Revelation 8:1-6
Heaven’s Lockdown
Have you ever seen anything that has never happened before?
Until a month ago, I would have said most probably had not; but then
a coronavirus hit and the whole world shut down. I don’t suppose that
has ever happened before; but before that, I would dare to say that
while you may have seen something that was new to you, many people
had not seen anything that no one else had seen.
My generation got to see something new. On July 21, 1969, I had been
outside playing and went into a friend’s house and watched Neil
Armstrong take the first steps on the moon.
Our text describes something that, I believe, has never happened
before.
Rev 8:1 And when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space of
half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before
God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 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.
4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with
the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God
out of the angel’s hand.
5 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.
6 And the seven angels which had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
This is something that I far as I know, has never happened before and
I don’t think it will ever happen again. I am only going to have two
main thoughts this morning.
I. \\#1\\ Hushed Silence
A. The silence happens after the seventh seal is open.
1. That associates the silence with the opening of the seal.
2. Whatever is involved in the seventh seal causes everyone
and everything to be silent in heaven for half an hour.
3. Half an hour may seem little to us, but what we need to
consider is that during that time, even no praise is
offered to God.
a. Since the first voice was created that could praise
God, I doubt that there has even been a time when
praise to God was not being offered.
b. In fact, praise may well have been the reason God
created voice, and music, and sound to begin with.
4. This silence is not just big. It is very big!
B. What is the seventh seal? What is the scope of it?
1. The seventh seal is everything that will happen from this
point until Jesus returns to the earth in Revelation 19 to
carry out His final judgment and to establish His kingdom.
2. That may sound like an overstatement, but we just read that
when the seventh seal is broken, seven angels could out
with seven trumpets and prepare to blow them.
3. Those seven trumpets are seven more judgments, so the
seventh seal means that seven new judgments begin.
4. However, the seventh trumpet will cause seven more angels
to come out with seven vials of judgment which they will
pour out.
5. Hence, seven more new judgments.
6. And somewhere in the middle of the trumpets and the vials;
seven thunders will utter their voice, and three angels
will pronounce their woes, and maybe another judgment or
two will fall on the earth.
7. That means because this seal is broken, at least 19 more
judgments will occur.
8. All of those judgments flows out of the seventh seal.
9. If the seventh seal is not broken, none of those judgments
would happen; but because the seventh seal is broken, all
of them will.
10. So the seventh seal unleashes all of the remaining
judgments of God on the earth.
11. Heaven knows that, so once the seal is broken, everyone and
everything in heaven stops and hushes for 30 minutes.
C. I suppose we could call it a moment of silence, reverence, or
acknowledgement that what has just happened is indeed a
solemn thing.
1. Although everyone in heaven wants to see justice on sin;
nobody there wants to see the death, the destruction, and
the bad that is going to be unleashed on this planet
during the Tribulation.
2. That includes God.
3. That is why even though Adam and Eve sinned thousands of
years ago, God unto this very day, has not carried out
the judgment that He promised them.
4. However, with each passing day that the human race has
sinned against God and God held back the just judgment
of sin, the cauldron of His wrath has boiled hotter and
hotter.
5. Hence, when it is kicked over, it will be a fearsome time
for certain.
D. I do not know if what I am about to say is true or not. It is
just a thought that came to me.
1. I wonder if hell gets a little bit worse with each passing
day?
2. It is hard to image a place like hell getting worse, isn’t
it?
3. Those of this generation have had thousands of years of
preaching, of miracles, of possessing the complete Bible,
of going to churches where the truth has been preached,
of being witnessed to by dozens—perhaps hundreds of
people, and the list goes on and on.
4. Many did not get any of that.
5. Does it not stand to reason that we who have had so much
opportunity should have to pay a greater price for
offending God than those who did not?
6. Is that what Jesus meant when He said:
Luke 12:48 For unto whomsoever much is given,
of him shall be much required….
7. I love to preach and I am glad for every person who will
listen; but if you are not going to get saved, part of
me is sadden that your accountability to God has
increased.
8. The answer to your dilemma is not to quit listening but to
repent of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ!
II. \\#3-5\\ A Golden Altar
A. This is not the first time we have seen an altar in this Book.
B. \\#Rev 6:9-11\\, when the fifth seal was opened, the souls
under an altar cried out for justice for their deaths.
C. I told you some things about the altar then that I need to
remind you of now. I told you:
1. A heavenly altar is mentioned six times in the book of
Revelation. \\#Rev 6:9, 8:3, 8:5, 11:1, 14:18. 16:17\\
(Of course, we are at the second reference to the altar
now.)
