Show Notes
Revelation 8:2-6
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would save us, that you would save us from ourselves, that you would save those from the evil one, from those unclean spirits, and from the evil men in this world that would seek to destroy the church, your people, from outside and from within.
[00:00:25] Lord, we ask that you would protect your people, that you would hear our prayers, that you would answer us, and that you would make it known to your and our enemies that our lips are not flapping, that our hearts are not pursuing vanities, but that our hope, which is in you is true, and that you are not a God who merely keeps safe, but you are a God who brings justice, judgment, and that you bring so, and that you do so in your righteousness.
[00:01:10] Lord, we pray these things not in our own pride, knowing that we ourselves deserve your punishment.
[00:01:21] We pray these things as your children, as those who belong to you and need your fatherly care and protection.
[00:01:30] We pray as those who have been adopted into your family, as those who did not belong, but now belong fully and surely by your love.
[00:01:40] We pray as those who are in more need of your grace, that we might not stray from you, that we might not wander, that we might not be afraid of the powers of this world or afraid of the judgment that is to come, knowing that judgment for us has passed and that, as you say in your Word, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:02:08] For us, O Lord, who have been justified by your grace, who are being sanctified by your grace, and. And who will one day be glorified by your grace.
[00:02:17] We ask that you would give us strength, strength of faith in our prayers, that we might seek you all of our days for our needs, for our praise, for thanksgiving, and for it all.
[00:02:35] As we pray now, Lord, thinking about the reading and reading and preaching of your Word, we ask that you would impress it on our hearts in new ways. We ask that you would transform us. And for those who do not yet know you, we ask that you would reveal yourself to them, that their lips might praise you all of their days.
[00:02:58] We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:04] Let's remain standing and turn our attention to Revelation, chapter 8, verses 2 through 6.
[00:03:32] So as you remember, at the beginning of Revelation, we had the Lord revealed to us who was speaking himself, the one who was delivering this vision. And he spoke to the churches at that time in a way that applies to churches now as well.
[00:03:48] And we know at the end of Revelation, he's going to give us a picture of the church no longer persecuted and Struggling and trying to figure things out and do the right thing and under pressure. But a church that is perfected, including glorified, lovely, his bride. Well, we'll get there.
[00:04:06] That's coming.
[00:04:07] In between those things, we have five cycles.
[00:04:11] Five cycles. And we went through one of them already, five cycles, which show us how things progress from where we are now to where we will be. And today we enter into the second of those five cycles.
[00:04:28] And as the others begin, they begin with this introduction, a prelude, a scene in heaven, which helps us to understand the things that the visions that come.
[00:04:38] The trumpets. As we'll hear about the seven trumpets before we get there. Before we get there, we. We are given this introduction, a way to understand the trumpets.
[00:04:50] So let's hear God's word this morning.
[00:04:54] Revelation 8, 2, 6.
[00:04:57] Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God.
[00:05:01] And seven trumpets were given to them.
[00:05:04] And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer.
[00:05:09] And he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne of God.
[00:05:19] And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel.
[00:05:27] Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth.
[00:05:32] And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
[00:05:40] May God bless his word to us. Please be seated it.
[00:06:10] So these seven trumpets, like the seven seals.
[00:06:15] Seven, seven.
[00:06:17] They will reveal a kind of completeness, they reveal a kind of action of God.
[00:06:25] They'll reveal similar things that we saw before, but from new angles and with new things to understand new things to meditate on, new pictures.
[00:06:35] You might remember. A while back I compared, borrowing an analogy from a professor of mine, that these cycles are like replays in a sports game.
[00:06:45] Seeing this same action but from different angles, which gives you understanding of that.
[00:06:53] And these are often. They're the highlights, right? In sports. Right. It's a key moment, an important event that gives you insight into a moment in the game.
[00:07:07] Something similar to that is happening here.
[00:07:11] But before these things happen, before the revelations that come from the seven trumpets are revealed, there's this scene. There's something that happens and there's a way in which, if you don't track it closely, it can be a little confusing, especially if you don't know what a sensor is or you're not sure what incense is.
[00:07:35] It's short, but you might be left kind of thinking like, what's the big deal?
[00:07:40] Why is this Here, why is this the thing that's announcing all of these seven trumpets and all that will come from them?
[00:07:47] So I want to explain that to you this morning and help you to see the importance of it and the way that it really should affect and transform the way we think about prayer.
