Rev. 8 :3-4 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer [it] with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

Rev. 8:7 ? 9:21
The first angel sounded..
The second angel sounded..
The third angel sounded..
The Fourth angel sounded..
Angel flying in midst of heaven, saying loudly,
woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth.
The fifth angel sounded..
The sixth angel sounded...
But the people repented not.

Rev. 8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar,
This the earthly priest would do before entering the Most Holy on the Day of Atonement

Lev. 16:12-15 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: .. that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: ..and sprinkle the blood with his finger, seven times upon the mercy seat..to make atonement..

Rev. 11:15,19 And the seventh angel sounded;.. And the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament
INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT
Rev.11:18 The time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great;

Priest comes out of the sanctuary and intercession ceases
Rev. 8:5 And He cast the censor into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

Rev. 11:19 and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Revelation 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail
and lightning mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The gospel message was first given to the Jews!

Luke 24:47 ?and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.?

Romans 2:9There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,

Isaiah 28 warns Israel that they would be held to the plummet (judged) and hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, as God would do his work, his strange work; because they rejected, the "foundation stone" a sure foundation:

Matthew 23:13,38 -- Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven, you won?t go in yourselves, and you won?t allow anyone else to go in either?. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under [her] wings, and you would not!
23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. .
?the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow." {GC 36.2}

Trees and Grass symbolize living things, often people are compared to different trees, or to grass.

Remember Jerusalem 70 AD.

They were the first to be given the gospel message!
They were called to repentance.
Christ Himself dwelt among them. After His death and resurrection, the message was proclaimed to them for another three and a half years, 31-34 AD.
The call was given: (Acts 3:19) ?Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord?
While a remnant believed, most did not. The messengers were persecuted and some killed, the believers scattered.

Probation closed for the Jews, as a nation. They had rejected their Savior. They had rejected the One to Whom all their ceremonies pointed. They rejected the Messiah and clung to all the ceremonies, and traditions as if they were the real thing. They descended into internal strife and darkness, ending in terrible destruction in 70 AD. Their city and sanctuary was burnt and totally destroyed, all within the city died. (But none who believed and obeyed the warning were in the city)

This first trumpet is alerting the world that a time comes when mercy ceases.
It is a warning for ?the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow." {GC 36.2}
Back then it was only a part of the world. A time is coming when it will be total.

It's a warning to the Christian world in many ways, as we see in Romans 11:19-21
"You will say, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood. Revelation 8:8;

A mountain signifies a great nation or kingdom with authority and power. It can mean God?s kingdom, or earthly kingdoms.
Is. 37:13 (God says) he that puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;

Joel 3:17 I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain:

Jeremiah 51:24-25 I will render unto Babylon? I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD? and will make thee a burnt mountain.

The sea:

The sea, a body of water, symbolizes "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues" (Revelation 17:15).
In Daniel 7, the great earthly kingdom (beasts) all rise up out of the sea.

They were presented to the prophet Daniel as beasts of prey, rising when the "four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." [Daniel 7:2.]
Winds are a symbol of strife. The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, represent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which kingdoms have attained (or lost) to power.
We can also note the negative warnings of God against His people uniting with state powers.

Remember what happened around 476 AD. The Mighty Roman Empire Fell.

It fell AFTER the gospel message was presented to them.
As the jewish nation rejected the gospel the messengers travelled all over the known world, preaching the gospel to the Gentiles!
At first imperial Rome persecuted those who believed, but then came a big change, the emperor Constantine seemingly embraced Christianity, and it became the state religion;
The sword of civil power was now available to the church,
but the message of repentance and grace did not reach the hearts.
They took the Christian name, but did not change in character. Rome fell, not just because of the Barbarians, but because corruption filled their lives.
A mountain symbolizes a great nation. (See Jeremiah 51:25) Its destruction, depicted as a great burning mountain plunging into a turbulent and chaotic sea of humanity,
it arose from a turbulent sea and plunges back into it with great turbulence..
The fall changed the whole shape of civilization and economic trade in the western world.

