The Sounds of Wrath upon Earth
As God finally addresses the rebellion on Earth directly, chapter six ends with the terrifying sounds of every lost human around the globe crying out in deathly shrieks (6:16-17) at the heart-stopping, life-quenching rumbles of the mega-quake, the meteors streaking and crashing, the piercing clap of the sky splitting apart, and the echoes of destruction, as every land area across the globe lurches around (6:12-14).
Those are the sounds that fill the pages of Revelation’s record, given by God. The scene God paints is loud, very loud:
It is loud like a trumpet blast.
It is loud like standing at the edge of a huge waterfall.
It is loud like the rolling, booming, and shaking of a huge thunderstorm.
It is loud like the voice of an angel, which made Roman soldiers freeze with terror in Matthew 28.
It is louder than anything we can imagine as myriads of myriads, and countless waves of angelic and human creatures speak, chant, and sing.
Finally, it is a collection of sounds never before heard and the heavens and the earth begin to crumble under the weight of God’s wrath.
Then, everything stops.
Now comes the deafening scene of:
The Silence of God
All those sounds of heaven and earth were intentionally made a part of the record, just as this statement about silence. God is using the contrast to point to what may be the most vital lesson in the whole book of Revelation.
But can any doctrine be most vital in a book so huge, powerful, and overflowing as the twenty-two chapters of Revelation? Maybe. Here is the lesson. God’s Word sets before us side-by-side, the silence of God and the poured out prayers and cries of suffering saints throughout all the ages. God shows us two incredible truths and illustrates them for us in a way that is unforgettable.
God shows every one of His saints for all of human history:
The Destination & Application of Our Prayers
If we look carefully, the scene in 8th chapter of the Revelation explains to us one of the great mysteries of Heaven. We can see how God responds to the prayers of His saints. Prayer is huge in the life of a believer, and it is fitting that here in Revelation, God would give some all-encompassing teachings about the role, purpose, and importance of prayer in our lives.
We are not disappointed. Just as Jesus commanded His disciples to pray the Disciples Prayer, that model for us how to come before God in prayer, here God shows what He does with those prayers.
God Captures & Holds Every Prayer of His Saints