Prayers and Judgment
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· 7 viewsGod responds to the prayers of His people, vindicating their unjust death by bringing judgment.
Notes
Transcript
ME: Intro - Silence/Favorite smells
ME: Intro - Silence/Favorite smells
*Remain silent for a full minute.
That was one minute of silence.
I am sure during that time the silence may have felt a bit awkward for some of you.
You probably had a variety of thoughts running through your mind,
Wondering what I was doing, what was going to happen next,
Or if you are joining us online you might have been trying to figure out why the sound wasn’t working.
Regardless of what you were thinking, all you could do was wait in anticipation for what may come next.
This is especially appropriate for our passage this morning.
We are looking at the Story of Prayers and Judgment in Revelation 8.
And this story begins with 30 minutes of silence.
This silence is purposeful and attention grabbing.
In the grand scheme of time, 30 minutes of silence is quite brief.
And after the silence is God’s judgment destroying a portion of His creation.
Rev. 8 shows God moving in response to the prayers of His saints.
The prayers of God’s people are of great significance.
We will be looking at our passage in three parts this morning;
The Authority of Christ (vs. 1-2)
The Prayers of Saints (vs. 3-6)
The Judgment on Earth (vs. 7-13)
“The discipline of prayer sparks discipline for the world.”
The discipline of prayer seems to be one of the most challenging spiritual disciplines for western Christians.
I propose that the reason for that is two sides of the same coin.
One one side, prayer is hard work.
On the other side, we do not tend to see the immediate fruit of this hard work.
And in the results driven culture we find ourselves,
When we do not see the fruit of hard work,
We conclude that it is wasted effort.
So, we redirect those energies into places we can see the fruit of our hard work.
And we pray less, or we pray for shallow things.
And we institute our works in place of prayer.
This is a horribly misguided way to think of prayer.
And I doubt any of us would say we view prayer that way,
But we treat prayer as if we view it that way.
In the well-known devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers writes;
“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”
If you doubt the purposefulness of your prayers because you do not see immediate fruit,
Our passage this morning gives us a peek behind the curtain as to how God uses our prayers in spiritual warfare.
Chs. 8-9 of Revelation have the next cycle of judgments on earth, the trumpet judgments.
What our chapter this morning shows us is that our prayers make their way up to God in His throne room in heaven,
And spark the power of God’s judgment upon evil.
This means our prayers matter,
Our prayers are purposeful.
As Marvin J. Newell states;
“Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth.”
WE: The Authority of Christ (vs. 1-2)
WE: The Authority of Christ (vs. 1-2)
When we pray, we pray in the authoritative name of Jesus Christ,
Looking at Rev. 8:1-2, we see the Authority of Christ:
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
In Rev. 5:7, the Lamb, who is the only one worthy, took the scroll from the Father.
Then in Rev. 6:1-8, we saw the Lamb open the first four seals, which were the four horsemen of conquer, war, famine, and death.
Then the week after that, in vs. 9-17, we saw the Lamb open the fifth and sixth seal,
The souls of the martyrs and the unraveling of creation.
Then last week, we saw in ch. 7, a reprieve from wrath and judgments,
To explain that those who are sealed by God will escape His wrath.
Now, the start of ch. 8 picks back up with the Lamb opening the seventh and final seal.
After the sixth seal, it almost seems unnecessary to open the seventh seal,
Because the sixth seal annihilates the world and concludes history as a result of God’s final judgment.
In reality though, the seventh seal is the natural event to follow the first six seals,
It is Christ’s return to earth.
As He taught in Mark 13:24-26;
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
But before His appearance, we see ch. 8 begins with 30 minutes of silent awe.
As Zeph. 1:7 says;
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
This silence is stirs that sense of an eerie calm before a storm.
All the multitude of heavenly hosts we have been seeing in the past few chapters are waiting in anticipation of Jesus!
Waiting for what He will do next as He judges the earth for sin and idolatry and rebellion.
This silence is like a dramatic pause in a play or in music that makes what follows even more impressive.
In this case, it is the judgments about to fall upon the earth.
After thirty minutes,
Suddenly, this silence is shockingly interrupted by the sounds of the trumpet judgments.
The seven trumpet judgments run from this chapter through the end of chapter 11.
These seven trumpets are blown by seven angels and they set in motion seven judgments leading up to the second coming of Christ.
The seventh trumpet signals the complete victory of God.
These trumpet judgments share many similarities to the plagues Egypt experienced in Exodus.
Just like the plagues in Egypt, these trumpets signify God’s judgment on idolatry.
There are two basic ways we can understand these trumpet judgments.
First, they could be separate and distinct judgments from the seal judgments and the bowl judgments.
