Speaker: Greg Sanders

Passage: Revelation 8:1-5

So we’re back in our study, and I think this part that we’re in is what I would call the second section of Revelation. The first one was the insights and the communication of Jesus to John about the churches he led and pastored. If you remember those insights from chapters 1, 2, and 3, those weren’t the best and brightest performance reviews. There was some difficult stuff that was being communicated.

However, this second section of our study really begins in chapter 4, and I want to keep framing the markers so we understand how to grab onto this teaching. In chapter 4:1-3, John is being shown what is to happen on the earth after these things. I want us just to hold that phrase, Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things. I would love to submit that John is being shown what the capital C church, the big church at large, and what his churches are to become.

A VISION OF WORSHIP

I want you to consider that this is probably the first and most unique picture of heavenly worship, other than what Isaiah had seen. Before this, there probably wasn’t a real picture for the young church to grab onto. They would have just understood what had been happening through the years, and I think the Lord was showing something new here.

I would go further and offer this idea: the authentic, presence-filled worship that we see as commonplace now was probably in the heart of the Lord to release on the earth all along. It probably began with John seeing this because we really don’t see a lot prior to this that would contend with what John sees.

Can you imagine being John and trying to return to earth and communicate what you just saw? Imagine what it would be like to show up at the next gathering and try to help explain to them what you want it to look like and what you want them to experience. Can you imagine walking up to the band and saying, Okay, I saw a new idea. This is what it’s supposed to look like. There’s supposed to be thunder and lightning. I don’t know how you make that, but figure out how to make it.

I think what John saw shaped how we’ve moved into worship as we know it now. I can’t prove that. No one could. On the other hand, I can’t disprove it, nor could anyone else. Those are the places in the Scriptures that I think it’s right for us to consider what might happen. 

All that aside, what that leaves us with is a clear understanding that what John was shown was intended to happen after these things. With that in mind, we are posturing ourselves to learn from Revelation and use it as a tutorial, watching how it teaches us to live. 

REVELATION 8:1-5

Today, we’re going to go into Revelation 8. We’re going to be in verses 1 through 5, and I’m going to read it for us:

“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and they were given seven trumpets. Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to be offered on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God in front of the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.”

THE SEVENTH SEAL

Okay, let’s dig in. It starts with, “When the Lamb broke the seventh seal..”. The seventh seal is part of the scroll that caused John to begin weeping. At the beginning of chapter 5, we find the elder giving a rebuke to John. What he’s really saying to John is, Get your eyes off what is needed and missing and put them on the solution, which is the Lamb.

Now, we could camp just right there. What a word for us to live by: get your eyes off what is missing and wrong and get your eyes on the solution. That statement the elder makes has become kind of an anchor point for this study. Stop weeping. Look, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has conquered. He’s worthy. Open the scroll and break its seven seals.

Right after this is spoken, John sees the Lamb standing between the throne and the four living beings. The four living beings and the elders here are all holding bowls filled with incense. I want us to highlight something. This narrative has twenty-eight characters: four living beings and twenty-four elders. All of them are collecting incense, which we’re told is the prayers of the saints. The narrative puts a very clear focus on the incense. It matters.

I also think it puts a very clear focus on the prayers of the saints. If we know that the incense is the prayers of the saints, we know that’s what they’re collecting. I think the central focus of the heavenly throne room is the prayers of God’s people.

Sometimes, we consider prayer an afterthought, or it’s what we do as a solution when things go really bad. But this narrative begins to reveal something very different: the throne room is very focused on the prayers of the saints.

SILENCE IN HEAVEN

So, the seventh seal marks the completion of the scroll. It’s the last seal, which means whatever is to follow is the fulfillment of the purpose of the scroll. But what happens after the breaking of the seal? Silence. “…there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and they were given seven trumpets”.

Okay, so a prolonged period of silence is probably a unique marker we should highlight. Here are the questions that come up. Why was there silence? Was it just reverence? Was it so that more prayers could be captured? Was it for the purpose of listening? How many husbands understand that silence is necessary to hear your wife? How many wives know that you need your husbands to shut up sometimes? Silence is often equated to hearing. Or was there an element of reverent fear and awe, where it’s just like, We know what’s coming?

In Habakkuk chapter 2, we understand something about the way silence is to be interpreted in the Kingdom. It says, “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him”. Silence in this Habakkuk passage is understood as clear submission to the will of the Lord. I think that’s an important understanding for us.

Just think about this: when the Lord tells you something or says something to you, and you silently accept it and go into it, that’s called obedience. How many have ever offered a different solution to that, where you want to offer your opinions? Silence is important. I think what happens after the silence is more important.

John sees seven trumpets in the hands of seven angels. In the ancient world, not so much in our world now, trumpets were utilized to mark important moments and declarations and capture people’s attention. So, what’s the reason for the trumpets here? They’re getting ready to declare something.

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE

Then all of a sudden, the narrative shifts. It says, “Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to be offered on the gold altar before the throne”.

This angel, in stepping forward, is indicative of a narrative shift. He takes the most prominent place in the text and becomes the most important figure. He had the first job: to mix an offering before the Lord to be offered on the gold altar.

So, what is this altar? What is its significance? It’s the altar of incense, and if we were to do a deep dive into Exodus 30 or Hebrews 9, we would discover that it’s the only altar in the heavenly temple still being used.

The angel’s offering consists of two things, and I want to look at both. 

INGREDIENT ONE: THE GREAT QUANTITY

The first ingredient of this offering is a great quantity of incense. What was the great quantity? Was the great quantity from the Holy Spirit who lives, according to the Scriptures, to make intercession? He’s just been amassing it and amassing it. Was it the historic prayers of the saints? Maybe it was this treasure trove of prayers that had been held. Maybe it was the great quantity that’s given in response to those who’ve been martyred. They laid their lives down, and their lives went up as an offering. 

