The Great Ribulation

THE SOOKISOFENED ~
pointed managers ofworld histmy. The implications of thk
fact, as we shall see, are quite literally earth-shaking.
In Revelation 8:3-5, St. John sees another angel
standing at the heavenly altar of incense, holding a
golden tenser. A large amount of incense, symbolic
of the prayers of all the saints (see Revelation 5 :8), is
given to the angel that he might add it to the prayers
of God’s people, assuring that the prayers will be received
as a sweet-smelling offering to the Lord. Then
the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the
saints, ascends before God out of the angel’s hand, as
the minister offers up the petitions of his congregation.
What happens next is amazing: the angel MS
the tenser with coals of fire from the incense altar
and casts the fire onto the earth in judgment; and
this is followed by “peals of thunder and voices and
flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” These phenomena,
of course, should be familiar to all Bible
readers as the normal accompaniments of the Glory-
Cloud: “So it came about on the third day, when it
was morning, that there were thunder and lightning
flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a
very loud Trumpet sound. . . . Now Mount Sinai
was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon
it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a
furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently
(Exodus 19:16, 18).
The irony of this passage becomes obvious when
we keep in mind that it is a prophecy against apostate
Israel. In the worship of the Old Testament, the
fire on the altar of burnt offering originated in
heaven, coming down upon the altar when the Taber-