Or second, they could be more detailed descriptions of the seal judgments.
As Thomas Schreiner explains, referring to the seventh seal, he says:
“This seal, a literary device leading to the seven trumpets, recapitulates, rehearses, and expands upon the coming judgments…The trumpets don’t describe a new series of events but revisit, from a different perspective, the same period of time found in the first six seals.”
This type of literature is defined as recursive,
Meaning it revisits the same time period from complementary perspective.
Similar to much of the OT and the four Gospels.
So, it is not unfounded that Revelation would share this type of literature.
If we understand the trumpets this way,
It would lead us to understand Revelation as recursive as well.
Either way, we can understand that the level of intensity of God’s judgment is increasing with the descriptions given for the trumpet judgments.
And yet, we continue to see God’s mercy present amid the outpouring of His wrath.
We see His mercy in the fact that some things are spared,
Because the reality is, all of us should be wiped out for our sin.
Instead, our passage this morning repeatedly states that the trumpet judgments fall on a third of the people or the land,
Not on all of it.
But before we get there, we see in vs. 2 that John sees this angelic appearance.
Seven angels in vs. 2 are in the presence of God.
It is important we remember the setting is still the heavenly throne room we saw back in ch. 4-5.
These angels are before God’s throne,
And it is from this throne, God issues the trumpet judgments.
These judgments, like the seal judgments before them,
Are in accordance with God’s plan and God’s sovereignty.
The angels serve God,
They are given the trumpets, demonstrating the authority of Christ,
And when they blow them,
God inflicts His judgments upon the earth.
In the OT, when a trumpet was blown, it was most often a call to war.
Here the trumpets signify God’s judgment.
God summons the angels and gives them the trumpets to carry out His will on earth.
But before these seven angels blow any trumpets,
Another angel appears with a golden censer,
GOD: The Prayers of Saints (vs. 3-6)
GOD: The Prayers of Saints (vs. 3-6)
Which represents the prayers of the saints in Rev. 8:3-6;
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
Regarding this interaction between this angel and our prayers, John Piper states;
“We should wrestle in prayer and fasting for the things we know are God’s will in our lives and families and our church and our city and our world. But by and large we should probably leave it to God how he will use angels to get his work done.”
In vs. 3, we see God using this angel with a golden censer.
This censer is an incense burner.
Usually like a cup or bowl at the end of a long handle.
In Exodus 30:1-9, we see censers filled with incense and priests would fill the censer with burning coals from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt-offering.
As the coals would burn, the incense would emit this pleasant aroma.
The incense would be presented in a censer on the golden altar before the Lord.
There were also daily use censers in Numbers 16:39,
These censers were made of brass, while the ceremonial censers would be made of gold.
The censer we see here in Rev. 8 is a golden censer.
Hebrews 9:4 says the golden censer belongs to the tabernacle,
Which symbolized belonging to the holiest.
The golden censers of incense we saw back in Rev. 5:8, as well as the ones here,
Represent the prayers of the saints,
The prayers of Christians,
Your prayers, and my prayers.
The prayers of the martyrs we looked at two weeks ago in Rev. 6:10.
As Adrian Rogers recognizes;
“When there is no hope on the horizontal level, there’s always hope on the vertical level.”
The incense prayers in vs. 4 rise up into God’s presence.
Our prayers are this sweet aroma in the presence of God on His throne.
In his commentary, Robert Mounce notes;
“The scene in heaven suggests that there is something sacrificial about genuine prayer. Both the believer and his prayer enter the presence of God by way of the altar.”
We sacrifice our prayers up to God and He accepts and is pleased with our prayers.
As the Psalmist said back in Psalm 141:2;
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Prayer engages us in the spiritual battle.
We do not enter into this spiritual warfare lightly.
Remember from our Family Letter, Ephesians 6:18 taught us that prayer is essential,
We must be ever-ready, alert, vigilant, and persistent in this battle.
We must offer prayers and supplication for all the saints.
This spiritual battle is intense!
Our prayers are effective in this battle!
And our God is ever faithful in this battle!
Spurgeon simply and profoundly guides us when he said it is a good fall when a man falls on his knees.
History shows generations of saints that have prayed to God, prayed for His kingdom, prayed for His will.
Revelation 8 shows that these prayers are not in vain.
Richard Trench wrote;
“Prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven, but getting God’s will done on earth.”
Satan cannot stop the prayers of saints, God hears these prayers, and He enjoys their fragrance.
So, do not diminish the role of your prayers!
These verses show the presence of our prayers in heaven,
And the power they ignite!
In response to the prayers of saints,
This angel fills the censer with fire and throws it on the earth.
