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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/god-is-in-control/
Let's turn to the book of Revelation, please. Revelation chapter 5 and verse 5. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, or living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. Now chapter 8. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire off the altar and cast it into the earth.
And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The Lord will bless thee for the reading from his word.
Indeed, there's a promised blessing for reading it, specifically the book of Revelation. The challenge of faith, our brother has been bringing that before us already. This world is wrong. This world is hard.
This world is insistent that it is the only reality, that it is all that there is to live for. And we as Christians are sometimes perplexed. We wonder how come that the saints are so oppressed by it. How come that the world seems to be winning?
How come a young sister exercised to serve the Lord in Mexico is taken away in death? And the promise of life service to God and for his people seems to be snuffed out. Will things ever be said right?
The challenge of faith. I want you to notice from our readings this morning a number of things. That would give us confidence that God is still in control. When we think of heaven, the place, the perspective from which John is seeing these things in the book of Revelation from chapter four onwards.
We know that heaven is a place where there's much singing, there's much joy. Indeed, we would, from chapter five onwards, notice that there is much noise in heaven. Not only singing, but there's activity, there's even concerns on the part of John.
There's voices, there's thunderings. Chapter five, six, and seven would bring that out. And then when we come to chapter eight, when a seventh seal is opened, there's silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
What is the significance of that? Well, let's just briefly review what has gone before. In chapter five, the role is a problem. The scroll in the right hand of him upon the throne. No one is found worthy to open that scroll.
Whoever does so will have to meet the authority of the throne, will have to have the right to open those seals of that book which contains the title deeds of earth. That's the book of the kingdom. If anyone is going to open those seals, he'll have to have the right of redemption.
Go back to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah had to have the right of redemption to claim that field. And John weeps much because it seems that creation is without a deliverer, and it moves his heart in sympathy.
And he wept much. I wonder this morning, just in passing, are our hearts touched with sympathy whenever we think of not just creation, but our loved ones that are living their lives without the deliverer?
Does it cause us to weep much for them? But then John is told to weep not. And the lion of the tribe of Judah prevails to open the book. So the righteous will be vindicated. There will be punishment for the wicked.
The kingdom of God will come. The earth will be purged. God's plan is not upset or made void. He is still working out his purpose. And the agent that does that is none other than the young slain lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Weep not. Be comforted this morning, Christian. God is still in control. And we see that unfolding as the book continues. And in view of the fact that he has prevailed to open the book, we see, we hear the response of praise in heaven.
Three expanding rings radiating out from the throne of God as it dawns upon a universe that the lamb has prevailed. It begins with the redeemed. And they sing that new song. Significance of a new song, we go back to the Old Testament.
We find out that those that sang a new song, they had experienced deliverance. That God had been working and God had been moving in a powerful way and brought about their deliverance. And they sing a new song.
And in that coming day, the redeemed, they sing, Thou art worthy, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood from every kindred and tribe and people and nation. What a wonderful moment that's going to be.
But then the praise ripples on and the angels join in. Verses 11 and 12. How many are there? 10 ,000 times 10 ,000. Literally myriads of myriads. A number that's incalculable. A number that is innumerable.
And they are saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And then the praise ripples on and it comes to the whole of the universe.
And every creature that is in heaven and is on earth and under the earth. And they begin to cry and they say with a loud voice, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and forever.
And it seems that creation itself gets a little glimpse that God is moving onward to free it from the bondage of corruption. And bring everything under his control and under his dominion. So there's great praise and sound in heaven.
When we come to chapter 6, the seals are opened. And the results on earth are immediate. We find that as the first seal is opened there's a noise of thunder. And the first living creature, the four living creatures that are around the throne, The first of them, he says to John, come and see.
And John comes and he sees a white horse. He sees the rise, if you will, of the blasphemous cult of the Antichrist. As he goes forth to conquer. Again, the second living creature says, come and see. And there's a red horse.
And there's wars and there's tumults on earth and rumors of wars. The third seal is opened. Come and see. A black horse. Famine conditions prevailing. The fourth seal is opened. A pale horse. And we see a variety of pestilences sweeping the earth.
