Good morning, everyone.
It's my favorite day of the week
because I get to do my favorite thing in the world,
which is to worship God,
and I get to do it with my favorite people on earth,
and that's the church, that's you guys.
And it's really good to see some of you guys coming back.
We've missed you all.
And if you would please turn with me in your Bibles
to Revelation chapter eight.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
We'd love to bring one to you.
For those of you who are new, my name is Sean,
and I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church,
and I have the privilege of preaching God's word
to you this morning.
Let me pray.
Revelation is the last book in the Bible,
so you can flip to the back and then find it.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.
Heavenly Father,
we ask again as we do each week
that you would address us from your word,
that you would humble us
as your people
and impress upon us deeply in our hearts
your glory,
your holiness,
your love,
your grace,
so that our entire lives,
all that we think
and say and do
will be affected and transformed
by who you are
and what you have done.
Meet us now.
Open up your word to us
so that we might understand,
so that it might pierce our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you are able,
please stand
for the reading of God's word
from Revelation 8,
chapter 8,
verses 1 through 5.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven
for about half an hour.
Then I saw the seven angels
who stand before God
and seven trumpets were given to them.
And another angel came
and stood at the altar
with a golden censer.
And he was given much incense
to offer with the prayers
of all the saints
on the golden altar
before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense
with the prayers of the saints
rose before God
from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer
and filled it with fire
from the altar
and threw it on the earth.
And there were peals of thunder,
rumblings,
flashes of lightning,
and an earthquake.
This is God's holy
and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
If you've been with us
through our series in Revelation,
we saw earlier in Revelation 6
when the fifth seal was opened,
we saw under the altar
before the throne of God
the souls of those
who had been slain
for the word of God
and for the witness
they had borne.
And they cried out to God
with a loud voice,
O sovereign Lord,
holy and true,
how long before you will judge
and avenge our blood
on those who dwell on the earth?
So it was a prayer
of the saints
who had been martyred
and other saints with them
who had borne
faithful witness to Christ,
crying out for vindication
and for justice.
These ideas of,
you know,
divine vengeance
and martyrdom
might seem foreign to us
because we enjoy
so many freedoms
and so many comforts
here in the United States.
But as I've been saying
throughout our series
in the book of Revelation,
persecution is the norm
and not the exception
for Christians.
And martyrdom
has been the reality
for many Christians
throughout history
all over the world.
We see already
the beginnings of that
in the New Testament.
Tens of thousands
of Christians
were killed
under the Roman Empire.
Genghis Khan
massacred 4 million Christians
in 1214 AD.
Tamerlane,
who styled himself
the sword of Islam,
also killed
4 million Christians
in 1358.
In the late 1800s
and early 1900s,
1.2 Armenians,
most of whom
identify as Christians,
were killed
in the Ottoman Empire.
scholars estimate
that about 12 million Christians
were killed
under the Soviet Union,
which included
106,300 Christian ministers
in Russia alone.
In addition to killing
6 million Jews,
the Nazis killed
1 million Christians
in death camps.
Scholars estimate
that Christians
who died from secular
anti-religious violence
in the 20th century
number over 25 million
worldwide,
which is more than
all previous centuries
of Christian martyrs combined.
According to Open Door USA,
360 million Christians
throughout the world
today face
high levels
of persecution
and discrimination
for their faith.
360 million.
Last year alone,
5,621 Christians
were killed
for their faith
in Jesus Christ.
And you've all seen
in the news
how groups,
militant groups
like Boko Haram
in Nigeria,
the Houthis
in Yemen,
ISIS in Iraq,
Syria in Pakistan,
and al-Shabaab
in Somalia,
and the Taliban
in Afghanistan
have targeted
and killed Christians.
We don't experience
persecution that much
here in the U.S.
to the same degree,
obviously not.
But Christians
do sometimes
get negative publicity
because of our religious
and ethical convictions.
Sometimes churches
get protested against
and Christian groups
get kicked off
of college campuses.
Not only that,
as Christians,
we are witnesses
daily
of how God's
holy name
instead of being
hallowed
is blasphemed
on the streets
and in the workplaces
and on TV
and all over the internet
and of how God's
precious gift
of body and sex
are misused
and abused
by so many
in the world
and of how people
who are created
in the image of God
are mistreated
and enslaved
sometimes even.
we see the idolatry
of money,
of prestige,
power,
wreak havoc
all over the globe.
It's no wonder
that God's people
for thousands of years
have been crying out,
how long?
