There was silence in heaven for half an hour

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

What does this mean?

The problem with the book of Revelation is that Christians are afraid to read it because they believe that it is incomprehensible.  There are others (e.g. dispensationalists) who have developed elaborate schemes to explain what the events mean in terms of current and future events, based on the assumption that the symbols in the book are to be taken literally, rather than understanding the symbolic nature of this genre.  The result is that ordinary Christians assume that only ‘experts’ can understand the contents.  The upshot is that Christians are missing out on much of what God is saying to the church because of their fear and ignorance.  I was curious about what the above verse means.  I believe that there is value in expanding Christians’ understanding of the book.  Therefore, I endeavour here to explain the meaning of the above verse within the wider context of book.

One reason why Christians fail to read the book of Revelation is that it does not make sense when taken literally.  If the symbolic nature of the book is explained it is far easier to understand what Jesus, through the apostle John, is saying to the church.  Secondly, much of the book is about judgement, which is a subject to which Australian Christians seem to have an aversion.  This problem would be lessened if Christians had a fuller grasp of God’s immense grace in Christ.

A brief summary of the content of the book up to this point will provide a wider context.  Chapter one introduces the exalted Christ who is “the first and the last, the living one” and who “holds the keys of death and Hades.”  Jesus is lord over life and death.  The lordship of Christ is an encouragement for the martyr church, who was at that time facing death due to persecution.  It is Jesus who is in control of both life and death, and by implication in control of if or when Christians face death.

Chapters two and three contain the letters to the churches.  Jesus walks amongst the churches bringing encouragement and rebuke to those he loves (cf. Rev 3:19).  He is not distant from those who bear his name and he knows the difficulties which they face.  In chapter four the angels and the living creatures, reminiscent of Ezekiel chapter 1, are before the throne of God singing over and over again, “Holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”  This is a reminder of the glories of heaven and the wonder of the God who they serve.

Importantly, in chapter five the Lamb of God is introduced.  The one on the throne has a scroll which no one in heaven or earth can open.  All the elders worship this slain Lamb.  He has all power and all knowledge and is present by his Spirit in all the earth.  The prayers of the saints are presented before the throne.  Then the worshippers sing a new song:

You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.

The importance of this chapter for the particular discussion is the fact that the sins of believers have been paid for by the blood of the Lamb.  When the scrolls are opened in the following chapters there are judgements poured out on the earth.  But the ones who worship the lamb are secure in the knowledge that their sins are washed away.  This security in the face of judgement needs to be emphasised, because Australian Christians are reluctant to talk about judgement.  The greater the assurance that our sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb, the less is the fear of God’s judgement.

Chapter 6 contains the opening of the seals.  The opening of the first four seals brings awful judgements on the earth and on those who live on the earth.  But the opening of the fifth seal is different.  There is no judgement on the earth.  Instead the martyrs before the throne ask “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”  They are told to rest a little longer, because they must wait for the complete number of martyrs to be killed.  Rest a little longer is significant in understanding the nature of silence in heaven for half an hour.  I will return to this later.  The opening of the sixth seal results in all the inhabitants of the earth hiding from the wrath of the lamb.

Chapter 7 contains an interlude in which there are no judgments poured out.  Instead, before the next judgment is poured out the people of God are sealed.  Then there is yet another scene before the throne of God.  Multitudes of the redeemed worship God.  The ones before the throne are dressed in white, that is, they are pure and holy, because they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  These ones will not suffer any more, and they will be continuously before the throne.  The people of God are safe from judgement and, even though they may suffer now, they will be free from all suffering in the presence of God.

At last we come to chapter 8 and the verse which is the topic of my exploration.

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

I believe that silence here is used in the sense of waiting patiently for something to happen.  This is the sense of Exodus 14:14 “The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”  In Exodus, God had heard the cries of his people, the Sons of Israel, as they were oppressed in slavery in Egypt.  Exodus 2:23 “After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God.  24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  In Revelation God has heard the cries of his saints.  In 6:10 the martyrs cried out “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”  They are told to rest for a while until all the martyrs have been killed (6:11).  As in Exodus the judgement on the wicked nations will come from God while the saints keep silent.  The saints are silent in heaven for a time because they are waiting trustfully for the judgement of God to be completed.

As for the statement “about half an hour”, this does not, in my opinion, refer to a period of time.  The word for half an hour does not appear anywhere else in the Greek Bible, nor does the word for one half.  However, hour is a word which has a special significance in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 3:3 Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

Revelation 9:15 So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind.

Revelation 11:13 At that moment [hour] there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Revelation 14:7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

Revelation 18:10 they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas, alas, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.”

