Angel at the Altar

After the seventh seal is opened, there is silence in heaven for a half hour as an angel stands at an altar to offer incense with the prayers of the saints. There are two altars in the temple – the altar of ascensions in the courtyard and the golden altar of incense in the holy place. At which one does the angel stand? 

The answer seems obvious, since the “golden altar” is explicitly mentioned in verse 3. But Ranko Stafanovic has argued that there are two altars in view in the scene, the altar where the angel stands (v. 3a) and the golden altar where the incense is offered (v. 3b).

He points out that the text does not say that the angel stands “at the altar” but rather that he stands “on the altar” (epi tou thusiasteriou). That phrase is used only for the bronze altar of ascensions, and it typically refers to the place where the animal flesh is placed for sacrifice (Exodus 29:38; Leviticus 1:8, 12; 3:5; etc.). The angel begins from the altar of ascensions, and then moves “up” to the golden altar to offer incense and prayer.

That may seem a small point, but it has important implications for our understanding of the scene. If the angel is on the bronze altar, he is standing directly above the martyrs who are crying out at the base of the altar (6:9-11), and it is their prayers that the angel delivers to heaven. The angel ascends like a sacrificial offering (like the Angel of Yahweh in Judges 13) from the bronze to the golden altar, catching and carrying the prayers as he goes. This solidifies the implicit connection between the martyrs’ prayers for vindication, the incense offered by the angel, the fire thrown from heaven, and the beginning of the trumpets. What comes in the following chapters is all response to the prayers of martyrs. It is all part of their vindication and an avenging of their blood.

(Stefanovic, “The Angel at the Altar (Revelation 8:3-5): A Case Study of Intercalations in Revelation,” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44 [2006] 79-94.)