The Calm Before The Storm

Take your Bibles this morning. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 8. Revelation chapter 8. beginning in verse 1 when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half 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 censer and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of the saints and the golden altar 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.

Father, now we pray that you would open up your word to us. Give us hope. Give us the right perspective. Help us that we may serve you well. Father, you have promised that those who read this book will have a blessing and we have been blessed abundantly as we have read this book. Bless us again today with greater insight, with the ability to serve you, with the desire to glorify our God.

In Jesus' name, amen. So, you want to be a conqueror. Well, we all do, right? We all want to be conquerors. We all want to overcome the obstacles that stand in our way. we want to conquer the adversities and difficulties that lie in our path. But you know and recall that the book of Revelation calls you to greater conquests by calling you to overcome and conquer the seductive and oppressive forces of evil that war against you This book this revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed to Christ church as it lives for him in this final evil age of human history.

It is a book that displays the glory of God in the triumph of the Lamb. It is a book that calls you to participate in the triumph of the Lamb. And you participate in that triumph by conquering through your faithfulness to our King and Lord Jesus. Now, as we've gone through this book, we have seen that it's giving us heaven's perspective on what's going on today and yet what is future. and that we will participate in that triumph as we gain the perspective of the Lamb.

That we are better equipped to fight in the age in which we live, the age described in this book, that we will be better equipped to fight the battle of evil against evil when we gain the Lamb's perspective on this age. Now remember that right now we are in the throne room of the Lamb. As we began in chapter 4, we've been taken up into the very throne room of God and of the Lamb.

And we've been taken up to the throne of the Lamb, watching Him break the seals on the scroll, giving us heaven's perspective of life in this age and a taste of the events yet to occur. Each seal, except the fifth, speaks of judgments that the Lamb pours out on the earth. the judgment of the lamb on men can be seen in the conquests of this age symbolized in chapter 6 by the white horse the red horse of bloodshed is an expression of the lands of the lamb's judgment on this earth the famines of this age signified by the black horse are part of the lamb's judgment on men. And then comes the judgment in the unrelenting machinery of death, which is symbolized by the pale horse What follows then you remember is the fifth seal And there you hear the voices of the martyrs crying out to God for justice and vindication of their names and God reply that they will yet have to wait that justice is delayed for a little while longer And then came the sixth seal, depicting what is yet to come, the final cataclysmic judgment of the Lamb on the entire earth.

And then as we proceeded in chapter 7, we expected to see the Lamb break the seventh seal, But instead, we have an interlude composed of two visions of God's people. The first vision, the 144,000, is a symbolic representation, a vision of all of God's people that are sealed and protected in this age and formed into a military force, if you will, to wage holy war against evil. And then the second vision of that chapter, where we're not only seen as the church fighting on earth, but as the victorious church celebrating the victory in glory, having conquered their enemies by faithfulness to Christ.

Now, we come to chapter 8. And in chapter 8, the Lamb breaks the final and seventh seal. What we've been anticipating, what we've been waiting for, happens now in chapter 8, where the Lamb breaks the seventh seal, and we see again the final expression of the Lamb's judgment in the seals. Again, let's look at the text before us. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half 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 censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar 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.

Now, before we look at the seventh seal, we have to deal with verse 2. The introduction of the seven angels with the seven trumpets. Now, remember that this book is not chronological in nature. That is to say it isn saying here that as we read through this book that first there are the six seals and then the seven angels with the seven trumpets and then the seven angels with the seven bowls.

As if there are seals first, and then trumpets, and then bowls. As if it's a chronological history, or a chronological laying out of the future. That's not the way the book is organized. Remember, it is not chronological in nature, but goes over the same ground, the same story from different angles. You remember we called that recapitulation, where he tells the same story only with different symbols and from a different angle.

Now you remember as a kid watching your favorite television program, right? And you'd be watching the program and near the end, you'd be the end of the episode, and right before the final credits would come on the television, all of a sudden it would say, and now some exciting scenes from next week's episode of The Big Valley. And then you'd see three or four scenes from next week's episode that were intended to get your attention so that you would tune in next week to see the continuation of the story.

Right? What's going to happen to Heath next week with all this stuff that we saw this week? Right? It's supposed to get you to tune in next week and see how the story continues. Well, that's what happens here in verse 2. Except it's not the big valley.

That's what you see happening in verse 2. You get a scene from the next story. A sort of an introduction to get your attention. except that the scene does not provide, it does not provide a continuation of the story. Rather it says, tune in next week for the same story from a different perspective. Okay? That's what he's doing.

So when we come then to chapter 8 verse 6, now we're in, we're going to be in the next episode. The seven angels with the seven trumpets. but it's not going to continue the story that we've read of the six seal or the seven seals what he's going to do now is tell us the same story again only from a different perspective all right tune in next week for the same story from a different perspective so that's what's Happening in verse 2, an introductory scene to prepare us for what's coming next. So here we are again now.

