V. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS (8:2–11:19)

A. PREPARATION (8:2–5)

2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

2 As before, the new series begins with John indicating that he is about to describe what he saw (cf. 4:1; 5:1). The use of the definite article (“the seven angels”) indicates that the angels to whom the seven trumpets were given constitute a specific group. Raphael identifies himself to Tobit as “one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One” (Tob 12:15). In I Enoch 20:2–8 the names of these seven archangels are listed as Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqâêl, Gabriel, and Remiel.1 The Angels of the Presence (a designation that goes back to Isa 63:9) are mentioned repeatedly in the book of Jubilees 1:27, 29; 2:1–2, 18; 15:27; 31:14). “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God,” declares the angel to Zechariah (Luke 1:19).

Whatever the connection may be between the seven trumpet-angels of John’s vision and the seven archangels of Jewish apocalyptic, their role in the book of Revelation is to announce a series of plagues that is to fall upon the earth and its inhabitants. It is possible that they are also the seven angels who later pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God (15:1, 6–8; 16:1; 17:1; 21:9).

That this is the first mention of the seven angels2 does not mean that they have only recently entered the throne room to take their place among the other groups already there. As the drama progresses, details that were earlier passed by are gradually brought to light. To stand before God is to maintain oneself in readiness for service.3

The action begins with the giving of seven trumpets to the seven angels standing before God. In the OT the trumpet was used extensively for a variety of purposes. In Numbers 10 Moses was instructed to make two trumpets of silver. They were used to call the people together (v. 3), to move the tribes on their journey (vv. 5–6), to sound the alarm in time of war (v. 9), and to celebrate days of sacred feasts (v. 10). Seven priests with trumpets led the armies of Israel around the city of Jericho (Josh 6).4 The Jewish New Year (Tishri 1) is called “a day for you to blow the trumpets” (Num 29:1; also Lev 23:24). The trumpet was regularly used at the coronation of kings (1 Kgs 1:34, 39; 2 Kgs 9:13).

The trumpets in Revelation, however, are eschatological trumpets. They herald the day of God’s wrath. Zeph 1:14–16 describes the great day of the Lord as “a day of wrath … a day of distress and anguish … a day of trumpet and battle cry.” In 2 Esdr 6:23 the sounding of a trumpet announces the day of judgment, striking sudden terror to the hearts of people. In the Apocalypse of Abraham (31) the trumpet heralds the coming of the Elect One to burn the wicked (cf. Sib. Or. 4:174). John’s trumpet-angels call forth four great calamities upon the physical universe (8:7–12), two demonic plagues upon unrepentant humankind (9:1–21), and the great proclamation that this world has fallen to the sovereignty of God (11:15ff.).

3 The scene depicted in vv. 3–5 as a prelude to the seven trumpet-plagues is somewhat similar to the earlier vision of the twenty-four elders with golden bowls of incense (5:8) that preceded the opening of the seven seals. The angel who performs the priestly functions is not identified. He is called “another angel” in order to distinguish him from the seven angels of v. 2 who are about to sound their trumpets and initiate the next series of plagues. It is unlikely that the angel is to be taken as representative of Christ in his intercessory work as high priest.5 Would the central figure of Revelation be introduced into the text with such an indefinite title? In 7:2 it is “another angel” who seals the servants of God against the coming persecution.

The angel comes and stands at the altar.6 A few commentators hold that this altar is to be distinguished from the golden altar mentioned later in the verse. The angel is pictured as offering the prayers of the saints in much the same way as the priests in the temple at Jerusalem would daily take hot coals from the altar of sacrifice and carry them into the holy place to the golden altar of incense (cf. Luke 1:9). It is more likely that only one altar is in view, the golden altar of incense (Exod 30:1–10; 2 Kgs 6:22; Heb 9:4).7

In the angel’s hand is a golden censer or fire pan. The censers of the tabernacle were made of brass (Exod 27:3), while those of Solomon’s temple were of gold (1 Kgs 7:50).8 Although the word John uses for censer elsewhere means frankincense,9 the adjective “golden” indicates that he had the implement in mind rather than that which was placed in it.

To the angel is given much incense “that he should add it unto the prayers of all the saints” (ASV). The clause has been variously understood, but the major options are two. Either the incense is mingled with the prayers of the saints or the incense is the prayers. The majority of commentators and English translations favor the former alternative. The RSV translates, “and [the angel] was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints … and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints.”10 It is preferable, however, to follow the second option, which is to take the dative case in vv. 3 and 4 (translated by the preposition “with”) as equivalent to the Hebrew le of definition and to translate, “he was given much incense to offer, consisting of the prayers of all the saints.”11 This interpretation harmonizes with 5:8, where the bowls of incense are definitely identified with the prayers of the saints.

In either case the role of the angel does not consist in making the prayers of the saints acceptable to God. The mediatorial role of angels that is so prevalent in Jewish apocalyptic does not find a place in NT theology.12 At best the angel of 8:3–5 is a heavenly priest who presents the prayers of all the saints (not only those of the martyrs in 6:10) before God. That the altar is “before the throne” is another example of the ease with which otherwise separate elements may be conjoined in a vision.

4 When incense is added to the hot coals, a cloud of fragrant smoke rises from the altar as a symbol of divine acceptance. Paul writes to the Ephesians that Christ loved them and gave himself for them as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2). The scene in heaven suggests that there is something sacrificial about genuine prayer. Both the believer and his prayer enter the presence of God by way of the altar.

5 The scene of intercession now becomes one of judgment. The angel priest takes13 the censer, fills it with fire from the altar, and hurls it on the earth.14 The action is somewhat parallel to that of Ezekiel’s vision in which a man clothed in linen fills his hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatters them over the city (Ezek 10:2–7). The prayers of the saints play an essential part in bringing the judgment of God upon the earth and its inhabitants. The martyrs’ plea in 6:10 (“How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”) is here answered in part.

That God is about to answer the prayers of the saints is indicated by the thunders, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and earthquake that follow.15 Like the theophany at Sinai the world trembles before the presence of God (Exod 19:16ff.).

B. FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS (8:6–12)

6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—11the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

Verse 6 returns to the action of v. 2 and leads on to the seven trumpet-plagues that follow. These plagues neither recapitulate each of the seal judgments, nor do they follow the seals in a strictly chronological sense.1 They do cover the same period of final travail but from a different perspective. The sixth seal found people fleeing to the mountains and calling for sanctuary against the wrath of the Lamb (6:15–17). The tribulation of this period is now portrayed in a more advanced fashion. While the first four seals depicted judgments that are the inevitable consequences of human sinfulness, the trumpets reveal the active involvement of God in bringing punishment upon a wicked world.

The church is not in view in the judgments that follow. Its lot in this turbulent period is dealt with in chapters 11–13. While it cannot but be affected by the first four plagues, it is kept from the demonic assaults that follow.2

The trumpet-plagues are directed against a world adamant in its hostility toward God. As the intensity of the judgments increases, so also does the vehemence with which people refuse to repent (9:20–21; 16:9, 11, 21). But the trumpet judgments are not final. They affect a significant proportion but not all of the earth (one-third occurs twelve times in vv. 7–12). Their purpose is not so much retribution as it is to lead people to repentance. Like the watchman and his trumpet in Ezekiel 33, they warn the people of impending danger.

The division of the seven trumpets into groups of four and three (or 4, 2, and 1) is like that of the seals. As the first four trumpet-plagues are directed toward the world of nature (8:7–13), so the four horsemen (6:1–9) relate to events that take place on earth. The fifth and sixth of both series are separated from the last by a parenthesis (chap. 7 and 10:1–11:13). In the trumpet sequence there is an increase in severity over the seals.3 The trumpets go beyond the seals in their more detailed portrayal of the judgment of God on evil. It would be unwise to force the trumpet scenes into some sort of consistent pattern with the preceding series. John writes in the exalted idiom of an ecstatic experience.4 To worry about the prohibition in 9:4 against hurting the grass, when in 8:7 the green grass was already burned up, or to question how a great star could fall from heaven in 8:10 when the stars had already fallen in 6:12, would be to misunderstand the literary genre in which the Apocalypse is written. As plagues preceded the release of the children of Israel from their Egyptian masters, so plagues will precede the Exodus of the church from hostile political powers.5 They are the prelude to that great and final Exodus in which the church is taken out of the world and enters into the eternal presence of God. Constant allusion throughout this section to the Egyptian plagues is a way of emphasizing that in the last days God will again bring punishment upon those hostile powers that oppress his people. We are dealing here with that montage of divine judgments upon a recalcitrant world which leads to the return of Jesus Christ as sovereign Lord.

6 6The seven who were given the seven trumpets get ready to blow them. We do not know what is involved in the angels preparing themselves (hētoimasan autous) to sound, but it probably means no more than that they raised their instruments in readiness to sound. This action would heighten the sense of expectancy.

7 With the sounding of the first trumpet7 the second major series of calamities begins. The first angel sounds his trumpet, and the response is hail and fire mixed with blood.8 The imagery comes primarily from the seventh Egyptian plague (Exod 9:13–35). When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, God sent thunder, hail, and lightning that “flashed down to the ground” (Exod 9:23). The reference to blood probably comes from Joel’s prophecy of the last days (Joel 2:31; cf. Acts 2:19).9 The blood refers to the awesome color of the storm rather than the fire and destruction that the lightning would cause.10 The syntax of the verse suggests that the blood-red storm appeared in heaven before it was cast upon the earth. In the Talmud (Ḥaḡ. 12b) the sixth heaven is pictured as a storehouse of hail, storm, and noxious vapors, maintained within gates of fire. The Sibylline Oracles speak of a rain of fire and blood as one of the signs of the end (5:377–78).

Great devastation follows in the wake of the storm. A third of the surface of the earth is consumed by fire. In Zech 13:8–9 two-thirds of the people of the land are to die and one-third are to be brought through the refiner’s fire. In our text it is one-third of the land and its vegetation that is devastated by fire.11 The fraction, if taken literally (esp. in the next plague), borders on absurdity. It indicates in a general sense that although God is bringing punishment upon the earth, it is not as yet complete and final.12 The purpose of the visitation is to warn people of the full wrath of God yet to fall, and in so doing to bring them to repentance. It fulfills Jesus’ prophecy that in the last days there will be signs in the heavens, distress upon the earth, and people fainting from terror of what is about to come upon the world (Luke 21:25–26).

The reference to the burning of a third of the trees and all the green grass completes the description of the holocaust that followed the first trumpet blast.13 The trees that are destroyed are probably to be taken as fruit trees,14 which were so important to the maintenance of life in Palestine. “Green grass” should be taken to mean “all vegetation.”15 Although the plague is directed primarily against nature, it seriously affects the human race as well. The trees and vegetation that are burned are within the third of the land surface devastated by fire. The verse is not at variance with 9:4, which prohibits hurting the grass.

8–9 As the first plague scorched a third of the land, the second brings destruction to a third of the sea. With the sounding of the second trumpet something like a huge mountain on fire is thrown into the sea. A third of the sea becomes blood, with the result that a third of the marine life dies and a third of the shipping is destroyed. This death and destruction takes place within the third part of the sea affected by the fiery mass.

In many cases it is difficult, if not impossible, to identify the source of John’s imagery. Some find the raw material for this particular plague in the volcanic action of the area.16 Less than twenty years before John wrote the Apocalypse, Vesuvius had erupted and destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum. This catastrophe was widely known and variously interpreted.17 Among the volcanic islands of the Aegean, Thera was especially notable. The Greek geographer Strabo reports the formation of a new island as the result of an eruption in 196 B.C. (1.3.16).

