Revelation; Silence in heaven

I want to offer some thoughts on Revelation ch8 v1.

I'm deliberately taking on a short passage, to make the discussion more manageable. I see this verse as one of the pivots in the overall "storyline" of Revelation, which is another good reason for choosing it.

I'm going to be asking the question; what does John mean by the statement that "There was silence in heaven for half an hour"?
So, breaking it down...

What does he mean by "half an hour"?
There's a reference to "one hour" later in the book. It comes in ch 17 v12, which tells us that the ten kings "receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast".
If we see "one hour" in one part of Revelation, and "half an hour" in another part, it seems reasonable to suppose that the two are connected.

So I suggest that the phrase "half an hour" means "one portion of the reign of the Beast".

What does he mean by "silence in heaven"?
There's an important clue in the way the silence gets broken, a few verses further down. There are "peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning" in v5, just as the seven trumpets are about to start work. We get the same thing at the time of the seventh trumpet(ch11 v19)- thunder and lightning and voices. God sends down trouble upon the earth, and this is accompanied by (and seems to be signalled by) what could be described as "noise in heaven".

Perhaps you can see where this is heading.

If the presence of "noise in heaven" (i.e. thunder and lightning and voices) indicates a time when God is bringing trouble on the earth...
Then presumably "silence in heaven" (i.e. the absence of thunder and lightning and voices) is an oblique way of indicating a time when God is NOT bringing trouble on the earth.

Putting those two pieces of information together, I suggest that "There was silence in heaven for half an hour" can be interpreted as "The Beast rules for a certain period of time, and for the first half of that period God does not trouble it, does not try to destroy it."

Putting this into the context of the overall "storyline" of the book...
This period of relative tranquillity is sandwiched between two bouts of havoc and destruction.
The first part of the sandwich is the "4 Horseman" episode. That is brought to an end in ch7 vv1-3, when the angels are told to restrain the four destructive "winds of heaven", which have been blowing, metaphorically, all the way through ch6.
The description of the 7 trumpets and 7 bowls is the other side of the sandwich.

On this reading of the story, the Beast is prospering, and presumably rising to power, at a time when the world is taking a deep breath and trying to recover from the first bout of destruction.

I can see analogies in history for the way this might work.
When Germany was rocked by defeat in the First World War, and the later demands for Reparations, and finally by the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler seemed to offer the opportunity to revitalise the country.
In the 3rd Century, the Roman Empire nearly fell apart in various disasters and it was pulled back together by a series of stronger Emperors. This culminated in the work of Diocletian, who is notorious in church history as a small-scale Beast in his own right.

If, then, there was a regime which was apparently pulling the world back together and reviving global society after the events of the 4 Horsemen, surely that regime would be welcomed at the time as "saviours of the world". They could get the enthusiastic support of most of the world without much need for compulsion.

As for the timing of all this-
If the 4 Horsemen episode is anything like as drastic as John seems to be describing (but I must do another couple of threads on this), then we haven't seen it yet.
If we haven't seen the 4 Horsemen episode, then we haven't yet seen the events which follow the 4 Horsemen episode.

This leads me to the conclusion that the period covered by ch8 v1 (including, therefore, the Beast) remains in our future.

Hahah so god's giving us the one-two punch? That's definitely an interesting observation.

The silence is a Respite for a determined amount of time before he drops the hammer its like a time out period to reflect

[edit on 10-4-2010 by alchemist2012]

I would put it different.
and alchemist, yes, time to prepare = reflect.

God always brings peace by hope first.

Hope comes up,
then a hurricane comes up
Freedom gets established.

Mandela and people alike never brought peace, but hope.
While they bring their message, they also divide the people,
and when peace does not come because the people are
not ready, sometimes they end up being blamed.
Just as when jesus came and left us to do our own job,
because the cross is for all to take.

Delusion was promised, keep that in mind,
questions avoid judgements,
together with gods law of oneness. He is all and one.
Forgive him, forgive all = reflecting.
One day your home will be Him. If he comes again
in the flesh it will divide the world again.

