Thirty Minutes of Silence

 The thirty minutes of silence in Revelation 8 has always seemed to be a mystery to people. There have been a number of interpretations, some stretching the half hour into a much longer period of time. One of the things that I have discovered when trying to understand Revelation is that much of what is going on reflects laws or rules that God gave in the Torah, and some also reflect actual customs and traditions of Jesus' day. As an example, the first one that becomes readily apparent is when Christ opens the seals. If one is familiar with the process of redeeming the land, according to the Law, and then is familiar with the customs of Jesus' day that developed out of the Law, one immediately sees that Christ is going through the temple ritual of land redemption. He is at the throne of God.  He presents Himself as the kinsman redeemer (for if a person could not pay the price for the property redemption, a kinsman could), the only person in heaven and earth, who could and did pay the price of redemption with His shed blood. As He has paid the price, He is given the scroll, (the mortgage on the property) and proceeds to break the seals. The seals indicate conditions, for conditions could be set, as well as a redemption price. 

This is how a mortgage was redeemed in the temple days. A kinsman redeemer would go to the temple, where these documents were kept, would present himself publicly on the temple porch as the kinsman redeemer, would pay the price of the debt owed, then the scroll containing the mortgage agreement and conditions of redemption was given to him. He would then, in front of everyone, break the seals one at a time, which contained the conditions of the redemption, and fulfill each condition. As each one was fulfilled, he would break the next, etc. until all the seals were broken, and all the conditions met. When the last seal was broken, it was clear that the land was going to revert back to the redeemer, but he could not take possession of the property until the last condition was met or finalized. This was the only way of redeeming land until the year of Jubilee, when all property reverted back to the original owners, but that was only every fifty years, which was a long time to lose control of the property. That is why, when the seventh seal conditions are met (the six trumpets) Christ plants His feet on the land and sea and declares it all finished. The redemption process in its entirety is finished. Both the redemption of mankind (which happened at the cross and resurrection) and the redemption of the world. The mortgage has been redeemed, the property is now His, and He will reign from this point on.

When we get to the silence in heaven, for many years I have puzzled over what this might mean. It was not until this past year that I stumbled upon a temple ordinance and some of the traditions that accompany it, that enlightened me as to what was going on here.

In the temple there were the morning and evening sacrifices by God's command. At the time of the sacrifices, a priest had to enter the temple and offer incense upon the altar in front of the Holy of Holies. This incense was a special mixture for which God had given them a recipe. This recipe was not to be used for anything but this particular offering. Nor was any other incense to be offered. To do so was a capital offense, as Aaron's sons found out when the offered strange incense before the Lord and He struck them dead. 

The people who are preparing for the next temple in Jerusalem have some particles of incense from back in the temple days, which they discovered and analyzed. They finally were able to replicate the recipe and found that it is incredibly potent. In fact, with the amount they would have offered twice a day at the evening and morning sacrifices, the aroma would have permeated the air a good 18 miles away. One can only imagine with that strength how potent it would have been in Jerusalem, and especially around the temple. But God knew what He was doing. Considering the number of animals slaughtered, and how the stench would have been unbearable given no refrigeration, the heat, etc. this would have covered the odor making it bearable to be at the temple and even in the city. Plus, it has the added benefit of repelling insects, which otherwise would have been all over the carcasses.  Now, because of the amount of incense used, the smoke of the incense would go up for approximately half an hour, and during that half hour there would be a period of silence when everything and everyone at the temple would come to a stop and the people there would pray silently during that half hour. The people at the temple would wait for the priest offering the incense to come back out of the temple indicating the acceptance of their prayers. It is possible that even the people in the city would halt what they were doing and pray. That is exactly what happens in Revelation 8. 

Revelation 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

While this (just as the seven seals) does not exactly look like what transpired in the earthly temple, the form of the activity is there that tells us to what it corresponds. The mention of the thirty minutes makes us look to the offering of incense at the time of the sacrifice. What has just occurred? The great tribulation, in which an untold number of Christians have been martyred. They have sacrificed themselves, for they would not deny Christ. It is a sacrifice to God. So now an angel takes a golden censer which has much incense (to cover the stench of death which has occurred and will be occurring from this point on) and it is offered at the altar which sits before the throne of God, which is as the incense was offered in the temple, at the altar before the Holy of Holies which held the ark of the covenant, or God's throne on earth. Along with the incense is offered the prayers of the saints, which come before God. Just as the prayers of people accompanied the offering of incense at the temple.

Now, unlike the earthly temple, there are a couple other things going on here. Seven trumpets are given to seven angels, who are going to sound, bringing horrific things to the earth. And the angel who offers the incense fills the censer with fire from the altar and casts it to the earth, symbolizing the events which will unfold as the trumpets are blown. 

I believe the timing of this silence is because the martyrs from the great tribulation have arrived before the throne. There has been a great sacrifice and now there will be more death. I do not believe the trumpets are God's wrath (as anyone who reads my blog will realize) but the final conditions that were agreed upon for the redemption of the property or earth. They are in the seventh seal. First the blood of the saints was allowed to be sacrificed, and now the very land of the earth will be sacrificed, as it is devastated by the events that will transpire. Satan's desire is to own all of us and the planet, but if he can't have it, and by this time he knows his time is very short, and he is filled with great wrath against us and the world itself, he hopes to destroy it all, so that God cannot have it either. He has done his best to destroy God's people, and now he will destroy the land as well. I believe this is being allowed by God as a punishment upon mankind for the sake of repentance. It is not His wrath yet, for that is announced with the bowls when Christ returns, but punishment, as He inflicted upon Israel for their apostasy and sins, in an attempt to get them to turn back to Him and repent. We see that at the end of the sixth trumpet, just before the seventh and last trumpet sounds, announcing Christ's return and God's wrath, it is said that people still will not repent of their sins. So, this was an attempt or last-ditch effort, or one last chance for them to repent. If this was God's wrath, there would be no option for repentance, and yet it is indicated that they could have, if they would have. Repentance is irrelevant once God's wrath begins.

It is also appropriate for a moment of silence before the six trumpets of the seventh seal are poured out, as this is the very last seal, the last chance for repentance, before there is no more chance. It is a serious moment.