Introduction

Revelation 8:1-5 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  (2)  Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.  (3)  And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,  (4)  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.  (5)  Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Our key verse this morning is verse 1:

Revelation 8:1 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

• But before we get into the silence of God let’s talk about what is going on…
  • At this point in Revelation God has begun to pour out His wrath on the earth.
  • The scroll with the 7 seals, which when opened ushers in the end of this world as we know, has begun to be open.
  • We have seen 6 of the seven seals open and some really terrible judgments fall upon the earth.
    • But these judgements are just the introduction to what is sometimes called “The end of the world”.
• Now we come to the opening of the Seventh seal.
  • At the opening of this Seal the End has finally come.
  • The remainder of revelation will go into deep detail about the end of the World, the judgments that will take place, the workings of the Antichrist, the deception of the nations, the return of Christ Jesus and the recreation of Heaven and Earth to it’s perfect form.
    • In other words, this ride is going to get a lot worse, before it get’s better.
    • And I remind you, as I always do as we face the hard truths of Revelation, that GOD IS GOOD… AND ALL THE TIME…
      • And even during these Judgments, God remains good, and you remain loved and protected by God.
• So the Seventh seal is opened, the final seal is opened…
• Now, let’s get into our key verse today… the final seal being opened…

Revelation 8:1 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

• Todays sermon we are going to focus on the importance of this silence…

SHOW TITLE SLIDE

• When God is Silent.
  • What should we be expecting when God is silent? Does His silence signal anything… does it have any kind of meaning?
  • And what exactly are we supposed to do when God is silent? How should we react, how should we behave in periods of God’s silence?
• That is what we are going to be talking about today, but first, let’s pray!

Point One – What Are We to Expect When Heaven is Silent

Revelation 8:1 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

• What a time for Heaven to be silent. The Horsemen of the apocalypse have been released. Death and calamity is starting to get major on earth. The martyrs are crying out for God’s justice and vengeance…
  • The final seal, the one the signals the end of the end… it has just been open… and heaven is silent?
  • Why? Why now? What does that mean? Shouldn’t God be moving? Shouldn’t angels be declaring?
  • Shouldn’t God be speaking? Shouldn’t angles be protecting?
  • Shouldn’t God be comforting the Saints? Shouldn’t the elders be interceding for the persecuted?
• Again, Point One is: What Are We to Expect When Heaven is Silent?
• I wonder if you have ever experienced the silence of heaven in your life.
  • Have you ever cried out to God, and heard nothing back.
  • Now, it might be because you were not in right relationship with God… but that is certainly not the case here in Revelation 8.
    • What about when you ARE in right relationship with God.
    • And some great injustice has been done against you, the church, or someone you love.
    • And you CRY OUT TO GOD… and there is silence… what could this mean? Will heaven stay silent forever?
      • Of  course not, here heaven is silent for but a half an hour…
      • But it is not the first time we have seen this silence in heaven…

Zephaniah 1:7-8 ESV  Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.  (8)  And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.

Zechariah 2:13 ESV  Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Habakkuk 2:20 ESV  But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

• Here we have three verses, and they each have the same theme. God is in His temple and everyone is commanded to be silent before Him.
  • And in all three verses this time of silence is followed by God’s holy wrath and judgment.
  • And all three sections of scripture, from Habakkuk, Zechariah, and Zephaniah mirror the events of revelation. Just take a look at Zephaniah for a second:

Zephaniah 1:7-16 ESV  Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.  (8)  And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.  (9)  On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.  (10)  “On that day,” declares the LORD, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.  (11)  Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off.  (12)  At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’  (13)  Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”  (14)  The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  (15)  A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,  (16)  a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

• Does that not sound like it came straight out of Saint John’s Revelation?
  • And look at verses 14 and 15…

Zephaniah 1:14-15a ESV  The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  (15)  A day of wrath is that day…

• The great day of the Lord… a day of wrath? That sounds awfully familiar…

Revelation 6:15-17 ESV  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,  (16)  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,  (17)  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

• THE GREAT DAY OF GOD’S WRATH!
  • It’s the exact same language.
    • Now why do I share these Old Testament examples?
    • Because I want you to know that GOD NEVER CHANGES! That’s what Malachi 3:6 says… God does not change.
• Therefore, if silence preceded God’s wrath back then, and silence precedes God’s wrath in the future… then we know that silence precedes God’s wrath NOW.
  • Heaven’s silence is not APPATHY toward your issues.
  • Heaven’s silence is not God IGNORING you and your pain.
  • No, quite the contrary, Heaven’s silence is in preparation and expectation of God’s Holy and AWESOME Wrath and justice.