2. To understand the New Testament, we must understand the
Old Testament.
3. Based on the Old Testament, I believed we are discussing
two DIFFERENT altars in the book of Revelation.
4. And that I believed the altar mentioned in Revelation 5
was the bloody burnt offering where the sacrifices were
offered in the Old Testament.
D. However based on the Old Testament, I do not believe this is
the burnt and bloody altar of sacrifice.
1. There was another altar in the Old Testament called the
Altar of Incense.
a. It was gold.
b. It stood just inside the Holy Place of the Tabernacle
and the Temple, which was a close to the presence of
God as it could be and still be maintained by human
hands.
c. Incense was offered on it.
d. All just like this one.
2. Animals were never sacrificed on the Altar of Incense;
however in some sacrifices, the blood of the sacrifice
might be smeared on the horns that were made into the
four corners of that Altar of Incense.
3. The priests were required to keep a flame on the Altar of
Incense 24/7—it was too never go out. \\#Ex 30:8\\
4. That flame burnt a special incense.
a. God Himself gave the formula for that incense.
\\#Ex 30:34-38\\.
b. No one else could make it and if they did, they were
to be "cut off from the people of Israel"
\\#Ex 30:34\\.
(1) I have never quite figured out if that phrase
meant killed or kicked out of the land.
(2) Either way, it was a severe punishment.
E. The Old Testament Jews came to understand that the incense
was the prayers of the saints being sent into the presence
of God.
1. Notice that is the case specifically told us here.
Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came
with the prayers of the saints, ascended up
before God out of the angel’s hand.
2. So in the Old Testament, the Altar of Incense was a
picture that the righteous prayers of every saint went
to God while what we have in Revelation is the actual
fact that our righteous prayer hover around the head of
God like incense until they are answered.
(a) Sometimes we wonder if God hears our prayers, but we
can rest assured that if we are praying in God’s
will, He does.
(b) A righteous prayer does not get ignored or lost.
(c) Sometimes we just prayed early, but those prayers
have been stored in the heart of God like a sweet
fragrance and God will not forget until it is time
for your prayer to be answered.
F. But what does this judgment have to do with the prayers of the
saints?
1. This judgment does not just concern the prayers of the
saints, but the fiery burnt coals that kept the prayers
of the saints on God’s mind.
Rev 8:5 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.
2. The fire of an altar is always a picture of judgment.
a. It is the fire of God’s judgment that burnt the animal
sacrifice.
b. It is the fire of God’s judgment that lit the eyes and
ignited the feet of the Jesus John saw while he was
still on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1.
c. And it is the fire of God’s judgment that the angel
will reach into and scoop out of the Altar of
Incense and into a golden censor to pour it out upon
the earth!
3. What does this mean?
a. It means that the unanswered prayers for justice that
the saints of God have prayed for was about to be
poured out with fury and fire upon the earth.
(1) Remember the martyred saints that were under the
altar asking God how much longer until He
executed justice upon the earth for what the
world had done to them? (The fifth seal,
Revelation 6:9-11)
(2) Here it comes! With the seventh seal, God pours
it out!
(3) Someone says, "Preacher, I am a forgiving
Christian. I would never pray and ask God to
pour out vengeance for the wrongs done against
me."
(a) You don’t have to.
(b) God already promised that He would take care
of vengeance and justice. His just nature
demands that He do so.
(4) I am coming to believe something in this series
that I had not thought of before.
(a) The Tribulation is not just about God’s
wrath for sin against Him.
(b) It is also about God’s wrath for sin and
wrong against His people.
(c) When it comes to the wrongs against Him,
every individual will personally stand
before God and give a personal account.
(d) That is what the Great White Throne and the
Lake of Fire are all about.
(e) God did not need the Tribulation for that.
(f) But it is also about God judging the world
and the people on it for wrongs done to His
people.
b. I believe it is a foreshadowing that more prayers for
deliverance and justice are about to be sent to God
than ever before.
(1) The rapture removed all of the Christians, but
between the breaking of seal 6 and 7 (Rev 7),
the 144,000 were sealed and sent forth and I
believe great hosts are will be won to Christ
from that point forward.
(2) And although it will be the anti-Christ who will
persecute and slay them, he will use the people
of the world to do it.
(3) God is telling us, He will not forget.
What invitation does one give to a future message? God gave these
messages to tell us in advance what was going to happen so that we
could do something BEFORE the time arrives. What do you need to do?
You need to be saved. You need to get right and stay right with God.
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