Let's land. We're back in the Lamb's throne room, ready for him to break the final and seventh seal of the scroll, ready to see the judgment he brings on the earth against the ungodly enemies of God. Prepare to conquer. Here's the deal. Prepare to conquer with knowledge of the future from the Lamb's perspective. We need the Lamb's perspective on the future.

This is yet to come. The seventh seal has not happened yet. But we will conquer now if we have the Lamb's perspective on the future. As you watch, you see the Lamb break the seal, and suddenly there is silence in heaven. Now, silence in heaven, even for a mere 30 minutes, is surprising and noteworthy, given the visions of God's heavenly court that we've had from chapter 4 up to this point.

Silence is not part of what's going on in heaven. As we've entered the heavenly throne room in chapter 4, we have not seen silence at all. The four living creatures are there who never cease, it says in chapter 4, who never cease saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come, suddenly stopped. The 24 elders who constantly confess that God is worthy to receive glory and honor and power because he created all things, suddenly are speechless.

The expanding chorus of praise, beginning with the creatures and then moving to the elders, and then to the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of angels, and then to every living creature on the earth, singing that the Lamb is worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because He has ransomed the people suddenly ceases The loud voices of the martyrs chapter 6 who all the time have been below the altar shouting O Sovereign Lord, how long before you judge? I heard no more. And then lastly, that vast, unnumbered, ransomed multitude loudly proclaiming, chapter 7, loudly proclaiming day and night, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb are hushed.

Silence. Nothing is heard. What does that mean? when I was growing up I knew what silence meant in our house our house was not a noisy house but it wasn't a quiet one either there was always talk around the table there was always questions to be answered topics to be discussed conversation always went on when I came home from school and I found my father I found Dad quiet, not saying anything.

I knew trouble was afoot. When my dad was quiet, and when I say quiet, I mean deathly quiet. When my dad was quiet, I knew something was bothering him. And to make him that quiet usually meant it was one of us who had transgressed something. When my dad was quiet, when silence was in our house, it meant judgment was coming and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

I hated it when my dad was quiet. and typically my sister who didn't know how to be quiet would say something like, what's wrong? And the cork would come out and judgment would flow freely at that point. Well the same thing is true in the Bible Silence means impending judgment Silence means impending doom. And we know that because you see that in the prophets.

Now remember, as we've gone through this book, have you noticed how much it draws on the Old Testament? How much of the images, how much of the allusions, how much of what's going on in Revelation comes out of the Old Testament or is built on the images of the Old Testament. The same is true of this silence. For example, let's just look at a few. Turn to the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk chapter 2. We went through Habakkuk, I think it was a couple of years ago. In 2009, I believe, we were in the book of Habakkuk. in the book of Habakkuk chapter 2 we find God pronouncing judgment on the Babylonians the Babylonians have been his instrument of judgment on his own people you remember the conversation is going back between God and Habakkuk and God is telling Habakkuk at this point that he is going to bring judgment upon the wicked Babylonians and as you read through chapter 2 particularly beginning in verse 6, you see this, whoa, verse 6, whoa, verse 9, whoa, verse 12, whoa, verse 15, and so forth.

That's a sound of cursing, God bringing judgment. And you go through there and you see that God is going to bring horrific judgment upon the Babylonians. And then we get to the end of the chapter. Chapter 2, verse 20, But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. God's going to bring judgment.

Quiet. Alright? Turn to the book of Zephaniah. Jans read this to us today. Zephaniah chapter 1. This incredible description of the day of the Lord.

When you see that term, day of the Lord, particularly in the Old Testament, it's a shorthand way of saying the Lord's going to appear in judgment. The day of the Lord is a day of judgment. And Zephaniah has even captured the idea here, even in the Old Testament, that this day of the Lord will not only come upon His people in the Old Testament but there a day of the Lord that coming upon all mankind And note how it started Verse 7 chapter 1 be silent before the Lord God for the day of the Lord is near Be silent Judgment is coming.

In light of God's judgment, silence is required. Turn over to Zechariah. Two more books over. Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, chapter 2. Here again, you find the context of judgment against all who have oppressed God's people. And Zechariah is pronouncing the judgment of God upon those people.

Chapter 2, verse 13. Be silent, all flesh before the Lord, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling. Because Jehovah rouses himself to judge, all mankind is silent. Must be silent. We could go on. Isaiah chapter 41.

Isaiah chapter 41, verse 1. Listen. Listen to me in silence, O coastlands. Let the peoples renew their strength. Let them approach. Then let them speak.

Let us together draw near for judgment. And then God goes on to describe the crushing of kings and the slaughtering of nations. What does he say? Listen to me in silence as you draw near to me for judgment. And so as the seal is broken on the scroll and unrolled, silence happens. It's the anticipation of judgment.