The Greek here means many incenses. In other words, they are plural. They are many and varied. Going back to the Exodus 30 and Hebrews 9 parallels, we understand that the altar has also been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus.

Here’s what I think we can understand about these at a minimum. A great quantity of incense could be a combination of historic elements, whether prayers or lives, and the blood of the Lamb, which was provided by Heaven and saved for this moment.

Now, we often take this moment out of chapter 8 and use it as a standalone tutorial about how we should pray and what we should do. I’m guilty of having done that before. But I want us to see, in context, that this is in a sequence of time, and they’ve been holding these ingredients for something very important.

INGREDIENT TWO: THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE

The second ingredient of this offering is the prayers of God’s people. I think we understand this is pretty clear in the narrative. If you go back to Chronicles 7, it says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…turning away from sin, then I will hear”. 

We understand the prayers of God’s people are the intercessions. In other words, they’re the cries of God’s people on earth that rise to Heaven. I want to ask you a question: How many of you feel like you’re an intercessor? Keep your answer in mind because we’ll come back to this. Intercession, in this situation, is what happens when God’s people turn their face to Heaven and petition their King. 

So the angel mixes these two ingredients, the incense and payers, together.  How many of you have ever made chocolate chip cookies? How many understand flour doesn’t work unless mixed with eggs, sugar, and vanilla? What happens if you just lay all the ingredients out on a sheet pan without putting them together? You get a burnt pile of ingredients.

What’s going on here is that the angel is following a recipe. In this recipe, one half is measured: the “great quantity”. It would seem that this is a determined amount. We don’t know the amount, but it’s been determined. We should rightfully conclude that Heaven is determining that amount. But one half is not measured: the prayers of the saints. While it’s not measured, it actually is. The measurement of prayer by the saints is left for the saints to measure.

Church, that is a sobering reality, and it’s a calling. I would also submit that this needs to become an instant conviction as we read.

THE EARTHLY RESPONSE TO THE OFFERING

The passage goes on to say, “The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of the saints, ascended up to God in front of the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth…”.

So, the angel spreads out this mixture on the altar, recollects it, and throws it upon the earth. The language of the narrative here is ceremonial, indicating this is a precious, important, and holy process. But once it’s thrown to the earth, activity begins to happen on the earth: “…and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake”.

This is a highly apocalyptic and judgment-oriented picture. These are “God events”, and what they represent is activity beyond the control of humanity. Please catch the focus of what John is seeing. Those prayers of God’s people, who’ve been redeemed by his blood, are the central key, and they are creating a response from Heaven into the earth.

THE POWER OF INTERCESSION AND PRAYER

So, I want to put it all together real quick. Trumpets are staged to announce the judgment of God on the earth. The prayers of His people are the central focus of the early verses of Revelation. Here, in these verses, the posture of prayer and the life of a believer is assumed from the heavenly narrative.

The people of God are on the earth praying to their King in Heaven for transformation. He has servants in Heaven collecting those prayers, and He has promised that when the time is right, not in our mindset, but in His mindset, those prayers will be put into action.

If I look at it from this lens, it forces three things in my life.

1. It forces me to live with an eye to pray and intercede about what I see around me.
2. It forces me to trust His character to manage those prayers. I am required to pray and trust that He responds and answers as He sees fit. 
3. It forces me to stay in my role and refuse the bait.

Let’s focus on that last one for a moment.

What is the bait? It’s complaint, murmur, rebellion, and opinion. You see, the Enemy loves to persuade people, specifically the people of God, to complain about what they see, to murmur about what they see, to rebel against what they see, to opine about what they see, instead of praying about what they see. He loves to challenge the character of God when we don’t see the answers we want. He thrives on seeding these moments with doubt and distrust.

Why? Why would he do this? The trumpets, that’s why. If you look again at the narrative, you will see the incense of prayer precedes the trumpets. The trumpets then release God’s ultimate and authoritative judgment on the earth. The Enemy knows that judgment on the earth is the result of the prayers of God’s people, not their opinions and perspectives. So, to that end, he works to challenge our commitment to prayer.

What’s the remedy to this? What’s the response? It’s repentance. Repent for where you’ve let your opinions and perspectives supersede your prayers. Repent for the places where you’ve allowed what you think about something to trump what you’re willing to do about it. Return to your primary vocation and pray. Understand the incredible agency the blood of Jesus has created in you.

A CALL TO INTERCEDE

All of you are intercessors. You are the ones who worship before His throne, have favored access, and are to contend for what you see on earth into the heavens. I want you to consider this truth: prayer is the unifying office of every believer. It’s the only office we all hold together.

We’re all intercessors; we just don’t all intercede. I would submit that it’s time for that to change. I think we misunderstand how powerful our prayers are. I think we misunderstand that Heaven is eagerly waiting to capture them. Messengers are standing in the throne room, and their only job is to grab your prayers so that the Lord can do what He wants to do on the earth in His time.

I don’t want to go down the trail of what happens if we don’t pray. I’d rather go down the trail of, You said to pray so we pray. Would you pray with me right now?

Holy Spirit, thanks for today. Thanks for the sweetness of Your presence, Lord. I hope this is a clarion call to Your people to say, We have to go back to our root position and pray, whether we like it or not. We are called to intercede, whether we understand it or not. What we have to intercede before You has power. There’s power in every voice, every person, and every prayer. 

Would You give us eyes to see as we look around the world, our neighborhoods, and our work? Show us the places we are to take before the throne. Lord, for every place where the Enemy loves to bait us to opine, murmur, and complain, would You give us the wisdom to close our mouths and get on our knees before You? We love You, and we honor You. In Jesus’s name, amen.