Revelation 8:1-6
“And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about the space of half an hour” (Revelation 8:1).
The loud and heavenly praise of God in Revelation 7 is followed by silence as those in heaven fall into quiet awe.
What happened? The angels and elders stop their voices for about half an hour. Why?
What would reduce that heavenly praise to hushed silence? We should all be warned by this passage, because it is events on the earth that bring the angelic host to a halt.
Verses 2-6 give us a clear indication of this. In the next message from Revelation 7:7-13, we will study the details of this imminent worldwide disaster.
But the question still hangs in the air: what caused the silence? In chapter 7, we learned to worship the God of blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might. In Revelation 8:7, the first trumpet judgment sounds bringing hail and fire mingled with blood on the earth. Today’s passage falls at the intersection of remarkable praise and remarkable punishment.
In Revelation chapter 8, we learn to reverently worship the God of righteous indignation who pours out His wrath upon this sinful world.
He who opens the seals
“And when He had opened the seventh seal …”
One action brought about that solemn silence in heaven: the Sovereign Lamb opened the seventh seal. Revelation 8:1 could be described as “the beginning of the end.” And every living, breathing human being should give special attention to the awe-inspiring silence brought about by our Sovereign Lord. We have studied Him whom the Scriptures present as The Meek and Mighty Lamb.[i] He is The Lord: The Lion, The Lamb who was found worthy to open the scroll of judgment. And opening this scroll will wreak havoc on the earth. We should respond to this teaching with reverent worship: the God of righteous indignation will pour out His wrath upon this sinful world.
Solemn silence in Scripture
The seventh seal is so awful that it produces awe among the angels. Those who rejoiced in celebration of God’s blessing and glory are reduced to silence by His righteous indignation. The prophet described the solemn silence this way: “But the LORD is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
So, they waited like those in the ark waited for fountains of God’s fury to be unleashed in the worldwide flood. Those in heaven could see the impending doom, just as surely as the angels that hurried Lot’s family away from Sodom and Gomorrah. They were silent like Joshua’s soldiers who waited for the walls of Jericho to fall (Joshua 6:10).
But it should catch our attention when God is also silent. Asaph described the Lord’s silence in Psalm 50. The wicked had cast aside God’s Word and cooperated with thieves and adulterers. They had given their mouth to spreading deceitful lies, slandering their own relatives (Psalm 50:16-20). In Psalm 50:21, the silent God indicts the people’s idolatry by saying, “You thought I was just like you.” The Lord had kept silent, accomplishing His own purposes, until the day that He moved with fury. As Asaph wrote, “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him” (Psalm 50:3). Psalm 50 should cause every one of us to take stock of his or her idolatry and iniquity. Do you think you can succeed with iniquity merely because God is silent? Sometimes that silence is the calm before the storm of impending destruction. The silent multitude in heaven bears mute testimony to just how awful this time will be upon the earth
Your Favorite Part of God
Some would reject the judgment of God, insisting that a loving God would never act in vengeance. Yet the Scriptures make it plain that the true and living God, The Holy God, is the God of righteous indignation. You can’t just choose your favorite part of God. To try to do so is, of course, idolatry:
When God shows us His greatness, reveals His Majesty
Our hearts are very tempted to choose idolatry.
How can this be the problem? This sounds so very odd!
Our problem is, we’re choosing our favorite part of God!
You love the God of Comfort? Deplore the Judging God?
You’re worshipping an idol: your favorite part of God.
The God of Grace is mentioned to your affirming nod;
The God of anger doesn’t fit your favorite part of God.
The God of mercy thrills you? You’re living out a fraud
If the God of hell obscures your favorite part of God.
The Love of God inspires you to smile and to applaud!
The Holy Jealous God destroys your favorite part of God.
God made man in His image, so man makes his façade
Man makes God in his image: His favorite part of God.
Let God be God, my brother. It’s time to end the fraud!
Repent from idols and embrace the True and Living God!
Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets
“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets” (Revelation 8:2). The first six trumpets are described in Revelation 8:6–9:13. The seventh trumpet is described in Revelation 11:15. In verse 2, we learn that these angels stood before God to prepare themselves to blow the trumpets of God’s judgment.
