FROM THE KINGDOM OF NOISE TO THE KINGDOM OF QUIET

"When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1)
“The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” (Habakkuk 2:20)
“Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near” (Zephaniah 1:7)
“Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling” (Zechariah 2:13)

Heaven is place where everything that is not music is silence and Hell is the kingdom of noise.

If you read the book of Revelation, you will notice that the author of Revelation, the apostle John, takes us back and forth between scenes of heaven and scenes of earth; of moments in past time, moments of future time, and scenes of eternity.What a fascinating book! Throughout the first seven chapters of Revelation, there are several heavenly scenes, and in each we see scenes of great worship, celebration, and jubilation. But, Revelation is full of surprises, and at the beginning of chapter 8 is one of the greatest. Instead of the expected escalation in the noise level, there is complete silence in heaven. This silence is the climax to the worship going on in heaven around the throne. Having sung their praises, these creatures, both heavenly and earthly, shut up. In silence they worship their Creator and their Redeemer. Silence is the climax of their worship, not an interruption of it. Silence enhances their worship, not diminishes it.

The writer George MacDonald wrote of heaven,
Heaven is a place where everything that is not music is silence.

We live in a noisy world and amidst noise at all times; the clamor of talk radio, the barrage of texting, the blaring of music,the ring of cell phones, the drone of cars, the voices of Madison Avenue. the clang of the cash register, the endless thoughts that we carry with us at all times.

In The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis makes an interesting observation about noise in a fictional letter between a senior devil and a new tempter:

“Music and silence – how I detest them both! How thankful we should be that ever since Our Father entered Hell … no square inch of infernal space and no moment of infernal time has been surrendered to either of those abominable forces, but all has been occupied by Noise – Noise, that grand dynamism, the audible expression of all that is exultant, ruthless, and virile – Noise which alone defends us from silly qualms, despairing scruples and impossible desires. We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. We have already made great strides in this direction as regards the Earth. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the end. But I admit we are not yet loud enough, or anywhere like it.”

Noise – as described above, is more than just a loud cacophony of discordant sounds. It is all thoughts and distractions which make it impossible for us to hear the sweeter and more important melodies of life that constantly surround us. This noise is found in many forms and, interestingly enough, assumes the quality of being noise not so much by the sound it makes as much as by the setting it is found in. What might be beautiful and uplifting in one setting becomes noise in another.

We live noisy lives. I don’t mean just the audible noise to which we are exposed. We are constantly bombarded with more and more items clamoring for our attention. One of the more insidious aspects of noise is that it becomes addicting.We can get into our cars and immediately turn on the radio. We can hear the cell phone ring and have to answer. I cannot tell you how many times I have been with someone who allows their cell phone or texting to interrupt our conversation as if it is something really important. We can come home from work and turn on the television or put on music. We are all vulnerable to allow noise to be a part of our surroundings. “If we try to be quiet, we are assaulted by what C.S. Lewis called ‘the Kingdom of Noise.’ Everywhere we go we hear background noise. If the noise isn’t provided for us, we can bring our own via our iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Even our church services can have that same restless energy. There is little space to be still before God. We want our money’s worth, so something should always be happening. For many of us, a moment of silence in church seems awkward and uncomfortable.

All of this seems innocent enough, but what is it costing me? how often are thrown back into the Kingdom of Noise and lose our precious contact with the Lord of Silence. When noise becomes my natural environment, I struggle to hear the whisperings of the spirit. If I favor noise to human interaction, I am missing out on the conversations and experiences that will bind me closer to those who matter to me. And, the more immersed I am in noise, the more my inner core becomes attuned to the frequencies of the world. When I stop to think about all this I am convinced that noise is one of the many subtle tools that Satan uses to create distance between us and our Heavenly Father.

All of us are like the soundboard of a piano, reverberating and amplifying the sounds that we are associated with. By putting ourselves in close proximity to our Heavenly Father in our thoughts, actions, and surroundings, we can tune ourselves to the appropriate heavenly pitch we are meant to echo and reflect. Fortunately for us, these divine influences surround us every bit as much as the noise does. The difference is that we must be properly tuned to hear and experience them. Once we learn to identify these uplifting influences they can become so powerful that they eliminate the distractions of worldly noise.

To be properly tuned we need to recognize the role of noise in our everyday life and eliminate its influence as much as possible. This doesn’t mean that we can never listen to our favorite music or watch movies again (unless they drive the Spirit away by their very nature). It means recognizing when these influences become noise and then being prudent with our time and resources. The natural result of this exercise will be to fill our time with worthwhile activities that are more in line with what our Heavenly Father wants for us, and this is the second half of the solution. These worthwhile activities will expose us to heaven’s sounds and make them easier to hear and recognize.

If we eliminate noise we will begin to recognize that our Heavenly Father is not an absent parent. He is always there for us, as long as we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. We will then join the ranks of those who realize as Elizabeth Barret Browning wrote that,

“Earth is crammed with heaven and every bush is aflame with the light of God, but only those with eyes to see take off their shoes.”

May we embrace silence and learn to quiet all the inner and outer voices in order to hear God's voice. God revealed Himself to Elijah in "a still and small voice" (Literally a "sheer whisper") (1 Kings 19:12). I have found silence and quiet to be full of God's presence. Try this week turning off the cell phone for a moment, turn down the answer machine, turn off the radio and television, stop multi-tasking, go away from superficial, empty conversation, and be still not just to be still, but to know that He is God. Let us learn to worship our Lord sitting silent--in patient waiting for His Voice to comfort us, to lead us, to teach us, to refresh us. Let us abolish the Kingdom of Noise with our soothing melodies of solitude, with our quiet chorus of silence.

In stillness and simplicity
In the silence of the heart I see
The mystery of eternity
Who lives in side of me
In stillness and simplicity
I hear the Spirit's silent plea
That You, oh Lord, are close to me
In stillness and simplicity
You're the Word
Who must be heard
By those who listen quietly
Is the reason we're not still
To hear You speak because
We don't believe
You will
In stillness and simplicity
I lose myself in finding Thee
Oh Lord,
You mean so much to me
In stillness and simplicity
So, seek the One who dwells in you
The kingdom that within is true
That innermost reality
In stillness and simplicity
Michael Card

Breaking free from the Kingdom of noise,
Pastor Bill