September 04, 2024
If God is God, then there are things He values. Some things are important to Him, while others have no meaning or can even be offensive.
God mentions prayer over 650 times in the Scriptures. So, how important are our prayers?
A SOBERING SILENCE
In the great revelation of things to come given to John, there is a stunning period of total silence in heaven.
When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Revelation 8:1)
What could be so important that all of heaven stops in dead silence? Reading ahead, we see that the mighty final judgments of God were about to be hurled upon the earth for its wickedness. These judgments will be a time of incredible noise and tumult. But preceding these judgments, there is total silence brought about by one thing.
Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:3-4)
All of heaven stops for one thing: the prayers of all the saints. Our prayers silence heaven. There are many interpretations of what this heavenly pause means, but this much should be easily understood:
Prayer is important to God.
He created us in His image to rule with Him. In this silence, He is listening to the combined cries of His sons and daughters. Prayers of thanksgiving and praise, confession and repentance, for His grace and mercy and provision … and certainly prayers that God would descend and bring justice upon the earth.
Our prayers are vital to the activity of heaven.
God has given great authority and power to this work of prayer. James says that “the effective, fervent prayers of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). In fact, God tells us that there are some things that do not happen because we do not ask. Some theologians believe that God may have been waiting for these last prayers of Revelation 8 to be prayed before the end would come … that our prayers hastened this time of final judgments.
“What are the real master-powers behind the world and what are the deeper secrets of our destiny? Here is the astonishing answer: the prayer of the saints and the fire of God. That means that more potent, more powerful than all the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more powerful than anything else, is the power of prayer set ablaze by the fire of God and cast upon the earth” (Torrance).[1]
Prayer is not a side issue. A nice panacea for us when we’re in trouble. A little mantra we chant to make us feel better. Prayer connects us to the God of heaven and can thus do anything God can do. It is not “A” work; it is “THE” work of the believer. We are called to pray about everything; to pray without ceasing. It is our foundational activity.
Jesus told us this when He taught us to pray this way: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We have the privilege to be in the heavenlies with Christ through prayer. There, we discover what His kingdom is like and what the Father’s desires are. In prayer, we cooperate with God in bringing heaven’s activity down to earth. We are the agents of His activity and it is all accomplished through prayer.
Think deeply about this as you pray today. Your prayers could be those joined with others in Revelation 8 that bring heaven to silence in preparation for the end of all things.
[1] Morris, L. (1987). Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 20, p. 120). InterVarsity Press.
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