How long, God?
Psalm 7410,
how long,
oh God,
is the foe
to scoff?
Is the enemy
to revile
your name forever?
Remember?
Psalm 119,
1984,
how long
must your servant endure?
When will you judge
those who persecute me?
If you have felt
this desperate
indignation before,
if you have pleaded
with God
at any point
in your life,
how long
then you have joined
the cry of the saints
under the altar
in Romans,
and in Revelation 6,
9 to 11,
crying out,
how long
before you will judge
and avenge
our blood
on those
who dwell
on the earth?
But we have not yet
in this book
seen God's answer
to that plea yet.
God told them
in chapter 6,
verse 11,
to rest a little longer
until the number
of their fellow Christians,
fellow servants,
and their brothers
should be complete
who are also
to be killed
as they themselves
have been
in bearing witness
to Jesus.
So there's this
build up,
this crescendo
and anticipation
of God's
great justice
right after
the fifth seal,
and that builds
even more
with the sixth seal
where we see
this,
the pan-ultimate seal
where we see
the cosmic
just tremblings
of the sun
and the moon
and the stars
losing their light
and falling
from their places,
and then
that's the moment
we ended,
chapter 6,
and right at that moment
that at the top
of the crescendo,
instead of getting
the climax
of the seventh seal,
we got a cliffhanger.
There was a break
in the scene,
and then we saw
the sealing
of the saints
of God,
the 144,000
in chapter 7.
So that cliffhanger
builds suspense
and conveys
that period
of waiting
a little longer,
God had told
his servants,
a little longer
until I come,
then I'll come
to vindicate you
and to judge
the wicked earth.
Today in chapter 8,
John resumes
that scene,
he resumes
the seven seals
of judgments,
and we return
to the climactic
seventh seal.
The saints
who were resting
a little longer
need not rest
any longer.
The wait
is finally over,
and God has said,
enough is enough.
All the prayers
of the saints
throughout the ages
for God's name
to be hallowed
and for people of God
to be vindicated,
for God's justice
to fill the earth,
his glory
to fill the earth
as the waters
cover the sea.
It's finally
being answered
in this passage.
And we learn
from this
that the prayers
of the saints
rouse the Lord God
to bring his
final judgment
upon the earth.
That's the main point
of this sermon.
And I'm going to talk
about that in two parts.
First, we'll talk
about the silence
in heaven,
and then we'll talk
about the prayers
of the saints.
First, let's look
at the silence
in heaven,
and how that's
actually God's
satisfying answer
to the prayers
of his people.
It says in verse 1,
when the Lamb
opened the seventh seal,
there was silence
in heaven
for about half an hour.
We know that this
is resuming
what we saw
in chapter 6
because it mentions
the seal,
the seventh seal.
And we also know
that this continues
a theme
of the fifth seal
because there,
the souls of the martyrs
under the altar
were crying out
to God
for vengeance,
to vengeance
of their bloodshed
on the earth.
So this verse 3, 4
also mentioned
the same altar.
It says,
and another angel
came and stood
at the altar
with a golden censer,
and he was given
much incense
to offer
with the prayers
of all the saints
on the golden altar
before the throne,
and the smoke
of the incense
with the prayers
of the saints
rose before God
from the hand
of the angel.
So again,
they're connected
by the same key words
and same themes,
and the only altar
that has been mentioned
up to this point
in the book of Revelation
has been that same altar
from chapter 6
before the throne of God.
And so this is not
another altar
or the other altar,
it is the altar
because it's referring
to that same one.
So we're resuming
that scene
where the saints
were crying out to God
and now God
is answering
that prayer
because their prayers
have come up to God
as a pleasing aroma
and incense.
But what kind
of answer
is this?
Silence in heaven.
Is that anticlimactic?
Isn't that
kind of a non-answer?
Some people argue
that the seventh seal
is an empty seal,
that it has no content,
indicating that God
is resting
or pausing
his judgments.
Still others argue
that the seventh seal
is simply the seven trumpets
of judgments
that follow,
since seven angels
receive seven trumpets
in verse 2
which are then blown
in the subsequent chapters
and bring further judgment
from God.
However,
I don't think
either of those options
is quite right.
First,
I don't think
the seventh seal
is an empty seal
because something
does happen
in verses 3 to 5.
In particular,
the smoke of the incense
with the prayers
of the saints
rise up before God
and then the angel
takes the fire
from the altar
and then throws it
upon the earth
which is
God's final judgment.
