seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 8:1 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 seven trumpets were given to them.
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 God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, 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.
4162026416202641620264162026
Here's a link to the commentary I read.
When He opened the seventh seal: The sealed scroll was introduced in Revelation 5, and the seals were opened one by one up to the sixth seal in Revelation 6. We waited for the last seal to be opened and the contents of the scroll to be revealed — but then were given a pause with Revelation 7, the revealing of the 144,000 and the great multitude out of the great tribulation. Now the idea of a pause between the sixth and the seventh seal is emphasized by this silence in heaven for about half an hour.
This silence is striking; some have seen it as “breathing space,” or, that the angels are silent so the prayers of the saints can be heard, perhaps even the cry of the martyrs of Revelation 6:9-11.
More likely, this silence in heaven demonstrates a sober, awestruck silence at the judgments to come, now that the seals are off and the scroll can be opened.
Silence in heaven for about half an hour: A half-hour silence is not long, but things seem long or short in their context. If a preacher were to stop his sermon and remain silent for ten minutes, it would seem like an eternity. Since heaven is a place of constant praise and worship to God (Revelation 4:8-11), silence for about half an hour is a long time.
The seven angels who stand before God: According to Jewish tradition, there are seven angels who stand in God’s presence. Apparently, based on this verse, that traditional idea was accurate.
And to them were given seven trumpets: In the Old Testament, trumpets sounded the alarm for war and threw the enemy into a panic, or they called an assembly of God’s people. These seven trumpets will sound as God’s battle-alarm during the great tribulation.
Then another angel: Some see this angel as Jesus, functioning as a mediator and because of Old Testament references to Jesus as “the Angel of the LORD.” Others say it could only be a mere angelic being because the specific ancient Greek word for another means “another of the same kind.”
A golden censer… the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God: Prayer and incense are often associated in the Bible. The idea is that just as incense is precious, pleasant, and drifts to heaven, so do our prayers. So here, before anything happens at the opening of the seventh seal, the prayers of God’s people come before the Lord God.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth: As God’s people pray for the resolution of all things, their prayers were touched by the fire from the altar in heaven, and then “thrown” back down to earth. All things will not be resolved on this earth until judgment comes, and when the prayers of God’s people “come back” to earth, they bring the groundswell of judgment (noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake).
So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound: We waited for the seven seals to be opened and saw them loosed one by one. But when the seventh seal was finally loosed, the end did not immediately come. It set in motion seven trumpets that would sound upon the earth.
4162026416202641620264162026
Jesus has a scroll in His hands. It is sealed with seven seals like the wax seals they show off in museums now. He's already popped six seals open. Every time He pops a seal, something happens. This is what happened when He popped the Seventh and Last Seal. The scroll is full of plans for the future for the Children of God as well as for the naysayers.
When Jesus popped open the last seal, and the scroll was about to be revealed, it got quiet for half an hour. A half an hour in Heaven is a lot different than a half hour on earth.
1-year Heavenly Time = 1,000-years Earth Time.
I watch a lot of football with Hubby. Each play takes less than half a minute. But let's face it, when you are on the edge of your seat for the last 2 minutes of the game and the score is extremely close, one play can "seem to last" forever.
Can you imagine how long a half hour will feel in total absolute silence. Everyone everywhere in Heaven is constantly singing God's Praises for forever, and then Silence. That Silence must have been deafening.
I'm the oldest of five kids. Sudden silence can be deafening and scary!!!!
If this half hour is Heavenly Time... on earth the silence will last for months at least!!! Do the math!!! 1,000 years /24 hours/60 minutes/2=.694 years on earth??? That's over 6 months on earth! Right????
I guess that half-hour in Heaven was the time when Jesus was reading the Battle Plan from the scroll.
All the Children of God are in Heaven. They are safe.
The humans who refer to God as "the monster in the sky" [love that thanks!] are still on earth hiding from the quaking. The preachers, priests, and Pew Warmers, who have been faking it and selling the message to the highest bidder, are still shaking their heads in disbelief and trying to figure out how to get right with God, in all this Deafening Silence.
I hear it's normal in battle for the aggressor to "soften" the battlefield. A terrorized human doesn't fight as well as one who has their head in the fight. I guess nowadays the aggressor would start with propaganda and then lob a few bombs to get the humans too scared to fight and followed by claiming to be ready to use nukes.
In end times, they won't use bombs. An angel will fill an incense holder with chucks of fire from Heaven and throw it at earth. Now that to me sounds like a massive meteor. Throwing a meteor at earth would definitely start more earthquakes.
God's battle plan is set in motion. The First Trumpet is about to sound.
God’s battle-alarm will sound after that "monster god" [as He has been called] has His Angel throw fire on all the naysayers.
God's battle plan is set in motion.
Please pray for our troops and their families.