The Pathfinder
#258
After The Silence
"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about
the space of half an hour." And after the silence, "...there were
voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."
Revelation 8:1, 8.
What a contrast of events: first silence in heaven and then voices,
thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Each of these plays a
very unique part in what God is doing in the body of His elect and the world.
During the silence intricate workings are taking place. The curtain is closed
while the stage is being set for the grand finale. Hush envelopes every ear as
anticipation builds. When will the silence end?
Being silent is one of the most difficult things to do, and our longtime
friend, J. Preston Eby, spoke of this in his article, "From The Candlestick
To The Throne" Part 106:
"Most of us have been blessed to hear many of God’s trumpets, we have heard
the trumpet of salvation, the trumpet of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the
trumpets of gifts and healing and miracles and deliverance and praise and
worship and revelation. There is great blessing but also a hidden curse to that
— for God charges us in this Day to make a distinction between the sounds, to
hear what the Spirit now saith unto His apprehended ones. We don’t
like the silence — after only a few minutes of silence in a meeting saints begin
to become edgy, nervous, uneasy, tense, and apprehensive. 'Somebody get up and
do something!' is their response to the silence. Sing a song, give a
testimony, share a revelation, pray, worship — do anything except be
silent! Some years ago I was in a meeting when the Spirit began to speak through
various ministries that we should get quiet before the Lord and wait upon Him.
The brethren began to exhort about being quiet, someone prophesied that we
should be quiet, another sang about the holy quietness; for the rest of the
meeting the brethren did everything except SHUT UP AND LISTEN FOR GOD! There
is more to it, of course, than being quiet for a few minutes or a few hours in a
meeting, but it takes the silence of God in this hour to set His sons apart from
the passing and prepare them to hear the sound of the fresh word and the new
move of the new Day from out of the throne of God!
"The silence does not end until the seven angels are
prepared to sound! When the inner preparation is complete in the Lord’s
people and the conditions are right for the seven spirits of God to be revealed
out of them, the silence will be broken. It will be broken by a mighty blast of
the breath of God! That is what the word 'sound' in this passage means — 'to
trumpet, to blast.' It is not a gentle sound, not a quiet murmur, not a whisper.
When the fullness of the revelation and glory and power and triumph of the Lord
breaks out within the sons of God, it will come as the sudden blast of a
trumpet! There will be a great sound from heaven that will change, transform,
and empower the sons of God and it will also startle the world of mankind and
reverberate through all the kingdoms of men!
"Is it not written that God will send His angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other. I have no hesitation in telling you
that as the hour of manifestation approaches there shall be a great gathering
together of God’s sons! The sons are now scattered, isolated, separated in
remote areas of the land and distant corners of the earth. But God will soon
gather them together by the sovereign work of His divine power!" —End quote.
And may I add, it matters not one whit whether we are on this
side of the veil or the other—we will ALL come together as one body! Our
whereabouts or age has nothing to do with this election and high calling. If we
are called to it, we will see and be it!
People very often tolerate the clamor and commanding of
voices; but silence can generally be much more difficult to handle as Brother
Eby reported above. Short durations of silence might be welcomed, but prolonged
silence can be unbearable, especially for those who are alone. Ask anyone who
has been confined to solitary confinement whether as a disobedient child sent to
his room for a day, a prisoner of war, or high profiled prisoners such as:
terrorists like Richard Reid the "Shoe Bomber," serial killers, mobsters,
drug lords, and child molester, Dr. Malachi Z. York. These few are held in the
United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX), an American
federal, supermax prison for male inmates. It is located in Fremont County,
Colorado, and it is unofficially known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. These
inmates, and most of the others, are solitarily confined for 23 hours each day,
with some being underground and never seeing the light of day for the rest of
their lives. They are held in a 7-by-12 foot, soundproofed room that is built
behind a steel door and grate. The remaining "free" hour is spent exercising
alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners rarely see each other. Their
only human interaction is limited to that of the correctional officers. The
solitude and perpetual silence can be deafening.
