2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
These verses form a preface to the 'trumpet' visions. The angel with the golden censer is distinct from the seven with the trumpets, and may be the centre of an introductory vision which describes generally all the activity of the seven trumpets to follow (5). This angel is said to have added incense to the prayers of the saints, after which the smoke of the prayers as- cended to the throne of God. This is a vision, in symbol form of the work of our great Advo- cate on high, for it is Christ's atonement and intercession that makes our prayers prevail. While we pray to Him, He is praying for us. Now the significance of this appearing here is twofold: (a) in time of tribulation (such as that described under the 'seals') God will hear the prayers of His travailing people and will answer them, and (b) the seven trumpets sound out in answer to their prayers. That is to say, the seals make God's people cry out to Him, 'How long, O Lord?', and He acts, in the trumpets, in defence of His people. Here, then, is the pic- ture: the prayers of the saints, the mighty Advocate on high, and the fire of God upon the earth, - such is the sequence of events in the economy of the gospel. Here, indeed, we see it in operation in the context of judgment, but it is just as true as a general principle. Christ said that He was come to send fire upon the earth - this is how He described His gospel - and what revolutions, what 'voices, and thunderings, and lightnings and earthquakes' it brings in its train to the lives of men! Men said of Paul and his companions as they preached the gospel, 'These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also' (Acts 17:6).