Others look to Jewish apocalyptic for the source of the imagery. 1 Enoch 18:13 speaks of “seven stars like great burning mountains,” and Sib. Or. 5:158 tells of a “great star from heaven” that fell into the divine sea.18 It is well to remember that a visionary experience may take elements from several sources and blend them together into a totally new figure. Like the figures in a dream, the sources are not controlled by considerations of time or location. Although the visions are in essential continuity with the totality of John’s experiences (physical, psychic, and spiritual), their ultimate cause is God and not a decision on the part of the Seer to compose a dramatic presentation of the last days. They are visions that he saw.19

The mention of fire in each of the first three trumpet-plagues corresponds to the action of the angel-priest of v. 5 who filled his censer with fire from the altar and hurled it on the earth. First there is a violent electrical storm that sets the earth ablaze (v. 7), then a great fiery mass is thrown into the sea (v. 8), and finally a burning star falls on the inland waters (v. 10). In this second plague the blazing mountain turns the waters of the sea into blood. Here we are reminded of the first Egyptian plague, in which the rivers were turned to blood, killing the fish and making the water undrinkable (Exod 7:20–21). The plague in Revelation is not to be understood as widespread pollution from volcanic action. Not only did creatures of the sea die, but shipping was destroyed as well. It represents an eschatological judgment that goes beyond any explanation in terms of natural phenomena. Again the judgment is partial. It affects but one-third of the sea, its life and commerce. The purpose is to warn and lead to repentance.

10–11 The third plague consists of a burning star that falls from the sky on the inland waters, turning them bitter and causing the death of many people. This contamination of the fresh water supply recalls the first Egyptian plague in which the water was turned to blood (Exod 7:20). The burning star that falls from the sky may be a great meteorite set afire as it plunges through the earth’s atmosphere.20 Like the blood-red storm and the burning mountain, it is a symbol of divine visitation. God is moving in judgment, and people must repent or bear the full fury of his coming wrath. Some writers note a similar phenomenon in Persian eschatology, but a real parallel is highly doubtful.21

The star falls on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.22 It is possible that John may be revealing divine displeasure against the rather widespread worship of supernatural spirits thought to be associated with rivers and springs.23 Like the other plagues, however, it is directed primarily against the world of nature. Only indirectly does it affect people or the spirit world.

The star is named for the effect it has on the water. It is called Wormwood after the strong bitter taste of the plant of that name. In the OT wormwood was used as a symbol of bitterness and sorrow. Proverbs warns against the strange woman whose lips drop honey but in the end is “bitter as wormwood” (Prov 5:3–4, NKJ). The writer of Lamentations prays, “Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall!” (Lam 3:19, NKJ). Because Israel has forsaken God, he will “feed them … with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink” (Jer 9:15, NKJ; cf. Jer 23:15).24

When the great star blazing like a torch fell on the rivers and springs of water, they became as bitter as wormwood. It is the reverse of the miracle at Marah where Moses cast a tree into the bitter waters and they were made sweet (Exod 15:25). Although wormwood itself is not poisonous, its bitter taste suggests death.25 What John is saying is that a portion of the inland waters were contaminated by a spectacular act of God and many people died as a result of drinking the water. Repetition of the fractional one-third indicates as before the restricted scope of the judgment. “Many people” rather than “a third of the people” is no more than a stylistic alteration.

12 When the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, a third of the sun, moon, and stars were struck with a blow26 that darkened them for a third of the day and the night. The first part of the verse, when interpreted in parallel with the other plagues, seems to indicate a decrease in the intensity of available light as a result of a third of the luminaries being darkened. The last two phrases, however, indicate the total absence of light for a third part of both day and night. This absolute darkness would be far more terrifying than a partial eclipse. The scene recalls the ninth Egyptian plague with its thick darkness that spread over the land for a period of three days (Exod 10:21–23).

Darkness as a symbol of judgment runs throughout the OT. The prophet Amos spoke of the day of the Lord as a day of darkness rather than light (Amos 5:18). For Joel it will be a “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness” (Joel 2:2). Jesus, quoting Isaiah, says that in the day of the Lord “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” (Mark 13:24; cf. Isa 13:10). The fourth trumpet-plague is a fulfillment of these prophecies.

In the NT darkness is often connected with the demonic. Unbelieving Israel is to be cast outside into the darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12). In 2 Cor 6:14–15 light and darkness stand parallel to Christ and Belial. According to Col 1:13 the saints are those who have been rescued from the dominion of darkness (cf. Col 2:13–15). The darkness of the fourth plague anticipates the transition from divine warnings to demonic woes. It previews that ultimate excommunication of unrepentant people to the punishment prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41).

C. EAGLE’S WARNING (8:13)

13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

Once again John calls attention to the fact that in his vision he is watching something take place. Verse 13 serves as a transition between the four plagues brought by God upon nature to lead humankind to repentance and the subsequent demonic woes in which people will be directly subjected to the forces of the Abyss. Previous plagues have been called forth by angelic beings, but those that follow are announced quite appropriately by a bird of prey1 hovering overhead.

13 The majority of commentators understand the bird to be an eagle, which figure suggests such qualities as strength and swiftness.2 In 2 Baruch an eagle is commissioned to fly without tarrying to the Jews exiled in Babylon and deliver an account of the author’s vision (2 Bar. 77:17–26). 2 Esdras records a vision of a three-headed eagle with twelve wings that reigned over all the earth (11–12). Others understand the bird to be a vulture,3 which in this context would symbolize impending doom. Habakkuk described the invading Chaldeans as vultures swooping to devour (Hab 1:8). In either case it is the predatory nature of the bird that is in view. In 19:17–18 the birds of prey (those “flying in midair”; cf. 8:13) are gathered to eat the flesh of kings and all people.

The eagle/vulture hovers in midair so as to be seen by all, and cries out in a loud voice4 so that none will fail to hear, “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth.” While in chapter 18 the exclamation “Woe” is twice repeated for emphasis on each of three occasions (18:10, 16, 19), here it occurs three times to correspond to the three last trumpets. These final plagues are not to fall upon the church but upon a pagan and wicked world.5 Unlike the first four trumpets, which affected the source of people’s life, the last three fall upon people themselves.

The first two Woes follow immediately in chapter 9. They are the fifth and sixth trumpet-plagues. The third Woe is postponed by two major visions in 10:1–11:13. But even then when the last trumpet sounds (11:14–15), we do not immediately learn of the nature of the third Woe. Instead there is a scene of heavenly adulation (11:15–19). For this reason some think that the third Woe is the descent of Satan in 12:7ff. In 12:12 a great voice from heaven says, “Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Others take the bowl judgments of chapter 16 to be the third Woe. This, however, would separate in kind the first two (demonic assaults) from the third (judgments of God).

D. FIFTH TRUMPET (FIRST WOE): DEMONIC LOCUSTS (9:1–12)

1The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

John required but six verses to set forth the first four trumpet-plagues (8:7–12). But now he is about to devote over three times that space to the next two plagues. This added emphasis corresponds to the seriousness of the calamities that follow. People who earlier were merely discomforted by judgments upon the world of nature are now directly subjected to torments that arise from the underworld. The first Woe (9:1–12) is a horde of demonic locusts that emerges from the Abyss and spreads out over the land to torment everyone not marked with the seal of the living God. The pain and distress are so great that although people seek death they are unable to find it. The second Woe (9:13–19) is a demonic cavalry of some two hundred million mounted troops who, astride their fire-breathing steeds, sweep over the land, killing a third of its inhabitants. Both trumpets introduce us to grotesque creatures whose appearance corresponds to their evil origin. Even these two plagues, horrible and destructive as they are, fail to deter the survivors from continuing their worship of demons. Unrestrained by the plagues, they continue their practice of idolatry, bloodshed, sorcery, sexual immorality, and theft.

1 When the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, John saw a star that had just fallen1 from the sky to the earth. The star in 8:10 that fell from the sky and contaminated the waters was a mass of molten material. This star, however, represents a person, for he receives a key (v. 1) and with it opens the shaft of the Abyss (v. 2). In Isa 14:12 the king of Babylon is portrayed as a day star fallen from heaven. 1 Enoch 21:6 depicts the fallen angels as “stars of heaven which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord.” In the NT Jesus told the seventy-two as they returned from their preaching mission that he had seen “Satan fall like lightning [a blazing comet?] from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Jewish thought readily symbolized living beings as stars. Many expositors take the next step and concede that in Jewish thought the stars were held to be celestial spirits possessing conscious personalities. The usual passages cited in support of this position are Judg 5:20 (“From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera”) and Job 38:7 (“while the morning stars sang together”). In that both verses occur in poetic sections it would seem unwise to press upon them such a literal interpretation. Elsewhere Israel is sternly warned against worshiping stellar deities (Deut 4:19; Jer 7:18).

The one symbolized by the star has been variously identified.2 Some, interpreting the phrase “that had fallen” in a theological sense, take the star to be a fallen angel. This is strengthened by reference to the nefarious nature of his activity (unlocking the shaft of the Abyss and releasing its demonic hordes). Perhaps he is one of the stars swept down to earth by the tail of the great red dragon (12:4).3 It is more likely, however, that the star-angel is simply one of the many divine agents who throughout the book of Revelation are pictured as carrying out the will of God.4 Furthermore, his role is essentially no different from that of the fifth trumpet-angel at whose call the action begins. He is probably the same angel who in 20:1 comes down out of heaven with the key of the Abyss.5

2 The key that is given to the angel unlocks the shaft leading down into a subterranean chasm called the Abyss. When the shaft6 is opened, out pour great clouds of smoke. From the smoke come evil spirits who have been imprisoned in the Abyss. Their mission is to torment all people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. While there is no specific indication in Revelation that the Abyss is a place of torment, the rising smoke would normally be thought of as coming from fires below. According to Enoch the final prison of the fallen angels was the Abyss, a horrible place with “great descending columns of fire” (1 Enoch 21:7; cf. 18:11).7 Of the nine NT references to the Abyss, seven are found in Revelation. It is inhabited by the “scorpion centaurs” of chapter 9, their demonic prince (9:11), and the beast of the Abyss (11:7; 17:8). It is also the place of Satan’s imprisonment during the thousand-year period following the return of Christ (20:1–3). Luke 8:31 reflects the fear of the evil spirits lest they be sent to this terrible place. In Rom 10:7 it appears to be the place of the dead, although in the NT this is usually designated as Hades (Acts 2:27).8

The dense clouds of smoke that rise up out of the Abyss recall the scene of God’s descent upon Mt. Sinai. Exod 19:18 says that the smoke of the mountain billowed up “like smoke from a furnace.”9 As the smoke rises, it blots out the sun and darkens the atmosphere of the earth.10 Joel 2:10 tells of a plague of locusts that darkened the sun and the moon. In Rev 8:12 the luminaries were darkened by a direct act of God; here the darkening is brought about by the tremendous quantity of smoke that pours up out of the Abyss. It is unwise to conjecture some specific meaning for each detail of the vision.11 It is better to allow the text to speak for itself. Usually visions of this sort have cumulative, overall effect, so that the parts make up the whole, which has meaning, but they themselves do not carry specific meaning. While the Apocalypse uses metaphorical and figurative language with great freedom, it is not an allegory that must be decoded before it will yield its meaning. The experience itself is often “what it means.” To demystify the existential is more often than not to remove it from the only setting in which it can be “understood.”

