Let's Study Revelation (Chapter 8) by E. G. Cook

CHAPTER EIGHT     In chapter 6, especially in the first four seals, we see death and destruction at the hand of man. Even though these are the judgments of God upon this sin cursed earth, still He uses man to slay man. In these four seals we see God's "four sore judgments' which are given in Ezekiel 14:21 as "the sword and the famine and the noisome beast, and the pestilence." All this is brought on by natural means in the hand of God. But when we come to the sixth seal God takes over and man flees to the dens and the rocks of the mountain. The seventh seal brings before us our Lord's "strange work" of Isaiah 28. There we read in verse 17 "Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place". And in verse 21 we read, "For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work."
    But before He starts His strange work we see in verse 1 of our chapter before us that "there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." How this reminds us of Isaiah 18:4 where we read, "For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest." How this ominous silence is a portent of the terrible things to come. Not only is there silence on the throne itself, but the four living creatures and the twenty four elders lay down their harps and stop their singing for half an hour. The loud voices of the millions of angels of Revelation 5:11-12 are heard no more during this time. The glorified saints stop their audible worship of the Lamb, and the disembodied tribulation saints refrain from crying out for revenge on their enemies until the half an hour of silence is over. How awesome is this terrifying silence, and how near at hand it must be to this God hating world.
    John saw seven angels standing before God and to them were given seven trumpets. The blowing of trumpets has played an important part in the life of God's people. In Exodus 19:16 the voice of the trumpet heralded the giving of the law. It was used to gather the congregation together, Numbers 10:7, to announce the year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25:9, to bring about the fall of Jericho, Joshua 6:20, to bring about the defeat of the Midianites Judges 7:22, and how we do long to hear that "last trump" of I Corinthians 15:52 and I Thessalonians 4:16 which is to herald the rapture of the saints that we may ever be with the Lord.
    But, before the seven angels sound their trumpets John saw another angel come and stand at the altar. This angel had a golden censer. The censer (LIBANOTOS) has a primary meaning of frankincense and a secondary meaning of a vessel in which incense is burned. It is used in its secondary sense here in this Scripture. We see that much incense was given to this angel. This incense (THUMIAMA) is frankincense which is a resin or gum from the ARBOR THURIS or incense tree. It is a very fragrant substance that is used for perfume. But what we want to notice here is that much of it was given to this angel. The fragrance of this "much incense" speaks of our Lord's sacrifice of Himself on the Cross. We note that the much incense was offered with the prayers of all saints on the golden altar. How this does tell us that our prayers are not forgotten. In some way our prayers help to usher in the judgments on this wicked world. The prayers of all saints in connection with the incense which represents our Lord's person and work on the Cross is very effectual before our God.
    There are Bible commentators who hold that the angel priest before us is the Lord Jesus Christ, but I am persuaded that when this time comes our Lord has laid aside His priestly robe and is now attired with the garments of the judge. There is no salvation before us here, but judgment in great profusion. The judge's role of this angel is clearly set forth in verse 5 where he fills his censer with fire from the altar and casts it into the earth. Let us remember that fire speaks of judgment, not of salvation. We find that when the fire is poured out there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. In nature the lightning must precede the thunder, but when God sets His hand to confound this old sinful world He reverses the order. Just think of the terrifying effect upon the wicked world when they first hear the thunder and then see the lightning. But even though the fire is poured out upon the earth, still God says in Zechariah 13:9 "I will bring the third part through the fire." Even fire from heaven itself cannot hurt those whom the Lord chooses to protect. In verse 6 of the chapter before us we see the seven angels who have the seven trumpets making preparation to sound their trumpets which in turn brings such sore judgments upon a God dishonoring world that deserves every one of them so much.
