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues with distress, and blasphemed the God of the heaven for their distresses and their sores, and did not repent of their works. And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as frogs; for they are [the] spirits of demons, doing signs; which go out to the kings of the whole habitable world to gather them together to the war of [that] great day of God the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watches and keeps his garments, that he may not walk naked, and that they [may not] see his shame.) And he gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armagedon. And the seventh poured out his bowl on the air; and there came out a great voice from the temple of the heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. And the great city was [divided] into three parts; and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled, and mountains were not found; and a great hail, as of a talent weight, comes down out of the heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague of it is exceeding great.

Revelation 11:13 DARBY

And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and seven thousand names of men were slain in the earthquake. And the remnant were filled with fear, and gave glory to the God of the heaven.

Revelation 6:12 DARBY

And I saw when it opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as hair sackcloth, and the whole moon became as blood,

Hebrews 12:18-19 DARBY

For ye have not come to [the mount] that might be touched and was all on fire, and to obscurity, and darkness, and tempest, and trumpet's sound, and voice of words; which they that heard, excusing themselves, declined [the] word being addressed to them any more:

Acts 16:26 DARBY

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison shook, and all the doors were immediately opened, and the bonds of all loosed.

Acts 4:31 DARBY

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Luke 12:49 DARBY

I have come to cast a fire on the earth; and what will I if already it has been kindled?

2 Samuel 22:7-9 DARBY

In my distress I called upon Jehovah, And I cried to my God; And he heard my voice out of his temple, And my cry [came] into his ears. Then the earth shook, and quaked; The foundations of the heavens trembled And shook because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, And fire out of his mouth devoured: Coals burned forth from it.

Matthew 24:7 DARBY

For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places.

Zechariah 14:5 DARBY

And ye shall flee [by] the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: ye shall even flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Jehovah my God shall come, [and] all the holy ones with thee.

Ezekiel 10:2-7 DARBY

And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Come in between the wheels, under the cherub, and fill the hollow of thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. And the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. And the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub, [and came] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah's glory. And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty ùGod when he speaketh. And it came to pass when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubim, then he went in, and stood beside the wheel. And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim unto the fire that was between the cherubim, and took and put it into the hands of him [that was] clothed with linen; who took [it], and went out.

Jeremiah 51:11 DARBY

Sharpen the arrows; take the shields. Jehovah hath stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it; for this is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple.

Isaiah 66:14-16 DARBY

And ye shall see [this], and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants, and he will have indignation toward his enemies. For behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will Jehovah enter into judgment with all flesh: and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.

Isaiah 66:6 DARBY

A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Jehovah that rendereth recompence to his enemies!

Isaiah 30:30 DARBY

And Jehovah will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard, and will shew the lighting down of his arm with indignation of anger, and a flame of consuming fire, with waterflood and storm and hailstones.

Isaiah 29:6 DARBY

Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

Psalms 18:13 DARBY

And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice: hail and coals of fire.

1 Kings 19:11 DARBY

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Jehovah: Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake: Jehovah was not in the earthquake.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Revelation 8

Commentary on Revelation 8 Matthew Henry Commentary


Chapter 8

We have already seen what occurred upon opening six of the seals; we now come to the opening of the seventh, which introduced the sounding of the seven trumpets; and a direful scene now opens. Most expositors agree that the seven seals represent the interval between the apostle's time and the reign of Constantine, but that the seven trumpets are designed to represent the rise of antichrist, some time after the empire became Christian. In this chapter we have,

  • I. The preface, or prelude, to the sounding of the trumpets (v. 1-6).
  • II. The sounding of four of the trumpets (v. 7-13).

Rev 8:1-6

In these verses we have the prelude to the sounding of the trumpets in several parts.

  • I. The opening of the last seal. This was to introduce a new set of prophetical iconisms and events; there is a continued chain of providence, one part linked to another (where one ends another begins), and, though they may differ in nature and in time, they all make up one wise, well-connected, uniform design in the hand of God.
  • II. A profound silence in heaven for the space of half an hour, which may be understood either,
    • 1. Of the silence of peace, that for this time no complaints were sent up to the ear of the Lord God of sabaoth; all was quiet and well in the church, and therefore all silent in heaven, for whenever the church on earth cries, through oppression, that cry comes up to heaven and resounds there; or,
    • 2. A silence of expectation; great things were upon the wheel of providence, and the church of God, both in heaven and earth, stood silent, as became them, to see what God was doing, according to that of Zec. 2:13, Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he has risen up out of his holy habitation. And elsewhere, Be still, and know that I am God.
  • III. The trumpets were delivered to the angels who were to sound them. Still the angels are employed as the wise and willing instruments of divine Providence, and they are furnished with all their materials and instructions from God our Saviour. As the angels of the churches are to sound the trumpet of the gospel, the angels of heaven are to sound the trumpet of Providence, and every one has his part given him.
  • IV. To prepare for this, another angel must first offer incense, v. 3. It is very probable that this other angel is the Lord Jesus, the high priest of the church, who is here described in his sacerdotal office, having a golden censer and much incense, a fulness of merit in his own glorious person, and this incense he was to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, upon the golden altar of his divine nature. Observe,
    • 1. All the saints are a praying people; none of the children of God are born dumb, a Spirit of grace is always a Spirit of adoption and supplication, teaching us to cry, Abba, Father. Ps. 32:6, For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee.
    • 2. Times of danger should be praying times, and so should times of great expectation; both our fears and our hopes should put us upon prayer, and, where the interest of the church of God is deeply concerned, the hearts of the people of God in prayer should be greatly enlarged.
    • 3. The prayers of the saints themselves stand in need of the incense and intercession of Christ to make them acceptable and effectual, and there is provision made by Christ for that purpose; he has his incense, his censer, and his altar; he is all himself to his people.
    • 4. The prayers of the saints come up before God in a cloud of incense; no prayer, thus recommended, was ever denied audience or acceptance.
    • 5. These prayers that were thus accepted in heaven produced great changes upon earth in return to them; the same angel that in his censer offered up the prayers of the saints in the same censer took of the fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and this presently caused strange commotions, voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake; these were the answers God gave to the prayers of the saints, and tokens of his anger against the world and that he would do great things to avenge himself and his people of their enemies; and now, all things being thus prepared, the angels discharge their duty.