Now, just an aside here. When you come to 7s in scripture, they often fall into the pattern of 4 and 3 or 3 and 4. And here it's no different. I take it that the three remaining seals are not sequential, but occur throughout the second half of the tribulation period, with that earthquake bringing us right up to the end.
Fifth seal is opened. We have the souls of the martyrs. And they're crying before God. They're crying. How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge? Then the sixth seal is opened. The great earthquake and those astronomical events that you read about at the end of chapter 6.
And I take it that brings us up to the end of the tribulation period. These things are not chronological. Chapter 7, we have the sealing of the 144 ,000. And you'll notice in verse 2 of that chapter, there's an angel, and he cries with a loud voice.
I'm emphasizing the sound, the loudness, the voices, the tumults that John is witnessing. And then at the end of chapter 7, we have the tribulation saints. They had come out of great tribulation. And they are crying with a loud voice, verse 10, salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb.
And the angels round about the throne, verse 11, the elders and the four beasts, they fall again on their faces and their worshiping saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and forever.
So how strange it is whenever you come to chapter 8. And when the seventh seal is opened, instead of thunderings, instead of loud voices, instead of anthems of praise, there's complete silence. It was 1975, I guess, on a visit to the West Indies that I first heard the sound of reggae music.
And you'll remember that that draws its significance from the dropped beat, the silent beat. And it's all the louder because of that silence. And so here in heaven, we have silence about the space of half an hour.
I take it this chapter moves us into the second half of the week. God is summoning men to war. The silence of God. David feared the silence of God. You remember he said in Psalm 28, Oh, Lord, my rock, be not silent unto me, lest I become like them that go down into the pit.
That ought to be our fear too, brothers and sisters, that we might become like them that go down into the pit. That was David's fear. If David feared the silence of God, Jesus felt the silence of God.
Psalm 22, Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, and thou hearest not, and in the night season, and I'm not silent. But God was silent. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus felt the silence of God.
As those waves, those billows of divine wrath against sin poured over his sinless soul. David feared it. Jesus felt it. But when we come to Revelation 8, we see that heaven focuses upon the silence of God.
This pause must be tremendous. It seems to deepen. I mean, if someone here at the podium stops speaking for one minute, it's pretty heavy, isn't it? But the minutes tick by, a whole half hour, and heaven is remarkably silent.
I take it as that is taking place these seven angels that are standing before the throne. There's given to each one of them a trumpet. And likely with the whole cosmos around hushed in silence, those angels solemnly step forward, and each one takes his trumpet, and heaven waits.
It's a pregnant moment that seems to never end. It's heaven waiting for the dogs of war to be unleashed. You remember Shakespeare? That quote from Shakespeare, is it in Julius Caesar? Cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war.
Let slip the dogs of war. And that's what's happening here. It's the storm of wrath that's about to be unleashed. It's the climactic event of earth's history. It's the second half of that 70th week. It is the great tribulation that is about to commence.
The storm of divine wrath is about to be poured out upon the earth dwellers. But why half an hour? It's the only time that we have this word in our New Testament, hemiorion. And Vine says it is a period, this is interesting, a period corresponding to the time customarily spent in silent worship in the temple during the burning of incense.
That's interesting. A time spent in silent worship during the time of the burning of incense in the temple. That is, to me, significant because we find here that that's exactly what takes place. There's an angel that comes with a golden censer, and there's incense given unto him.
Now, obviously, the figures that are used here in these verses, the golden censer, the altar, and the throne, and so on, that links as well with the tabernacle. Our brother's been in Hebrews, and the figurative teaching there is drawn immediately from the tabernacle.
Back in the book of Exodus, chapter 16, Moses was told, I think some 16 times over, that he had to make it according to the pattern that was shown him in the mount. That is emphasized time and time again, according to the pattern.
Book of Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 5. The tabernacle was a shadow of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God, for see, said he, that I make all things according to the pattern that was shown thee in the mount.
