“Our Place before Omnipotence”
(Revelation 8:1-13)
Series: Understanding The Book Of Revelation
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Church, Henderson KY
9-3-06 (AM)
- Please open your Bible to Revelation, chapter 8.
We are continuing our series of messages through the entire book of Revelation, verse-by-verse, and we are treating this morning the opening of the seventh seal. In the previous few chapters we read about John in the throne room of heaven where God gives him visions of what will take place in the future. John sees the Lord Jesus Christ take from the Heavenly Father a scroll. It is a scroll that is sealed up with seven seals. Each seal represents one of God’s particular judgments upon the earth for refusing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So with the opening of each seal, we read of a particular judgment. Chapter six reveals what will happen when the first six seals are opened. The future time period known as the Tribulation begins with the opening of these seals. Chapter six ends, however, before the final seal is opened. We do not read about the opening of the seventh seal. We would expect to find it in chapter seven, but it’s not there, either. In chapter seven there is a pause in the action and we read about God’s grace and mercy even during His judgment. And so we read in chapter seven about God’s special 144,000 sealed servants of Israel and the great multitude of Christians at the throne. Then the action resumes in chapter eight and now we read what happens when the Lord Jesus Christ opens the seventh seal.
- Please stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.
1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
- Pray.
Introduction:
I listened to a man one time talk about how most folks carry pictures of their family in their wallets or purses. He talked about how we often pull out our wallets and we look at these pictures we’ve been carrying around, pictures of our spouse, children, our parents, and so forth. And then he asked this question, “How big a picture of God do you carry around with you?” I’ve thought a lot about that question over the years. Forget the question of idolatry, that we’re not supposed to make God in His own image and worship the image, and all of that. That wasn’t my friend’s point. His point was that most of us have some kind of mental idea about God that we carry around with us and his question was, “How big is that picture of God?”
J.B. Phillips treated this issue in a 1952 classic book entitled, Your God is Too Small. In that book Phillips dealt with the fact that too many people have the wrong idea of God in their minds. Many think of God, for example, as a sort of Santa Clause figure or as just a kindly, old grandfather who only does things we like. Some liberal theologians today think of God as a good person limited in power because he doesn’t know exactly what’s going to happen in the future and has no control over it.
The Bible, however, teaches us that God is much bigger than those ideas. The Bible teaches that one of God’s many attributes or characteristics is the attribute of His omnipotence. The word omnipotence is comprised of two Latin words, omni, meaning all, and potens, meaning powerful. And so we rightly say that God is “all-powerful.” And only God is all-powerful.
Chapter eight is a reminder that God is omnipotent. He is the God who, as the psalmist says in Psalm 115:3, “does whatever He pleases.” He is the God for Whom, as Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 32:17, “nothing is too hard.” He is omnipotent, all-powerful. He’s a big God. And so we’re reminded of this teaching in chapter eight and we are reminded about our place before this omnipotent God. There are some appropriate actions we should take in light of God’s omnipotence. Number one:
I. We Should Pause before God in Silence (1)
God’s omnipotence should literally give us pause from time to time. I like the words of God in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” In light of His omnipotence, we should pause before God in silence. We see what happens when the Lord Jesus Christ opens up the seventh seal:
1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Silence. Some wise guy said this verse was evidence that his wife would not be in heaven! One scholar said something like, “While there is silence in heaven there is no silence among the commentators on their interpretation of this verse.” Indeed, many have given their opinions as to why there is silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Personally, I think the silence draws attention to God’s omnipotence. We’re getting ready to see what happens when the seventh seal is opened and we’re going to read about the noise of God’s powerful judgments, judgments announced with the blast of trumpets, judgments coming, as verse 5 says, with “noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”
So the silence here seems to be something of the “calm before the storm.” The calm, quiet, silence is the preparation for the powerful judgment to come. The silence draws attention to God’s omnipotence and God’s omnipotence reminds us of our place before Him. There are times we need to just pause before God in silence. There are times we need to bow our heads in silence before an all-powerful God and just thank Him for His omnipotence. It is a time of worship where we praise God for Who He is.
