Verse 5 says, “And the Angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it to the earth; and there were thunders and voices and lightnings and an earthquake.” This implies the answer to the prayers of the saints, especially the prayer in the fifth seal mentioned in 6:9-11 and the prayer mentioned in Luke 18:7-8. The prayer of the saints in this chapter must be for the judgment of the earth which opposes God’s economy. The answer to the saints’ prayers is the execution of God’s judgment upon the earth by the following seven trumpets. To cast fire to the earth is to execute God’s judgment upon the earth. Therefore, the thunders, voices, lightnings, and the earthquake come as signs of God’s judgment.
God’s judgment upon the earth is the answer to the prayers of the saints with Christ as the incense. Although the sixth seal has been opened and the seven trumpets are ready to be sounded, nothing happens until Christ comes to offer the saints’ prayers to God with Himself as the incense. At that time, there are thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. This indicates that while God has the intention of executing His judgment upon the earth, there is still the need of the saints to cooperate with Him with their prayers. God needs His saints to pray that He might execute His judgment. If you read Luke 18, you will see that the Lord Jesus says that at a certain time the saints on earth will cry to God to come in to deal with the situation and to vindicate Himself. At the end of this age, people will be so rebellious against God that they will even declare to the whole universe that they are God. While God has been tolerating this, some of the faithful saints will no longer bear it and will pray, “O sovereign Lord, how long will You bear with this? Will You tolerate this rebellion forever? How long will it be before You come in to vindicate Yourself and avenge us? How long will it be until all the earth will know that You are the Lord?” Eventually, there will be a need for this kind of prayer. I believe the time is coming when we shall all be pressed to pray like this. I cannot charge you to pray this way today because you are not under this kind of pressure. But one day the pressure will be upon us and we shall be burdened to pray in this way. This will indicate that the end is at hand because our spirit will not tolerate the situation any longer. Then we shall pray to the Lord to vindicate Himself and to let all the rebellious ones know that He is God. When we pray like this, the Angel sent by God will minister to God with our prayer, adding to it Himself as the incense. God will certainly answer this prayer, and there will be thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake. That will simply be the beginning of God’s judgment upon this rebellious earth. This will take place at the opening of the seventh seal when Christ, the other Angel, will minister as our High Priest to bring to God our prayers mingled with His incense, and will be the One sent to execute God’s judgment on earth.
Verse 6 says, “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to trumpet.” The seven trumpets were given to the seven angels (v. 2). But it is after the prayers of the saints in verses 3 through 5 have been answered that the seven angels are prepared to trumpet. God’s will in heaven requires the saints’ prayer to carry it out on earth. The offering of the saints’ prayers to God by Christ brings in the seven trumpets.
Verse 7 says, “And the first trumpeted: and there was hail and fire mingled with blood, and it was cast to the earth; and the third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” When the angels begin to trumpet, everything in the universe will be turned upside down. The first trumpet will damage “the third part of the earth.” Note that this verse does not say “a third,” but “the third part.” This means that a certain part of the earth, “the third part,” will be damaged. While the whole earth is sinful, some parts of the earth are particularly hellish, devilish, satanic, demonic, and evil. I do not believe that the third part of the earth will include the United States. The United States is sinful, but, unlike other parts of the earth, it is not devilishly sinful. Those regions of the earth that are so sinful will be “the third part.” Many people need to hear this word and be warned by it not to be so evil against God that their region becomes “the third part” of the earth, the region that will be fully damaged by God’s judgment. According to Revelation 9, God’s judgment of “the third part” will still be used to warn the rebellious world to repent.