Rev. 8:1-5 (ESV)
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. [2] Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, [4] and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. [5] Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The Fire from God’s Altar is Holy. Throughout the Old Testament the fire in the Temple is referred to as Holy, to approach it you had to be cleansed. When Aaron’s sons offered unholy fire they were consumed by the flames of God’s holy fire. Here fire from Heaven’s incense altar is thrown upon the earth, followed by thunder, lightning and an earthquake, that which carries the prayers of the saints to the Father, becomes and instrument of judgment for the earth. The Holiness of God is a comfort and aid to the saints who have been purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, but this fire is not compatible with a sinful world, it must consume sin, even as it must purify gold.
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