Rev 8:7-13

Observe,

  • I. The first angel sounded the first trumpet, and the events which followed were very dismal: There followed hail and fire mingled with blood, etc., v. 7. There was a terrible storm; but whether it is to be understood of a storm of heresies, a mixture of monstrous errors falling on the church (for in that age Arianism prevailed), or a storm or tempest of war falling on the civil state, expositors are not agreed. Mr. Mede takes it to be meant of the Gothic inundation that broke in upon the empire in the year 395, the same year that Theodosius died, when the northern nations, under Alaricus, king of the Goths, broke in upon the western parts of the empire. However, here we observe,
    • 1. It was a very terrible storm-fire, and hail, and blood: a strange mixture!
    • 2. The limitation of it: it fell on the third part of the trees, and on the third part of the grass, and blasted and burnt it up; that is, say some, upon the third part of the clergy and the third part of the laity; or, as others who take it to fall upon the civil state, upon the third part of the great men, and upon the third part of the common people, either upon the Roman empire itself, which was a third part of the then known world, or upon a third part of that empire. The most severe calamities have their bounds and limits set them by the great God.
  • II. The second angel sounded, and the alarm was followed, as in the first, with terrible events: A great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood, v. 8. By this mountain some understand the leader or leaders of the heretics; others, as Mr. Mede, the city of Rome, which was five times sacked by the Goths and Vandals, within the compass of 137 years; first by Alaricus, in the year 410, with great slaughter and cruelty. In these calamities, a third part of the people (called here the sea or collection of waters) were destroyed: here was still a limitation to the third part, for in the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. This storm fell heavy upon the maritime and merchandizing cities and countries of the Roman empire.
  • III. The third angel sounded, and the alarm had the like effects as before: There fell a great star from heaven, etc., v. 10. Some take this to be a political star, some eminent governor, and they apply it to Augustulus, who was forced to resign the empire to Odoacer, in the year 480. Others take it to be an ecclesiastical star, some eminent person in the church, compared to a burning lamp, and they fix it upon Pelagius, who proved about this time a falling star, and greatly corrupted the churches of Christ. Observe,
    • 1. Where this star fell: Upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.
    • 2. What effect it had upon them; it turned those springs and streams into wormwood, made them very bitter, that men were poisoned by them; either the laws, which are springs of civil liberty, and property, and safety, were poisoned by arbitrary power, or the doctrines of the gospel, the springs of spiritual life, refreshment, and vigour to the souls of men, were so corrupted and embittered by a mixture of dangerous errors that the souls of men found their ruin where they sought for their refreshment.
  • IV. The fourth angel sounded, and the alarm was followed with further calamities. Observe,
    • 1. The nature of this calamity; it was darkness; it fell therefore upon the great luminaries of the heaven, that give light to the world-the sun, and the moon, and the stars, either the guides and governors of the church, or of the state, who are placed in higher orbs than the people, and are to dispense light and benign influences to them.
    • 2. The limitation: it was confined to a third part of these luminaries; there was some light both of the sun by day, and of the moon and stars by night, but it was only a third part of what they had before. Without determining what is matter of controversy in these points among learned men, we rather choose to make these plain and practical remarks:-
      • (1.) Where the gospel comes to a people, and is but coldly received, and has not its proper effects upon their hearts and lives, it is usually followed with dreadful judgments.
      • (2.) God gives warning to men of his judgments before he sends them; he sounds an alarm by the written word, by ministers, by men's own consciences, and by the signs of the times; so that, if a people be surprised, it is their own fault.
      • (3.) The anger of God against a people makes dreadful work among them; it embitters all their comforts, and makes even life itself bitter and burdensome.
      • (4.) God does not in this world stir up all his wrath, but sets bounds to the most terrible judgments.
      • (5.) Corruptions of doctrine and worship in the church are themselves great judgments, and the usual causes and tokens of other judgments coming on a people.
  • V. Before the other three trumpets are sounded here is solemn warning given to the world how terrible the calamities would be that should follow them, and how miserable those times and places would be on which they fell, v. 13.
    • 1. The messenger was an angel flying in the midst of heaven, as in haste, and coming on an awful errand.
    • 2. The message was a denunciation of further and greater woe and misery than the world had hitherto endured. Here are three woes, to show how much the calamities coming should exceed those that had been already, or to hint how every one of the three succeeding trumpets should introduce its particular and distinct calamity. If less judgments do not take effect, but the church and the world grow worse under them, they must expect greater. God will be known by the judgments that he executes; and he expects, when he comes to punish the world, the inhabitants thereof should tremble before him.