So often we come before God in a hurried way with a little checklist of needs in our hands. Our view of God is too small and too self-centered. We think of God as something like a drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant: “Yeah, give me a number 4” or, “Super size that.” God is not a boxed-in, heavenly vending machine. He is a God before whom we should often pause in silence. He is omnipotent. It is by His grace and power that He lets us live—He lets us live! He doesn’t have to do that. That’s why we should start each day with something like, “Thank you God, for giving me another day.” We worship Him before we start asking for things. We think of Him in terms of His omnipotence, really thinking of Him this way and yet, at the same time, realizing that God’s largeness and bigness and power is something our finite minds cannot fully comprehend.
What is our place before omnipotence? We should pause before God in silence. Secondly:
II. We Should Pray to God when Suffering (2-6)
In verses 2-6 we read of God’s answer to the prayers of the saints. Christians who are suffering during the time of Tribulation are praying to God for justice and deliverance. Verses 2-6 are God’s answer to their prayers.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
So we have here the symbolic offering up to God “the prayers of all the saints.” Context suggests that these are the prayers of the Christians who are suffering during the time of Tribulation and are praying to God for justice and deliverance.
Chapter seven teaches us that there will be Jewish believers as well as a multitude of Christians from all over the world during the Tribulation period. The Jewish believers are the nation of Israel, represented by the 144,000 and sealed by God as His special people. The believing Jews together with the Christians during this period will be protected by God from the judgments themselves, but will, however, face the wrath of the unbelievers during the Tribulation time. That’s an important distinction to remember. When God sends His judgments upon the earth, He protects His people from the judgments themselves, but His people, while not facing the wrath of God, do face the wrath of the unbelievers of the earth. So these prayers are the prayers of Christians, the prayers of the saints, crying out for justice in light of their persecution from the unbelievers.
So what is God’s answer to the prayers of the saints? The prayers have gone up to God as incense. When the prayers go up, God’s answer comes down. Verse 5:
5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
We see here that when the seventh seal is opened, the seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments. You should have a handout that helps you see an outline of these judgments. And so we read of more judgments to befall the unbelievers of the earth. With the seven trumpet judgments we have an intensification of God’s judgment. It’s as if to teach that while the seven seal judgments were bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. The seven bowl judgments will be even more intense.
Verses 2-6 teach us that we should pray to God when suffering. I am encouraged by verse 3. Verse three teaches us that God hears “all” of our prayers. The Bible says that the prayers of “all” the saints went up to God. God’s sending of the trumpet judgments is His answer to “all” of the prayers.
So God answers all of our prayers. We err when we say, “God hasn’t heard or God hasn’t answered my prayer.” What we mean is that we haven’t gotten the answer we want yet. God hears every single one of our prayers and He answers every single one of our prayers. But we must remember that He answers our prayers in His own way and in His own time.
These verses have particular application to us today when we suffer wrong. We want justice. We want vengeance. Romans 12:19 reminds us that God says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” Trust God to vindicate you in His time. I know of times in my own life when I suffered wrong at work or other places and in God’s time, I was vindicated. Give your concern to God and trust God to deal with it in His time. Pray to God when you suffer.
Jesus gives us a model prayer in Matthew 6. We call it “The Lord’s Prayer” yet Jesus never called it that and we never read Him or the apostles repeating the prayer word-for-word, the way it so often mechanically repeated today. The prayer was given as a model prayer in answer to the disciples’ question, “Lord, teach us to pray.” One of the things for which Jesus taught us to pray was the consummation of the end times. He said pray to the Father, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We should live our lives in such a way that we are living for the kingdom, particularly the future kingdom, living in light of the eschaton, the end times, the time when all of the wrongs are made right by a just God. We recognize that we do not live for this world, but for God. So our prayer life and our thought life and our daily actions indicate that our chief desire is, “Thy kingdom come.”
Remember that when you suffer, whatever it is you’re going through. Remember that as you talk to God. Remember that your suffering is temporary. It will not last forever. God has ushered in His kingdom into this world. It is partially fulfilled as we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is ultimately fulfilled in the future. “O God, Thy Kingdom come!”
