Revelation 08: Jesus Hears Us

Have you ever wondered if your prayers actually reach God? Revelation 8 delivers the powerful assurance that not only does God hear every prayer, but He treasures them as sweet-smelling incense before His throne.

Pastor Brandon takes us deep into the symbolism of Revelation 8, where heaven falls silent for thirty minutes as Jesus breaks the seventh seal. This dramatic pause signals Jesus reclaiming ownership of earth, a moment so significant that all of heaven stops to witness it. What follows offers extraordinary comfort to anyone who's ever felt their prayers hit the ceiling.

We explore the beautiful imagery of an angel mixing incense with "the prayers of God's people" before presenting them at God's altar. For the early church suffering under Roman persecution, this revelation that their prayers reached God's throne would have been revolutionary. The subsequent trumpet judgments specifically target elements of Roman power and commerce – God's direct response to the prayers of His suffering people.

The message resonates powerfully today. Many of us have experienced moments where it seemed God had "selective hearing," answering some prayers while seemingly ignoring others. Revelation 8 dismantles this misconception completely. Every prayer offered in faith rises before God as a precious offering. When circumstances suggest God isn't listening, we can stand firm in knowing appearances deceive – God's attentiveness never wavers.

Your prayers matter more than you think. They're not just words disappearing into the void but are actually integrated into God's cosmic work of judgment and restoration. When you pray, you participate in God's redemptive plan in ways that transcend human understanding. Take confidence today that the Creator treasures every word you speak to Him.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon, today,revelation Chapter 8.
And today's title is JesusHears Us.
Jesus Hears Us, and I knowsometimes it can feel like Jesus
has selective hearing Becauseit seems as though he answers
some prayers.

(00:20):
He doesn't answer others.
But can I tell you, he alwayshears and he always answers.
I know I had this lady one timewho said she thought her
husband had selective hearingbecause he could never seem to
hear her whenever it was time tocome do chores.
But he could hear her when itwas time for dinner and he
looked at her and he saidabsolutely.
And so he was just willing toadmit hey, yeah, I have

(00:42):
selective hearing, and you dotoo.
But can I tell you not, jesus,he hears everything and he's
going to prove it today intoday's passage.
That's why we're calling itJesus Hears Us.
So I might have just gotsomebody in trouble.
So let's move on real quick.
If you have your Bibles, openup with me to Revelation,
chapter 8.
As always, while you're doingthat, make sure you take just a

(01:03):
moment like share and subscribeto the YouTube channel and the
podcast.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast.
It really does help.
It doesn't cost you anything,and make sure you go into the
Bible Breakdown discussion onFacebook.
I'll tell you something the morewe dig, the more we find.
And if there's ever been a bookof the Bible that we can dig
and find, it is the book ofRevelation.
So if you've got that ready togo, let's dive in, because,

(01:25):
remember, the overall goal ofthe book of Revelation is this
idea that Jesus wins.
That's been the whole thingwe've been talking about from
the very beginning is that Jesuswins.
And the reason why we've beenpushing in on this is because,
from the very beginning, johnsays this book is a revelation

(01:45):
of Jesus Christ and that he wasprimarily writing this book to
the seven churches in Asia thathe oversaw, and we talked about
them in chapter 2 and chapter 3.
And they are going through thisintense persecution.
I mean like bad, like bad, badstuff.
They're being hunted and killedin certain areas and the
problem was is that the Romangovernment did not mind that
they believed in Jesus more thanMary, a very polytheistic

(02:08):
culture.
The problem with it is thatthey said that Jesus is the only
son of God.
Everyone must bow to him.
That's when they had a problem.
And so what the book ofRevelation is doing is it is,
among other things, it istelling them Jesus really is
king and he really is in charge.
And so we see the systematicview of Jesus taking back over

(02:32):
everything and showing that hereally is in charge, and I feel
like it's important to say everysingle time.
That's why the goal of thisparticular podcast is we are not
trying to look at the book ofRevelation in the way it
predicts possible end-timeevents, the eschatology of
Revelation.
There's some great podcasts,great books out there that do
that.
What I want to do is look atwhat did the early church see

(02:55):
when they looked at the book ofRevelation?
How did this encourage them?
Because I believe, as we lookat how it encourages them, it
will also very much encourage us.
So we're going to look atchapter 8, and we're going to.
It encourages them.
It will also very muchencourage us.
So we're going to look atchapter 8, and we're going to
read through this, and we'regoing to start with looking at
one of the ways that we knowthere's going to be a lot of
different kinds of people inheaven, all of them that have
united around Christ.

