387. CHAPTER 8
1. When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3. Then another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and he was given much incense, that he should offer it for the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4. And the smoke of the incense for the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand.
5. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
7. The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were cast down to the earth, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8. Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10. Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it was made bitter.
12. Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, and a third of them was darkened, so that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
13. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
This chapter has as its subject the church of the Protestant Reformed and what the people are like in it who are caught up in faith alone. It describes the preparation of the spiritual heaven for communication with them (verses 1-6); the examination and disclosure of those there who are immersed in the interior elements of that faith (verse 7), and of those who are immersed in its exterior elements (verses 8, 9); and what they are like as regards their understanding of the Word (verses 10, 11), showing that they are caught up in falsities and their accompanying evils (verses 12, 13).
The Contents of the Individual Verses:
| Verse Contents | Spiritual Meaning |
|---|
| 1. When He opened the seventh seal, | An examination by the Lord of the state of the church and consequent life of people who are in His spiritual kingdom - people who are governed by charity and its accompanying faith - here people caught up in faith alone. |
| there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. | Angels from the Lord's spiritual kingdom were quite dumbfounded when they saw people who claimed to have faith to be in the state they were. |
| 2. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, | The entire spiritual heaven in the Lord's presence, hearing and doing whatever He commanded. |
| and to them were given seven trumpets. | An examination and exposure of the state of the church and consequent life of people caught up in faith alone. |
| 3. Then another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, | Spiritual worship, which originates from the goodness of charity expressed through truths of faith. |
| and he was given much incense, that he should offer it for the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. | A propitiation, lest angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom be harmed by the spirits of the satanic kingdom situated below. |
| 4. And the smoke of the incense for the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. | Their protection by the Lord. |
| 5. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. | Spiritual love, containing celestial love, and its influx into the lower regions where those people were who were caught up in a faith divorced from charity. |
| And there were voices, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. | After a communication with them was opened, the angels heard reasonings about faith alone and arguments in support of it. |
| 6. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. | Their being prepared and ready to examine the state of the church and consequent life in people for whom religion is faith alone. |
| 7. The first angel sounded: | An examination and disclosure of the state of life and its character in people caught up interiorly in that faith. |
| And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, | Falsity springing from a hellish love, destroying goodness and truth and falsifying the Word. |
| and they were cast down to the earth, and a third of the trees were burned up, | In such people all affection for truth and perception of truth, which make a person a person of the church, had perished, |
| and all green grass was burned up. | and thus every constituent of faith having life. |
| 8. Then the second angel sounded: | An examination and disclosure of the state of the church and its character in people caught up externally in that faith. |
| And something like a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, | The appearance of a hellish love in them. |
| and a third of the sea became blood. | General truths had all been falsified in them. |
| 9. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, | Those who had lived that faith and continued to live it could not be reformed and receive life. |
| and a third of the ships were destroyed. | Concepts of goodness and truth from the Word that are serviceable for application to life, in them had all been destroyed. |
| 10. Then the third angel sounded: | An examination and disclosure of the state of the church in people for whom religion is faith alone as regards their affection for truths from the Word and reception of them. |
| And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, | The appearance of their personal intelligence owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love. |
| and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. | Consequently all the Word's truths had been completely falsified. |
| 11. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, | Hellish falsity, the origin of their personal intelligence, by which they had falsified all the Word's truths. |
| and many people died from the water, because it was made bitter. | The extinction of spiritual life because of the falsification of the Word's truths. |
| 12. Then the fourth angel sounded: | An examination and disclosure of the state of the church in people for whom religion is faith alone, that they are caught up in the evils accompanying falsity and in the falsities accompanying evil. |
| And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, and a third of them was darkened, | Because of their evils springing from falsities and their falsities springing from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth. |
| so that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. | They no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life. |
| 13. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, | Instruction and prediction from the Lord. |
| saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!" | The utmost lamentation over the state of damnation of people in the church who in doctrine and life have confirmed themselves in a faith divorced from charity. |
THE EXPOSITION
The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom consists of people who are governed by love toward the Lord and its accompanying wisdom; and the spiritual kingdom consists of people who are governed by love for the neighbor and its accompanying intelligence. But because love for the neighbor is today called charity, and intelligence faith, this latter kingdom consists of people who are governed by charity and its accompanying faith.
Now because heaven has been divided into two kingdoms, hell also has been divided into two kingdoms opposite to these - the diabolical kingdom and the satanic kingdom. The diabolical kingdom consists of people who are governed by a love of ruling stemming from a love of self and by its accompanying foolishness, for that love is the opposite of celestial love, and its foolishness is the opposite of celestial wisdom. The satanic kingdom, on the other hand, consists of people who are governed by a love of ruling from a conceit in their own intelligence and by its accompanying irrationality, for that love is the opposite of spiritual love, and its irrationality is the opposite of spiritual intelligence.
By foolishness and irrationality we mean foolishness and irrationality in celestial and spiritual matters.
What we have said about heaven is to be understood to apply likewise to the church on earth, for the two are inseparable.
Regarding these two kingdoms, see the book, Heaven and Hell, published in London, nos. 20-28 and many other numbers elsewhere.
[2] Now because the book of Revelation has as its sole subject the state of the church at its end, as we said in the Preface and in no. 2, therefore from this point on it deals with the inhabitants of the two kingdoms of heaven and the inhabitants of the two kingdoms of hell, and their character: with the inhabitants of the spiritual kingdom and of the satanic kingdom opposite to that kingdom, from chapter eight here to chapter sixteen, and with the inhabitants of the celestial kingdom and of the diabolical kingdom opposite to it in chapters seventeen and eighteen. After that it describes the Last Judgment, and finally the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. This concludes everything that precedes, because it is to this end that they looked.
Here and there in the Word we find mention of the devil and Satan, and both mean hell. Each is mentioned because all the inhabitants in one hell are called devils, and all in the other hell, satanic spirits.
