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.
The seventh seal opens a new chain of events, each part linked to the next in God's wise design. That silence in heaven, half an hour of it, speaks either of peace when no cry of oppression rises to God's ear, or of expectation, the church holding its breath to see what Providence is doing. The angels stand ready as instruments of divine will, each furnished with his part.
AI summary
Commenting on Revelation 8:1-6
And the angel took the censer,.... The golden one before mentioned, the use of which was to take and carry in it burning coals of fire: and filled it with fire of the altar; of burnt offering, for upon that, and not upon the altar of incense, fire was; the allusion is to the priest "that was worthy to use a censer (e); who took...
Verse 5. And the angel took the censer. , This is a new symbol, designed to furnish a new representation of future events. By the former it had been shown that there would be much prayer offered; by this it is designed to show that, notwithstanding the prayer that would be offered, great and fearful calamities would come upon the earth.