[00:08:01] A prayer, as we saw in Matthew chapter six is something that we're not supposed to do in a certain way. This is what Jesus talks to us about. Don't pray so that other people can be seen or so that other people can, so that you can be seen by other people. Don't pray so that you can be puffed up and be prideful and these kind of things. Pray to your Father, who sees in secret and rewards. He hears you, he knows.
[00:08:26] Some of you may have thought, that's not my struggle. I just don't pray.
[00:08:33] Right. My problem isn't so much that I'm praying in front of you. I just really don't pray much at all.
[00:08:39] Maybe that's the heartbreak of your conscience. Either way, I hope that this passage is helpful to you.
[00:08:50] Prayer does seem very humble.
[00:08:54] It's.
[00:08:55] In some ways it seems like a purely internal act.
[00:08:59] It's not a service thing. Like you go help somebody move, which is a great thing to do. You help someone clean up their kitchen or buy some groceries or give them a ride or any of these kind of things, right? There's something very practical and helpful. You sort of see it in action. You see Christ's love in action.
[00:09:17] Prayer though, especially if they don't even know about it. Especially if nobody knows about it except God.
[00:09:25] What's the point, right? Is it a kind of self soothing psychological practice?
[00:09:34] Something that just helps us process things?
[00:09:37] Is it a mindfulness exercise where it gets us kind of relaxed and focused?
[00:09:46] Is it something you can do without?
[00:09:48] Like, it's not a big deal.
[00:09:50] You can kind of leave it out.
[00:09:52] What is it? What's its importance? This passage answers some of that, reveals some of that, and gives us an image and a reality about prayer through this image that will take the humble means of praying and exalt them in a really amazing way.
[00:10:16] So what happens?
[00:10:19] John sees these seven angels. They're standing before God. Okay, clear enough. Seven trumpets are given to them. Clear enough.
[00:10:26] Perhaps you know from other passages in scripture or just general life. Trumpets are used as announcing instruments. Not exclusively, but frequently. They're great for war, right? Battles, let's go. They're great for. We use them to sometimes start days end, days announce deaths, these kinds of things. Trumpets are very Powerful. And they've been used this way in a long time, for a long time.
[00:10:52] Something similar is going to happen here. These announcements are going to be made. Actions are going to happen as this music, as the Lord uses music here and these instruments as the means of bringing forth his work. And so these angels are given these trumpets. They have these trumpets. Another angel comes in verse three and stands at the altar with a golden censer.
[00:11:17] Now, you know what gold is. A censer is an instrument that is used to spread incense.
[00:11:23] Incense is a kind of material, can be made of different things that spread really good. And so you heat it up and it creates a kind of smoke that smells good, like lighting a candle, if you've done that before. Incense works in a similar way. You put some coals in this imaginal little bowl. They can be made in different ways and constructed in different ways. But you can imagine for now like a little bowl with coals and heat on the bottom with some plant material or something like that on the top. And then the smoke rises. Sometimes you may have seen people swinging these sensors, you know, because you can put them on chains, do whatever you want with them, but a lot of times they'll be put on chains, swung around, and it has the effect of. Well, it's pretty for one, right? But it also has the effect of distributing the smell and the smoke throughout the area.
[00:12:25] So this is what a sensor is. So he sees this altar. There's an altar there with a golden sensor. And this angel is given much incense. So it's not a little bit. It's a lot, a lot, much incense to offer with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar before the throne of God.
[00:12:48] So there's a lot packed in that image, right? You have the angels.
[00:12:53] Well, let's imagine you have the throne of God with angels around it, an altar before the throne, on that altar are the prayers of the saints. And before all that is an angel with this sensor and with incense given much incense. And what does he do with it? He offers it.
[00:13:14] The angel is offering it. It's an act of worship with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar, another golden instrument before the throne of God.
[00:13:24] So that's what's happening.
[00:13:26] This incense and this act of worship is mixed with the prayers of the saints, Something you can't really see. It's hard to.
[00:13:36] You don't need to visualize it. It's just there, the prayers of the saints before the throne of God. By the way, if you've ever had A dream. And you're like, you know, a thing is true, but you didn't necessarily see it. And it's maybe impossible to describe.
[00:13:50] That's the kind of thing that's happening in these visions as well. Sometimes. Sometimes the things are really clean. Clear.
