Originally posted: 12/17/2021
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour, (8:1).
There was Silence. Perhaps not the reaction one might expect. The sixth seal had ushered in absolute pandemonium and cataclysmic chaos. And I imagine there was much wailing to be heard throughout all the earth reaching up into the heavens.
I again found myself wondering about John, a mere mortal transported into the Throne Room of Almighty God. What was John expecting, knowing there were seven seals to be opened; what more could come after the upheaval caused by number six?
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, (Revelation 6:12-14).
And I imagined if it were me, I would have been tempted to close my eyes while shoving my fingers in my ears in a feeble attempt to diminish the sight and sound. But while expecting the hammering clatter of galloping hoof-beats or the booming voice of the strong angel, there comes… the sound of Silence.
I don’t imagine it was a welcome reprieve, as though providing a respite from all that had already supernaturally ensued. It was the kind of Silence that steals your breath in dread; the kind of Silence that anticipates the inconceivable; the kind of Silence that bows before Him Who Is Holy, Holy, Holy; the kind of Silence that bellows time has run out; the kind of Silence that screams the Wrath of the Lamb has come.
And the seventh seal opens up another “sevenfold numbered series of judgments,” the seven trumpets; and several evoke images of the plagues God called down upon Egypt. “References to the Egyptian plagues suggest that in Revelation we have the final exodus of God’s people from the bondage of a world controlled by hostile powers,” NIV Study Bible.
But… before the hail and fire mixed with blood (8:7); before a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea (8:8); before a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch (8:10); before a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter (8:11); before a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened (8:12); before an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!” (8:13)… Before all that… there was the Silence.
I have no words. Today, I invite you to ponder all this with me, as we open His God-Breathed Word to consider Him in the Silence.
Consider Him in the Silence
“He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail,” (1 Samuel 2:9).
Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced, (Isaiah 25:5).
“Sit silently, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called
The queen of kingdoms,” (Isaiah 47:5).
The elders of the daughter of Zion
Sit on the ground, they are silent.
They have thrown dust on their heads;
They have girded themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Have bowed their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail because of tears,
My spirit is greatly troubled;
My heart is poured out on the earth
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
When little ones and infants faint
In the streets of the city, (Lamentations 2:10-11).
For the LORD is going to devastate Babylon; He will silence her mighty voice. Their waves roar like abundant waters; the tumult of their voice resounds, (Jeremiah 51:55).
The songs of the palace will turn to wailing in that day,” declares the Lord God. “Many will be the corpses; in every place they will cast them forth in silence,” (Amos 8:3).
Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God, (Romans 3:19 ISV).
How do we respond to Him in the Silence?
Be silent before the LORD and wait expectantly for Him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the man who carries out evil plans, (Psalm 37:7 HCSB).
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10 ESV).
My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation…
5 My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him, (Psalm 62:1, 5).
If the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence, (Psalm 94:17).
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
26 It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord, (Lamentations 3:25-26).
“But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him,” (Habakkuk 2:20).
Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near… (Zephaniah 1:7).