This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look together at Revelation chapter eight. This
is day one of our beginning of the look of the seven trumpets of God. These
trumpets are revealed to us.

We see the picture of what God revealed in Revelation chapter eight and
Revelation chapter nine. When the seventh seal is opened, the seventh seal
becomes these seven trumpets. Each of these seals and then trumpets and bowls
grow out of each other.

There are seven seals. The seventh seal is the seven trumpets. Then there are
seven trumpets.

The seven trumpet is the seven bowls. And as we said a couple of weeks ago, it's
like one of those maybe stacking toys you've seen where one thing is inside the
other. Although in this case, it's sort of opposite because those toys,
something smaller is inside the other as you open it up.

In this case, as you open it up, there's something bigger. There's something
greater that God is doing. And the way that God begins the trumpets of his
judgment, there's something awesome that happens in heaven.

In Revelation eight, verse one, I want to just focus on that verse today, this
awesome thing that happens. Let me read for you that verse. When he opened the
seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Silence in heaven. Even as I read that, no matter where you are, maybe driving
in your car today or sitting in your backyard or in a library somewhere with
some earphones in your ears, there's something that quiets you when you hear
about silence in heaven for half an hour. Now, I know, you've probably heard it.

There's an old joke about this verse that says it means that there's no
preachers in heaven 'cause how could there be silence in heaven if there were
any preachers in heaven? I even heard somebody tell that joke about women once,
but I would never tell it that way. I always tell it against preachers.

I've heard the old joke and I get the humor of that. But when you hear this
verse, you don't hear the humor in it, do you? Instead, you hear this solemn,
sacred, incredible moment.

This verse is about silence in heaven. And sometimes the most dramatic thing in
the entire universe is silence. We've read up to this point in the book of
Revelation about what's going on in heaven.

There's a multitude that no one can count singing to God. Can you imagine the
noise? There are angels around the throne singing to God at the same time.

There's this incredible roar of praise that continues to grow and grow and grow
in heaven right up to this opening of this seventh seal, which is going to contain
these seven trumpet judgments. And right at the very moment this happens, this
seal is broken, silence. It's dramatic.

It's something like when you're in nature and all of a sudden everything goes
quiet and you look around wondering what's about to happen. I don't know if I
can picture what this is all about for you, but I want for just a moment for us
to experience this moment 'cause there is a sense of awe here that I don't want
us to miss. A sense of quietness of the soul that leads to a strength of trust
in God.

A sense of drama that leads not to just human emotion, but to something much,
much deeper than that. A sense of drama that leads you and I to see God's
strength, God's power, maybe in a way you've never seen before. When we talk
about this kind of silence, it is as if you're in the midst of a hurricane of
noise and all of a sudden the eye of the hurricane passes over you and
everything grows quiet.

Everything calms down. And in that moment you appreciate everything around you
in a way you've never appreciated it before. It's the quietness of that moment
that brings out the appreciation of your soul.

This sense of silence. I was in a worship service recently where we were talking
about the death of Jesus Christ and all that he did for us on the cross. And
I've been in a number of worship services like that over my life.

And every time we're talking about all that Jesus did for us, you can sense
everyone goes quiet. There's not a sound. You could literally hear a pin drop in
the room.

No one moves. We just all sit quietly, silently as we think about what Jesus did
for us. This is a silence of the soul that is there because of the honor that we
have for what he did for us.

I might be at a funeral of a friend and we're standing together and talking
about that friend's life. And then all of a sudden it just gets quiet as we
realize there is much more to life than just this life. And there are no words
to describe the appreciation you have for that person's life and the way they
lived it and the influence they had on your life.

But there are also no words to describe the joy that you have that they are now
together with God and Jesus Christ. I feel this quietness of the soul sometimes
when I'm singing with God's people here at Saddleback. We're just singing and
all of a sudden I can hear their voices and I just have to stop singing.

Not because I don't appreciate the song, but because I appreciate their voices
so much. People's voices raised together in a family that I love, just singing
praises to God. And I just have to stop.

There's a quietness in that moment that comes out of the drama, the joy, the
strength of who God is and what God's about. There is a quietness to the soul
that is there when you sit and you watch your little three month old baby
sleeping. There's nothing that you can say.

You just enjoy that moment. There's an equal quietness to the soul when you sit
in a hospital room and you watch your 90 year old mom or dad slipping slowly
away towards heaven. There's a quietness of the soul in those moments when we
recognize, it's not about me, it's not about us.

It's about God and his strength and his power and what he's doing. And that's
what happens here. This seal is opened and there is silence in heaven for half
an hour.

Now, if you'd been there, if you'd experienced that, what would you be thinking?
There is a multitude there. The Bible tells us all quiet before him.

What would be going through your mind? I don't know that we can picture all of
it. In this silence, there has to be, I cannot miss an incredible display of the
greatness of God.

It's as if all of heaven gets silent to dramatically express the full and
awesome authority that God alone has. It's as if everyone stops and just waits
for his next move. Everything just stops and waits for him.

I love what John Newport has said about this in his commentary. He says, "The
Sabbath of stillness proves God's might. " This is all about God's strength.

And sometimes the strongest thing, the mightiest thing in this world is silence.
The silence that expresses the greatness of who God is. Revelation chapter
eight, verse one, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven
for about half an hour.

Let's pray together. Jesus, quiet my soul before you right now. Quiet my soul to
recognize your strength, to recognize your power, to recognize the fact that I
can trust in you.

Quiet my soul to know, to know that you are God. And to know in the stillness of
this moment, be still and know that I am God. To know that I can trust you in
every situation, every circumstance.

I trust your power. I trust your might. In Jesus' name, I trust you.

Amen.