Book: Revelation

A Forecast of the Majesty of God and Things to Come
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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

This passage from Revelation 11:15-19 reveals the majesty of God as He takes His throne and establishes His eternal kingdom. The nations rage against Christ’s reign, but God responds with righteous judgment, raising the dead, rewarding His saints, and destroying the destroyers. The opening of the heavenly temple and the visibility of the ark of the covenant signal the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises — the restoration of His glory among His people with no veil of separation.

Key Lessons:
1. God has restrained His power throughout history, but a day is coming when He will permanently take His reign and never again allow rebellion against His throne.
2. The glory of God, which departed from Israel due to disobedience, will one day return fully — and all believers will have unhindered access to God’s presence.
3. God’s judgment includes both the resurrection and reward of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked — no one escapes accountability before Him.
4. The entire arc of redemptive history — from Abraham to the New Jerusalem — points toward God dwelling with His people without separation.
Application: We are called to live in confident expectation of Christ’s return, growing stronger in faith through the study of prophecy, and ensuring we have received Jesus Christ as Savior to be delivered from God’s coming wrath.

Discussion Questions:
1. How does understanding God’s ultimate victory over the nations change the way we respond to injustice and evil in the world today?
2. What does the removal of the veil and the open access to God’s presence mean for how we approach God in prayer and worship right now?
3. How should the certainty of God’s future judgment and reward motivate the way we serve Him in our daily lives?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 11:15-19 — the seventh trumpet, God’s kingdom established; Psalm 2 — the nations rage but God laughs; Genesis 12 — God’s covenant with Abraham; Exodus and 2 Chronicles — the glory filling the tabernacle and temple; Ezekiel 34-43 — the departure and return of God’s glory; Revelation 22:12 — Christ’s reward at His coming.

Outline
The Kingdom Established Forever

Introduction

Them like earth and wear. He’s talking about the nations that are constantly coming up in rebellion against us and who is to come. But here in Revelation, we don’t find that designation here in Revelation 11:15. It says, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” Verse 16, “And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God will fall on their faces and worship God, saying, ‘We give thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were.’” But it doesn’t say there who is to come.

Actually, what the elders give to the Lord is what we all should give to the Lord. That’s the sacrifice God wants all of us to give him, and that’s the fruit of our lips as Hebrews tells us through him.

Then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to his name. And that’s what the elders do here in Revelation 11:17. The elders give to the Lord thanks, saying, “We give thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, but is to come is eliminated.” And why is that? Because it says in the rest of the passage, you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.

This is what they’re excited about—the elders in heaven—that it is the time in the plan of God for Jesus Christ to actually take the reign and begin to rule. And he will rule. It’s the fulfillment of Psalm 29 where Christ, the anointed of God, reigns supreme over all the earth.

Revelation 11:17: “You have taken your great power and have begun to reign.”

God’s Almighty Power Unleashed

The heavenly throne becomes the earthly throne. God comes from heaven to this earth. Our truly majestic God does this by his almighty power.

Up to this point, God has restrained his power. But now he puts it into use and he demonstrates it in his eternality, in his authority, and in his ability to accomplish what he started. God has allowed his enemies to raise their heads against him, but these affairs will forever be ended.

God has taken the power permanently and will forever reign supreme. Never again will he give the power or the opportunity to come against him and his people again.

It is a time for these elders and for us to be very excited about what the Lord is going to do for you and me when it comes to the future. The temporal reign of sin and the temporal nature of life in this sinful world will be replaced by the eternal godhead, by an eternal kingdom, by eternal life in glory for the faithful children of God.

“God has taken the power permanently and will forever reign supreme.”

In Revelation 13, it speaks of the coming antichrist. Revelation 13:7 says, “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority and every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.” God allows that to happen.

But what happens is that in Revelation 19:20, the beast will be captured along with the false prophet and be thrown into the lake of fire. Then in Revelation 20:6, it reminds us that believers shall reign with Jesus Christ for a thousand years.

The Nations Rage Against Christ’s Reign

However, the nations are not happy when Jesus begins to reign in this world.

Remember, when he comes to reign in this world, there will still be rebellion. There will still be sinful people. There will still be people that are against him and against the people of God.

So, how do the nations of the world react to Jesus Christ taking his reign and ruling and coming to this earth? Well, they are not happy. They’re not happy about God’s majestic plan of salvation. In fact, the nations are downright angry with him.

That’s what we see in scripture in Revelation 11:18. What does it say here about the nations? It says, “And the nations were enraged that the heathens. The kings, the rulers rage against Jehovah and the anointed of God. They rage against them.”

“The nations are downright angry with God’s majestic plan of salvation.”

We read in Psalm 2, “And the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his anointed.” So the nations, what do they do? How do they respond? Remember, this is a global event.

The whole world is involved with what’s going on here. This is not just a localized thing. The nations of the world are begrudging his coming.

See, that’s why the Lord has to rule with a rod of iron when he comes. He has to keep justice in check because the whole world will be raging against what has taken place.

The Defeat of the Nations

They never want a righteous ruler to reign on the throne. They never wanted anyone who was like Jesus to rule over them. So the anger of the nations is an act of great folly. Their wrath was inspired by the beast out of the abyss. So their wrath comes right from the pit of hell.

The nations have been raging all along. But now it’s the Lord’s day. It’s time. We see in this passage the defeat of the nations. But how does God defeat the nations? Notice what it says in verse 18.

“They never want a righteous ruler to reign on the throne.”

It says that, “And the nations were enraged and your wrath came.” In other words, God’s wrath is going to be poured out on the nations. He’s going to keep them in check. And how does he do that?

The Resurrection of the Righteous Dead

Well, if you notice also in verse 18, there’s going to be a time when God will judge the dead, those who died. In verse 18, it says, “And the nations were enraged and your wrath came and the time came for the dead to be judged.”

Now, this is a very difficult passage of scripture. Many interpretations exist, but I believe what is in view is the resurrection of the righteous dead rather than the resurrection of the wicked dead. The resurrection of the wicked dead will be after the millennium at the great white throne.

“What is in view is the resurrection of the righteous dead rather than the wicked dead.”

This refers to Old Testament saints and tribulation saints who have been slain. They will be called from their graves so that Christ might pronounce final judgment. This is the declaration of God’s righteous judgment and wrath against a defiant world.

And what does he do? The people that you persecuted, the people that you killed for the faith and for the word of God—I’m going to raise them up from the dead. And what does it say in Psalm 2? After the nations rage, this is what it says: he sits in the heavens and laughs.

Who sits in heaven and laughs? The Lord does.

God Raises Up Those Who Were Persecuted

The Lord scoffs at them because they think, “Well, you killed my servants. You’ve persecuted those prophets I sent to you. And what am I going to do? I’m going to raise them up. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to have them stand on their feet again. I’m going to have them serve me again.

“I’m going to raise them up. I’m going to have them stand on their feet again.”

This is quite an effective way to dismantle the rebellion of the nations. What God has the power to do that? There’s only one. And he’s reigning on the throne in Jerusalem.

The people that were killed for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God are now alive. That’s God’s judgments against the nations.

The Time to Reward His Saints

The judgment of God should remind us of the ultimate accountability that we all have before God. We know that the final judgment in Revelation 20 will include a final resurrection and judgment of the wicked dead at the great white throne. The time had come for God to judge the dead.

The second thing to notice in verse 18 is that the time came also to reward his saints. That’s why I’m looking at that first part of the passage as God raising the righteous dead. In verse 18, it says, let me read the whole thing.

“And the nations were enraged, and your wrath came. And the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward your bondservants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, small and great.” In verse 18, God rewards his saints, and he does this before the world.

“God rewards his saints — and he does this before the world.”

There are five designations but only really two groups: prophets and saints, both called slaves of God, and those who fear God’s name. The Lord will make no distinctions between kings and slaves. The Lord will show no favoritism in judgment and reward, even with his own.

What does it say in Revelation 22:12? “Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done.”

Judgment at the Bema Seat

Remember the bema seat judgment for believers is not going to be on them being judged for their sin but being judged for their works. What have they done for the Lord? How have they served the Lord?

And we know in Revelation that reward will be given to the overcomers.

“The judgment for believers is not for their sin but for their works — what have they done for the Lord?”

Vindication will be given to the martyrs that was promised them. Reward will be given to the persecuted. Reward will be for those faithful in their conduct before the Lord.

So the Lord, it is time to judge.

Destroying the Destroyers

It will be his time to reward his saints. But notice also in verse 18 of chapter 11, it is time to destroy the destroyers, to destroy those who destroy the earth. And that has nothing to do with environmental things.

See, the wicked do not escape God’s judgment. The bottom line is no one gets away with anything.

If you look at Revelation 20, God opens the books. He has accurate records. He knows exactly what you’ve done and what you haven’t done. God will judge the wicked.

“No one gets away with anything. God opens the books. He has accurate records.”

First Thessalonians 1:8-9 says, “Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.”

See, it’s the workers of wickedness who are the ones who destroy the earth. They’re the ones who destroy truth and manipulate it. The Bible is saying here, they’re done. Their day is done.

Remember, the Apostle Peter says that the new heaven and earth, only righteousness will dwell there. And that’s what we’re looking forward to—a place where there’s actually true righteousness.

We see that the majesty of God is seen in his extent. It’s seen in his exaltation that he will be exalted above all kingdoms and all people and he will reign forever and ever.

The Heavenly Temple Opened

But I want you to notice next in verse 19 is the expression of his majesty. This is a very interesting one because if you notice in verse 19, the first part of that verse is that the whole sanctuary will be opened. It says, “And the temple of God which is in heaven was open.”

Now if you have any sense of biblical history, the ark of the covenant God made with Abraham and renewed with Israel was symbolized in the tabernacle with this sanctuary and its holy ark with the Old Testament covenant that God gave to his people. An agreement between each of them that God would bless you and those who bless you will be blessed and God will curse and those who curse you will be cursed and if you don’t obey me the curses that were brought on the nations will be brought on you.

But according to Hebrews 7, the Bible says that Jesus had a better covenant. So much the more as Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. And in this better covenant, God solemnly assured Israel that he would send his Son, the true Messiah.

He would come to expiate sin and he also would come to rule as the Savior King forever and ever. Now the new covenant which promises to Israel the restoration to the land of Palestine promises them the reunion of the tribes, the remission of sins, and the regeneration of the heart that God will give a new heart to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And remember the Jews are now in the land in this part of the theology of scripture and they are unsaved in the land. But in the middle of the tribulation, they will begin to get persecuted and the beast will come against them and the false prophet and they will be put to death because they start turning and believing in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

“Jesus had a better covenant — and in this covenant God promised to send his Son, the true Messiah.”

Access to God’s Presence Without a Veil

Now, if you notice in Revelation 11:19, there is no veil between the holy place and the holy of holies in the temple, in the tabernacle. There’s no veil separating the people from the holy of holies or from the presence of God.

In other words, it’s open so people have access to God’s glory, to his presence. And remember this: the veil in the temple was rent when Christ died on the cross, giving people access to God through Jesus Christ.

“The veil in the temple was rent when Christ died, giving people access to God through Jesus Christ.”

The Ark of the Covenant Revealed

You can’t go to the Father in heaven unless you come to Jesus Christ the Son because of the redemptive work of the Lamb. Access to the ark of the covenant is no longer restricted to only the priest as the kingdom of priests. As Peter describes the church and the people of God as the kingdom of priests, they are redeemed by the Lamb. All believers may enjoy the fullness of God’s presence and his covenant promises. It’s open to everyone.

That is very unusual in the sense that it’s always been closed and now it is opened. And it’s open for a very specific reason.

Now notice in verse 19, it says, “And the ark of his covenant appeared in his people that the ark can be seen.” Before, the ark was only for the eyes of the priests one time a year. The ark also gave significance that the glory of God was amongst the people.

Why can the ark be seen here? It is because the whole covenant of God is now being fulfilled. The final consummation of the everlasting kingdom has arrived. There’s no more time; history is brought to a climax. The mystery of God’s people, the whole plan of salvation, has been executed and now completed. The kingdom of the world has become the Lord’s and his Christ. The last judgment is held.

But I believe one of the significant things where someone could see the ark is that the glory of God is going to be on full display. That is very significant. It was Moses when he began to get to know God. What was his question? “Lord, let me see your glory.” The Lord couldn’t show him his full glory or he would be consumed. But he hid him in the cleft of the rock, and he came and saw his back parts and some of the glory of God.

But I believe that this brings us into another understanding of theology.

“The final consummation of the everlasting kingdom has arrived — the glory of God is on full display.”

Where does redemptive history actually go?

Redemptive History Begins with Abraham

And I think we must go and think about Genesis 12 to start to understand where redemptive history is heading and why most of the prophets spoke the way they did. By the time we get to chapter 12 of Genesis, man with all his plans has been blown up. The Lord steps up to the plate with scripture and begins to tell us what God will do.

What does he say in Genesis to the people back then? The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.”

Here’s a record of what God will do. God will start this operation with one man named Abram. We know his name was changed to Abraham because God would make him a great nation. But for God to make him a great nation, he had to give him a son.

His son was born to him and Sarah at a very old age, way beyond the ability of a woman to give birth. But God gave him the promised child, Isaac.

Genesis 12:2: “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great.”

God’s Nation and God’s Land

But what is the definition of a nation?

It’s a body of people occupying a particular land under a common form of government. God brought the people of Israel into the land of promise under the government of kings. God would bless the world through this nation, the children of Abraham.

But where did Israel get her land from? My friend, it is the only piece of real estate that was deeded by God himself to a people. And where did Israel get her laws from? The laws were given by the living God to his people.

What form of government did they have? They had a theocracy—the rule of God ruling through a man of his own choice. God is doing this through the king. The spotlight is on the king, and God limits himself through the king. If anything happens to the king, he limits himself.

What kind of religion did Israel have? They had a monotheistic religion revealed by God to the people. God said, “Build me a house. Build me a tabernacle in the wilderness. For what reason? That the glory of the Lord may fill that place.

“It is the only piece of real estate that was deeded by God himself to a people.”

And that I may give you a sense that I am with you by the pillar of cloud in the day and the pillar of fire by the night.

The Glory Fills the Tabernacle

That became the significant part that Moses set up and prepared a tabernacle for the Lord, leading directly to his habitation there in the form of the cloud of glory, which had the fire by night. God is present and ruling amongst his people where it tells us in Exodus that Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

See, that was the beginning there. That was the beginning where God is saying to his people, “I’m going to be with you. I’m going to be present with you. And how are you going to know that? You’re going to see my glory. That’s how you’re going to know it.”

And then time went by and the tabernacle was made into a beautiful temple made by Solomon.

“God said to his people: I’m going to be with you, I’m going to be present with you — and you’re going to see my glory.”

The Glory Fills Solomon’s Temple

And when Solomon built the temple and it was finished, the Bible says this. When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and sacrifice, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. The priests couldn’t even enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.

“Fire came down from heaven and the glory of the Lord filled the house.”

All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down to the pavement with their faces and worshiped God. They knew this was the God who created the heaven and the earth. They knew this was the God who spoke through Abraham.

They knew this was the God who was defending them and did defend them throughout the wilderness. He kept their sandals from wearing out and fed them every single day with manna from heaven and protected them from their enemies.

They knew that when this temple was built, and then time went on, another temple was built.

The Glory Departs

But what happened between Solomon’s temple and this other temple that was built, the third temple? What happened there? Well, the Babylonians came. They came to the temple of God in which God dwelt and destroyed it.

And you remember what happened? If anyone went into the house of God, they would be killed. They had to go through the priests to get to the ark of the covenant. But the Babylonians, because of the disobedience of God’s people, were able to go into Jerusalem and to destroy the temple of God. And it’s because of this.

They captured the ark of the covenant, but they didn’t die. Why didn’t they die? Because of this, God who lived among the people was no longer there. He left. The glory of the Lord departed. The glory was gone.

This is a very significant time in Israel. When the Babylonians came, God departed from his people. The house of God was destroyed in Jerusalem. And after this, there is no place where men can be saved. Salvation’s over. God left his people. The temple is destroyed.

Some of the holy vessels of the temple were given over to the hands of the Babylonians. And this nation is over. The blessings that were supposed to go to his people, now they’re receiving the curses because they disobeyed God. And that’s what God said all along.

After 70 years, they rebuilt the altar because the people knew that it is there where men met with God to be saved, to be forgiven, and to offer sacrifices.

“God who lived among the people was no longer there. He left. The glory of the Lord departed.”

But if you read Ezra 1-6, you will not read that the glory of the Lord filled that temple. What was restored after the Assyrian crisis was not restored after the Babylonian crisis. Did all the people come back from captivity? No. Was the theocracy restored? Was God’s glory present? No. There was no glory present in that temple.

In other words, the hope of Israel that the Messiah would return, that the glory would come again was not there. It was not there.

The Hope of the Glory Returning

And that’s what Ezekiel brings up in his prophecy. What does he say in the first part? Ezekiel is in two parts.

The first part is that the glory of the Lord has departed. It’s kabad. God’s no longer there anymore.

But then the second part of Ezekiel, chapter 34 to chapter 43, deals with the message of hope that the glory of the Lord returns. Even the temple that was operative when Jesus came, the glory of the Lord was not there in that temple.

“Ezekiel’s message of hope: the glory of the Lord returns.”

The Glory Returns Through Christ

The ark of the covenant was there, but the glory of the Lord was not there. Who was the glory of the Lord? Jesus was the disciple says we beheld your glory, the glory as the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Jesus was the glory, but he came as the suffering servant first.

See why is that all significant?

Because there is coming a day when God will be your God and David will be your servant. That means there will be a theocracy again where Jesus in the line of David will sit on the throne in Jerusalem and the glory will return.

That’s what’s happening in verse number 19: that everything is open. People have access to God. The ark can now be seen. There’s no veil separating man from God. And that is the goal of everything.

That’s why when you get to the end of Revelation, what do you see? You see the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. There’s no separation between God and man. And it says there, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” See, that’s God’s goal. Amen.

“There’s no veil separating man from God — and that is the goal of everything.”

The glory returns.

God’s Omnipotent Power on Display

That is the hope that we have: God is in control and the kingdoms of the world are under his control and his direction. They always have been and they always will be.

Now, if you look at the last part of verse 19 of Revelation, we see the omnipotent power of God in action. In Revelation 19:19, it says this: “And the temple of God which is in heaven was open and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple. And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hail storm.”

Now what is that saying? That’s describing, I believe, from even the beginning of Revelation. What’s happening is that God is a God of power. He is a God of action.

This action is displayed in both his mercy and his grace, his judgment in which he is faithful to send both out in their proper order and in their proper time.

“God is faithful to send both mercy and judgment in their proper order and proper time.”

Salvation from God’s Wrath

And that’s what God will do. Maybe that’s one way to end this summation of the rest of the book because in chapter 12, verse 1, he gets into it—the judgment of God falls. So brethren, when we think of those things, and a lot of that has to do with history, how would anybody avoid this period in the world’s future?

Well, through receiving Jesus Christ as savior and lord and by asking him to save them from his wrath and condemnation and forgive their sin.

That’s how we all avoid the wrath of God. In fact, if somebody asked you, “What are you saved from?” the correct answer would be this.

I’m saved from God’s wrath because Jesus took the wrath of God for me. He was my substitute. He died in my place. He satisfied the righteousness of God. He shed his blood unto death to give me eternal life and forgive my sin. He rose from the dead, showing that the offering was accepted. He ascended into heaven. And even now, he is praying for the church.

“I’m saved from God’s wrath because Jesus took the wrath of God for me. He was my substitute.”

He’s praying for his people and he’s preparing a place for us that where he is we may be also. See, that’s the promise that he gives us. So prophecy is always beneficial to benefit us as his people and as we grow in our faith, knowing that these things that are written here will come true.

They are not a fairy tale. They’re not just a story. They are true. And if you are a believer here today, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, that you are living for him and serving him, then these things will boost your faith and make you stronger in the Lord.

But if you’re not, these things should cause great fear in your soul because the judgments of God will come and no one will get away with anything.

So I pray today that the sense of the majesty of God would be upon our hearts as we celebrate this Mother’s Day and the mothers that the Lord has given us and praise him for his goodness to us. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Thank you, Lord, that your eternal purpose to overthrow evil and restore men and women to live in the blessing of your presence will be accomplished through Jesus Christ. Help us to live in the confident expectation of the day when you will return, Lord. And if the rapture comes forth, we’ll come with you.

But I pray, Lord, that we would know and give hope for the awesome glory of your presence to be a reality to us someday. Lord, now we in some way look and see through a veil, but we’ll see clearly who you are as we see you face to face.

So, thank you, Lord, for the word of God. Continue to use it, Lord, to strengthen our souls. Use it to rebuke us of sin. Use it to make us more aware of truth and the deceptions that are coming.

And Lord, make us strong as soldiers of Jesus Christ. That, Lord, whatever is thrown at us, we’ll be able to handle it. We’ll be able to stand not in the power of our strength, but in your power. So thank you, Lord.
May 11, 2025
A Vision of Things to Come
Auto Transcript

Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 11 presents a condensed vision of God’s plan for the end times, covering the measuring of the temple, the ministry of the two witnesses, the emergence of the antichrist, and the ultimate triumph of Christ. We are reminded that God remains sovereign over all human history and that His favor rests on those who are faithful to Him, even in the darkest periods of tribulation. The chapter serves as a roadmap for the rest of Revelation, showing how God deals with both His people and the unbelieving nations.

Key Lessons:
1. God’s measuring of the temple signifies His favor, ownership, and spiritual preservation of His faithful ones—even when physical persecution comes, our souls are secure in Him.
2. God is merciful to send witnesses and messengers to call people to repentance, even to the very end of human history, demonstrating His relentless grace.
3. The world’s celebration over silencing God’s prophets reveals the depths of human depravity when people reject God, yet God always has the final word through resurrection and judgment.
4. Genuine repentance and conversion remain possible even in the darkest times, as God will bring a remnant of Israel back to Himself and fulfill His covenant promises.
Application: We are called to live faithfully for Christ right now—knowing the truth, standing firm in it, completing the good works God has ordained for us, sharing the gospel, and giving glory to the God of heaven every day. We must not drift spiritually but remain watchful and ready.

Discussion Questions:
1. How does knowing that God spiritually preserves His people even through physical death change the way we face opposition or suffering for our faith?
2. In a world of increasing deception through AI and technology, what practical steps can we take to ensure we are grounded in God’s truth rather than being swept along by the culture?
3. The two witnesses were empowered by the Holy Spirit to complete their mission. How should we depend on the Holy Spirit to accomplish the good works God has ordained for us?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 11:1-15 provides the central framework, showing the measuring of the temple (vv. 1-2), the two witnesses’ ministry and martyrdom (vv. 3-10), their resurrection (vv. 11-12), and the seventh trumpet announcing Christ’s kingdom (v. 15). Supporting passages include Daniel 9:27 on the tribulation timeline, Zechariah 4:6 on the Spirit’s power, Matthew 17:1-5 on the transfiguration, and Luke 16:29-31 on Moses and the prophets.

Outline
Introduction

Okay, let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation. It’s not hard to find. It’s the last book of the Bible. We’ll be looking at chapter 11, at least part of that chapter today.

As you’re turning there, let me have a word of prayer. Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you today. We thank you, Father, for your tremendous mercy and grace. As we think of the cost that it took to save us, you had to move heaven and earth for us to receive the truth of the gospel and be saved. We thank you, Lord, that you did that for sinners like us.

Lord, we want to be grateful every day for that. We want to be merciful to others because of that. We want to be faithful to live for you with our whole heart, our whole mind, and all our strength. I pray this in Christ’s name.

Amen. Revelation 11:1.

The title of my message today is “The Vision of Things to Come.”

The World’s Vision of the Future

But there’s a lot of talk today about a vision for the future. If you go on certain sites to read certain articles, you’re going to find a lot of information about artificial intelligence.

