Silence in Heaven

Have your Bibles with you, Jack Turner think you would to Revelation chapter 8 will be looking at verses 135. Revelation 8 verses 135 when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about 1/2 an hour.

Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden sensor. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the St. Rose before God from the hand of the angel and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth.

There were peals of thunder rumbling flashes of lightning, and an earthquake, spray heavenly father we stand before you today in absolute all. As we look at the passage of Scripture that we are dealing with. Father, we are amazed at what you had to tell us heavenly father, we are being given here a picture of coming judgment and we would ask heavenly father that you help us that we might not fear you as as they young boy with fear of horrible father Lord, that we might fear you in the way we would fear a good and godly and righteous father. Heavenly father, we would ask today that you be with my brother David Wilson is Charles Robison is shared with me that David is a pastor who baptized both Charles and myself. I has been hurt and he's had a bad fall in broken several ribs and as got got a big gash in the back of his neck. We would ask father that you have mercy on him and helping to a speedy recovery. I thank you Lord for that man's ministry and how he for years and years and years has been faithful to proclaim the gospel. Heavenly father take the passes that were looking at today. Open it up to our eyes and spiritual ears, may we understand what you had to say and may it result in us. Loving you more and be more faithful to you and it's Jesus holy and precious thing we pray. Amen. You may be seated. A famous English journalist Bernard Levin was a man who had a very deep passionate love for classical music on one particular occasion he went to a a recital where they were planned that the songs of Franz Schubert and the music was absolutely moving in just very emotional and the recital finally came to an end and he says it was very unusual response from those that were there to hear a said most response and in most concerts, when the performances ended they'll be loud shouts and and great applause said that's not what happened here, and these this this is what he had to say about it. On this occasion the audience sat in silence. Finally, steel all by the music they rose and quietly departed. Silence is rare in our sound subculture at its most powerful silence is not merely the absence of noise but a profound steel deep experience in which one can sense aspects of reality which are normally drowned out by chatter and babble. Sometimes silence is louder than words. If you were here last week. You remember that we were looking at heaven and it was a noisy passage, for they are in heaven, there was great shouts and and rejoicing and praising and and joyful singing and just a lot of beautiful glorious noise and that's what was going on. They are that's a picture of us brothers and sisters. It was a picture of us in heaven one day it's a picture of us standing before this great God in absolute all, with eyes wide open in amazement as were looking at this great God and worse were standing there and and and then we begin to shout praises doing and what are we praising him for we are praising him for the sovereignty of God over our salvation and we are lifting them up and we are saying praise to you, oh heavenly father for salvation belongs to you are father who is on the throne and to the Lamb in this postmodern culture in which we are living today where we've got self-help positive thinking. It's all about me churches popping up everywhere. What is their message. What are they saying I think they're saying something like this. Don't worry about sin. Don't think about hail that the attribute of God's love trumps all of his other attributes.

So Jesus is lucky to have you on his side. I think that's the message that we hear from these churches. Somebody asked me last week to Doug why is it that there are not many people preaching on the book of Revelation. Today I think one of the reasons is because it's written in apocalyptic literature and it is hard to deal with this difficult understand nothing more than that. I think the content of the book of Revelation is what a lot of people don't like for what is the content is this God is sovereign. Hail Israel judgment is certain sin damns the soul persecution is a certainty for those who live godly in Christ Jesus, and Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God is the only hope of salvation, but I world I don't hear that our culture just mocks those principles.

People who don't understand the depths of the bad news will never get too excited about the glory of the good news.

The picture of the believers in heaven praising God with shouts of adoration and thanksgiving for his sovereignty over our salvation. Audibly what's happening in this church every single Sunday so we ought to be doing these believers in heaven. Have you ever watched the loss being ushered in to eternal judgment. And they are observing this, they watched in their say in it. They've seen the tears and in the eyes of these people. They have seen the horror in their expression.

They have seen in and heard the sobs all on their lips what they are thinking is, except for the grace of God we would be right where they are, but we need to remember that except for the grace of God. You and I would be headed in that direction, but were not because of the blood of Jesus I want you to feel that gratitude to Christ. I want you to sense the honor that he is being paid to this great Jesus, there's no pride there's no boasting there's no bragging here, nuts, none whatsoever, that they are no shouts of of excitement for them sales. Instead, they're saying God, you did it all for God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, God the father. You decreed our salvation, God the son, you accomplished our salvation by dying for us on the cross, God the Holy Spirit you quickened us and brought us to life so that we might repent and believe the gospel, salvation belongs to the father on the throne and to the Lamb and is there shouting that in heaven the angels are listening and all of a sudden the Angels quit listening and they start shouting and praising them sales and they say this.