(03:16):
So let's get this one out of theway.
It's a joke, I can't wait totell.
So let's do this.
Okay, you ready?
Revelation, chapter 8, verse 1says this Okay, you ready?
Revelation 8, verse 1 says thiswhen the Lamb broke the seventh
seal on the scroll, there wassilence throughout heaven for
about half an hour.
Now, pause.
That's how you know, church ofChrist.
People are going to heaven.
Is God going to give them 30minutes where there's no music?

(03:40):
That was a joke.
Okay, for all of my Church ofChrist people.
Come on back.
Come on back.
It was just a joke.
I tease our Pentecostal friendsand everything else Might as
well tease the Church of Christpeople Probably not listening
anyway, but that's okay.
But here's the thing.
Remember we've been talkingabout the seals is back in
chapter 4, we talked about how aland deed would be wrapped in a

(04:02):
scroll and there would be sevenseals over it and every time
when you wanted to takepossession of the land, you had
to break open all seven seals.
And that was one of thesymbolic things, like nowadays
when you have to sign paperworkand you go before the judge,
that kind of stuff.
It was the same thing.
And when you opened the seventhseal, you were taking
possession of the land.
So now this is where Jesus,that's what he's talking about.

(04:25):
When he says the lamb, he istaking possession of the land,
and when he's taking it back,can you imagine?
As he has now opened theseventh seal, there is just
silence.
So that's not for church,christ people, that is for
everybody, because I think thatall the courts of heaven
realized wow, jesus has justtaken back the earth.

(04:45):
It really does belong to him.
Verse 2 says this I saw sevenangels who stand before God and
they were given seven trumpets.
Then another angel with a goldincense burner came and stood at
the altar and a great amount ofincense was given to him to mix
with the prayers of God'speople as an offering on the

(05:07):
golden altar before the throne.
This is a symbol of thetabernacle in the Old Testament.
Verse 4,.
The smoke of the incense, mixedwith the prayers of God's holy
people, ascended up to God fromthe altar where the angel had
poured them out.
Verse 5,.
Then the angel filled theincense burner with fire from
the altar and threw it down onthe earth and there was thunder

(05:30):
crashing, lightning flashing andthere was a terrible earthquake
.
Then the seven angels withseven trumpets prepared to blow
their mighty blasts.
The first angel blew his trumpetand hail and fire mixed with
blood were thrown down on theearth.
One-third of the earth was seton fire and one-third of the
trees were burned and all thegrass was burned.

(05:52):
A second angel blew his trumpetand a great mountain of fire
was thrown into the sea.
One-third of the water in thesea became blood and one-third
of all the living in the seadied and one-third of all the
ships of the sea were destroyed.
And the third angel blew histrumpet and a great star fell
from the sky, burning like atorch one.

(06:15):
It fell in one third of therivers and the springs of water.
The name of that star wascalled bitterness other
translations would say wormwoodand it made one third of the
water bitter and many peopledied from drinking the bitter
water.
Then the fourth angel blew histrumpet and one third of the
water bitter and many peopledied from drinking the bitter
water.
Then the fourth angel blew histrumpet and one-third of the sun
was struck and one-third of themoon and one-third of the stars

(06:35):
and they became dark andone-third of the day was dark
and also one-third of the night.
And then I looked and I heard asingle eagle crying loudly as
it flew through the air Terror,terror, terror to all who belong
to this world.
Wow.
So, as you can see, now thatJesus has symbolically taken

(07:02):
back the ownership of theproperty of the world, he is now
declaring justice and he isdeclaring judgment on all of
those who have defied the nameof God.
And whereas there are some veryinteresting parallels and
things we can look at in thefuture and there's a lot of
people who have looked at, youknow, the mountain falling could
be an asteroid we don't knowwhat the future holds.

