October 8, 2008

• Revelation 8:1-6

  Revelation 8:1-6 KJV  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.  (2)  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.  (3)  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  (4)  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.  (5)  And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.  (6)  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

  Heaven is filled with the praise and worship of God and then, all of a sudden everyone is quiet. There is no sound made for half an hour!

  Zep 1:7 KJV Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
  
  Zec 2:13 KJV Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
  
  Hab 2:20 KJV But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

  Here we see seven angels who stand in the presence of God and they were given seven trumpets. As these trumpets are sounded there will be judgments poured out, the first four dealing with the earth and the last 3 with man.

  Now in the Old Testament we see trumpets that are used to call an assembly together, Numbers 10:2. To sound the alarm for war, Numbers 10:9. They were used for religious feasts, Numbers 10:10.  They were used to announce news, I Samuel 13:3.  They were used to announce a new king, I Kings 1:34, 39.  They were used in worship, I Chronicles 16:6, 42.  Also, trumpets will be used to announce the Day of the LORD, Zephaniah 1:14-16.  But in the New Testament, we see two primary uses for trumpets.  The first is to call the church home, we call that the Rapture of the church as the Lord takes His Bride home. And the second is the sounding of these trumpet judgments!

  The altar of incense stood before the holy place in the temple.  It stood in front of the veil between the table of showbread on the right and the seven-branch oil-burning lamp on the left as you faced the veil.  And the incense was burned and offered to God before the first and after the last sacrifices of the day. To burn this incense the priest was to take the hot, fiery coals from the brazen altar, the place where the sacrifices were offered, and bring them to the holy place, to the altar of incense.

  The altar of sacrifice was located outside of the holy place, and thus, the coals from this altar must first be appropriated by the priest and then taken to the altar of incense where they ignite the incense as a sweet smelling aroma before God.

  Interestingly enough, in Psalm 141:2 we are told, “Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.“  And so we see that the offering of incense relates to our prayers ascending to the throne of God, just as we are told here in Revelation chapter 8.

  In reading this it almost seems as if God has ignored these prayers of the saints, placing them aside. Is that true?  Not at all, God has not ignored them it just was not the time for Him to act upon them.  What are these prayers that God is now acting upon?  It is as I have said, for Satan to be destroyed, for sin to be defeated, for righteousness to fill this land. In other words,  ” . . . Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”  Matthew 6:9-10.  God is ready to act upon these prayers – and His kingdom will come!

  The importance of proper prayer.

  The Bible says:
  1 John 5:14-15 KJV And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: {15} And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

  It’s important that we ask according to God’s will.

  There can be “good prayers” and “bad prayers”.

  “Bad prayers” are when ask in our own selfish motives, and not according to God’s will.

  Bad prayers can have some bad results!

  With King Uzziah, He decided he was going to break God’s rules, and offer incense for himself (he wasn’t in the New Testament yet, and he wasn’t an ordained priest).

  2Ch 26:19 But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense.

  Korah’s rebellion:
  Num 16:18 KJV And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.
  
  God had the earth swallow them up alive, they were in rebellion against God and His ways.

  If this makes you afraid to pray, that’s the wrong response.

  It ought to make you more serious and more careful when you pray.

  Good prayers can have good results!

  At the same time as Korah’s rebellion, when a plague began to break out on the people,
  Num 16:46-48 KJV And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. {47} And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. {48} And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
  
  What will you do with your “censer”?
  Will you take your praying seriously?
  Will you “stand in the gap”?

  The angel takes a live coal from the altar of incense, and puts it in his censer, then casts it to the earth. When the angel casts fire from the altar of incense before God to the earth, it comes out as sounds, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

  As we are going to see in these trumpet judgment blasts, heaven’s half hour of silence is abruptly shattered with a firestorm of judgment that bursts upon this earth, God’s judgment will resume!

  • 8:00 am
  • 3 Comments