Remember the symbol of God dividing Israel in Blessing and Curse,
in the same way some will see confirmation for their delusion
of having the devil come down, when he allready is here in all,
as lie, as opposed to oneness,
confirmation in something that looks to have been promised,
but is the inversion, opposite around.
on the other hand some will find confirmation in their not caring,
on the other hand some will find confirmation for the hope and care
they lived all their lifes, and will see walking around that what they will
become also. Angels of light, one with god, the body to be all.
(and angel is the face, but not the whole, but the body is god as all,
people see faces, not the body yet, thats why an angel is never god,
but only all is god, and god has many faces, it means one can become one,
and tellthe world of his oneness, and not be believed because people see
a person, not the whole connected to that face as one, one who becomes
one with god defends himself, defends the all, understands and forgives the all)


[edit on 10-4-2010 by pasttheclouds]

Originally posted by alchemist2012
The silence is a Respite for a determined amount of time before he drops the hammer its like a time out period to reflect

Yes, but why exactly half-an-hour? Taken in isolation, the time period seems a little arbitrary.

The advantage of my interpretation is that it explains, in a rational way, why the interval should have been named as "half an hour".

Or it could be the fanciful makings of a religion that may be true in its most core form but has been so perverted that you could interpret anything you wanted to from its text.

Originally posted by DISRAELI

Originally posted by alchemist2012
The silence is a Respite for a determined amount of time before he drops the hammer its like a time out period to reflect

Yes, but why exactly half-an-hour? Taken in isolation, the time period seems a little arbitrary.

The advantage of my interpretation is that it explains, in a rational way, why the interval should have been named as "half an hour".

As for the half hour that would be in GOD'S time....it says a day to good is a thousand years to man..i'm not a math wizz so you have to use that 1000 years to see what a half hour is to GOD

It is rather interesting that THE ONLY place in the entire bible that the greek word "ἡμιώριον" is used is in this verse. According to the greek translation it does mean "half an hour"......specifically....

Originally posted by alchemist2012

As for the half hour that would be in GOD'S time....it says a day to good is a thousand years to man..i'm not a math wizz so you have to use that 1000 years to see what a half hour is to GOD

I've just done the maths, and if you want to make that division, I think it comes out as just under twenty-one years.

If you want to apply that principle, it needs to be applied consistently. That means that the "one hour" when the Beast is reigning would come to about forty-two years.

Speaking for myself, I'm quite content to assume that God leaves us in ignorance about the exact time period. In God's time, as you rightly say.

Originally posted by heliosprime
It is rather interesting that THE ONLY place in the entire bible that the greek word "ἡμιώριον" is used is in this verse. According to the greek translation it does mean "half an hour"......specifically....

Thank you for pointing that out.
And I think I'm right in saying that the other passage, in ch17, is very definitely in the Greek as "ONE hour", rather that the indefinite article "an hour". I found that very, very, suggestive, in linking the two together.

Personally i think it is when somebody bought the big guy the books, and all are waiting with bated breath,, then we had 911 / stockmarket crash / whole world now against Jerusalem / countries lining up / sides being chosen / a week long earthquake in Baja / Etna active / Indonesia active / Reinier Active / Iceland Active /
personally I'm surprised at why people are not getting the point. were way past the silent part apparently orders were given. Anybody want to fall down on bended knee yet? or proclame CHRIST as king of kings yet?? nope don't see much of that going on lately,,,,, u?

Oh and i forgot one Obamma just laid out the ground rules for Nike war,,oh yes he did lol It was kind of like ok u can one of our major cities to be named later, then we'll negotiate and everything will be back to normal Don't u just luv diplomacy and contracts lol

[edit on 10-4-2010 by BobAthome]

Originally posted by BobAthome
Personally i think it is when somebody bought the big guy the books, and all are waiting with bated breath,, then we had 911 / stockmarket crash / whole world now against Jerusalem / countries lining up / sides being chosen / a week long earthquake in Baja / Etna active / Indonesia active / Reinier Active / Iceland Active /
personally I'm surprised at why people are not getting the point. were way past the silent part apparently orders were given. Anybody want to fall down on bended knee yet? or proclame CHRIST as king of kings yet?? nope don't see much of that going on lately,,,,, u?