I mentioned to you
last week
that the sealing
of God's people
on their foreheads
in chapter 7
is an allusion
to Ezekiel 9
and when you follow
that passage
in Ezekiel 9
and chapter 10,
right after the sealing
of God's people,
God putting the mark
on their foreheads
to indicate
that they're protected
from his incoming judgments,
then again,
the angel in Ezekiel 10
takes burning coals
from the altar
that's between
the two cherubims
and then throws it
upon the earth,
scatters them
over the earth.
So it's following
that same sequence.
So that fire
from the altar
represents God's judgment.
It's the judgment
of the seventh seal.
Furthermore,
when the fire
from the altar
is thrown on the earth,
he says in verse 5
that there were
peals of thunder,
rumblings,
and flashes of lightning,
and an earthquake.
If you're familiar
with Old Testament
theophanies,
when God appears
in power,
then you know
exactly what
the thunder,
lightning,
and earthquake signify.
The heavens
and the earth
tremble like this
when the Lord
God Almighty appears.
That's what a theophany
means,
the appearance of God.
We saw this
when we were
in the book of Exodus.
In Exodus chapter 19
when the Lord
descended on Mount Sinai
in fire,
it says that the whole
mountain trembled
greatly
and that there were
thunders
and lightnings
and a thick cloud
on the mountain
and a very loud
trumpet blast
so that all the people
in the camp trembled.
When the creator
of the heavens
and the earth
manifests himself
in creation,
when the author
of history
breaks through
and enters
the pages
of history,
the heavens
tremble,
the earth splits,
that's what happens.
And that's precisely
what we see here
with the climactic
seventh seal.
God is here
consummating
his kingdom.
Do you remember
what we saw
in the very throne
of God
in chapter 4?
What emanated
from the throne
of God?
Revelation 4, 5,
from the throne
came flashes
of lightning
and rumblings
and peals
of thunder.
Revelation goes
through cycles
of judgments.
There's three series
of seven judgments
and when each series
concludes,
in the seventh judgment
we always see
flashes of lightning,
rumblings,
and peals
of thunder.
with the seventh seal
and then the seventh trumpet
and the seventh bowl.
So these are all indicators
that tell us
that God himself
is on the move.
That the Lord Almighty
has been roused
from his heavenly throne
to consummate his kingdom
and bring final judgment
upon the earth.
So it's cycling
through these repetitions.
There's slightly more detail
with each one
with the seventh,
from the seventh seal
to the seventh trumpet
to the seventh bowl
and that shows
a progression
and the escalation
of God's judgment
but they're actually
all same pictures,
different angles
and viewpoints
of the final judgment.
How do we know that?
To give you an example,
already when the sixth seal
was open
in Revelation 6, 12 to 14,
we saw that the sun
became black,
the moon became like blood
and the stars of the sky
fell to the earth
and every mountain
and island, it says,
was removed from its place.
But then,
that was in chapter 6,
but then later
in Revelation 8, 12,
when the fourth trumpet
is blown,
it says a third
of the sun was struck
and a third of the moon
and a third of the stars
so that a third
of their light
might be darkened.
So if the sun
has already turned black
and the moon
has already turned into blood
and if all the stars
have already fallen
from the sky,
then how do we darken
a third of them?
There's no stars left
to darken.
These events
do not occur
in linear
chronological fashion.
Furthermore,
Revelation 16, 32,
when the seventh bowl
is poured out,
it says that
every island
fled away
and no mountains
were to be moved.
But as we saw already
in Revelation 6, 12, 14,
every mountain and island
was removed
from its place.
So if there are
no more mountains
and no more islands,
then how do the islands
fly away
and the mountains
fly away again
in Revelation 16, 32?
So these were already removed.
So these three sets
of the judgments,
the seven seals
and the seven trumpets
and the seven bowls
are not chronological
or linear.
They repeat a pattern
in a cyclical way.
They are different viewpoints
of the same series
of divine judgments
throughout the course
of church history.
And the seventh
of each of those
is the climactic judgment
of God.
That's why there's
the theophany,
the peals of thunder
and the lightning
and the rumblings.
So it's like a Russian doll.
I mentioned to you this
before in our introduction.
When you open
a Russian doll,
there's another Russian doll
that looks exactly like it.
You open that one
and there's another one.
It's that cycle
except the analogy
would be perfect
if every time you open
the Russian doll,
the Russian doll
would actually get bigger
instead of getting smaller
because that's what happens
in the book of Revelation.