There are, of course, other types of silence and solitary
confinement that minister torment. Ask a husband, or a wife, who is getting the
silent treatment from the other. It is shear torture. All out screaming matches
like artillery barrages can be less painful than dead silence. And now, those in
Christ are experiencing silence; but thank God it is not the worldly kind that
brings torment. Although uneasy and discomforting, it is wonderfully holy and
brings no sorrow whatsoever.
We mentioned in one of our past articles that some are
concerned about how very quiet things have become, that there is such a rarity
of fellowship, as well as it being so quiet inwardly and outwardly. They say
that the word of revelation is not stirring like they once knew it. They have
been wondering why ministries who used to travel the land are mostly unheard of
these days, and there are no new ones being sent forth. It has been like the
calm before a storm. Hearing the Lord’s voice is not like it was a few years
ago. The two or three monthly publications that are received by mail is about
all there is that speaks life to them. Just to read, or to be with a few others
who have the same heavenly vision is wonderful; but for the most part, the
banqueting table of the Lord has been cleared. All is quiet! However, this
quietness is not necessarily due to having been awe-stricken by the majestic
presence of God and His redounding glory. It has just simply been still and
quiet for many. Regardless of what the cause might be for this calm before
the storm, we all wait with bated breath to hear and be the voices. We await
the sight and sound of the first lightning bolt that will shake not only the
earth but heaven also.
During this time of silence, there seems to be very little
taking place in our lives individually as well as in His body corporately. But
let us not suppose that God is inactive during this awesome time of abeyance. It
may appear the same with the calm before the storm, that nothing is going on;
but please know, that much is stirring in the heavens and the earth, spiritually
and in the natural, and we hope to see what some of this stirring might be and
what it is preparing to unleash; such as, voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings, and an earthquake!
Some of the following may seem to be more like a science
lesson than a Bible study or a an anointed word of revelation; but please bear
with us; for I am sure you will see how it all fits together and unfolds in
God’s majesty. So now let us look into lightning and hopefully be
enlightened.
Does Lightning Travel Upward Or Downward?
Some say lightning travels downward while others say upward.
With the little fingers streaking out from the main bolt, such lightning strikes
look as if they are streaming downward, but looks can be deceiving. The answer
to the question is—both—and more! Lightning goes from the ground up,
from the cloud down, from cloud to cloud, as well as in any direction
within a cloud. But today, we are interested more in the lightning that has
to do with the clouds and the ground, and let us keep in mind that the natural
points to that which is spiritual. Therefore, this is more than a fourth grade
science lesson.
The initial part of a lightning bolt is much less bright and
usually cannot be seen without special cameras. It usually starts by going
downward from the cloud and consists of several channels called step leaders.
Each of these step leaders are looking for a contact point so they
can discharge the built up negative ions in the cloud.
An ion is either a negatively or
positively charged atom. The charge is due to an excess of
electrons which gives the particle a negative charge, or more protons than
electrons that give the particle a positive charge. As it is with magnets, the
ions of opposite charges are attracted to one another while like charges repel
the other. It is the same in nature, two men or two male animals can be fairly
near each other and have social interactions; but if they get too close, they
repel each other. But with a man and woman having the proper positive/masculine
and negative/feminine charges between them, it is entirely a different story.
There is no repulsion at all! They can get so close to each other that they
become one and bear both of their images in one child.
The negative charged ions build the step leaders
which are super charged ions that form the pathways in which the charge
is transferred between heaven and earth. When the first step leader makes
contact with the earth, the strike goes up that ionized channel as a blaze of
fire. This is the bolt of lightning that we see. It is the rush of fire that
breaks the atmosphere with such unrestrained force that the deafening crash of
thunder is heard.
The earth has a positive charge and the cloud’s charge is
negative, and like magnets, they are irresistibly drawn to each other. As the
super charged, excited ions are attracted to the earth and goes searching to
neutralize their cloud, the earth sends out its charge as it looks for that
place of connection and explosive union.