I think that you and I could be basically on the same lines, except that;
When you say, "past the silent part", you are assuming, I think, that an oncoming crash would be a fulfilment of ch8.
I think that any oncoming crash would be a fulfilment of ch6.
Thus, from my point of view, the silent part comes later.

I don't want to expound this in any detail, because I'm expecting to spend a couple of threads on it later.



[edit on 10-4-2010 by DISRAELI]

Silence in Heaven for 1/2 hour.

(about all that make sound in heaven is the song that Praises God 'continually') ... the 'silence' is coordinated with the mass martyrdom
taking place on Earth, when it is asked 'How long will it be? to the end of these things?.... which was replied 'In a little while!' -or- little space


there is another sequence in time measured in 'days' which states that there are 2 important figures: 1,260 days & the 1,335 days... regarding the peoples on Earth during this 70th week of Daniel

i would suggest that the '1/2 hour' is the period of time 1335-1260= 75 days

which would make a heaven based; 'full hour' = 150 days long in Earth time...



ergo, the other 'kings' will share power with the Beast-man for 5 months before the (Beast from the Sea=A.C. ) takes over the Empire


also, in Rev 18:17, it takes (1 hour) for the crushed people of the global community to utterly destroy Babylon, the economic/military Giant...
that 'hour' would entail the same 5 months it took for the AC to share power with the 7 headed Empire.


now... this is interesting, the 'locusts' that come out of the abyss/pit are allowed to hurt men for 5 months, which is also a heavenly 'hour'


but all these spans of time are calibrated to the periods of 1,260 days before and the 1,260 days after the AC is revealed... and where its stated
that the blessed will endure for 1,335 days. that number difference is the Key to discern/calculate the span of time that is 1/2 hour and 1 full hour of heavenly time versus Earth time.



hope its clear enough for some of you all to study & research my explaination s to verify for yourselves that this 2 1/2 month & 5 month periods are whats meant by one-half hour and hour

The silence in heaven for one half hour is really the final stage of spiritual awakening, the crown chakra (pineal gland) opening and aligning with the other chakras (glands).

All 7 seals are opened now.

Physics?? ur pic ,,
blackboard

Originally posted by BellaMente
The silence in heaven for one half hour is really the final stage of spiritual awakening, the crown chakra (pineal gland) opening and aligning with the other chakras (glands).

All 7 seals are opened now.

Hmmm. Putting your two paragraphs together, you seem to be claiming that everybody is already spiritually awakened, by your definition of the term.

Are you sure about this?

Originally posted by BobAthome
Physics?? ur pic ,,
blackboard

Your question or suggestion is too condensed for me to understand.
It sounds friendly enough, but I need more help.

When u look at the pic of whom i replied (see above ) look at the whole picture. : )

Just realized u may not be able to see BellaMonte avatar.

[edit on 10-4-2010 by BobAthome]

reply to post by St Udio


Thank you for your careful, studied, contribution.

I must admit that I'm temperamentally averse to date calculations- I would rather go as far as I can in taking numbers symbolically.

I can't give any immediate response to your contribution, but I will take it away and think about it.

reply to post by BobAthome


what does physics have to do with a 4" ear hoop on the prof.

~~~~~~~~~~~


Oh, and DISRAELI... 'dates' are not offered, only time durations...

erroneous dates cause many into falling away & disbelief or just lack of conviction, so i will not contribute to any of that mess.

the Earth time periods that correspond to the heavenly hours/half-hours was coded in the wording of Revelation itself, there's no Kabbalistic numberology involved here, no insider knowledges by a group of adepts and elders.
5 months to destroy babylon
5 months to sieze the kingdom/empire
5 months of an unleashed biological killer
2 1/2 months more of a 'final solution' on selected christians & jews
before the appearance of the clouds/glory of christ (whatever that represents in normal reality)


all these time frames are doable & reasoned in human terms of activity and how long things naturally seem to take place.... i.e. each trumpet, vial, bowl is not an instantaneous fufillment event, all these things transpire in a normal-time progression... no POOF !

[edit on 10-4-2010 by St Udio]