Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1721)

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R E V E L A T I O N.

CHAP. VIII.

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We have already seen what occurred upon opening six of the seals; we

now come to the opening of the seventh, which introduced the sounding

of the seven trumpets; and a direful scene now opens. Most expositors

agree that the seven seals represent the interval between the apostle’s

time and the reign of Constantine, but that the seven trumpets are

designed to represent the rise of antichrist, some time after the

empire became Christian. In this chapter we have,

I. The preface, or prelude, to the sounding of the trumpets,

ver. 1-6.

II. The sounding of four of the trumpets,

ver. 7,

&c.).

The Seven Trumpets.	A. D. 95.

     

1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in

heaven about the space of half a hour.

  2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to

them were given seven trumpets.

  3 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 saints upon the golden

altar which was before the throne.

  4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers

of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

  5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the

altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and

thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

  6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared

themselves to sound.

     

In these verses we have the prelude to the sounding of the trumpets in

several parts.

     

I. The opening of the last seal. This was to introduce a new set of

prophetical iconisms and events; there is a continued chain of

providence, one part linked to another (where one ends another begins),

and, though they may differ in nature and in time, they all make up one

wise, well-connected, uniform design in the hand of God.

     

II. A profound silence in heaven for the space of half an hour,

which may be understood either,

1. Of the silence of peace, that for this time no complaints were sent

up to the ear of the Lord God of sabaoth; all was quiet and well in the

church, and therefore all silent in heaven, for whenever the church on

earth cries, through oppression, that cry comes up to heaven and

resounds there; or,

2. A silence of expectation; great things were upon the wheel of

providence, and the church of God, both in heaven and earth, stood

silent, as became them, to see what God was doing, according to that of

Zech. ii. 13,

Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he has risen up out of

his holy habitation. And elsewhere, Be still, and know that I am

God.

     

III. The trumpets were delivered to the angels who were to sound them.

Still the angels are employed as the wise and willing instruments of

divine Providence, and they are furnished with all their materials and

instructions from God our Saviour. As the angels of the churches are to

sound the trumpet of the gospel, the angels of heaven are to sound the

trumpet of Providence, and every one has his part given him.

     

IV. To prepare for this, another angel must first offer incense,

v. 3.

It is very probable that this other angel is the Lord Jesus, the high

priest of the church, who is here described in his sacerdotal office,

having a golden censer and much incense, a fulness of merit in his own

glorious person, and this incense he was to offer up, with the

prayers of all the saints, upon the golden altar of his divine

nature. Observe,

1. All the saints are a praying people; none of the children of God are

born dumb, a Spirit of grace is always a Spirit of adoption and

supplication, teaching us to cry, Abba, Father.
Ps. xxxii. 6,

For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee.

2. Times of danger should be praying times, and so should times of

great expectation; both our fears and our hopes should put us upon

prayer, and, where the interest of the church of God is deeply

concerned, the hearts of the people of God in prayer should be greatly

enlarged.

3. The prayers of the saints themselves stand in need of the incense

and intercession of Christ to make them acceptable and effectual, and

there is provision made by Christ for that purpose; he has his incense,

his censer, and his altar; he is all himself to his people.

4. The prayers of the saints come up before God in a cloud of incense;

no prayer, thus recommended, was ever denied audience or acceptance.

5. These prayers that were thus accepted in heaven produced great

changes upon earth in return to them; the same angel that in his censer

offered up the prayers of the saints in the same censer took of the

fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and this presently

caused strange commotions, voices, and thunderings, and lightnings,

and an earthquake; these were the answers God gave to the prayers

of the saints, and tokens of his anger against the world and that he

would do great things to avenge himself and his people of their

enemies; and now, all things being thus prepared, the angels discharge

their duty.

The Seven Trumpets.	A. D. 95.

     

7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire

mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the

third part of 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 the third part of the creatures which were in the sea,

and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were

destroyed.

  10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star

from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the

third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of 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 made 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, and the

day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

  13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of

heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the

inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the

trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

     

Observe, I. The first angel sounded the first trumpet, and the

events which followed were very dismal: There followed hail and fire

mingled with blood, &c.,

v. 7.

