Revelation 8 Commentary
The seventh seal is opened only to reveal another set of seven angelic tasks. What is the Lamb up to now? More trouble for the earth? Probably yes. But first things first; God wants to hear from His servants on the ground.
Their prayers are presented and God responds with anger against the earth. Whatever the content of their prayers is! One thing is clear: God responds whenever His people sit down to pray!
Believers never see this action and may easily think their prayers mean nothing. In Egypt, the LORD God heard the cries of people and came down to rescue them. The cries of the saint aren’t in vain. Their prayers are agents of change.
Revelation shouldn’t scare God’s people. Things happen partly because of their prayers!
The statement “a third” describes the scale of destruction. It’s never a localized disaster!
From the events in Egypt, we know some disasters affected both the Egyptians and the Israelite community. But as the volume increased, the LORD God discriminated and Israel was safe. The opening pages of this Book give us the same picture. In some cases, the servants of the LORD are persecuted, to the point of death. But the LORD clearly states that He would protect them from the disaster planned for the earth. It’s a mixture! It’s a love mix.
He never allowed His faith one to see decay but He allowed kicks, slaps, flogging, insults… Of course, we also know the LORD would intervene in time, as His sovereignty determined.
The first set of ‘trumpets’ bring about natural disasters. The message is that the LORD God is behind the natural disasters. The Saints must know better. For humanity, the biggest disaster is a lack of acknowledgment of the hand of God. We explain too much! And God is never in the picture!
Revelation is written to remind the saint of the role of the sovereign God in ‘natural’ disasters. They are truly “Acts of God”!
There is a Pharaoh in each one of us. This is just science; forget God. Our own scientists (magicians) can recreate these events. We can make rain. We can even make a man dream – good or bad dreams. It is all technology. So the argument strengthens against the thought that God is behind the natural disaster. But the saint must know better.
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