Revelation 8:1 Silence in heaven for half an hour.

8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. -Revelation 8:1 Bible, King James Version (KJV)


Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com

485. EXPOSITION. Verses 1-4. 1. "And when he opened the seventh seal," signifies prediction respecting the last state of the church (n. 486); "there was silence in heaven," signifies astonishment that the church is such and that its end is at hand (n. 487); "as it were for half an hour," signifies a time corresponding to, or the delay before, the preparation of all things for undergoing the changes that follow (n. 488)...

486. Verse 1. And when he opened the seventh seal, signifies the prediction respecting the last state of the church... That which took place and is here predicted, occurred in the spiritual world before the judgment; for the state of the church in the spiritual world was then similar to that in the natural world, but under another appearance. In the spiritual world there are societies, distinguished according to the affections of good and truth and their varieties, and each one after death comes into one of these according to his affection. It is not so in the natural world. Because of these distinctions in the spiritual world, the church appears there such as it is on the earth...

487. There was silence in heaven, signifies astonishment that the church is such and that its end is at hand. This is evident from what follows, which describes the destruction of the church and the damnation of all in whom there was no church; that is, in whom there was no conjunction of truth and good or of faith and charity; for this conjunction makes the church in everyone. As these things, when the seventh seal was opened, were perceived in heaven, and therefore engaged the minds of angels, there was astonishment, and from astonishment silence...