This seems to imply that our prayers play a part in igniting God’s judgment on the earth.
The trumpet judgments in the next section, are God’s answer to the prayers of His saints.
You may be wondering, what kind of prayer could do such a thing?
How about, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”?
Do we realize the weight of what we are asking when we pray?
Especially when we pray that prayer?
Or do we just say it because we have it memorized and everyone else at church is saying it?
In response to these prayers,
The angel hurls the incense burner filled with fire to the earth.
Immediately, we see peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
We know these flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder come from God,
We saw this back in Rev. 4:5; Which also echoes Ex. 19:16;
From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,
On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
A storm is coming from the prayers of saints.
Prayers turns to judgment according to God’s timeline, not man’s.
As the angels blow the seven trumpets,
Each trumpet sounded indicated the mystery of God being revealed.
In this case, it is the mystery of the judgment on earth.
So, if you ever feel like your prayers are not being answered,
Know that your prayers are not in vain.
These verses assures you that God hears the prayers of saints.
The day is coming when He will judge the wickedness of the earth and the new creation will come.
Until then, we wait for Him and we pray.
He hears our prayers, they make a difference,
Do not be dismayed feeling like your prayers are not working,
Keep praying.
Continue to fill God’s throne room with the pleasant aroma of your prayers.
As William Hendriksen says:
“God has heard the prayers of the saints, and the judgments upon earth are his answer to them.”
YOU: The Judgment on Earth (vs. 7-13)
YOU: The Judgment on Earth (vs. 7-13)
We see this answer in Rev. 8:7-13;
The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
In response to the prayers of saints, the seven angels blow their trumpets, signaling God’s judgment.
The exact nature of each trumpet is difficult to discern,
But it is clear that the result is tragedy.
We see the first four trumpet plagues in these verses.
Before an interlude in vs. 13 which sets the stage for the remaining three trumpets including demonic torment in chapters 9 and 11,
Then the seven bowls of ch. 16.
But the question we continue to ask when studying Revelation has been, when do these judgments occur?
We have talked about how some hold to a specific seven-year tribulation that will occur in the future.
While others contend that there is no clear evidence to support that.
This latter understanding views the trumpet plagues as occuring between the resurrection of Christ and the return of Christ.
This same view understands the trumpet plagues as overlapping the seal judgments.
Meaning the seal judgments and trumpet judgments are communicating the same judgments from different perspectives.
Whether the plagues are specific to that seven year tribulation or occuring in this time between Christ’s resurrection and His return,
There are clear lessons we can learn from these plagues.
First, these plagues express God’s judgment on the four major regions of creation: land, sea, fresh water, and the sky.
In Rev. 16, the first four bowl judgments affect the same four regions.
This implies that every part of creation has been corrupted by human sin.
The question of how literal these judgments actually are is a fair one.
These verses very well could be exaggeratedly vivid to communicate God’s judgment striking the evil from the earth to bring people to repentance.
If we are understanding that these judgments have been happening throughout the entire age of the church,
We would point to natural disasters that have happened over the last 2000 years.
But if we understand these events as having yet to come,
The calamities that are described here will be far worse than the natural disasters we have experienced.
And it would be a much more literal understanding of these verses.
Either way, we understand that all of creation will groan,
This includes the earth and the sky and people.
As Rom. 8:19-23 describes;
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Both the universe will be destroyed and mankind will be judged when Christ returns.
The Apostle Peter makes this clear in 2 Peter 3:10;
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
This means our hope must be in Christ alone,
It cannot be in anything in this world!
A.C. Dixon is helpful in reminding us of the dangers of misplaced hope;
“When we depend on our organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend on education, we get what education can do; when we depend on man, we get what man can do; but when we depend on God, we get what God can do.”
We see what God can do in these verses.
Looking specifically at vs. 7,
The hail and fire from the first trumpet sounds awfully similar to the judgment given in Ezekiel 38:22;
With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him, and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples who are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur.
But it is also reminiscent of the seventh plague in Egypt in Ex. 9:23-24;
Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Hail can be destructive,
There is a reason insurance companies include hail damage as something to be insured.
When hail comes down to the earth, in some cases it can be travelling faster than a bullet.
And the size of hail can be quite large.
The largest recorded is 8 inches in diameter,
That is terrifying.
Imagine golf balls falling from the sky at a velocity similar to a bullet fired from a gun.
This could mean that the fire and the blood are mixed in as a result of the hail.
Hail has been so destructive that it can cause explosions and fires to break out,
It has struck people causing blood to be spilled as a result.
Or the fire could be a lightning storm, which often accompanies hail as well.
