REVELATION 8:1-5

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Revelation chapter 8 begins with an arresting verse:

8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

I think the simplest meaning here is probably the most likely: there is silent awe in heaven at God’s judgment, and at what is going to happen next.

2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

John sees into what is a heavenly temple—the censer and the altar are the key images. The smoke of the incense in heaven are the prayers of God’s people, billowing from the censer the angel holds in its hand. Look what happens next!

5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The prayers of God’s people—many of them the anguished prayers of the martyrs—result in judgment on earth!

Prayer changes things!