The trumpet was also a sign, an indication, of God’s divine and miraculous intervention into the world—into world affairs. For example, Exodus, chapter 19, which records when Moses had led the children of Israel to Mount Sinai and they had stopped there. God was about to give the law. You’ll notice a couple of things. First of all, Mount Sinai was shrouded in clouds. There was noise and thunder and lightning, some of the things that we see associated here in Revelation 8:5 [“Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”]. Moreover, there was a trumpet, which sounded. Exodus 19:19 says that the sound of the trumpet “became louder and louder” [“And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.”]. God was about to do something very spectacular. He was interjecting Himself at this point, in this way, into the affairs of the earth.

Can you think about something in the New Testament, where we read about a trumpet sounding? There will be a trumpet, which will sound and which will accompany the second coming of the Lord, Matthew 24:30-31 [“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”]; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 [“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”]; and 1 Thessalonians 4:16 [“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”].

So, a trumpet has significance in the Old Testament and, indeed, has significance even to this day. Someday, the trumpet will sound, as we sing in that old hymn, and the dead shall arise.

The seven trumpets that we are going to be looking at are trumpets of warning and of judgment.

The Angel With the Golden Censer (verses 3-6)

“Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with 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 noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”

Another angel appears on the scene. This angel comes and stands at the altar with his “golden censer.” And “He was given much incense.”

What was the purpose for this? The reason he was given “much incense” was “that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints” that go up before God out of the angel’s hand [verses 3 and 4].

The word, “altar,” is mentioned a numbers of times—about seven times in the book of Revelation. Here, again, we can make a connection between what is being stated here, in terms of this vision that John is having, and something that was significant from the Old Testament times.

You remember that there was a “golden altar,” which stood in the tabernacle. It stood just before the veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. It was here, under the Law of Moses, when both morning and evening incense were offered to God from a golden censer filled with coals of fire from the brazen altar in the court, and with incense from the table of the show bread inside the tabernacle. The “golden altar” that’s described here, is described as standing before the throne of God in heaven [verse 3].

There is “much incense” mentioned here. Commentators that I have read suggests that this idea of “much incense” represents Christ’s intercession added to the prayers of the saints, because Jesus IS our Mediator [1 Timothy 2:5: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus….” Hebrews 8:6: “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” Hebrews 9:15: “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” Hebrews 12:22-24: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”]. Christ IS our Intercessor [Romans 8:34: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, Who also makes intercession for us.” Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”]. Christ IS our Advocate with the Father, 1 John 2:1 [“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”].