When Heaven Is Silent

 

 

"When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³ Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. ⁴ And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake."

Revelation 8:1-5

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord. It is a privilege to have you here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been continuing to share the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to God's Word!

   

I want to let all of you know that we are thankful your prayers. Prayer is powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. All for His glory!

 

Since the beginning of creation, man has pursued spiritual enlightenment, and some kind of deeper connection with God. However, having a faulty understanding of God produces an unstable spiritual life. For many, God seems distant, and, often times silent. Mankind has often complained about the silence of God.

 

In Psalm 50:3, the psalmist wrote "May our God come and not keep silence."

 

Let me tell you, God is never silent. However, mankind has a history of turning a deaf ear. We have to walk in obedience to the light that God has given us before He sheds even more light. What may occasionally appear as silence, is God providing us with an opportunity to see the provisions that He has made for us by faith. More often than not, He provides in ways we don't often expect. After all, it is God who sends the sun, the rain, and the storm.

 

I believe in this season, that God is trying to get the worlds attention today. And, if He can't get in one way, rest assured, He will get it another.

 

God desires that all men be saved. In II Peter 3, the Apostle Peter says "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." I believe He's trying to telling us something. But His patience will not endure forever!

 

Let us pray

 

Heavenly Father, 

 

Father, we pray for the lost around the world, for those who are without Christ. Lord, we know it is Your will that all would be saved, may we be a church that desires to reach all men.We ask that You would work through us and grant us a passion for the salvation of the whole world. We pray for city and state leaders, our nations leaders, and for government leaders all around the world, You have told us they have been appointed by You, so we ask for them to be saved. Help us to spend our energy praying for our enemies, and those with whom we disagree, too often we find ourselves speaking evil of them. Lord, Your church was never intended to function by worldly standards, convict the hearts of those in the pulpits to teach their flocks the truth about salvation. Cause them to understand the blood of their congregations will be on their hands. May it all be for Your glory and Christ's sake.

In Jesus' precious name we pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: When Heaven Is Silent

 

Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter eight. I invite you to follow along with me read you the first five verses. Revelation 8:1-5.

 

"When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake."

 

As we begin to explore these verses in Revelation chapter eight, we will see the judgement of God that express the wrath of God on the wicked world. There have been these preliminary judgments leading up to the day of the Lord. In chapter six, we saw the first six of the seven seals opened, the first five seals, if you will remember, are : false peace, war, famine, death and vengeance; vengeance being illustrated by the prayer of the martyrs. Then, in chapter seven, we saw an interlude. I'd like you to notice the guarantee that we have in this text that God hears the prayers of His people and will indeed answer their prayers for retribution. Also, notice that when God does fully and finally judge there will be silence in heaven. The silence is significant. We will come back to that in a moment.

 

Here in our text, is the opening of the seventh seal and this is the last seal on the scroll. All that is described here in the way of judgment is an earthquake, when the angel throws the fiery golden censer to the earth, thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. I believe however, there's much more to the seventh seal, than just an earthquake. It is best understood to include within that seventh seal, the seven trumpet judgments which follow immediately in chapter 8, and the seven bowl judgments which follow, which appear a little later in the book of Revelation. Because once the seventh seal is opened, out of it comes the trumpets and bowls.

 

The seven seals and then the seventh seal issuing in seven trumpets, and the seven trumpets issuing in final rapid-fire seven bowl judgments.  These bowl and trumpet judgements, are contained within the seventh, final seal. The six judgments are passed.

 

Before we begin, there are four significant features within these five verses. Silence, supplication, sounding and storm. Theses four words, will give us a sense of what this seventh seal is about and give us some insight into it.

Let's look at verse 1, "When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."

 

Now, the seventh one is opened  it is the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, the heir to the universe who breaks open the seventh seal, and as He breaks the seventh seal open, John says there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 

 

I'd find it rather interesting, that the tables have suddenly turned. Up until now, all of heaven has been the noisy ones, making joyful noise, and loud singing. The twenty-four elders have been singing, while the four living beings have been praising Him. Now, God is about to speak in the fury of judgment, and angels and redeemed in heaven are silent.

 

In Zechariah chapter 2, verse 13, the prophet Zechariah called for such silence in the light of God’s judgment. "Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is aroused from His holy habitation."

