The 7th seal is the seventh part of a prophecy of the 7 seals found in Revelation 6,8. I believe the 7th Seal is predicting a period of time when all the earth and heaven will watch in solemn awe and silence the long anticipated revealing of the glorified and true Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lord of the whole universe. The inhabitants of the earth will be in deep mourning during this time and all faces will be turned to paleness and blackness because of the full and awful realisation of the extent of their sin and rebellion against God.
When we let the bible interpret itself the symbols used in prophecy unlock the mystery of the interpretation and allow us to determine the fulfillment events. The meaning of the symbols is in the bible itself, lets examine:
7th Seal
When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Despite what your bible headings may tell you, remember they are not part of the original text. I believe that Revelation 8:1 is the full vision of the 7th seal. The subsequent verses are the beginning of the next vision of the 7 trumpets which is a completely separate vision and repeats and expands on themes and events already described by the seven seals.
There is nothing in the verses themselves that I've found thusfar by which I can prove this conclusion, but from my reading of the text there is also nothing to disprove a break between verse 1 & 2. Furthemore there are bible commentaries which lend support to this understanding that the vision of 7th seal and trumpets are infact seperate visions:
But in no other way is there any connection between the two visions; the events narrated under the vision of the trumpets are not an exposition of the seventh seal, but a separate vision, supplementing what has been set forth by the seven seals.
And likewise:
Not that the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, though parallel, are repetitions. They each trace the course of divine action up to the grand consummation in which they all meet, under a different aspect.
Therefore from my understanding of all the visions in revelations and how they relate and are ordered in terms of events, the most sensible interpretation is for the silence only to be part of the 7th seal.
Silence is the result when someone is lost for words, this is usually because they have nothing else to say, and usually in the context of an accusation or an argument. In many places the bible speaks of a time when God will silence all those who are proud and haughty and have rebelled against him and his people during the long history of the great controversy (Psalm 31:8, Psalm 8:2).
And so the silence in heaven that we see here is the final seal being opened. It occurs right at the culmination of the great controversy. When the remnant people of God have spread mightily into the whole world to preach the Gospel and sound the final warning of three angels message and Gods soon coming (See 1st Seal). At this time all the powers of darkness will unite together with all unrighteous humans to destroy the remnant people of God and enthrone Satan as king. During this terrible time the whole world will be united through a false religion and in bold defiance against Gods commandments they go so far in their blasphemy as to accuse the remnant people of God and charge them to be the cause of all the falling judgements on nature (See 7 Trumpets). They unite and decree once and for all to eradicate the objectors and it is during this time that God arises out of his holy habitation for judgement and puts the whole universe to silence.
We confirm in Zechariah that right after many people from "east" and "west" are joined to the lord through final preaching of Gospel, the Lord will be raised up out of his holy habitation, and the earth will be silenced:
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah (rescue and translation of remnant 144,000) his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
And we can confirm in Isaiah also that the silence is in relation to judgement, and the cosmic rebellion and accusations against God, which he finally comes down to earth to answer for himself during the time of judgement:
Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
And we can understand, if it wasn't clear enough, that the silence is a result of realising our great sin.
Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
It will be a time when the whole world will see Jesus coming in great glory in the clouds and they will mourn for him in silence as prophesied by Jesus himself:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days (great tribulation, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls of wrath) shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (6th Seal): And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven (small black cloud): and then shall all the tribes of the earth MOURN, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall 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.
This period of silence and mourning and realisation of guilt and sin by all inhabitants will preceed the sound of the trumpet that resurrects all the remaining saints that died through the ages and is also described in Lamentation:
Her gates are sunk into the ground; he hath destroyed and broken her bars (7 trumpets, 7 bowls of wrath): her king and her princes are among the Gentiles: the law is no more (false religion rebellion against Gods commandments); her prophets also find no vision from the Lord. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: they have cast up dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth: the virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
Furthermore the same interpretation can be confirmed through the inspired writing of Ellen G. White in the Great Controversy:
(After signs in sun, moon and stars, and earthquake of 6th Seal)
Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror.
Before His presence “all faces are turned into paleness;” upon the rejecters of God's mercy falls the terror of eternal despair. “The heart melteth, and the knees smite together, ... and the faces of them all gather blackness.” Jeremiah 30:6; Nahum 2:10. The righteous cry with trembling: “Who shall be able to stand?” The angels’ song is hushed (heaven also in silence), and there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of Jesus is heard, saying: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.” Psalm 50:3, 4.
The derisive jests have ceased. Lying lips are hushed into silence. The clash of arms, the tumult of battle, “with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood” (Isaiah 9:5), is stilled.
Therefore the silence in heaven is the result of the long anticipated revealing of the glorified Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the awful realisation by the inhabitants of the earth of their sin and guilt and ultimate unworthiness.
We know that at the time of the 7th Seal God is raised up from his holy habitation and together with all of the hosts of heaven comes down to earth to enter into judgement with humanity. Naturally therefore no one is left in heaven and there would be a period of literal silence while God is collecting his saints from the earth.
In one of her first visions Ellen G. White describes the saints as ascending to heaven for 7 days. If we calculate the half an hour of silence in prophetic time we get about 7.6 days. Given we know that the silence occurs during the time that Jesus is descending to earth in all his glory it would follow that it will also take him ABOUT half an hour or 7 days to descend to earth, during which time there will be silence as explained above.
Half an hour most likely indicates simply a short period of time, however there are some associations in the wording with other prophecies that could further help us to place when this will occur.
The word hour is also used in prophecy to describe the final moments of great controversy and conclusive judgement on Babylon and the wicked:
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ...For in one hour so great riches is come to nought... And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
The word hour is also used as the period of time during which the final 10 kings will rule with the Beast, which we know is right at the end of history and right before Babylon falls:
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Likewise the three angels message which is the final messages which goes out into all the world before the end warns of this hour of Gods judgement
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Furthermore Jesus also warns of an hour of trouble from which those who keep his patience will be spared from:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Perhaps it is just coincidental that similar word is used. But it is interesting that end time Beast system under 10 kings receives a short period of rule namely 1 hour, and "in the same hour" judgements come on Babylon, and then the sign of Jesus is revealed and there is silence for another half an hour. If nothing else it tells us that we are dealing with events on the same and very short time scale comparitively to any other prophecies.
The 7th Seal represents a period of time when all the earth and heaven will watch in solemn awe and silence the long anticipated revealing of the glorified and true Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lord of the whole universe. The inhabitants of the earth will be in deep mourning during this time and all faces will be turned to paleness and blackness because of the full and awful realisation of the extent of their sin and rebellion against God.