Глава VIII

Appearance of seven Angels with trumpets and an Angel with a golden censer (1–4). The fall of blood and fire on the earth after the trumpet of the first Angel (6–7), a large mountain in the sea after the second trumpet (8–9) and a large star - wormwood after the third trumpet (10–11); defeat of the third part of the universe after the fourth trumpet (12–13). Rev.8:1. And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour. In chapter 8, in phenomena and images, an explanation is given of what kind of sorrows will befall the world and all of humanity. John again sees the mysterious book in the right hand of the One sitting, and he also sees the Lamb. The Lamb opens the last, seventh seal from the sealed book. But John no longer mentions animals, elders, or lamps; they were no longer in John’s sight. The immediate consequence of the breaking of the seventh seal was that silence reigned in heaven for as long as half an hour. Silence does not simply mean silence, the cessation of sounds in general, but the cessation of the sounds of human speech. And if now, after the opening of the seventh seal, silence reigned in the sky, then, therefore, the song of praise of the celestials ceased. All the inhabitants of heaven, involuntarily showing reverence for the Almighty, fell silent for a short time before the upcoming revelations of Divine wrath as incomprehensible actions of Divine providence. But this silence could only be short-lived, like half an hour. Namely, the expression “as if for half an hour” has the meaning of an approximate indication of time and cannot be understood in the literal sense of the word. Rev.8:2. And I saw seven angels who stood before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. Rev.8:3. And another Angel came and stood before the altar, holding a golden censer; and a great deal of incense was given to him, so that with the prayers of all the saints he would place it on the golden altar, which was in front of the throne. Rev.8:4. And the smoke of incense ascended with the prayers of the saints from the hand of an Angel before God. Under the seven Angels, who in further visions remain before the throne like the four living creatures and the elders (Rev. 7:13), one can see an indication of Angels of a certain rank standing before the throne of God. This meaning of theirs is already indicated in their attribute - seven trumpets, which appear in the meaning of trumpets announcing the judgment of God over a sinful world, as a kind of signals for the beginning of subsequent phenomena. In addition to the seven Angels, John sees something new. This latter did not appear before the throne, but before the altar, which was mentioned in v. 9 and by which must be understood the altar of burnt offering. From this altar the Angel was supposed to take hot coals for his golden censer. At the same time, incense was given to the Angel so that he (the Angel) would help the prayers of the saints reach the throne of God, just as the smoke of incense rises and becomes a pleasant aroma of the sacrifice. Incense smoke here is not a means of offering prayer, but only a simple indication of this offering; and the Angel is not a mediator and sacrifice-bringer, but a servant who, by the command of God (incense was given from God), is assigned to serve the saints 42. The golden altar at the end of v. 3 must mean a different altar than the one mentioned at the beginning of this verse. This altar is golden and by it we can only mean the one that stood in the sanctuary before the entrance to the Holy of Holies (Exodus 40:5, 26). And before John’s gaze, something similar to what happened in the Jerusalem temple during the service took place, although the similarity was only approximate. – When the smoke of incense rose from the altar, when through this it was indicated that the Lord had accepted the prayers of the saints and that their request for avenging the blood of the martyrs had been heard (Rev. 6:10), then the Angel again returned to the altar of burnt offering and again filled the censer with coals ((Rev. 8:5). But he did not fill it in order to go again to burn incense in sanctuary, but in order to pour these coals onto the ground - from the height of the vault of heaven, on which John saw the heavenly church and throne. These hot coals, poured onto the ground, were supposed to indicate the beginning of the executions of Divine wrath, the onset of the time of Divine judgment and vengeance. Rev.8:5. And the Angel took the censer; and he filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it into the ground: and there were voices, and thunder, and lightning, and an earthquake. Rev.8:6. And the seven Angels, having seven trumpets, prepared to blow. Rev.8:7. The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and fell to the earth; and the third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. Rev.8:8. The second angel sounded his trumpet, and as if a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood, Rev.8:9. and the third part of the living creatures that lived in the sea died, and the third part of the ships perished. As soon as this action of the Angel took place, voices of praise, interrupted for a while, were again heard in heaven among the inhabitants of heaven, and an earthquake occurred on earth. Following this, from the sound of the trumpet of the first Angel, John sees an extraordinary instrument of execution (cf. Exodus 9:24; Joel 2:30), which must correspond to the special sinfulness and guilt of the