3 Out of the billowing smoke come a great horde of locustlike creatures (which will be described in greater detail in vv. 7–10).12 Behind this picture are two scenes from the OT. Exod 10:1–20 tells of the plague of locusts that devoured all vegetation throughout the land of Egypt. Joel 1:2–2:11 interprets the devastation of Israel by locusts as a portent of the destruction that will come with the day of the Lord (Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11). Throughout the OT the locust is a symbol of destruction (Deut 28:42; 1 Kgs 8:37; Ps 78:46). Bred in the desert, they invade cultivated areas in search of food. They may travel in a column a hundred feet deep and up to four miles in length, leaving the land stripped bare of all vegetation.13 The cloud of smoke is not the swarm of locusts, for the locusts come out of the smoke.14

To the locusts is given a scorpionlike power to torment those who dwell upon the earth. Their poisonous strike does not kill but causes people such torment that they seek death (vv. 5–6). The scorpion was well known in Palestine. A lobsterlike vermin some four or five inches long, it had a claw on the end of the tail that secreted a poison when it struck.15 Hiding under stones or in the chinks of a wall by day, it would move out at night to feed on small, living animals. It should be noted that the demonic locusts of the first Woe have the power rather than the appearance of scorpions.

4 The locusts are told not to harm the vegetation of earth but only16 those who do not have the seal of God. We are not told who it is that issues the prohibition. The use of the passive voice in speaking of the release (v. 1, “was given”), the empowering (v. 3, “were given power”), and the limiting (v. 5, “they were not given power to kill”) of the locusts suggests that this plague, even though demonic, is under the sovereign control of God (especially since they are not permitted to harm God’s people!). Throughout the Apocalypse he is the “Lord God Almighty” (4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22).

In the Egyptian plague (as well as in Joel) the fields and trees were laid bare by the swarming locusts (Exod 10:15; Joel 2:3). The locusts of John’s vision have a different mission. Their destructive power is not directed against the grass, the green herbs, or the leaves of trees, but against wicked people. Of all those upon the earth during this perilous time only the Christians will escape the demonic assault, for they alone have “the seal of God on their foreheads” (cf. 7:1–8).17 As the children of Israel were protected from the plagues that fell upon the Egyptians,18 so also will the Israel of God now constituted by Christ and the Spirit escape the torments that are to arise from the Abyss. God is in control, and precisely because his people are “sealed”—they belong to him—they do not experience the wrath of God.

5 The mission of the demonic locusts is to inflict suffering upon the wicked. They are not to kill but to torment.19 Their torment is limited to a period of five months. This period has been variously explained. It may have been determined by the life cycle of the locust, which is of five months’ duration.20 It corresponds as well to the dry season (spring through late summer) in which the danger of a locust invasion is always present.21 Whatever the source of the number, it represents a limited period of time (not necessarily a short period of time) during which people in torment may yet turn from their wickedness and repent (cf. vv. 20–21). The plague is not an act of wanton cruelty but a stark indication that wickedness cannot continue indefinitely without divine requital.

6 Speaking as a prophet, John foretells that in those days people will actively seek release from torment through death yet find that it is impossible to die.22 Job’s remarks about the miserable and bitter longing for death that seems never to come (Job 3:20–22) are rhetorical rather than descriptive of a scene such as portrayed here. In the eschatological plague it will not be despondency but actual pain that drives people earnestly to desire death.23 It is ironic that in that day death, which the wicked inflicted upon Christian martyrs, will be eagerly desired, yet people will find that it “keeps running from them.”24 What a dramatic contrast to Paul’s desire “to depart and be with Christ” (Phil 1:23). For one, death leads to eternal blessing; for the other, it is an “escape” from torment on earth to torture in the lake of fire!

7 Up to this point we have learned of the origin and mission of the demonic locusts. Now John describes them. Long-haired, horse-shaped, flying locusts with scorpion tails and golden crowns above human faces marred by lions’ teeth, they have to be reckoned among the more bizarre creatures in the Apocalypse. The total impact is one of unnatural and awesome cruelty. It will be well to exercise considerable reserve in treating the details that make up the larger picture.25 The locusts are said to look like horses prepared for battle. John would have us understand that the locusts are of considerable size. Otherwise the description of hair, face, teeth, and the like would tend toward the comic. The Seer draws from Joel’s account of swarming locusts who appear as horses (Joel 2:4) and whose sound is like the noise of chariots in battle or the raging fury of a prairie fire (Joel 2:5). The details of the description, however, are largely his own. Most commentators note the similarity between the head of the locust and that of the horse. An Arabian proverb is often quoted to the effect that the locust has a head like a horse, a breast like a lion, feet like a camel, body like a serpent, and antennae like the hair of a maiden. This likeness accounts for the word for locust in German (Heupferd, hay-horse) and in Italian (cavalletta, little horse). That they were prepared for war may indicate either the eagerness with which they sprang forth to inflict punishment or the protective armament described in v. 9. That verse does not specifically say that they were wearing golden crowns, but the symbolism is the same—they possessed the power to carry through their mission to a victorious end.26 The faces of the locusts were as human faces. When John looked directly into the face of the advancing horde, he did not see the rather torpid expression of the animal world but the highly intelligent cunning and cruelty of demonic beings. Human and bestial qualities are combined in a figure both unnatural and diabolical.

8 The locusts were covered with long, flowing hair. When they opened their jaws they revealed the teeth of lions. It is doubtful that the mention of hair has any reference to the two relatively short organs of sensation that protrude from the head of the locust (called antennae). Less likely is any reference to the long hair of the Parthian warriors, which would stream out behind them as they rode into battle. If we need a point of contact, it would probably be the hair on the legs or bodies of the locusts, which in flight would emphasize the speed with which they carry forth their mission. The idea that it symbolizes seductiveness ignores the overall grotesque appearance of the locust.27

In Joel 1:6 the invading nation is pictured as having the teeth of a lion and the fangs of a lioness. In John’s vision the teeth emphasize the fierceness of the locusts. Yet they do not tear apart their victims as would the lion. Their torment is inflicted by scorpionlike tails (v. 10).

9 The locusts were protected with breastplates of iron, indicating that there was no possible way of striking back in a vulnerable spot. The scaly exterior of the locust resembled a coat of mail.28 In flight they sounded like a great phalanx of horses and chariots rushing into war.29

10 Once again John points out the scorpionlike tails of the locusts and their ability to inflict pain for five months (cf. vv. 3, 5). More significant than the awesome appearance of the locusts is their power to punish. The shift to the present tense (echousin; cf. verbs in vv. 7–9; the NIV maintains the past tense) adds to the vividness of the description. The locusts have tails like scorpions. The description is not parallel with 9:19, where the horses’ tails are like serpents and have heads. As the scorpion holds its prey with its claws and kills with a venomous tail, so the apocalyptic locusts possess an agonizing sting.30 They do not kill but torment. Their purpose is to bring people to repentance (vv. 20–21).

Some commentators interpret the plague as a condition of sinful life rather than an eschatological event.31 While the major motifs of the consummation are reflected many times throughout history,32 the visions of John have as their primary focus the ultimate conflict of God and Satan that brings history to its close.

11 The advancing army of locusts have as their king33 the angel of the Abyss. This angel is not the fallen star of v. 1 who unlocks the Abyss. Nor is he the archangel Uriel, who according to 1 Enoch 20:2 has authority over Tartarus.34 These are messengers of God, not leaders of the opposition. Since the term is nowhere specifically identified, we should probably understand the designation “king” as no more than a detail in the larger scene of organized assault. It is unlikely that Satan would be introduced into the visions at this point in such an indefinite manner (cf. chap. 12).

The name of the king of the Abyss is in Hebrew, Abaddon. In the OT Abaddon refers to destruction (Job 31:12) or the place of destruction.35 The personification of destruction in Job 28:22 could give rise quite naturally to the idea of a prince of the underworld, appropriately named Abaddon.36 In case the reader did not grasp the significance of the Hebrew name, John adds its Greek equivalent—Apollyon, Destroyer.37 Many commentators feel that the verse contains a derogatory reference to the Greek god Apollo and those emperors who claimed a special relationship to him. To name the king of the underworld Apollyon would be a cryptic way of saying that an emperor such as Domitian who liked to be regarded as Apollo incarnate was in reality a manifestation of the powers of the underworld. As early as the fifth century B.C., the Greeks had derived the name of Apollo from the same Greek verb as the root of Apollyon.38 The allusion is strengthened by the observation that the locust was one of the symbols of the god Apollo.39

12 Lest the reader think that with the release of the demonic locusts the plagues have somehow been exhausted, John now announces that only the first Woe is past. There are yet two to come. Phillips’s translation catches the vividness of the scene, “The first disaster is now past, but I see two more approaching.” As the end draws near, there is a marked increase in the intensity and severity of the trumpet-plagues.

There can be no specific answer to the question of exactly who or what is symbolized by the plague of locusts. To says that the first Woe is “a vivid picture of moral and spiritual decay which brings torment to the souls of men”40 may well be part of it. But it doesn’t do full justice to John’s vision of the period immediately before the end when the wicked will be subjected to a time of unprecedented demonic torment! Exactly what this will involve and how it will take place will remain unknown until disclosed by history itself.41

E. SIXTH TRUMPET (SECOND WOE): FIENDISH CAVALRY (9:13–21)

13The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. 16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.

17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

20The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

The intensity of the trumpet sequence continues to mount. From plagues of hail, and fire mixed with blood that scorched the earth (8:7), a burning mountain that fell into sea turning it to blood and leaving death in its wake (8:8), a blazing star from heaven falling into inland waters and causing bitterness and death (8:10–11), and a darkening of the sun and moon that plunged the world into darkness (8:12), we move to a swarm of demonic locusts released from the netherworld to torment unbelievers (9:1–11). The sixth trumpet-plague (the second Woe) is even worse. Now demonic cavalry, two hundred million strong, come charging across the scene of history. From their lionlike heads come fire, smoke, and sulfur, and with their tails they inflict lethal damage. A third of the unbelieving world falls before their murderous assault. Those who remain do not repent of their idolatry and immoral lifestyle but continue their idolatrous worship of gods made by their own hands.

Nowhere will you find a more accurate picture of sinful humanity pressed to the extreme. One would think that the terrors of God’s wrath would bring rebels to their knees. Not so. Past the point of no return, they respond to greater punishment with increased rebellion. Such is sinful nature untouched and unmoved by the mercies of God.

13–14 When the sixth angel sounds his trumpet, a voice is heard from the golden altar commanding the release of the four angels of destruction who have been temporarily restrained at the eastern boundary of the empire. The voice could be that of the angel-priest of 8:3–5 who presented the prayers of the saints to God upon the golden altar. Or it could be the prayers themselves with their unified concern1 for vindication (cf. 6:9). In either case John is recalling the fundamental truth that the prayers of God’s people play an active role in the eschatological drama. The voice does not come from the horns or corners of the altar but from the altar itself.2 This same personification occurs in 16:7, where the altar declares the judgments of God to be true and righteous. That it is “before God” is a reminder that divine retribution is a personal act of the One whose sovereignty and love have been rejected by the unbeliever.