Amen.

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever man but today we moved to another scene in and that's in chapter 8 of the book of Revelation in here in this chapter, the Scripture says that there is that there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

All the music stops all the singing stops all the shouting stops and all the creatures that are there in heaven. Believers angels all of us that will be there will be absolutely silence in the light of the power of God's judgment.

William Hendrickson said this at the coming of God's final wrath is so fearful and awful that the inhabitants of heaven stand spellbound loss. For a time and breathless and silent amazement, but I don't like to talk about hail. I don't like to preach on hail. I don't like to think about hail. I don't like to contemplate hail. I just don't even like to deal with the subject of hail, but I want you know the one who died for me on the cross, the one who shed his precious blood to pay for my salvation spoke twice as much about hail as he did about heaven. Jesus spoke about hail more than all the other New Testament writers combined but hail is a place of separation there will be no friends to converse with, there will be no conscious presence of God. Hell is a place of torment. It's a place of solitude. It's a place of of loneliness. It's a place of separation.

It's a place of darkness. It's a place of agony but but the worst thing about hail I believe will be that it's a place of memory people in hail will remember every sermon they've ever heard.

There were member every gospel tract, they have a red there were member every person that ever share the gospel with them and they were member every thought they ever had.

There were member have a thought my I love my sin so much that I don't want repent. I love my sin more than I love Jesus. No wonder there was silence in heaven, though the lost are being ushered into eternal judgment here in the believers are there and they are observing this take place there watching this happen there singing this take place. Now the believers will be in their new glorified bodies, the believers will have an eradicated sin nature.

They will have a renewed mind.

First Corinthians chapter 13 verse 12 says this for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part but then Shawna fully, even as I have been fully known. In other words, our wisdom in heaven is going to be clear, all these things that happens down here on earth that seemed so unclear and so fuzzy to us that we didn't understand will be made perfectly clear and will understand that perfectly in heaven. I used to wonder how could I stand it if I had to watch a loved one sent to eternal judgment. How can I how can a liver that happened I stand it was a brother or sister spouse, a son or daughter a person that I had witnessed to over and over again what would that be totally unbearable in the answer that is no listener what God says in Revelation 21 four he says that he will wipe away every tear.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. People have said to me Doug how can I be happy in heaven if I have a loved one in hail. I think this is the way our minds are to be so Christlike that we will realize that God's judgment is perfect and righteous and always absolutely right. Also, the Scripture says that the former things will be passed away. What is that mean I believe there's a possibility that the Lord will remove the thoughts of these people from our minds and so to our minds.

It will be as if they never existed. So I fully understand the silence. It is a solemn serious time of all. In reflection this look at the passage itself for points that I will share with you this morning. First of all the seals the trumpets and the bowls. Look at verses one and two, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about 1/2 hour. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Last week I shared with you about the danger in trying to read the book of Revelation as a at as a chronological and a chronological set sequential history don't read it that way don't read it as a chronological sequential of future prophecy. Don't read it that way. We need to be reading the book of Revelation broken down into seven certain sections of Scripture and each one of those sections represent the same thing. It represents the church age. From the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ, but it gives to us each preceding section gives to us a different angle and a different perspective in which to view the church age. That's what's going on. I think Richard Phillips did a great job in explaining this idea of the trumpets and the the seals the trumpets and the bowls.

He said this, the cycles of sales trumpets and Bowls are parallel representations of similar scenes of judgment. This reminds us not to read Revelation, like a history book of the future, we would do better to read it as a play, actually a musical put on by the angels of heaven for our benefit. With its different scene showing us important features of history from heaven's perspective, we might think of Revelation as a symphony, with its main melody of judgment, salvation, working through each movement. There are variations on the melody within the various cycles reflecting the different materials of the Old Testament, for which John is drawing in chapter 7, John alludes to the ceiling of the faithful servants depicted in Ezekiel 9. The trumpet judgments of chapter 8 will reminisce on the fall of Jericho and the plagues inflicted on Egypt and the Exodus.