The Angel with the Golden Censer
“And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” (Revelation 8:3)
According to Hebrews 9:3-4, in the Old Testament Tabernacle, the golden censer was placed within the Holy of holies. In Revelation 8:3, the angel stands at the altar in Heaven with a golden censer. Here we will learn to reverently worship the Holy God of righteous indignation who pours out His wrath upon this sinful world.
Incense with the Prayers of All Saints
According to Exodus 30:34-38, the incense that was burned in the Old Testament Tabernacle was unique. It was never to be mixed or burned for common purposes. This particular perfumed aroma was only to be used in the worship of the Lord in the Tabernacle. The high priest was to light the incense, and no strange incense was to be burned in the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:8-9; Leviticus 16:12-13). The Lord judged King Uzziah by giving him leprosy because the king insisted on burning incense in the Temple (2 Chronicles 26:16-23).
In Psalm 141:2, David wrote, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” Note the way he illustrated prayer by that swirling aroma of incense, arising before the Lord. We saw this same connection in Revelation 5:8. Proverbs 15:8 reminds us that “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is His delight.”
Why Do Our Prayers Delight the Lord God?
Why are the prayers of God’s people such a delight to Him? To answer that, let’s turn over to Ephesians 5:1-2
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)
Jesus Christ loved humanity so much that He gave Himself as an offering for the sins of mankind. His death – the Righteous One for unrighteous sinners – was like an acceptable offering of incense, a sweet smelling savor before God. Immanuel is illustrated by incense. Now the Lord calls us to be followers of God and walk in love, just as Jesus walked in love.
The Effect of the Prayers of God’s People
Now that we have understood the way prayers are illustrated, let’s look at the earthly impact of this heavenly incense.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. (Revelation 8:4-6).
Here we see Immanuel’s indignation illustrated by incense. Verses 4-6 picture the angel honoring God Most High with incense mixed with “the prayers of all the saints” (according to verse 3).
According to 2 Corinthians 1:19-20, all the promises of God are affirmed in Jesus Christ. But when He opens the seventh seal, we find that the prayers of all the saints are also affirmed. Think about this. When you pray, the Lord treats those prayers as His treasures. By faith we can see in this passage that our prayers are being stored up for their culmination in ultimate judgment. Just as God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus, so our prayers for judgment will also be fulfilled.
You may wrestle with the significance of your prayers being answered in the coming judgment of the earth. It’s important to remember that we are commanded to pray. Even now, Jesus Christ stands knocking at the door of the church to enter in for fellowship (Revelation 3:20). Fellowship with Him is intricately involved with prayer. So what should we remember when we pray? Our Holy God is wise and good; He knows best. His perfect plan will come to ultimate fulfillment through the judgment unleashed by Jesus Christ. The same Jesus Christ who died for the sins of mankind will return as the Sovereign Judge who will pass sentence on mankind. Bear in mind that God will act upon your prayers to pass sentence on Satan. The rebel Satan will be cast to the earth to torment rebel sinners. But then, the Lord will cast Satan into the Lake of Fire forever – in answer to your prayers. So when you see the danger faced by every rebel sinner, why not cry out to God for His mercies upon them? When they come to know the Lord, their prayers will also be God’s great delight.
In John’s vision, the angel cast the censer filled with fire to the earth. What happened next?
“… and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”
In the Garden of Eden, the sweet voice of the Lord could be heard in those cool surroundings. But now, near the end of the age, rebellious mankind will hear “voices, thunder, and lightning” accompanied by an earthquake. And this is only the beginning of the end. Is it any wonder that there was awed silence in heaven? In Psalm 46:10, the psalmist wrote God’s command, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”
In the next message, we will begin to study these trumpet judgments. Overall, in chapter 8, we will learn to reverently worship the God of righteous indignation who will pour out His wrath upon this sinful world.
Pastor Gordon Dickson, Calvary Baptist Church, Findlay, Ohio www.cbcfindlay.org 06/04/22
[i] See The Meek and Mighty Lamb, accessed at https://www.cbcfindlay.org/the-meek-and-mighty-lamb/ and The Meek and Mighty Lamb, part 2 accessed at https://www.cbcfindlay.org/the-meek-and-mighty-lamb-part-2/