Romans 12:19 ESV  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

• You know some things just need to be read in the King James version…

Romans 12:19 KJV  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

• VENGENCE IS MINE SAITH THE LORD! I WILL REPAY SAITH THE LORD.
  • If you have suffered some grave injustice and heaven is silent… understand, that is in expectation of God’s Justice. That likely means God’s Justice is coming.
• When I think back on the times where heaven seemed silent over my life, especially over injustice… it always is followed by His wrath.
• I was working at a big Internet company in Seattle, and my boss was gay and transitioning into a female.
  • The big internet company was looking for a reason to fire me, because I had the Audacity to bring and read my Bible at work.
  • But my gay boss allowed me to minister into his life. He at one point told me I was the only one who was every honest with him, the only one I could ever trust.
  • Well, I got fired from that job for a non-reason. Just out of the blue.
    • And I remember WEEPING because I had worked so hard to find that job.
    • I remember crying out before the Lord… and not hearing anything.
    • It was almost a crisis of faith.
    • Until a day later I get a call offering me a job that literally paid twice as much and started right away.
      • And by the way, the guy who fired me, got fired the next week… and the big internet company I worked for got bought out and shut down almost immediately after all of this went down.
    • VENGENCE IS MINE SAITH THE LORD.
  • When I was working at a different job a few years later, it was a great job, but I had two senior executives who HATED me.
    • I didn’t know why, but the spirit of discernment told me the Holy Spirit in me did not get along with the evil spirits in them.
    • These two made my life miserable, and often tried to get me fired.
    • I had so many “talking to’s” from my boss… over things I didn’t even do wrong…
  • And I cried out to God, and I think I expected God to comfort me… or give me some secret to them liking me, or some wisdom of how to minister to them… nothing.
  • Three weeks of misery from these two… then one got fired.
    • No one no why… just gone.
    • Three days later, the other got fired… blip, gone.
      • And God told me then and there “I am looking out for you, I will not sit idly by as the wicked persecute my saints”.
• Again, Point One is: What Are We to Expect When Heaven is Silent?
  • And the answer is very clear: Expect His justice to come! Vengeance is mine Saith the Lord!
• Now that brings me to point two: What are We to Do When Heaven is Silent?

Point Two – What Are We to Do When Heaven is Silent?

Revelation 8:1 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

• So there is this half an hour of silence before God pours out His judgments…
  • And I believe sometimes there is silence before He has vengeance over the injustices and persecutions we face… and all believers face…
  • What do we do during this silence?
• Well, at first we are supposed to wait upon the Lord.

Psalms 27:14 ESV  Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

• You see a lot of Christians, current and historical, have gotten themselves into trouble by trying to take matters into their own hands.
  • There is some awful situation in their life… and heaven seems silent… so they decide “If God is not going to do something, then I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING.
  • But then they mess the whole thing up.
    • You know King Saul, the first King of Israel made this mistake.
    • Israel had just been humiliated in battle… and Sual needed to know what to do…
      • Now the profit Samuel told him to wait for him and that they would offer a sacrifice together when he got there. And that at that point God would make clear what to do…
      • But for seven days heaven was silent, and the prophet was nowhere to be found… so Saul took matters into his own hands.

1 Samuel 13:8-14 ESV  He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.  (9)  So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering.  (10)  As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.  (11)  Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash,  (12)  I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”  (13)  And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.  (14)  But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

• Saul did not wait upon the Lord, and as such lost the right to be God’s earthly king over Israel.
  • If he had just waited a few more hours, he would have found victory beneath the wings of God…
    • And God would have poured out His wrath on the Philistines who had defeat Israel.

Romans 12:19 KJV  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

• It says “Give place unto wrath”, in other words… DON’T GET IN THE WAY OF GOD’S WRATH BY TRYING TO SEEK VENGANCE YOURSELF!
  • I think the NIV puts it best.

Romans 12:19 NIV  Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

• So again, the question is… what do we do when heaven is silent? And the answer, in part, is wait upon the Lord… trust Him… don’t try to do things yourself.
• But the second answer to that question should be obvious… the answer is PRAY!
• What are we to do when heaven is silent? We are to wait upon the Lord and we are to PRAY!

Revelation 8:1-5 ESV  When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  (2)  Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.  (3)  And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,  (4)  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.  (5)  Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

• The imagery here is that of and angel holding a giant golden bowl, and in the bowl are all the prayers of the saints.
  • You see, even though heaven is silent, that doesn’t mean heaven isn’t listening.
  • God is hearing your prayers. God is collecting your prayers. And God will use your prayers.
    • After all it is the bowl of prayers that is filled with fire and poured onto the earth.
• God is listening to your prayers, God is keeping your prayers… and at the end of the silence God will answer in His wrath with the cumulation of your prayers!
  • The gathered prayers of the saints, being poured out with God’s wrath, are effective and have great power in their working!

James 5:16 ESV  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

• Do you think that this verse ceases to be true just because there is silence in heaven? Of course not!
  • In fact, the silence in heaven just amplifies the volume of your prayers! So pray all the more fervently!
• Yet unfortunately, like Saul, I have seen many Christians give up… stop praying, and just think God has forsaken them…
  • And they often give up right before God responds. It’s… heartbreaking.

Conclusion

What Are We to Expect When Heaven is Silent? Expect that God’s righteous judgment is coming.

What Are We to Do When Heaven is Silent? We are to wait upon the Lord and pray fervently.

Church, let this passage in Revelation give you hope in times of Silence… God has not forsaken you, in fact, to the contrary, heaven is waiting expectantly for God to do something Great on your behalf.

That is, of course, if you are on the right side of Judgment.

But what about the people who God is fixin’ to pour his Wrath out on? Well there is hope for you too…

2 Peter 3:9 ESV  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

• You see while heaven is silent, some might assume that God is being slow… but the truth is that God is being patient… because God doesn’t want to have to pour out His wrath on you… there is a better way, and God want’s to give you time to choose that better way.
  • And He has given you time to get here today and hear this message… because your time is running out… like all of us, you are closer to death than you have ever been… God is patient with you and doesn’t want you to perish… but you must repent…
  • I wonder, is there anyone in this place in need of repentance?
• Gospel Call