People are claiming that artificial intelligence will be integrated into most aspects of life, producing new efficiencies and enhancing human capabilities. It’s in a very real sense what’s already happening. You have Siri, you have Alexa, you have an iPhone. You already are being well trained for what’s coming.

“There’s a lot of talk today about a vision for the future.”

One person said that humans do poorly when it comes to making decisions based on facts rather than emotional issues. Humans get distracted easily.

There are certain things that AI can do better than humans like driving cars, handling finances, and diagnosing illnesses.

Promises and Dangers of AI

Another person wrote that human and AI connections over the next 12 years will improve the overall quality of life by finding new approaches to persistent problems. We will use these adaptive algorithms to explore whole new domains in every industry and field of study.

Material science, biotechnical fields, medicine, agriculture, engineering, energy, transportation and more. And then they said this: it goes beyond computability in human relationships.

AIs are beginning to understand and speak the human language of emotion.

One way they’re using that even right now is pre-crime security monitoring at airports and gatherings in different places, able to detect dangerous body language before the person can actually take out whatever they’re going to do that day. Also, companion pets monitor aging owners and then interact with them in ways that will improve their health and disposition.

People believe that by 2030—only five years from now—AI will transform our daily lives. One person from the Institute of the Future said that our visual and audio surroundings may be altered or filtered to improve our moods, better our focus, or otherwise alter our subconscious perceptions of the world. Most of this AI will function invisibly behind the scenes as long as it’s working properly.

We see that we’re in a time where people are predicting a future in which we will be more and more dependent upon these digital assistants. But there are many dangers to those things, and people are writing articles about them even right now.

People believe that artificial intelligence will provide an overkill of surveillance. We will actually become slaves and not even know it, controlled by others and not even know it. AI will be used to replace human workers to a disproportionate extent, where jobs will change so quickly that many people will be left without the necessary skills to do the next thing.

“We will actually become slaves and not even know it and controlled by others.”

Algorithms, not doctors, will be diagnosing many diseases. Even if doctors are still in the loop, AI plays a negative role in education where students may not often actually do the hard work of learning. It might actually make the overall population much dumber.

God Has a Vision Too

This is the future. And I’m going to mention it again when I get to a certain chapter in Revelation because techno gods will be on the rise and people will believe more in that than they will believe in truth and who God is.

But God has a vision too. He has a vision of things to come.

“God has a vision too. He has a vision of things to come.”

Overview of Revelation 11

And as I came to Revelation 11, I found it to be a very difficult chapter to even interpret. The more I read it, I said, “What is happening here? I see the details, but what’s the point?” Because this is the last interlude before the rest of Revelation is going to be laid out before us.

Now we have read of many judgments that will come to earth on sinful, ungodly, idolatrous mankind. The seven seals were broken and the wrath was poured out there, and then the seven trumpets. When the fifth and the sixth trumpets blew, we saw that all hell broke loose on earth, literally.

The released demons from the pit unleashed torment upon the earth with Satan the king over the demonic army, an army which is not permitted to kill at that time, but only torment for five months. Then the sixth trumpet sounded and the four bound angels are loosed to lead a very large army from the east which is permitted to kill one-third of mankind by three plagues.

And now we come to another interlude started in chapter 10, continues in chapter 11 down to verse 14. That is before the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet which will unleash the vials of God’s judgment. Each judgment becomes more rapid as we are now in the middle of the tribulation period, right in the three and a half year period in the seven-year period of the great tribulation.

“This is the last interlude before the rest of Revelation is going to be laid out before us.”

It’s a time when the Lord spoke in Matthew that there will be great tribulation as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will. The prophet in chapter 10 has eaten the scroll, the little scroll, and he has taken into his mind the message of God.

Now what he is to do is communicate that message. And that’s what the rest of Revelation is going to be. But chapter 11 is actually a condensed version of what’s going to come all the way to the end of Revelation.

So the prophet has eaten the little scroll. He has taken into his mind the message of God, the message that God wants the world to know. And now he sets before us broad lines of the development of God’s plan and lays out the scheme of this chapter and also the arrangement of the rest of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 11:1-2, the measuring of the temple. We’re going to see that in a minute. Then verses 3-6, the preaching of the two witnesses that are the heralds of the end. In verses 7-10, the first emergence of antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss.

And then Revelation 11:11-13, the restoration of life of the two witnesses and the consequent repentance and conversion of the Jews. And then in chapter 11, which I’ll not look at today, but next week is the final sketch of the final triumph of Christ.

We have the thousand-year reign, his initial reign. We have the rising of the nations. We have the defeat of the nations. We have the judgment of the dead and the establishment of the kingdom of God and his anointed one.

The Measuring of the Temple

That’s the whole book of Revelation. And that’s what chapter 11 does. It takes the whole book from chapters 12 all the way to chapter 19 and then chapter 20 to chapter 22. It takes the whole thing in this one chapter.

So let’s look at the first thing: the measuring of the temple. This is where we see the vision of things to come. The measuring of the temple is described in verses 1 and 2.

Now the apostle John was given a measuring stick and told to rise and measure the temple. In Revelation 11:1, it says, “Then there was given to me a measuring rod like a staff.” This was a small, lightweight, straight, hollow stick often used to measure the length of things. It was about 9 to 10 feet in length, so it was quite large and it measured large things.

What was John to measure? Well, it says that he was going to measure three things. In the next part of the verse, someone said, “Come up and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship in it.”

According to biblical history, Israel will have four temples built. The first question we have to ask is: Is this Ezekiel’s temple, the end time temple, that’s the fourth millennial temple? Or is this Zerubbabel’s Herod’s temple, the second temple, destroyed in 70 AD? I believe John is looking forward to the rebuilt temple in the tribulation period. That would be the tribulation temple, which is the third temple.

So the tribulation temple is measured and the measuring goes out to show God’s favor and ownership of his people.

“The measuring goes out to show God’s favor and ownership of his people.”

God’s Favor and Ownership

The measuring is like a ceiling which is described in Revelation 7. The ceiling and the measuring are both the protection of God’s faithful ones in the demonic terrors to descend upon the earth during this time in human history.

“The measuring is the protection of God’s faithful ones in the demonic terrors to descend upon the earth.”

Remember the church will not be there.

Now God is going to be dealing with Israel, not only apostate Israel, but also Israel there in the land that has not converted to Christ yet and are still alive. So this is not necessarily a physical measuring as when Ezekiel was commanded to measure the temple because there are no dimensions forthcoming here.

One of my professors in seminary, Dr. Thomas, wrote two large volumes on the book of Revelation. He says this about this section: John’s future prophecies will distinguish between God’s favor toward the sanctuary, the altar, and their worshippers, and his disapproval of all that is of Gentile orientation because of their profaning the holy city for half of the future 70th week of Daniel.

The distinction shows in the case of the two witnesses that we’re going to see who are in association with the sanctuary and the altar. What they do is they enjoy God’s blessing. They enjoy God and his message and what he has done historically and what he is going to do.

Even though it’s a difficult time, they enjoy that. And then there are the Gentiles, the foes who oppose him. They will experience, as we’ll find at the end of the chapter, a devastating earthquake because of God’s disfavor towards them.

So the two witnesses enjoy God’s favor and his protection and preservation from all the enemies because we’re going to find that they’re going to be killed.

Spiritual Preservation of the Saints

The measuring is an object lesson of how entities favored by God will fare during the period of gentile oppression that lies ahead. In other words, God is going to be favorable to one group and he’s going to be disfavorable to another group. One group is going to follow the Lord. The other group is not going to follow him.

God provides for the preservation of his saints spiritually in the coming great persecution of this time. The saints may be killed physically but their souls will be saved. No matter what anyone does to them, even to us today as believers, they can take our life, but they can’t take our soul because our soul has already been purchased by God.

“They can take our life, but they can’t take our soul because our soul has already been purchased by God.”

The Outer Court Given to the Nations

So we already noticed that he measures the temple and it’s marked by God’s favor. Also, he’s not to measure the outward courts of the temple. Now notice in verse two it says, “Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it for it has been given to the nations that they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months.”

Now, if you don’t know anything about the temples of God that were built in history up until this time, the temple in Jerusalem was divided into four courts. Each court was further away from the holy of holies, or the presence of God. You had the gentile court, then the court of the women, then the court of the Israelites, and then the court of the priests.

The priests were the closest to the holy of holies. The priests were the ones who took care of the altar of burnt offering, the altar of incense, and the holy place. Only the priests might come that close.

The holy of holies—remember, only the high priest may come into that part of the temple once a year with a blood offering from the people. When the priest went in there, he had his garments on, but on the bottom of his garments, he had bells.

When the high priest was moving around in there, the other priests outside heard the bells so they knew that he was still alive. When he went in to offer up the offering on the mercy seat and the people heard the bells, and then he came out and they heard the bells, they knew that God accepted the sacrifice.

The reason for the command given to John is to exclude the measuring of the outer court because God is allowing the gentile nations to trample down the holy city. This was spoken of by the prophet Daniel when he told us that the little horn, which is antichrist, will trample down the host of heaven. Zechariah the prophet also says the same thing where it says, “And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely injured and all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.”

So we see that this is happening.

“God is allowing the gentile nations to trample down the holy city.”

The 42 Months of Trampling

This is going to be a horrible time. Now, what was the length of this trampling down of the holy city, which is Jerusalem? Notice what it says in verse 2. It says, “For it has been given to the nations that they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months.”

Now the gentile nations are allowed to trample down the city of Jerusalem for 42 months, which is three and a half years. There are many numbers being given here in Revelation. We have the 42 months. We have three and a half years. We have the prophet Daniel said the designation of his time would be a time, times, and a half a time.

A time would be one year. Times, plural, would be two years. And a half a time would be a half a year, or six months.

That’s three and a half years. So everywhere you go in scripture, you find this designation of this last part of the tribulation, the great tribulation, where it will be three and a half years. It’s very hard to get away from that in scripture.

If you just read it literally, you’ll find that’s what’s going on. This is the last half of the 70th week of Daniel, where Daniel tells us exactly what’s going to happen. Why don’t you turn there? Daniel 9:27.

“If you just read it literally, you’ll find that that’s what’s going on.”

In Daniel 9:27, it says, “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week.” What’s that firm covenant going to be? It’s going to be that he’s going to make an agreement with Israel for one week. And one week would be a seven-year period.

The Preaching of the Two Witnesses

And then it says, “But in the middle of the week, there’s the three and a half years, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate until even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

Now, this is going to be the abomination of desolation where the antichrist sits on the throne in Jerusalem and proclaims himself God. But you see that Daniel lays out what’s actually going to happen: he’s going to make an agreement with Israel. He’s going to break that agreement in the middle of the week and he’s going to stop their sacrifice and grain offering.

So there is a literal temple. It is functional in the tribulation period and it’s there for God’s purpose in not only ministering to his own but also for the gentile nations to come in there and trample over it and over the whole city.

A second thing that we see in our text is the preaching of the two witnesses. Now, anytime things happen like that, God will always send spokesmen. In this case, he’s going to send two prophets. And that just shows that God is going to be merciful to the people of earth right to the very end.

“God is going to be merciful to the people of earth right to the very end.”

Now, these are the last two prophets that will ever come and speak to Israel. Remember, God sends prophets to Israel. Prophets do not study to preach. Prophets get direct revelation from God and speak exactly what God wants them to say.

So notice what it says in verse 3 of Revelation 11: “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

So we’re going to see who they are, what they’re doing, and what will happen to them. Well, who are they? Well, they are prophets. They have the gift of prophecy and God is going to speak through them for 1260 days, 42 months, three and a half years.

The Prophetic Ministry and Its Purpose

We really can’t make a mistake that this is a three and a half year period. Now what is a prophet? A prophet of God really speaks when there is a problem among the people, some crisis, some issue, some need that the people have.

The whole prophetic ministry is a loving God meeting the needs of his people. God speaks direct revelation, but it is occasioned by and related to some need amongst God’s people. If they need encouragement, he will speak through the prophet and give them encouragement. If they need warning and rebuke, that is the message that he will provide through the prophets.

That’s the message that these two witnesses have. And they have a three-fold ministry. The first thing is that they are legal witnesses. Remember, two witnesses were needed to establish all the facts.

“The whole prophetic ministry is a loving God meeting the needs of his people.”

These are two witnesses because of the deuteronomic demand to legally bear the facts proving the guilt of the world before God. That’s what they were doing here. Like it says in Deuteronomy, “On the evidence of two witnesses or three, he who is to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.”

And then again in Deuteronomy it tells us that on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. So they are legal witnesses in Revelation, and that is a ministry they must fulfill.

And then also it tells us in verse number three they will prophesy. So they are going to prophesy before the world. This is going to be a global event.

Clothed in Sackcloth: A Message of Warning

Everybody in the world is going to know their message. This is not a local event. This is not even a state event, a national event. It’s a global event. Everybody will know their message.

And then it’s also notice in our passage that they are going to be dressed in sackcloth, clothed in sackcloth. Now we know that sackcloth symbolizes the prophet’s sober task as messengers of God Almighty to bring a message of warning and rebuke calling the earth dwellers and the nations to repent. This is a last chance for the world to repent.

“Sackcloth symbolizes the prophet’s sober task calling the earth dwellers and the nations to repent.”

And then you notice the passage we read this morning in Zechariah. Because at the end of the verse, it tells us there that these are the two olive trees in verse four and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

Now, where does he get that from? He gets that from Zechariah because that’s exactly what Zechariah said. But what does it all mean?

The Power of the Holy Spirit

It means that these are the two anointed ones. The oil that provides the fuel to light the lamps in the temple has reference to the Holy Spirit who empowers these two witnesses to carry out their mission for three and a half years during the great tribulation.

In the second temple built by Zerubbabel and Joshua, we see what power they had to build the temple back then. What does it say in Zechariah? It says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

These men are going to have the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God to do what they need to do. God gives them special abilities. What does he give them? Notice in verse five, because he’s given them power in at least four areas.

The first one in verse five is power to send fire out of their mouths. Notice it says, “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies. So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”

This is just the desire to want to harm them. So they know who their enemies are and they can even take their enemies out before they even do anything. Secondly, they have power.

Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

Supernatural Powers of the Witnesses

They have the power to shut up heaven.

Verse six, these have the power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying. Also, they have the power over the waters to turn them into blood. And then they have power to strike the earth with every plague as often as they desire.

Now these men are given an incredible amount of power, and the purpose for their great power is to show the world the power of God in contrast to the power of the antichrist. What are they going to do? Back to verse three, they’re going to proclaim God’s faithfulness.

They’re also going to preach concerning things to come. They’re going to prophesy. They’re also going to help those who receive the Lord to return to normal thinking. And why is that? Because the Antichrist will be deceiving people quite convincingly.

“The purpose for their great power is to show the world the power of God in contrast to the power of the antichrist.”

It even says in Thessalonians, God himself is going to send strong delusion so that people would believe a lie. Satan knows how to use truth to sell every lie. He always uses truth to sell lies. And they’re going to preach the gospel to the Holy Land.

God’s Faithfulness to Send Messengers

That’s what they’re going to do. I believe we learn from this that God is faithful to send people across our path to turn us to God or even in some cases to bring us back to God if we strayed away. God is always faithful to do that. And he will do that if you are one of his. He’ll not leave you alone. He will bring you back.

“God is faithful to send people across our path to turn us to God or bring us back to God.”

This past week, I had a phone call with a man who said he professed Christ over 20 years ago, but for the last 20 years, he hasn’t been living for the Lord. We had to try to figure out where he was at.

I think right now, anybody who has a case like that—who made a profession of faith when they were younger and then years go by without going to church, reading the Bible, or doing any of those things—where do they stand spiritually? I would say that they were not converted back then.

I think right now is the gospel. If God’s bringing you to a place, you should believe the gospel, repent of your sin, trust in Jesus Christ, and from this day forward live for him. That’s what you ought to do. And I think that’s what he’s done. That was good. He lives in Florida.

We had several conversations with him this past week. So, who are these two witnesses?

Who Are the Two Witnesses?

That’s the big question. Some suggestions are Elijah and Enoch because both Elijah and Enoch didn’t die. They were caught up to heaven. Some believe it’s Elijah and John the Baptist. Or some believe that it’s Elijah and Moses.

Now recall that these two men were the ones who appeared with Christ in his transfiguration, indicating their connection with Christ’s future return in power and glory. I believe there are several reasons why this is Moses and Elijah. They have gifts and powers like Moses and Elijah.

“Moses and Elijah were the ones who appeared with Christ in his transfiguration.”

But significant to what I’m saying is that at the mount of transfiguration, two representatives came forward to represent the Old Testament when Peter, James, and John were there with the Lord as he was transfigured. If you care to turn there, you probably should.

Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration

In Matthew 17:1-5, we see what happens there.

But I want you to notice who shows up during this time. Matthew 17:1 says, “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them. Talking with him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ And while they were still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.’”

So Moses, remember, manifested power to bring plagues on the earth and turn water into blood. Elijah had power to call down fire from heaven and stop the rain.

Matthew 17:5: “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”

Moses and Elijah combined together represent the whole Old Testament. Moses represents the first five books of the Bible, and Elijah represents the prophetic books. That equals Moses and the prophets.

And so when we consider a passage of scripture where there’s a discussion between heaven and hell, when father Abraham had a conversation with someone, let me read the passage. It says, “And he said, then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers in order that they may warn them so they will not also come to this place of torment.” And then in verse 29 of chapter 16 of Luke, Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them listen to them. And if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if anyone rises from the dead.”

So you see that the connection of these two people represents the whole of the Old Testament. And right after the transfiguration, Christ predicted in Matthew 17:11, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.”

The First Emergence of the Antichrist

We see here that the preaching of these two heralds will be the last of the prophets that God will bring to the earth to bring people back to God and also to judge them. Then we go back to Revelation 11:7.

Here is thirdly the first emergence of antichrist in the form of the beast from the abyss. Notice in verse 7 it says, “When they had finished their testimony the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome them.”

The beast, the antichrist, the man of sin—all the same person, personified—we’re going to see in the further revelation of the unholy trinity. They will hate the two witnesses and they will make war with them. But there’s something else they’ll do to them.

Not only will they make war with them. For your information, the beast is not Satan, but the Roman prince with a satanic source of power. Satan is more acting like the Holy Spirit. So the beast and the antichrist, the man of sin, will hate these two witnesses and make war against them.

Notice in our text in verse 7: “and kill them.” They will be killed. The beast will have no power over them until they finish their work.

What will happen once they kill them? It tells a lot about the mindset of the world at that time because remember this is a global issue. This is not just an issue for Jerusalem. This is a global issue.

In verse 8, it says, “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city.” So their bodies will be left open in the street. What does that show? It shows the degrading nature of humanity, not even caring to want to bury the dead.

Also in verse 8 it says the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also the Lord was crucified. We see that these two prophets—if they are, which I believe they are, at least in the spirit of Moses and Elijah—they are connected to Christ. They are Christ’s prophets and they are prophesying there to the great city Jerusalem.

But notice how it’s identified here as Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem, Sodom and Egypt really symbolizes materialism, rebellion, and immorality. Jerusalem will become the most wicked city on the face of the earth at this time. Jerusalem will be under the power of the antichrist, the beast.

The whole world observes this. They will gaze on their dead bodies for three and a half days and they will not be permitted to be buried. That’s not hard to imagine these days with our super speed communication satellite systems.

“The beast will have no power over them until they finish their work.”

The whole world can view what’s happening in real time. Notice what it says in verse 9.

Those from the peoples, the tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. Jewish tradition and practice would have the bodies buried before sunset, but here their bodies are degraded by exposing them as a trophy of victory unburied in the former holy city.

The World Celebrates Their Death

And what does the world do? Verse 10 says they celebrate over the deaths of these preachers of righteousness. “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. They will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.”

But the world is saying to them, “Yeah, we got these prophets. They tormented us, but we put him to death. We got you. We won.” See, they will be overjoyed to get rid of two witnesses from God as they were overjoyed to get rid of Christ. Same mindset.

Unbelieving Jews had a long history of abusing and murdering the prophets.

“They will be overjoyed to get rid of the two witnesses as they were overjoyed to get rid of Christ.”

The Depth of Human Depravity

And God will always send the prophets because of his mercy. And these will be the last two prophets. But just think of this. Men and women will hate God so much that the only thing that makes them happy is to persecute and kill God’s precious servants. That is about as warped as you get. You say that sounds sick. Yes, it is sick.

“The only thing that makes them happy is to persecute and kill God’s precious servants.”

Behind that sickness is Satan himself and his minions that are coming against God, and now it’s being evident. I think in our own day demonic activity is definitely on the increase. What is the reason for that?

Deception in Our Own Day

Well, primarily it is due to the lowered spirituality and godlessness of the whole country. And as godlessness increases, the whole concept of God in the public mind diminishes. When that happens, you would expect a corresponding increase in the manifestation of evil forces. They don’t even want to hide anymore. They are just in your face everywhere you go.

Truth is maligned. Lies are prevalent. You have to sift through a lot of stuff just to find out what exactly is true.

And the people that are supposed to be giving us the truth, we can’t even trust them anymore. So we trust nobody. You want to trust but verify.

That was President Reagan who said that.

Verify everything. Don’t go on the internet and search something out and think this is gospel. This has got to be true because this person said it.

No. I mean, you can actually go to the internet and say, “Hey, I want to write this.” And say, “Tell AI what you want to write.” They’ll ask you about three or four questions and boom, comes out with a great paragraph, statement, whatever.

So we’re living in very, very deceptive times and it’s going to be more deceptive as we go forward. That means we need to know the truth. We need to know what we believe. We need to know where we stand.

“We need to know the truth. We need to know what we believe. We need to know where we stand.”

The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses

We need to be living for Christ. But what happens? Let’s look at Revelation. The last thing is the restoration to life of the two witnesses and the consequent repentance and conversion of the Jews.

Notice in Revelation 11:12. “But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them and they stood on their feet and great fear fell upon those who were watching them.”

We see here that the world thought physical death was the end. They were wrong. And the reason why they’re wrong is they left something out of the equation: God himself.

So after three and a half days are over, God raises these two witnesses from the dead and catches them up to heaven, creating fear in all those who have rejoiced over their death. This exposes the sickness of the mindset of that time and even our day.

But notice what it says in verse 12: “And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ Then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them.”

You noticed who was watching this because it is a global event. Everybody in the world who is an enemy, who wanted them dead, who did not want to honor them and buried them—God wouldn’t allow that anyway because this had to take place.

God gave them life. They got up. They stood on their feet. And you can imagine what kind of fear it put into the world. If these prophets did this in this time period and tormented the world by what they were allowed, the power they were given by God, could you imagine now that they’re resurrected and standing there alive, what are they going to do to us now?

But that’s not what happens.

“The world thought physical death was the end. They were wrong. They left God out of the equation.”

God’s Promise to Complete His Work

And I think that we can also just think of it in this way. We have a promise of God’s favor to complete the good works that he has ordained for us until we’re done. Until God’s done with us. He honors faithfulness.

As the psalmist tells us, “For the Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones. They are preserved forever.”

Psalm 37:28: “The Lord loves justice and does not forsake his godly ones. They are preserved forever.”

But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. So the climax of this episode, what does God do? In verse 13, it says, “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth of the city fell, and 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake.”

So in other words, God says, “I want the world to know who’s in charge. I want the world to know who’s on the winning side, who I count with favor because those are the ones who will be blessed.”

And those who do not know the Lord and those who hate him and come against him, God will judge them. He will let no judgment go unjudged. He will take care of everything. Whether a person got away with it or not in this world, he will not get away with it before God.

The Repentance and Conversion of the Jews

But I want you to notice something else that happens with the repentance and conversion of the Jews at the end of verse 13. It says, “And the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Now this looks like genuine repentance to those who remain.

