Varifocal lenses

What triggers the the hurling down of fire? We find our answer in Rev 8: 3-5a

Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth;

The smoke is explicitly called "the prayers of all God's people" And it must be remembered that those prayers include the cries of the martyrs', recorded in Rev 6

They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

From this we see that God's vengence does not go against the intercessory prayers of the saints; rather, judgement is intercession fulfilled after every call to repentance has been shunned and rejected by the world!

it all depends on how you look at things, or better still, what lense you use that determines what you see!

Caveat: Prophetic Apocolyptic language is extreemly difficult to interpret, it's only after it has been fulfilled that we can truly say, 'ohh, that's what it meant!'

Consider for a moment the fact that our God is eternal, and therefore non-temporal. When we fully realise this, then we begin to understand that for God, time is like a vapour, or an illusion, in which God can freely move in and through our temporal realm of past, present, or future, in whatever direction He chooses!

Having said that, the lense that we temporal creatures use to read a text can provide additional insight into that text! So lets put on some glasses!

Preterism: Have you heard of it, Yes/No?

For those that havent, it's simply a theological view that interprets certain biblical prophecies (particularly end-time prophecies). as having been fulfilled in the past, particularly in the first century AD.

Using this lense. the censer fire could be said to herald the AD 66-70 fall of Jerusalem, (although Paul is likely to have writtten Revelation after its destruction!), or more probably it could be seen to herald the disasters that brought down the Roman empire!

Historicist:

Def: a philosophical approach highlighting the importance of history in understanding social, cultural and even natural phenomena (definition kindly provided by Mr Google)

From a historicist perspective it can be seen to signal successive blows against the Roman empire via the Goths, Vandal, Hun, and Saracen invasions! Oh how the mighty fall!

Idealist

Idealism posits that reality is fundamentally spiritual or mental, rather than material.

Using this lense, divine interruptions of history can be seen when God overturms idolatrous culture calling the world back to Himself through repentance.

Futurism

Simply put, an interpretation of prophecy, particularly the Book of Revelation, including others, that views these propecies or 'Trumpet' events as judgements that are will take place at some future point in time.

Viewed through this lense the hurled down fire initiates the seven trumpet cataclysms of the last seven-year-tribulation period of the last days! Which raises the questions of 'when and what?'

When?

only the Father knows when!

What will they consist of?

the language of the text seems to suggest meteor impacts, our space agencies scan our skies for extinction level space rocks that are heading our way. Volcanic eruptions that will fill the atmosphere with volcanic dust and block out the sun. Or perhaps sudden tectonic upheavels and earthquakes that trigger giant Tsunami waves that will wash far inland.

A third of the land burnt up, a third of the seas turned to blood, killing a third of all sealife and a third of all shipping commerce, then a star that pollutes a third of all fresh water life, a third of sun, moon and stars turned dark, Woe, woe, woe to the earth!

But even when we look using these different lenses, its clear that all four lense views concede the same theological core; the cencer-fire is heaven's legally warranted, prayer provoked, responce to humanity's entrenched state of unrepentant rebellion and rejection of the Cross!

The good news is that these events are still in the future, so there's still time to turn your life around and come back into a right relationship with the Father through the free gift of salvation that the Son has provided for all.

Don't leave it until it's too late!

Have a blessed week,

Trev.