But this is no ordinary lightning storm!
It is a storm that destroys much of the earth.
The fire burns beyond control, a third of the earth, a third of the trees, and all the green grass.
Just to give an idea, there have been some pretty destructive forest fires,
But the largest forest fire ever was still less than 1 percent of the trees on earth.
That means, this fire is going to burn over 33 times more than the largest forest fire the world has ever known.
If this is not literal, then the cumulative devastation that has been caused by storms and hail and fire since Christ’s resurrection indicate God’s ongoing judgment on the evil of the earth.
Regardless of how literal this is, it is clear this first trumpet is destructive!
Danny Akin’s comment is spot on;
“Whatever these images represent, the impact should rattle our bones in awe of this God.”
The fact that God only unleashes this destruction on a portion of creation shows that He is merciful.
He is holding back His wrath even in His judgment,
Giving opportunity for men and women to repent.
To call out to Him in prayer to free us from Satan’s enslavement.
As Alan Redpath notes;
“Prayer releases the grip of Satan’s power; prayerlessness increases it. That is why prayer is so exhausting and so vital.”
Creation is suffering through God’s horrific judgment brought about by the sin of mankind.
Despite this suffering, these judgments are the defeat of Satan and the preparation of God’s redemption.
The second trumpet continues judgment on the earth with the sea turning to blood being a reminder of the first plague in Ex 7:20-21;
Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile turned into blood. And the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
Perhaps this great mountain burning with fire is the description of a volcano.
I am not completely certain.
But we can imagine the ramifications of this judgment.
A third of the creatures in the sea dying.
Nearly three quarters of the world’s oxygen is produced by marine life.
That means the water becoming blood and the death of marine life would put the very air we breath at risk.
We do not need to emphasize the use of one-third in these verses as a specific or exact number.
No, it is enough to give us an understanding that God’s judgment is being poured out on a world that has resisted Him.
But it is not His complete judgment.
Time is running out for those who are rebelling against God,
But it has not run out yet!
Time continues to move forward.
And as time continues forward, we move closer and closer to these trumpets.
The third trumpet results in a great star named Wormwood falling from the sky.
I do not really understand what this great star is exactly.
Perhaps it is some sort of toxic meteorite that will land in water and pollute the water?
Or it could be an angel with the name Wormwood, who will come down and cures our waters?
I do not know.
But the end result remains,
The waters become wormwood,
Meaning a significant portion of the fresh water we drink will become bitter.
This is a reversal of the miracle God performed in Exodus 15 when He made bitter water drinkable.
But wormwood, a bitter herb common to the Middle East, is not poisonous.
We see it referenced throughout the OT.
For example, it is used allegorically in Amos 6:12,
Describing suffering and affliction as wormwood, as bitter.
That can likely be transferred to our understanding here in Rev. 8.
The suffering and affliction caused by the star crashing into the water is wormwood, it is bitter.
Water is meant to be refreshing and life-giving,
Not as a result of this judgment.
In this instance, the water is bitter and life-taking.
Because the water is undrinkable.
In the same way sin has taken God’s creation intended for good,
And polluted it.
A similar judgment is found in Jer. 9:15;
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed this people with bitter food, and give them poisonous water to drink.
Imagine the fallout that would cause socially and politically,
If one-third of the water source suddenly became undrinkable.
People would likely have to relocate.
The UN would struggle, perhaps trying to mass migrate people to areas with drinkable water supplies.
Once again, even if we did not take this literally,
The third tells us it is a partial judgment that comes from God in response to the prayers of saints.
But the result of this judgment, as vs. 11 shows, will be death for many.
Lives will end.
This earthly body will dissolve.
The Bible teaches that death is ultimately the consequence of sin.
And even though we see that many people die here,
Death is a universal experience for all people.
Yet death is necessary to destroy evil.
It was through the death of Jesus,
That the sting of death has been taken away for all who believe in Him.
It is the death of Christ that secured all the blessings we are able to enjoy from God,
Chief among these blessings is salvation from spiritual death.
Because spiritual death is infinitely worse than physical death.
To endure spiritual death is to experience the full consequences of sin.
It is death of one’s soul.
It is everlasting judgment and torment.
And the only way you can be saved from it,
Is by acknowledging that sin causes death and that you have sinned,
Then in your heart, you believe in Jesus Christ and His death on your behalf,
And confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
If you believe and confess that,
The Bible says that though you may experience physical death,
You will emerge victorious over death, and you will never experience spiritual death.
In fact, just the opposite, you will enjoy eternal life with God in heaven forever!
After the death caused by the third judgment,
We see the fourth and final judgment in our chapter this morning transcend the earth into the sky.