The reason why is because the same terms are used for genuine worship in Revelation 4:9, Revelation 16:9, and Revelation 19:7.

So again, what’s going to happen in the tribulation is God is going to bring Israel back to himself and they’re going to get converted in the land. See, that’s God’s plan. That is God’s plan and that will take place.

So God grants genuine repentance to those people. Yes, it took all that to bring them to that place.

“God is going to bring Israel back to himself and they’re going to get converted in the land.”

The Seventh Trumpet and Christ’s Kingdom

But finally in the end they give glory to God. This is right before the seventh trumpet, which we’ll look at more next week. But I want you to notice in verse 15 what it says.

Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”

In other words, this is the whole view from chapter 12 all the way to chapter 19, then in chapter 20. This is everything of what the rest of Revelation is going to be like without the details. But we’ll look at the details.

But notice in verse 14 of chapter 11, it says, “The second woe is passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.” Our future is rushing upon us so quickly and it will become increasingly difficult to navigate all the new changes. I find it hard to keep up even now. As you get older, you don’t want to know the new technology anymore.

Revelation 11:15: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever.”

Right. I still remember—I mean, I was here before cell phones, landlines. If you wanted to talk to somebody privately, you had this 20-foot cord that you went in the other room and shut the door.

There are so many changes that it’s just overwhelming, and it’s going to be more rapid.

Be Faithful and Give God Glory

It’s going to be hard to navigate those new changes, but according to our text, the most important thing in the end is that you give glory to the God of heaven. That’s the most important thing. We know what comes before that: real conversion to Christ.

But that’s the end result. We praise God as we sang this morning. We give God, the God of heaven, glory. We live for him. We are his witnesses now. We tell others the gospel. We live the gospel. We adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ every single day. That’s what we ought to be doing.

And all the good works that God has ordained for you to do, you will do it. Amen. Until God’s done with you.

As I did a study on good works, it’s anything you do for the Lord. It’s a cup of cold water to somebody. That’s a good work. Helping somebody, writing a letter to somebody, visiting somebody, going to the nursing home and feeding them, witnessing to someone, praying for someone. It’s all good works.

God ordains all of it for us to finish. Let’s be faithful to that because when you read Revelation like this in the world in which we live right now, it seems like these things are going to happen tomorrow. Let’s be ready. Make sure Christ is your Lord and Savior.

Make sure you are living for him and being faithful to him. And make sure that you are giving glory to the God of heaven every day of your life.

“The most important thing in the end is that you give glory to the God of heaven.”

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for a book that you’ve given us in the Bible called Revelation, which you unveiled to us, Lord, what will take place. This is not a fairy tale. This is not even a fanciful story. But Lord, this is the truth.

And Lord, you have given it to us. I pray, Lord, that as we think of these things and we realize what you’re going to do and what you have done, Lord, that you would make us the most humble and faithful people there are on this earth. Lord, use us and the gifts that you’ve given us for your glory and for your honor, for the exaltation of Christ, for bringing those who are still lost and in sin to repentance.

And that, Lord, every day of our life we may honor your name. Though we, Lord, do it imperfectly, we want to do it from our heart and we want to do it consistently. We don’t want to drop off, Lord. We want to continue to put one foot in front of the other and honor you with the next thing.

So Lord, today work your work in our heart and make us the people you want us to be. And I pray this today in Christ’s name.
May 4, 2025
The Bitter-Sweet Little Book
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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 10 reveals the mighty angel and the little book, teaching us about the nature and mission of God’s Word in the last days. The chapter shows that God’s Word is authoritative over the whole earth, absolute in its promises and judgments, and must be announced to all peoples until the very end. We are reminded that the same God who created the heavens and the earth is the one who will bring all things to their final consummation.

Key Lessons:
1. God’s Word carries divine authority over the entire world — no one is outside its reach or its message.
2. God’s plan of redemption is absolute and sure — time will run out, and every prophetic promise will be fulfilled.
3. The Word of God is bittersweet: sweet to those who receive the gospel of grace, but bitter because it also reveals divine judgment on the unrepentant.
4. Every believer is commissioned to announce the gospel faithfully, just as John and the prophets were commanded to do.
Application: We are called to devour God’s Word personally — letting it become sweet to our souls — and then to boldly proclaim the gospel to others, knowing that it is the only message that saves people from eternal destruction.

Discussion Questions:
1. How does knowing that God will finish what He started affect the way you live and share your faith today?
2. Have you experienced the bittersweet reality of evangelism — the sweetness of seeing someone come to Christ and the bitterness of seeing others reject the message?
3. In what practical ways can you more deeply appropriate (“eat”) the Word of God so that it becomes sweeter than anything else the world offers?
Scripture Focus: Revelation 10:1-11 — the mighty angel with the little book; Acts 1:6-7 — the disciples’ question about restoring the kingdom; Deuteronomy 29:29 — the secret things belong to the Lord; Psalm 19:9-10 — God’s Word sweeter than honey; Galatians 3:8 — the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham.

Outline
Introduction

The Distance from God’s Throne to Calvary

All right, chapter 10 of Revelations. Hopefully you’re there. When we think about the distance from God’s Throne of Splendor down to the abyss of Calvary’s cross, we have to think that Christ is the Eternal Creator, the Lord of all existence, exalted infinitely above Earth’s foulness and decay.

He is the source of life with myriads of angels to sing his praises and also to do his bidding. Yet motivated by love for his human race, he humbled himself. He became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross.

He came to our puny planet, was born in a cave-like barn with smells and filth, and was placed as a helpless babe in a feeding trough. When we look at his manhood, he endured homelessness. When he was thirsty, he asked for water.

When he was weary, he fell asleep in the boat on a storm-tossed sea. He did miracles there. He was sinless and was adored by the multitudes one day, and then the next day condemned as a criminal and died on a Roman cross in excruciating pain for sinners like us.

Now, that’s the distance from God’s Throne down to Calvary. That’s the measure of his mercy and grace to mankind. As one man named Newell put it in a poem, he said, “Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.”

“Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.”

That will be the message right down, or right up, to the last day of human history. The Apostle John, who is the writer of Revelation, is told in the narrative of the bittersweet little book that the message of the good news of the grace of God revealed in the gospel of his son Jesus Christ must be announced to that last day.

Context: Judgments and the Interlude Before the Seventh Trumpet

The Book of Revelation, as I’ve been saying, is about God’s final unveiling of the last days. We have already read of many judgments that will come upon the earth upon the sinful, ungodly, idolatrous mankind. We saw the Seven Seals, and then the six trumpets.

The fifth and sixth trumpets blew, and all hell literally breaks loose on the earth. The released demons from the abyss come upon the earth to torment. One section of the demonic army is permitted to not kill but torment for five months.

Then on the sixth trumpet it sounds, and the fourth angel unlocks the large army from the pit. The Bible says this large army from the East is permitted to kill one-third of mankind by three plagues.

“The fifth and sixth trumpets blew, and all hell literally breaks loose on the earth.”

Now we come to another interlude from chapter 10 to chapter 11:14, that is before the seventh angel blows the seventh trumpet. That’s a very significant trumpet in the Book of Revelation.

Some theologians think these events fall during the middle of the tribulation, of which I agree. This is right smack in the middle.

The seventh trumpet contains the longest message, which covers the last three and a half years of the tribulation period. That’s called the Great Tribulation. It will be the most awful, terrible suffering and violence and catastrophe that the world will ever experience.

It is the time that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24:21, when he says, “For then there will be Great Tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.”

The Word Is Authoritative

In chapter 10, I want you to notice in verses 1 and 2 the Apostle John sees someone with a little book. It says there, “And I saw another strong angel coming down out of Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book which was open.”

Do you find a symbol like this of a little book anywhere else? Well, we read it this morning in Ezekiel, and you’ll also find it in Jeremiah the prophet. But I want you to notice down in verse 7 of chapter 10.

It says, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets.”

Now, what he’s saying here—what he declared to his servants the prophets—with only two or three exceptions, every prophet of the Old Testament, including Daniel, said there is coming a day when there will be a finishing point. He is saying here that when the seven trumpets sound, everything that has ever been revealed by the prophets will be fulfilled.

Also, all the good tidings of the prophets will come to be. It will usher in the second coming of Christ to the earth to sit on the throne of David. But isn’t that what the prophets looked forward to?

The return of the theocratic kingdom in which Jesus will be the king. And isn’t that what Jesus’ disciples asked after he died and rose from the grave? Wasn’t that on their mind?

First, we find it. If you could turn there in the book of Acts 1, this is what the apostles asked. This was foremost on their mind. Look at verse 6.

It says, “So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times and epochs which the Father has fixed in his own authority.”

See, that was on their mind right after the resurrection. They didn’t get the rest of the message of the prophets, that they were to take the gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the Kingdom, to the whole rest of the world. And that would take a long time.

We’re still in that process right now. We’re still taking the gospel to the rest of the world. When you come to Revelation 10, you get the answer to that question.

Our focus this Lord’s day is on the mighty angel and the little book. Now, I’m going to say right in the beginning that the little book is the word of God. And this word, which we have been given by God to proclaim and to preach and to announce, is a book that is authoritative.

It is a book that is absolute, and it is a book that must be announced right until the last day. There is no choice in that. We must proclaim the word of God.

“The word of God is authoritative, absolute, and must be announced right until the last day.”

I want to see the first thing in chapter 10 in verses 1 and 2: that the word is authoritative. Notice what it says in verse 1.

It says, “And I saw another strong angel coming down out of Heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.”

The Identity of the Mighty Angel

Now, this angel right here is very different than any other angel that we have been introduced to in the Book of Revelation. This angel is presented as one having great majesty and power. This is not the sixth angel mentioned in Revelation 9:13, nor is this angel the one who sounds the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11:15.

The angel here is very different and very majestic. And yet some people have concluded that this is Christ. Even though Christ appeared several times in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord, this cannot be Christ because there is no evidence that Christ comes to earth midway in the tribulation.

Nor will we see later on that one proclaims makes a vow in the name of Christ. Therefore, it cannot be Christ. But this mighty angel—some said that it could be Michael the Archangel.

Michael’s name means “one who is like God.” What you see here is a mighty angel that represents Jesus and ministers on his behalf. The mighty angel represents God’s authority, God’s presence, and God’s power.

“This mighty angel represents God’s authority, God’s presence, and God’s power.”

Characteristics of the Mighty Angel

The angel is representing Jesus Christ in his actions and his character as his minister, as his messenger. If you look back in verse 1, look at the characteristics of this mighty angel.

He’s clothed with a cloud, meaning it’s a symbol of divine presence. He has a rainbow about his head, meaning that the rainbow always represents God’s covenant faithfulness and mercy in the midst of judgment. His face was like the sun.

The angel’s radiant face means that he had been in the presence of God, which was reflecting the glory of God, somewhat like Moses in the Old Testament, where the Bible says when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone like the sun. For this reason, because he was speaking with him, he was in God’s presence.

His feet like a pillar of fire represent a picture of support, a picture of stability, a picture of strength. The angel from heaven comes with the word of God. He comes with a book in his hand to bring the word of encouragement for believers during this time in human history.

“The angel from heaven comes with the word of God — a word of encouragement for believers and a word of warning to the world.”

He also brings a word of warning to the rest of the world that the redemptive clock is about to run out. An interlude from chapter 10 to chapter 11:14 is given before the seventh angel sounds. The seven trumpet proclaims and brings in the rapid-fire bold judgments, or vile judgments, that will be poured out.

That will be the end of everything. You’re going to see then the other ones that we’ve mentioned already.

The Little Book: An Open Book

So he had a mighty personage about him. Secondly, this mighty angel—what did he possess? Verse number two: he had in his hand a little book which was opened.

A little book which was open. Let me just say that this little book seems to be a symbol of the word of God as it is delivered to people, that this is divine revelation that has already been given, the gospel of salvation.

So the angel has in his possession a little book, and an open book. Now, it could be open because all the seals have already been broken. But it seems an entirely different book than the scroll that had the seals.

Or it could be a book that has never been closed, like the Bible itself, from Genesis to Revelation. It is little because most of the message has already been revealed, and then there’s only a small portion that remains. Or maybe the final portion that remains.

“The word of God has been an open book — divine revelation already given, the gospel of salvation.”

Little may also mean a small portion of the whole scroll containing the plan of God for the ending of the present evil world and the introducing of the kingdom of God in the new heaven and the new earth.

Authority Over the Whole World

Notice also the angel’s position in verse 2. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. Having his foot on the sea and on the land means that he had authority over the whole world.

The whole world was involved in whatever this angel is going to say. It is a message to everyone who is on the planet. The mighty angel brings the word of God with authority for the whole world.

“The mighty angel brings the word of God with authority for the whole world.”

The Seven Peals of Thunder

And his authority is also bolstered by a loud cry in verse 3. It says, “He cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars. And when he had cried out, the seven peals of thunder uttered their voice.”

A lion is known to roar when it’s about to make its last leap on the victim. The seven peals of thunder point to the perfection or the completeness of God’s intervention in judgment. God’s final judgments will comprehensively impact the whole world.

Nobody on the planet will know that something is happening. Everybody on the planet will know something’s happening. Every single one.

And they’ll know it’s coming from God himself. It’s like the psalmist who says about the voice of God: “The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

God is using the mighty angel to speak on his behalf because he is ready to make the last move. He’s ready to bring complete judgment.

Psalm 29:4: “The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

The Lord has this parenthesis in the beginning, in the middle of this. The Apostle John is ready to encourage and engage in writing what he hears. The seven peals of thunder say John’s ready to write.

Remember, he’s writing in the Book of Revelation. As he’s given these visions, he’s writing everything down. These seven peals of thunder speak forth.

John hears what they say and begins to write down what they say. Notice what happens: he’s not permitted to write or reveal what he heard.

It says in verse 4: “When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from Heaven saying, ‘Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken, and do not write them.’”

This becomes a part of scripture where we have to honestly say, “I don’t know what they said,” because it’s not recorded anywhere. God has revealed much, but here God has not seen fit to reveal to me, man, at this time, but to keep it secret.

That’s reminiscent of Deuteronomy 29:29. It says, “The secret things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us.”

It could be that because God is in control, the saints don’t need to know all the details. Even saving the godly ones from despair over the morbid evil that is coming on the earth in the outpouring of the seven vials of the bowls of bold judgments.

It could be that the seven peals of thunder could be another horrible series of judgments unleashed on the planet earth. God says, “No, they will not go forth.” Maybe it’s just to show his longsuffering and his patience in order to extend more mercy and more grace before the final end.

I think the last one is more to the context. God’s word goes out with authority over the whole earth before the end. That’s the first thing about the word of God.

The Word Is Absolute

The second thing about the word of God is the word of God is absolute. In verses 5 through 7, the angel—now, again, being one of the main people in this narrative—has a solemn oath. Here’s another reason why this cannot be Jesus.

It says here, then the angel, verse 5: “The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by him.”

So the angel gives a solemn oath. He has a small book in his left hand, and in his right hand he lifts it up to heaven. And what does he swear by?

Notice what he swears by, verse 6: “And swore by him who lives forever and ever, secondly who created the heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it.”

This is no mistake of who he’s talking about: the events that are coming are brought to pass by the same almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. What God started in creation, he’s the one who could write the last chapter and end it, because he is the sovereign ruler.

“What God started in creation, he’s the one who could write the last chapter and end it, because he is the sovereign ruler.”

A Sure Outcome: Delay No Longer

But I’m saying that the word of God is absolute. And notice what it says in verse 6: there’s a sure outcome. The angel swears that there shall be time no longer.

At the end of verse 6, notice this little phrase there. It says that there will be delay no longer. In other words, time runs out.

There will be no further delay. There will no longer be an interval of time as we know it. The end is now to be consummated.

The blast of the seven trumpets is soon to sound forth and unleash all the rapid-fire bold judgments, judgments that will bring Christ his near return and will manifest his glory to the entire earth. God’s purposes on earth will be fulfilled.

Time shall end, and eternity will begin. The kingdom will come, as it says in Matthew 6:9-10, as we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” God will take back the kingdom and the earth so long usurped by Satan and the ungodly.

“Time shall end, and eternity will begin. God will take back the kingdom so long usurped by Satan and the ungodly.”

He will take it all back. He’s letting things happen so everything could take place that he has designed and allowed. And finally, put away evil forever.

The Mystery of God Finished

But there is something else here: this mystery that was designed in the past will continue in the present. For this is what it says in verse 7. And this is the answer to the apostles’ question in Acts 1:1.

Where it says in verse 7: “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angels—remember, the seventh angel has not blown his trumpet yet—when he has sounded, it says, ‘Then the mystery of God is finished as he preached to his servants the prophets.’”

This brings about the completion of the mystery of God as declared to his servants the prophets. What is the mystery of God? The mystery of God is the gospel of glad tidings to all people.

That’s it. Not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, to all peoples. See, that’s the mystery.

And the prophet spoke it. When the apostles came on this earth to preach, they didn’t preach the New Testament—didn’t have it yet. They preached the prophets.

They preached the Old Testament. That was their gospel, because the gospel was there already. It was already there.

“The mystery of God is the gospel of glad tidings to all people — not just to the Jews, but to the Gentiles, to all peoples.”

And they came and got more revelation from God to write the New Testament to make things more complete and more clear. The hidden plan of God will be complete. God’s scheme of redemption will be finished.

The Gospel Preached to All Nations

The world doesn’t see what God’s doing. They don’t. But the children of God know what God’s doing.

They know that the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They know that the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth with his son Jesus Christ as Lord, ruling and reigning over all the earth with his saints with him, us coming back with the Lord to rule and reign for a thousand years on the earth.

We know that says it in the word of God. And we know how all these things are going to take place because it’s already in the word of God.

“The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

There’s definitely a sure outcome in these passages of scripture that are incomparable. The final consummation is the great theme of the gospel announced to and by the prophets.

Notice there it says that the Lord is the one who preached to the prophets. Remember, the prophets didn’t have to study to give their message. God gave it directly to them, and they gave it directly to the people.

The Apostle Paul kind of summed this up in Galatians 3:8, where it says, “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in him.’”

The Word Is Announced: Take and Eat the Book

All the nations will be blessed in Jesus Christ. And then it leads me to this last point: the word of God is announced. It’s announced, and it’s to be appropriated.

This is a strange part of this passage of scripture because there’s a commanding voice. I believe this voice is the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, speaking to this angel or to John. Notice what it says in verse 8.

It says, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel.” In other words, the command is, “Take the little book.”

Verse 8 says, “Then the voice which I heard from Heaven, I heard again speaking with me, saying, ‘Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel in verse 9, telling him, ‘Give me the little book.’”

The little book symbolizes the word of God as it’s delivered to people—divine revelation already given and continuing to be preached throughout time. And that is the gospel of salvation.

“The little book symbolizes the word of God as delivered to people — divine revelation already given and continuing to be preached.”

The word of God has been openly delivered to humanity for a very long time. Remember, John is still writing the New Testament.

The book, the word of God, has been an open book. It’s been a book that has been declared. Actually, it’s a book that I don’t know of anywhere where it’s ever been a closed book.

Even through the 400 years of silence between Malachi and Matthew, the word of God was still there. God wasn’t speaking through a prophet, but the word of God was still there. The Old Testament was still there until John the Baptist stepped on the scene and God began to speak through him as a prophet.

Helen Allan was born in 1931 in Brooklyn. She became famous for her paintings and had a keen eye for photography. She took a picture of an open book that no matter what you did to it, it could not close.

In 1999, a year before she died, she made a print of the book and called it “The Book That Will Not Close.” Right next to it, she put the book of Moses. I don’t know if she did that consciously or if she knew she was right on the money.

But this angel had a book that was open. Now the Apostle John is said to do something with it in verse 9.

It says, “Take and eat the book.” He says, “Take and eat it, and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

Then verse 10: “I looked and I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it. In my mouth it was sweet as honey. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”

The Sweetness of the Word

Now, that says a lot there. Because eating the little scroll or the little book has a two-fold effect. The first effect is it is sweet to the Apostle John and those who repent and believe in Jesus as their savior.

It is sweet. The word of God that is devoured and absorbed is indeed sweet. Eating it, taking it, is taking the gospel to your heart.

And John, even in the midst of bitter persecution himself, being confined on an island of Patmos because of preaching the gospel, even in the midst of that persecution, he experienced the assurance of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ and the sweetness of delight in his heart by not only believing that message but now proclaiming that message.

See, the prophets had the same exact experience. When the Lord said to Jeremiah and to Ezekiel that we read this morning, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me the joy and the delight of my heart, for I have been called by your name, oh Lord God of hosts.”

Now, if you know anything about the ministry of Ezekiel or Jeremiah, it wasn’t pleasant. They went and preached. If you notice this morning in the reading, every verse said, “You rebellious people, you rebellious people, you rebellious people, go preach to them.”

The word of God burned in his soul. It was the word of God that burned in his mind.

It’s the word of God that he knew was the truth. It was the word of God that is sweet in that it is the word of promise. It is the word of grace and mercy.

It is the revelation of God’s love toward humanity. And that is seen in Jesus Christ dying on the cross. Where it says in Romans, “He demonstrated his love in that while we were sinners and ungodly, he died for us.”

See, that’s how the word is sweet. When you understand the message of the word and where it heads, and that your relationship with God is now made right—not by anything you could have ever done, but by what Jesus Christ did in your behalf.

And the psalmist, when he writes about the word of God, what does he say in Psalm 19? That famous Psalm: “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true.

They are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of a honeycomb.”

Psalm 19:10: “More desirable than gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of a honeycomb.”

See, that’s how the word should be to all of us who know Christ. Most people delight in sweet things, don’t they? Some people believe that we’re born with a sweet tooth.

I think I have it. But not many desire this sweetness. When you come and believe in the Lord Jesus and take him as your savior, you come to know that the word of God produces a craving in your soul that you could have never conjured up yourself.

And it’s for the sweetness of the word of God. You want to know that the Lord is compassionate. You find out in the word he is.

You want to know that the Lord is full of mercy and that you can run to him with your sin and know you’re forgiven. That’s in the word of God. And you want to know that the Lord is compassionate and full of loving kindness.

That’s in the word of God. And when those things—that’s sweet to your soul. There’s nothing like it.

When you eat the book, or when we eat the book, we partake of its contents. We appropriate its statements, its promises, its affirmations, everything contained in the book. As we eat it, it becomes sweet to us.

We find partaking in God’s book and understanding the message is indeed something that is sweeter than even honey. But there’s a second effect of this book.

The Bitterness of the Word

It says here that it became bitter in his stomach after eating it. The second effect is that the word of God is bitter. The word of God is bitter because it reveals divine judgment.

God is compassionate, but he’ll not allow the guilty to go unpunished. God’s love and his mercy and his judgment must go together. We can’t separate them and take one without the other.

“God is compassionate, but he’ll not allow the guilty to go unpunished. His love, mercy, and judgment must go together.”

We have to have both. Because it reveals divine judgment, which will be poured out on earth upon sinful, unrepentant humanity as God deals out his wrath with the wicked world.

In Revelation, in the end, you’ll see the great white throne judgment where God opens the books and he examines everyone’s life and he judges them righteously based on what they’ve done. If their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they’re cast into the Lake of Fire.

That’s God’s judgment. That’s bitter. Now look what he says to John in Revelation 11:11.

Commissioned to Prophesy

Not only eat it—not only appropriate it to yourself—but tell the book. Don’t just keep it to yourself. Verse 11 says, “And they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.’”

The Apostle John eats the little book, like the Old Testament prophets did, pointing to the reality that John is not only the last apostle, he’s not only writing the last book of the Bible, the revelation of God, but he is commissioned to be the last prophet.

The Apostle John is commanded to prophesy to many peoples. That is to faithfully deliver the word of God as it’s committed to him and give it to others. Divine revelation that has already been given must continue to be announced right up into the very end.