It's the calm before the storm. The silence of impending doom. This is the silence of dread. You remember how chapter 6 ended with the sixth seal. Expecting the dreadful judgment of God, we have heard the shrieking cries of terror from the ungodly who have said to the mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

And now those shrieks drift off into silence. This is the silence of dread before God unleashes his fury. But it's also the silence of anticipation. Because you remember from chapter 6, waiting to be vindicated before the accusations of the ungodly, the martyrs are constantly crying out to God, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

So the cries for justice are hushed. Why? Because they're anticipating in silence the fact that God is going to vindicate them before their enemies. It's the silence of dread, but it's also the silence of anticipation. Now look, we have been called to overcome. That's what this book is about.

It's about conquering, right? As we moved our way through chapters 2 and 3, in every one of those churches to the one who overcomes, to those who conquer. That's addressed to us. We have been called to overcome and we can overcome, we can conquer if we have heaven's perspective. And here's the perspective. The Lamb will express His wrath till the fall and the final day of judgment.

And with that perspective, you can conquer armed with anticipation. you can conquer armed with anticipation you are anticipating that God through Christ will judge it will happen so tomorrow in the face of the seductive forces that you face every day those enticements to So leave the hard road of discipleship and follow the easy road of just going your own way. In light of that, you're ready to conquer because you're anticipating the judgment of the Lamb. But that's not all.

In verses 3 through 5, you can conquer armed with confidence. Not just anticipation, but you can conquer armed with confidence in verses 3 through 5. As the silence continues in heaven our attention is drawn again to that altar we saw in chapter 6 under which the martyrs are and under which they cry Remember chapter 6 Turn back to chapter 6 verse 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. and they cry out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge, how long before you avenge our blood on the dwellers of the earth?

This is the altar that we saw in chapter 6. We see now in verse 3 of chapter 8. There's an angel standing before the altar. You remember it's drawn from the Old Testament. This is the altar of incense that sat in the temple or the tabernacle that sat in the holy place, the first room that you enter that sat right here before the curtain that divided the holy place from the most holy place of the holy of holies.

Here was this altar of incense. Upon this altar, the priest would offer incense every day and that incense would produce this billowing cloud of perfumed air that would penetrate that veil and go into the holy of holies and surround and swirl around the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat where God had revealed his presence. And as that smoke would fill the Holy of Holies, it signified the prayers ascending to God.

It was a symbol of the prayers of God's people going before God. All right? Now, let's look at this in Leviticus chapter 16. this is the day of atonement not just a normal day but this is the day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16 beginning in verse 12 verse 11 Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house now you have to understand something on the day of atonement, he's going back and forth.

They're making several sacrifices outside. There sacrifices of atonement for the people There atonement made for the priests There atonement made for even the tabernacle itself There all kinds of these atoning sacrifices being made outside in the big altar And then he would come in. This is after the sin offering for himself. And he shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small. And he shall bring it inside the veil. And put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.

And he shall take some of the blood of the bowl and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in the front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. Here, he offers this. So the angel, back in Revelation now, the angel, like that priest, offers the prayers of the saints to God.

That's what it says. It says this incense with the prayers of the saints. And as that sweet aroma would go up, it was a sign that God would accept it. What I've noticed is I've started to read the Old Testament. I'm reading through the Old Testament. I just got through the book of Leviticus.

My goodness, there is blood flowing in that book. Atonement has to be made all the time. Have you ever been around a lot of blood? And I want to get gross here. You ever gone back in a place where they're hacking up animals, skinning them and butchering them? It doesn't smell real pretty.

You know what burning flesh smells like? You know, you just throw a hunk of meat on the fire. You don't cook it, you just throw it on the fire. After a while, you know, it doesn't smell that good. Imagine all that going on constantly. This incense, unlike all the other stuff, this incense is a fragrant offering.

And like us, it smells good. The fragrant offering is a symbol of acceptable prayers to God. Okay? Smells good. I like that. So the incense represents these prayers that are acceptable to God, and they are acceptable because of the atonement that has been made.

The atonement of Jesus Christ, dying on the altar of the cross, makes the sweet incense of our prayers acceptable to God. The only way God will hear is because Jesus has died Can I say something to you this morning Don ever take prayers for granted For God, not just to answer your prayer, for God to even hear your prayer required that His Son die, or He wouldn't even listen to you. and these prayers of the saints go up before god because the atonement has been made on the altar of the cross what are those acceptable prayers what are those prayers that are going up in this aromatic cloud of smoke they are the prayers of the saints already slain and at rest crying to God, chapter 6, for holy vengeance on their behalf. It's those prayers.

These are the prayers of the saints still fighting on a strife-torn earth in the midst of the battle calling for deliverance. And so these prayers go up to God, offered to God. The prayers of the martyrs under the altar, the prayers of saints living today calling out for deliverance, that go up for God in the sweet fragrance of the incense. What happens?