The judgments get more intense.
It escalates.
And so this is cyclical
but there is a progression.
It's not an endless cycle
like a circle
but rather it's like a spiral
that does eventually
come to an end point.
It circles wider
and widen.
It's wide in the beginning
but then it circles
narrower and narrower
as it gets closer
to the end
and then it reaches
the convergence point
when everything comes
to a climax.
So it's a spiral.
So then Revelation 8,
1 to 5 serves narratively
as the conclusion
to the seven seals
of judgment
but also serves
as an introduction
to the seven trumpets
of judgment.
But the seven seal
is not something
that happens before
the seven trumpets
and the seven bowls
but rather it represents
the last judgment,
the great judgment
that God promises
throughout the scriptures.
And that's precisely why
there is this ponderous
silence in heaven
in verse 1.
If you've been following
the course of Revelation,
the silence is actually shocking
because over the last
several chapters,
we've seen the angelic hosts
and the numberless throng
of God's people
singing endless praises to God.
The four living creatures
before the throne of God
never cease to say
day and night,
holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty
who was and is
and is to come.
The numberless multitude
from every nation,
tribe, people, and tongue,
they're crying out,
salvation belongs to our God
and to the Lamb
who sits on the throne.
And all the angelic hosts
and the 24 elders
around the throne
are exclaiming,
amen, blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power
and might be to our God
forever and ever.
So all these praises,
all these singing,
endless praises
over the last few chapters
but then when the seventh seal
is opened,
there's this dramatic silence.
Imagine how unnerving
that would have been
from John's perspective
seeing this prophetic vision.
He says it lasts
about half an hour.
We know that that's not
like a precise symbolic number
like the numbers
we've seen so far,
seven, twelve, 144,000.
This is an approximate number,
about half an hour.
Most people in our culture,
here in the US at least,
are uncomfortable
with silence, right?
You're talking to somebody
and if there's silence
for like 10 seconds,
people start to get
a little queasy, right?
This is about half an hour.
So imagine,
climactic building,
fifth seal,
sixth seal,
and then God stands up
from his throne.
It's almost like he's
motioning for silence.
30 minutes.
What is going on?
A survey of scripture passages
that speak of silence
is revealing.
Habakkuk 2.20 says,
Zephaniah 1.7 is especially relevant
because it speaks of silence
that precedes the day
of the Lord's great judgment.
It says,
Be silent before the Lord God,
for the day of the Lord is near.
Similarly,
Zechariah 2.13 says,
Be silent,
all flesh before the Lord,
for he has roused himself
from his holy dwelling.
When the king stands,
everybody falls silent
and looks on in anticipation.
When the living God
rouses himself from his throne
to execute his final judgment
upon the earth,
all of heaven falls silent.
I don't recommend
that you watch this whole movie
because it's really long
and it has some unnecessarily
explicit scenes in it.
But if you look up on YouTube
this particular scene
when the first atomic bomb
is detonated
in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer,
it helpfully illustrates
the effect of this silence.
First, there's this tense countdown,
five, four, three, two, one.
And all the while,
there's this frenetic buildup
of orchestral instruments
playing and building tension
and drama.
And then it counts down,
finally, to detonation time.
And then everybody's waiting
with bated breath.
But when the bomb finally explodes,
instead of a deafening boom,
there's an unnerving silence.
You don't hear anything
except for maybe the characters
breathing slowly
for like a full minute and a half
until the shock waves
from the explosion
come and reach the characters
in the movie.
It's such a powerful scene
because the silence conveys
what a large, loud explosion
can never convey.
Since you can't possibly convey
the blast of an atomic bomb
through the speakers,
no matter how amazing
your subwoofers are,
this scene leaves that
to your imagination.
And instead of conveying
the deafening sound,
it conveys in that silence
the breathtaking awe
of the experience.
There's no chattering,
there's no cheering,
there's just silent awe
as they behold
the awesome power
of the atomic bomb.
That's what we see here
in the silence of heaven.
Compared to the awesome
power of God
when he rouses himself
and appears
in his final judgment
over his creation,
the atomic bomb
is like backyard fireworks.
So all of heaven
waits and beholds God
in awestruck silence.
The seventh seal
of God's judgment
is so staggering
that it makes all of heaven
cover their mouths
in silence.
And that silent awe
is actually a defining mark
of the Christian.
Commenting on Romans 3.19,
which speaks of
how God's righteous law
makes such demands
so that every mouth
may be stopped.