Only here does one of the trumpet-angels become involved in the event that he heralds. Having sounded the trumpet, the sixth angel is now to unleash the four angels of destruction. Attempts to identify the four angels3 with any definiteness have not been successful. Apparently they are not mentioned elsewhere in apocalyptic writings. A few commentators suggest a connection with the four restraining angels of 7:1. This earlier group, however, was stationed at the four corners of the world (rather than being bound at the Euphrates, 9:14) and held back the winds of destruction (rather than being released to bring about destruction, 9:15).4 One probable source could be the familiar apocalyptic tradition in which four destructive powers are connected with the four quarters of the earth.5 In our immediate text the four angels appear to be in charge of the limitless horde of demonic horsemen who ride across the pagan world spreading terror and death. They correspond to the king of the locusts in 9:11, and like him they seem to disappear into the demonic forces they release.

When God made a covenant with Abram, he promised him and his seed the land that stretched from the Nile to the Euphrates6 (Gen 15:18; cf. Deut 11:24; Josh 1:4). The Euphrates marked the boundary between Israel and her chief enemies. In Isa 8:5–8 the invading armies of Assyria are pictured as a mighty flood in which the great river overflows its banks and sweeps over Judah. The Euphrates was also the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire, and the mention of invading horsemen from that quarter would immediately suggest the much-feared Parthian warriors.7 But John at this point is recounting a vision given to him in the Spirit, not describing a Parthian invasion. While his imagery is freely drawn from sources both secular and sacred, he weaves the various components into an eschatological tapestry uniquely his own. The 200,000,000 demonic horsemen and their plague of death is an eschatological event of fantastic proportions.

15 The four angels are loosed for the purpose of killing a third of the world’s population. The torment of the first Woe gives way to the widespread massacre of the second. Under the fourth seal a fourth part of the human race was put to death (6:8). Now a third are to be killed by the demonic cavalry as it sweeps across the land. As in the previous Woe, so also here, believers are to be spared (9:4, 20–21). The assault is directed against those who elsewhere are called “the inhabitants of the earth,” a standard designation of people in their hostility to God.8 Ladd draws attention to an important distinction between John’s version and similar expectations of prophets and apocalyptists: “The latter always envision the foreign invasion as an attack against the people of God by pagan hosts while John sees it as a divine judgment upon a corrupt civilization.”9

The four angels are said to have been kept ready for this specific moment.10 The use of the perfect tense11 strengthens the idea of their existing in a state of readiness. In apocalyptic thought God has fixed the exact time for every event (cf. 1 Enoch 92:2). The use of a single article for all four time designations tends to focus attention upon the specific moment of God’s appointment. The ascending order (hour, day, month, year) is of no particular significance. At the exact moment decreed by God the angels of destruction and their demonic horde will be released upon the human race. All the forces of history are under the sovereign control of God. He is the Almighty One (1:8; 4:8; 11:7; 19:15; etc.).

16 Quite abruptly we learn of an unbelievably large cavalry force about to invade the land. The number that John hears—who could count such a throng!—is “two myriads of myriads,” twice 10,000 × 10,000. Attempts to reduce this expression to arithmetic miss the point. A “double myriad of myriads” is an indefinite number of incalculable immensity.12 John’s eschatological steeds breathe out fire and sulfur and have serpentlike tails with lethal heads (vv. 18–19). They spread out as far as the eye can see. Who could escape the onslaught of such a gigantic force! The specter of a huge hostile cavalry had always been a source of terror for the Jewish people. In the Assumption of Moses we read of a king from the east (Nebuchadnezzar) who comes against them and whose “cavalry shall cover their land” (3:2). The Parthian threat would intensify this fear. Thus the figure of a great army of horsemen riding in from beyond their boundaries supplies the vivid imagery for John’s second Woe. Once again the impact of the vision is diminished by speculative attempts to provide theological equivalents for specific items.13 Better to experience the vision as a whole than to trivialize it by excessive interpretation of details.

17 Only here in the book of Revelation does John specifically indicate that his revelations are being mediated to him in a vision.14 The expression (“in my vision”) is not a “superfluous addition”15 but an indication that his descriptions are apt to be highly symbolic in nature.

While it is possible to understand the verse as indicating that both the riders and their mounts wore breastplates,16 it is better to limit the armor to the riders alone. The breastplates were of red, blue, and yellow to match the fire, smoke, and sulfur that was coming out of the mouths of the horses. It is difficult to determine whether the breastplates were of three colors each or whether each breastplate was of a single color (some red, some blue, some yellow). In either case the overall impression would be the same. Swete apparently feels that the breastplates were actually made of fire.17 While the Greek text would allow this, it seems unnecessarily literal. The NKJ translation describes the colors of the breastplates as “fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow.” Hyacinth normally referred to the deep blue color of the jacinth, but here it probably indicates the “dusky blue colour as of sulphurous smoke.”18

It should be noted that the riders play no active part in carrying out the plague. This is accomplished by the horses. Their description in the following verses is grotesque, to say the least.19 Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of the horses is their lions’ heads (cf. the lions’ teeth of the locusts in the preceding vision, 9:8), which symbolizes cruelty and destruction. From their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur. This feature argues their demonic origin. It does not symbolize the tanks, cannons, and battleships of modern warfare.20 The plague anticipates the eternal torment that awaits the devil (20:10), his demonic cohorts (19:20), and all who bear the mark of the beast (14:10). Fire-breathing monsters were common in mythology.21 John’s source is probably Leviathan, the sea monster of Job 41 (“Firebrands stream from his mouth.… Smoke pours from his nostrils,” vv. 19–20). The cavalry as a whole recall Habakkuk’s description of the Chaldeans, who were to invade Judah with horses swifter than leopards and fiercer than wolves (Hab 1:8).

18 The fire, smoke, and sulfur are intended to be taken as three separate plagues. The result is that a third part of humankind is killed. The scene is reminiscent of the burning sulfur that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah in divine judgment (Gen 19:24; cf. Jude 7). The first Woe brought torment; the second brings death.

19 The power of the horses to kill lies entirely in their mouths. Like the locusts, however, they have the power to hurt,22 and this power is in their tails. The tails are like snakes and have heads. Many suggestions have been offered for this unusual feature. In the great altar of Zeus at Pergamum the legs of the giants were in the form of snakes. In ancient myth the amphisbaena had a serpent’s head at either end.23 Some see a reference to the Parthian practice of shooting arrows behind them in flight. Others refer to the horsetails formerly carried by the Turkish pashas as symbols of authority.24

It is impossible to say what prompted this particular feature in John’s vision. Even if the source could be isolated, it would not necessarily throw much light on the interpretation, for John develops his imagery along lines uniquely his own. That the horses had tails like snakes is perhaps another way of emphasizing the demonic origin of the horses. In 12:9 the devil is designated “that ancient serpent,” and throughout antiquity snakes and demons were closely associated.

It may be that this vision is linked with Ezekiel’s prophecy of the invasion of Israel by Gog (Ezek 38–39). Coming after Israel had been punished and restored, the invasion symbolized the immense reserve power of evil in view of which there can be no security until the final victory of God. John adapts the Gog tradition to show that the demonic army from beyond the Euphrates is necessary precisely because the Roman world has tried to find security in that which is not God.25 Whatever inference may be drawn from the description, John’s concern at the moment is to relate an eschatological vision that portrays a plague of death brought upon people by fire-breathing monsters from the underworld.

20 Those who were not killed by the plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur repented not26 of their idolatry (v. 20) or the conduct that accompanied it (v. 21).27 Once the heart is set in its hostility toward God not even the scourge of death will lead people to repentance. The “work of their hands” that people choose to worship rather than God are the idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.28 The folly of idolatry is a common theme in Jewish literature.29 Gods of wood and stone “cannot see or hear or eat or smell” (Deut 4:28). They have eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear, and feet but do not walk (Ps 115:5–7; cf. Ps 135:15ff.; Dan 5:23). At the same time heathen idolatry was considered to be worship rendered to demons. Jubilees speaks of the people of Ur being assisted by malignant spirits in making graven images and unclean simulacra (Jub. 11:4). In following after strange gods the Israelites had “sacrificed to demons” (Deut 32:17). In the NT Paul writes that the Gentiles sacrifice “to demons, not to God” (1 Cor 10:20). Although one-third of humankind is massacred by the demonic cavalry, those that remain continue to worship the very malignant forces that are bringing about their destruction. Such is the delusion of sin.

21 Closely associated with idolatry are the heathen practices of murder, magic arts, sexual immorality, and theft. Three of the four are fundamental vices prohibited in the Ten Commandments (sixth, seventh, and eighth; Exod 20:3–17). They occur elsewhere in the NT in various orders (Rom 13:9; Luke 18:20). Magic arts30 refers to witchcraft and the use of magic potions that were a part of heathen idolatry. It is listed by Paul as one of the works of the flesh (Gal 5:20), and later in Revelation it proves to be the method by which Rome deceives the nations (18:23). In Rev 22:15 those who practice magic arts are bracketed with the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and liars as having no part in the New Jerusalem (cf. 21:8). When people turn from the knowledge of God, the path leads downward to idolatry and immorality (cf. Rom 1:18–32). Although clearly and unmistakably warned by God, unbelievers persist in their error and sin.

The two demonic woes of chapter 9 are passed. God has meted out punishment on those who do not bear the seal of God on their foreheads. It is important to remember that God’s own people are protected during this time from the plagues that fall on the rest of the human race (v. 4). Believers will endure the tribulation that comes from a world controlled by a different set of values, but they will never be touched by the wrath of God. Their protection is not physical but spiritual. Locusts from the Abyss will be unable to harm them, and the life-destroying cavalry will sweep by, leaving them intact. This message that in the end God will vindicate his cause and judge the enemies of righteousness would bring hope and encouragement to the Christian community, faced by the distressing prospect of impending persecution.

INTERLUDE: VISIONS OF THE PROPHETIC ROLE (10:1–11:14)

The three sevenfold visions of Revelation are the seals (chap. 6), the trumpets (chaps. 8–9), and the bowls (chap. 16). Between the sixth and seventh seal there was an interlude consisting of two visions—the sealing of the 144,000 (7:1–8) and the heavenly multitude (7:9–17). The seventh seal was followed by a second sevenfold vision, that of the trumpets. With the close of chapter 9 six of the seven trumpets have sounded. Once again we encounter an interlude of two related visions—the angel with the little book (10:1–11) and the two witnesses (11:1–13). These interludes are not so much pauses in a sequence of events as they are literary devices by which the church is instructed concerning its role and destiny during the final period of world history.1 There will be no corresponding interlude between the sixth and seventh bowl judgments (the final series yet to come) because at that time all warning and preliminary judgment will be over. When the bowls of divine wrath are poured out, the consummation moves quickly to its climax.

Each numbered series moves us closer to the end; not because it follows the preceding series in sequence but because it heightens and intensifies the final and climactic confrontation of God and the forces of evil. Detailed outlines of Revelation sacrifice the existential heartbeat of the Apocalypse in an unfortunate attempt to intellectualize that which belongs primarily to the realm of experience.2

1. The Mighty Angel and the Little Scroll (10:1–11)

1Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

5Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! 7But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

9So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

In the first of the two visions that make up the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet John encounters an angel coming down out of heaven robed in a cloud, with a rainbow around his head. His face glows with light, and his legs like pillars of fire are planted solidly, one on land and the other on the sea. With a voice like the roar of a lion he shouts, and the seven thunders respond. John is about to write down what the thunders said when he is ordered by avoice from heaven to seal up their message. Then the mighty angels lifts his hand to heaven and solemnly swears that there will be no more delay but that with the sounding of the seventh trumpet the redemptive purpose of God in history will be brought to its completion. John is told to take the little scroll that lay open on the hand of the angel and eat it. In his mouth it will be as sweet as honey, but once eaten it will turn his stomach sour.