world. At the sound of the first trumpet, hail will fall, mixed not only with fire, but also with blood; Consequently, this hail will have the appearance of balls that will be moistened with blood, with the smell and appearance of actual human blood, 43 and, in addition, will be accompanied by destructive fire. Since it is conceivable that the execution itself, despite its inexplicability from the point of view of modern experience, is a real physical phenomenon, then its consequences must be explained as physical disasters among earthly nature. This is the actual destruction by hail and fire of a third part (approximately) of the trees on the entire earth's surface, which will be burned along with the grass. To avoid embarrassment, one must remember that this terrible and incomprehensible execution is not an execution of our time, but of the distant future, close to the end of the world, when the whole world will be renewed through terrible physical upheavals 44 . The fall of a mountain from the sky at the sound of the second trumpet indicates the heavenly origin of the execution, i.e., that it is committed as a providential act of Divine omnipotence and judgment. The epithets “large” and “blazing with fire” require us to understand the enormous mass of fire that should fall from the sky in recent times. This will be an extraordinary act of Divine omnipotence manifesting its wrath upon sinful humanity. From the fall of a large mountain, the waters of the entire sea will deteriorate, losing both their former appearance and their former taste, and through this a third of everything living in them will die. But, in addition, a third of the ships will perish at sea. This disaster is also external and physical, which will befall people through the disastrous state of visible nature, which has been damaged due to their sins. Rev.8:10. The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. Rev.8:11. The name of this star is “wormwood”; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter. Rev.8:12. The fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars were struck, so that a third part of them was darkened, and a third part of the day was not light, just like the nights. The following execution also speaks of the suffering of people through the defeat of physical nature. – At the sound of the trumpet of the third Angel, a star (called wormwood) falls from heaven and falls directly to the earth, and this fall must be understood in the literal sense. For the seer himself, the falling star was a real star, 45 and he distinguishes it from other stars only by the fact that it was large. But by adding the name “wormwood” to it, John gives reason to assume that this star was a miraculous phenomenon and contained in its nature something greater than other stars. That is why it is depicted like a torch, planted and flaming according to the action of Divine Providence. – The consequences of the fall of a star are indicated in its name – wormwood, bitter herb. It can be assumed that the waters were poisoned by its bitterness not in any area of ​​​​the earth, but throughout the entire earth, so that people throughout the universe, without any exception, had to drink somewhat bitter water; This bitterness of the water, to which we must add the consequences of the previous executions, produced a high mortality rate. Undoubtedly, all this is very difficult to imagine for us and for our time, since we do not observe anything like this in our modern life. But it does not follow from this that it is necessary to abandon the literal understanding of this execution (Matthew 19:26). This is a future event. After the sound of the trumpet of the fourth Angel, John, in his ecstatic state of spirit, observed some kind of damage, a change for the worse in the luminaries of the sky. The darkening of the third part of each luminary of the sky was not temporary, soon ending, but, like the plagues of the first trumpets, permanent for that future time. Apparently, the heavenly bodies will give people a third less light than what they gave before they were damaged. And since a third of the luminous capacity of all the luminaries of the firmament was affected, both day and night became less bright by a third of the light that belonged to them before. And in this execution we have nothing that would be completely unacceptable and impossible. If execution in the form of three days of darkness was possible for Egypt, then it is also possible that in the coming times of the world approaching the end, our sunny days and moonlit nights will be much darker. One might think that, judging by their extraordinary nature, the effect of the executions would be irresistible. But people will try to explain to themselves and others all these disastrous phenomena in nature by natural causes. Therefore, further the new punishments of the sinful world are directly reported. Rev.8:13. And I saw and heard one Angel flying in the middle of heaven and saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to those who live on earth from the rest of the trumpet voices of the three Angels who will blow! The angel, the messenger of these new punishments, is represented as flying in the middle of the sky, which signifies the place where the sun is during its higher position. The Angel’s cry: “alas,” “woe,” short, fragmentary and loud, is quite suitable for the entire setting of the apocalyptic vision. It is only necessary to arouse a feeling of fear in the hearts of people. You might be interested in: