And There Was Silence!
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(silence — just sit on a chair until its uncomfortably silent)
Silence isn’t comfortable is it? I think that is part of why we avoid it...
Think about it… In discussions, how often do we face silence?
Teachers, when you ask a question of your classroom, what do you do when they don’t immediately answer?
The same happens in Bible Study… The teacher/leader often asks a question, and when someone doesn’t quickly come back with an answer… we fill the need to provide one.
We have this weird innate need to fill the silence...
Think about it....
Our world is noisy! It’s busy… There is always something begging for our time....
How many of you have one of these? (hold up cellphone)
How many of you use this to use Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc....? (keep them up)
Now, how much time do you spend on them?
Now.... comparatively how much time do you spend alone, in silence, with God?
What if God spent the same amount of time on our prayers, as we do with Him?!
Think about it....
What if we went to our prayer closet, and got down on our knees, and began to pour out our heartfelt, deepest, soul-wrenching needs to God, and we heard this — “I’m sorry, We are experiencing a high volume of prayers at this time, you prayers are important to us, please stay on the line, and we will get to you as quickly as possible!”
Thank you Lord, that you do not do that!!!!
But, I think sometimes, that is us....
I sometimes feel like we have an answering machine for God… “Hello, it’s me again, God..here’s what I need… I’m sorry I am not available to talk right now, please leave a message at the beep, and I will get back to you as soon as possible…..”
You see, that’s what those quick one minute prayers are! You know the ones, they are the ones we throw up real quick through out the day, as things come up....
You know the ones.... God said, “Pray always.” (1 Thess. 5:17) and these are the little prayers that allow us to say we do that!
Church — that is not what God wants from us, and that is not what we need!!!!
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
There is something vital about getting alone with God, and spending time in prayer.
When we do: God hears us!
There are many people who don’t believe that. I know people personally who believe that God doesn’t hear them, or that He only hears them if they are praying for someone else, but not when they pray for themselves!
Why?!
Because of what they have seen in their lives...
It comes down to that age old question, that plagues us all: “Why do wicked people receive blessings?”
Even Job struggled with this question....
Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Their children are established in their presence, and their offspring before their eyes.
Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.
Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and never miscarries.
They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance around.
They sing to the tambourine and the lyre, and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
If we hear nothing else today, we need to hear this: Our prayers matter to God!
It sometimes seems as if they do not, but they do!
look at Rev. 8:1-5
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
This is such a powerful passage!
You see, we have see all kinds of things leading up to this in the book of Revelation.
We have seen creatures, elders, angels worshipping before the throne of God.
You do realize that Heaven is not a silent place, right?
Everywhere in scripture that we read about Heaven (with the exception of Rev. 21), we are confronted with
— “voices like the sound of waves on the sea”… “like trumpets”…
— with “rumblings and peals of thunder”.... “with flashes of lightning”....
— with the arch angels praising God day and night...
— with strange creatures singing “holy, holy, holy....”
— with elders and martyrs with harps singing a new song of praise before the throne....
— with the saints’ prayers rising like incense before the throne...
— with thousands upon thousands of other angels, and all of the creatures “in heaven and on the earth and under the sea” joining with the saints and elders in singing a new song to God....
But here.... Here… when the Lamb… When Christ opens the seventh seal on the scroll containing God’s final judgment on this broken world....
There is silence!
Complete and total silence in heaven...
John tells us:
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Think about that...
All the singing stopped… all the praise stopped… all the thunder and lightning… all the worship… all the music… all the busyness… just stopped!!!!
Instantly there was dead silence!
It’s like everything just sort of “froze in time.”
Why???
Because something important was about to happen…
Let me ask you something....
What happens when we pray? Honestly, what do you think happens?
As we said before, some people — all of us at times — may feel like our prayers go nowhere, that God either isn’t listening, or He just doesn’t care....
Especially when we pray for one thing, but we get the opposite!
I want you to hear this: Our prayers matter to God! You matter to God!
Look at what John sees next:
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.
The seven angels and the seven trumpets do not matter right now… The lone angel does not matter right now…
What He is carrying is central to the scene right now!
Our prayers — the prayers of the saints — take center stage!
God silences heaven to hear our prayers!
Notice that nothing else matters until the prayers of the saints are heard!!!!
Our prayers matter!
Our prayers are important to God!
Our prayers — every single one of them — come before the Throne of God!
Our prayers make a difference… even though it might not seem so at the time!
Let me tell you, our prayers can move mountains!
Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.