 

When the Lamb opens the last seal, all of those in heaven knows that there are no more seals, and what is to happen becomes visible as the scroll is unrolled, the final judgment is about to be unleashed. Each series of judgments intensifies the outpouring of God's wrath. And, now, heaven is reduced to utter silence. The silence of awe, and of expectation. We could say this silence is the calm before the storm. Such delays have little meaning of time in an eternal heaven, so we can conclude that John must have estimated the time from an earthly perspective.

 

With myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels, and a a great multitude which no one could count, of all tribes and peoples, that half an hour of agonizing suspense, absolute dead silence, must have seemed like an eternity.  Perhaps, that half hour of waiting, was for a few more on earth to repent. God has always been gracious, offering salvation to all who would receive it through His Son Jesus. It may well be that everything in heaven halts so that the prayers of the saints may be heard. More likely, this is the silence of breathless expectancy, as all of heaven waited for the hand of God to move.

 By the way, silence in Scripture indicates respect, submission, and anticipation. The Lord Jesus Christ is about to be exalted, and the wicked are about to be destroyed.

 

Psalm 37 says "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes."

 

Satan is to be conquered, the saints are to be vindicated, the hour has finally come, and Christ is to be exalted. The silence in heaven is striking!

 

John, being a Jew knew the importance of the trumpet in the history of Israel. A trumpet was sounded to when Moses called the people together when given the Law at Mt. Sinai. Joshua had the people blow the trumpets at the conquest of Jericho.

 

Verse 2, "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them."

Here, John sees seven angels, standing before God. Angels play a very important part in the judgment of the final day. I won't belabor the point here, but you can search the Scriptures that look ahead to the time of judgment. You can find the important role angels play. Angels are divided into ranks and orders.  Some are cherubim, some are seraphim, and some are archangels. Perhaps, these who stand before God, have a unique rank, dependent on God’s purpose and design. In Luke 1, Gabriel said, "I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God." It is likely that this one of the seven may be a high-ranking angel, carrying out a representative work which illustrates the priestly work of Christ whose life and presence in heaven gives efficacy to our prayers.

 

The second feature we should note is "and seven trumpets were given to them."  That is the sounding. The trumpets signify that attention be given to the majesty of God. 

 

Verse 3 brings us to the third word, supplication. "Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne."

 

So, here’s another angel, standing at the altar and he’s holding a golden censer, which would be the vessel with the hot coals, in which incense was presented, it was on a chain, and incense is given to him that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. You have two altars there, the imagery here is that of the the temple in the tabernacle, where you had the brazen altar, and then you had the altar of incense. You remember, the brazen altar was the altar used to fire the coals to burn the sacrifices for sin, and the altar of incense was where you poured the incense, it was symbolic, as the fragrance of the incense arose for the prayers of the people. 

 

Verse 4, "And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand."

 

Though we are not told specifically who these saints are, a simple reading of the passage implies that these saints are Tribulation saints, both Jew and Gentile believers, who are living on earth during the Tribulation. But notice the word "all," so it likely includes the saints of all time whose longing petitions for the coming of the kingdom of the Lord are now about to be answered.

 

 The sweet fragrant incense ascending heavenward was symbolic of worship and prayer and was a reminder that our prayers must have the character of sweet incense in the presence of Christ to be accepted and heard by God. So, we can see that this angel is functioning like an Old Testament priest.Some have suggested that this angel may be the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in His role as High Priest. I do not believe that fits here for several reasons. First, the word "angel" is ever ascribed to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And, in the Old Testament He is referred to as the angel of the Lord. Then

later, in Revelation 22, John is severely rebuked for trying to worship an angel. The best reason, however, is Christ is already identified here as the Lamb. 

Then, verse 5 brings us to the final word, which if you remember, is storm. "Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake."

 

The angels action is followed by a judgment in physical phenomenon on earth, “peals of thunder, flashes of lightening and an earthquake." Do you remember when I mentioned before a flaming ball coming out of heaven that smashes the earth like a celestial comet, like a meteor, it is propelled to the earth with severe results. Here it is, and it is destructive. Here is retribution for rebellion and rejection of Christ. Notice how the censer in the angel’s hand is inextricably tied to the prayers of those people. In other words, this final conflagration of judgment that is hurdled at the earth in the seventh seal is in direct response to the prayers of God’s people. 

 

In Closing..

 

Don't ever think that prayer isn't powerful. God will hear His saints and judgment will fall. God hears your prayers. Trials and tribulations should not hinder our prayer, it should motivate it. Not for vengeance or retribution. As Christians must pray for the salvation of their enemies. However, if they will not repent,  bring justice. O Lord, vindicate your people and make it right. 

May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

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