On the spiritual side, the elect sons of God, the
electrically charged ions of the heavenly calling, are like the
electric field in the clouds that are looking for a connecting point in the
earth of their being as well as outward to those in the world. They look for the
closest and easiest path to transfer their charge from God’s heavenly kingdom.
Their released charge has often been, as it is with lightning, between clouds of
His many membered body, or inside their close-knit cloud of witnesses. But the
elect’s lightning we are focusing on today is the lightning that happens between
the cloud of His habitation and the earth; for that is where the manifestation
of the sons of God will take place that creation is anxiously awaiting.
As the storm clouds of God’s heavenly kingdom move over the
earth, the strong negative charge in the cloud attracts positive charges in the
ground. Deep calls unto the deep. These positive charges begin to move up into
the tallest objects like trees, telephone poles, houses, and human bodies. A
step leader (or Jacob’s step ladder) of negative charge descends from
the cloud making a path toward the earth wherein their union is consummated and
made sure. And as it is with natural lightning, the strike of the step leader
will be too rapid and dim for human eyes to perceive; but they will see the
blaze of glory once the step leader/ladder makes contact with the
earth’s upward moving streamer that is searching for its
connector.
Once the conditions are right and it is time for the Lord to
have His word trumpeted from the heavens, there will be a yearning from above
and below, from the great cloud of witnesses and the earth that will come
together and manifest His glory. It will come as enlightening revelations, as
refreshing rain, as the ice and hail of thundering judgments, as fiery purgings,
as kingdom shaking earthquakes. All manner of blessings and severe judgments
will sweep over the face of the earth. There are voices, as the word of the Lord
is released in the earth; there are thunderings, as the power of God is made
manifest; there are lightnings, as the illumination of divine truth bursts
within the consciousness of men; and these are followed by a great earthquake,
as the carnality of man, and the kingdoms of man are shaken to their very
foundations! "At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised,
‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’"
Hebrews 12:26, (NIV).
We may be sitting alone in silence; but take hope, brethren;
for can we not see the storm cloud over the earth is a sign of hope. Even though
there is thick darkness everywhere, and the Lord’s Sonlight is not being
seen in the land, all of this gives us cause to look up and be glad; for the
stage is being set, the curtains are ready to be pulled to make a way for the
encore. It is time for the lightnings, the thunderings, the call to arms, for
the sons of God to make their blazing appearance!
Although there has been silence in heaven, surely we can
know, like lightning, that the ions of our spirit have also been in the process
of being charged, not to mention every member of this great cloud round about
the throne of God. We are being charged and are searching for our contact point.
Indeed, there is silence, but there is also a storm brewing, and the cloud’s
ions are being excited as we are irresistibly looking to make our rendezvous and
election sure with the earth which in like manner, is looking for and being
drawn to us.
During the formation of this lightning bolt, let us be
reminded that the earth is by no means lying dormant or merely waiting to be
contacted. As the charge from the cloud gets close to the ground, the earth’s
charge, the streamer, reaches up for the rendezvous to meet the
searching charge and the clouds in the air. With the elect of God, the
channels of ions will connect and all will see the bolt of lightning, hear its
thundering report, and "All heaven will break loose."
To help make this more clear, we will use a visual aid that
shows how lightning works:
The left side of the illustration in Photo #1
depicts the charged ionic field, channel, or the step leader. It
has finished its downward search and made a path for which the lightning bolt to
travel upward to meet the clouds in the air, which is shown in the frame
on the right.
Photo #2 shows the ignited step
leaders that did not make it to any connecting points on the surface. We can see
the path that they took while looking for them, and with the longest, brightest
having found its mark first, it ignited into a blaze of fire that went to all
the other step leaders connected to it. There is an instantaneous chain reaction
to the minor step leaders. And with the first lightning strike,
the silence in heaven is no more.
The National Weather Service of the NOAA (National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration) says that there are also positive charged
lightning bolts which are more rare and have a much stronger electrical field.
They usually form at the top of the storm, and the flash duration is typically
longer. Their peak charge can be up to 300,000 amperes and one billion volts (http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/154249/).
Plus, positively charged lightning can occur near the edge of a cloud and strike
from 10 to 25 miles away. These strikes are called ‘bolts from the blue,"
because they appear to come from the clear blue sky.
Positive charged lightning bolts also trigger
sprites
which are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm
clouds and can reach more than 50 miles upward, that is, all the way to the
highest heaven of our earthly habitation. Unlike lightning, sprites consist
of cold plasma, or charged particles of gas; but as it is with lightning that
equalizes the earth’s electrical charge, sprites instantly equalize the
ionosphere’s charge. Lightning and sprites are ever vigilant in keeping the
earth, the atmosphere, and the other spheres of our local heavens in balance and
perfect harmony. Blue Jets and Elves are also generated by lightning; but we
will not attempt to delve into the mysteries of those phenomena today.
Lightning serves more than presenting a spectacular light
show. The earth benefits greatly from lightning in several ways. First,
lightning helps the earth maintain electrical balance. The earth is recharged by
thunderstorms. The earth's surface and the atmosphere conduct electricity
easily—the earth is charged negatively and the atmosphere, positively. There is
always a steady current of electrons flowing upwards from the entire surface of
the earth. Thunderstorms help transfer the negative charges back to Earth in the
form of negatively charged lightning. Without thunderstorms and lightning, the
earth-atmosphere electrical balance would disappear in 5 minutes. Lightning also
makes ozone and chemicals; such as, nitrogen oxide, sulfuric acid, water,
elemental sulfur, and sulfur dioxide .
There is a tremendous amount of activity hidden deep within
the building clouds that generate the negative charged ions. There are updrafts
and downdrafts that carry rain drops, ice particles, and hail stones over 20,000
feet in elevation, and sometimes up to 75,000 feet. However, typically, the top
of the cloud reaches between 4 to 7 miles high (21,000 to 37,000 feet). Ions
cannot be produced without an energy source; but there is plenty of energy
generated in these phenomena of the heavens. Common sources of this energy are
heat, friction, and evaporation which make clouds excellent creators of ions.
And then, although invisible and totally silent, the ions that go looking for a
place to release their charge are buzzing with activity. They are not unlike
young men and women. In a sense, one is positively charged and the other is
negatively charged, and as it is with the charged clouds and charged earth, they
are both lacking, and they go seeking each other.
As the analogy goes, men and woman are extremely attracted to
each other, as negative and positive charges are attracted to each other. Once
they get near, nothing can keep them apart, and so it is with the ions of the
heavens and the earth, and after the connections are made—sparks fly in the form
of lightning bolts, literally and figuratively. Rain then falls to water the
earth so it can bring forth. The joining of man and the woman does the same, yet
it is raining love upon their earth, and they bring forth after their own kind.
Their children are not lacking protons or electrons, they are balanced and are
not attracted to or drawn to the opposite sex, that is, not until they reach the
ages around 13 or 14 years old. It is then that their charged ions (hormones)
began to form in their minds and bodies.
Also, your breath contains about 20,000 to 50,000 negative
ions from the water evaporating from your body; but you must be grounded to
exhale a concentration this high. If you are not grounded, you will become more
positively charged with each breath exhaled by about five volts, because your
breath is removing negative charged ions. Eventually, you will become
sufficiently positive after exhaling about 20 times, that the negative ions will
immediately return and neutralize your body. Another natural example
demonstrating that all things that come out of God returns back to Him, even the
spirit of His breath. And we see this law of spiritual physics herein: "So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11. As well as: "For from Him
and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."
Romans 11:36.
Notwithstanding, we are on tiptoe with our eyes and ears
pealed, we are waiting to hear and see voices, lightnings, and thunders:
And There Were Voices, and Thunderings, and Lightnings
"And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of
the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and
thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."
Revelation 8:5.
