Title: There Is Silence in Heaven For About Half An Hour
- Background
Rev 1= Appearance of the Revealer
Apostle John saw the God who reveals His revelation: He is the glorious Lord, the resurrected Jesus.
Rev 2-3= 7 churches in Asia Minor
These churches foreshow the churches that will exist in the last days.
Rev 4= Origin of the revelation, the throne in heaven
Rev 5= The book written inside out, locked with 7 seals
Rev 6= From the 1st to the 6th plagues of seals which symbolize persecution
Rev 7= 144,000 and the great multitude
Middle revelation: Rev 7, 10-14
Rev 8-9= Opening of the 7th seal and the plague of trumpet which symbolizes warning. The 5th trumpet is called the first woe, the 6th is the second woe and the 7th is the third and last woe.
- The Half and Hour of Silence (Rev 8:1)
It is the time between the plague of the 7th seal and the plague of the 1st trumpet. Greek word for ‘half an hour’ is ‘Hemiorin.’ It literally means an extremely short time, thus it brings an idea of great urgency.
What is happening in this half an hour of silence?
- Time to pray with our life (Rev 8:3-4)
There comes a golden censer: this is to collect the prayers of the saints. Therefore, the half an hour is the time when we should pray. Firstly, our prayers will be collected in the golden censer (Job 23:10). Job confessed that after gone through all the trials and tribulation, he will came out as gold. Therefore, gold signifies something that has no flaws in it and something that even fire cannot make change it. It teaches us that our prayer should be like gold, will not change and will not stop.
Secondly, the golden bowls that were brought to God were full of the prayers of the saints (Rev 5:8). The founding pastor said that God is waiting for our prayer to be brought to Him. However, if the golden censer is not full of prayer, it cannot be brought to God.
Are we really praying fervently with our life or like Phil 2:21 says, are we seeking after our own interests? 1 Thess 5:17 says that it is the will of God that we pray without ceasing. Therefore, we should pray for the will of God to be accomplished and this is the real reason why our prayer shouldn’t stop regardless whether we are in need or not.
- Time that is hidden (Psa 31:19)
It says when we take refuge in God, He will show us His goodness (grace) that He stored up for us. Before the appearance of Jesus Christ, that will be the time that the grace will be poured out upon us (1 Pet 1:13; Pro 15:23; Pro 15:23).
God wants to give us the time of grace. However, if the time of grace is not something that we want to receive, even if God gave us the grace, we won’t be appreciating much. Moreover, we may not like it or thank for it at all. God determined to give us His grace before the end of the time comes. Then, in order for it to be the timely word, we should look for His grace and receive it.
The founding pastor said the half an hour of silence is the time that is hidden. What is hidden? The last grace is hidden, and according to Rev 2:17, the hidden Manna is hidden. Therefore, it is the time when the hidden Manna will be given to us (Rev 2:17).
What is the hidden Manna? The History of Redemption series really open our eyes newly and freshly to the Bible. It is the time when God opens our eyes to the Bible, and enables us to find and see the hidden treasures in the Bible. In the same way, we should desire and await for the hidden Manna, the hidden Word to be revealed and given to us.
If we don’t await for it, even if the hidden Manna is given, we may end up disliking it (Num 21).
3) What time is it now?
The founding pastor preached this sermon in 2006 and said “It is now the half an hour of silence.” Therefore, if we follow such notion, I guess we may live in the time of the last seal or trumpet, in the perspective of universal eschatology. However, the founding pastor also often emphasized this, even if we are living in the time of AD (Anno Domini), if we haven’t met Jesus Christ, we are still living in the time of BC (Before Christ).
If it works, does it work that the people who are living in the time of BC, if they met Jesus Christ, they are living in the time of AD? The Bible says that Abraham saw Jesus and he was happy (Jhn 8:56). Joseph died long before entering into the land of Canaan. However, God recognized that Joseph entered the land of Canaan alive, it is all because of his faith.
It is important to know where we are in terms of universal eschatology. However, it is also important where we are spiritually. If we have done all the necessary things for the time of half an hour of silence, we may move on and live in the time of trumpets. If we are still doing it, we may live in the time of the half an hour. If we are not doing it at all, we may live in the time of 7 seals. If the Bible was never opened to us, we may live in the time before the book of revelation.
In conclusion, the half an hour of silence is the time we should pray fervently and receive the hidden Manna. The founding pastor said that it is the time to fill up the lack of prayer, lack of repentance, lack of serving and receiving the hidden Manna.
We pray that may we fill up these lacking things in our believing life and move on to the time of trumpets and bowls so that we may truly enter the New Heaven and New Earth as the final victor with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 