    How Scriptures like the verses before us do literally throw us at the feet of our Lord begging for light that we may see what is there for us. It would be so much easier to just follow the line of least resistance and say with many other writers on Revelation that we should take what we have before us literally. Some of them say all we need to do is believe what it says. Certainly I believe that God can do all these things found in this Scripture plus any other things He might wish to do. And it would be much easier to just say I believe it just as it is written than it is to search the Scriptures to see what all this signifies. But the very first verse in the book tells us that this revelation was signified, that is, it was given in signs and symbols. In verse 16 of chapter one we see our Lord holding seven stars in His right hand. To be sure, my Lord could hold seven actual stars in His hand if He chose to do so. But in verse 20 we are told that these seven stars are the angels (pastors) of the seven churches. The Holy Spirit gave us the meaning of this sign, but if He stopped every time He gave a sign in this book and told us what it meant, He would have made a lazy man's book of it. But our Lord had no desire to make a lazy man's book of this wonderful book of Revelation. He wanted us to be forced to search the Scriptures for the meaning of these signs. It is just that which makes us grow into spiritual Christians.
    In verse 7 the first angel sounds his trumpet and there follows hail and fire mingled with blood. In Isaiah 28:17 hail is spoken of as that which sweeps away the refuge of lies. And in Isaiah 28:15 we see those who have made lies their refuge. What is the lie that is the refuge of millions of people in our day? Is it not that their salvation is in their church? If their church is destroyed from off the face of the earth, would that not sweep away their refuge of lies? In Revelation 17:16-18 we see the utter destruction of the mystery Babylon which is none other than the Catholic Church. The fire mentioned in the verse before us may very well represent God's fury that is being poured out upon this ungodly thing. In Nahum 1:6 we are told that His fury is poured out like fire.
    As a result of all this we see one third of the trees and all the green grass burned up. It would be a little thing for our great God to do all this literally, but, if we are to look upon this as signified prophecy, we must try to find what these things represent. From Deuteronomy 20:19 we learn that the tree represents man's source of food. So, if one third of the food resources are destroyed, you have what we find in Revelation 6:6 where food be comes so expensive that a man can only make enough to buy his own food. In 1 Peter 1:24 we see the grass speaks of the glory of man. If man glorifies his church and his church is utterly destroyed before his very eyes, quite naturally his glory will all be gone.
    When the second angel sounds his trumpet John saw what appeared to him to be a mountain that was burning with fire being cast into the sea. Some writers tell us that this thing that looked like a mountain was a meteor. But, if you notice, they do not back up their thinking with the Scriptures. I am unable to find any Scripture that would liken a meteor to a mountain. but I do find references which liken a kingdom to a mountain. In Daniel 2:44 we are told that "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom." Then in Isaiah 2:2 we read "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains." And in Isaiah 11:9 the Lord's holy mountain can be none other than the kingdom He is to set up. So it is with the great mountain that filled the whole earth in Daniel 2:35.
    The Catholic Church is certainly a great kingdom, or empire. It is not only a great religious empire but it is also a great political empire as well. Even today (1969) she tells the nations of the earth what they can do and what they cannot do. Our own elective officers in the greater part of our own country are afraid to say "no" to her. And when the beast comes on the scene and heads up the ten kingdom empire of the last days we see her sitting upon the beast, Revelation 17:3. That is, she is telling him what to do and what not to do. This great monster looked like a kingdom to John and it certainly looks like one to me. This thing that looked like a mountain was burning with fire. In Revelation 17:16 we are told that the beast and the ten kings shall "burn her with fire". The "her" here certainly appears to be the Catholic Church.
    This thing that is burning with fire is cast into the sea. Some writers tell us it is the Mediterranean Sea. Others say it is all the oceans and seas. But in Revelation 13:1 John saw a beast rise up out of the sea. This beast is most certainly a man. His activities prove him to be a man and not some wild, untamed beast. Then in Revelation 19:20 we see him being cast into hell alive. So it is not the sea that brings him into power, but rather that of which the sea speaks. To learn what the sea represents let us go to Revelation 17:15 where we read, "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues". In other words the sea represents chaotic conditions in the world. We see that a third part of this sea becomes blood and a third part of the creatures died. When the beast and the ten kings set their hand to destroy this great and ferocious monster, the Catholic Church, blood will flow and people will die. This terrible monster will not lie down and die peaceably. I am told that the basements in the large Catholic churches are today literal arsenals. She is even now (it seems) preparing herself for that day
    We are told in the Scriptures before us that one third of the ships are destroyed. In Revelation 18:9-19 we see the effects of the destruction of this great empire. We see the merchants of the earth wailing and casting dust upon their heads because of the loss of such a lucrative business. The average person does not have any idea of the amount of business that will stop when this great kingdom is destroyed. In verse 19 we read, "Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate." The loss of all this Catholic business will put a third of all the ships out of business. The word "destroyed" here does not mean extinction, but non operative. No wonder the world laments her great loss.