“Divine revelation that has already been given must continue to be announced right up into the very end.”

So that people will hear the invitation of God to participate in the blessing of the word of God, the sweetness of the word of God, and the good news of his grace revealed in the gospel of his son. So that they don’t have to experience the bitter part of it.

The Bittersweet Experience of Evangelism

Although the reality of announcing and proclaiming God’s word to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings is a bittersweet experience. If anybody ever does any evangelism, you’ll know that’s the case.

You have the message of the mystery of God on how someone gets right with the Lord and be forgiven and the promise of eternal life. And they look at you with a stare like it just went over their head. That’s bitter.

When you see your loved ones reject the gospel, when people you prayed for your whole life die without Christ, that’s bitter. But then you see people who do come to Christ, and that’s sweet.

That is sweet. Matter of fact, I think that when you evangelize and give the gospel and announce the gospel to people and they believe, there’s nothing greater than that. You’re on cloud nine.

If there’s such a number as cloud nine, you’re up there, man. Like God used you to give the gospel to somebody, and they get saved. There’s nothing like it.

“When you give the gospel and people believe, there’s nothing greater than that. You’re on cloud nine.”

Even when you walk away, you say, “Who am I to do that?” But God used you, and it’s good to be used by God. It’s good to announce this message.

That every saint should take and eat with the assurance that the word of God will be sweet. And at the same time, bitter to those who reject Christ because they remain unrepentant and under God’s condemnation and judgment.

So it’s clear in chapter 10 that the word of God is not only authoritative and absolute, but it is a word that must be announced. It is the only word that will save somebody from their sin.

It is the only word that comes from God to humanity to save them from eternal destruction and from a literal hell that they will be cast into someday.

Conclusion: Trust God and Announce His Word

Now, when you consider a chapter like this, you would have to say that you can trust God to finish things that he started. He’ll finish them on time from beginning to end.

God is in control. You can rest in the fact that God holds out mercy in and during the darkest times of life. It’s always there for you to come and take.

You can be confident to keep announcing the gospel because there are people yet to be saved. One of them may be you.

For all of us to appropriate the word of God so the word of God becomes sweet to our soul and more desired than any other thing anyone could offer you on this side of eternity, because it is the truth.

“Keep announcing the gospel because there are people yet to be saved. Appropriate the word of God so it becomes sweeter than anything else.”

Brethren, this morning, that is the message today for you and me to lean upon the things that are proclaimed in scripture and then to live them and make them part of our life.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you again for bringing us together today. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the mystery that has been revealed to the prophets and by the prophets, then to the apostles and to the church.

Lord, that message is still being proclaimed today. Let us not forfeit it. Let us not lay it aside.

But Lord, let us be bold in proclaiming it, knowing this is the answer to men’s questions. This is the answer to have someone’s sins forgiven. This is the answer on how to be made right with the God who created them.

I pray, Lord, this is something that we would never be silent about, not only individually but as a church. In these days, I pray we would experience more of the sweetness than the bitterness of the message of the gospel.

I pray this in Jesus’ precious name today. Amen.
March 30, 2025
Hell Comes To Earth, Part 2

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okay let’s take our Bibles turn to the last book of the Bible Revelation and we’re looking at chapter n the last part of that verse 12- 21 and as you’re turning there let me have a word of prayer let’s pray father we thank you this morning for bringing us here thank you Lord for another day to live and thank you Lord for another day to come and worship you to hear your word to have it enter our minds to have it move our Wills to have us Changed by it I pray Lord Jesus that you may be glorified today as the word of God is brought forth to your people and I pray this in Christ’s name amen from time to not from time to time I would go to Princeton and um when they had Book Fairs a lot of times the libraries especially the theological libraries would empty their shelves and sell their old books so I bought a book for 10 cents and the book the name of the book was the a great time to be alive and it was sermons on Christians during wartime It Was Written in 1908 long time ago and in the book there was a little article there um actually it was preaching the person preaching was preaching on a book that was written uh and published in France called the insanity of Jesus kind of caught my attention in which the author said that in the 19th century Europe Jesus would have been put under restraint as a megalomaniac Afflicted with mystical hallucinations of a Kind well-known to clinical medicine at that time so modern the modern world has has been wise in their conclusion and Jesus is insane this this the spectacle that happened there the writer is saying the preacher is saying now spread before us as common sense the world having common sense sense and Jesus being mad and then they include this in it well during the Civil War they told Lincoln that Grant was a drunkard and Lincoln answered that he wish he knew what kind of liquor Grant drank that he might give it to his other generals so one who cares about Mankind might wish today that Jesus Madness would infect us all and if to be sane is to be like the modern world and if to be mad is to be Christlike then insanity is our profoundest need he went on to preach this when Sir Isaac Newton announced the law of gravitation men talked about him just as men talk about Jesus said one man Newton is a deranged poetical fancy said another critic this crazy mathematician will not have 20 followers in his lifetime well that is that was actually true Newton lived 40 years after the publication of his book and his converts numbered less than a dozen but at last one of them and then a mass of them f T an astonishing experience as it dawned on them that Newton’s Revelation was not to range poetical fancy but actual fact astounding fact and universal law such a profound change the preacher said will someday alter Mankind’s judgment concerning Jesus real wisdom lies in in knowing Jesus because he speaks the truth in fact he is the truth it will be a fact for mankind that Jesus is who he said he was the god man the Savior and the judge if Jesus is rejected and ignored by mankind then all that is left is Hell on Earth and that is true if somebody rejects Jesus Christ there is not much left except judgment so that brings me to the Book of Revelation because I’ve been preaching on from this section of scripture that Humanity at that time is actually experiencing hell on this Earth and so the The Book of Revelation as I’ve already mentioned is God’s final unveiling of the last days it’s talking about things that will come to pass Hereafter and in the second Vision that I’ve been examining and we’ve been examining together in Revelation it’s it’s about Christ and his Earth judgments and here we see in this second half of the seven-year tribulation period upon the Earth very unusual things are taking place on the earth with creation and also with those who dwell on the earth I left you off last time with the blast of the fifth trumpet and the first woe judgment which gave us a depiction of Terror that would come upon the Earth the fearful character of divine judgment is expressed in the description of the battle ready Locust likee demon Army a de demonic army with a specific mission to inflict harm for five months unsinful ungodly and the wicked people of the earth and the Army was described last time from verse 7 to verse number nine or verse number 10 that that it would be an army that would be irresistible it would be Army that would be intelligent it would be an army that would be seductive it would be an army that would be ferocious Invincible Swift moving Unstoppable and then notice in verse number 10 of chapter n it says they all they have taals like scorpions and stings and in their tails is their power to hurt men for 5 months so they have the ability to harm and to cause agon and suffering but only for a limited amount of time because here we’re speaking of the fearful character of God’s judgment which is Unstoppable once God says to do it it’s going to start and finish it’s going to be within boundaries and he’s going to use in this case demons that were Unleashed from the pit of Hades or the abyss to do his judgment it is a time that Hell Comes To Earth to Earth and hell is quite literally Unleashed on mankind the instrument of God’s judgment is an Unleashed segment of a fallen of of Fallen demons with Satan as their King if you notice in verse number 11 it says they have a king over them the angel of the Abyss his name is in Hebrew is a badon and in Greek it is Aon and then we come to verse 12 so the commander-in chief we we can make no mistake that it is Satan himself and those two names mean the same thing that he is a Destroyer the angel of the underworld and King of the wicked demon Army is always and has always been a destroyer he opposes the authority of the true and living God and causes havoc and destruction among his faithful followers it’s always been the case but here it’s at a heightened level that this tribulation period un asks human wickedness and also demonstrates the true character of Satan so the horror of this judgment which God allows is awful and yet this is the the first woe from last week yet there’s something worse to come and notice in verse number 12 it says the first woe is passed behold two woes are still coming after after these things so on this Lord’s day we will proceed to the second woe judgment because the first woe is passed and the second woe judgment is the sixth trumpet and if you notice in verse 13 it says then the sixth Angel sounded and I Heard a Voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God so all these judgments come that are coming we must not forget it is the day of the Lord it is the day of the Lamb’s wrath which means that all the judgments that take place are under God’s Direction and control so this is the end of human history where God has been holding back for many years and offering repentance throughout the whole time and yet we come to this point and it seems like repentance is no longer available in fact the people who live on earth don’t even want it so this second woe is more frightening than the first so consider six frightful things that that are revealed as the Judgment of God is Unleashed on the earth dwellers during this second half of the tribulation and the first thing the first frightful thing we see is in verse 13 to verse number 15 and that’s the appointment of the second demon Army and notice what it says in verse 13 then the the sixth Angel sounded and I Heard a Voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God now we see here that this voice who is this voice who is speaking well the only one who could be speaking in this area by the golden altar before God is is Jesus himself so the re the these demons are released by The Lamb so the the four horns spoken of here are similar to the altar of incense used in the Tabernacle and in the temple the horns on the altar were a symbol of God’s power of of God’s sovereignty and often we see in the Old Testament it is a symbol of God’s J judgment and also justice as we already noticed in the the first part of Revelation where it talked about the horns and just for our information the horns of the altar confer Sanctuary to a to the accus in the case of God’s justice like for example adonijah in the Old Testament in First Kings chap 1 adonijah was afraid that Solomon was was actually going to kill him and so he runs and holds on to the horns of the Altar and he takes hold of the horns because he was afraid of King Solomon and he spoke out and he says let King Solomon swear that today he will not put his servant to death with the sword and Solomon responded if he’s a worthy man he won’t die today but if there’s wickedness in him he will die and eventually we see that Solomon said just go home go home but he ran to that Altar for God’s justice and who’s this solitary voice well it is the lamb and for several reasons it is the Lamb first this is still the time of the Wrath of the Lamb and then second the golden altar of incense is where the Lord receives the prayers of the Saints to carry out Justice that the trumpet judgments are partially an answer to the prayers of the persecuted Saints in Revelation 8 and verse number three and here in chter 9:14 who has the authority to give a command to least bound Angels well the only one who has that kind of Authority or power is Jesus himself for it says in verse 14 it says one saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet release the Four Angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates so these bound Angels they must be evil angels because there’s no instance in the scripture that gives uh that actually have good Angels bound anywhere so these evil angels are under the authority of the Lamb so he’s the lone voice speaking saying to release these four angels and he releases them from the Euphrates the great river Euphrates now you you you would think well why is that an important point in this passage of scripture because it does say in verse number 14 the one saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet release the Four Angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates this Great River really points more than to a geographical place to the east more important importantly what actually happened at that place some of the world’s greatest events took place at the river Euphrates it is the place where the world powers start Assyria Babylon Persia began there and spread their evil and idolatrous domination around the world and these evil angels are Bound by God from bringing Havoc upon Humanity until God says you’re going to be released because even back then these four Angels were helping Satan carry out his mission in the early parts of human history and the goal of Satan back then with these angels was to destroy destroy those who are believers because they uh were created in God’s image they were there to overthrow the kingdom of God and the rule of God they were to retain control of what they still possess also they were to regain lost territory so there was a definitely a goal to these demons and there was a strategy that they had they wanted entice people to sin they wanted to hinder any kind of spiritual disciplines that anyone had at that time also they wanted to misrepresent God in truth and they wanted to oppose anyone who would proclaim the name of the Lord as their King and savior so Satan and his demons go and strategies are seen at the great river Euphrates what happened there well the Euphrates was one of the four rivers which came out of the Garden of Eden and there near this River Man’s first sin was committed Satan’s original deception of Adam and Eve happened there the first murder was committed there at Euphrates the first war was fought there at Euphrates the the Tower of Babel was erected in defiance against God signifying the origination of false religion Nimrod built the city of Babylon where idolatry received its origin it was Babylon the children of Israel were taken captive into so Babylon of old will be rebuilt we’re going to see that in Revelation and it will become the headquarters of antichrist if you look go quickly over to Revelation 18 and verse number two it says this there and it’s talking about Babylon in that passage Revelation 18:2 it says and he cried out with a mighty voice saying Fallen Fallen as Babylon the great but notice what it says she has become a Dwelling Place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit and a prison of every unclean hateful bird so these demons were eager to Bring Havoc upon mankind but God bound them right at the great river Euphrates prohibiting the Fulfillment of their their intended dastardly deeds and with the release of the four confined demons the character of Satan will be starkly manifested so we see so far that these demons are released by the lamb from the Euphrates that have been bound there for a very long time a third thing that we see in back in chapter 9 verse number 15 that the the Angels over the demon Army there’s four prepared for de from for a Divine time notice how specific the scriptures here but I just want to remind you that even in the first chapter of the book of Acts times and Seasons remain completely in the power of God when the disciples were told it is not for you to know times and epics which the father has fixed by his own authority look at verse 15 it says the Four Angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released this was well within the plan of God that he held them there and prepared them for this specific time God being Sovereign over all these things that these Angels were Bound by God and prevented from doing any harm until the exact hour of God’s appointment the time schedule is determined by God not by man Not By Angels but God Alone that that should encourage us to know that God is in control of all things and he’s in control of even the Demon World they can do nothing without his authority they are on a Long Leash and even when one comes to Christ and we are God’s possession he cannot touch God’s possession he cannot take your salvation away from you and then notice in verse number 15 these four are prepared for divine torment it says and the Four Angels so that they would kill a third of mankind now remember the other demons released from the abyss they could only harm for five months and cannot kill but now we see these four angels are almost the leaders these are leading Angels they have power they probably as I already mentioned helped Satan in the beginning to do a lot of mischievous Deeds Before the Flood and here we have them released and what are these four angels to do they are given the task and the authority by God to go kill a third of mankind now I don’t think they had to be convinced to do that I think that was well within their uh desires to want to do that matter of fact maybe that’s part of the reason why they’re bound because that’s what their their intentions were back then to just kill people and Satan still does it today he’ll he’ll he’ll tempt someone to a place to take their own life he’ll tempt someone to a place to do destruction to another life he’s still doing those dastardly Deeds today we have to be aware of his his devices and not give into him that the voice of the spirit of God must be louder than his voice there’s a third thing in our text and that’s the amount of this the demon Army in verse number 16 it is a terrifying number notice what it says it says and the number of the armies of the horsemen were 200 million I heard the number of them 200 million that’s an overwhelming number a massive force of military power because again the Euphrates was in the East so most likely these four angels are going to be getting nations in that area and bring them against uh God’s people and also against the Dwellers of the Earth at that time so it is a it is a vast and overwhelming Army almost Beyond human computation and a good way I think to put it in perspective is it would be it would be like measuring one mile wide and 85 miles long that is a large amount of a demon army or a demon Le Army I should say it that way that is going to come against the Dwellers on the earth look at the fourth thing is the appearance of this Army in verse 17 and verse number 19 Not only was this Army a ter had a terrifying number but also a threatening appearance I don’t know if you ever saw uh Even in our Mo modern military how when mon modern military Warriors are fully battle dressed they have their heads and these masks on and they have their weapons and everything around them uh you don’t want to go mess with them right because they are very impressive they have a a a wicked appearance to them and it instills fear on the onlookers or those who come in contact with them which is one of the purposes of overcoming your enemy look at verse 17 it gives us a descript of the appearance of this Army and this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them and the writers had breastplates the color of fire and Heen and brimstone and the heads of horses are like the heads of lions now just imagine this massive Army from the East energized by demonic strength looking like horses like bodies with head like lines writers with fiery breastplates with a color of red and Dusty blue and sulfur or yellow and then they have Lion’s heads and look at verse 17 out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and BR limstone this is like fire breathing coming out of their mouth horses lion serpents equal deadly Warfare there’s no one who can escape this Army there’s no one who could really fight against this Army and win no human at least and if you notice they have extensive power in verse number 19 it says for the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails for their tails are like serpents and have heads and with them they do harm so they have power in their mouths of course we saw the power that if fire and smoke and brain Stones coming out of their mouth that’s their power to destroy anyone who comes near them and then also they have tails like serpents and what is their job is to do harm now some have said well maybe this is a picture of a modern mechanical Army I don’t know all that I know is that the Bible describing something quite Fierce and an army that cannot necessarily be defeated Not By Any Human Army against this Army there’s a a fifth thing that I want you to notice in verse number 18 not only is there an extensive power in this Army not only only not only do they have a terrifying appearance and they have a terrifying number a threatening appearance but they also the fifth thing would be the atrocity of this demon army they terrorize a terrorizing death they have these demons are to kill onethird of mankind a third of mankind it says in verse 18 was killed by these three plagues now actually the word plagues could mean blows or lashings some have said this could be an indication to the plagues of of of course Egypt where God was trying was using the plagues to bring people to repentance give them giving them one last chance to repent by his judgments three these three plagues are the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceed out of their mouths in verse number 18 so this massive Army of Horsemen 200 Mill ion strong will do just that they’ll happy to do that they’re equipped with horses breastplates of fire red blue and sulfur yellow and by the power of their tail and the brimstone and fire and smoke which proceeds out of their mouth these evil spirits will kill onethird of the world population now earlier in the fourth seal we saw a fourth of the population is killed and now an additional third is killed you know our present po population today is 8 billion in the world the two judgments the two actually the two judgment accounts for for half the world’s population 4 billion people killed now now of course I don’t know the number of the population at that time people have been been being killed all along but imagine 4 billion people being killed there’d be bodies piled up everywhere know you can’t no time in this kind of atmosphere to bury them the stench must have been unbelievable also or the stinch will be when it actually happens so not since the the time of Noah and the worldwide flood has the Earth’s population come under God’s God’s judgment like this but why all this God’s judgment coming down on Humanity I’ll ask the question again how did the people of the earth respond to the judgments of God Almighty do they run toward the merciful god for Relief do they repent of their sin and turn toward God and place their faith in Jesus Christ well that brings me to my sixth terrifying fact the astounding picture of human depravity well the answer to that question is no they rejected the love of God in Christ’s sacrificial death in the place of Sinners and now not even the wrath of God could persuade these hard Hearts to repent the people of the Earth would not change their mind on God’s offer of Salvation in Christ and I want you to notice the evidence of that found in verse number 20 of Revelation 9 it says the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent they did not repent those who survive are declared to be unrepentant they didn’t repent of their evil works and the worship of Idols which their hands had formed so their non repentance is observed in their Works notice in verse number 20 it says and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the of the works of their hands they didn’t repent The Works of their hands what is that you know the works of someone’s hands actually here in creating Idols works are are always the public and undeniable evidence of what is really going on someone’s heart what evidence is in your life that you’re a Christian or what evidence in your life proves that you’re not a Christian see evidence that will be exposed and revealed in the final Judgment at the last day when God opens the books and he reveals the works of men’s Hearts so the non-rep is seen by their works also the non-rep is observed in their worship are these people religious oh yeah they’re religious you heard the statement before religious but lost they’re religious lost blind dead but man they worship in verse number 20 it says this and the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of their The Works of their hands as so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and ofone Stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk rather worship dumb Idols that can do nothing for them than the true and living God the Fountain of Living Waters you see how dead people are that was this is not far from a description of our of us too is the same right if it wasn’t for God’s divine work God the Father drawing us to Salvation and God granting you and I faith and repentance to believe we would not believe we had no ability to believe we were completely depraved in the spiritual realm of things people would rather worship and they do worship something or someone objects that they don’t really have to change anything I will worship a God who lets me do what I want who lets me live according to my passions and desires I’ll worship a god like that that was their attitude they don’t have to change anything they can still live according to their old passions and desires and fulfill their lust with whatever gratifies them and gives them pleasure and the result of rejection and ignoring God’s mercy and Grace results in worshiping Idols there is never a neutral place in the beings life you are worshiping something you are living for something God’s made by the hands and imaginations of people Paul said to the Corinthian Church correcting them on their especially eating meat sacrifice to Idols he says to them no but I say that the things which a gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to Demons not to God and I do not want you to become sharers in demons that’s 1 Corinthians 10: 20 the worship of idols is devil worship the worship of any kind of imagination you have of God is devil worship that is the work of Satan to destroy the image of God and the truth of God it always issues in evil Lifestyles and immorality total satanic false religion that’s what we have at this time atheism Twisted philosophies subversion of morality paganism intellectual Insanity especially what is right and wrong what is good and evil especially with God’s way and what what is every other way so their non-rep is observed by their Works their non- repent repentance is observed by their worship and their non-rep is observed in their Defiance against God’s law notice what it says in the next section of our passage in verse number 21 but before I read that I just want to let you know that these people’s wickedness and the works of their hands is done against the first and the second table of God’s law always reminds me of James chapter 2:10 if you stumble and break one God’s law you’re you’re guilty of all of it well these people at this time they don’t want to repent they love their lifestyle they love their worship and not only that the demon Army that’s killing them are their servants so the demons don’t care they don’t care about anyone even people that worship them they care about no one they have only one goal and that’s to absur the authority of God and his Rule and his truth now these people here they already broke the first and second commandment by their worship of Idols they’re making Idols with their hands and what is the first and second commandment you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on Earth beneath or in the water under the Earth and then notice in verse 21 and they did not repent of their murders that’s the sixth commandment and then their sorceries it’s this interesting word sorceries here it’s the word formia for drugs Satan uses many drugs to entrap people and slave them it also the word can also be translated ma magic potion charm casting of magic spells witchcraft all kinds of sorceries and anything connected to that it’s a broad word and brings in all these things because the people had all kinds of devices and implement the things they were implementing in their demonic worship it all goes on today too so they break the first and second commandment the sixth commandment murders they’re murdering and the demons are having authority to kill them they also break the seventh commandment and they did not repent of their murders nor their sorceries verse number 21 nor their immorality nor their immorality so so sexual Freedom part of probably part of their worship too no more boundaries do what you want satisfi your lust and desires and then they also break the eighth commandment it says the last part of verse 21 nor their thefts nor their thefts but even after the first woe judgment and now the second woe judgment mankind still did not repent of their sins and worship the true and living God see this only brings me to one conclusion how depraved and dark is the human heart back in the Book of Genesis because of Adam’s sin of Disobedience to the revealed word of God man lost his innocence incurred the just penalty of spiritual and physical death and became subject to the wrath of God they became inherently corrupt it’s called in theology today radically depraved that means that man doesn’t have a choice to say yes to God or no to God Martin Luther wrote a book called The Bondage of the will as far as your will is concerned concerning God it’s bound by your sin sin is the slave master to all people and that slave master is cast aside when those come who come to Christ as their lord and savior so radically depraved that is utterly incapable of choosing or doing that which is acceptable to God that’s us that’s not just these people here that’s us you see the work God had to do to save you he had to move Heaven and Earth to save you we had no choice in the matter we couldn’t save ourselves we we only could come with all our sin to Jesus to get saved because he did all the work he paid the full price so a person is incapable of choosing and doing that which is acceptable to God apart from divine grace man has no recuperative recoup recuperative that’s what I’m trying to say powers to enable him to recover in other words man is hopelessly lost so that should make our Salvation even much sweeter to know that we could have never done anything at all to please God or save ourselves it’s all about Jesus it’s all about what God has done man’s salvation is thereby holy of God’s grace through the Redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ even here at this time with an awesome display of God’s power to save and even to destroy right before their eyes they remain stubbornly rebellious all men of all time are thus Sinners by Nature by choice by Divine declaration and are thus guilty standing condemned before God and that is a sad history if someone stays there but the grace of God is still available today you can still get saved today you can still be transformed by the Holy Spirit today and made right with God by believing in Jesus Christ trusting him as Lord and Savior and if you are saved to be serious about living for the Lord and passing on the truth that he’s given you to others so still after six a six-fold judgments up to this point in Revelation Humanity continues in their evil ways nothing is left for them except the heavier J judgments of God to come when there’s no gospel and Christ is rejected and I also say Christ is ignored because ignoring Christ is rejecting him too so where there is no gospel in Christ is rejected there will also be an absence of the transforming purifying redeeming quality of life because it is found only in the power and the grace of God brought about by faith in Christ and divine mercy that’s the only way anyone would get saved so if Jesus is rejected and ignored by you or by mankind then all that is left is hell and I think that in in a very real sense these pictures of what’s Happening Here is a picture of hell when God is absent with his mercy and his grace and all that is there is Judgment it’s a horrible time to just to read it it is this is upsetting to read this and yet is true see real wisdom lies in knowing Jesus because he speaks the truth he is truth and it will be fact for mankind that Jesus is who he said he is the god man the Savior the Lord the judge and the one coming again that’s who he is so if you don’t know Christ repent before it’s too late and if you do know Christ live for him with all your heart mind soul and strength amen amen let’s pray Lord thank you again for this sobering passage of scripture Lord I just pray that those who he today would make sure that they don’t end up there but they have consciously called on you as Lord and Savior I pray Lord that you would continue to save people Lord that you wouldn’t allow them to be left in their depravity but Lord you would Grant to them faith and repentance that they may come they may seek Christ as their lord and savior they may come with their sin to you because you died for that sin and they would come by faith and receive you as their own I pray Lord that you would continue to bring the gospel to those who don’t know strengthen Believers today with the truth so they they have discernment to know what is good and what is wrong what is your way what is every other way what is evil so Lord we would have the ability by your spirit to turn from it to identify to expose it Lord make us holy people godly people so we lord would live for you every day of our life struggling against sin in the power of the spirit putting on the whole armor of God that we may stand up against the Ws of Satan who’s still active today not only the girdle of truth but Lord also the breastplate of righteousness and our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and taking up the shield of Faith that’s able to ward off and deflect all the Flaming missiles of the enemy and then that we would put on the helmet of salvation always growing in our knowledge and wisdom of Christ and then Lord the sword of the spirit able to do close combat with the Enemy when he comes against us in that evil day and he presses his Temptations hard upon us we would stand firm because we know the truth I pray that for us and so today bless us go with us as we move through this week and let us be a light to the world and salt to the Earth and I pray this in Christ’s name amen amen