We should know our place before omnipotence. In light of God’s omnipotence, we should pause before God in silence. We should pray to God when suffering, number three:
III. We Should Praise God for His Sovereignty (7-13)
His omnipotence should cause us to praise God for His sovereignty. God is sovereign over everything. He controls all things. We’ll talk more about this tonight our message from Proverbs, “The God Who Directs Our Steps.” In verses 7-13 we witness God’s sovereign reign over creation.
(1) He reigns over the plagues of the earth (7-12)
In verses 7-12 we have God’s heavenly judgments raining down upon the unbelievers of the earth. Like the opening of each seal on the scroll, each of the seven trumpets represents a particular judgment. Chapter eight provides just the first four trumpet judgments. These are future judgments that will fall upon the earth during the Tribulation period. Interestingly, these judgments are somewhat reminiscent of the plagues in the book of Exodus. The first angel blows his trumpet and we read about the first judgment:
7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
The first judgment mentioned is God’s future judgment of hail and fire, mingled with blood. This judgment is a particular judgment upon the land and, consequently, the vegetation of the land. The Bible says that “a third” of the trees were burned up and all of the green grass within the “third” was burned up. Now that word, “third” occurs 13 times in the chapter. It may refer to a particular one third, such as a particular third in one geographic location such as one particular continent of the world. Or, it may refer to one third in a general, more scattered sense, a portion of this land and this land and this land for a total of one third. The second plague:
8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
This future plague sounds like a volcanic eruption, with lava flowing into the sea so that one third of the marine life is killed as well as those who travel on the sea, a third of all ships destroyed. God’s point to the unbeliever is clear: I am omnipotent. I am all-powerful. I control everything, including the land and the ocean. He also controls the fresh water:
10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
11 The name of the star is Wormwood (a plant in the Near East which has a strong, bitter taste). A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
We read here of something like a meteorite falling down into the waters in order to pollute the waters, making them undrinkable. God’s judgments declare that He is omnipotent, sovereign over the land, the ocean, the fresh water and now, the skies:
12 Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.
God causes darkness to come upon the unbelievers of the earth. The Old Testament Prophet Joel prophesied this future cosmic event in Joel 2:2, when he said the future day of the Lord would be, “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
God reigns over the plagues of the earth. See, natural catastrophes do not convey the absence of God, but rather the presence of God. Catastrophes are a reminder that there is a force and power far greater than ourselves and His name is God. Catastrophes do not prove the absence of God, but catastrophes prove the presence of God. Such events should cause us to fall on our faces and bow before our omnipotent God. He reigns over the plagues of the earth, and:
(2) He reigns over the people of the earth (13)
Verse 13 gives us something of a transition. We read of a flying eagle (the older manuscripts have eagle instead of angel) who prepares the unbelievers of the earth for the final three trumpet judgments. While the four trumpet judgments we just studied are judgments upon the earth, these final three trumpet judgments are judgments upon the people of the earth; “the inhabitants of the earth,” a reference to the unbelievers themselves. This eagle cries “woe” three times to represent the three future judgments to come.
13 And I looked, and I heard an angel (again, better “eagle”) flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Our omnipotent God not only reigns over the plagues of the earth, but the people of the earth. So what is our place before God’s omnipotence? We should pause before God in silence; we should pray to God when suffering; and we should praise God for His sovereignty—He reigns over the plagues of the earth and the people of the earth.
- Stand for prayer.
Remember the question from the beginning of the message? “How big a picture of God do you carry around with you?” Is He the God of the Bible? Do you regularly pause before Him in silence? Do you pray to Him when suffering? Do you praise Him for His sovereign reign over all creation?
Are you prepared to stand before the omnipotent God on the day of His judgment? God’s wrath in these judgments is not poured out upon the believer, but upon the unbeliever. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, God’s wrath is poured out upon you because of sin. The Good News is that Jesus Christ wants to absorb the wrath of God for you, in your place. You can be saved from the penalty of sin this morning by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and trusting Him as the One who wants to take your punishment upon Himself. Trust Him today.
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