Walking With Christ

Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.(ESV)

Anyone who has ever been to a larger city and spent any time there knows that such places are never silent. The idea of a whole city being completely silent for more than half a heartbeat is unsettling. I live about thirty miles from the next good sized city and it’s rarely quiet where I’m at. If people aren’t making some kind of noise then it’s animals of some sort. Even when the animals all agree to be quiet for a second or two, there is almost always some wind or something that is rustling the leaves in the trees or causing the limbs to creak. Those rare moments, even where I live, that are completely silent for a few seconds brings a nervous anticipation that causes the brain to immediately start looking for the danger sign that was missed or the world changing event that got the whole area to pay attention for a moment.

This pregnant pause almost attacks the central nervous system and demands that we pay attention for the sake of survival. Any creature that misses the cues in the silence of everything around runs the risk of becoming the target of the source, creature or object, that is the reason for the pause.

In heaven, there is a large multitude of angels who do nothing but praise God with every moment of their existence. There is constant movement and noise. There is always activity going on. Yet, in the verse above, we see this elongated moment of silence. The universe itself holds it’s breath. It could be shock over what was just done through the opening of the seven seals. I think it’s more out of awed anticipation over what is about to come.

With the seals being opened, God’s wrath is about to be poured out on all of creation. The world is about to see a small portion of God’s wrath. I didn’t say anger. It’s hard to claim that God is even angry at this point since this was predicted before the world began. This was a known event that would absolutely happen exactly as it was promised. No, I don’t think it’s feasible to claim that God is angry when the earth is being destroyed. It’s more like He is just walking out the promise of destruction that was the only logical conclusion to this story.

This verse in particular has always stood out to me in Revelation. The idea of silence in heaven is one of the most shocking verses in the entire bible for me.

What are some of your most stand out verses?