Revelation Chapter 8

The Seventh Seal

VERSE 1 “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

“The usual approach to this verse has been a chronological one. This, however, does not seem the best approach when our study on “HOUR” (See, How to Study the Book of Revelation, Part 26) demonstrated rather conclusively that hour is NOT used chronologically in Scripture. HOUR is a non-specific time with a certain characteristic. The most logical prophetic approach, therefore, is one in which we search for an hour somewhere in the Revelation prophecies concerning the Harvest and then reason on how half of it might be of significance.

It has been suggested that the period of silence in the nominal heavens early in the period of Brother Russell’s ministry might fulfill this prophecy. Once Brother Russell had begun to present to Christianity his harvest message, there seemed no one anywhere who could refute it —a real silence in the nominal heavens. This might well be a good explanation except for two things:

(1) Why would this period not simply be called an hour —a period of non-specific time with a specific characteristic? To call it half an hour is to give it a chronological application.

 (2) When the opening of a Seal can be pinpointed in time, the Seal appears to be opened toward THE END of the Church period rather than at its beginning. Note as an example the sixth Seal. While the 6th Church begins in the early 16th century, the Seal appears to be opened at the time of the French Revolution —late in the 18th century.

Where, then is the hour of which the seventh Seal speaks? —the hour which can be divided in some way in half?

Brother Shallieu (The Keys of Revelation) suggests Rev. 17:12 as the likely answer. It fits well.

Rev. 17:12 speaks of the day yet future when the last collaboration of earthly powers prior to the peaceable kingdom will occur. It is the ONE HOUR when the ten horns receive authority as kings with the beast. The narrative continues to show that it will result in the final destruction of the harlot.

Can this period be divided in half?

Perhaps. We are aware that the day will come when the Great Multitude must first learn that the Church is gone and secondly rise to the occasion by making white their robes. The Great Multitude will be instrumental in the throwing of the grapes into the wine-press (Rev 14:17-19). But before making their robes white, there will apparently be a period in which the Great Multitude will be stunned by learning that it is left alone. See Jer. 8:20 and Hab. 3:17, 18 as examples. This period of dealing with this information might well be the half hour in which the TRUE heavens (the Great Multitude being the only true heavens remaining on earth) will be silent. Once the situation is appreciated, there will be nothing to hold these brethren back. They will speak; they will act; they will have their robes washed; they will be victorious in the spirit while they die in the flesh; they will NOT BE SILENT, but will speak openly causing the breakdown which will destroy Babylon. The LAST half hour will be very noisy! (New Albany Notes on Revelation)

In our next post we will take a closer look at this verse as it is explained by Brother Shallieu.

NOTE: The seventh seal is basically just one verse, Rev 8:1, verses 2-6 are part of the introduction to the seven trumpets, which we have already covered in our introductions to the seven churches, seals and trumpets. See here.