Voices
is a word comes from the Greek, ph
n . Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance says that it is akin to
phain through the idea of disclosure, an address,
to lighten (shine), that is, to show.
Therefore, voices/ph n are much more than people just talking,
such as casual conversations we might hear in a restaurant, on the streets, in
grocery stores, in sports stadiums, or people talking just to hear their heads
rattle, that is, when a lot of words are being said but they really have nothing
to say. There is no real disclosure, or a particular address
in mere words alone. Even if the words have worth, such as a physics professor
teaching a first grade elementary class a lesson on the Second Law of
Thermodynamics. Every word he speaks and that is written in the text book
tells the class exactly how this law works; but as it is with voice heard coming
from a crowd, there is no enlightenment, no understanding,
or shining revelation of truth. The professor is telling the
truth, the students hear his "voice"; but there is no comprehension
of anything said. It is nothing more than unintelligible sound to the
children. However, when the same words are spoken to college seniors whose major
is in the field of physics, his voice enlightens them to greater truths. His
voice is an enlightening disclosure, and so it is with us when
Revelation 8:5 is fulfilled in our heavens.
The voices break the silence. They will surely
disclose our marching orders. They will instruct us. They will be an
inaugural address announcing to the kingdoms of the world, that
the Sons of God now rule. The voices will enlighten us and the world as
we are shown to be the King’s chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy
nation, His peculiar people who are highly valued treasures that have been
reserved and saved until and for this special day!
The silence in our heaven and earth is certainly evident at
the moment; but never think that nothing is going on, even if we feel nothing
stirring within while others may indeed be sensing something. You see, it is the
same with the spiritual cloud of His people as it is within natural clouds.
Negative, spiritual ions are being produced by an energy source in these heavens
where we abide. The energy sources are the heat of the Spirit, updrafts,
downdrafts, friction, evaporation, cooling, etc. There are times when the Spirit
is heated in our lives and gatherings causing us to rise and soar miles into the
heavens, and then we are rapidly cooled and come plummeting down as raindrops,
ice crystals, or hailstones. We rub against one another with the friction
generating more negative ions. The process continues as the cloud builds, this
cloud is building exponentially as additional vapors condense and form more
water and ice particles. As this cloud that we are moves over the land the
negative charged ions draw and relentlessly pull upon the positive ions of the
earth. Although nothing can be seen in our natural earth frames and lives,
spiritual ions are being charged therein as well.
The step ionic leaders of the Spirit are searching
downward for that which is lacking in their cloud, while the streaming ions
of the Spirit are irresistibly being drawn heavenward to touch that which is
lacking in their earth.
I can now prophesy to you!
Heaven and Earth will kiss!
Silence in heaven will cease with a lightning bolt and clap of thunder that will
rend the heavens and the earth, shaking everything above and below!
"And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of
the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, *and
thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."
Revelation 8:5.
*the Greek word for and
in this verse is kai. It can be translated as and
or even. There is grammatical rule, The Granville
Sharp Rule, that determines which way it should be translated:
"When two [or more] nouns are in the same case,
connected by kai (and), and the first noun is preceded by the definite article
(THE) while the second noun is not preceded by the article, the second noun
refers to the same person or thing to which the first noun has reference and is
a further description of it."
Curtis Vaughn, and Virtus Gideon stated in A Greek
Grammar of the New Testament: "If two [or more] nouns of the
same case are connected by a "kai" (and) and the article (the) is
used with each noun, they refer to different persons or things. If only the
first noun has the article, the second noun refers to the same person or thing
referred to in the first." Nashville: Broadman Press,
1979), p. 83.
According to
The Granville
Sharp Rule the nouns in Revelation 8:5, "voices, and
thunderings, and lightnings, and an
earthquake," speak of the same thing; for the article, the, is
not used with either of the nouns. Therefore, the voices, thunderings,
lightnings, and the earthquake are all the same thing, but
perceived in different ways, depending on who is hearing and seeing the
manifestation from heaven.
