Revelation 8:5

Revelation 8:5. The angel filled the censer with the fire of the altar, and cast it upon the earth. For the thought of ‘filling' comp. John 2:7; John 19:29; John 21:11. For the Nemesis so characteristic of St. John, observe that the sufferings which had been spoken of, endured at the hands of the ‘earth,' return in judgment upon the ‘earth' (comp. chap. Revelation 6:4-8). The peculiar tense of the verb hath taken is in all probability employed in order to bring out the fact that the censer had never been laid aside by the angel from the moment when he first took it into his hand (comp. on chap. Revelation 7:14). The thunders and voices and lightnings and earthquake which are next spoken of are the appropriate accompaniments of judgment.

Before passing from these verses, one important question connected with them ought to be noticed, from its bearing on the general character of the Apocalypse. Of what nature are the prayers referred to? They have been sometimes described as prayers for the salvation of the world, at other times as prayers for mercy to such as will receive mercy, for judgment on the impenitent and hardened. Both views are out of keeping with the context. Let us compare the fact, noticed in Revelation 8:5, that the angel took the golden censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth, with the two facts mentioned in Revelation 8:3, that the golden censer there spoken of is the one out of which the angel had just caused the smoke to go up with the prayers of all the saints before God, and that the fire is taken from the golden altar upon which these prayers had just been offered, and we shall feel that it is impossible to accept either interpretation. There is no thought of mercy for the world. The prayers are for judgment only. They are prayers that God will vindicate His own cause, and they are answered by Him who, when His people cry to Him, will arise to judgment. To a similar effect is the cry of the souls under the altar in chap. Revelation 6:10; and, when judgments are poured out, all the hosts of heaven behold in them the brightest manifestation of God's glory (chap. Revelation 19:1-2; comp. chap. Revelation 11:17-18). Yet it would be a grievous mistake to see in passages such as these any desire for personal vengeance on the part of the righteous, any want of that compassion which longs for the salvation of the whole world. They express only that longing for the reign of perfect truth and holiness which is one of the most essential constituents of love, whether in God or man.