Climbing the Altar

When John first enters heaven, no altar is visible. He sees an altar for the first time when the fifth seal is broken, and at that point his attention is directed to the base of the altar, where the martyred saints have shed their blood (6:9). 

The next time we see the altar, it’s specifically identified as the “golden altar” of incense, and an angel is offering the prayers of the saints (8:3, 5). We have moved from the base of the altar to the coals on the surface at the top. Presumably, the prayers that the angel offers are the prayers coming from the base, the prayers of the martyrs: The cry of martyr blood is moving up, joining the incense cloud.

When the sixth trumpet is blown, the “golden altar” is there again, with attention focused on the “four horns” (9:13). A voice is speaking from the horns, presumably from within the cloud of incense on the altar, and the voice calls on the sixth angel to release the angels at the corners of the land (9:14-15). Again, presumably, the voice responds to the prayers ascending on the altar, which are the prayers of the martyrs. With this third appearance of the altar, the Lord finally responds to the prayers of the saints and unleashes the cavalry.

The martyrs’ cries have ascended up the altar, from the base to the top to the horns. Martyr blood has turned into the smoke of prayer, and elicited an assuring word from a disembodied voice. This is to some degree the reverse of the ritual of the sin offering, in which blood was first placed on the horns and then poured at the base before animal portions are turned to smoke on the altar (Leviticus 4). Perhaps we should also add the sprinkling of blood from heaven (8:7) as part of this sequence. 

(But this is not exactly a sin offering; blood is never placed at the base of the golden altar in Leviticus. Perhaps we should take the altar in 6:9 as the bronze altar, at whose base blood is poured. But the sequence would be virtually the same: Martyrs would be ascending two altars as their cries go up to the cloud of incense.)

In the sequel, more martyrs are made (11:1-13; 13:7; 14:7-20), just as the martyrs were told when they first cried out from under the altar. Once the cup of martyr blood is full, those who drink it are destroyed.