March 25, 2025
Hell Comes To Earth, Part 1

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Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

okay good morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation we’re looking at Revelation chapter 9 this morning verses 1 through 12 before I prayer just want to say the Book of Revelation is apocalyptic the term apocalyptic means to unveil to uncover to reveal something that has been beforehand was veiled and covered and hid hidden but now it is made known the Revelation with regard to its structure the Apostle John uses a key phrase four times in Revelation and the key phrase is in the spirit and it occurs in Revelation 110 421 173 and 2110 it helps us divide the book into major divisions based upon four Visions so the Book of Revelation is talking about God’s final unveiling of the last days it is talking about things that will come to pass Hereafter not things here not things during its long history but in its culminating period in the last days the four Visions with their symbols will have some connection to the last days again emphasizing the centrality of Jesus Christ throughout the whole entire portrayal of this book his Center we are now at the second Vision Christ and his Earth judgments and here we see in this seven-year period remember the church is gone from the earth the real Church the genuine church is gone the apostate church is here and it’s alive and well and so right now we’re about the midpoint of the seven-year tribulation about three and a half years and very unusual things have been happening to the Earth and happening to Creation we left off last time with the blast of the fourth trumpet if you notice in verse 12 of chapter 8 it says the fourth Angels sounded and a third of the sun and a third of the Moon and a third of the stars were struck that means Darkness as Divine judgment and if a world of people hate the light and love the darkness well then Darkness characterizes the world of evil and those who reject God reject him as Creator and sustainer of mankind and ultimately reject him as Lord and Savior then all that they will have left is Darkness God strikes these Heavenly luminaries and short circuits their normal use where we see in verse number 12 of chapter 8 and the third of the sun and a third of the Moon and a third of the stars were struck so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not Shine for a third of it and the night in the same way that these illuminaries are struck with total darkness in onethird of their capacity to shine onethird of their light was kept from shining in the day and night humankind at that time depends on these objects as we do today for almost every area of our life so this is a very unusual thing that these catastrophic things that happen to the Earth to Seas to the rivers to the Sun to the Stars happens to Creation God’s creation whom he is in control of every bit of it and because of these natural judgments man kind can can not grow food produce crops sufficiently so their food becomes dangerously scarce so so does their water and it will be a very very difficult time to sustain human life and animal life and productivity on the earth not to mention navigation and regulation of temperature everything is thrown into confusion and Chaos people do not know what day it is or even what time it is their normal routines and schedules will become non-existent because nothing will be normal again so you see the purpose of the first four trumpet judgments is primarily to disprove the Earth’s Earthly gods and to show that Yahweh alone is on the throne Jesus is the ruler and Sovereign of the heavens and the Earth and those who dwell on it and this is the last chance for human kind to actually repent that we talked about this morning Godly sorrow will be extinct I read a story about thieves who stole $5,000 worth of sound equipment and office equipment from the the local church in West Virginia only to break in the following night and return everything they have taken had taken apparently the guilt of stealing from the a church weighed so heavily on their conscience that they felt the need to correct their criminal behavior of breaking the Commandment you shall not steal their actions make us all think about the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow the Apostle Paul praised the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 7:9 where he said I Rejoice not that you were made sorry but that you that your sorrow led to repentance for you were made sorry in in a Godly manner is his first letter to them first Corinthians was biting as he addressed issues of sin his words caused sorrow among them and because of this Paul rejoiced why did he Rejoice their sorrow did not stop at just feeling sad about getting caught or suffering the unpleasant consequences of their sins their sorrow was Godly sorrow a genuine remorse for their sin this led them to genuine repentance a change in their thinking that led to renouncing their sin and turning to God and following him Faithfully their repentance ultimately led to deliverance from their sinful habits see repentance is not something we can really do unless we have the prompting of the holy spirit because it is actually a gift of God repentance so today we need to repay we need to really pray for repentance repentance mean means hating your sin enough to turn from it so at this time in human history there’s no Godly sorrow for sin on the earth everybody’s doing what is right in their own eyes and the passage we read this morning in Romans Chapter 2 the Apostle Paul did say oh man when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself do you think that you will escape the Judgment of God in other words he is saying if you yourself condemn this sort of thing when you see it in others and thereby condemn yourself how much more must God condemn it because he judges according to truth but the most sobering statement in the passage in Romans that really has no argument that will Avail against it is this that you will escape the Judgment of God the word that jumps off the page is the word Escape that the world and people still think that they can escape the the Judgment of God that people think that because God is patient in judgment that he has somehow forgotten or has overlooked it or that they think God does not see or that he’s going to make an exception in their particular case they reason that God thinks somewhat like themselves they find ways to persuade themselves that they are going to ex Escape God’s judgment but it’s amazing that the psalmist understood that people have always thought like that in fact if you just take your Bibles to Psalm 50 and look at it real quick Psalm 50:1 17 through 21 we get this same kind of thinking from those in the Old Testament where it says in Psalm 50:1 17 verse 17 for you hate discipline and you cast my words behind you when you see a thief you are pleased with him and you associate with adulterers you let your mouth loose in evil and your tongue frames deceit you sit and speak against your brother and you slander your mother’s son these things things you have done and I have kept silent you thought that I was just like you and notice what it says in verse the end of verse 21 I will reprove you and state the case in order before your eyes so in other words God’s going to bring things before people who definitely God sees very clearly what happens even John the baptizer his audience had the same kind of mindset when they saw when he saw the Pharisees coming to him to be baptized and what does he say to them he says to them this you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the Wrath to come therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourself and here’s John the Baptist understanding that your children of Abraham you think that’s going to save you it’s not going to save you it’s not going to save you don’t F fall back on that you are the children of Abraham that is not going to help you escape from the wrath of God so this is the first thing that the gospel Proclamation includes the essential thing the essential thing is that we must rest be rescued from the wrath of God against sin and unrighteousness men and women as they are are under the wrath of God and they cannot escape the terrifying thing that should be proclaimed is that the whole of humankind is under the wrath of God and There Is No Escape apart from the way that God himself has proved through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through his death through his burial through his resurrection through someone repenting and turning to Christ and trusting completely in his sacrifice and nothing they have done can they be saved so Brethren let’s today Ponder the terror of our God and make sure make sure that you yourself are saved and have escaped the wrath of God through Christ then be ready to share the good news of Jesus Christ so people will be informed of how to escape the wrath of God now saying all that I come to this part in Revelation the woe judgments the middle of the tribulation a specifically announced triplet of Doom before the last three trumpet sound and if you notice in verse 13 of chapter 8 so now when the fifth trumpet sounds it says then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid Heaven saying with a loud voice wo woe woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining Blast Of The Trumpet of the Three Angels who are about to sound so what we have here is a lone flying eagle flying alone in mid heaven and crying out the following three trumpets are about to sound and their woes pertain to the Dwellers on the earth so the phrase those who dwell on the earth refers to those who live in rebellion and unbelief before the true and living God they live on the Earth Earth and they live for the Earth with no desire for any dwelling beyond the Earth because they don’t think there’s anything beyond the Earth so again the three-fold woes are for those who reject the gospel and Love to Worship their own self-made gods and desire friendship with the world system instead of the lifegiving god so here is something very very serious that the first four trumpets were similar but this fifth one is very different there’s a Greek particle that points to the difference and and it’s the very word woe I am damned I am cursed it carries the meaning of how horrible will it be when this time of human history comes it means horror and disaster and clamity so these next three woe judgments they are very severe unsinful ungodly mankind this time the judgment is not intended for creation the judgment is intended for Humanity it’s intended to hurt humankind let me pray Lord this morning as we look at your word please Lord sober us to the reality of your judgment that Lord when you s told us long before that you going to judge this way I pray Lord that we would not think other than what you say in your word that your judgment will come and There Is No Escape apart from knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior because he took your wrath he paid the price for those who believe in you he satisified your Justice he shed his blood to wash away all our sin so no condemnation can be brought up against us ever again and we know not because anything we have done but because everything Christ has done and then he put his righteousness on our account and that we know now that we’re saved by the righteousness of Jesus and by no other righteousness so thank you for that so as we approach this text Lord help us to be reminded that your wrath and judgment will come but you are in control of everything that takes place and I pray this in Christ’s name amen so the first woe judgment is the fifth trumpet now we’re in chapter nine and notice what it says in verse number one just the first few words it says then the fifth angel sounded now when the fifth angel sounds the fifth trumpet the first woe judgment takes place and it will be a time when yes Hell Comes to Earth all these judgments come that we must not forget this is the day of the Lord this is the day of the Lamb’s wrath which means all judgments that take place are under the direction and control of God and what do we see first in verse number one and two we see the first thing is the bottomless pit is unlocked look at it verse number 1 and two it says then the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star from Heaven which had fallen to the earth and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him and he opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace and the Sun and the air were darken by the smoke of the pit so what do we have here we have John the Apostle sees a star Fallen already fallen actually and the possibility of identifying this star it could be some have said the whole judgment is pictured as coming from God and it was sent from heaven as a curse possibility secondly it is simply a messenger from heaven or thirdly it is a reference to Satan the Devil Himself I believe the best interpretation points to Satan why first because of the use of the term fallen in the original Greek it’s actually a perfect participle and the perfect tense indicates an event in past time with continuing results secondly it’s the personal pronouns that he used uses that are applied to the star if you notice in the text it says the key to the bottomless pit was given to him so then the star is a person who had already fallen from something in the past now we already know from the word of God that Satan is fallen out of Heaven he’s thrown out of Heaven several times but he fell once and even in an Old Testament passage like Isaiah 14 says how you have fallen from Heaven oh star of the morning that is Lucifer son of the Dawn you have been cut down to the Earth and even in Revelation uh chapter 12 if you turn over there look at verse number 7-9 because Revelation actually tells us the same uses the same similar language when used of Satan in Revelation 12: number 7 it says and there was war in heaven Michael and his angels Waging War With The Dragon the dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven and the dragon was thrown down the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world he was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him so we see this language of angels coming fighting with Satan and his fallen angels and they have no place found anymore and they’re thrown down to the Earth and what happens next back in uh chapter 9 verse number one it says and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him see the fact that the key was given to him shows that Satan does not have full control he is under the control and authority of God that the key to the bottomless pit was given to Satan by God to open the shaft of what the Bible calls the abyss now of course the abyss is really the prison House of demons if PE if theologians would draw it when they’re talking about hell the fir and it’s a circle the first part of of the circle would be hell for humans the second part of the circuit would be the abyss for fallen demons because hell was created for the Angels it wasn’t created for the hum human beings but human beings as they follow Satan end up in the same place so the abyss is a temporary holding place for the confinement of Fallen Angels it’s such a horrible place that even the Unbound Fallen Angels feared to be sent to the abyss after Jesus cast out the Legion of demons out of the demoniac in the Gans they did not want Jesus to send them to the abyss in fact Jesus said to them after you cast out the demons what’s your name or before he cast out the demons he says our name is Legion for for many demons have entered him and then it says and they were imploring Jesus not to command them to go away into the abyss so even the demons that were Unbound yet feared to go to that place and Christian you can rest assur this Lord’s day that the power to lock into hell or to unlock hell is given to Christ as already mentioned in Revelation 1:8 with a personal acknowledgement of who he is and what he has completed Jesus says I am the first and the last the living one and was dead and behold I am alive forever more and I have the keys I have the keys to death and Hades see Jesus says to John I am the god of old I am the god who spoke to the prophets I am the god who starts and finishes I am the Lord of Creation in history I have Sovereign control over all things and over all domains that it includes death and Hades so the Book of Revelation really connects the actual possession of the keys of death and Hades with Jesus victory over death and Hell so to to have keys to death and Hades means the person who has them possesses authority over their domain just like you have keys and you possess the authority to open and close your own doors you have the authority to do that you have the power to do that to have the key to the bottomless pit is to possess authority over that domain so Jesus has said I have the keys of these domain domains and I can open them and I can shut them that is why the genuine Christian does not need to be afraid but if you do not know Christ as Lord and Savior you should tremble as the demons tremble trembled because places like hell in the abyss are real places they are temporary holding places for the unsaved lost humanity and for hold the holding place of Fallen demons until the final judgment when the abyss and hell will be cast or emptied out into the Lake of Fire which is the Eternal judgment and its final penalty from God so if you look back to chapter n the second thing is this that the brute restraint this power that was in the abyss because don’t forget created angels even those who are Fallen are very powerful very intelligent way more than us as human beings well what happens if you notice in chapter verse number three it says then out of the smoke came Locust upon the Earth and power was given to them as scorpions of the Earth have power so in other words that this brute power that was held under the power of God is now let loose so the bottomless pit when open belches forth smoke and dark and hot it fills the air and darkens the Sun and the devil is given authority over the pit at least for a a short period of time but will again we know from scripture will be imprisoned for a thousand years at Christ’s second coming and then we’ll be thrown into the Lake of Fire where Satan will have no more Authority in verse two it says he opened the bottomless pit and this happened that this the spiritual World invades the physical world demons are Unleashed and bring Devastation and destruction and death to the Earth this never happened before I’m GL so glad it hasn’t but you don’t want to be there when it does in verse number three if you notice that the released demon Army are compared to Locust it says out of the smoke came Loc upon the Earth and power was given to them as a as the Scorpion of the Earth has power these these are not literal Locust these are are not natural Locust But A visual representation of the hordes of demons loosed upon the Earth however there are similarities between these let loose and dissimilarities to actual Locust they are like Locust and you you’ll find in the text because they swarm they’re going to swarm Humanity they operate in a time frame of five months from May to September that’s usually the time frame of a locust they cause substantial destruction locusts usually do when they sarm swarm and come down and eat everything and they have a kind of body armor around their thorax how they’re unlike Locust is that Locust do not have scorpion likee Stingers in their tails locusts do not devour or here these locusts do not devour green ve vegetation also they have no teeth like lions also literal Locust have no King and yet these demons in verse number 11 they have a king so in other words locusts overall in general represent Divine judgment on a wicked world and who are these demons well the Epistle of Jude pulls back the curtain a bit and indicates at least one group that come out of the Abyss it says in Jude and Angels did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper Abode so we know from the Bible that these demons had sinned and the first book of the Bible the word uh Genesis brings to light their wicked sin that these Fallen Angels Came To Earth took on human bodies and cohabitated with women and produced children who became the heroes and the Mighty Warriors of ancient times that these Fallen Angels crossed the species Lines by meeting with human women and Jude says about them about their sin he says and Angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper Abode this was a deliberate plan by the Demons by a company of fallen angels to rebel against God to rebel against his plan and his order that these fallen angels left their own house and went after strange flesh by lusting after human women to try to produce a demon human race an evil race of men in which it would be become unredeemable that sounds awful out there but that’s what the Bible teaches and what was their judgment listen what Jude says their judgment is he has kept in Eternal bonds under Darkness for the Judgment of the great day so in other words God incarcerated them for this day we’re talking about in Revelation chapter 9 because even the Apostle Peter says the same thing in his epistle in chapter 2:4 he says if God did not spare the Angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of Darkness reserved for judgment and notice here that God has the final authority to judge in the spiritual realm Heavenly beings God judges Fallen Angels who sinned because they rebelled against God’s Authority and these angels perverted God’s way and God refused to spare them because they were Wicked Sinners so these fallen angels rebell Reon is seen in their dissatisfaction with their lot they thought God was holding out on them and there maybe was something better they didn’t like God’s plan for them in other words so they gave up the awesome privilege of being ministers and Servants of God and they fell from God and what did they get instead Bound for eternity in darkness but these Deon this demon Armory was given a task and if you notice in chapter 9 verse number three notice what it says there then out of the smoke came Locust upon the Earth and power was given to them as scorpions of the Earth have power so these demons are given power similar to scorpions now the word here is the word authority too the right to do something as denoting God’s power displayed through the sphere of nature in this case God gives authority to these created angels who have fallen from their creator in rebellion and sin and now called now called demons and God uses them as instruments of judgment so these demons were given power to inflict harm on all those who dwell on the earth so they’re given Authority by God during this time to inflict pain on all those who dwell on the earth so these demons have a hellish tormenting effect on Wicked Humanity this demon Army has given authority to harm the entire human race except those who have been protected by God we already saw who they were that these demons are on a long chain a long Divine chain and can only do and not do what God allows them to do so that means demon are these demons are given limitations to their power now look at verse number four here’s the limitations they’re not to harm the grass the green growth and the trees it says this is how they are are also like natural Locust they were not they’re not like natural Locust they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree also in verse number four they’re not to harm those who are sealed by God in their foreheads it says but only the men who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads remember the 144,000 that were sealed they cannot harm them because God seal them and I believe also it includes don’t harm any True Believers in that time people who actually come to Christ in Repentance and Faith because it also says in 2 Timothy 2:19 nevertheless the Firm Foundation of God stands having this seal the Lord knows those who are his so all those who have trusted the Lord are sealed they’re protected by these this demon Army me also he tells them you can inflict pain but you cannot kill notice in verse number five and they were not permitted to kill anybody the the demons cannot kill people not at this point anyway there’s going to be a point in Revelation that they are but this point they cannot kill but notice in also in verse number five but they torment for 5 months this is how they’re like Locust about the same time frame they have here these demons May torment for five months but not kill five months is the ordinary time in the year during which Locust commit their ravages however the hellish tormenting effect on Wicked Humanity was severe in verse 5 it says their torment was like the torment of scorpions when it stings a man so these demons sting and strike like scorpions primarily inflicting physical torment short of killing a person now scorpions we know in all climates are fearful and have Painful stings not always leading to death but sometimes that it does lead to death so this is a a monstrous insane curse that comes upon Humanity that this demon Army is released to spiritually and physically torment Wicked people and there will be no relief from the agony inflicted by these monsters this is a torment beyond our wildest imagination and beyond our greatest fears in spite of all these Supernatural judgments how do the people of the earth actually respond to them you would think that in this case they would be running to God in Repentance and Faith but do they run to the merciful god for Relief do they repent of their sins and turn toward God and place their faith in Christ Jesus do they do that no they reject the love of God in Christ’s sacrificial death in place of sinners now not even the wrath of God persuades the these hard Hearts to repent so evil Humanity responds in a very belligerent way towards this torture it looks like the pain caused by a scorpion would subside at least in the human realm uh in the course of hours however here the pain continues for a long period so how do people on the Earth respond this is how they respond they seek death look at verse number six and in those days men will seek death but will not find it they will long to die but death flees from them the flight of death intensifies the torture that these evil people who are in Rebellion towards the true and living God rather desire death than the god of Living Waters and yet at this point now the Bible gives us a description of the demon Army quite a graphic description in verse 7 through1 the largest part of this text and so here’s the fearful character of Divine judgment expressed in the description of this battle ready Locust likee demon Army it says in verse number seven of course the key word in this section is like it’s it’s saying John is trying to describe what he sees is this it’s like this he says first in verse number seven it’s like horses the appearance of locust was like horses prepared for battle meaning this they had irresistible power also verse 7 like human faces it says and on their heads appeared the crowns like gold and their faces were like the faces of men meaning they had human intelligence they had intelligence then in verse number eight it says they had hair like the hair of women meaning they were seductive they seduced people verse number eight like the teeth of lme they were ferocious in verse number nine also like the iron like an iron breastplate that usually a warrior would use in battle meaning that they were invincible and like the sound of Chariots in verse number nine that their movement was Swift with great numbers of swarming demon Locust type Army it says in verse number nine and the sound of their wings was like the sound of Chariots of many horses rushing into battle and then in verse number nine it says like the noise of rushing horses in battle that means they were Unstoppable nobody could stop them and they couldn’t be stopped because God allowed them not to be stopped and then of course they had Stingers like scorpions they had the ability to harm and cause Agony and suffering they have taals like scorpions verse number 10 and stings and their taals is their power to hurt men for five months so God allowed these this demon Army to afflict the Earth at this time but only during a certain period of time and could not kill them but only could torture them and the fearful character of God’s judgment is that it is Unstoppable there’s no rescue from this judgment nobody can rescue them I said that people would seek death and not find that they could not even kill themselves they couldn’t even hire somebody to kill them because God didn’t allow it he puts boundaries on them and of course to cap that off there’s one last thing it’s said in our text that this demon Army has a king now we know Locust it says in Proverbs has no King they have no leader they just do what they do but this demon Army has a king notice what it says in verse number 11 it says they have a king over them the angel of the Abyss his name in Hebrew is abadan and in Greek he has the name apolon now of course you can make no mistake now that this is talking about Satan himself so the reader of Revelation and those who want to hear the message and heed the message and practice the message they know now they can make no mistake that the commander and chief in this text is Satan and he is on a Long Leash from God he can only do what God allows and whatever language you describe him in whether it’s Hebrew or whether it is Greek the character his character Remains the Same both of these names mean the same thing they mean Destroyer That’s what Satan does he destroys what God has created he destroys and wants to destroy Humanity he wants to send people to hell where he was the king at least in the abyss he will not be the king in the Lake of Fire so the angel of the Underworld the king of the wicked demon Army is always and has always been opposed to the authority of the true and living God he always will cause Havoc he always will have a goal of Destruction especially amongst God’s faithful followers whether whatever time of History it may be but can it get worse that’s just the first woe there’s two more to follow and they are worse than this but Brethren the horror of God’s judgment which he allows himself is awful but to imagine there can be something worse is it’s even hard to wrap your mind around it and yet there is and like I said in the beginning that you and I have to come to the place that we make sure that we’re not caught in this time frame cuz the Lord can come the church can be taken out at any moment and you’re going to find yourself in this time frame and we know that when that time frame comes God’s going to send strong delusion that people would not believe the truth of the Gospel but would believe the message that is being given out by the Antichrist during that time and so they will be duped and pulled into that time and we do know people do get saved during that time but you don’t want to be the generation when the Lord Lord comes that that generation will be pulled into the tribulation period because there will be no hope it’s always now when the spirit’s moving to make sure that you have called upon and I mean asked Jesus to save you you you you believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead for sinners like you and that you turn from whatever you’re trusting in your religious system your good works you think is going to save you they’re not they can’t save all religious systems are a system of works you have to do something to save yourself the word of God says no God did it believe him and just believe in what he’s done his work because he’s done it all for us we could never have offered God anything to save ourselves so today thinking about about this judgment in scripture which is real and will take place where do you stand before God if you were to die today where would you stand before him have you come to the place in your spiritual life that you know for sure if you died you’d be in his presence not because you say God I’m a good person I was religious I didn’t kick the dog you know I love you know that kind of stuff no that’s foolish the only thing that the Lord’s going to allow into heaven is that I have repented of my sin and trusted alone in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and he saves you that’s the only thing so if you you would you someday you’re going to die that’s one thing we can’t we can’t avoid unless you’re during the the generation where the Rapture comes and those who are alive and remain are caught up you may be part of that generation too I don’t know we all may but we know looking at the world today and the crazy stuff going on and how how fast things are happening and how much power is given to uh just this artificial intelligence that is gaining knowledge we would get take 50 years they can gain knowledge that we gain in 50 years in in 12 hours and we know the Antichrist is going to use that against people to control them so it’s a simple thing make sure you’re right with God make sure you repented and trusted in Christ as your lord and savior and make sure that you have proof that you believed that means the rest of your life you live for the Lord and not live for the world and not live for your sin but live for Christ because that is the only way to live and if you live that way you’re not going to live perfectly that way but you’re that’s going to be the direction of your life you’re going to be different because God’s making you holy and then when God comes whether it’s in death or in the Rapture of the church you’ll be in his presence and it it’ll be because of nothing you’ve done but everything God’s done see that’s Grace that’s God’s grace giving you something free that you never would have deserved that’s God’s grace so I’m glad this passage is here in Revelation and throughout so it just keeps us sober minded on the reality of what’s going to happen right and who knows these things Christians know these things who are reading the Bible That’s who know them so now we have to share them with others and we have to share the gospel so people get saved let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for your people thank you Lord for the word of God Lord because it is piercing it does get down deep into our heart it grabs hold of our gizzard and shows us the reality of our own life and our own sin and the only rescue we have the only Escape we have from your judgment is to run to Christ run to Christ with all our sin run to Christ with all our baggage and ask Christ to save us and forgive us and cleanse us and make us right with him and that’s what he came to do he came to seek and to save those who are lost and that’s who we were Lord we’re lost we don’t have a map to heaven but we do have that map when we come to the word of God and we know how you establish things so we can be forgiven and made right with you so Lord today do your work don’t let us forget the word of God help us and show us the reality of our own State before you and I pray Lord that we not we would take this message soberly and we would honestly look at ourselves in light of your Holiness and that we would run to you for salvation and once we’re saved Lord Make Us Faithful followers of you that there would be so e much evidence that we’re a Christian that would be overwhelming and I pray Lord that we’d not leave this earth with doubts in our mind but we leave this earth peacefully with joy in our heart because we know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord because you took care of everything and all the separations that keep us out of your presence especially removing our sin so we can be with you thank you Lord for all you’ve done and will do you’re not done with us Lord continue to grow Us in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ and I pray pray this today in the name of our Lord and savior’s name amen amen