Our prayers matter to God!
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
God listens to the voice of His people.
Think about that....
In Gen 18:16-33, we find the story of God telling Abraham His plans to punish (destroy) Sodom and Gamorrah. And Abraham pleads for the cities!!!!
Why did God tell Abraham? Afterall, He didn’t need Abraham’s agreement, or permission, to destroy the cities...
God values the voice of His people. Abraham’s plea is not for the cities, but for God’s people, and God’s image....
Notice that God is moved by Abraham’s plea:
Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”
God values our voice.
In Exodus 32, we find Moses pleading with God for the lives of the Israelites after they built the Golden Calf....
The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.
Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
We know the rest of the story, Moses seems to prevail, God changes His mind.... God values our prayers. Our voice can move the Hand of God.
Again, notice that God did not need to talk to Moses, He didn’t need Moses’s permission, and Moses could not stop Him....
So, why did God tell him?
God desires to hear our voice… to hear our thoughts verbalized… before He acts.
And the list does not stop there....
— Jacob wrestled with God (Gen 32:22-32)
— Elijah prays for God to defeat the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:25-40)
— Hezekiah prayed for longer life, and got an extra 15 years! (2 Kings 20:1-11)
— Mary argued with Jesus about the miracle at the wedding in Cana… (John 2:1-12)
Our prayers matter to God!
But, we need to notice something....
Look back at our passage...
The angel mixes the prayers of the saints with the incense that was given to him, and they together went up before God....
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Nothing happens until the prayers of the saints are heard!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but rarely in scripture does God move until He hears the prayer of the faithful.
Our prayers matter to God!
Our Prayers are important!
Now, I want you to notice something here....
You see, we have to be aware of what we are praying for....
Rev. 8:6-12, The prayers are heard, the censor filled with the fire from the altar is then cast down to the earth, and then.... after the prayers are heard… the angels begin to blow their trumpets.
Notice that nothing happened until the prayers of the saints were heard.
Our Faithful Prayers move the hand of God...
We need to understand that.... And…
We need to be aware of what these first four trumpets are....
They mirror the plagues of Egypt....
— 1st —> Ex. 9:22-25 — Hail and fire
— 2nd/3rd —> Ex. 7:20-25 — the waters turned to blood
— 4th —> Ex. 10:21-23 — darkness
What were the plagues meant to do?
Change Pharaoh’s heart… bring repentance...
Look at exodus 10:3, this is before the 8th plague...
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
God’s desire was that Pharoah would repent!
It is the same here in Revelation.
Many people think that God is pouring out “judgment” on the earth, but that is not what the Trumpets are....
God is Love. Amen?
He loves everyone in the entire world, amen? John 3:16-17
God takes no delight in what is about to happen....
Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
God’s desire is repentance…
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
We need to be aware of God’s heart here, as well as the way in which the prayers of the saints are interacting.
You see, the censor, which is cast to the earth, is filled with the prayers of the saints set ablaze by the fire of the altar...
“More potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth.” — Torrance
We cannot simply say that the prayers were the cries of vengeance from those under the altar.... That simply does not fit with God’s heart!
No! These prayers are not selfish petitions… they are not the prayers for God to fill the “needs” of the saints… They are not prayers for “vengeance and justice” for the martyrs… nor are they prayers for God’s “Kingdom to come quickly”…
These prayers are prayers of repentance.
They are prayers offered for the “sinners” of the world, for those “wicked” people who are about to suffer the judgment of God… They are prayers for their salvation…
Church… we should not be praying “Lord, come quickly!”
We should be praying — “Wait Lord! Be patient! Glorify your name by giving them more time! Allow them… help them… to be saved… Lord, hold off your judgment and give us a voice in their lives! But… not our will, but your be done.”
You see… That is the prayer of Christ… That is the heart of God… that is the prayer that moves mountains!” Amen?
So… How do we learn to pray those prayers?
How do we gain a “heart after God’s own heart,” as David had?
By investing in time with Him.
By intentionally setting time aside… without distraction… without noise… without anything in the way… to find God.
Mother Theresa said this:
“We need to find God, and He cannot be found in the noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” — Mother Theresa
God is only found in the silence.
When Elijah needed God’s presence, He was told to “go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord...”
He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah knew that God was not in the noise, the thunder, the fire, the earthquake… He is found in the stillness and silence of a gentle whisper.
Our prayers matter to God.
But we will only pray those faithful prayers that move the hand of God when we learn to invest time in the silence, seeking His presence in our lives.