The fourth trumpet sounds and the sun, moon, and stars are darkened.
This trumpet judgment echoes Isaiah 13:10 and Ezekiel 32:7-8;
For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.
When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord God.
The result of this judgment is darkness,
The absence of light.
Darkness is used most commonly as something negative.
It is related to chaos, evil, ignorance, mischief, and death.
If you remember back to our family letter, Eph. 5:11 uses darkness to illustrate unfruitful works.
Instead of keeping these works in darkness, it says to expose these works.
Once again this trumpet judgment of darkness brings us back to the plagues,
The ninth plague in Ex. 10:21-23 was darkness.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was pitch darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.
Look at how this darkness was described in vs. 21, a darkness to be felt.
And this darkness covered all the land of Egypt.
It was so dark, they could not see one another.
Yet, all the Israelites still had light where they lived, which was the city of Goshen.
Here in Revelation darkness is being used as a symbol of judgments,
Jesus prophesied in Matt. 24:29;
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
The darkness of the fourth trumpet sets the stage for the demonic activity that takes place in darkness seen in ch. 9.
Vs. 12 says a third of the day will be without light.
It is a third of the sun without light.
And a third of the moon without light.
It is hard to understand exactly how these effects will play out.
I am not sure if this will be like a dimmer switch,
So it will feel like dusk all day,
Or if a chunk of the moon and sun will just be blackened out so parts of the world receive no light from it.
Or if the amount of time the light of day shines will be cut down.
Or if it once again we understand that these plagues are not meant to be taken literally.
Trying to force this passage either way would be unhelpful.
We do not know the technicalities of how this will play out,
But David Platt keeps our focus on what is important here
He says;
“Do not put your ultimate hope in created things. All things—even the most secure things like the light of the sun—all things in heaven (the sky) and on earth are passing away.”
WE: Conclusion
WE: Conclusion
Too often, we limited and finite humans wish to shake our fist at God and declare that we are going to live our lives our own way.
Then place our hope and trust in the world around us.
Believing that all we are is matter,
A random speck of chance in the grand scheme of random chance that is our universe.
It is a great irony, we somehow think too little of ourselves while also thinking too highly of ourselves.
Because we are looking at the world through a tiny hole convinced that we know it all.
These first four trumpets disprove that we are gods of our own world.
That we cannot truly live our lives our own way.
And that we are made in the image of a sovereign God in control of it all.
Each of these judgments show that these different aspects of the world are not the answer.
As Grant Osborne says;
“The four together prove that those who live only for this world have chosen foolishly, for only in God is there true life. Earthly things turn on us, and we dare not depend on them.”
Then our chapter ends in vs. 13 with an eagle saying “Woe! Woe! Woe!”
What does this mean?
The remaining trumpet blasts that the angels are about to blow will maximize the woe upon earth dwellers.
It was common for prophecies to begin with a woe.
For example Amos 5:18;
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,
But why are there three woes here in Rev. 8:13?
Because there are three remaining trumpets.
This woe saying serves as a literary device to highlight the worsening of the remaining three trumpets.
Devastation will come to those who dwell on the earth with these trumpets.
The Egyptian plagues designated between the righteous and the wicked,
Likewise, these trumpets do the same.
Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth.
Remember, this phrase does not mean all people.
It is talking about those who do not have citizenship in heaven by the blood of Jesus.
Believers, do not fear the last three trumpets,
Ch. 7 assured us that we escape the wrath of God.
But unbelievers should be filled with dread at the coming of these trumpet judgments.
Despite mankind’s attempt to rule the world,
God still rules over the world.
His rule will be manifested when His judgment comes.
But with His judgment comes salvation.
God judges our rebellion, and that judgment will affect every realm of creation.
As it is right now, our world is out of whack,
Our world is not what it was created to be,
This judgment from God is not irrational, unnecessary, or oppressive.
It is against the rebellion of mankind.
His judgments restore justice and harmony to a world full of chaos and madness.
And we see that His judgments come in response to the prayers of saints.
Spurgeon says about prayer:
“Prayer is a gift from God as well as appeal to God. Every prayer for mercy is not a cause, but a result! Divine grace is at the back of prayer and at the base of prayer.”
Danny Akin adds;
“Prayer is an action of finite sinful humans that in some amazing and mysterious way moves into action a sovereign and omnipotent God. I cannot explain it, but I do believe it.”
And I would add that we must practice it.
Our prayers are a beautiful aroma to God in His throne room.
It moves Him to bring about justice and to save souls.
But prayer takes discipline,
It is perhaps the most challenging spiritual discipline for us.
But the discipline of prayer sparks discipline for the world.
Pray