[00:13:56] Clear. You see, John sees a man, and he looks exactly like this, and he describes that man. Other times he sees, feels, has this vision of the prayers of the saints, and he doesn't really describe it, and they're kind of indec. Describable, but he knows it. And of course, this isn't just a dream that he's having.
[00:14:17] This is something God is giving to him and revealing with authority.
[00:14:21] So we don't want to overly imagine things. That's what I'm trying to caution you against.
[00:14:26] Don't try to figure out what a prayer of a saint looks like. That's not. We're not given that we don't need to figure it out. But the incense is offered there with the prayers of the saints up to God. And then verse four, the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel.
[00:14:45] So this act of worship, this incense, the prayers of the saints, they're rising up before God.
[00:14:53] Now, one reason I wanted to read from Psalm 141.
[00:14:57] I've got my hymnal open here. I'll read it here from verse 2. Like incense, may my prayer before your face arise. The raising of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
[00:15:11] Like incense, may my prayer before your face arise. So here in the Psalms, these two images of incense, right? The smoke and the smell and the aroma going up, right? If you've ever, you know, if you want to smell a candle, you don't usually put it above your head, right? And then, oh, it smells so good, right? You put it down here and the smoke smell comes up, right? It goes up. And so this smoke and the smell is coming up before God in Psalm 41.
[00:15:40] Like incense going up, may my prayer go up before you.
[00:15:47] So there's an encouragement in Psalm 41 to think about our prayers like incense, to think about our prayers like this pleasing aroma and this smell going up before the Lord.
[00:15:59] There's another layer to this which is really important and interesting in that it's not just a smell, not just this beautiful thing that's happening.
[00:16:09] But there were actually incense altars in the tabernacle commanded by God, special altars that were there for this purpose. So in addition to the place where the sacrifice was laid, there were places for this to happen, these altars that were given. And that's likely what we're seeing here in this vision of heaven.
[00:16:35] Let me remind you to something from Hebrews and this is. You can turn there with me. If you actually go ahead and do that. If you have your Bibles, you can listen as well. This is Hebrews chapter 9, verse 24.
[00:17:06] So Hebrews 9, 24.
[00:17:10] Notice how this passage is going to talk about the relation. Talking about several things, but one of them is the relationship between the tabernacle and temple. And this thing that we're seeing in heaven, this heavenly throne room, the heavenly dwelling place of God.
[00:17:27] The things on earth are described as copies of the heavenly things, right? So what's prior? The thing on earth or the thing in heaven?
[00:17:40] The thing in heaven, because the thing on earth are copies of the thing in heaven.
[00:17:46] I'll start at verse 23.
[00:17:48] Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
[00:17:59] For Christ has entered not into holy places made with hands which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself. Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
[00:18:15] So that's what John is saying.
[00:18:17] He's not remembering something that happened in the tabernacle or something in the temple.
[00:18:25] He's not either from his own experience or from reading the scriptures or something like that.
[00:18:30] He is experiencing and seeing something of the true thing. The temple that was made without human hands, the temple that was made by God. The temple, the place into which Jesus has entered, has entered to appear in the presence of God.
[00:18:56] Three words now on our behalf.
[00:19:03] That's what's going on here. There is the Lamb by the throne of God. Here are the angels who are worshiping him. And what's happening as Jesus stands there and intercedes as the one who was crucified, the one who was buried, the one who was rose, the one who has risen. What's he doing? One of the things he's doing is he is interceding on our behalf.
[00:19:26] He is bringing our prayers before the Lord and he is doing so effectively.
[00:19:36] That's why we pray in Jesus name and not in the name of any other God. And not in our own flesh, in our own certainty. God has no reason to listen to me.
[00:19:50] I'm not important.
[00:19:52] I'm not some great holy man.
[00:19:54] God hears my prayers. God hears your prayers because Jesus is my advocate.
[00:20:02] Because Jesus intercedes for us.
[00:20:06] Because the Father listens to the Son and the Son receives all that he has from the Father.
[00:20:15] It's a perfect unity between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. The Son is not trying to convince God to pay attention. And then God the Father Son is like, well, all right, since you said it, don't imagine that it's them in perfect unity, but Jesus in our place, representing us before his own throne, holding both sides in a way, man and God.
[00:20:41] Well, this lamb who was sacrificed for us, who has risen for us, through whom we have redemption, he's interceding for us in these places.