It was a shadow of heavenly things. So all that went before in the tabernacle was but pointing forward to the reality of what is found in heaven. So the offering of incense takes place here in verse 3.
And interestingly, that is before the trumpet is blown. Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne.
Much incense. That incense in the book of Exodus, you remember, was the perfectly blended ingredients, four ingredients, the stacte, the anika, the galbanum, and the frankincense. Our brethren will be able to tell you how that each one of them links so beautifully with the life of Christ and his perfect character here on earth.
And yet in order for the fragrance of that incense to be brought forth, it had to be brought into contact with the hot coals, with the hot coals from off the fire. And it's reminding us that the fragrance of the life of Christ is brought out in all its fullness because of the fires of judgment that he experienced upon the cross in his death.
So it's his life and his death that's being expressed in relation to the much incense that is upon the censer. And that incense, the fragrance of it ascends. Before the throne. You'll notice that the saints' prayers are linked with it.
With the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. The prayers of the saints are obviously then linked with the fragrance of Christ in his life and his death. The one who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
The one who in his life was absolutely, totally dependent upon his God, cast upon him from the womb. And yet he suffers so despicably at the hands of sinners. The character of Christ. The fragrance that ascended to God from his death, from his life, from his death.
And it's linked with the prayers of saints. Ever pray for something? And it seems it never gets answered. And though you're praying, you believe in the will of God. Seems that God doesn't answer. Does God not hear?
Oh, God hears. And there is at his right hand a great high priest. One who makes intercession for us. Hymn writer puts it this way, to all our prayers and praises, Christ adds his sweet perfume. As love the censer raises, his odors to consume.
And those prayers are valuable to God. He smells a sweet savor because it is the sweet savor of Christ from his people. It is, as it were, the heart of Christ beating as he waits patiently for the unfolding of divine purpose and the longing that's in your heart is but an echo of the longing that's in his heart.
And it's a sweet savor to God as it ascends before his throne. Verse 4,. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. No, God does not forget the cries of his people.
You'll notice that there's no veil mentioned here. There is immediate access to the throne. There's no encumbrance. I see no blood mentioned because the work's already done. The victory's already won.
And then we notice that the angel takes the censer. Verse 5,. That it's filled with fire from off the altar. No incense mentioned now. It is just fire and it's taken from off the altar by virtue of that sacrificial work.
The fire is taken. And the angel carrying out the will of God on the authority of the one that has opened the seal, he takes that censer filled with fire and casts it upon the earth. It's the judgment of God that's going to come upon this earth.
The unmitigated wrath and fury of a holy God upon a world that has rejected Christ, that has rejected God's rule, that has overthrown the authority of the Lord and of his anointed. Let us cast their bands asunder.
Let us cast off their bonds from us. He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. It's payback time for planet earth, for the earth dwellers, for those that have rejected him and have thrown off his authority.
Get that with the seals. But then in Psalm 2 we read,. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath. And that's the trumpets. The trumpets are about to sound. But before they sound, there's that pregnant pause in heaven.
Then the storm bursts. Those trumpets sound and all the, we're not going to mention them, but all those judgments that follow each time, a third part of the sea, and all life therein dies, and third part of the ground burnt.
I said I wasn't going to mention them. And then the seven vials are poured out. And he will vex them with his sore displeasure. Payback time for planet earth, for this world. Brothers and sisters, this morning let's remind our hearts we have no part in it.
Why should we be living our lives and pouring our energies into that which is about to come under the judgment of God? Was it Frank Knox used to say in the old country, It's all for the fire. How true.
How far more true today than it was in his lifetime. It's all for the fire. What are we living for? What are we here for? God is working out his purpose. The Lord is about to come. We're about to hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.
We're about to be ushered into his presence to see the lamb as it had been slain, the lion of the tribe of Judah who prevails, to open those seals. We'll be present to see that. That's the reality of the purpose of God.
Let's live in the expectation of it. And in the good of it. And let it affect our lives practically from day to day. May the Lord bless this word to our hearts.