***CAUTION: some information may be considered sensitive for children
When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. –Revelation 8:1
Silence in heaven? What could that be about? Well, we need to understand what is going on in heaven at this point, and also determine if we have any historical foreshadow that might broaden our understanding.
First, at this point in Revelation, Messiah’s bride has already been taken from the earth, and judged for reward, as chapter 4 shows the “come up here” statement with the trumpet sounding, which is the bride being gathered to the Bridegroom in the air on the Feast of Trumpets.
Also, we see the 24 elders, which represents the entirety of Messiah’s bride Y’isra-el, foreshadowed in 1 Chronicles 24. The priesthood is a symbol of the bride, as it is Messiah’s bride who rules and reigns eternally as priests and kings with Messiah. “Y’isra-el” literally means “rules as God.”
So, we see that the bride has been taken to heaven, and has been judged for reward, because judgment is where the crowns that are cast at the throne are obtained (Revelation 4:10). They represent reward. The bride has been taken to the Father’s house, according to the wedding traditions. But, what is the half-hour of silence all about?
There was one time a year that the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to apply the blood of sacrifice onto the Ark of the Covenant. And, since it was imperative that the high priest be blameless before the Father when he entered the Holy of Holies, he would attach a bell onto his garment so that the priests in the temple would be able to discern whether he was alive and moving, or if he had been struck dead by Yah and the bell would not make any noise.
The high priest would also tie a rope around himself so that, if he were to die while he was in the Holy of Holies, his body could be dragged out—because nobody but the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. Because it was necessary to hear if the bell was ringing, there was always complete silence in the temple while the high priest was in the Holy of Holies. And, that is what John witnessed—a half hour of silence while the Great High Priest Yahoshua is in the Holy of Holies.
And, that brings us to what that silence represents.
The Ark of the Covenant is a symbol of Messiah’s bride. It was a vessel built of wood (corruptible), and covered in gold (divine). And, the physical covenant was placed within it, as a foreshadow of the spiritual covenant being placed within the bride. The physical covenant, given on the Feast of Weeks, was the Ten Commandments, which was a foreshadow of the spiritual covenant, which is the seal of the Holy Spirit, and was also given on the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2).
Sitting atop the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat, which was crafted of solid gold—a physical representation of Messiah Yahoshua’s divine nature. The two became a single unit within the Holy of Holies.
But, there was something else placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, which gives an even clearer picture that the Ark of the Covenant in union with the Mercy Seat within the Holy of Holies is a picture of the consummation of the marriage of the Lamb and His bride.
In addition to the covenant inside the Ark, Aaron’s budding rod was placed, and some manna. So, we have the Bridegroom and the bride (who is sealed by the covenant) within the wedding chamber, and there was a rod that had living buds on it, and some white matter placed inside the vessel that symbolized the bride. It is a picture of the consummation of the marriage.
And, Messiah Yahoshua now being the Great High Priest, enters the Holy of Holies—the wedding chamber, and whenever the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies, there was silence in the temple. And, that is the silence shown in Revelation 8:1. The ultimate sealing of the union between the Bridegroom and His bride!
During this time, the tribulation period is playing out on the earth. And, at the end of that ten years on the earth (ten days from Trumpets to Atonement), Messiah Yahoshua emerges from the wedding chamber with a cloak stained with blood.
Now, since christianity, the counterfeit of the true faith, abolished the Father’s traditions, most don’t understand that the blood is not Messiah’s blood, but His bride’s, as it is a sign that His bride was chaste (Revelation 19:13).
Furthermore, because the traditions are not known or understood, many in christianity believe that the bride will accompany Christ back to the earth for Armageddon, and then dwell on the earth during His millennial reign, but that is not what will happen.
According to the traditions, the bride remains in the wedding chamber until the feast begins. Since the marriage has been consummated by that point, the Bridegroom will return to the earth in judgment, and with Him will be the friends of the Bridegroom (OT saints) and the friends of the bride (tribulation saints), who are the wedding party, and they have been promised to rule and reign with Messiah for 1000 years ON THE EARTH.
But, the bride remains in the wedding chamber during that time, which, while being a thousand years on the earth, is but a day in heaven (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8). It is a day to prepare for the wedding feast, which starts in the new heaven after this earth is destroyed, and a new heaven and earth are created.
We see the bride being revealed at the wedding feast in Revelation 21:2, which is precisely according to the wedding traditions. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Just as the bride is the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth, so too will the bride be the temple, the house of Yah, throughout all eternity—the New Jerusalem, the kingdom of God.
For more information: Will There Be a Pre-Tribulation Rapture?