20th century Welsh pastor
D.E. Martin Lloyd-Jones
writes this.
Paul now points out
that when you realize
what the law
is truly saying to you,
the result is that
every mouth
shall be stopped.
You are rendered speechless.
You are not a Christian
unless you have been
made speechless.
How do you know
whether you are
a Christian or not?
It is that you
stop talking.
The trouble
with the non-Christian
is that he goes
on talking.
How do you know
whether a man
is a Christian?
The answer is
that his mouth
is shut.
You do not begin
to be a Christian
until your mouth
is shut.
It's stopped
and you are speechless
and have nothing
to say.
The parable
of the Pharisee
and the tax collector
in Luke 18
illustrates the same principle.
A Pharisee
and a tax collector
they together go up.
They don't together go up.
They independently
go up to the temple
to pray
and the Pharisee's
words are many.
He says,
God,
I thank you
that I am not like
other men,
extortioners
and unjust,
adulterers
or even like
this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes
of all that I get.
His words are many.
But the tax collector
doesn't even dare
to draw near.
He's standing far off
and he doesn't even dare
to lift up his eyes
to heaven.
He's looking down
and he's just
beating his breast
saying,
God,
be merciful to me,
a sinner.
That's all he can
manage to say.
His words are few
because his heart
is not lifted up.
And Jesus says
that it's the tax collector
who humbled himself
and not the Pharisee
who exalted himself
that goes home
justified before God.
When we truly understand
the gospel of Jesus Christ,
when we really see
the glory of God
in the face
of Jesus Christ,
it stops our mouths.
It stops
our blabbering boasts
of self-righteousness
and self-justification.
It stops
our gabbing bluster
of self-importance
and self-sufficiency.
It stops
all the look
at how great I am
and look at
all the good things
that I've done
and look at
all my experience
and knowledge
and look at
all the great things
that I will do.
The gospel abases us
and it humbles us
into silence
that says
you must increase,
I must decrease.
You are God
and I am not.
Just like Job
complaining
and groaning to God
all throughout the book
because of
the calamities
and the disasters
and the diseases
that he's been inflicted with
but after seeing
the glory
and the awesome
power of God revealed,
this is what Job says.
Job 40,
verse 4,
Behold,
I am
of small account.
What shall I answer you?
I lay my hand
on my mouth.
Research by neuroscientists
Tomohiro Ishizu
and Samir Zeki
found that
when a person
experiences the sublime,
something awesome
and beautiful,
that the self-referential
regions of the brain,
the regions associated
with self-awareness
get deactivated.
The more we behold God
in his awesome glory,
in his power
and beauty,
the less we are enamored
with ourselves,
the less we are preoccupied
with ourselves
have you experienced
that bliss
of self-forgetfulness.
Beholding God
in his glory
is the only way
that we can escape
our self-righteousness,
self-absorption,
and self-centeredness.
When we believe
that God is
as big as he really is,
then we become small.
How other people
perceive us
or think about us
or talk about us
become insignificant.
The overwhelming
circumstances
of our lives
seem less daunting
and the glories
and the pleasures
of sin
that this world offers
lose their allure.
When is the last time
you fell silent
before God
in awestruck wonder?
So the silence,
heaven,
I think indicates
this awe
and wonder
before the glory
of God
and his awesome judgment
of the seventh seal.
And the rest
of the passage
shows us
that the last judgment
is God's answer
to the prayers
of the saints.
That's my second point.
Verses three to four
make the connection
between the incense
that's being offered
from the altar
before the throne of God
and the prayers
of the saints.
Follow along with me
as I read.
And another angel
came and stood
at the altar
with a golden censer
and he was given
much incense
to offer
with the prayers
of all the saints
on the golden altar
before the throne
and the smoke
of the incense
with the prayers
of the saints
rose before God
from the hand
of the angel.
That connection,
the incense being offered
with the prayers
of the saints
is made even more explicit
in Revelation 5 verse 8.
It says that
the 24 elders
before God's throne
are holding golden bowls
full of incense
which are the prayers
of the saints.
So it equates
the prayers of the saints
with the incense
that's being offered.
And this association
between incense
and prayer
is something that's made
in other parts
of scripture as well.
Psalm 141 verse 2
says let my prayer
be counted as incense
before you.
And when Zechariah,
John the Baptist's father
is doing his priestly duty
and offering incense
at the temple
at the appointed hour
he says in Luke 1,
8 to 11
that the whole multitude
of the people
were praying
outside of the hour
of incense.