March 16, 2025
The Lamb Accepts Prayer in Heaven and Initiates More Punishment on Earth

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all right this morning we are in the Book of Revelation the last book of the Bible chapter number eight take your Bibles and turn there because we’re going to be looking at what it says there this morning we’re going to see that the lamb of god mentioned in in Revelation accepts the prayer of his people in heaven and at the same time uh initiates more punishment on Earth and we will see that today but let me pray let me pray this morning Lord today as we uh meet together as your people to worship you to learn your word to just give praise to you Lord for all the great things you have done thank you Lord for your kindness and your longsuffering your patience with us and Lord we want to praise you for for that thank you for the word of God that we’re able to open up and uh read and study so we know what your mind is we we know what you’re going to do you tell us what you’re going to do and Lord thank you Lord that you do that and we’re I pray we would be attentive to the word of God we would take it to our heart and Lord that we learn to live it because um you said yourself if you love me you will do what I say so thank you Lord for this morning for the word of God and I pray you’d bless us in it in Christ’s name amen all right so before we get there to chapter 8 I let me just bring you to speed up to speed about the condition of the world leading to the middle of the tribulation period remember this is future this has not happened yet uh the tribulation period is seven years and then in the middle of the week as Daniel tells us in the middle uh of the week that is smack in the three and a half year point something happens and we’re going to see that in chapter 8 is going to let us in on beginning to see what happens but let me just let you know that the holy spirit will be taken out of the world as the convicting restraining power of wickedness the church the visible Church the real Church on Earth is going to be caught up into heaven and it will escape the Holocaust of the seveny Year tribulation having been translated by the bridegroom himself Jesus Christ then Divine judgment will come upon the apostate christiandom bringing it to its certain Doom spiritual delusion will reign supreme and why is that because the salt of the earth is gone and so corruption will have its full sway on this world iniquity and wickedness will rule throughout through the emissaries of Satan judgment will be poured out like drgs upon this guilty World which will prove a refining power of God’s elect and purge them from their draws because remember the tribulation is basically bringing back Israel uh to himself and so those things are going to take place and then counterfeit Christ will still be going uh going on and will be prevalent at that time and then the great uh afflictions will come hatreds betrayals will Mark that day between people and spiritual declension and a rapid increase of crime and lawlessness will be evident every everywhere during that time and then smack in the middle of the sevene that three and a half year tribulation period the Lawless one will be revealed as the Antichrist and he will break an agreement with Israel as it says in Daniel it says in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offerings on the wing of Abominations and so the Antichrist will actually as Jesus said in Matthew 24 therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken through the the Prophet Daniel standing in the Holy place let the reader understand and that’s when the Antichrist will Proclaim himself to be God and it tells us Al also the same thing in 2 Thessalonians chap 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God an object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God so that is Satan all right who convinces Israel that he’s the Messiah he is not the Messiah and he makes a agreement with them for three and a half years he lets them build their Temple he lets them do their sacrifices he lets them be the people all right and then in the middle of the the week the middle of the seven years he says to them um I’m God and that’s when many of the Jews uh turn from that turn to the Christ the real Messiah Jesus Christ and begin to confess him as Lord and Savior and then they begin to get slaughtered by the Antichrist you know Phillip Pullman is a it was he was a writer who did fantasy books he wrote several fantasy books I call The Golden Compass the subtle knife uh the Amber spy glass but below the surface of his writing his sympathetic characters that he wrote about and his compelling subplots were very Sinister and had a Sinister purpose the story culminates in a great war against God in these books pulman views the fall of Satan as a righteous cause for personal independence from God’s tyrannical control and he implies that Satan’s attempt to absur the throne of God was the right thing to do now in the Book of Revelation we read of the end times where the Bible will say war broke out in heaven and Satan was cast down to the Earth and that future war is being preceded by an Earthly conflict on the battlefield of our minds see we must recognize Satan for what he is and what the Bible says he is he’s a liar his strategy is to take God’s words out of context and twist them into falsehood so our best defense against him is to hold firmly to the truth of God’s word so when Satan strikes and when he tries to deceive and he will that’s what he does we have to strike back with the word of God and to do that we need to know the word of God so when we come to the Book of Revelation we’re going to see what God is doing so if you pay attention to the word of God you will be armed against the enemy of lies and you’ll be able to stand up against his deceptive uh purposes to lead you away from God where the word of God will lead you to the Lord Jesus Christ so this morning the first thing I want you to see is that there’s silence in heaven there’s silence in heaven and no notice in what it says uh in verse number one of chapter 8 of Revelation soundlessness for a half an hour it says when the lamb broke the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for a half hour now that means that the Lamb of God who is worthy to take the scroll and to loosen its seals has already loosened six of them the seventh seal contains seven trumpets seven trumpet judgments and seven bll judgments so in Revelation here we see that silence is a dramatic pause Heaven feels the ominous Calm before the wrath of God falls upon the Earth that the Earth will be Godless and it will be churchless and it will be christless when this time happens in history it will be hell and War it will be a Penitentiary without stone walls and iron bars which none will want to be there and none will be able to escape it is why Christ referred to this period as the Great Tribulation where he says in Matthew 24 such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will so why is there silence in heaven because that seems to be an odd thing we already saw in chapter 4 and chapter 5 and and chapter 6 and chapter 7 that there’s plenty of activity in heaven there’s lightning and sounds and peels of Thunder there’s worship by the four living creatures by the elders by the Angels they’re singing and they’re praising God voices of of of crying out loud voices saying holy holy holy is he who sits on the throne from th just those sayings and passages Heaven seems to be a place of great activity with all participating in the praise and the singing and the Adoration and the worship of God this seems to be going on constantly with absolutely no breaks yet here possibly for the first time there is complete silence in heaven for a space of a half hour a short period of time now you know silence is kind of awkward isn’t it it’s awkward even when you’re speaking there when if we just all for a half hour just said nothing it would it would it would be kind of strange but that’s what’s happening in heaven and um the reason for the silence May indicate that the judgment to come is so intense and so severe and so grome that heaven’s massive choir stops and they stop for several reasons because the destruction death and suffering on the earth since the wrath of God is coming with greater intensity than even so far in the book of of Revelation also because of the final consummation of God’s plan with the repetition of the number seven in Revelation that is also a number that indicates finality and completion that God is bringing things world history to an end also because Christ will finally take his rightful place he will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem he will reign there in the millennial period on Earth also because prayers are offered and God stops and listens and receives the prayers of his Saints all those things are included and why Heaven just stops before all this is Unleashed upon the world also if you notice in verse number two uh seven angels stand before God it says and I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them so angels are mentioned in 34 books of the Bible they are real beings they have been created by God also angels are God’s servants and Messengers who are ready to carry out his will in an instant who worship Him who protect and comfort and deliver God’s people from harm and they also are instruments of God’s judgment now Angels function according to powerful organization organizational hierarchies in heaven so angels are here are high ranking Angels they are Arch Angels because it if you notice in the verse it says they stand before God they’re in the presence of God Daniel refers to Michael out of the chief of princes he calls them in the Old Testament which is equivalent to Archangel so here are seven Royal Heralds of the king of kings and we do know that most likely Michael and Gabriel are part of these seven angels we don’t know the rest of their names they’re special angels they have a special Mission and most likely like I said one of the Angels is Gabriel because in Luke 1: 19 when he speaks the angel answered and said to him I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God so he is one angel that is right there in the presence of God and When God says go here they go when God says do this they do it that’s who they are and that’s what they’re C created to be and they do it willingly but if you notice that these angels are given seven trumpets it says in verse number two and I saw the Angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them so these trumpets are given to them by God himself and out of the seventh seal come seven trumpets trumpet judgments include uh are actually trumpet judgments introduce us to the middle of the tribulation period and these judgments are more severe than the sealed judgments that came before that and then the Bold judgments will be even more severe more rapid than these so these trumpets May point to apostate Israel because another way of describing a trumpet is a warhorn because the figure of the trumpets have all been through all throughout Israel’s history so again the focus of the tribulation will be the nation of Israel now they’re in the land they in the land today but they’re dead in the land spiritually dead it’s a secular country all right not many people are believers there and the Believers that are there usually get persecuted but Israel began with a trumpet on Mount Si where when the sound of the trumpet grew loud and louder Moses spoke and God answered with thunder trumpets call people to assemble they announced the celebration of feast trumpets sounded the day of atonement trumpets summoned the Jews from the uh dispora also it summoned troops to war seven trumpets were blown by seven priests when they circled Jericho and the walls came down the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem was completed in 52 days by Nehemiah and when it was finished they blew the trumpets but the trumpet also is related to the day of Yahweh the day of the Lord where it says in Joel or in Joel chapter 2 blow a trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm on my Holy Mountain let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming surely it is near so in other words when the day of the Lord comes trumpets sound and in the re in the Book of Revelation in the seven-year period this is the day of the Lord he is pouring out his wrath on sinful Humanity if you notice also in verse number three the Saints are praying before God now this time we do not have horses like we had in the seal judgments but here we have trumpets and trumpets here are primarily used to announce judgment and gather God’s people the trumpet blasts are in answer to prayer actually another Angel stood if you notice in verse three another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden sensor and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all the Saints on the golden altar which is Before the Throne so now we see something very very important and significant here that the much incent burning on the golden altar Rises Before the Throne of God and as the incense Rises it brings the prayers of the Saints it’s it’s picturesque for us to see the smoke rising and with the smoke coming before God the prayers of the Saints are coming before God so right in the presence of God and what does God do he receives them as an acceptable sacrifice now if you notice if you’ve ever ever read through the Old Testament you’ll find that many times it uses the term a sweet smelling savior right that it comes up to the nostrils of God and when he hears the prayers of his Saints it is sweet to him it is a pleasant Aroma to him and that’s what we have here we have the Saints in the tribulation that are who who have prayed and and this could also be the prayers of all of us from from all throughout human history culminating right here at this point in Revelation at this time so we move from Silence to now storms on the earth and that’s number two in my outline is storms on the Earth from verse 4 to verse number six this includes the prayers so this incent prayers go goes up to God and notice in verse number four of Revelation chapter 8 and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel hand now just for uh for your information the priests in the Old Testament would go to the golden Altar and pick up live coals with tongs and place them in the little incens censor on a chair and then go to the golden Altar and place the hot coals with incense and the incense burning was symbolic of prayers Rising before God and what does God do he hears the prayers of the Saints and what is the result God answers the prayers that’s the result we usually always want but sometimes God says not yet sometime God says when we pray no so we need to reconsider the importance and seriousness of prayers Even in our own Liv life especially when we see that God in his timing does answer prayer see prayer delayed does not mean it is never answered every time you and I came before the Lord to pray Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven what do you think it would take for his kingdom to come you know what it takes it takes the prayers of his Saints and as I mentioned a couple weeks ago this is an imprecatory prayer this is an a prayer that God would finally pour out his judgment on all the Earth see the prayers of the Saints for justice are bound before God and it produces judgment God actually assures his people who have prayed that he does not he does hear their prayers and acts on them allbe it in his own time not theirs and so now we see God answering the prayers of his Saints and now he is going to pour out judgment upon the world so precatory prayers do keep with the will of God and have a place in the life of Believers and the reason for that is because such pray prayer allows us to place our deep hurts before God and know that he will deal justly someday with everyone who’s been mistreated and misused and everybody who seemed to escape Justice in this world will not Escape Justice ever because God is a just God and he will bring judgment upon everyone and will judge them accordingly with accurate and very precise judgment so notice in our text here in verse number five here’s the Heavenly response to prayer it says in verse 5 then the angel took the sensor and filled it with the fire of the Altar and threw it to the Earth and there followed peels of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake so here’s symbolic now we see here God symbolically answering prayer for judgment the first coals was to lift incense and prayer to God now these coals come become the fire of judgment the altar of Mercy is now the source of divine judgment and God God’s Vindication of his followers for all that they have suffered that The Sovereign Majestic God who is in charge of judgment now falls upon the Earth in answer to the prayers of the Saints so you never really thought that the Judgment of God is really the answer to our prayers because God will hold judgment on all wickedness and we see it here actually being poured out so if you notice in verse number six the Angels it says and the angels seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound now we don’t know how they prepared but one thought that came to my mind when I was reading that these high ranking angels with powerful intelligences and power had to to prepare to carry out God’s plans in Holiness and accuracy the Bible doesn’t tell us what they actually did but they were prepared and they did exactly what God says which brings me to the third point in the outline is this the sounds of the first four trumpets so now the trumpets are going to sound and let’s see what happens when they do sound let’s see the Judgment that does come upon the world when they finally do sound and you find that as God does this he’s doing it against a un a Godless World a a world that hates him even his own people hate him Israel now they’re going to start coming back to him we’ll see that a little we saw that in chapter 7 but we’ll see that more as we go through Revelation but notice here the first trumpet sounds verse number seven here’s the Judgment in verse 7 the first sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown down to the Earth so now we see the incense that rose up before God to answer prayer now God now we see the Angels throwing it down to earth now that’s that’s just the picture of judgment the judgment is coming down upon the Earth now that means that the elemental forces of nature are being hurled in judgment against the world the things that were so reliable every day of our life now becomes unreliable because God begins to pour out his wrath and and if you it should remind you of the seventh plague of Exodus right where there was hell and hail is a frequent picture in the Old Testament of judgment we know that hail was thrown on the Amorite Army to defeat them and that God mentions uh in the Book of Job that the the hail stones are stored for a time of war and battle in Job chapter 38 where it says have you and God is speaking to job and says to job have you entered the store houses of the snow or have you seen the storehouses of Hell which I have reserved for the time of distress for the day of war and battle so we see hell comes down upon the Earth we see that also includes Fire and Fire is that destructive power of this plague that Li actually the fire is the power in the plague and it burns uh significant portions of the Earth’s vegetation so this particular uh plague is a destruction of the vegetation and it’s also mixed with blood now blood connects this end time feature with the day of the Lord um it really differentiates it from the time of The Exodus in other words it’s the same God pouring out judgment but it’s a different time in event that’s happening same God different time and event as he did it against Egypt he is now doing it against an ungodly world now what is the effect of that judgment if you notice in the rest of verse number seven in the middle of the verse there is a threefold result or effect that comes upon the world and it says this a third of the Earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up so the these these fires are a thousand times greater than any thing ever known and the most experienced firefighters and with the most upto-date equipment will not be able to extinguish them but I want you to notice also oneir IND indicates this is not total Destruction yet and that that is significant in scripture in the Revelation and the reason why is because because because it is not yet total Destruction it gives people time to repent of their sin it gives times to Israel to repent and turn to the messiah messiah to turn in faith and trust Jesus as Savior Messiah now here it does not sound like something that would be commonplace but something very different from the norm this is Supernatural this is very unusual and very catastrophic something which harms the Earth so these angels now are given the authority of God himself to harm the earth now let’s look at the second trumpet verse number eight the second trumpet sounds and this second trumpet is going to have the focus of sea life and ships verse number eight it says the second Angel sounded and something like a great Mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea now this phrase something like shows that the Apostle John is struggling with language to describe what he actually sees and just to re just a reminder the literal approach to the Bible or to the text which I am taking in Revelation that is the grammatical the grammar the historical uh understanding of the word of God to be able to display what it says it that particular method also incorporates Provisions for figurative language when it comes up in the text it’s telling us this is not necessarily literal it’s figurative but usually a figurative picture leads to a l literal inter interpretation too it says something like a great Mountain burning with fire was thrown to the Sea now could this could this be flying lava from a volcanic eruption could it be a burning star falling from Heaven could it be a meteor right Ablaze with fire falling into the sea we don’t know it’s very unusual again this is not an earthquake or a pestilence but a mountain burning and a third of the sea was destroyed that is something you don’t see every day and I want you to notice the effect of this particular judgment in verse number eight the beginning of the middle of the passage it said a third of the sea became blood and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed so a third of the sea a third of the creatures and a third of the ships again bringing our minds back to Exodus when God poured out the judgments there and before pharaoh and in the sight of the servants all the water in Egypt was in in the Nile turned to blood and then the people could not drink and a third of the ships were destroyed that’s interesting you know according to the international chamber of shipping on any given day presently there is 50,7 32 active cargo and cont container ships on the sea That’s not including the other ones so if onethird of those were destroyed today there would be a loss of 16 6,910 ships that’s a huge loss see the sea lanes are the lifeblood of the world we got a taste of that during Co didn’t we when the supply chain was what kind of halted we all ran to the supermarket to get toilet paper cuz we didn’t want to run out that so even though this is only the second trumpet the food supply especially from the sea and the shipping Commerce are drastically interrupted along with a loss of life and equipment and revenue so these judgments are God dealing in righteous wrath with a wicked Earth and in Wicked habitants of the Earth but one cannot forget that this end time judgment really does exceed any natural explanation it is God doing it now let’s go to the third trumpet judgment verse number 10 and 11 this is the contamination of the water here’s the Judgment in verse number 10 the beginning of it and the third Angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell so this heavenly body or Mass from outer space burning as it enters the atmosphere of the earth and falling with contaminating influence upon the rivers and the Springs of water and just for your information Stars remain in the sky until the third and fourth trumpet so in other words everything is coming loose in the universe and why is it because scientists really can’t understand what keeps everything together what’s the nuclear glue that keeps everything together the nuclear glue is God himself CU soon as God says you’re done it all falls apart and that’s what’s happening but it’s happening slowly and the reason why it’s happening slowly as I just mentioned but I want you to notice the effect here look at verse the middle middle of verse number 10 here’s the effect it fell on the third of the rivers and on Springs of water and the name of the star so we now see it’s a star that has fallen from Heaven is called wormwood now this star has a name doesn’t the bible say that God names the Stars he does doesn’t he well this is the star it’s called wormwood and of course the meaning the general meaning of this star is bitterness just like when the people of Israel came to Mara in the wilderness looking for water to drink it says when they came to Mara they could not drink the water of Mara for it was bitter and what do you think the people how the people responded back then when they were looking for water they came to water and the water was bit what was the reaction of the people well the Bible records the reaction of the people in Exodus the people grumbled at Moses even in Jeremiah the prophet Jeremiah wormwood was equated with poison water so it becomes undrinkable again this is reminiscent of the first e Egyptian plague where the fish that were in the Nile died and the the Nile became foul and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the Nile but what happens when there is a contamination in the drinking Supply is that not Devastation have you ever got a notice from the water company say listen boil your water don’t drink it because some contamination got in it I don’t know if you ever get the reports at the end of the year of what’s in the water I mean it’s like two pages and we’re drinking this stuff filter your water all right you need to do that but if if you notice in our passage in verse number 11 it says and a third of the waters became wormwood what happens when the water supply is contaminated it says there in our passage many men died from the Waters because they were made Bitter Springs this is the fresh water Springs of water were viewed as also a source of Life see there’s something else going on in the background because God is viewed in Old Testament as the Springs of Living Water the Prophet Jeremiah EXP exess it this way he says for my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the Fountain of Living Waters to Hune for themselves broken sisters s sisters that can hold no water the people would rather have a jug that had had holds in it that drained out the water then seek out the true and living God who is the Living Water so God in his Sovereign judgment is destroying the natural resources of man hitting man at the point of his most basic need you know what this is this is a removal of God’s common Grace you know what God’s common Grace is right when God allows the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust that’s God’s common Grace so here’s a reveral of God’s common Grace so in other words if the world rejects the Fountain of Living Waters and will not repent and believe in Jesus then what is left is bitter Waters of judgment that leads to Eternal destruction and death if they do not follow the shepher from last message Jesus Christ who guides his people to Spring of Living Water and notice back to chapter 7 verse number 17 which we ended last time notice what it says it says for the lamb is in the center of the throne will be their shepher and will guide them to Springs of the Water of Life and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes if somebody if anybody not only now but then rejects Jesus as the Savior as the shepherd and they they reject the mercy and the grace of God and all that is all that’s left is death and destruction you realize that there’s nothing left even in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah poisonous water is a picture of divine judgment for sin and Rebellion again one3 indicates it’s not total Destruction yet it keeps the door open for anyone who would come in Repentance and faith and trust Jesus as the Savior Messiah but how will the people of the earth respond will they respond with repentance will they respond with grumbling how are they going to respond well actually Revelation answers that question look at chapter nine I’ll look give you a little preview of chapter 9 verse 20 and 21 gives us the answer it says the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent why didn’t they repent they didn’t repent of their works of their hands they were idolators so as not to to worship demons the idols of gold and silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk they would rather have a false god a god of their own imagination than repent and Trust the god of Living Waters it’s the same today you know what just uh you know we’re talking about the middle of the tribulation in the future but it’s the same today if you don’t come to Christ the found of Living Waters there is no salvation for for you repentance the ca of repentance is just as real today but people do the same thing I think I’m all right I’m doing fine I got my own way of believing I got my own philosophy of life I don’t need to repent and trust in Jesus as my Lord and Savior no you do because that’s what God requires you to come with your sin all of it come to Jesus who’s the Savior who died in your place and turn from your sin now look at chapter 9: 21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts so how do the people respond to the judgments of God that is leaving an open door for repentance they resp you know how they respond unbelief they won’t repent they’re set in their ways I was born this way I’ll die this way I was born in this religion I’ll die in this religion I heard it often as a pastor you need Christ as Lord and Savior to make sure you’re saved let’s look at the fourth trumpet as I come to a close Revelation 8:12 the fourth trumpet here’s the Judgment the fourth Angel sounded and a third of the sun and a third of the Moon and a third of the stars were struck you know what that is that’s Darkness as Divine judgment if a world of people hate the light and love the darkness then Darkness characterizes the world of evil as it says in the Gospel of John chap 3: 18- 21 and those who reject God they reject him as Creator and sustainer of mankind and ultimately they will reject him as Lord and Savior why because they love of the darkness rather than the light because the light exposes their sin so God strikes these Heavenly illuminaries and short circuits their normal use and Joel The Prophet Joel describes the day of the Lord as a day of darkness and [Music] Gloom I don’t know if you ever have been there’s been ever a in your life that you have uh been in not only a spiritual Darkness but actual dark darkness you know if if um again reminiscent reminiscent of uh the ninth plague in Egypt listen what it says about this when God sent Darkness upon the Egyptians listen what it says in in in this passage just listen he stretched out his hands towards the sky and there that there may be Darkness over the land of Egypt even a darkness which may be felt have you ever felt Darkness I never have until I went to the anthros site Museum in Scranton Pennsylvania and went into the mines and where they shut the lights off it was the most eest feeling I’ve ever had in my life and I I I got a sense of this passage I got a sense of what real darkness is that’s what’s going to be in store for those who do not come to Christ hell is Darkness hell is being alone and nobody wants those things yet if they don’t have Christ that’s what will be their lot and what is the effect right in Revelation 8:12 what’s the effect of this particular judgment and a third of the sun and a third of the Moon and a third of the stars were struck so a third of them would be darkened and the day would not Shine for a third of it and the night in the same way that these luminaries are struck with a total darkness of onethird of their capacity to shine onethird of their light was kept from shining in the day and at night how much does humankind depend on these set objects for most of every we do in our life we need these we need their consistency we need their light we need everything they have again this is a very unusual thing these are catastrophic things that happened to the Earth to the sea to the rivers to the Sun to the Stars to the Moon nothing uh everything is happening to creation and who is it happening by the god of creation the god of creation whom is in very much control of everything that’s happening and because these natural judgments humankind can’t grow food and produce crops sufficiently their food becomes dangerously scarce so does their water it will be very difficult to Su sustain human and animal health and prod productivity during this time that’s why many people will die and not to mention the navigation of ship and the regulation of the temperature of the planet everything is thrown out of confusion people do not know what day it is they don’t know what time it is their normal routines and schedules will be become non-existence because nothing will be normal again not even s will help you say well what’s that that’s super artificial intelligence which they say will have in four years that means the computers are so intelligent they’re smarter than the smartest human being and a collective of the smartest human beings on the planet not even artificial super artificial artificial intelligence will able to provide the solution to what’s happening you see the purpose of the first four trumpet judgments is Prim to prove the Earthly gods and human ways of Salvation are not sufficient and that Yahweh alone is on the throne he is the god who saves he is the god who’s in control of Everything Jesus is the ruler and Sovereign of the heavens and the Earth and those who dwell on it and what is very significant is that this is the last chance for repentance this is it this is the last chance and let me just conclude with this and I’ll pick this up the next time I’m in Revelation the last one is this Ace specifically announced triplet of Doom before the last trumpet sounds and notice what that is in verse number 13 it says then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid Heaven saying with a loud voice wo whoo wo to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpets of the Three Angels who are out to sound so this is something very very very serious when this when they move to the fifth trumpet see the first four trumpets were similar but this fifth trumpet is very different it carries the meaning of how horrible it will be and in the noun of the word it means horror disaster Calamity and the triple it’s triplet because three trumpets are yet to come and each one is worse than the next so these three judgments are woe judgments and are very severe un sinful ungodly mankind so brethren we have to ponder today the seriousness of the terror of God God is a god of Mercy but God is also a God of Justice and he is a god of judgment and make sure make sure today that you are saved make sure that you have come in Repentance and faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your lord and savior make sure of that and then if you are sure of that then be ready to share the good news of Jesus Christ so people will not come under the wrath of God but they will be saved from it let’s pray so Lord this morning Lord thank you for thank you Lord for the seriousness of the word of God thank you Lord that you again tell us what you’re going to do I pray Lord that we would be ready for that we would be ready for your coming we would know oursel where we stand before you and Lord we would give you glory because you are the god of Mercy where you don’t give us something we do deserve that’s judgment and you are the god of Grace where you give us something that only you could give to us as a free gift eternal life in Jesus Christ thank you for that Lord but you are so you are also a God of Justice and judgment so Lord let us walk out of here sober minded thinking through these things making sure we ourselves have come to know you as Lord and Savior have repented of our sin of unbelief our sin of trusting in our good works to save us our sin of trusting in some religious system to save us I pray we’d all throw that on a pile of garbage and we would just turn to you knowing that on that cross you died in our place you took the wrath of God for us you satisfi the Justice of the father there you shed your blood to wash away our sin and you Rose from the grave to give us eternal life and you ascended into heaven are praying for us right now and you’re preparing a place for us that where you are we may come but we all know only Lord through Jesus Christ will be there so Lord make us sober serious Christians in these days in which we live make us light and salt in the Earth and allow us to live a testimony that is not we know never perfect but Bears your light and your word and I pray this in Christ’s name amen