[00:20:51] If you're still in Hebrews, you can go to Hebrews 7:25.
[00:20:58] After some various wonderful arguments, various proofs, the author lands on verse 22. And he says, this makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
[00:21:11] The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. Yeah, that'll stop you, right?
[00:21:20] Term limit, we might say.
[00:21:23] But not Jesus.
[00:21:25] He holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.
[00:21:31] Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
[00:21:47] This is amazing.
[00:21:49] Quick, by the way, when we pray and we say something like, in Jesus name, these are. This is not like a superstitious formula that, oh, no, I forgot to say the words. God won't hear me.
[00:22:01] You don't have to even say in Jesus name to be heard by the Lord, but you have to pray in Jesus name, which means to pray from our hearts with confidence and faith in Him.
[00:22:14] That being said, it's a great thing to say, and it's a true thing to say. We should say it. But I want to make that clear. It's not a set of words by which we somehow bind God. It is the expression of our hearts and faith.
[00:22:30] And then he hears us according to that.
[00:22:36] So back to Revelation.
[00:22:39] We have the Lord interceding the Lord Jesus on our behalf, not because of anything we've done or any greatness in us, but because of his salvation, because of his love for us, because of his work for us and his sacrifice for us.
[00:22:55] Because of that, he receives this worship that's going on, the incense that is rising, the angels that are praising the. And the prayers are prayers that are happening, are humble prayers.
[00:23:12] And they are humble and they are imperfect, but they are effective.
[00:23:19] And they are powerful because they rise before the throne of God in the midst of worship.
[00:23:30] And it's the prayers, not of just the really good ones, but of all the saints, the prayers of all the saints. On the golden altar before the throne of God.
[00:23:44] That might make me cry a little bit.
[00:23:47] If you think about your prayers in heaven rising up before God in the midst of this worship, that's how important they are.
[00:24:02] That's how important a prayer meeting is.
[00:24:06] That's how important it is.
[00:24:08] When your pastors and your elders and your friends and your parents, when they pray for you and when you pray, the Lord is receiving those. He is hearing them. They are rising up with this incense of worship. Like the incense of worship, they're rising up before God. And as we have heard, they are received through Christ.
[00:24:37] Now, one last thing.
[00:24:39] We don't just have an image here that informs how we think about our prayers, how we should think about our prayers.
[00:24:47] We have here something else that happens.
[00:24:53] Our prayers reaching to heaven is not the end of this.
[00:24:59] There's something more that happens as God received these prayers. Listen to what happens first with the prayers of the saints. This is the end of the verse 4 rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar.
[00:25:18] And remember, the prayers of the saints were on the altar. He takes the fire from the altar, puts it in the sense, takes the censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and then throws it on the earth.
[00:25:34] And what happened?
[00:25:37] Judgment happens.
[00:25:39] The coming of the Lord happens. Thunder, rumblings, flashings of lightning and an earthquake.
[00:25:47] And then I'll read just a little bit now. The seven angels who had the semblance. Let me emphasize that differently now.
[00:25:54] The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
[00:25:59] The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood and et cetera.
[00:26:06] And then we're going to read about the second angel and the third angel, right? And these trumpets.
[00:26:12] So that. Right, going back to the beginning, there's the scene. There are these seven angels with trumpets. If you've ever been to a symphony orchestra concert, right, the orchestra, they warm up, whatever, and then they're quiet before it begins.
[00:26:27] They're quiet.
[00:26:29] No one moves until the conductor comes out and he raises his hands and the instruments come up, right? Everyone puts their instruments up. And then he goes. He breathes.
[00:26:41] Boom. And it starts.
[00:26:44] Nothing happens until that downbeat.
[00:26:49] Nothing happens until that downbeat. A similar thing is happening here. But what's the downbeat?
[00:26:55] What's the baton?
[00:26:57] It's the prayers, those angels, trumpets, and everything that's going to happen. The. The peals of thunder, the rumblings, the flashings of lightning, the earthquake all of this coming of the Lord stuff and everything that's we're going to see in the next chapter or two, everything that we're going to see there is conditioned upon the downbeat of those prayers. Or I'm mixing things up now. The uprising, right, of the incense of the Lord.
[00:27:29] Put it another way, to put it strongly. The Lord does not act except on the basis of our prayers.
[00:27:38] That's what happens.