Offering up of incense
time for that
is an off time
for offering a prayer.
And when Zechariah
encounters an angel
that appears
beside to the right
of the altar
inside the temple
the angel says to him
your prayer
has been heard.
So Zechariah
apparently is also praying
as he's offering up
incense.
The burning of incense
on the golden altar
before the throne
is an allusion
to the golden altar
of incense
in the tabernacle
in the tent of God
in the Old Testament.
The golden altar
stood immediately
before the tent.
Imagine that tent
being the veil
to the holy of holies
the most holy place.
It would be
the incense
the golden altar
would be right
in front of it.
It would be gold
be square on the top
rectangular
going down
to the bottom
had four horns
on each of its corners
and that's where
a priest had to come
and offer up incense
two times a day.
There would be a censer
which is just a vessel
for holding the incense
the various spices
and then there would be
it would be on the altar
and then underneath
would be some kind of fire
maybe burning coals
so that slowly
as the spices cook
the aroma just wafts
into all
and fills the entire
tabernacle of God.
It was a sweet incense
it's described as
sweet spices
stackedi and annika
and galbanum
sweet spices
with pure frankincense
there to make that
blend that
as by the perfumer
seasoned with salt.
These are spices
that we're not familiar with
but maybe the closest thing
that we're familiar with
we can imagine
is the resinous scent
of the pine trees
and the cinnamony aroma
of mauled wine
and gingerbreads.
Delicious smells
amazing smells.
And that's what our prayers
are like before God.
God is not a tired
and an exasperated parent
that gets annoyed
by yet another request
for help from his or her child.
God never gets tired.
He loves to be entreated.
Our prayers are sweet
incense to God.
He delights in them.
He welcomes them.
He rejoices to answer them
and our prayers
are never far from God.
They're literally
figuratively rather
right under God's nose.
God's love to be entreated.
He is a blessing.
This is the privilege
that Jesus has won for us.
All our prayers
go up directly
to our heavenly father
because we have been united
with Jesus Christ
through faith.
In Old Testament times
it's the high priest
who had to make atonement
on the horns of the altar
in the altar of incense
once a year.
They had to make
a sacrifice
and they had to take
the blood from the sacrifice,
the atoning sacrifice
and then daub it
on the four corners
of the altar of incense
to consecrate it for use.
This was a symbolic foreshadowing
of the atoning work
of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world
and he died on the cross
for our sins
once and for all
and was raised from the dead
so that all of us now
because of his atonement
can have direct access
to God the Father
and we can pray
as much as we want
as a pleasing aroma
and incense before God.
And not only are our prayers
pleasing before God,
our prayers are powerful
because of God.
Look at verse five.
Then the angel took the censer
and filled it with fire
from the altar
and threw it on the earth
and there were peals
of thunder,
rumblings,
flashes of lightning
and an earthquake.
The prayers of the saints
were lifted up
on this censer to God
and then the same censer
takes the fire
from the altar
and scatters it
upon the earth
as God's judgment.
That's a clear connection
between the prayers
of the saints
and God's final judgment
upon the sinful world.
I mentioned to you
that the peals
of thunder,
rumblings,
that's theophany,
God himself appearing.
So quite literally,
the almighty God
rises to action
in response
to our prayers.
This is why
19th century English
pastor Charles Spurgeon
was not wrong
when he said,
quote,
prayer is the slender nerve
that moves
the muscle of omnipotence.
When we pray,
you move
the muscle
of omnipotence.
The seventh seal
is God's answer
to the prayers
of the saints
crying out for vengeance
and vindication.
We see this also
because in verse 2,
the seven angels,
it says,
the seven angels
who stand before God
receive the seven trumpets
of judgment
that will ensue.
Who are these seven angels
who are before
the presence of God?
We've seen them before.
In chapter 1,
chapters 2 and 3,
the seven angels
who represent
the seven churches
of God,
who represent them
before God
at his throne,
by his throne.
So these seven angels
then carrying out
the seven judgment
of the trumpets,
there,
it's all happening
in response
to the prayers
of his people.
The seven trumpet judgments
that will ensue
are all modeled
after the plagues,
the plagues
that happened
in the Exodus,
God's judgment
upon Egypt
in Exodus,
and that also makes
the connection
between prayer
and God's judgment
because why did God
decide to intervene
and deliver his people
from their slavery
in Egypt?
In Exodus 2,
it tells us,
23 to 25,
during those many days,
the king of Egypt died
and the people of Israel
groaned because of their slavery
and cried out for help.