Revelation 18:17 For in one hour all this wealth has been laid waste!” And all shipmasters and seafarers, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off

Revelation 18:19 And they threw dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in one hour she has been laid waste.”

With the possible exception of 17:12, hour always appears in Revelation in the context of coming judgement.  It is not so much a period of time as a moment when God’s judgement falls upon the wicked and ungodly.  Given the consistent use of the word hour in relation to judgement, I am assuming that hour in this instance is also referring to judgement.  This is also in keeping with the events of Exodus 14:14 where YHWH was to fight against the godless Egyptian army on behalf of his people Israel.  Here the judgement is to be against the godless nations of the world who have killed and persecuted the saints.  The parallels are not difficult to see.

But this verse does not speak of an hour of judgement but simply of half an hour.  Elsewhere in the book numbers are symbols and here is no exception.  Because of the fact that a half does not appear elsewhere in the Bible, I am extrapolating from the meaning of other symbols in the book.  Where Revelation speaks of one third this refers to a portion rather than an exact number.  Here I suggest that a half an hour means that the judgment is incomplete.  It is necessary to wait for something to happen before the judgment of God is completed against the godless persecutors of the church.

Indeed what follows verse 1 would suggest that what is needed to complete the judgement are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 8:2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. 7 The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

Immediately after the silence in heaven for half an hour the prayers of the saints are offered before the throne.  But then something extraordinary happens.  The angel takes the censor, which contains the prayers of the saints, and takes some fire from the altar and hurls both these things down to the earth.  After this the seventh judgement occurs on the earth.  The seal has been opened in verse 1 but nothing occurred in regard to judgment until after the saints offered their prayers before the altar.  After the prayers were offered the angels are allowed to let loose their plagues.  This argues for a strong connection between the prayers of the saints and the completion of God’s judgments on the world.  That this is the completion of judgment is attested by the fact that it is the result of opening the seventh seal, seven being the number of God or perfection.

Conclusion

This exploration of Revelation 8:1 has led me to several conclusions.  Firstly, God is waiting upon the prayers of the saints before he completes his judgment on the world.  If this is not completed then one can only assume that the time for Jesus return will be delayed, and this delay means that the kingdom of God cannot come in its fullness.  But the prayers which the saints offer before the throne are in agreement with the God who judges the wicked and purges evil from the world.  These are not simply a collection of prayers about the weather or other trivial matters.  But are Australian Christians in agreement with God that he must judge the wicked and purge evil from the world?

The saints in the book of Revelation are martyred saints, who are before the throne because they have been killed for their testimony to Jesus.  Martyrdom is not an experience of Australian Christians generally.  We think very little about persecution and martyrdom.  We have largely forgotten the plight of the persecuted church.  As Jesus commanded Christians to pray for their persecutors (Matt 5:44) and to bless those who curse them (Luke 6:28), this side of heaven is not the time to pray for God to avenge our blood.  However, as we are free from persecution which involves the shedding of blood in Australia, the present time is the appropriate time to pray for the persecuted church and for the salvation of those who persecute them.  The time is short.

Australian Christians do not like to think about judgment but prefer to think of God as someone who loves everyone and punishes no one.  God is love, but his love is a holy love, and he punishes those who refuse the call of the grace which he has offered through the cross of Christ.  He will not contend with sinful humanity for ever (Gen 6:3).  One reason why Christians do not want to think about judgement is because they do not understand their position in Christ.  We are justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom 4:25) and we have passed from death to life (John 5:24).  If God is for us who can stand against us (Rom 8:31)?  For people who understand the reality of justification by faith there need be no fear of judgment.  But when people do not understand that the work of Christ is more than sufficient, then the only recourse is to deny that judgement is a reality.  The inner logic is that if there is no judgment then I cannot be judged.  This is of course nothing but an unnecessary fiction.

Thirdly, and possibly a corollary of point two, there is a lack of understanding of the seriousness of sin.  This results from a ‘gospel’ which does not proclaim the cross of Christ.  Without the proclamation of the cross, no one can understand the full seriousness of sin.  Only in the depths of the pain, loneliness, and abandonment of the Son of God is the utter depravity of humanity revealed.  The book of Revelation testifies repeatedly of the cross in its themes of the slain lamb as well as the frequent references to judgment.

The centre of this conclusion is unsurprisingly the cross.  With the proclamation of the cross comes understanding of the seriousness of sin, the enormity and certainty of the grace of God which washes away our sins, and the reality of the judgement of God upon a world which has rejected the message of the cross and persecuted those who proclaim it.

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