He Reigns
Bible reading
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
– Revelation 8:1 (NIVUK)
Devotional
There are times when things are so shocking, so painful, so earth shattering that our only response is silence. In Revelation 8:1 the seventh seal is opened and whatever heaven saw, heard, or understood was so shocking that all of heaven remained silent for thirty minutes. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine heaven which is full of angels, the saints, the prophets and the martyrs; Heaven the dwelling place of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and there being no sound? Everyone just seems to hold their breath, no one able to make a sound because of what they just saw.
This isn’t the first time we have silence in the Bible. There was another time, equally shocking, painful and earthshaking. It was the day that Jesus was crucified. Jerusalem was full of people, of Romans and Jews, of the rich and the poor, of the followers of Jesus and those who wanted to see him die. Jesus was there, hanging on a cross. As he was crucified it wasn’t silent, in fact, it was loud, very loud! People mocking, others screaming curses, women crying, soldiers ordering people around and then the desperate cry of Jesus: My God My God why have you forsaken me?
And for the first time in Eternity, God was silent.
Then came Saturday. Jesus was in someone’s tomb still needing to be properly prepared for burial. The disciples were hiding, the women were at home waiting until they could return to the tomb. But because it was Saturday, everything was quiet. The law required that everything stop. No work, not even to prepare a body for burial. Everyone just stopped and was left to the silence. What was there to say? What was there to do? Jesus was dead, all seemed lost.
Saturday is a difficult day of silence in the Easter story. Silence is hard for us. We don’t like to be left to our thoughts, to have the time to feel our sorrow, confusion, anger and frustration. But the Saturday silence leaves us with little else to do. So, I suggest that we embrace it. Embrace this Saturday and its silence and feel the loss, the fear, the pain, the confusion. In the silence remember how important Jesus’ death was for our salvation. Tomorrow is another loud day, not of crying and lamenting but of surprise and great joy. But today, we need to live in the silence. Allow it to do it’s healing work. Allow the silence to slow us down and to feel deeply, to enter into lament so that when the day of salvation comes, we can rejoice like we were meant to.
– Connie Main Duarte
This devotional is part of a series that helps us navigate the texts of the book of Revelation with fresh eyes. A new devotional every Saturday.
These devotionals are available in Portuguese and in English.