485. APOCALYPSE. CHAPTER 8.

1. And when he opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven as it were for half an hour.

2. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets.

3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there were given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne.

4. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended out of the angel's hand before God.

5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it from the fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth; and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

6. And the seven angels having the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7. And the first angel sounded, and there was hail and fire mingled with blood; and they were cast unto the earth; and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood.

9. And there died the third part of the creatures in the sea having souls; and the third part of the ships was destroyed.

10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as a lamp; and it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of the waters.

11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were bitter.

12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, that the day shone not for the third part of it, and the night likewise.

13. And I saw, and I heard one angel flying in midheaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, to those that dwell on the earth, from the remaining voices of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound.

EXPOSITION.

Verses 1-4. And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven as it were for half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God; and there were given unto them seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended out of the angel's hand before God.

1. "And when he opened the seventh seal," signifies prediction respecting the last state of the church n. 486; "there was silence in heaven," signifies astonishment that the church is such and that its end is at hand (n. 487); "as it were for half an hour," signifies a time corresponding to, or the delay before, the preparation of all things for undergoing the changes that follow (n. 488).

2. "And I saw the seven angels who stood before God," signifies all the heavens more interiorly and more closely conjoined to the Lord. n. 489); "and there were given unto them seven trumpets," signifies influx from them, and consequent changes of state and separations (n. 459, 489).

3. "And another angel came and stood at the altar," signifies the conjunction of heaven with the Lord through celestial good n. 490; "having a golden censer," signifies the conjunction of that good with spiritual good, and thus the conjunction of the higher heavens n. 491; "and there was given unto him much incense," signifies truths in abundance (n. 492); "that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne," signifies the conjunction [of the heavens] with those who must be separated from the evil and saved n. 493.

4. "And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended out of the angel's hand before God," signifies the conjunction of all with the Lord. n. 494).