The opening ceremony has a finale!
This was the final convocation. The great offering of incense and the saints prayers filled heavenly scene and readied the hearts and minds for the great winding down of the earth. The 6 seals that have gone before dealt primarily with the rebellious creations. The final event, the trumpets will go farther to the destruction of the broken, polluted, groaning creation.
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 8:5–ESV)
Remember that idle alongside this 8th angel was an empty censer. This angel of action took it and after making his way to the fires of the altar packed it with coals. After securing the door to the censer he turned to face the earth, that center-point and wicked center of the created cosmos. This he then threw from heaven to earth and the earth events exploded back into focus.
Recall that at the close of the 6th seal at the end of Revelation 6 acts of God had driven humanity to the caves. There had been a quieter time on earth while the 144,000 were marked and then a silent time in heaven, but the opening ceremony has just finished and with an almighty bang!
A fire of purity began the purification of the earth
The essence of purity will become the essence of purification. Purity for man cannot come from within him. Try as humans do the great tragedy of sin is that it is engendered in our spiritual makeup. Sin introduced foreign base pairs into our DNA if you will. That altered makeup cannot be self-handled, man-handled. It can only be God handled.
Purification of the world from the sinful effect must come from God himself…and, it will come.
1The will be no room in God’s creation for sin and rebellion
This is my Father’s world,
And to my list’ning ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas—
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world:
Oh, let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world,
The battle is not done:
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
This is an old hymn that having grown up in the 1970s and 1980s became a bit inbuilt. For some reason it sat weirdly in my mind as a child, but often things that sit weird don’t really disappear. So, here it is again raising its now more satisfying memories to the events of Revelation 8. The third line from the end says, “The battle is not done,” and the last line concludes “And earth and heav’n be one.”
The beauty and perfection of earth became corrupted and brought low. It will not remain like this forever, but eventually be unified. The book of Revelation is the spin down of sin. That angel thrown censer is the voice of God Almighty preparing the earth to hear those trumpets, those trumpets of cleansing.
In this remarkable scene Heaven’s pure fire began therapy of the cosmos. Toleration of the cancer of sin concluded, and tissues corrupted, perverted, necrotic were marked for removal. A mighty voice of God came with this censer and it said, “YOU CANNOT STAY!”
2It is fitting that worship and prayer precede activity
Do you pray before meals? Have you noticed the prayers before ceremonies at church and even in Southern Culture? Do you pray before you head out on a trip? What about before you open presents on Christmas day?
God intended that we on earth should mimic God in heaven. Recall Israel’s replicas: the tabernacle of Israel and Solomon’s temple. The real presence of God was in heaven. We do well to invoke God in our lives calling, inviting, thanking him for blessings before us.
The problem with earth is that man often has tried to banish God. It is fitting that we bring him back into all the things and places and situations we have. While prayer before meals, etc. can seem a bit routine it still is an invitation, a beckoning, an acknowledgment. That is good and that is needful for as God once said, “It is not good for man to live alone.” That pertained to Adam needing an Eve, but it is not limited to human relationships.
Leave a Reply