The vision differs from the earlier numbered vision because John himself becomes involved in the action. The dramatic appearance of the resplendent angel would provide encouragement for the church about to enter a final period of hostility from the unbelieving world. The scroll is sweet because there will be no delay before the seventh angel blows his trumpet and the mystery of God is accomplished, but turns the stomach sour because of the persecution that must still be faced.

1 From the beginning of chapter 4 through the end of chapter 9 John has watched the visions unfold from his position in heaven. Now he is back on earth, for the angel of light comes down from heaven (v. 1), and it is from heaven that the voice is heard (vv. 4, 8). The angel is called “another mighty angel.” The expression does not intend to compare this angel with the trumpet-angel of 9:13. It means simply “another angel, a mighty one” (cf. 6:4). Three of the angels we meet in Revelation are called mighty angels. Because the mighty angel of 5:2 speaks with a loud voice (cf. 10:3) and is connected with the opening of the book of destiny (cf. 10:2), it is quite possible that he is also the one who appears here in chapter 10.3

Some commentators have taken the mighty angel to be Christ.4 The phrases by which he is described are elsewhere used of deity. He is robed in a cloud (cf. Ps 104:3), there is a rainbow above his head (cf. Rev 4:3), his face is like the sun (cf. Rev 1:16), and his legs are like fiery pillars (cf. Exod 13:21–22). This identification is rejected by most scholars because in the Apocalypse Christ never elsewhere appears as an angel. In v. 6 the angel supports his declaration of no more delay by taking an oath—highly inappropriate for Christ. Others, arguing on the basis of a rather clear parallel with Dan 12:7, take the angel to be Gabriel (cf. Dan 8:16).5

John views the angel as he descends from heaven to earth.6 Coming directly from the presence of God, he arrives on a mission of crucial significance for the persecuted church. Like the son of man in Dan 7:13, he is robed in a cloud. This feature has eschatological significance in Scripture. In Matt 24:30, for example, the Son of man is to come “on the clouds of the sky.”7 There is a rainbow above the angel’s head. One cannot help but notice the similarities between John’s description of the angel and that of Yahweh in Ezek 1:26–28. However, there the radiance around him appeared like a rainbow (Ezek 1:28), while in Revelation the bow is above8 the head of the angel like a many-colored turban.9 Some interpret the rainbow as the natural result of light from the angel’s face refracted by the cloud in which he was arrayed. Like the face of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:2), the face of the angel shone like the sun.

His legs appeared like fiery pillars.10 Since the theme of the Exodus is always in the background of this central section of Revelation, it is quite possible that the angel’s legs would recall the pillar of fire and cloud that gave both protection (Exod 14:19, 24) and guidance (Exod 13:21–22) to the children of Israel in their wilderness journey. The description of the angel fits his message: the bow recalls God’s promise through Noah, the pillar of fire God’s presence in the wilderness, and the scroll the tablets of stone.11

2 In the hand of the angel is a little scroll.12 Unlike the great scroll of chapter 5 that was fastened with seven seals, this scroll lies open in the hand of the angel.13 The scene that follows recalls Ezek 2:8–3:3 in which the scroll of lamentations was spread out before the prophet with the command that he should eat it. Although related to the Ezekiel passage, John’s vision nevertheless develops along its own lines. The contents of the little scroll will be discussed at vv. 9–10.

Some writers assume that the little scroll of chapter 10 is the same as the scroll of chapter 5. It is argued that there is a clear literary link between the two passages and that both scrolls have the same OT source. The mighty angel is identified with the angel in 1:1 (cf. 22:16) who received the scroll from the Lamb and now gives it to John, who takes and eats it.14 On the other hand, the little scroll is designated by the diminutive biblaridion (10:2, 9, 10) rather than the normal biblion (as in 5:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9); it lies “open in [the] hand” of the mighty angel (10:2) rather than closed and sealed in the right hand of God (5:1, 7); and it is not introduced in 10:2 with the definite article. Later (in the comm. on vv. 9–10) we will maintain that the second vision of the interlude (11:1–13) constitutes the contents of the little scroll. That being so, the two scrolls of Revelation can not be the same. The scroll of destiny begins with the seals and continues to the end of the Apocalypse. Within that larger scope the little scroll deals with the lot of God’s people during the final days prior to the end.

As the angel descends to earth, he plants his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. Such a stance is most appropriate in view of the colossal size of the angel.15 It could also symbolize his authority over the earth in its entirety.16 The visual impact is that of an enormous and resplendent angel descending from heaven and standing astride both sea and land. This dramatic appearance of an authoritative figure from heaven stands in marked contrast to the immediately preceding tableau of humanity’s rebellious idolatry and immorality (9:20–21).

3 The voice of the angel is commensurate with his gigantic size. He gives a loud shout like the roar of a lion. Hos 11:10 speaks of Yahweh roaring like a lion (cf. Amos 3:8), and 2 Esdras of the lion “roused from the wood and roaring” who is identified as the Messiah (12:31–32). That the Greek verb (mykatai), obscure in the NIV’s “like the roar of a lion,” is commonly used to denote the mooing of cattle17 suggests that the angel’s voice had a deep resonance that would demand the attention of those who heard. The voice of the angel calls forth a response from the seven thunders.18 Elsewhere in Revelation thunder is associated with divine retribution. In 8:5 it follows the casting of fire on the earth. In 11:19 it is associated with the seventh trumpet-plague, and in 16:18 it is connected with the final bowl of God’s wrath. Here as well it forebodes the coming peril of divine retribution.

The use of the definite article (“the seven thunders”)19 indicates that the image was familiar to John’s readers. Many commentators see a connection with Psalm 29, in which the thunderstorm is interpreted as “the voice of the LORD,” the phrase being repeated seven times as the idea is developed.20 Note that the thunders speak articulately. John is about to write down what they said when he is prevented by a voice from heaven. Verses 3 and 4 have been interpreted in the light of 2 Cor 12:4 (which speaks of being caught up to paradise and hearing inexpressible things a person is not permitted to tell). In that case the content of the seven thunders would be a vision that John was forbidden to disclose.21 But we have no indication that there was an additional vision. The seven thunders spoke (v. 3), and John is immediately ordered to seal up what they said.22

4 John is about to write what the seven thunders said when a voice from heaven tells him not to. In his initial encounter with the exalted Christ of the Apocalypse the Seer was to write his visions in a book and send them to the seven churches (1:11). It appears that he had been keeping some sort of record of all that had happened and at this point was about to record the utterances of the seven thunders. The voice from heaven could be that of God or Christ (cf. 14:13; 18:4). In any case a voice from heaven would be a voice of authority (cf. 2 Esdr 6:17).

The instructions to John are that he should seal up what the seven thunders said and not write it down. This prohibition contrasts with 1:19 (“Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later”) and 22:10 (“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book”). Some think that John brings in the voice from heaven to justify his omission of some traditional eschatological material.23 If that were the case, it is difficult to understand why he would mention the thunders at all. Others appeal to 2 Cor 12:4 and contest that what the thunders said was too sacred to be shared.24 It is more plausible that the seven thunders, like the seals and trumpets, formed another series of warning plagues. The adamant decision of the human race not to repent (9:20–21) would render another series useless. In the verses that immediately follow, an angel under oath will declare that there shall be no further delay (vv. 5–7), so possibly it was too late to record any further warnings.25

In this context, to seal up means not to disclose. John seals up what the thunders said by not writing them down. What was said is not to be made known to the churches. In Dan 12:4 the prophet is told to “close up and seal26 the words of the scroll until the time of the end” (cf. Dan 12:9). In contrast, what the thunders said is never to be revealed.27

5–6 After the brief reference to the seven thunders John’s attention returns to the mighty angel standing over sea and earth. The angel raises his right hand to heaven (the place of God’s abode, Isa 57:15) and solemnly swears that the period of delay is over. With the sounding of the seventh trumpet God’s great purpose in creation and redemption is to be brought to completion.

In the OT the lifting of the hand was part of oath-taking. Abram declined the spoils of battle, saying, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal” (14:22–23). In the Song of Moses God himself lifts up his hand to heaven in solemn oath to carry out vengeance upon his adversaries (Deut 32:40). It is Dan 12:7, however, that supplies the interpretive background for this section. There the man clothed in linen who is above the waters of the river raises up both hands toward heaven and swears by him who lives forever that the end shall come in a “time, two times, and half a time” (three and a half years) when the power of the holy people has finally been broken. Apocalyptic thought has always been concerned with the question, How long until the End? In Daniel one of the angels addresses the man clothed in linen with the query, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” (Dan 12:6). The martyrs in Rev 6:10 asked, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” The answer of the mighty angel is, “There will be no more delay!” Most early writers interpret this statement as a metaphysical assertion about the end of time as a sequence of events. The translation in the AV (“There shall be time no longer”) reflects this interpretation.28 This is not the meaning of “time” (Gk. chronos)29 here. It would hardly be necessary for an angel to put himself under oath just to make an assertion about the timeless nature of eternity.

The announcement of no further delay would come as welcome news. The martyrs under the altar (6:9–12) had been told to rest a while until the full number of their fellow servants and brothers and sisters should be put to death. The seven thunders would have involved yet another delay had they not been canceled. Now nothing stands in the way of the final dramatic period of human history. From this point forward God will not intervene to give the human race further opportunity to repent. Restraint is to be removed, and the Antichrist is to be revealed (cf. 2 Thess 2:3ff.). The forces of God and Satan will meet in final confrontation. This is the “time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations” foretold by Daniel (12:1) and repeated in the Synoptic apocalypse (Mark 13:19 and parallels). It is the darkness before the dawn—the awesome period of Satan’s wrath (12:12, 17). The appointed delay is over, and the period of the end is irrevocably set into motion.

It is worth noting that the angel describes God as the One who lives forever and ever. This designation is frequent in the Apocalypse (1:18; 4:9–10; 15:7). It is especially appropriate in the context of impending martyrdom. Soon many believers in the Asian churches will be called upon to sacrifice their lives out of faithfulness to Christ. Only a God who lives beyond the threat of death can promise them life after the sword has taken its toll. God is not only eternal; he is creator of heaven, earth, and sea, and everything therein (cf. Exod 20:11; Neh 9:6; Ps 146:6).30 To speak of God as creator underscores his power to accomplish that which he set out to do. For the Seer it means that the One who brought all things into being can carry them through in fulfillment of his redemptive purpose. The end of history, as was the beginning, is under the sovereign control of God.

7 The proclamation of the mighty angel is that there shall be no further delay, but31 with the sounding of the seventh trumpet the hidden purpose of God will be accomplished. The NKJ translation, “when he is about to sound,” could be taken to mean that the mystery of God will be completed before the sounding of the seventh trumpet.32 What the angel is saying, however, is that within that period of time to be introduced by the seventh trumpet blast the mystery of God will be brought to completion.33

A great deal of attention has been given to the meaning of “the mystery of God.” In Col 2:2 the exact phrase is used to refer to Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The idea of mystery was important in apocalyptic thought. Mysteries were secrets preserved in heaven and revealed to the enraptured apocalyptist (1 Enoch 71:3ff.; also 40:2; 46:2).34 An eschatological orientation is always present in the NT use of the word. In Rom 11:25 the final destiny of Israel is a “mystery.” The “mystery” of 1 Cor 15:55 is the change that will overtake the believer at Christ’s return. In 2 Thess 2:7 the “mystery of lawlessness” (RSV) that is at present restrained will soon be fully revealed and at the coming of Christ will be destroyed.