(07:26):
For the original audience, thiswould have been awe-inspiring
because, as you can tell thesefirst trumpets, what they did
was they really kind of wreakedhavoc on all the water.
Well, one of the things thatthe Roman Empire prided
themselves on was owning thewaters, owning the ships and
owning the seas and the streamsbecause of the different

(07:47):
merchants and the different,because of the different
merchants and the differentthings they would do.
And so, in this, what thiswould have been symbolizing is
that God has taken control ofall of their source revenue,
that God is wreaking havoc onwhat made them powerful and what
gave them money.
And so he is wreaking havoc andjudgment upon the wealth of the

(08:08):
nation.
It would be the same thing asif in the United States of
America, there was a thing thathappened a few years ago and it
disrupted the supply lines andit caused everything to go in
chaos.
Well, this would have been thesame thing disrupting the supply
lines so that all of theprosperousness that's the word
of the Roman Empire would becoming to an end.
And that is God saying I'vebeen seeing what they've been

(08:30):
doing and I'm going to stop theflow of blessing in their life.
So on one end he's saying I'mgoing to stop the evil.
But what I love is thebeginning section, because the
beginning section says thatthere was an angel that took the
prayers of the people and heoffered them up before the
throne of God.
And what this would have meantto those original readers is to

(08:50):
say don't ever think that Goddoesn't hear your prayers.
Actually, the opposite, godhears every one of your prayers.
And that incense.
Back in the tabernacle theywould burn incense as a form of
worship before the Lord, and itwas saying that your prayers
before God is a sweet smell inGod's presence, which once again

(09:12):
reminds me of the verybeginning I was saying about
that, that couple that hadselective hearing one another
and they would joke back andforth about that.
Can we be honest and just saythat there are some of us who
have felt like in the past thatGod had selective hearing, that
it seems like he hears otherpeople's prayers, that God had
selective hearing, that it seemslike he hears other people's
prayers but he doesn't hear ours.
Or that he hears us when wepray and worship but he doesn't

(09:32):
hear us when we pray and we askand we beg and we plead for
things.
Can I tell you, if you've everwondered if God heard your
prayer, can I tell you that'snot God.
That's a lie of the enemytrying to steal your confidence.
God's Word says plainly thatyour prayers are precious to the
Lord and for the early churchthat's what God would have been

(09:54):
telling them.
Don't you ever believe Goddoesn't love your prayer.
He values it.
It is the symbol of a sweetaroma to Him when he hears your
prayer.
You ever been around somebodywho had just the like this
wonderful cologne?
You ever.
You've never done that before I.
I had this friend one time thathe loved to put on cologne and

(10:18):
it smelled so good, you know.
And so, like before he'd walkin the room, you could smell him
and be like, oh, so-and-so'shere, how do you know?
And then there you walk in, Ican smell him and it smells good
.
Can I tell you that's what?
That's what god's like whenhe's like, oh, I can smell my,
my children, because I can.
I can hear their prayers.
So never think that god doesn'tcare.

(10:40):
As a matter of fact, he lovesit when you talk to him.
Let's pray together right now,god.
Thank you that even in thismoment we're praying, we're
talking to you.
You value our prayers, prayers.
You love our prayers, lord.
It is our prayers that give usthe opportunity to connect with
you and fellowship with you.
Lord, I pray that anyone islistening or watching this and
the enemy is trying to lie tothem and say that you don't hear

(11:01):
their prayer.
When you hear somebody else'sor any other lie of the enemy,
that, lord, you'll just shut themouth of the adversary.
Remind them, god, that you holdthem precious in your eyes.
You hear our prayers and itdoesn't matter if things are
going well or if it seems likethe world is caving in.
You hear us, you see us, youknow us and you rescue us.

(11:22):
I'm thankful for that.
Today, in Jesus' name, we prayAmen.
And what God's word says inRevelation 1, verse 7,.
It says look, he is coming withthe clouds of heaven and
everyone will see him.
My hope is is that we will holdon to that hope that one day we
get to see Jesus face to face.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forRevelation, chapter 9.