Revelation 8

As I read chapter eight I sense the interlude of chapter seven is continuing through the first five verses. Before I comment on the interlude, I first want to consider the four trumpets of verses six through thirteen.

Remember, my perspective is that each of these cycles of seven are complete visions to help the church through their time of persecution. They are not continuous or progressive; each cycle is a stand-alone vision. In the first four trumpets John uses the plagues of Exodus 7-12 to describe his vision. John, and his first readers, understood that God was the Lord of all creation. They sincerely believed what some people (especially insurance companies) say today when there is a great natural calamity; it was an act of God. Accordingly the visions of John reflect God’s judgment through God intervening in the natural flow of nature. The use of the measure 1/3 indicates that the judgment is partial.

Now the interlude. Here John sees how incredibly precious to God are the prayers of His people. All activity in Heaven stops as the prayers, mixed with incense, ascend to God. Throughout the Bible the forces of nature are used as metaphors for God’s activity, God’s might and power. Verse five indicates that God not only hears the prayers of His people; He also responds to those prayers.

I sense great passion in God’s response to the prayers of His people. I am quite embarrassed that my prayers so often lack passion. There are circumstances in my life for which I know I am helpless. There are situations in my life for which there is most certainly an urgent need; why then do my prayers lack the passion of that urgency? Today, I will commit myself to very seriously considering the three questions that follow these daily mediations. God wants to change something in my life and I want to be fully in line with God’s will for my life.

What does today’s reading

reveal to you about God?

What does it reveal to you about yourself?

Think about what God wants you to do

or remember about this passage.

Does God want you to change

anything in your life?

7-Oct-11       Rev. 9:1-21