In this episode, we explore the profound silence that falls over heaven for thirty minutes after the opening of the seventh seal. Far from uneventful, this moment in Revelation 8:1-6 prepares the way for the seven trumpet judgments and the outpouring of God’s wrath. In this passage, we see the seven angels receive their trumpets, a mysterious angel cast burning coals to the earth, and the silence set the stage for the coming judgment on unbelievers.
Transcript
A few years ago, while traveling for Heralds of Hope, my wife and I had the privilege of visiting the great state of Montana. Normally, on these trips, we are hosted by people from the local church where we’re scheduled to present the ministry’s work.
This trip was no different, and we arrived at our host’s home in time for the evening meal. We didn’t have a program scheduled for that evening, so after dinner, the host said to me, “Would you like to take a ride up into the mountains?” I quickly said, “Yes,” and we were soon bouncing along in the side-by-side ATV on a gravel mountain road.
After climbing for a while, we got to a place where the host parked the ATV, and we got out. At that height, we could look out over the mountain peaks extending into the distance as far as the eye could see. It was an awe-inspiring view.
As I stood there, soaking in the beauty of God’s creation, something forced its way into my consciousness. I couldn’t place it at first, but eventually I realized – it was the silence. I live in a very rural part of Pennsylvania, and it’s quieter than many places, but this stillness I was experiencing was something new to me. No human noise whatsoever! It was almost as amazing as the vista spread out before me. I’ll never forget that experience.
However, many people fear silence. As a pastor, I’ve tried this experiment. At some point in my sermon, I paused to allow people to reflect and meditate on a point I had just made. At 15 seconds, people are wondering if I lost my place in my notes. At 30 seconds, some start to fidget in their seats. If the silence lasts longer than that, almost everyone seems uncomfortable.
If you’re at all observant of today’s culture, you know that many people are constantly wired for sound. Ear buds, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and more are everywhere. Now, even when you pump gas into your vehicle, the station is blasting music over outdoor speakers, or the pump screen is trying to sell you something. I sometimes want to smash the machine!
Most people avoid silence because it fosters thinking, and many can’t or don’t want to think. Thinking means reflecting on their loneliness, their rejection, their pain. Thinking means confronting the hard questions about life: “Where did I come from, why am I here, where am I going?” So, noise becomes an avoidance mechanism, an escape, a form of medication.
In our study of the book of Revelation, we’ve come to the opening verses of chapter 8. They describe something in heaven we haven’t encountered before. I’ve titled my teaching, “Heaven’s Ominous Silence.” Let’s discover more about it as I read the text, Revelation 8:1-6.
1 When He opened 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 to them were given seven trumpets.
3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
An ominous silence accompanies the opening of the 7th seal. Together, let’s learn the DETAILS of why it happened and what it meant to John’s readers and to us.
The First Detail is,
The Silence Imposed
When the angel opens the 7th seal, it is immediately followed by a 30-minute silence. That’s interesting because God dwells outside of time; He is eternal. So this specific mention of 30 minutes must be for our sake as humans.
Think about this. If we review John’s visions to this point, we see a very different picture. In Revelation 4:5, peals of thunder emanate from God’s throne. In 4:8, the four living creatures praise God unceasingly. In verse 11 of that same chapter, the elders add their voice to the chorus of worship and praise. There are more examples, but let’s move to the one in the previous chapter. In Revelation 7:9-13, John saw an innumerable multitude clothed in white robes and crying out with loud voices, blessing and thanking God.
After all that enthusiastic activity, loud worship, unceasing praise, thunder, lightning, and voices – imposed silence, total silence. This is completely unexpected. After all, at the end of chapter six, with the horrors outlined in the breaking of the 6th seal, we would normally expect the opening of the 7th seal to be something more dramatic. But instead of that, in the words of the original text, “there came a silence.” This profound stillness is dramatic, with no elder or angel speaking, no chorus of praise nor cry of adoration, no thunder from the throne, and a temporary cessation of the revelations.
The question is, “What is the reason for this silence?” Could it be the magnitude of what is coming next? When the judgment about to happen becomes visible as the seventh seal is broken and the scroll unrolled, both the redeemed and the angels are reduced to silence in anticipation of the awful reality of the destruction they see written on the scroll. The half an hour of silence is the calm before the storm. It is the only proper response to God’s wrath. In Psalm 76:8–9, the psalmist wrote, “The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment.”
It is the silence of foreboding, of intense expectation; the “shock and awe” campaign against the rebellious nations is about to begin. All heaven collectively holds its breath! Each moment of this half hour must have increased John’s agonizing suspense. The hushed crowd in heaven awaits the greatest event of human history since the Fall of mankind.
This 7th seal ultimately unveils the 7 terrible trumpets and 7 bowl judgments leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Next Detail is,
The Silence Employed
Some people see silence as wasted time. In God’s economy, nothing is ever wasted. The silence was prolonged and profound, but it was not pointless. In this interlude, John is first introduced to the 7 angels. The definite article indicates these as a select group. We could call them princes of angels. John sees them standing before God, and each is given a trumpet. According to Jewish tradition, these are the 7 archangels, special messengers of God.
Since these angels stand before God, they are sometimes called “The Angels of the Presence.” This echoes Isaiah 63:9, “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them…” In Luke 1:19, the divine messenger announcing the birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias said, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.”
