Revelation: The Hope - The Seventh Seal

The Modern Coast of Turkey

Silence…

I have questions for you.  No one is around to hear your answers, and I’m not asking you to share, so be honest with yourself.

#1 - Other than sleep, approximately how many minutes of silence do you experience in a typical day?

#2 - Are you comfortable with silence or does the absence of even background noise make you uncomfortable?

#3 - Do you ever long for moments of silence?

#4 - Have you ever talked aloud to yourself when you are alone in order to eliminate the silence?

#5 -  Do you place any value on creating moments of silence in your life?

Random science fact…when mice are exposed to a minimum of two hours of silence per day, new cells develop in the hippocampus.  Journal of Brain, Structure and Function.  In the human brain, the hippocampus’ primary responsibility functions as the transfer station for the conversion of short term memories to long term memories.  As the relay station, the hippocampus is critical to learning because it retrieves memories as well as produces memory induced emotion.  

Location of Hippocampus

Researcher Imke Kirste learned that with adequate silence, the mice’s new hippocampus cells became functioning neurons.  In the mice deprived of silence, their stress hormones increased and eventually became chronically elevated.  

Cornell University researcher Gary Evans studied the effect of noise on children by examining children who lived near noisy airports.  His conclusions stated that the children who lived with the constant noise of the airplanes learned to “tune out” the noise.  However, they also learned to tune out other important input such as the speech of others  Psychological Science.  Any parent who knows their kid is intentionally ignoring them when they must have heard what was spoken may need to go read this study! 

So now review my five questions and reflect on how many minutes of silence you experience daily.  I guarantee it is not two hours worth.  

Hang on to your hat as I rapidly switch from nerdy science Nancy back to Revelation. 

When the angel opens the seventh seal, John reports that “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”  Revelation 8:1  

Revelation has been chaotic and noisy for seven full chapters, but the seventh seal commands silence.  Why is this important?  Why does it matter?

If you are familiar with Revelation at all, the imagery is about to get WILD!  That is really the best word I can use to describe the upcoming chapters.  So as the seventh seal cracks, all of heaven collectively holds its breath in silent anticipation of what is to come.  

Now let’s remember what silence stimulates in the brain.  What you read and what you study gets adequately relayed over into long term memory if you have a healthy hippocampus.  How you recall what you learn is determined by a healthy hippocampus.  A positive response or a trauma response to a memory occurs because of the hippocampus.  And how do you maintain a healthy hippocampus?  Actively engaging in moments of silence. 

Before the seven trumpets are blown.  Before the two witnesses proclaim.  Before the pregnant woman fights the red dragon.  Before the beast emerges from the sea.  Before the proclamations of the angels.  Before the seven bowls of judgement.  Before the great prostitute and the scarlet beast.  Before the fall of Babylon.  Before Satan is bound.  Before all things are made new.  

Silence…

As I think about the amount of silence present in my life, I realize God ordains silence as sacred.  He created my brain to need silence in order to form adequate memories and be able to call up those memories in times of need.  

When my amygdala overloads me with fear, my hippocampus recalls, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and sound judgment.”  2 Timothy 1:7. “Do not fear for I am with you;  do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.”  Isaiah 41:10.  

When my limbic system oppresses me with worry and anxiety, my hippocampus reminds, “Don’t worry saying, ‘what will we eat or what will we wear?  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be provided to you.”  Matthew 6:31-33 

When I throw up my hands and say I will never understand the imagery in Revelation, my hippocampus points out, Jesus said in John 14:14, “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”  

Healthy Wheat

In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains that, “the seed sown on the good ground - this is one who hears and understands the word; who does produce fruit.”  Matthew 13:23.  

We cannot simply hear and grow.  We must hear and understand.  In order to make that process happen, we need silence.

As you go about your week, think about the seventh seal.  God is getting ready to reveal to John the judgement of the earth and the establishment of His kingdom.  He forced John to be silent so he could adequately absorb all he had seen then prepare his mind to receive the rest of the Revelation. 

Are you missing messages from God because you never experience His sacred silence?

“All profound things and emotions of things are preceded and amended by Silence, and Silence is the consecration of the universe.” Herman Melville