The mystery of God in Rev 10:7 shares this apocalyptic coloring and refers to the purpose of God as revealed in the consummation of human history.35 In the NT this divine purpose in history is a mystery not because it is an unknown, but because it never would have been known if God had not revealed it. John is saying that with the sounding of the seventh trumpet that which God purposed in creation and made possible through the blood of the Lamb (5:9–10) will be brought to its fulfillment. That this purpose is in fact the kingdom of God is clearly seen in Rev 11:15, where following the seventh trumpet the heavenly voices proclaim, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Down through the centuries the church has prayed, “Your kingdom come … on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). Taking his stand between the sixth and seventh trumpets, John declares, There will be no more delay: the time is now!

The drama has now moved to that moment immediately preceding the final scene. From this point on, the Apocalypse becomes a multidimensional presentation of the final triumph of God over evil. Any attempt to arrange the material in a strictly sequential pattern is doomed to failure. From his vantage point on the brink of eternity John unveils the evil forces that operate behind the scenes of history and in the last days will mount a final and furious assault upon the faithful (12:12, 17). As persecution and martyrdom precede the seventh trumpet, the overthrow and destruction of the persecutors (demonic powers as well as their earthly agents) will follow it. The bowls of God’s wrath (16:1–16) are a prelude to the final destruction of all evil and the inauguration of the eternal state.

That God has from the beginning willed the complete and final defeat of evil should come as no surprise. Although the details have not been revealed, the substance has been made known to God’s servants the prophets. There is no reason why this designation should be limited to either OT or NT prophets.36 Seven hundred years before Christ the prophet Amos asserted, “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets” (3:7).37 One purpose has run throughout history, and wherever God has revealed his intentions to humankind it has touched upon the divine promise of ultimate blessing. This is why the hidden purpose of God is said to have been “gospeled”38 to the prophets.

8 The voice from heaven that in v. 4 told John to seal up the utterances of the seven thunders speaks once again. This time it tells him to go and take the little scroll that lies open on the hand of the mighty angel. Although the syntax of v. 8 is awkward, the meaning is quite apparent.39 That the voice is a voice from heaven underscores the authoritative nature of the command. The Seer would be reluctant to approach a great and glorious angel without specific instructions from One even greater. The scroll in the hand of the angel lies open. In contrast to the seven-sealed scroll of chapter 5 that remained securely fastened until the Lamb broke its seals, the little scroll lay permanently opened40 in the hand of the angel. Once again the angel is described as standing on sea and land. It is not certain whether this thrice-repeated description (vv. 2, 5, 8) indicates some special importance that the Seer attaches to the fact or whether it is no more than rhetorical repetition. The latter is probably the case.

9–10 In obedience to the heavenly voice John goes to the angel and asks for the little scroll. He is told to take it and eat it. It will be sweet as honey in his mouth but will turn his stomach sour. John has now returned to earth, the arena of final conflict.41 Upon asking the angel to give him the little scroll, he is told once again to take it. Some commentators see in the specific command to take the scroll the truth that God’s revelation must be actively appropriated rather than passively received.42 The command, however, is not to snatch the little scroll out of the angel’s hand. Asking the angel to give it to him43 does not violate his instructions.

The angel repeats the command of the voice from heaven (“Take the scroll”) and supplies the additional instruction, “Eat it.” The account of the commissioning of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 2:8–3:3) is an obvious parallel. Ezekiel is told to open his mouth and eat what is given to him. A hand appears with a scroll with words of lamentation and mourning written on the front and on the back. Upon eating the scroll Ezekiel finds it to be as sweet as honey in his mouth. We are reminded of the Psalmist’s words, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps 119:103). A well-known passage in Jeremiah is similar, “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jer 15:16). The command to devour44 the book is not simply a figurative way of saying, Digest it mentally. In John’s case it led to a real act (although within a visionary experience), which in turn symbolizes the complete appropriation of prophetic revelation.45 John is to assimilate the content of the scroll before communicating it to others. Every true prophet of God knows the absolute necessity of this crucial requirement.46

The identity of the little scroll has been extensively discussed. Some take it as the Word of God or the Gospel.47 Others see it as a general message of woe.48 Still others find its contents in the first thirteen verses of the following chapter (11:1–13).49

The answer to the identity of the little scroll is to a considerable extent tied up with the interpretation of its being sweet as honey in the mouth but turning the stomach sour.50 It is usually held to be sweet because it is a word from God.51Why it turns the stomach sour is less certain. Commentators who do not limit the contents of the little scroll to chapter 11 tend to emphasize the judgment and woe that are to fall on the unbelieving world. It seems more plausible that the little scroll is a message for the believing church and is to be found in the following verses (11:1–13). In the parallel passage in Ezekiel the message of lamentation, mourning, and woe is to be delivered to the rebellious house of Israel (Ezek 3:4ff.). The prophet is not sent to a people of obscure speech and a difficult language (Ezek 3:5, 6). The parallel in John’s case would be the church, the new Israel. It is after eating the scroll that John is told he must prophesy again, this time concerning52 many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings (Rev 10:11). This begins with chapter 12. The sweet scroll that turns the stomach sour is a message for the church. Before the final triumph believers are going to pass through a formidable ordeal. As the great scroll of chapter 5 outlined the destiny of the entire human race, so the little scroll unveils the lot of the faithful in those last days of fierce Satanic opposition. It tells of the two witnesses who, when they have finished their testimony, are destroyed by the beast out of the Abyss (11:7). Like the crucified Lord their dead bodies are exposed for public contempt (11:8). The people of God as they faithfully bear their witness to the world are not delivered “from martyrdom and death, but through martyrdom and death to a glorious resurrection.”53 The prospect of no further delay in the fulfillment of God’s eternal purposes is sweet indeed. That it will involve a bitter prelude is hard to swallow.54

11 John is now told that he must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings. If we are correct in our interpretation of the little scroll as a message to believers about to enter the final period of persecution (11:1–13),55 then this renewed commission relates to the prophecies following the seventh trumpet in 11:15. The seals of chapter 6 (except the fifth) and the trumpets of chapters 8 and 9 are judgments directed against an ungodly world. After the parenthesis of chapters 10 and 11, which treats the church in the last days, John will turn again to prophesy against society in its hostility toward God.56

The fourfold classification of peoples, nations, languages, and tribes occurs five times in Revelation (cf. comm. on 7:9). Here “tribes” is replaced by “kings,” perhaps to suggest that God’s word through the prophets takes precedence over the highest rank of human authority. It may be that the seven kings of 17:10 and the ten kings of 17:12 are in the Seer’s purview. In any case, the prophecies deal with people in general without attention to racial, geographic, ethnic, or social distinctions. The only real distinction is between those with the seal of God and those with the mark of the beast.

The commission is introduced rather curiously by the words, “And they say to me (lit.).” If the reference were to the voice from heaven (vv. 4, 8) or the mighty angel (v. 9), we would have expected a singular verb.57 It is best to take the expression as an indefinite plural or the equivalent of the passive “it was said.”

There is a sense of divine compulsion in the charge given to John. He must58 prophesy again. The prophecy relates to many peoples and nations. It is the final act in the great drama of God’s creative and redemptive activity. The meaning of history comes into sharp focus at the end point in time. John’s mission is to lay bare the forces of the supernatural world that are at work behind the activities of people and nations. His prophecy is the culmination of all previous prophecies in that it leads on to the final destruction of evil and the inauguration of the eternal state.

2. Measuring the Temple (11:1–2)

In turning to the matters in 11:1–14, we come to a passage that is universally recognized as difficult to interpret.59 Part of the problem stems from the necessity of having to take a rather clear-cut position on the interpretation of apocalyptic language. While on either extreme are those who interpret it literally60 or highly symbolically,61 the notes that follow understand the first thirteen verses of chapter 11 to be symbolic of the fate of the witnessing church during its final period of opposition and persecution. They supply the content of the “little scroll” of chapter 10 that was sweet to the taste but made the stomach sour (10:9–10). That the language of prophecy is highly figurative has nothing to do with the reality of the events predicted. Symbolism is not a denial of historicity but a figurative method of communicating reality. Apocalyptic language has as one of its basic characteristics the cryptic and symbolic use of words and phrases.

Many writers believe that this segment (11:1–13) was taken over from a previous source (or sources).62 But since we recognize by now that John makes use of his sources with a sort of sovereign freedom, it is far more important to understand what he is saying than to attempt a reconstruction of the originals.

1I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. 2But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.

In between the two major visions that make up the interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpet we find a brief section in which John is told to measure the temple enclosure but not the outer court. Taking both temple and outer court as representing the church from two different perspectives leads to an understanding that during the difficult period lying immediately ahead the people of God will be kept safe from demonic assault although they will suffer at the hands of the unbelieving world. This message is especially appropriate in view of the bitter/sweet experience awaiting them (as symbolized by the ministry and fate of the two witnesses in 11:3–14).

1 In the preceding section (10:8–11) John’s role as passive spectator gave way to active involvement in his own vision. He took the scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. In the opening verses of chapter 11 his participation continues. He is given a reed like a measuring rod and told to measure the temple of God and the altar, and to count those who worship there. Biblical prophets commonly employed symbolic action to dramatize their message. Isaiah walked about stripped and barefoot as a sign of Egypt’s impending captivity to Assyria (Isa 20:2–5). Ezekiel dug through a wall and carried out his belongings in the sight of Israel as a symbol of the coming exile (Ezek 12:1–7). In the NT the prophet Agabus tied his feet and hands with Paul’s belt to show that the apostle would be bound by the Jews at Jerusalem (Acts 21:10–11). The measuring of the temple is a symbolic way of declaring its preservation.63 The background is probably Ezekiel 40–42, where the prophet in a vision watches every part of the temple measured with painstaking care.64 This would be a necessary prerequisite to the restoration of the real temple in Jerusalem.

For John, the temple was not a literal building but “the Christian community who worship God.”65 It is the church, the people of God (as in 1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:19–22).66 Whatever the imagery may have intended if it originally belonged to a Jewish apocalypse, there is little doubt that for John it means that God will give spiritual sanctuary to the faithful believers against the demonic assault of the Antichrist.67 The protection of believers (symbolized by the measuring of the temple) was not security against physical suffering and death but against spiritual danger. It corresponds to the sealing of 7:1–8, which did not protect from physical death but insured entrance into the heavenly kingdom (cf. comm. on 7:4–8). Since the altar is linked so closely with those worshiping in the holy place, it should probably be taken as the altar of incense (cf. 8:3). The objection that only the priests were permitted to enter the inner sanctuary, and hence those worshiping could not represent the entire body of the faithful, is countered by the NT teaching that all believers are in fact part of a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:5, 9; Rev 1:6; 5:10).

To measure the temple John was given a “reed like a measuring rod.” In the Jordan valley grew certain bamboolike canes that were sufficiently long and rigid (cf. Luke 7:24) to be used for measuring.

2 The outer court of the temple68 was called the court of the Gentiles. While Solomon’s temple had two courtyards (1 Kgs 6:36), the inner court of Herod’s temple was divided into three courts (the court of the women, the court of the Israelites, and the court of the priests). Separating these three from the court of the Gentiles was a barrier with inscriptions threatening death to any Gentile who would pass beyond.69 Opinion is divided as to what the outer court stands for. One common answer is that it is symbolic of those members of the professing church who, like the followers of Balaam (2:14) and Jezebel (2:20), have compromised with the world.70 It is the true church, however—those who refuse the mark of the beast (13:7, 16–17)—who are about to suffer; and not those who have compromised their faith.