February 23, 2025
The Lamb Shepherds His People

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Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.

good morning everyone let’s take our Bibles this morning turn to Revelation chap 7 Revelation chapter 7 now we have already been seeing in Revelation that God has already been pouring out his judgment remember we’re in the 7-year tribulation period where the Lord begins to uh pour out his wrath on the ungodly sinful Earth we are heading to chapter 8 which is verse number one says when the lamb broke the seven seal we’re not at the seventh seal yet we’re at The Sixth Seal amen and right before the seventh seal there’s an interlude there’s a parenthesis consisting here of the whole chapter 7 of Revelation so before the seventh seal is broken which of course will unleash the seven trumpets will then unleash the seven vials and we see that when we go through Revelation that the judgments become more rapid and more severe uh as God pours out his wrath upon the Earth so before the seven seal is broken which continues the vast final Devastation on the Earth where the intensity of God’s judgments become more and more severe in a moment of pause we see shining through the clouds of judgment God’s mercy Rises out of judgment God’s mercy Rises out of judgment God’s compassion is shown on sinful Humanity even the prophet habach in his prayer to God said Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear oh Lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known and then habach said this in Wrath remember Mercy now God generally Express his Mercy in two ways God extends his Mercy to us when we were dead in sin and Rebels to him to his very person where it says says in Titus he saved us not on the basis of Deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy so God’s mercy toward us his compassion toward us him not giving us what we actually deserve see we have to remember that every day and also God moves to meet our temporal needs in his mercy so God is merciful showing compassion on Sinners both in their physical life and also their spiritual life where he provides to them what they need and usually at the time they need it so here in chapter 7 of Revelation there is a lull in God’s judgment so that he can display his Mercy to his Saints before the final blast in other words it’s the come before the storm and we we’ll see here this morning the focus of our attention will be this Lord’s day on the display of God’s mercy towards his Saints during a difficult the most difficult time of human history we will see a display of the Lamb of God shepherding his people protecting them leading them providing for his sheep and that’s what he does that’s what he does remember there’s two flocks that need to be saved there’s the flock of Israel and there’s the Gentile flock God says I’m going to bring both of them in and I’ll become their one Shepherd now before I look at the text there was a party of tourists who were who were on their way to Palestine and the guide who was guiding them was showing them and telling them about some of the quaint customs of the East he said that when you see a Shepherd the shepherd especially when you see a Shepherd in the English part of the world like European part of the world that the shepherd follows his sheep through the English lanes and byways so out in the East however things are different for the shepherd who leads his sheep in the Middle East he goes before his flock and the Sheep follow him and they know his voice of course that’s a common theme in scripture especially from John chapter 10 so as the as he’s leading these people he’s telling them them these things and the party finally reached Palestine and to the amusement of the tour guide almost first sight they meet their eyes meet a flock of sheep that are being driven by a man not leading them but driving them and he’s he kind of got a little bit upset and the guide was astonished in a way and immediately went to the person to to the shepherd and started berating him about what he’s doing and he says to him how is it that you are driving these sheep he asked I have always been told the Eastern Shepherd leads his sheep the man said to him you are quite right sir the shepherd does lead his sheep but you see I am not the shepherd I am the butcher well we know from scripture that the Lord is not the butcher he is the one who leads us he doesn’t drive us he leads us so when we look at this text this morning in Revelation chapter 7 we were going to see some things that are very important for us to know how God displays his Mercy as a Shepherd to his people at different times in human history here is in the tribulation period and so the first point this morning I’ll bring up let me have a word of prayer first Lord the morning as we continue to look at this Epistle of revelation we thank you Lord for what’s contained in this book we already know Lord those who read it and listen to it and follow it are blessed we want to be those blessed people we want to see your plan as it unfolds Lord especially some of the things that have not unfolded yet we are before it but Lord we we pray as we look at scripture that we would see you in this process and that we will respect you more as our Shepherd than ever before because we thank you Lord that you lead us and you guide us and you direct us and Lord you will lead us through to Green pastors and quiet Dwelling Places we praise you for these promises to us as your people people and I pray in Christ’s name amen so the first the shepherding mercy of the Lamb is displayed first of all number one The Messengers of Israel are protected now no notice what it says in verse number one of Revelation 7 verse one and what we see here is that there’s four angels that hold back the winds Winds of judgment notice it says after this I saw four Angels standing at the Four Corners of the Earth holding back the Four Winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the Earth or the sea or any tree now these angels control the natural elements of the earth both north south east and west so these four winds are used as the destructive agents of God these four angels have power over the Four Winds in order to hurt the Earth that’s going to be their job to hurt the Earth so these angels are ready at God’s command to pour out God’s judgment but are until that command comes are to hold back the winds on the earth of the Earth now why are these angels to hold back judgment on the great areas of the Earth the the Sea and the trees well God finds God actually sends a fifth angel from the East an angel of grace and mercy not an angel of judgment look at verse number 2 and three here’s the one angel that prevents harm especially the harm of The Messengers and look what it says in verse two and I saw another Angel ascend from the rising of the sun that’s the East having the Seal of the Living God and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it has been granted to harm the earth and the Sea saying don’t do not harm the Earth or the sea or the trees and notice that what it’s says until we have sealed the bonder Servants of our God on their foreheads so that is what’s going on here these angels are holding back the Judgment of God so here’s the intermission that God gives showing his Mercy sending this Angel saying don’t do it yet and so the loud call is to wait for this special ceiling of God on the the bonder servants so before ecological judgments fall God sends his Mercy to them and this fifth angel we have noticed has the Seal of the Living God In His Hands God is identified as the Living God and of course that’s always in contrast to all other would be dead Idols that people worship especially during this time in human history he is the one who is involved with his people he is involved with his Creation The Wicked seek after dead Idols which they could mold and shape and control as they wish but The Godly they seek the true and living God it’s just like this what the psalmist says many times in in in the Psalms especially this one verse that’s that gives an expression of of a desire that a man has for God and he says it says in Psalm 42 as a deer pants for the water Brook so my soul pants for you oh God my soul thirst for God and then he adds this onto that for the Living God in contrast to all other gods God is the only one who is the living one and then he says when when shall I come and appear before God so these seals in Revelation were used historically for branding cattle for tattooing slaves seals in general and Soldiers the marks would be placed on the hand and the brown and the neck to seal them and identify them as one’s property showing ownership and sometimes membership the Bible uses here what what is called a Divine passive and it’s used uh to mean have sealed wi which indicates that God is the subject of the action of sealing the Seal of God is put in a very prominent place on the people that are sealed and you notice it’s right on their foreheads we we’re going to find out in Revelation that uh Satan tries to mimic this well he gives the uh seal of the 666 on their foreheads or the hands but here it is prominent on their foreheads right so the essential work of sealing God’s bonder servant is so that no influence whatever shall prevent the ceiling and the full number of these beloved s these beloved Saints to actually carry out the mission that God has for them now if you look back to Revelation 6 and verse number 17 remember that’s where I end it where it says for the great day of their wrath has come who is able to stand and I concluded there cuz that’s a question who’s able to stand and we conclude it no one’s able to stand well that’s not necessarily true at least completely because we see that these 144,000 are able to stand and they’re only able to stand because they are sealed on their forehead by God by the Living God as incredible as it may seem that these Servants of God are the ones that God are God is going to call to use in a very special way during the time of tribulation so who can stand before the Lamb’s wrath well no one can but in this case this group of people can because they are sealed by the Living God and are able to stand because this sealing implies protection the seal that God puts on and pro uh provides them protection and they are seen as triumphant at the end of the tribulation when Christ returns where it tells us in Revelation 14 then I looked and behold the lamb was standing on Mount Zion and with him 144,000 so in other words the the God is shepherding his people and displaying his Mercy to them by protecting them and he does the same with us he does the same for his church he even gives us double security as it says in John chapter 10 that no one could snatch us from the hand of Jesus and no one can snatch us from the hand of the father and then on top of that he seals us with the holy spirit so it’s kind of a triple sealing that we have as Christians that once we become Believers no one no one whatsoever can mess with God’s property because we are owned by him and so that’s a a a significant thought when we think about eternal security that we don’t keep ourselves saved God keeps us saved right once we become Believers so if you want to notice uh that if you look at chapter 14 in verse number one in that in Revelation chter 14 verse number one if you notice that the seal is the name of the lamb and the name of the father that the stamp of divine ownership notice in verse number uh the last part of verse number 14 verse number one it says his with the 144,000 having his name and the name of his father written on their foreheads so that’s what they’re stamped with they’re stamped with the his own seed the Seal of his his very name so this is protection from the Wrath that’s going to be poured out on the earth so God has to take these 144,000 all right and he has to seal them and protect them as they go into the middle part of the of the Reel um of tribulation which is the Great Tribulation because it is the wrath of God is going to be so severe on the earth if they’re not sealed then they’re going to end up being killed and many people die as I already mentioned during the tribulation period so that is the first thing that we see in Scripture that the messengers of Israel are protected now secondly the shepher in Mercy of the Lamb is displayed in that secondly The Messengers of Israel are selected notice it gives two things the number of who those who are selected and then also the names of those who are selected it says in verse number four of Revelation CH 7 and I heard the number of those who were sealed 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel now here’s an incredible as in incredible as it may seem a good amount of commentators attempt to spiritualize away the literal obvious meaning of the plain and positive Des designation of the people that are sealed it cannot be the church because the church is already gone it is distinctly Israel 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel now the term Israel remember must be referred to as the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Jacob’s name being CH changed to Israel so that that is the natural understanding and the words normal usage in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament but some say that the 10 and the 12 tribes 10 of the the 12 tribes lost their identity in the Assyrian captivity and the remaining two lost theirs when uh Jerusalem fell in 70 AD however God knows which Jews and or Israelites are descendants from each tribe does he not see the next verse makes it even clearer by giving a listing of the 12 tribes these are Israelites who accept Jesus as Messiah and savior and after this is after the Rapture of the church and the resurrection of the church they become The Godly Remnant in the end times at The Great Tribulation 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel are protected by the Angelic seal while they spread the gospel they will be set apart as a special Divine Remnant to be the testimony of God’s grace and mercy during this time of divine judgment 12,000 from each tribe are made secure 144,000 are those who are delivered from their persecutors and brought safely through the terrible time of tribulation so these ministers whom God will raise up in this time what will they do they will preach the kingdom gospel through which many Israelites will repent and confess Jesus Christ as Savior Messiah that’s what will happen in other words there’s going to be a Revival in the land of Israel where God has promised that he’s going to graft them back in as Romans tells us to the original Olive Tree which they were part of and he’s going to do that during this time of tribulation so there will be a great massive Revival of people that come especially from Israel to be saved now as we look at the list of names A Closer examination reveals that there are two names omitted Dan is omitted and Ephraim is omitted so in the place of Ephraim Joseph the father of Ephraim is put in that place now let’s look at the list in verse 5-8 these are the names the number is the 144,000 but these are the names it says from the tribe of Judah 12,000 were were sealed now Jud Judah is not the firstborn Reuben was the firstborn but he lost first place because of his sexual sin and also possibly Judah could be first because Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah if you look back to Revelation 5 verse number five in light of that passage it says Revelation 55 and one of the ERS said to me stop weeping behold the lion that is from the tribe of Judah so Judah is mentioned first and then notice secondly it says from the tribe of Ruben 12,000 from the tribe of GAD 12,000 from the tribe of Asher 12,000 from the tribe of Nepali 12,000 from the tribe of Manassa 12,000 now remember Manasseh and Ephraim were brothers well ephraim’s excluded here he’s not there and then number seven from the tribe of Simeon 12,000 from the tribe of Levi 12,000 from the tribe of ish ishar 12,000 from the tribe of zebulun 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph 12,000 from The Tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were sealed so now we see that this group of people that are from the nation of Israel from each one of these tribes are all sealed by God now the question is why would Dan and Ephraim be omitted well some have said Antichrist would come from the tribe of Dan and they say that based on Genesis 49 verse number 17 listen what it says it says dan shall be a serpent in the way a horn a horn snake in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that the writer Falls backwards now that’s not that view is not necessarily taken seriously uh it’s kind of fanciful uh that interpretation Dan also was the smallest number so classified with the tribe of Nepali another son of Jacob born to the same mother as Dan and then probably this is the reason why Dan and Ephraim are excluded because Dan was the first to go into idolatry Dan was the only tribe to fail to conquer their territory so they turned to idolatry as an alternative of obeying God so idolatry in particular was the blight upon the tribe of Dan Ephraim like Dan was addicted to idolatry so both of them because of idolatrous practices were excluded from being sealed by God during this time of history and some have concluded that in the future the Jewish Antichrist will introduce idolatry to Israel and in that regard they will follow the danites that was something that was common in people’s thinking historically also we do know that uh irus the 2 Century Church Father noted a pre-christian Jewish tradition that Antichrist would come from Dan even Aus wrote as Christ was born from the tribe of Judah so Antichrist will be born from the tribe of Dan now we can’t be sure about that those things they’re hard to prove and we do know that in scripture in the end Dan does get a portion of the land but the farthest removed from the temple of God that’s found in Ezekiel 48 he gets one portion so while some of these things are hard to verify what remains clear is that these Mighty sealed anointed witnesses will be God’s Remnant which will keep his Commandments and will hold to the test testimony of Jesus Christ during this Great Tribulation also the tribe of Dan does not have an opportunity to be sealed and preach the gospel of the Kingdom so we see secondly that God’s shepherding of his people is displayed in his selecting them and sealing them and using them as his servants now one person had said if you ever question the faithfulness of God to keep a promise look at Israel and why is why do they say that because Israel’s still here where are other all are all the other peoples that are mentioned in the Bibles where where’s the jebusites the hivites and all the other ones all the other ites that are mentioned in scripture the only ones left are the Israelites even to this day with all the persecution of Israel historically they’re still here and they’re in their land right so that means that prophetically God is keeping his promise and he he has sealed these 144,000 to actually preach the gospel so thirdly the shepherding mercy of the Lamb is displayed in that the multitude of saints are perfected now it switches from just the nation of Israel to the Gentiles the Gentiles are also going to get saved in the tribulation and if you notice in chapter 7 verse number n it says this it it gives actually the the nature and the number of of the people that will be saved it says after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could num could count from every portion and all tribes and peoples and tongues let me just stop there for a minute so after the home Gathering of the church a Remnant out of every nation all tribes and peoples and tongues Jews and Gentiles specifically here Gentiles will turn to Christ and receive him as their savior in other words during the tribulation countless people of all Nations will come to Christ so God is showing his Mercy during the time of great judgment upon the Earth where he will bring people to himself especially those who are from the flock of Israel and then the fullness of the Gentiles that the Bible mentions in the gospels will come to pass right here in the Great Tribulation where God will bring all the rest of the Gentiles who are not saved under the church age will be saved here so think of that for a moment that the gospel of the land touches all people groups it’s calculated that at the pres in this present world right now there’s 11,243 people groups not only that but the gospel of the Lamb erases all racism all Prejudice all bigotry and anything that divides people see this is a unified group of people who have one specific thing in common that they believe Jesus is the Christ the Messiah and he is their Savior and they get saved and we do know that for every three people do get saved to get killed so Christ died so that there might be people from every people group among the people groups of the Earth from the inner cities from the neighborhoods from the suburbs from the country folk from the m mountain people from the desert people from remote tribes see Christ will purchase specific people from every tribe and tongue and people and Nations so that they all belong to him and it’s our job of course as in the church time to make sure that we are reaching the unreached people it looks like the sealed 144 4,000 will be the evangelists during the tribulation now in verse number nine It also says the saint gives us the Saints position and perfection in verse number nine it says that they’re standing that these are standing because they have come through the tribulation and their conversion is due to the missionary work of the Jewish elect that the fruit of the ministry of the 144,000 is a great multitude of Gentiles and Jews that get saved look where they’re standing in verse number nine they’re standing Before the Throne before the lamb they’re in heaven having lost their life for being a follower of Jesus evidently they died a martyr’s death and as a result it it’s a result of Satan’s war against them that tells us in Revelation that he wages war against the Saints and against even her children the children of Israel too he’s Waging War against them during this time remember his time is short during the tribulation and he’s he’s pouring out all he can to uh defeat the efforts of the Gospel preaching and he’s trying to for every person that do gets uh gets saved he he tries to kill them so even though this new world leader will eventually attempt to put all such professing Christians to death Millions upon Millions will turn to Christ and be saved During the period of the first six seals and just before the midpoint of Daniel’s 70th week which will be in the mid-tribulation so the Saints what are they doing here in Revelation 7:9 they’re wearing white robes and holding palm branches it says they’re clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands so they were wearing white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb so they are the Sheep saved after the church is gone they are clothed in the impu Ed perfect righteousness of the Lamb which is their perfection and then of course it says and palm branches were in their hands this is a sign of festal Joy it indicates their Triumph in fact it points to the Feast of Tabernacles which is a feast of rest after one goes through trouble they come to the place where we know that heaven is going to be our Sabbath rest where we rest from all our labors from all trouble from all persecution for from all pain from all suffering and that’s what they’re experiencing there this group of people that go through the tribulation and lose their lives are now before the throne in safety and are resting now and trusting have trusted God and now they are at the place of comfort and joy uh because they’re in the presence of God also what happens when you’re in that place when you’re in like some people say what what’s going to happen when we go to heaven well here’s a good picture of what’s going to happen because these Saints have a focused worship they have a a focused confession and that confession is listed here in our text so another words the Pains of the tribulation they did not Escape but the joy of being with Christ forever will be theirs that the multitude is exuberant in their celebration of its Victory and this loud Symphony of praise breaks out in heaven look at verse number 10 it says there it says and they cried out with a loud voice and here’s a very important statement in scripture salvation to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb now let’s let’s all face the fact Brethren that deliverance from sin and victory over Satan our it is ours because the father is on the throne and the lamb is his by his side that is why we are saved we are not saved by anything we could have done or anything we did we are saved because of what he has done and what he has accomplished and this is the end result to be in the presence of God to be able to celebrate in the presence of God because of what God has done see salvation to our god it says this kind of focused praise and worship of our great God cannot be contained it breaks out in heaven and our text tells us that this worship spills over to the angels and to the elders and to the four living creatures who are around the Throne of God and it gives us a glimpse just a glimpse of the blessedness and the peace and the joy and the comfort and the Everlasting satisfaction there is in heaven in the while a person stands in the presence of the true and living God see that is where the shepherd brings us to that place the place that we all long for in our soul what will be after death well you’re looking if you’re a Believer you’re looking at it right here a joyous celebration in heaven for eternity amen and it doesn’t give us all the details of what how that’s going to go on but what it is is we’re going to be fully excited about being in God’s presence and we’re going to be glad about it see look if you look at verse number 11 the praise of the Heavenly Host it says all the Angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God and what do they say there’s a Sevenfold ascription of Praise they give to God and it’s sand it’s sandwiched in between two words you know what the word is amen amen so be it it could also be translated it is true it is finished it is done God has accomplished it so there’s the first amen before the doxology then look at the doxology saying amen blessing that’s a good word Glory the outshining of the Divine person and wisdom the divine knowledge of the outpouring of God’s Plan of Salvation that’s what they’re praising God about their salvation also Thanksgiving that’s the proper response to God’s work of Salvation Lord I am so thankful and then honor that the esteemed deserved recogn recognition of God and who he is and then power the ability to act as he Wills thank you Lord that you didn’t leave this up to us you did it all with your power and your grace and your mercy thank you and then might God’s Mighty acts in salvation’s history and it says at the end to be to our god forever and ever and then it ends with the amen so that praise is sandwiched in between two amens I don’t believe we find that anywhere in scripture except here it’s like a the top of the bread and the bottom of the bread and all the good stuff is in the middle right that’s what it here and and so if you don’t want to be a Christian you won’t get excited about this matter of fact if if you don’t want what the Lord’s offering then you’re not going to enjoy heaven so you might as well spend your time enjoying the Earth as much as you can but this is what’s in store for us and I believe that it’s going to be a time that we are going to definitely definitely um experience a level of joy and praise that we’ve never ever experienced before and that’s going to be from all eternity with no distractions no hindrances of the Flesh of the world of Satan none of that’s going to be there pure worship I don’t know about you but when you’re really worshiping God you’re kind of lost in another world almost right when when people are singing and praising God it is a beautiful thing to experience now could you imagine when you’re there when you’re there see this is what we have to look forward to but let me let me move on so I can finish the text it says the next thing in our text is this uh the Marty dead are identified in the tribulation in verse number 13 it says then one of the elders answered saying to me these are these who are clothed in white robes who are they and where have they come from and of course the Apostle John said to him Lord you know and he said to me these are the ones who come out of the Great Tribulation so these tribulation Saints remember they don’t get saved because they lay down their lives they lay down their lives because they are already saved because God saved them so this is a group of people identified as being special group of people to the Lord that God is shepherding his shepherding is displayed in his saving and perfecting his sheep and then there’s a last thing to mention in our text verse 14-1 17 the shepherding mercy of the Lamb is displayed in that the multitude of saints who are protected and promised or and provided for by the lamb now in this part we actually given six five promises with one crowning promise and what’s the first promise well the first promises that the lamb makes the Saints clean notice in verse number 14 in the middle of the verse and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb so this passage is talking about spiritual Purity and the only way sins can be washed away is through the precious blood of Christ and because of his death and sacrifice on behalf of his sheep we find that all over the word of God like in Hebrews it says all things are cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there there’s no forgiveness of sins and then Romans 5 much more than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him so it is the sacrifice of the Lamb upon the cross which supplies white garments for the Saints and this is the only reason a person can be present Before the Throne of God and remember this is not a different gospel this is the same gospel during the church age and during the tribulation the same gospel is preached it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is the gospel of the Kingdom so the first promise is is that God will make all his Saints clean by his own blood who he sheds on their behalf secondly verse number 15 the lamb gives the Saints a place of prominence notice it says for this reason they are Before the Throne this is a special group that are Before the Throne and then a third promise he gives them in verse 15 that this lamb lets them serve and they serve him day and night in his Temple so these Saints are given a place of privileged service and will continually serve the Lord unhindered by Earthly limitations all distractions all human restrictions and satanic Temptations are removed they are free at last here before the throne and then a fourth promise that the land gives the Saints his presence notice what it says verse 15 it says and he who sits on the throne will spread his T Tabernacle over them that’s an odd way of saying something the fras literally means to spread uh the phrase will spread his Tabernacle over them literally is translated will tent upon them it’s pointing to really God’s presence just as God’s presence is typified in the Sha shakina Glory Above The Mercy Seat in the Tabernacle in the holy of holies and the pillar of cloud by day and Fire by now showing the people of God that he is present with them he’s not going anywhere he’s there for your protection all the way through to the end so the bottom line would be God’s presence shall ever be with his Saints as though he spread his presence over them like a tent see the Saints are rewarded to be close to the lamb God spreads his tent over us matter of fact if he spreads his tent over us that means we’re in the tent you want to be in the tent you don’t want to be outside the tent that’s one way to look at it so God promises that he’s going to give his Saints his continual presence God will never leave us or forsake us we will experience that of course more when we are in his presence in heaven than ever before but he promises that to us now as a sheep right that I’ll never leave you or forsake you I’m going to be with you every step of the way I’m going to be with you through the valleys I’m going to be with you on the mountaintops I’m going to be with you in the middle of the mountain I’m going to be with you all the time because I’m your God I am your Shepherd and you are my sheep and I will lead you to the proper place at the proper time a fifth promise in verse number 16 of Revelation the lamb provides the Saints needs not notice the the blessedness of the Saints is stated in negative language in verse number 16 they will hunger no longer nor thirst anymore nor will the sun beat down on them nor any heat see this is uh this means for the saints that these negative influences are pasted and will not touch them ever again these have no place in heaven even the sweat and persperation that comes with trials and hardships and afflictions and pains and weariness will be nonexistent in the presence of God so what we have is true rest and peace and quietness of soul that will accompany all the saints because of the promise of the Lamb these promises but there I said there’s an overarching promise from the Lamb of God and what is that overarching promise verse number 17 the lamb promises the Saints to be their Shepherd notice what it says for the lamb in the center of the throne will be their Shepherd and will guide them to Springs of the Water of Life and God will wipe away every tear from their eye so the shepherd King the lamb shall Shepherd the Saints and shall lead them to the water Springs of Life Now why does he do that well all through scripture he is mentioned as the Good Shepherd in John chapter 10 I am the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep in Hebrews chapter 13 He is the great Shepherd now the God of Peace who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Eternal Covenant and even Jesus our Lord he is the shepherd Guardian in First Peter chapter 2 for you were continually straying like sheep but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your soul he is the chief Shepherd in 1 Peter chapter 5 and when the chief Shepherd appears you will receive the unfading Crown of Glory and he is the he is most of all our Shepherd we read this morning in Psalm 23 The Lord is what my shepherd I shall not want that is the conclusion of the of the Shepherd that we will have no wants he is The Shepherd of no Sorrows no death no tears in fact he will be like a mother wiping away her child’s tears so a child smiles and Laughs Again The God Who will wipe away tears from their eyes all tears turn to Everlasting joy in the presence of the shepherd now some have attempted to draw from this passage that there will be actual Tears in Heaven and have implied that Saints will be shedding tears because of grief over wasted lives and unconfessed sin while on earth that is not the case here the point of the passage is that the grief and tears of the past are gone the grief and tears speaking of their trials and tribulations will be over when they get to heaven the Saints in glory will be occupied with beauty and with Wonder and with life and with the thrill of being led and care for by The Shepherd of their Souls Jesus Christ and be sure of this Brethren all that is good and pure and eternal about what we enjoy on Earth will be present in heaven in fact it will be enhanced and made more real and wonderful when we are in the presence of God who made those joys in the first place so eternity according to this passage scripture scripture is going to be quite amazing are you going there are you going to end up there are you being led by the shepherd now because that’s where the shepherd’s going to lead you if you go on your own you’re not going to make it here right you have to be led by the shepherd because once you’re a sheep you listen to the voice of the shepherd and you follow where he goes right now so that’s was going to be that’s what he Heaven is going to be somewhat like as mentioned here in this passage you know Jonathan Edwards the old uh Jonathan Edwards the the Theologian known to be maybe one of the greatest theological minds of our time seemed to grasp the principle of heaven when he was on his deathbed his wife was traveling abroad and what was not able to make it back to prin Princeton before he died Jonathan left her a note and he said to her because of our relationship I believe it such a spiritual one will endure and what he meant by that in other words I will see see my love on the other side our relationship will be made more real and wonderful in eternity that’s a kind of grasping a little bit of of what it what it is to um be led by a Shepherd through difficult times through this world to the end of our Lives into the his presence in heaven and even though this is speaking of a specific historical time of the Great Tribulation all believers can rest assured that the lamb will Shepherd his people into Green Pastures and Still Waters by protecting them by sealing them as his own by being present with them by providing for all their needs and by securing their future that’s what the lamb does so it’s worth it to follow Jesus Christ it’s worth it to serve him and in this case it’s even worth worth it to be persecuted if need be for him because he even has that taken care of amen amen let’s pray Lord this morning we thank you for your word we thank you Lord for the picture that we receive of the things that will happen during this time the people that you will use to minister on your behalf thank you Lord that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still very much alive during this time and being preached and passed around thank you Lord for the multitudes that will get saved and thank you Lord that you will s you will save all that will be from the flock of Israel and you will save all that will be from the flock of the Gentiles thank you Lord that nothing will get past you everything that you promise will take place and that all you say in your word will come to pass we praise you for that in Christ’s name I ask it amen let’s Stand Together