Therefore, while the cycles cover the same ground, they do so from different angles with the ever increasing intensity. The theme of the seven seals is God's restraint of judgment for the sake of the church. The seven trumpets announced the victory of God's judgments over the world. The seven bowls depict the wrath of God's judgment after which the loud voice shouts from the throne exalting. It is done .2 is the angels look with me at first.

Verse two. Then I saw the angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. I think there's a tendency for us in our day and time to overlook or at least downplay the ministry of angels when we have this idea because angelic ministry, for the most part is not visible to our human eye that that means that they just don't exist. And so we don't think about it.

We don't consider what angels do and we don't consider really what the Scripture has to say about them. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18 verse 10 see that you do not despise one of these little ones brought tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father who is in heaven. This is where the idea of guardian angels comes from our their angels that are assigned to God's people to protect them, to watch over them and to give them guidance on share story with you. True story, but a missionary from Uganda. He was going to a particular tribe to share the gospel. The chief of that tribe found out that he was coming and the chief went to his soldiers and said I want you to go want you to apprehend him and executing well. It wasn't long before the missionary walked right into the camp as if nothing had happened at all. He went gathered up a great number of people share the gospel with them and many of these people came to Christ that she found out about this and was furious and he went to the missionary said how did you get in here and he said I walked in here they said what where were my soldiers. He said I didn't see any of your soldiers and they were shocked, so he is the chief went to his soldiers and he was furious. He said I told you to execute this man and they begin to cry and they said you just don't know what happened said we were right there waiting for him to come and as we saw him coming there was a circle of soldiers around him huge men holding swords in their hand and the roads were on fire. They said we were absolutely paralyzed with fear. We couldn't do anything now. The missionary never saw any of that. He had no idea what was going on with those soldiers saw it and they feared and they did nothing the chief said to the missionary tell me about your God, and they shared the guy share the gospel with him and he came to know Christ as his Lord and Savior.

When I heard that story my mind went back immediately to Hebrews chapter 1 verse seven and 14 says God makes his angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire. Are they the angels not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who were to inherit salvation.

I think of the angel that came to Peter when he was in prison and he came to Peter and he he went right through that the gate in any open the gate for Peter and he took his chains and shackles often and led them out to freedom. I think of Jesus who was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, he was fasting and praying he was under terrible temptation from Satan himself. And when the all that was over with the Scripture says that the angels came and they ministered to him. I think of Mary Magdalena at the tomb of Jesus on resurrection morning and it was an angel that he combated roll the stone away and then the angel spoke to Mary Magdalena said fear not, be not afraid he is not here he is risen. I think of the angel Gabriel that came to to Joseph and assured Joseph that his wife had been faithful to him that she will was carrying the virgin born son of God, and he said to him, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. But still, we think the Angels went on vacation after the first century. Is that what happened to him on the the angelic ministry is still alive and well in heaven. I think were gonna be shot we find out all the times that they protected us and in times that we did. Even though we needed protection but angelic ministry is prominent in the book of Revelation is very interesting that we see angelic ministry. Also in times it is in connection with prayer and that takes us to the third point and that is the purposes of God in prayer. Look at verse three and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden sensor. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne great emphasis here on prayer. We are told that when Christians pray fire is cast down on this earth. What is the book of Revelation point is to prayer. I think it does because I think so often when we are faced with sin and evil.

We think we got everything we need to take care of it.

We think buyer strength buyer ability by our ingenuity will be able to handle it. And when we go immediately to that and we try to handle it in our own strength. Most the time we just forget about the greatest resource that we have and that greatest resource that we have is prayer Tuesday morning is working on the sermon. I was right at this point and I was trying to to come up in my mind and think of. What's the best way to help this congregation to understand how terribly we misunderstand prayer and all of a sudden there was a ping on my telephone and that was a text for my son Mitch and Mitch had sent me a thing to read and I started reading it was all about prayer. His his wife Lori had sent it to him that morning touched his heart and so he sent it to me. Found out that Lori been reading this in her devotional. This meant that morning and she sent it to Mitch and Mitch gave me exactly what I wanted to share with you. Let me read this to you. Sometimes I marvel at how long we can struggle in a situation before we think to talk to God about it and listen for his voice. We complain about our problems, we grumble.

We murmur we tell our friends we talk about how we wish God would do something about it. We struggle with situations in our minds and our emotions. While we often fail to take advantage of the simplest solution. There is prayer but worse than that.

We then make perhaps the most ridiculous statement known to man.

Well, I guess all I can do is pray.