Remember that seemingly unconquerable, ruthless, persecuting and oppressing, warring, western Roman empire, was cast into the sea of humanity, amid a lot of confusion and bloodshed.
Don't look to human built mountains for answers for life. Come to God's holy mountain of salvation and life. Don't put your trust in the might of flesh. Oppressive human powers will fall!
As Rome fell in the 5th century, in like manner Roman's collective mountains, which will seem so powerful in the end, will also fall.

Revelation 8:10-11 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

STARS

Revelation 1:20 :20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels (leaders) of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.

Revelation 2 and 3 The stars (angels) are religious leaders (pastors) of the seven churches.

2:1 Unto the angel (star) of the church of Ephesus write..

2:8 And unto the angel (star) of the church in Smyrna write..

2:12 And to the angel (star) of the church in Pergamos write..

In Rev. 12, we see the woman with a crown of twelve stars, denoting the 12 tribes, or the 12 apostles. Again these are religious leaders.

BURNING AS IT WERE A LAMP
Two verses have lamps on the lampstands (1:20 and 4:5) they seem to signify the churches receiving messages from the Holy Spirit.
But the phrase "as it were" implies this is not the real thing, it's a counterfeit.
WORMWOOD, signifies bitter, poison, the term appears eight times in the Old Testament, each time associated with bitterness, poison and death, paired with "the water of gall" Jer. 9:15.

Out of the ashes of Rome's fall rose the papal power. Already groomed by the imperial Roman power, he took the seat of Rome. We are reminded that the message of God's grace and salvation was to be carried by the stars or angels (church leaders) (See Revelation 1:20) to the world as they received their strength from Christ and the Holy Spirit. But now another spirit was directing the church leader who had seated himself, over the church.

Most modern interpretations of the trumpets try to sidestep the fact that this was a serious event that would shape and mislead the world for years to come. This religious leader, sitting as the head of the church, has fallen spiritually, he no longer has heaven?s pure gospel and is turning the fresh water ? the water of life from God's throne, into bitter poisonous wormwood.

This star, like a lamp, while it points primarily to the papacy who is the human agent, also refers to Satan. The letters sent to the seven "stars" or "angels" of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are messages from the God of heaven for the church leaders to share with their congregations. But in the third trumpet there is a warning that a serious change has taken place as the top church leader (papacy) received his power from the fallen star, the dragon (see Rev.13:2). Signifying that another spirit had entered right into leadership of Christian Church.


The last day issues over worship are not something that satan invents at or near the close of earth?s history! No, he already gained control and poisoned the gospel truth along with God?s commandments through a system that claimed to represent God more than a thousand years ago, and that same system still claims to represent God, it holds the same darkened doctrines it developed back then, and people wonder after him as if he had the solutions to life?s problems, even now, in our day.


As the human star, or top church leader was rising to prominence, it was actually falling into apostasy, receiving its marching orders from the original fallen one that appears as a lamp of light.

PROMISE for overcomers; food from tree of life.

The fate of Jerusalem, a people who claimed to be God's people, but who rejected Christ and the gospel, and persecuted those who believed. Their house is left desolate. (Matt. 23:28)

John 11:25 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

The smoke from strange fire, from a strange altar ? from the pit is darkness, a suffocating smoke, deadly.
(compare with Lev. 10)

Things were dark before, but now they became suffocatingly so.

Five months.
30X5 =150 day/years of torment.
150 more years as the Ottomans took more and more of their lands, were given to repent before final judgment is executed.
1299 to 1449. At the end of those years the Byzantine empire would loose it's power. Constantinople would fall into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1449, and be destroyed in 1453. The barrier that stood in the way of the "locusts" tormenting the west, would be broken down. The beautiful temple Hagia Sophia would become a mosque.

Of Israel it is stated: ?He led them through the "great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought" (Deuteronomy 8:15) It was only when they grumbled and complained against God, that God removed His protection and those scorpions bit with deadly results.

The only salvation against a scorpion bite, is looking to Christ and his sacrifice. (See John 3:14-15) ?As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so much the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.?
Scorpions represent satan?s power. But God?s power is far greater.

The altar serves
as a constant
reminder
of our need for a mediator
between God and humanity.

But at this point,
when the 6th trumpet
begins in
history, His
ministry
has been largely hidden
from the
people on
earth.

A VOICE
Since Jesus is standing
at the golden altar
in Rev. 8:3,
we may assume
it is His voice
that gives the command.