Jesus prays for us! (Another angel, who had a gold container for incense...)

In the next few posts we are going to continue to discuss Revelation 8 and 9. Most scholars know this text as: “the cycle of the seven trumpets”. We know this text is about the final judgment of God. Does it tell us something about the end of time? Is it about the apocalypse? If so, how much time?

Core verse

Another angel, who had a gold container for incense, came and stood at the altar. This one was given a lot of incense to offer with the prayers of God's people on the gold altar in front of the throne. Then the smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up to God from the hand of the angel. (Revelation 8:3-4 CEV)

The first part of our core verse reminds me of the following text:

The gold altar that was used for burning incense was in this holy place. (Hebrews 9:4 CEV)

The Hebrews text refers to a temple of the Lord in the Old Testament. Usually incense wasn’t burned in a golden altar but in a copper altar.  The gold in our core text and the Hebrews text tell us something about the importance of the rituals that are now going to be performed.

Who was the other angel? There are two options:

·         It was Jesus.

·         It was another messenger from God.

I think the text refers to Jesus because it refers to gold and incense. Incense was burned to get a good smell. When Jesus was born, he received gold, perfume, and spices from the wise men. (Matthew 2:11 BBE). The Perfume and spices were about a good smell and we also see gold, which is also featuring in our core verse as the incense burner!

In our core verse the gold and incense refers to Jesus! I think the “other angel” is thus referring to Jesus. We can now see Jesus (the other angel) praying the prayers of God’s people as per our core verse.

What can we learn from Revelation 8:3-4?

·         If we pray, our prayers are going to God, but Jesus prays them to God for us. This can be so, because Jesus paid the ultimate price- the crucifixion.

·         Thanks to Jesus our prayers is acceptable for God. Through Jesus God is listening!

Till next time!