Silence in heaven - Revelation 8

I was at an amazing conference a while back, Simon Braker, amazing prophetic guy in Leicester, Convergence ministries - I've been to his annual conference twice, and on one occasion, in the middle of crazy annointed worship and ministry with hundreds of attendees, suddenly there was pin drop silence for exactly 30 minutes, exactly as described in Revelation 8.. not a dead boring silence where minds wandered - no, a holy awe filled reverent silence filled with God's sacred presence... 

What happens next in that chapter is what Jerry Lee Lewis sung about - Great Balls of Fire!

Read the chapter. Our prayers are being mixed with fire from the altar, ready to be thrown down to earth. All the more reason to keep humbling ourselves and praying for God to restore our land, 2 Chronicles 7.14.

The orchestra in heaven has finished warming up. This is the silence before the beginning of the performance. The conductor has raised his baton, all eyes are on him... the enemy's party is about to end...

I used to dread 'the tribulation', hoping we'd all be raptured before it began. But don't worry. We his saints will be hidden under his feathers. We'll be hidden in the cleft of the rock that is Christ, like Moses was when God's glory passed by, complete with earthquakes, wind and fire... we will only hear his still small voice comforting us his children in the storm. From that place of safety we will witness God's fearful judgement on his enemies. The moment he rends the heavens and comes down... be afraid, be very afraid...

Revelation 8:1-7, 13 NLT

[1] When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour. [2] I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets. [3] Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. [4] The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. [5] Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. [6] Then the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow their mighty blasts. [7] The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown down on the earth. One-third of the earth was set on fire, one-third of the trees were burned, and all the green grass was burned....

etc etc...

[13] Then I looked, and I heard a single eagle crying loudly as it flew through the air, “Terror, terror, terror to all who belong to this world because of what will happen when the last three angels blow their trumpets.”

https://bible.com/bible/116/rev.8.1-13.NLT