I'm sure you've heard that before.

And maybe it's the even seen it or said it. We all have. We are all guilty of treating prayers a last-ditch effort and saying things like, well, nothing else is working so maybe we should pray, do we know what that tells me it tells me that we really do not believe in the power of prayer as we should. We carry burdens we do not need to bear in life is much harder than it has to be because we do not realize how powerful prayer is if we did we would talk to God and listen to what he says about everything.

Not as a last resort, but as a first response on Shearson biblical examples about prayer.

Second Chronicles chapter 23 enemy armies that came up against Judah, the ammonites, the Moabites and the Midianites and their number was absolutely staggering. They greatly powerfully outnumbered the people of Judah, it looked like certain defeat for Judah look like they had no chance at all and Jehoshaphat, the king called his people to a day of fasting and prayer, and they did pray and then Jehoshaphat went before the Lord himself and any just throw himself before God, and he began to cry out to the Lord and he said Lord would you avenge our enemies against us.

Don't let them win.

And then he prayed this.

He said the Lord, we don't have any might and we don't have any power and we don't know what to do harm eyes are on you and the Lord responded back to Jehoshaphat and said do not be afraid, and do not dismay over this Lord large horde of soldiers for this battle is belongs to God not to you.

This battle is the Lord's. Then God told Jehoshaphat put away their weapons is to get your hymnals out. They said were not gonna send out soldiers will send out the choir and he said this is the song I want you to sing as you go out into the go out before these enemy armies, and this was the song give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever is they begin to sing that beautiful song as they begin to go out marching and singing praises to God, what happened will the enemy armies got confused and they slightly quit. The quit fighting against Judah and they started fighting against each other and it wasn't long before they had wiped out each other completely. And Judah never lifted a finger post. God answered Jehoshaphat's prayer Lord, we don't have any might. We don't have any power. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you ever pray that way you ever just acknowledge Lord I don't know what to do, but I'm trusting you.

Who is that my sovereign God who knows everything there is to know to give me guidance and direction or we need to pray that way. Another example is Hezekiah and 701 BC the vernacular, who is the king of Syria sent a huge army.

His army to Judah to try to take their land and he was gonna make them force them to hand over the land of Judah and their people to him and so this inactive sentiment, and many many soldiers came in of the soldiers of Israel were gathered together within the walls of Jerusalem scared to death that they will be annihilated by all the soldiers and then snack room had a messenger. Harold and this Harold stood up on the wall. He began to shout out to the people of Judah, and he mock the people of Judah, and he begin the blasting the name of the Lord God Jehovah and says so Hezekiah took the demands that snack or be given him, and he took those demands and he went into the temple, and he laid them out before the Lord, and he begin to pray to listen to his prayer.

He said Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim.

You are the God you alone of all the kings of the earth. You've made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, Lord, and here open your eyes are Lord and see and hear all the words it's inaccurate, which is sent to mock the living God. Truly a Lord the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their land and it they cast their gods into the fire, there were no they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they were destroyed. So now our Lord our God save us from his hand that all the kings of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.

The result was what the result was that Hezekiah woke up the next morning and there were hundred and 80,000 Assyrian soldiers that were laying dead on the outskirts of the city of Jerusalem who killed them one Angel. The Scripture tells us killed 180,000 Assyrian soldiers boats that's amazing.

I think of a modern-day example and that would be the church that the Chinese house church movement is, you realize that at this point in time they reach over 100 million people hundred million people headed to get started. I got started when communism took over China and they just drove all the missionaries out.

They expel them and they brought took their own Christian pastors and they put them in prison and they put them in prison for up time of 20 years. During those 20 years. The, the pastors that were imprisoned did exactly what John was doing when he was on the island of Patmos. They prayed and boy did they pray.

I think it was something like the prayer of the martyrs in Revelation 6, who said, oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood.

Many of the guards and in the prison that were watching over these pastors came in a crisis are Lord and Savior, and after 20 years of prayer. When they finally were released and they stepped out on the land. They stepped out on the boats to two prayer soaked soul in China and those people were ready to hear the gospel. Most people were hungry to hear about Jesus and many of them.

Many of them came to Christ hundred million people in the Chinese house church movement several years ago RTS Prof. Douglas Kelly preached in this pulpit on one of our prior Presbytery meetings and he shared an illustration. He was preaching on prayer in shared illustration that morning that touched my heart. Then, and he got it from his commentary. They wrote of the book of Revelation as of this week on my study I was reading this commentary came across at illustration again.

