What is the 'Silence in Heaven' found in Revelation 8:1

The 'Silence in Heaven' text comes about after the events of the sixth seals and at the seventh seal of Revelation:

Revelation 8:1 King James Version (KJV)
8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.


We also find at the seventh vial that a voice is heard saying 'It is done'..:

Revelation 16:15-17 King James Version (KJV)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.


And we find another instance of prophetic time for a short space, in the use of a hour, for the destruction of 'Mystery Babylon'.

Revelation 18:16-18 King James Version (KJV)
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

How do they relate to one another...

 

True, but it is time related to earth or mankind, so why does God tell us about it?

 

Its at the second coming but a specific time for a special purpose, so these things have come about and now Christ and the angelic throng are clearly not in heaven so there is silence. I was away but will look up my notes and get into it..

 

Lets back up to the sixth seal and work our way to the seventh seal and the silence in heaven.

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.” Revelation 6:12-13

So why is the sixth seal in literal language while the other seals are treated symbolically, its not to hard to discern. Well, first there would be a problem with trying to symbolize the final earth shaking events prior to the Second Coming. Then secondly, the events of the sixth seal are couched in literal terms so that God’s people would not fail to recognize them as the signs of the end. Most of the events of this seal were foretold by Jesus Himself as we find it in the gospels as they were given as warning signs of the last days. God puts them in literal terms so that His followers would not fail to recognize them. When Jesus described in Matthew 24:29-30 the events associated with the Second Coming, he listed seven specific occurrences:

..The darkening of the sun, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling, the powers of heaven being shaken. the sign of the Son of man. the mourning of the unsaved, the actual appearing of Christ.

Six of the seven events listed are repeated in the sixth seal of Revelation. Three of the events of Matthew 24 involve the sun, the moon and the stars, in the same order as the sixth seal presentation. So what happens next, the seventh seal occurs.

All of the Greek New Testament original manuscripts were written with no spaces and no punctuation. This is because the Greek alphabet did not have punctuation until at least the Second Century. When the books and letters of the New Testament Bible were originally written, they did not contain chapters or verse divisions. The chapter and verse divisions commonly used today, were developed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1227, and the Wycliffe English Bible was the first to use this chapter pattern.

Now what does this grammatical information have to do with Rev 8:1, well its clear its part of the sequence of the seals. In Rev 8:1 it says, when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about an hour. So we see the sequence being shown here, with it being at the end with the appearing of Christ at His Second Coming.

As I brought out, this silence is a specific time for a special purpose, God does not reveal these things for no reason. We may not see the unveiling of these things until there is a need of understanding but He gives us the clues, and one of them is prophetic time (day-year) used in Revelation. Some may think there is no more day-year prophecy, but in symbolic prophecy such as in Revelation, when time is mentioned it is still symbolic time up until the Second Coming as we see in the Millennium . After the Second Coming time then reverts to a literal timeframe as we are taken up by Christ and go to heaven. Symbols cease at the Second Coming and this is why the one thousand years of Revelation 20 must be interpreted as literal years rather than a symbolic period of time.

The length of this period of silence, as prophetic time, would be about seven days. (Here is a good study for those unfamiliar with prophetic time.. Day-for-a-Year Principle) The half hour in symbolic time where a "day" represents a literal year of 360 days is seven and a half literal days . The silence is then basically for one week. What then is the significance of the seven and a half literal days in connection with the Second Coming? When Jesus Christ returns to this world, heaven will be emptied of its inhabitants. All the angelic host accompany Christ to this world. "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory". Matthew 25:31

What do the angels constantly do in the presence of God? “And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’” Isaiah 6:3
“Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts!” Psalm 148:2
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands.” Revelation 5:3

The Second Coming will be the greatest display of power and glory ever witnessed. Christ comes in His own glory and in His Father’s and of the holy angels. "...when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26 All the inhabitants of heaven will accompany Christ, and thus the silence. But why a week of time (seven and a half literal days), because every seven days a event happens that is of great importance to God and to those who follow Him. I think you see where I am going here...

 

One problem, we are looking at a future event as seen by the sequence of the seven seals, which end at the second coming. So this is a event at that point, not backwards.

 

Its like Daniel, the prophecy shows down to the Second Coming and the restoration, it needs to be studied closely.