It is more probable that the outer court refers to the church viewed from a different perspective.71 It is to be excluded72 and not measured; that is, it is to be given over to persecution in the last days. The distinction between the sanctuary and the outer court is a way of pointing out the limitations placed upon pagan hostility.73 It may physically decimate the witnessing church (in 11:7 the two witnesses are killed), but it cannot touch its real source of life (the witnesses are raised and ascend to heaven; 11:11–12). Since the measuring of the church is a variant of its being sealed and the trampling of the city is the great tribulation, “we have the paradox that, on the one hand, the community will be sheltered and, on the other hand, the unprotected community will be trampled.”74

In John’s imagery the holy city is yet another designation for the church.75 The faithful are to be trampled underfoot76 by paganism for a period of forty-two months. The background for this is the prophecy concerning Antiochus Epiphanes in Dan 8:9–14. There the sanctuary is to be trampled underfoot by the little horn for 2,300 days. Then it is to be reconsecrated (Dan 8:14). Likewise the church is to be oppressed and profaned by the beast out of the Abyss (Rev 11:7), but it will not be destroyed. To what extent its victory will be triumph through death or continued existence on earth is not clear. In either case the promise of Jesus in Matt 16:18 that “the powers of the underworld shall never overthrow [the church]” (Williams) is carried through.

The temporal designation of 42 months (11:2; 13:5) is also given in Revelation as 1,260 days (11:3; 12:6) and “a time, times and half a time” (12:14). Its primary reference is to the period of Jewish suffering under the Syrian despot Antiochus Epiphanes in 167–164 B.C.77 It became a standard symbol for that limited period of time during which evil would be allowed free rein. It is “the conventional period in apocalyptic literature for the temporary triumph of evil before the end of the age.”78 In Luke 21:24 it is called “the times of the Gentiles.” The repeated use of the various designations in Revelation and the contexts in which they appear serves to point out that the periods of final witness, divine protection, and pagan antagonism are simultaneous.

3. The Two Witnesses (11:3–14)

3And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.

7Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. 8Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. 10The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

11But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

13At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.

This particular vision (11:3–14) has long been one of the interpretive cruxes in the Revelation. Nevertheless the possibility for a satisfactory interpretation of the section is not hopeless.

There is little doubt that the witnesses are modeled after Moses and Elijah. In the description that follows (vv. 5–6) they have the power, like Elijah, to consume their enemies with fire (2 Kgs 1:10ff.) and to shut up the sky so that it will not rain (1 Kgs 17:1), and like Moses they can turn the waters into blood (Exod 7:14–18) and strike the earth with every kind of plague (Exod 8:12). Further, it was a common expectation that Elijah and Moses would return before the end of the world. Malachi had prophesied, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes” (Mal 4:5; cf. Mark 9:11 and Matt 11:14). Apparently Deut 18:18 (“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers”) had given rise to a similar expectation regarding Moses (cf. John 6:14; 7:40). It was Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:4). Furthermore, the ascension of the two witnesses into heaven (v. 12) corresponds with 2 Kgs 2:11 (Elijah’s transport) and the tradition underlying the pseudepigraphical Assumption of Moses.79

But who are these two witnesses, and what do they symbolize in John’s vision? Some identify them as two literal prophetic figures who will arise at the end.80 It is more likely, however, that they are not two individuals but a symbol of the witnessing church in the last tumultuous days before the end of the age.81 That the church is presented under the figure of two witnesses stems either from the well-known law in Deut 19:15 that required a second witness for adequate testimony (cf. John 8:17)82 or from the Seer’s desire to emphasize the church’s “royal and priestly functions” as suggested by the two metaphors in v. 4.83 Some commentators would limit the witnesses to that portion of the church which suffers martyrdom.84

As latter-day prophets the two witnesses wear the rough garb of their ancient predecessors (Zech 13:4). Their message is a call to repentance. Sackcloth was the garment of mourning and penitence. “So put on sackcloth, lament and wail,” counseled Jeremiah (4:8). “Woe to you,” said Jesus to the cities that had witnessed his miracles and repented not, “if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matt 11:21).

3 The opening word of v. 3 (“and”) ties that which follows closely to what has just been said. Indeed, it is God, not Christ, who commissions his witnesses to prophesy.85 In spite of pagan oppression God will send forth his witnesses. The period of their ministry is the same as that allotted to the trampling of the holy city. Its designation in days rather than months is simply a literary variation (solar months are thirty days in length). It does not intend to teach that witnessing is a day-by-day activity.

4 John now identifies the two witnesses as the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand86 before the Lord of the earth. The background is Zechariah’s vision recorded in chapter 4 of his prophecy. There, a single golden lampstand (Israel?) supports a bowl with seven lamps (“the eyes of the LORD,” v. 10) and is flanked by two olive trees (Joshua, the high priest, and Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor under the Persian king Darius) that supply it with “golden oil” (v. 12). The angelic interpretation is, “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (v. 6). As God’s Spirit works through his chosen leaders, despite all their apparent weaknesses, the temple will be brought to completion.

As usual, John uses his source with considerable freedom.87 The one lampstand becomes two, and these two in turn are said to be synonymous with the two olive trees. Already in chapter 1 the seven churches (symbolic of the church universal) have been symbolized by seven lampstands. They are the bearers of divine light (cf. Matt 5:15–16). These light bearers are also olive trees in that “the oil of the Spirit … keeps alive the light of life.”88 By these two metaphors John is emphasizing a truth concerning the church that has always been true but is especially appropriate in times of persecution—that the power and authority for effective witness lie in the Spirit of God.89

5 It is interesting that concern for the protection of the two witnesses (v. 5) comes before a description of their activity (v. 6). The order lends emphasis to the fact that God will most certainly keep his people safe from physical harm until their witness has been completed. They will be protected by supernatural powers for the period of their prophetic activity. The fire that comes from their mouths to destroy the enemy recalls Elijah’s encounters with the emissaries of King Ahaziah (2 Kgs 1). Sir 48:1 says that the prophet Elijah “arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch” (JB). The first two groups of fifty were consumed by fire from heaven at the word of the prophet (vv. 10, 12). While the fire in John’s vision is often taken figuratively,90 it would be more consistent to maintain a parallel with the literal drought and plagues that follow in the same description. Fire-breathing prophets would not seem strange in the bizarre world of apocalyptic imagery. This, of course, does not deny that the words of a prophet can be like fire (as in Jer 5:14).

6 The witnesses also have the power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time of their prophecy. The background is the drought of Elijah’s day (1 Kgs 17:1; Sir 48:3), which, according to Luke 4:25 and Jas 5:17, lasted three and a half years.91 They can also turn water into blood (cf. Exod 7:20) and smite the earth with whatever kind of plague they wish (cf. Exod 8:12).92 The purpose of John’s portrayal at this point may be to express “the truth that God’s servants in the new dispensation have just as great resources as did Moses and Elijah in the old.”93

7 As soon as their ministry has been fulfilled,94 the witnesses are no longer protected from physical harm. The beast of the Abyss attacks and kills them.95 Here for the first time we meet a figure who represents the major antagonist of the church in the last days. In contrast to the Lamb, who bears the marks of slaughter, he is the beast.96 His demonic origin and character are portrayed by the fact that he “comes up from the Abyss,” the haunt of demons (cf. Luke 8:31). The definite article indicates that he is a well-known figure. It may be a reference to the beast of Dan 7:7ff., who had become a “familiar representation of Antichrist,”97 or it may anticipate the detailed presentation in chapters 13 and 17. At the moment all that John wishes to do is to set forth the death of the witnesses at the hand of the beast. As the little horn of Daniel 7 made war with the saints (v. 21), so the beast of the Abyss overcomes and kills the two witnesses.98

The verb “attack” (NKJ, “make war”) supports the interpretation of the witnesses as a large group rather than two individuals. The scene is the last epic struggle between the kingdoms of this earth and the witnessing church. The very word “witness”99 has the grim flavor of martyrdom. What is true in this last conflict has also been true of the massacres of history “in which brute force has seemed to triumph over truth and righteousness.” 100

8 The bodies of the martyred witnesses are left unburied on the broad street of the great city.101 From the Eastern point of view, to be deprived of burial was an act of great indignity.102 When Tobit learned that one of his countrymen had been strangled and left dead in the marketplace, he jumped up from a ceremonial meal, went, and took the body to one of the outbuildings until he could bury it after the sun went down (Tob 2:1–7; cf. Jer 8:1–2).

The majority of commentators take “the great city” to be Jerusalem103 in spite of the fact that in the seven other references in Revelation (16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21) it consistently refers to Rome.104 The identification rests primarily on the last clause of v. 8, which seems to identify the great city as the place where “their Lord was crucified.” The references normally cited to argue that the title had been used of Jerusalem are nonbiblical.105 The great city also bore the figurative titles of Sodom and Egypt. But while Isa 1:9–10 and Ezek 16:46–49 are usually cited as places where Jerusalem is called Sodom, in the Isaiah passage it is the Jewish people (not the city) who are so designated, and in Ezekiel, Jerusalem is being compared with her sisters, Samaria and Sodom. In neither reference is Jerusalem actually called Sodom, and in the OT it is never designated Egypt.

In view of the consistent use of the term elsewhere in the book as a reference to Rome (as well as such verses as 18:24, “In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints”) it is best to conclude that the witnesses meet their death at the hands of the Antichrist, whose universal dominion was in John’s day epitomized by the power of Rome. The inclusion of a reference to the crucifixion is not to identify a geographical location but to illustrate the response of paganism to righteousness.106 The great city is “every city and no city. It is civilized man in organized community.”107 Spiritually (or allegorically) it is “Sodom and Egypt.” Sodom refers to the depths of moral degradation (cf. Gen 19:4–11), and Egypt is a symbol of oppression and slavery. The great city in which the martyred church lies dead is the world under the wicked and oppressive sway of Antichrist.

9 The dead bodies of the two witnesses are left lying on the streets of the great city, where they are viewed by people of every race and nationality.108 The three and a half days of their public exposure correspond to the 1,260 days of their prophetic activity. In comparison it is a brief period of time. We have already noted (in v. 8) that denial of a proper burial was an act of ignominy109 and reflected the scorn of the world for the church that had called them to repentance. The dead bodies of the witnesses are not symbols of a spiritually dead church, but portray the destiny of the faithful who hold their convictions firm till the end. To Smyrna, John wrote, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10).

10 When the followers of the beast realize that those who have tormented their consciences are dead, they are overjoyed. In effect, a holiday is declared, with merrymaking and the exchange of gifts.110 Their torment, consisting of denunciation (v. 3) and physical affliction (vv. 5–6), had lasted for three and a half years, but now it was over and rejoicing was in order.

“The inhabitants of the earth” is another designation for the pagan world as described in the preceding verse.111 It supports the interpretation of the great city as the whole earth. God’s truth through the testimony of faithful witnesses has always distressed the consciences of evil men. To Ahab, the prophet Elijah was a “troubler of Israel” (1 Kgs 18:17), Herod feared John the Baptist, yet heard him gladly (Mark 6:20). The world has always shown hostility to the message of God—a truth that ought to give some concern to the contemporary church existing for the most part rather comfortably in a world of increasing wickedness.