And this is so important to see. I mean, as I meditated on this, it almost was shocking to me. This was almost shocking to me. What happens as a result of those prayers? Here's what happens, symbolized by the angel here. The angel now done offering the incense to God, seeing that they are accepted by God, takes that same censer, fills it with coals and throws it to the earth, which results then in thunders, thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Now what's that? well when you look in this book that is always the short handed way that's the short handed way of saying final judgment this is it the final judgment look at chapter 11 verse 15 chapter 11 verse 15 we're jumping ahead a little bit now to the seventh angel with the seventh trumpet then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become this of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Right? That's the end.

Again, we've gone through the same story again from a different perspective. So that's the end. Verse 19, Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen within His temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and an earthquake. And this time we have added heavy hail. So, here's the end again.

Same terminology used. Turn to chapter 16. chapter 16 now again here we are we're in the seventh bowl all right we're at the end again same story different perspective we're at the end this verse 17 of chapter 16 the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it is done and there were flashes of lightning rumblings peals of thunder and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth. So great was that earthquake.

Alright, so what we're talking about here is the end. This is the end. This is the Lamb's final judgment. When that censer hits the earth, that's a symbol that the judgment has arrived. Now here's what I want you to see. That judgment has arrived.

Why? because of the prayers of the saints. Hear me now. The final judgment is coming because we have prayed for deliverance. And God's answer to your prayer for deliverance is to send His Son in final judgment on all the earth. Well, you talk about an answer to prayer. Right?

That's quite an answer to prayer, wouldn't you say? How many of you prayed, oh God, deliver me from my enemies? And God says okay just wait a little bit I deliver you And he appears with his son to bring total judgment on the earth So the end coming with the judgment of the Lamb is God response to the prayers of his people The martyrs pray in heaven pleading for justice, and although God delays judgment, he finally delivers by sending his son and bringing all of their enemies to justice. as we pray for deliverance from those who hate us God will answer with the justice of final judgment have you ever entertained the thought that God will answer your prayer for justice and deliverance with the horrific judgment of the final day have you ever thought of that day as an answer to your prayers it is that's how God's going to answer your prayer now he may deliver us now sometimes He may deliver us from persecution sometimes.

He may deliver us from the face of the seductive things that are around us. He may get us out of those enticing situations. But I know this for sure. I know this for sure. He's going to definitely do it when Jesus comes again. God will answer our prayers in a way that we even can't imagine.

And that should give you confidence in this age. that should give you confidence in this age, that God will indeed bring about justice and deliverance when Jesus returns to set all things right. You can conquer. You can overcome armed with confidence, confident that God sees, that God hears, and that God will answer on that day. So, you want to be a conqueror? you want to be a conqueror then gain the perspective of heaven conquer armed with the anticipation that justice is certain looking forward to the day when all of creation will be silent before the king of kings overcome armed with confidence that God does hear your prayers and He will answer with a catastrophic judgment that will reach every corner of the universe.

But remember this. Remember this. If you are not an overcomer, you will someday be overcome by the wrath of the Lamb. there's no way around that God will answer the prayers of his people he will number you listen I cannot I cannot get out of this pulpit unless I say this to all of you here and I say this to a number of you who have sat under the preaching of the word of God and have never come to Jesus never professed him as Lord never owned him as Savior.

He will number you among the ungodly if you do not bow the knee to Jesus. Listen, this is no game here. This is not a sermon about an interesting book. This is dead serious. When the angel throws that censer on the earth and you have not bent your knee, you are lost. You will be among those who cry out to the mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne for the day of the Lamb's wrath has come.

That will be, do you understand this? That day of judgment will be so horrific that people will be shrieking for the mountains to fall on them and kill them rather than face the wrath of the Lamb. That is how desperate this is. when will God answer that prayer when will God answer the prayer for justice and deliverance we don't know we do not know that's why it's urgent upon you to join the overcomers by putting your faith in Christ we can overcome we can conquer with confidence and anticipation as we gain the Lamb's perspective.

Lord God, would you impress upon us the fact that that day of judgment will answer our prayers for deliverance? would you impress upon us father that because of the perspective of heaven because we are because your judgment is coming we can anticipate it not with dread but with joy when that silence arrives it will be a silence of anticipation for us who have come to Jesus. We can overcome because we are confident you will hear our prayers and deliver us by the coming of your Son. But Father, for those who are here who have never come to Jesus, who have never owned him as king, who have never seen Him as the one who can deliver them from their sin that brings upon them Your righteous judgment, I pray, Father, that they would hear today.

Give them no rest. Father, I pray that the cries of terror of those who face the impending judgment of the Lamb would be ringing in their ears until they are counted among the ones who will conquer. Lord God, give us confidence in this evil age with this perspective. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.