Sometimes the silence of heaven can seem deafening. The third vision of Revelation opens chapter 8 with just such an unexpected silence. What is going on? What is God up to? Then follows a series of 7 trumpet blasts each signaling the divine shaking of everything humanity has put its trust in that is not God. Join Pastor Jim as he explores the meaning of all this and shows us the kindness of God’s patience and lovingkindness with a world full of lost sinners He loves.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and Hе sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”
Revelation 1:1-2
Vision Chapters Content
1 1-3 7 letters to 7 churches
2 4-8:1 7 seals
3 8:2-11 7 trumpets
4 12-14 Battle against Satan
5 15-16 7 bowls
6 17-19 Downfall of Babylon
7 20-22 New Heavens & New Earth
“O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You! May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.”
Psalm 141:1-2
“In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8:26
“Prayer reenters history with incalculable effects. Our earth is shaken daily by it.”
Eugene Peterson, ReversedThunder
Revelation Plague Exodus
1st trumpet environment 7th plague
2nd trumpet commerce 1st plague
3rd trumpet natural resources
4th trumpet light/darkness 9th plague
5th trumpet locusts 8th plague
6th trumpet army
7th trumpet storm Exodus 19 Mt. Sinai
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C. S. Lewis
“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth….”
Psalm 97:1-12
“The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disproportion between us and God. And it is an understatement.”
John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life
“When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.”
Luke 21:9
“My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.”
Psalm 62:1-2
“I don’t know what it means to love God – really, I’m not all that good at it – but I think one of the things it means is, just as in the case of loving anybody else, you stop and watch and wait. Listen for God, stop and watch and wait for him.”
Frederick Buechner, The Remarkable Ordinary
