Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 8:1

"And when he opened the seventh seal, there followed a silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." — Revelation 8:1 (ASV)

After the long interlude of ch. 7, the sequence of the opening of the seals is resumed by the opening of the final or seventh seal. This action provides both a conclusion to the seals and a preparation for the seven trumpets. The praises ordinarily heard uninterruptedly in heaven (4:8) now cease in order to allow the prayers of the suffering, persecuted saints on earth for deliverance and justice to be heard (6:10; 8:4; cf. Lk 18:2-8). Most interpreters, however, understand the silence to refer to the awesome silence before the great storm of God’s wrath on the earth. A kind of Sabbath pause might be thought of here.