Their cry for rescue
from slavery
came up to God
and God heard their groaning
and God remembered
his covenant
with Abraham,
with Isaac,
and with Jacob.
God saw the people of Israel
and God knew
what roused almighty Lord
to rouse himself
from the throne
to rescue his people Israel.
It was the prayers
of the saints,
their cry for help.
That's how powerful
our prayers are.
Do you seek
the repentance
of sinners?
Do you seek
the vindication
of the righteous?
Then we must pray
because God has ordained
that he will accomplish
his sovereign purposes
through the prayers
of his people.
19th century English
pastor J.C. Ryle
puts it this way,
depend upon it,
prayer is power.
prayer obtains fresh
and continued
outpourings of the spirit.
He alone begins
the work of grace
in a man's heart.
He alone can carry it forward
and make it prosper.
But the good spirit
loves to be entreated.
And those who ask most
will have most
of his influence.
Prayer is the surest remedy
against the devil
and besetting sins.
That sin will never stand firm,
which is heartily prayed against.
That devil will never long
keep dominion over us,
which we beseech the Lord
to cast forth.
Do you wish to grow in grace
and be a devoted Christian?
Be very sure if you wish it.
You could not have
a more important question
than this.
Do you pray?
In Ephesians 6,
Paul commands us
to stand firm in the faith
and he tells us
to stand firm
by putting on
the whole armor of God.
And then he tells us
exactly how we're supposed
to don this whole armor of God.
He says in verse 18,
Ephesians 6,
praying at all times
in the spirit
with all prayer
and supplication.
That's how you stand firm
as a believer.
That's how you put on
the armor of God
in prayer.
Sometimes I think
as Christians,
we can act like,
you know,
lost soldiers
stranded in enemy territory
and we're besieged
by enemies
and enemy shots
are being fired
from all over the place
and you look helpless
or maybe you don't even realize
how bad the situation is
and we think
that the situation
is manageable.
We're trying to handle it
on our own
when all this time
we have the radio
in the pocket.
You could just radio in
the headquarters,
call the general,
send in air support.
Boom.
When you pray
in accordance with God's will,
when you pray
the things he asks,
he commands us to pray,
God never says no
to your prayers.
He might say wait,
but he never says no
if you pray
in accordance with God's will.
There are many great things
that all of you guys
as church members
can do
to serve God
and to build up our church,
but none of them
is more important
than prayer
and the ministry
of the word.
As John Piper
writes in his book
for pastors,
brothers,
we are not professionals.
Quote,
most interruptions
and most of our busyness
are ministry related,
not worldly.
The great threat
to our prayer
and our meditation
on the word of God
is good ministry activity.
This is so true.
Most of the weeks
when my prayers
are shortened
or interrupted,
it's not because
of some grave sin.
It's just because
of good ministry activity.
The same can be true
for you.
If you offer
to serve the church,
if you told me,
hey,
can I serve the church
two hours less this week
so that I can pray
for the church
two hours more,
I will take that trade
any day of the week.
Let me give you
some practical suggestions
that can help you grow
in your prayer life.
First,
today is New Year's Eve,
so I know many of you
are going to make
New Year's resolutions.
Set a time
and place for prayer.
Mark 1.35 says,
rising very early
in the morning
while it was still dark,
Jesus departed
and went out
to a desolate place
and there he prayed.
Jesus had a time
very early in the morning
and he had a place,
a desolate place.
He set a time
and place
to go and pray
and this was his habit.
There are many Christians
who know
and believe
that prayer is important
and yet do not pray
simply because they
haven't put their intentions
into practice
by choosing a place
and a time to pray.
A study published
in the British Journal
of Health Psychology,
I feel like I'm quoting
a lot of British sources,
it's not because you guys
are here,
the Jenkins,
it's just happened
that way today.
The British Journal
of Health Psychology
asked the control group
to exercise once
in the next week
and 29% of them exercised.
And then they gave
experiment group number one
detailed information
about why exercise
is important for your health
and then told them
to go exercise
and that week,
that group,
39% of them exercised,
only 10% more.
And then in the last group,
experiment group number two,
they told them
to commit to exercising
at a specific place,
on a specific day,
at a specific time
of their choosing
and 91% of them exercised.
The world,
the flesh,
and the devil
already make it hard enough
as it is
for us to pray.
It's not going
to just happen.
So make a plan.
Find a time and place
to pray regularly.