There was a terrible storm; but whether it is to be understood of a

storm of heresies, a mixture of monstrous errors falling on the church

(for in that age Arianism prevailed), or a storm or tempest of war

falling on the civil state, expositors are not agreed. Mr. Mede takes

it to be meant of the Gothic inundation that broke in upon the empire

in the year 395, the same year that Theodosius died, when the northern

nations, under Alaricus, king of the Goths, broke in upon the western

parts of the empire. However, here we observe,

1. It was a very terrible storm-fire, and hail, and blood: a strange

mixture!

2. The limitation of it: it fell on the third part of the trees,

and on the third part of the grass, and blasted and burnt it up;

that is, say some, upon the third part of the clergy and the

third part of the laity; or, as others who take it to fall upon the

civil state, upon the third part of the great men, and upon

the third part of the common people, either upon the Roman

empire itself, which was a third part of the then known world, or upon

a third part of that empire. The most severe calamities have their

bounds and limits set them by the great God.

     

II. The second angel sounded, and the alarm was followed, as in

the first, with terrible events: A great mountain burning with fire

was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood,
v. 8.

By this mountain some understand the leader or leaders of the heretics;

others, as Mr. Mede, the city of Rome, which was five times sacked by

the Goths and Vandals, within the compass of 137 years; first by

Alaricus, in the year 410, with great slaughter and cruelty. In these

calamities, a third part of the people (called here the sea or

collection of waters) were destroyed: here was still a limitation to

the third part, for in the midst of judgment God remembers

mercy. This storm fell heavy upon the maritime and merchandizing

cities and countries of the Roman empire.

     

III. The third angel sounded, and the alarm had the like effects

as before: There fell a great star from heaven, &c.,

v. 10.

Some take this to be a political star, some eminent governor, and they

apply it to Augustulus, who was forced to resign the empire to Odoacer,

in the year 480. Others take it to be an ecclesiastical star, some

eminent person in the church, compared to a burning lamp, and

they fix it upon Pelagius, who proved about this time a falling star,

and greatly corrupted the churches of Christ. Observe,

1. Where this star fell: Upon a third part of the rivers, and upon

the fountains of waters.

2. What effect it had upon them; it turned those springs and streams

into wormwood, made them very bitter, that men were poisoned by them;

either the laws, which are springs of civil liberty, and property, and

safety, were poisoned by arbitrary power, or the doctrines of the

gospel, the springs of spiritual life, refreshment, and vigour to the

souls of men, were so corrupted and embittered by a mixture of

dangerous errors that the souls of men found their ruin where they

sought for their refreshment.

     

IV. The fourth angel sounded, and the alarm was followed with

further calamities. Observe,

1. The nature of this calamity; it was darkness; it fell therefore upon

the great luminaries of the heaven, that give light to the

world–the sun, and the moon, and the stars, either the guides

and governors of the church, or of the state, who are placed in higher

orbs than the people, and are to dispense light and benign influences

to them.

2. The limitation: it was confined to a third part of these luminaries;

there was some light both of the sun by day, and of the moon and stars

by night, but it was only a third part of what they had before. Without

determining what is matter of controversy in these points among learned

men, we rather choose to make these plain and practical remarks:–

(1.) Where the gospel comes to a people, and is but coldly received,

and has not its proper effects upon their hearts and lives, it is

usually followed with dreadful judgments.

(2.) God gives warning to men of his judgments before he sends them; he

sounds an alarm by the written word, by ministers, by men’s own

consciences, and by the signs of the times; so that, if a people be

surprised, it is their own fault.

(3.) The anger of God against a people makes dreadful work among them;

it embitters all their comforts, and makes even life itself bitter and

burdensome.

(4.) God does not in this world stir up all his wrath, but sets bounds

to the most terrible judgments.

(5.) Corruptions of doctrine and worship in the church are themselves

great judgments, and the usual causes and tokens of other judgments

coming on a people.

     

V. Before the other three trumpets are sounded here is solemn warning

given to the world how terrible the calamities would be that should

follow them, and how miserable those times and places would be on which

they fell,

v. 13.

1. The messenger was an angel flying in the midst of heaven, as

in haste, and coming on an awful errand.

2. The message was a denunciation of further and greater woe and misery

than the world had hitherto endured. Here are three woes, to show how

much the calamities coming should exceed those that had been already,

or to hint how every one of the three succeeding trumpets should

introduce its particular and distinct calamity. If less judgments do

not take effect, but the church and the world grow worse under them,

they must expect greater. God will be known by the judgments that

he executes; and he expects, when he comes to punish the world, the

inhabitants thereof should tremble before him.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1721)

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