Some will hear voices/disclosures/instructions.
Others may hear the same as well as seeing lightnings/enlightenments/revelations.
Thundering judgments will be proclaimed to others, while an
earthquake will shake apart every vestige of human dominion and
carnality from men and their kingdoms. Everything will be shaken apart in their
lives, leaving them with nothing but godly sorrow that will finally work
repentance into salvation. For surely, none will fail to hear or escape once the
ions of the heavens and the earth meet to end the silence in heaven forever.
In closing, it is good to quote once again our dear friend, J. Preston Eby
(From The Candlestick To The Throne, Part 149):
"Those who think all things are going to continue as they
are, are deceived. Even as I write, this planet is in the greatest spiritual,
political, and economic change since WWII. Not too many years ago both the
system and the millennium changed. History's ‘odometer’ turned up to 7000 -- the
beginning of the 7th day since Adam was banished in sorrow from Eden’s bright
portals. But that means nothing to me except that I have heard the voice of the
Lord announcing that He is about to do a new and wonderful thing in the earth!
The manifestation of the sons of God is at hand! God is accelerating His Kingdom
program in the earth. We have entered an era of great change. Deliverance will
come! There is no way out of the spiritual darkness of this hour, short of the
manifestation of the sons of God. The gospel that is being preached today by the
churches is powerless to alter the course of history. A mere ‘revival’ or
missionary outreaches, or the election of Christian politicians will not solve
the immense problems of mankind, banish Islam, eradicate the man-made systems of
Christianity, extinguish Buddhism and all the other isms of the world, bring
peace to the warring Middle East, and bring blessing, peace, justice,
righteousness, prosperity, healing, life, and immortality to the blighted masses
of mankind. Nothing more than the manifestation of the sons of God can avail!
Nothing! NOTHING!
"With this manifestation the Day of the Lord will shine
brighter and brighter. Whole nations will be impacted by the power and glory of
the kingdom of God. Immortality and incorruption will begin to spring forth in a
people. God shall roar out of Zion! The Lord Jesus shall come to be revealed in
His people in all His glorious fullness. Mercy and judgment shall kiss each
other in the midst of the earth. Great and terrible shall be the Day of the
Lord! The ‘Day of the Lord’ has nothing to do with wars, antichrist, or great
vengeance and wrath poured out, as the preachers are wont to proclaim. It is the
DAY of the LORD, the dawning and arising of HIS GLORY! I can assure you that a
new age is on the horizon, a new dispensation of HIS working, and we cry out to
be ready, and partake of that life-flow.
"‘I have given them your word; and the world has hated them,
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.’ (John 17;14).
If Jesus was not of the world, why was He in the world? If there was no sympathy
between Him and the world, why was it that He was in it and did not remain in
that high and holy and blessed realm from whence He came? The answer is the
Father sent Him into the world to redeem the world! In these two expressions,
‘in the world’ and ‘not of the world,’ we find the whole secret to His work as
the manifest Son of God in the earth, and King of the Kingdom." —End quote.
It is then, dear friends, that the heavens will drop down as
the earth rises up in the glory of lightning, blasting of trumpets,
and wondrous voices: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:
and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the lord in the air:
and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.
WHAT A RAPTURE, the real one, when the negative and positive
ions meet in the air! Again, "Mercy and truth are met
together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth
shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from
heaven [as blazing lightning bolts]." Psalms 85:10-11.
That is what comes — AFTER THE SILENCE!
After the silence,
we are changed. "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Corinthians
15:51-53.
After the silence, "Behold, he cometh with
clouds; and every eye shall see him." Revelation 1:7.
After the silence, our Lord will come "...in holy
myriads of Himself to execute judgment..." Jude 1:14-15 [Emphatic
Diaglott].
After the silence, "Wisdom will excel folly and light
will excel darkness." Ecclesiastes 2:13.
Praise God for THE SILENCE, and praise God for what comes
AFTER THE SILENCE!
Elwin R. Roach
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