What about the trumpets given to these angels? As you may know, trumpets played a significant role in Israel’s history. Trumpets were used to call the Israelite camp together or to muster the troops for battle (Numbers 10:2 and 10:9). They were also used in religious festivals, to acclaim new kings, and in worship (2 Chronicles 5:12-13). Zephaniah 1:14–16 associates trumpets with the Day of the Lord. Paul’s epistles tell us that a trumpet will announce the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16), and this chapter associates them with the judgments of the Day of the Lord.
There are some convincing reasons to connect this scene we are looking at, and Joshua chapter 6, the conquest of Jericho as Israel entered the Promised Land. In that event, seven priests bearing seven trumpets or shofars marched around the city on six successive days. In our text, seven angels, who appear to be priestly representatives, are given seven trumpets to blow. As Joshua and the Israelites circled the city, the priests blew the trumpets, but the people remained silent. These angels, too, remain silent until the appointed time that begins in verse 6.
Interestingly, in the account of Jericho, there was also silence just before the final blast of the trumpets on the seventh day. That silence was directly linked to the climactic final trumpet judgment, the fall of Jericho.
These seven angels with seven trumpets are about to break the pregnant silence of that half hour. But not yet! No, as John continues watching, another angel appears. He is not one of the seven, and he must fulfill his duties before the others begin to sound their trumpets.
This angel came and took his place at the golden altar, that is, the altar of incense. The further description of this altar, as before the throne, assures John’s readers that the altar of incense was the earthly counterpart to this heavenly incense altar. The earthly altar was the item of furniture in the tabernacle and Temple that was in the Holy place closest to the Holy of Holies. Luke chapter 1 records the experience of Zacharias offering incense on that altar.
Here, the angel holds a golden censer in his hand. This was a shallow pan holding live coals taken from the brazen altar, the altar of sacrifice. Those coals signified that atonement for sin had been made. In Temple worship, the priest would carry this pan of live coals and then sprinkle the incense on them. That ignited the fragrant combination of aromatic spices, and the smoke rose in clouds above the altar, signifying the acceptance of the prayers of God’s people.
The text could be taken to mean that the angel is given a large quantity of incense to add to the prayers of ALL the saints. However, Greek scholar Robert Mounce renders the sentence, “he was given much incense to offer, consisting of the prayers of all the saints.” Regardless, these ascend from the golden altar before God’s throne. But what are these prayers of ALL the saints, and why are they being offered now?
These prayers most likely include all the prayers of the righteous from Adam to the final days described here in the book of Revelation. They ascend in one final concerted effort to reach God’s ears. This doesn’t mean God ignored them before; it means He knows the proper time for judgment. The clouds of incense are given to help them on their way to the heavenly throne.
In the immediate context, “Those prayers were for Satan to be destroyed, sin to be defeated, their deaths to be avenged (see Revelation 6:9–11), and Christ to come. As the angel added his incense to that already burning on the altar, the smoke of the incense, the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
These prayers undoubtedly include the cries of believers in John’s day as well as the Tribulation saints against their persecutors and all who blaspheme God and Christ in that time. Their prayers, affirmed by the heavenly incense which God has provided, show that He agrees with the cries of the saints as they come into His presence, from which the seven trumpet judgments will be released. There is a sense of anticipation as these prayers rise before God. They will be answered shortly; God’s wrath and His people’s prayers are connected. The question of 6:10, “How long?” is about to be answered.”[1]
The actions of this angel lead us to the final detail of heaven’s ominous silence.
The Final Detail is,
The Silence Broken
As the smoke of the incense ascends, the scene changes dramatically! As John watches, this angel turns, retakes the censer, fills it with fire from the brazen altar, and hurls the contents violently onto the earth. In response to the prayers of the righteous, those who have rejected the atoning work of Jesus Christ will now suffer the wrath of Almighty God in its fullness. Voices, thunder, lightning, and an earthquake accompany this terrifying action. What a startling end to the 30 minutes of silence!
No details are given about the earthquake, but it will probably be at least as powerful as the one associated with the sixth seal (6:12). And following the earthquake will come the horrors of the trumpet and bowl judgments. By the end of those judgments, God’s purging judgment of His creation will be complete.[2]
As you know, the Bible, and prophetic Scripture in particular, is filled with symbolism and vivid imagery. This act of throwing burning coals to earth is emblematic of divine wrath. God’s judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah is probably the most well-known illustration of this. Psalm 11:5-6 tells us, “The Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence, His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.”
Here, in John’s vision, this is not a generic judgment. These burning coals are cast on behalf of innocent people. In some way, this specific judgment is related to the cries for justice from the holy martyrs in Revelation.[3]
“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Revelation 6:9-11).
In this vision of the opening of the 7th seal, “The little while longer” is coming to an end. There will be no more delays for justice. The long-awaited time of retribution for the faithful martyrs has arrived.
The unbelieving world rejected Jesus when He came; it rejects the life-giving message of the gospel now. It will continue to reject the truth even during the future outpouring of God’s wrath and judgment. Having gone on “sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth,” wicked people have nothing to look forward to except “a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26–27).[4]
But for those who repent of their sins and come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed reality is that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
I close with these verses from 1 Peter 4. “For the time has come for judgment to begin at God’s household; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now if the righteous one is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”
[1] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 343
[2] Ibid
[3] Lizorkin-Eyzenberg, Eli, and Shir, Pinchas, Hebrew Visions of Revelation, p. 64
[4] MacArthur, New Testament Commentary on Revelation, p. 345