Second,
start praying
through the scriptures.
Seminary professor
Donald Whitney
describes how many Christians
feel about prayer
in his book,
Praying the Bible.
He says,
when prayer is boring,
we don't feel like praying,
and we don't feel like praying,
it's hard to make ourselves pray.
Even five or six minutes
of prayer can feel
like an eternity.
Our mind wanders
half the time.
We'll suddenly come
to ourselves and think,
now, where was I?
I haven't been thinking
of God for the last
several minutes.
And we'll return
to that mental script
we've repeated
countless times,
but almost immediately
our minds begin
to wander again
because we've said
the same old things
about the same old things
so many times.
If you can relate to this,
then praying
through the scriptures
verse by verse
can help.
Because if you don't feel,
if we don't fill our minds
with the word of God,
we're not going to have
very many words
to say back to God.
And this is one way
we can guarantee
that we are praying
in accordance
with God's will,
a prayer that God guarantees
he will answer
in 1 John 5, 14 to 15.
This is his will.
This is the revealed
will of God.
And you pray this,
then you know
that your prayer
is going to be answered.
This is what we do
during our midweek
prayer services.
We always go through
a passage of scripture
verse by verse
and let the word of God
then inform our thoughts
and our words in prayer.
If you do this,
then it keeps
your prayers fresh
because you don't have
to repeat yourself
tirelessly
because we're really
not that creative.
and you never have
a shortage of things
to pray for.
It deepens our prayers
because we can pray
more with greater knowledge
of what God's will
is for us.
It helps us,
it keeps our mind
from wondering.
It helps us to pray
longer
and more concentrated
prayers.
It also makes our prayers
more personal
because it makes
prayer conversational,
right?
When you're having
a conversation
with somebody,
you listen to what
they say to you
and then you process
that information
and then respond back.
When you're praying
through the scriptures,
you listen to what
God has to say
and then you process that
and then you respond
on the basis
of what he has just
said to you.
It becomes a conversation.
It becomes more personal
and when it becomes
more personal,
it feels more real.
You're not praying
in the thin air.
You're interacting
with a person.
Third,
keep a list
of prayer requests.
It's very simple to do.
You can do it
in any kind of form.
I use index cards.
You guys can use
your journals
or whatever.
This is what I do
but I also know
that some of our
church members
have done this
in the past.
You can print off
the names of our
church members
which is all
accessible online
and you could write
down next to their
names or if you're
using an index card
behind their names,
you could write down
their prayer requests,
you could write down
specific scripture
passages that you
want to pray for them
and just carry that
around with you.
And you won't run
out of things
to pray for.
You could also use
the method we use
on Sunday mornings
during our prayers
to people.
Pray in concentric
circles.
Start with the
immediate circle
which is you.
Start by praying
for yourself
and then go
to a wider
concentric circle.
Pray for your
family.
Pray for your
church,
our church
and then a
larger concentric
school.
Pray for your
neighborhood and
the city and
then finally to
the nations,
the world and
the unreached
people groups.
Fourth practical
suggestion is simply
pray with other
people.
This can keep you
accountable and help
you to pray more.
Think about it.
Even if you only
commit in the New
Year's, nothing else
but you commit to
coming to our
midweek prayer once
a week.
You're going to
pray one to two
hours more than
you do now every
single week.
That's a start.
And finally, start
by praying that the
Holy Spirit would
fill you and help
you to pray more.
That's the place to
start.
It could be a
10 second prayer.
God help me to
pray more.
God answers that
prayer.
I've seen him
answer that prayer
in my life.
Because ultimately,
it's the work of
the Holy Spirit.
It's only those who
have a big view of
God and a small view
of themselves who
pray.
Only those who
recognize how needy
they are who pray.
And that's something
that the Holy Spirit
must do in our
hearts.
It's only those whose
mouths have been
stopped who pray.
So let's pray.
Let's pray for that
out loud together.
Father,
help us to pray more.
Show us how glorious
and holy and mighty
you are.
Show us your all
insufficiency
and our deep
inadequacy.
Humble us.
Bring us lower.
Help us to see
our neediness.
Help us to see
that we can do
nothing apart
from you.
so that prayer
just becomes
the air we breathe
through the natural
language of our souls.
Lord, this year,
make us a church
that prays more
than we have ever done.
so that
when you
move
in response
to our prayers
and when you do
mighty deeds
in response
to our prayers,
when you save
the lost
in response
to our prayers,
that you
would get
all the glory.
In Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.