Silence in Heaven for One Half Hour Revelation 8:1

After the worship scene in heaven where “the Lamb” of God received the “scroll” in God's right hand, the beginning of the tribulation to come upon the earth began and John the apostle saw the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and the sixth seals were opened and great troubles came upon the earth with each of them. He wrote, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, and all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me,

What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and from where did they come? And I said unto him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” In chapter eight and verse one John saw how “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour” where we read:

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

The verse reads, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, ...” John began with the words, “and when” which means “and at the time and moment” “he had opened” which means “the Lamb Jesus unfastened and loosened ” “the seventh seal” or “the seventh signet seal on the scroll which Jesus received from God's hand”. John watched as Jesus “unfastened” the seventh and final seal from the “book” which was in God's hand.

The verse goes on to say, “there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” John added the words, “there was silence” which means “hiss, hush and quiet appeared, became and happened” “in heaven” which means “within the region above the sidereal heavens and the seat of order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells as well as other heavenly beings” “about the space” or “like unto or even as” “of half an hour” which means “thirty minutes or one half of an hour”. The “quiet” within heaven lasted for a “half hour” long.

When we consider John's words in this verse, we may attempt to imagine what this awesome scene was like. When we attempt to be “totally quiet” in a crowd for even a couple minutes it can be unsettling, so can we imagine how ominous this scenario was? Some believe God turned to grieve over the judgment that was to be unleashed upon during the remainder of the tribulation period, but whatever it was that initiated this “silence” must have been baleful. God desires to save people through His Son Jesus from the punishment of their sins, and He does not delight in judging those who reject Him. That is why today is the “day of salvation” for those who do not know Him before the time of great “silence” begins in Heaven over that which shall certainly be.

Next time we see John share how “trumpets” were given to “the seven angels which stood before God”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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