    When the third angel sounds his trumpet we see a great star fall from heaven. In Revelation 6:13 we saw the stars of heaven falling. Here in the verse before us it is the great star. It is my conviction that the stars of 6:13 represent the pastors, or priests of the false churches. That being the case, the great star of 8:10 would quite naturally be the head over all these false churches. I have prayed, begged, pleaded and waited long upon the Lord for the way to go in the matter of an explanation of this great star that I might not cause some of His people to err. And if He has led me as I have trusted Him, and waited upon him, as I believe He has, then this great star is none other than the Pope of Rome, the head over the Catholic Church. Or, if you prefer to do so, you may call him the Pontifex Maximus, the head over the old ancient Babylonian Mysticism. They are one and the same thing.
    But someone may say, this star falls from heaven. That is true. Our Bible says this star falls from heaven, but does the word "heaven" always mean the place where God has His throne? Sometimes we are too quick to give our own definition to Bible words. In Haggai 1:10 we are told that "the heaven over us is stayed from dew". That is, dew is withheld from it. This heaven is the air immediately above us. And in 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul speaks of the third heaven. You must first have a first and second heaven before you can have a third heaven. If there is only one place that is called heaven it would be foolish to call it the third heaven, and God does not talk foolishly. You and I do talk foolishly sometimes, but our Lord never does. The Greek word for heaven is OURANOS and it simply means to lift or to heave. We might say it means to exalt, or lift up someone, or something. The third heaven where our Lord and Saviour is seated at the right hand of the Father is a highly exalted place that is lifted up above all the other heavens. So, I ask you, could this heaven from which the great star falls not to be the high and exalted position to which the religious world has lifted the pope? Certainly I do not believe we would be doing any injustice to the word OURANOS nor to the precious Scriptures of which it is a part if we say the word heaven here in Revelation 8:10 means the exalted position the pope holds in the eyes of the world. We find this same word is translated air in Matthew 6:26 and 8:20 as well as in other places.
    So to me the stars in 6:13 represent the lesser church dignitaries in this false religious empire. The great mountain in 8:8 represents this false religious empire or kingdom itself and the great star in 8:10 the head over this empire. The great star is burning as it were a lamp. Let us note, it does not say this star is a lamp. Most other translations say "burning like a torch". Our Lord tells us in John 8:12 that He is the light of the world. But to most of the Catholic world the pope is their god. Therefore, he is their light even though it is only an imaginary one. But this burning like a torch may very well refer to what we see in Revelation 17:16 where the beast and the ten kings burn her with fire.
    This great star falls "upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of water." Job 20:17 speaks of the river of honey. That is, the river speaks of sweetness. Job 29:6 speaks of the river of oil. Hebrews 1:9 speaks of our Lord anointing His people with the oil of gladness. So the river of oil speaks of the oil of gladness in the Lord. Then in Psalms 36:6 we read of the river of the Lord's pleasure. Since the pope is all the sweetness, all the oil of gladness and all the river of pleasure the Catholic world knows about, can we not see how bitter their lot will be when he is destroyed? This great star is called wormwood. The word "wormwood" comes from APSINTHOS which is a plant that grows in desolate places, and which is both bitter and hurtful, or harmful to man. In Lamentations 3:15 wormwood speaks of calamity, and in Amos 5:7 it speaks of injustice. How this does characterize the pope. What, or who can be more calamitous to mankind than the pope of Rome? And certainly many men will die when the beast and the ten kings come to destroy this great star.
