Golden Censer

[Revelation 8:3-5] 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. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth, and there were thunderclaps, loud noises, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The censer is used to hold “the prayers of all the saints,” and it is also “filled with fire from the altar.” For those who accept salvation, the “fire from the altar” is the fire of sacrifice, which brings forgiveness and cleansing (Isaiah 6:6-7). But for those who do not accept salvation, the “fire from the altar” is the fire of judgment, which brings “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.” The prayers of the saints are intercessions for God’s people, praises to Christ, and also a judgment against God’s enemies. When the prayers of the saints return from heaven, they become a retribution upon the world. The world, in its fervent persecution of believers, is completely unaware that its own fate is held in the prayers of those very same despised and persecuted believers. The power that comes from prayer is more powerful than any force that dominates the world.