The celebration of the earth’s inhabitants over the death of the witnesses is a perverse counterpart to the Jewish feast of Purim—a “day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other … and gifts to the poor” (Esth 9:19, 22). Some have suggested as another parallel the period between the crucifixion and the resurrection. Of this time Jesus said that the disciples “will weep and mourn while the world rejoices” (John 16:20).112

11 The merriment of the world is cut short, for after three and a half days God sends the breath of life113 into the dead bodies of the witnesses, who then stand again on their feet. The language of this verse follows the vision recorded in Ezekiel 37 in which God sends the breath of life114 into the dry bones, which come to life and stand upon their feet.115 The reveling is cut short, and terror strikes the inhabitants of the earth who have just witnessed this remarkable event. Since murder is the last resort, what can be done about those who rise from the dead! The resurrection of the church is a sure indication that God possesses the ultimate authority over life and death.116

12 The two witnesses are now summoned by a loud voice from heaven and ascend in full view of their startled enemies. They go up “into” (eis) heaven, not merely “to heaven,” in a cloud.117 In 2 Kgs 2:11 Elijah is taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.118 The voice from heaven is heard by the two witnesses (and probably everyone else), although some manuscripts read “I heard” and restrict the verb to the Seer.119 The triumph of the witnesses is no secret rapture; it is openly visible to all (cf. Matt 24:27; 1 Thess 4:17).120

13 As the witnesses are taken up into heaven, a great earthquake levels a portion of the city, killing 7,000 and forcing the rest to acknowledge the transcendent majesty of God. Ezek 38:19–20 predicted a great earthquake that would precede the end. Zechariah says that the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west when God returns to crush his enemies (Zech 14:4). Although the earthquake may symbolize some great upheaval in the social order (cf. Hag 2:6–7), here, as in Rev 6:12, it is part of an apocalyptic vision that portrays in a literal manner the events yet to come. The tenth part of the city that collapsed would be a sizable portion but not enough to disable it. The figure of 7,000 does not seem to have any particular meaning beyond serving to indicate the approximate number of individuals in one-tenth of a good-sized city in John’s day.121

Scholars differ in their interpretation of the response of the world to this demonstration of divine power. The text simply says that those who were not killed were terrified and “gave glory to the God of heaven.” Some think that, unlike the survivors of 9:20–21, these turn from their apostasy in true repentance.122 It is argued that John was more optimistic about the conversion of the world than he is commonly given credit for. But while universalism is an outcome that few would not favor, it runs counter to the clear teaching of Scripture concerning the serious consequences of spurning the love of God in Christ Jesus. It is not accurate to conclude from these verses that “where retributive punishment had failed to bring men to repentance, the death of the martyrs would succeed”123 because it was not the death of the martyrs, but their being brought back to life that struck terror to the hearts of their enemies and caused them to give glory to God. Rev 13:3–4 specifically says that “the whole world was astonished and followed the beast.… [They] worshiped the dragon … and they also worshiped the beast.” No indication of universal salvation here!

Kiddle is correct in his view that in that day “the great mass of mankind will have committed the unpardonable crime of deifying evil.” They give glory to God “when they are compelled by overriding terror to recognize that the true Lord is Christ and not Antichrist.”124 This falls far short of a redemptive turning to God and praising him for who he is and what he has done. This scene does not stand in contrast to 6:15–17 in which the inhabitants of the world hid in caves and called on the rocks and mountains to fall on them. The two scenes are parallel. Although the term “God of heaven” is frequent in Jewish writings, it occurs only here and in 16:1 in the NT. The source may be Dan 2:17–19, where the title reflects the majesty and wisdom of God without any specific contrast with the gods of the Chaldeans.

14 Verse 14 stands alone, separated from the second woe by the visions of 10:1–11:13, and announcing a third Woe, which is then postponed until a number of subplots have been brought forward.

F. SEVENTH TRUMPET (11:15–19)

15The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord

and of his Christ,

and he will reign for ever and ever.”

16And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17saying:

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

the One who is and who was,

because you have taken your great power

and have begun to reign.

18The nations were angry;

and your wrath has come.

The time has come for judging the dead,

and for rewarding your servants the prophets

and your saints and those who reverence your name,

both small and great—

and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”

19Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

When the seventh trumpet is blown, we might expect yet another plague but instead we hear voices in heaven declaring the eternal sovereignty of God and his Christ. The twenty-four elders join the celebration falling, before God in worship and praising him for having taken his great power and begun to reign. The time for rewarding his servants and pouring out his wrath on the destroyers of the earth has come.11:15–19 is a summary of all that is yet to take place. The declaration of triumph by the heavenly hosts (v. 15) and the anthem of praise by the worshiping elders (vv. 17–18) introduce the great themes of the following chapters. The extensive use of the aorist tense (eleven times) conveys a sense of absolute certainty about the events taking place. There is a common saying, “It’s all over bar the shouting,” and the only difference here is that the shout of victory has already begun.1

15 We would expect the seventh trumpet blast to be followed by the third Woe (cf. 9:1, 13), but instead we hear voices of a great heavenly host declaring the final triumph of the kingdom of God and the establishment of his eternal reign. The voices are not those of a glorified church. The expression “Our Lord, and … his Christ” would not be appropriate for the church because their Lord is the Christ. The voices should not be limited to any particular class of angelic beings (such as the four living creatures of chaps. 4 and 5) but represent the hosts of heaven with the same sort of indefiniteness that we find in 12:10 and 19:16.

The burden of the angelic declaration is that the dominion and rule of this world have been transferred to God and his Christ, who shall reign forever and ever.2 This great eschatological event that establishes once and for all the universal sovereignty of God is a recurring theme in OT prophecy. Daniel predicted the day when the kingdom of God would utterly destroy the kingdoms of this world (Dan 2:31–45, esp. v. 44). The day is coming, said Zechariah, when God will be “king over the whole earth” (Zech 14:9). As the drama of the consummation moves toward the final scene, the hosts of heaven proclaim it fait accompli. During his earthly ministry Jesus had resisted the tempting offer of Satan to hand over the kingdoms of this world in exchange for worship (Matt 4:8–9). Now this sovereignty passes to him as a rightful possession in view of the successful completion of his messianic ministry. “Our Lord and … his Christ” reflects Ps 2:2, which was interpreted messianically by the early church (Acts 4:26–28).3 Although the Son will ultimately be subjected to the Father (1 Cor 15:28), he will nevertheless share the eternal rule of God. The singular (“he will reign”) emphasizes the unity of this joint sovereignty.

16 The twenty-four elders last appeared in 7:11, where they were prostrate before the throne of God in worship and praise. Although normally seated, they are here once again on their faces (cf. 4:10; 5:8, 14; 19:4) and singing a hymn of anticipated victory.4 The elders are an angelic order—the heavenly counterpart to God’s people in all ages (cf. comm. on 4:4).

17 The song of the elders is a hymn of thanksgiving to the One who with a great display of power will enter upon his eternal reign. The event is so certain that throughout this section it is repeatedly spoken of as already having taken place.5 “Great power” does not indicate omnipotence as a divine attribute in a general sense, but points to the final conflict in which God overpowers all his enemies. As in 1:8 and 4:8, he is the Lord God Almighty. He is able to accomplish all that in his decrees he has determined to do. In the same two passages, as well as in 1:4, he is the One who is, who was, and who is to come. In the present verse (and in 16:5) the third designation (“is to come”) is omitted6 because his coming is no longer seen as future. Already he has come and has begun to reign.

18 The reign of God is established by a great demonstration of divine wrath against the defiant anger of the world (cf. 16:9–11, 21). The eschatological crisis has arrived with its inevitable judgment. As the proclamation of the heavenly host drew upon a messianic interpretation of Psalm 2, so also does the song of the elders. Nations and their rulers plot rebellion against God and his anointed, and he terrifies them with his fury (Ps 2:1–2, 5, 12, GNB). There is an appropriateness in God’s tailoring the punishment to fit the crime.7 A final fierce assault upon the power and authority of God is a common apocalyptic theme. The triumph of God’s wrath is pictured in 14:10–11; 16:15–21; and 20:8–9.

In the schedule of God’s redemptive program a decisive point has now been reached. It is a fitting time8 for judgment, reward, and destruction. The judgment anticipated by the elders is carried out in the great white throne scene of 20:11–15. It is preceded by resurrection and followed by retribution. If the wrath of God is the judgment of the wicked, the vision of a New Jerusalem (21:9–22:5) with the presence of God its crowning joy (22:4) is the reward of the faithful. Although rewards are all of grace (Rom 4:4), they vary according to what each has done (1 Cor 3:8).

The various classes of the faithful are taken in a number of ways. A reasonable translation would be, “your servants the prophets, and your saints—those who reverence your name, both small and great.” There are two groups (prophets and saints), who are further described as fearing the name of God. This arrangement holds intact the expression “your servants the prophets” (which occurs again at 10:7) and joins to it a second group (the saints) as in 16:6 (“the blood of your saints and prophets”), 18:24 (order reversed), and 22:9 (“the prophets and … all who keep the words of this book”—i.e., saints). John holds the prophetic office in highest esteem. One might almost say that in Revelation the prophet has replaced the apostle.9 By taking “those who reverence your name” as a further description of the prophets and saints, it is unnecessary to find additional distinctions such as between Jewish and Gentile Christians.10 In 19:5 all God’s servants are addressed as “you who fear him, both small and great.” The latter phrase (perhaps from Ps 115:13) is common in Revelation and stresses the all-inclusive nature of the group involved, whether saints (11:18; 19:5) or sinners (13:16; 19:18; 20:12).

The consummation will bring not only reward to the faithful but destruction to the destroyers (cf. 2 Thess 1:6–7). God repays in kind, and for those who wreak havoc on the earth, there is reserved the wrath of a righteous God (cf. Rom 2:5). Those who destroy would be for John the Roman Empire and all who serve its sinister designs. The pagan empire of his day becomes a model for the final assault, which knows no limitations, national or racial.

19 Verse 19 is a response to the hymn of praise in vv. 17 and 18. The ark of the covenant corresponds to the rewarding of the faithful, and the cosmic disturbances to the outpouring of God’s wrath.11 The sanctuary that opens to reveal the ark of the covenant is not an earthly temple (as in 11:1) but the sanctuary of God in heaven (cf. 3:12; 7:15; 15:5–8; 21:22). From this most holy place proceed both the promise of covenant love and righteous anger (cf. 16:1). The opening of the temple is of limited duration (cf. 15:5) and serves to reveal a heavenly ark, the symbol of God’s faithfulness in fulfilling his covenant promises. For the days of wrath that lie immediately ahead, believers will need the assurance that God will bring his own safely to their eternal reward.12

In the OT the ark of the covenant was a symbol of the abiding presence of God. It was undoubtedly destroyed when Nebuzaradan razed Jerusalem and burned the temple (2 Kgs 25:8–10). Yet 2 Macc 2:4–8 records a legend that Jeremiah took the ark (along with the Tent of Meeting and the incense altar) and hid it in a cave on Mt. Nebo. It was to remain hidden until “God finally gathers his people together and shows mercy to them” (2 Macc 2:7). This reflects the Jewish expectation of the recovery of the ark as an eschatological event with messianic significance. It is unlikely, however, that the heavenly ark of John’s vision is in any sense a fulfillment of this expectation. The entire scene is a gracious reminder that God will faithfully carry out his covenant promises and destroy the enemies of his people.