    The fourth angel sounds his trumpet, and once again we are forced to fall prostrate at the feet of our Lord pleading for an understanding. How we do realize that the book of Revelation was not written for the casual reader. No dime novel reader can read the first chapter of this wonderful book and then close the book and tell you how the book ends. No literalist that I have heard on this verse 12 has ever made much sense to me. I heard one recently who said, "Let's just take it for what it says and we won't have any trouble with it". I grant you that is so much easier than to search the Scriptures for the interpretation of this verse. On the surface it sounds real good just to say let's take it just as it is written. But if we are going to be literalists let's be reasonable with it. I believe that God can do anything He wants to do, and I believe that He can do it any way He wants to do it. If He chose to make a third part of the day dark with two thirds of the literal sun shining upon it, He could do it easily. But let us remember that act would be supernatural, not literal. Supernaturally speaking, all things are possible. But from a literal standpoint it is
utterly impossible to have a third part of the day completely dark while two thirds of that great and powerful sun shines down upon it. If we want to take this book for what it says, let us go back to the first verse in the book and see what it says. In that verse God says that He sent and SIGNIFIED this revelation by His angel to John.
    I make no boast of being an authority on any part of God's precious Word, and most certainly not the portion before us. But, with a prayer on my lips that I may be led by the Holy Spirit to the extent that I may not cause any of my Lord's people to err, I humbly give what I believe is taught in this verse.
    In Genesis 37:9-10 we learn that the sun, moon and stars speak of a family relationship. In Malachi 4:2 our Lord is spoken of as "The Sun of Righteousness". His true churches are to make up His Bride. True Baptists have made up His true churches throughout the centuries. And from a close study of Revelation 1:20 we find that stars in this book represent the pastors of the churches. If we say the sun here in the verse before us represents the Sun of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, you may say can the Lord of glory be darkened. Yes, He surely can be darkened so far as the religious world is concerned. I recall a total eclipse of the sun many years ago that caused such darkness over the part of the earth where I lived that the chickens went to roost in midday. Now the fact that the moon got between us and the sun did not affect the sun, but it surely did affect us. In the day under consideration when the Catholic Church has been completely destroyed, I am persuaded that the apostate Baptist Churches that are left on the earth when our Lord comes in the air for His saints will prosper as never before. People are naturally religious, and therefore they must cling to some religious organization. But these Baptist pastors (by name) who, no doubt, will be the product of professors such as Dale Moody, Eric Rust, Frank Stagg, Roy Honeysutt and a great host of others of their ilk will stand in their pulpits ripping and tearing, denying and denouncing God's precious Word to the extent that their teaching will shut out all semblance of light from the Sun of Righteousness just as the moon shuts out the light of the sun in a total eclipse.
    In Isaiah 8:20 we are told that "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." And in verse 22 we are told that "They shall be driven to darkness." In Micah 3:5-6 speaking of prophets, or preachers that cause the Lord's people to err we read, "therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine." How spiritually dark it will be in that day because the preachers will not speak according to this word. David speaking of the wicked says, "Let their way be dark and slippery", Psalms 33:6. Again he says, "Let their eyes be darkened that they see not," Psalms 69:23. Paul quotes this statement in Romans 11:10. Paul also says, "And their foolish heart was darkened", Romans 1:21. And in Ephesians 4:18 he speaks of people "having their understanding darkened". In Isaiah 60:2 we are told that "Gross darkness shall cover the people." We know this is spiritual darkness because in verse 1 we are told to "Arise, shine; for thy light is come". The old devil would like for us to think that this darkness in Revelation 8:12 is physical darkness because that would keep people looking the other way while he covered them with gross darkness. But I do not want to point you the other way while he does his dirty work. In Ephesians 6:11-12 we are admonished to put on the whole armour of God, because we wrestle "against the rulers of the darkness of this world". To put on the whole armour of God requires long, tedious, prayerful study of the Word. And it simply cannot be done on the run. So, may we all spend more time at the feet of our Lord because He says that is the thing that is needful, Luke 10:42. The word "day" in Scripture may mean the time of sunlight, it may mean the time of our life as in John 9:4, or it may mean the time of the great tribulation, or some other definite period of time.
    In verse 13 we learn that all these terrible things that we have been studying so far are as nothing compared to those that are to follow when the last three trumpets are sounded. How close this awful time seems to be upon this wicked world, and how little they seem to care. The blindness brought on by the total depravity of man is something that we never cease to marvel at.