Silence in Heaven

The blowing of the trumpets introduces literal plagues. God means what He says; they’re not symbolic. At the first trumpet, hail and fire mingled with blood hits the earth and burns up one-third of all trees and all the green grass. This is a direct judgment from God on plant life, from grass to great trees. Every form of botanical life is affected. Plant life was the first to be created, and it is the first to be destroyed.

Hi everyone, I’m Tammy Becker.  Welcome to the Almighty God & Gospel Girl Podcast.  This is week thirteen into our series of Revelation and our podcast today is titled: Silence in Heaven.   My podcast today will be based on the reading of Revelation 8.  And if you would like to follow along with the notes or maybe you would like to find the links to anything mentioned in the podcast today, you can go to the link in the description or by visiting www.youministries.com and visiting the corresponding page.  As we get started today, I would like to remind you of my disclaimer, that as always…do not take my word, or anyone’s word for what you read…get yourself in the Bible and let God discern His Word to you.  I am only human and make many mistakes and do not claim to know or understand everything in the Bible…I just hope by bringing out this study that your interest is sparked enough to get into God’s Word and begin to deep dive on your own.

What will be the signal that marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation? Will it sound like a bomb exploding or a war breaking out? No

Silence. Thirty minutes of ominous silence.

In that stillness before the storm, the fullness of God’s wrath will pour out on the earth. It will be the beginning of the end of the earth.

As the seventh seal is opened, a silence will descend on heaven’s scene for a half hour. The Lord Jesus Christ in His glory as the Judge of all the earth, still in command, now directs all the action from heaven.

This is a very solemn scene. The Lord Jesus Christ orders a halt on all fronts: heaven, hell, and earth. Nothing can move without His permission. He had already ordered the cessation of natural forces on the earth when He ordered the sealing and saving of the 144,000 and the Gentiles. Now, for a brief moment, there is a heavenly hush.

Why is there this strange silence? God’s patience is not exhausted. When the sixth seal was opened and nature responded with a mighty convulsion, brave men weakened for a moment. Christ gave them opportunity to repent.

But like the Pharaoh of Moses’ story who, when the heat was taken off, let his willful heart return to its original intention, many men will go back to their blasphemous conduct in the calm. They probably will even rebuke themselves for showing a yellow streak. They will say, “It was only nature reacting. It wasn’t God, after all. Everything can be explained by natural causes.”

This is the lull before the storm. God’s steps from mercy to judgment are always slow, reluctant, and measured. He is reluctant to judge for He is slow to anger. Judgment is His strange work (see Isaiah 28:21). He is a God of love who judges His creatures. This silence marks the transition from grace to judgment. God is waiting. If you have not yet come to Him by faith, He’s waiting for you today. You can come to Him, for He is a gracious Savior.

THE BLOWING OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

Judgment is getting ready to come on the earth. The Great Tribulation will break with fury on the earth and is signaled by the blowing of the trumpets (Revelation 8—11).

Seven angels who stood before God were given the seven war trumpets. This is a special group of angels. Gabriel likely is in the group because we’re told in Luke 1 that he stood before God.

“Seven trumpets” have a special meaning for Israel, particularly when you recall how God led them on the wilderness march. It took seven trumpets to move them out, and the seven trumpets of Revelation will likewise have the positive effect of moving Israel back into the land of Israel. After the seventh trumpet, Israel continues to be the special object of God’s protection. In times of war, God responded to their trumpet call (see Numbers 10:9-10). Trumpets are also part of many ceremonies; they gathered Israelites for war, journeys, special feasts, and announced the new year in Israel. Trumpets often announced God stepping into history. Here they announce divine judgments in the day of the Lord (see Zechariah 1:14-16). They declare war.

Then, in addition to the seven-angel band, another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and incense. He added it to the golden altar where prayers of God’s people were offered in front of the throne. (Incense is often compared to prayer; see Psalm 141:2.)

Previously, Jesus Christ interceded for us before the golden altar, but now He is on the throne. Incense is likened unto prayer and is a type of prayer. When Jesus prayed, He didn’t need anything given to Him when He prayed.

The prayers of saints offered under the fifth seal (6:9-11) are now being answered because of Jesus’ personal sacrifice. And they are heard and answered by God because of Christ.

Now, the angel takes the censer and fills it with fire from the altar and throws it on the earth, causing thunder, lightning, and earthquakes. In the Old Testament, the high priest of Israel took a censer with him as he carried the blood into the Holy of Holies. Here the ritual is reversed, because out of heaven the censer is hurled on the earth.

The prayers of God’s people ascended as incense, and now the answer is coming down. The Tribulation saints had prayed, “Oh, God, avenge us!” The people of the earth, having rejected the death of Christ for the judgment of their sins, must now bear the judgment for their own sins. The Tribulation is building to a crescendo.

This is a solemn moment. The half hour of silence is over. The prayers of the saints have been heard. The order is issued to prepare to blow. The angels come to attention, and at the blowing of the trumpets, divine wrath is visited upon rebellious men.

The blowing of the trumpets introduces literal plagues. God means what He says; they’re not symbolic. At the first trumpet, hail and fire mingled with blood hits the earth and burns up one-third of all trees and all the green grass. This is a direct judgment from God on plant life, from grass to great trees. Every form of botanical life is affected. Plant life was the first to be created, and it is the first to be destroyed.

This is a literal judgment upon plant life in the same way that the seventh plague of Egypt was literal (see Exodus 9:18-26). It’s no accident that this trumpet judgment has a striking similarity to the plagues in Egypt. All the plagues are literal, just as these plagues in Revelation should be taken literally.

At the second trumpet, the sea, which occupies most of the earth’s surface, is next affected by God’s direct judgment. A mass as if it were a great mountain (see Jeremiah 51:25) falls into the sea; one-third becomes literal blood, and one-third of all living creatures in the sea die. Also, one-third of the ships of all nations are destroyed. The separation of the land and the sea occurred on the same day in which plant life appeared (see Genesis 1:9-10).

The third trumpet unleashes a great star, burning as it falls out of heaven and hits the earth. This star is literal and is a meteor containing poison that contaminates one-third of the earth’s fresh water supply. The star’s name, wormwood, suggests it’s a judgment on man for idolatry and injustice. Calamity and sorrow are the natural compensations coming on man because of his sin.

The fourth angel blew the trumpet and the light from the sun and moon and stars were darkened by one-third. It was on the fourth day of re-creation that these heavenly bodies appeared, and now the light is a third less over the earth.

Under these first four trumpets, the expression “a third” has been used 12 times. This is the divine number of God’s government dealing with the earth (12 apostles who sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel).

Now, after the fourth trumpet, a solemn announcement is made with intensity. It’s a warning that the final three trumpets will be stepping up in intensity. “Woe!” says an eagle (asv; rather than an angel) delivering this message. In the Old Testament, the eagle was the symbol of God’s grace, like in Exodus 19:4, “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself,” and also a symbol of judgment. Deuteronomy 28:49 talks about judgment coming from the end of the earth as swift as the eagle flies … and that’s what happens next.

So if you think you’ve seen weird stuff in Revelation?  Wait until you hear this…but that’s for next week.