[00:27:40] They're silent, they're holding their trumpets, they're ready to go. And it's not until our prayers go up, not until the Lord receives them, until that. Then the.
[00:27:52] That. Then the angel begins to act and the trumpets begin to blow.
[00:28:01] We wonder whether our prayers matter.
[00:28:06] I hope that question is forever answered for you.
[00:28:11] Now remember, don't get into trying to think about, you know.
[00:28:16] Well, I haven't yet prayed for tomorrow's prayer. So as this happened, these things are not sequential. This is an image, a theological image that John is actually seeing. I'm not saying he's not seeing it, he's actually seeing this. But it's a. It is meant to shape our understanding.
[00:28:33] Right? This is not before or after a certain thing. This is what is happening. The Lord receives our prayers and on the basis of that he acts.
[00:28:44] And this is true throughout the Scriptures. Right. This isn't the only place that put. That is, put this in James.
[00:28:50] And we are reminded of. Of Elijah, who prayed and stopped the rain for three and a half years, a very important number, by the way, which ties in with a lot of things in Revelation. But he prays and this. And the rain was shut off and he prayed again. And the heavens opened up. And it specifically says in, in James that the prayer of the righteous man availeth much.
[00:29:15] Well, it's not just Elijah who's righteous.
[00:29:18] Ultimately, Jesus is the only righteous man. And we have our righteousness in Him.
[00:29:25] Our prayers avail much. Our prayers bring forth much. Not because they're strengthened in ourselves, but because this is the means by which God has chosen to act.
[00:29:38] Now, can God act apart from our prayers? Of course. God can act apart from means all the time. Can he cause a plant to grow up without soil or water or sun?
[00:29:48] Yes.
[00:29:50] Can God create things out of nothing? Yes. Can he bring life out of death? Yes. But does God also use means?
[00:29:59] Absolutely. And does that take away anything from his power?
[00:30:04] Is he less powerful because he's orchestrating all world events, both their means and their ends?
[00:30:10] I don't think so.
[00:30:12] Is God any less power because he uses my prayers and your prayers to Bring about the cataclysmic things of the end of the ages?
[00:30:23] No, it doesn't make him less powerful.
[00:30:27] But what it does do is it brings up something we are doing out of just mindfulness or meditation or self soothing or processing or relaxing and brings it into the heavenly places and becomes the means out of which God acts.
[00:30:49] Now, you're not going to understand how all that works, and I'm not either. And he doesn't tell us, but it's true and it works and God uses it.
[00:31:01] And so that brings us to an important point of trust. Do we trust him for that? Do we trust what he's saying here? Do we trust these images and these visions? Do we trust the promises that he makes and entrust ourselves to Him?
[00:31:18] Or do we say, no, I'm not going to believe it?
[00:31:22] Well, if you're not going to believe it, you have to ask yourself why?
[00:31:27] Is it because you're more trustworthy than God?
[00:31:30] Is it because your reason and your understanding and your power and your control is more reliable than His?
[00:31:37] Is it because your oaths and your promises and the things that you do are more reliable than His?
[00:31:43] Is it because your miracles and your acts and your everlasting to everlastingness has really kept you and all of creation in a way that is his hasn't?
[00:31:54] Of course the answer is no.
[00:31:58] These kinds of things ought to compel our hearts to entrust him all the more, to pray all the more, to give ourselves to him all the more and know that he hears us and he answers us according to his perfect will.
[00:32:22] Beloved, when we pray, it may seem sometimes like nothing happens.
[00:32:29] But believe what the Scriptures say, that God hears your prayers, that they rise up before him, that they are received through Christ, who is interceding always for us and living always for us, and that he will answer them in time, as the ages go on, and finally bringing all those things to a perfect end and the consummation of all things.
[00:33:00] You may have to wait on certain things, but you won't have to wait forever.
[00:33:06] There is a day, there is a time, there is a place in which everything that we could possibly want and need and all the good things and holy things that come from our hearts, God will fulfill.
[00:33:20] He will do it, and it will come on a certain day and it'll last forever.
[00:33:26] So trust him, put your faith in Him. Pray with confidence, not in yourself, but in him and his grace.
[00:33:35] Let's pray.
[00:33:38] Our Heavenly Father receive our prayers now, and may you be glorified in them and through them teach us to pray that your work would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And include in that our own prayers. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.