It touched my heart when he shared it with us at the Presbytery meeting touched my heart again this week is what he said while we cannot be certain about all the details. It appears that the coming down of the Berlin wall and eight in 1989 and the implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991 were the answers of God to the prayers of the suffering people on earth. It was as though fire was cast onto the earth and burned away. The Berlin wall and broke up the horrendous power the Kremlin. Some media reports indicate that the final events of the coming down of the Berlin wall were directly connected to prayer meetings Lutheran young people in the huge lipstick church where Johan Sebastian Bach had been compromised or had begun having prayer meetings for five nights a week. Then the Roman Catholics join them as well as you from other denominations. Eventually the parent started coming so they fill up the church they spilled into the town square, praying for God to do something about this terrible regime which Eric Honecker which were under Herrick Honecker.

Word spread to what was then East Berlin and another Lutheran church feel that the same way and then the city square around the church, the government became very worried it was illegal to have a meeting in East Germany more than 10 people without government permission. But here were assembled over 5000 people for five nights a week, praying for God to do something about the government. The government taught in the schools. There is no God but they got very nervous when the Christian started talking to God about them. The dictator of East Germany called out to the troops to surrender this prayer meeting.

In doing so he made a mistake. He called East German troops instead of foreigners. He had not taken into account that a lot of the soldiers had children, wise mothers and fathers who were in that prayer meeting. Furthermore, they knew that no moral law had been broken by these people are praying. Then when the dictator gave command to the troops to open fire.

The troops refused to obey the dictator was out of a job immediately. The next day the wall came down. Revelation 8 says that when the Saints pray fire is cast onto the earth. My last point is getting through to God versus 335.

Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden sensor. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the St. Rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder rumbling's flashes of lightning and earthquake carry weight is an English pastor and he traveled to Beirut, Lebanon in 1980 he wanted to try to negotiate with Muslim terrorist who had kidnapped many Christian missionaries and had them in prison you want to try to negotiate with him when he got there they kidnapped him and they put them in prison and he was there for five years. During that time his family, his friends, his relatives, people didn't even knowing by sending correspondence by sending letters and and that that they sending telegrams they sending postcards.

All this different kind of correspondence for those five years, not one piece of correspondence came to him. Except one little postcard from a lady that he didn't even know now that's interesting they got no correspondence at all. I'll be honest with you folks.

I think there many people that view prayer that way they think it's not gonna do any good. God doesn't care.

God doesn't hear God's not good answer and we have that attitude that causes us not to pray as we should. Revelation chapter 8 we have a vision that tells us that those feelings and those thoughts are lies the problem we face is that our prayers are defective and they are sometimes selfish in their sometimes foolish. That's why the incense is needed say all the that the combination of the prayers incense here. The incense is offered by hoots offered by the priest and the incense symbolizes the purification of our prayers so that they will be acceptable unto God knows who is our high priest high priest is Jesus Christ what is Jesus do, he mediates for us. He intercedes for us at the throne of God the father and you know what he knows every desire that we have. He knows every need that we have. He also knows exactly what's best for us. So he prays through us to the power of his Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 8 verse 26 says that likewise the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. We do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Derek Thomas said our prayers rise with the Spirit's power.

The sons mediation and the assistance of the Angels. John comes to the end of his book into Revelation and he ends his book by praying. And what is a pray.

He prays this way.

Even so, Lord Jesus, and what is Jesus say Jesus says Jesus is this Shirley I am coming soon brothers and sisters. My prayer is that that will happen soon for us. I know what's going to happen, but it may happen for us what what your prayer life like how you praying.

You believe that God answers you believe the cares you believe that he wants you to pray his Holy Spirit will help you to pray it will help you to pray because you don't know exactly what you need to pray like Jehoshaphat, we don't have any, might we don't have any power and we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you all are.

Help us to be people of prayer is pray for Jesus, we thank you for this precious passage of Scripture that is calling us to be people of prayer we ask heavenly father that you help us that we might be a people who are very quick to go to you first, and father, help us, that we might realize that we don't have any strength and we don't have any might and we don't have any power would we don't even know what to do but help us Lord, that we might always know that her eyes are on you Jesus, we thank you for loving us.

We thank you for dying for us. We thank you Lord your promise that you're coming back. Lord, how we look forward to that day and we pray this prayer in Jesus precious name.

Amen