February 16, 2025
The Wrath of the Lamb

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okay let’s take our Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter number six and we’re going to be looking at verse 16 or verse 6 excuse me verse number 9-1 17 this morning Revelation chapter 6 they said it was going to snow at 10:00 and now it’s at 2:00 and it scared some people away you can’t listen to the weather anymore but anyway let’s pray Lord this morning we approach your word we want to do it Lord with a humble heart we want to do it with a heart that’s receptive and Lord we want to receive your word as the word of God which it is and I pray Lord that you would use it to sober us to um make us mindful of how short life is and that we should redeem the time because the the days are evil so I pray Lord you would do that and I I think a passage of scripture like this helps us to see that so bless us Lord give us ears to hear and give us a will to do your your word and do it Faithfully in Christ’s name amen amen so we’re looking at Revelation chapter 6 and last time that we were considering end time teaching our Focus was on the true church will escape the tribulation that is the true church has no part in the day of Vengeance that this that’s the seven-year tribulation period on Earth in other words the church has not been appointed to wrath so it will be raptured taken out before the day of God’s Wrath as it says in Thessalonians already mentioned that Paul writing to the Thessalonians says they got saved they turned from their idols and it says to they did to wait for the son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead that is Jesus who rescues us from the Wrath to come that wrath end time wrath that’s going to be poured out on the world and then also Lord also the Wrath that’s going to be poured out on those who are going to end up separated from God in a place the Bible calls hell Jesus came the first time in the character of of humiliation he will come the second time in the character of his Sovereign lordship and as a Divine judge of all the Earth also we noticed um last time in 2 Thessalonians uh a passage of scripture talking about the end says this in second 2 Thessalonians chapter 1:8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus these will pay the penalty of Eternal destruction away from the presence of God and from the glory of his power so it is uh during this period the period of Vengeance the period of the seven-year tribulation that the seal judgments of God will be broken and of course they will be uh displayed throughout the Earth and before the holidays we were introduced to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the first of the Seven Seals broken by the lamb now it’s it’s really interesting when you’re looking at the scriptures the Bible is talking about the lamb the title of the message is the Wrath of the lamb but it sounds like an oxymoron a lamb is a Meek and a mild creature dependent on others but here the lamb we know is Jesus Christ and he’s not depending on anybody he is God Sovine but he is displayed as a lamb who’s going to bring judge judgement upon the world now the first 3 and 1/2 years of the tribulation is referred to in scripture as the beginning of birth pangs just like a woman ready to have a baby she she comes into the place where she starts having pains but she doesn’t have the baby yet but eventually she will give birth to the baby so it is a sign that something is coming something is happening and so that’s what we we we already are seeing In this passage of scripture and we Christians who are part of the body of Christ the true church on Earth we won’t be there for the outpouring of the wrath of God we won’t be there for that he has promised us Christians that we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain Salvation And as Believers in Christ Jesus we will will be caught up to be with him and before the judgments fall the Rapture that’s what it’s called of the church will already have taken place that all Christians living will be with the Lord before the manifestation of the White Horse and the White Horse brought false peace the red horse brought War the black horse brought famine and the Ashen horse brought death and it brought with that all their the destructions that go with that so now if the thought would have crossed your mind well if the church is not going to be there and I’m part of the church I don’t have anything to be concerned about now even though all True Believers will be raptured to Heaven before the tribulation thus escaping the wrath of God and I wanted to say that over and over again it’s important for us to know about the key events and the players of the seven-year tribulation period because there are definitely key events and key players in during this time so there’s kind of three reasons uh why we all should be concerned about the tribulation the first one would be simply this because the word of God teaches it uh it’s profitable to study what God teaches us that our God takes us actually into confidence and shows us he shows us what will be happening on the earth during these dark days in other words we know the mind of God and his prophetic program for the final seven years of this present age the second thing is because in studying about the tribulation we learn a great deal about man the nature of man about God and about Satan himself it teaches that man is sinful and rebellious and easily deceived also we learn that God is long-suffering and merciful and holy and that he unleashes his wrath against sin and will save millions of people even in the earth’s darkest hour we’ll see that in Revelation 7 we also will see Satan he’s unmasked in Revelation revealing his real intention in this world and his purpose is to overthrow the government of God and replace it with his own government while he uses religion as a false deceptive way to get people to worship him and then there’s a third thing because we see the signs all around us we live in a time where we see things happening that no other generation saw before we see global economy happening we see things going on that in the world that we can know about in just seconds right on our phone we can get texts from the leaders of our country right to our phone in a second that’s never happened before but all this technology is going to be used during this dark time of history of course it’s going to be used in a very Sinister way a very controlling way a way that is definitely going to get people to um buy into what they are proposing to do so we see the times all around us and it fills us with concern but it also fills us with hope and expectation that the Lord’s coming is near it is near and we’re part of this exciting time in history so this portion of scripture will actually Aid us to be ready for jesus’ coming are are we ready for him to come we should be ready the main scriptures that speak of this period of unequal sorrow have been from not the New Testament the Old Testament we find in Jeremiah it’s called Jacob’s trouble or Jacob’s distress in Ezekiel it’s it’s talked about as Israel will pass they will pass under the rod of God’s judgment in Daniel he speaks of it as a time of trouble and distress for the Jewish people and then in Acts chapter I mean in Revelation chapter 6 all the way to chapter 19 we’re going to see a succession of terrible judgments that fall Upon A Christ rejecting world so the tribulation is still yet future and the awful suffering is largely to do with the Jewish people and is a judgement through which the God-fearing Jews of that time must pass through to fit them to be people that are chosen by God and eventually will move into the millennial reign of Christ the Thousand-Year reign of Christ so the Gentile Nations will also be affected and they will suffer however the church will not be in it but be saved and caught up out of it so that’s what we’re seeing here in Revelation and it is about God’s judgment now just by way of a illustration many many years ago judge Kaufman prided over the trial of the Russian spies the rosenbergs you may have heard of that they were charged with uh and convicted of treason against the United States and sentenced to death they were selling secrets to the Russians and in summation of the at the end of this long bitter trial the lawyer for the rosenbergs got up and said to the judge your honor what we what my clients ask for is Justice and judge Kaufman replied calmly that the court has given what you asked for justice what you really want is Mercy but that is something this court has no right to give see God has been offering Mercy for a long time to the world so that means uh there will be a time and it’ll be the right time that God must give the world rightly what the world deserves and that will be Justice and there is a temporal judgment that God gives and there is also a final judgment which is has Eternal consequences now the temporal judgments are going to be kind of what we see today in this passage the final judgments are usually the throne room judgments where God is sitting there as the judge and he’s giving out the sentences that’s not what we see right here but we do see God’s judgment here so this morning this Lord’s day let us let us learn five important character characteristics of the Wrath of the lamb and here’s the first one the first one would be this that the Lamb’s wrath correctly vindicates God’s faithful ones so what what John sees next is different than the other four seals that were broken this is the fifth and The Sixth Seal during this time in the tribulation period this SE these seals have no horse Horsemen uh that are riding and they have no one no living one shouting out telling the horsemen where to go and what to do this one has to do with the lamb himself and it says there in verse number nine notice it says when the lamb broke the fifth seal that’s re 6:9 when he broke the fifth seal so opening the fifth seal belongs to the exaltation of the land who himself having been slain enables Jesus now to open this seal and so during the tribulation period there will be a larg scale persecution of tribulation Christians and notice what it says in verse number nine how the these Martyrs for Christ are taken care of it says when the lamb broke the fifth seal I saw under the altar The Souls of those who had been slain so let me just stop there for a minute the the souls slain for Christ’s sake are connected to the altar of sacrifice because they were slain and their blood was poured out as a sacrifice to God and to Christ now of course this has connection back to the Book of Leviticus because in the levitical right the blood was poured out at the foot of the altar connecting these Martyrs with God himself where it actually says in in Leviticus 4:7 and all the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering so the altar was the place of sacrifice the top of the altar was seen as the place of judgment but the bottom of the altar was seen as as as the place of cleansing of the blood of the animals and of course this case the blood of Christ and forgiveness so the purpose of the burnt offering which is actually mentioned in our Passage was to atone for the worshipper sin and then that God’s attitude toward that person would be reversed by the burnt offering that they offered up to God and what made Fellowship between sinful man and God possible was this offering that they gave over to the Lord it made the ability for God to favor that person and then to find pleasure in that person so the picture here is that God was pleased with their sacrifice and also that they maintained their testimony right to the point of death these people in the tribulation so those who slay the martyrs do not function as priests about the altar they are wicked murderers who do the bidding of their father which is Satan Jesus told the unbelieving Jews in John chapter 8 you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desire of your father he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him the same thing is going on here that these people Slaughter these Christians they be they come to Christ and they get slaughtered but notice in verse number n of Revelation 6 the cause of their martyrdom what caused them to be killed two things mentioned in verse number nine because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained so that’s why they get killed you you say what why would they get killed for that you know why because the world and the one who’s now in charge Satan himself as the Antichrist he’s bringing everybody to the point where they hate Christ because he’s making himself out to be the true Christ and that Jesus the false Christ and then secondly that they had a testimony that these Martyrs were slain because they refused to disown God’s word and Christ’s testimony so it was the Gospel message that Jesus is the savior of the world that he is the Messiah that’s why they’re being killed and for out they estimation could be for every three people uh two are killed so there’s going to be a lot of lot of slaughtering in in the Revelation uh some people estimate billions and billions of people will be killed during that time it’s going to be a a horrible time in the world but I want you to notice the Cry of the the martyrs in verse number 10 this is the the the supplication the martyrs offer up and they do it with a loud voice but they do it with an Old Testament cry it’s a it’s a cry what which the theologians would call an imprecatory cry they they are crying for God to bring judgment down upon their enemies in in fact it’s similar to Psalm 5 where the word of God tells us uh Lord hold them guilty oh God by their own devices let them fall and then it’s says uh there that they were just praying Lord let the wrath of God fall upon our enemies and those were known as imprecatory prayers and sometimes imprecatory Psalms where where the people were actually asking God to hold judgment now that’s not necessarily a common thing theme in the New Testament but it it’s they’re bringing this back because of all that has gone on and because of all the killing that is taking place so we see that the Wrath of the land correctly vindicates his faithful ones and he treats them quite um kindly allowing them to be under the altar The Altar and they’re kept safe until the time when uh they will be able to continue on now this brings me to another important characteristic about the lamb the Wrath of the lamb and it’s this secondly the Lamb’s wrath chronologically happens according to God’s perfect timing well so the question is when the martyrs are there around underneath the throne their question is a question of timing notice what it says it says there and they cried out verse number 10 and they cried out with a loud voice saying how long oh Lord how long and then it says oh Lord holy and true so their cry to the Lord is not only imprecatory on their enemies but it’s also reverential they’re very they understand God is Holy and God is true and so these tribulation Christians understand quite clearly that it is not their job to take Vengeance on their enemies but they knew that God was holy and true and that there would come a time that their death would be Avenged it’s all over the scripture you go back to Deuteronomy and what does God say to the people vengeance is mine and retribution and then in Nim the prophets it’s it’s recorded the Lord is an avenging wrathful Lord who takes Vengeance on his ad adversaries he reserves wrath for his enemies and then right here in the new Testament Paul at the end of the book of Romans after much theology is being taught he says this to the people there never take your own Revenge he says never take your own Revenge beloved but leave room for the wrath of God for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord so in another words words that they are patient to wait for God’s timing because God’s timing is the best timing even for all this destruction that’s going on the only problem that we have today in our world is that every movie almost every movie that’s made is about revenge you know and so we have it we kind of have it in our psyche that we should be taking revenge on people even when the worst things happen to us but according to scripture No you leave that for God because God’s going to do it the right way and he’s going to do it with sound and accurate judgment something you and I cannot do because we can’t see the end from the beginning we can’t see everything that’s going on and but if you notice also in verse number 10 there is a plea for justice it says you it says will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth so those who dwell on the Earth that little phrase right there are really those who are far from God the the many Martyrs who will be killed show how Wicked and how Godless the world is that they will eliminate God’s faithful ones the passage we read this morning read right Bruce Jesus said they will deliver you to tribulation they will kill you they you will be hated by All Nations for my name’s sake see that time is definitely going to come but what’s what answer do they get from the Lord in verse number 11 the answer is just wait a little longer it says and they there was given to each of them a white robe and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer so they’re given white Robes of course we already know that the white robes are that of Victory and purity of righteousness all right but he says listen you’re going I’m you’re going to just wait and in other words another way you can translate rest is relax I got it I got it in fact there’s another word that uh is translated this Greek word in Thessalonians and it means to to have relief so in other words God is saying listen you rest there you already did what I called you to do you’re you rest there until until what how long shall they rest look at verse number 11 it says until the number of their fellow servants and their Brethren who were to be killed even as they had been would be complete also in other words it’s not time for God to hold the vengeance that should come upon these people why because there’s a whole bunch of other people that need to be killed just like you and are going to be killed and God knows when that is going to be complete so he can do the next thing so God delays his final judgment or this is on until the Godless and the unbelieving world has killed off so many Martyrs of Jesus Christ the hatred of God in Jesus Christ is at top level and because Jesus is absolute Lord those who have slain those who have submitted to the word of God and to the son’s testimony who who have kept that have put themselves now in opposition to Jesus and because of that and to his sovereignty they have challenged his authority as the holy and the true God so that that mean that means that all history is in the hand of God and that in it and through it all he is working his purpose to a certain definite end we have to the Lord makes no mistakes in that in that so we see that the the Lamb’s wrath really chronologically happens according to God’s perfect timing God’s timing is perfect so that means at if these uh those who are killing the martyrs put themselves up against and challenge the authority of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God that means that the martyr’s cry is far greater than just on the wicked who slew them it is actually a cry to God to send final judgment upon those dwelling on the earth so the fact that that this fifth seal delineates this large scale persecution of Christians during the tribulation period actually prepares us to the opening of the six seal this is followed by sudden uh suddenly great catastrophe that falls upon the Earth which leads to leads the world to recognize that the Judgment that has is coming on the upon the world um and that and because of of the persecution of the followers of the lamb and their defying of Christ’s Authority comes from God himself see the Cry of Vengeance from the martyred Saints triggers something quite different than we see before here is a call that begins a catastrophic judgment from God and when that happens you know what all the world will see so thirdly the Lamb’s wrath will clearly be seen by all and look at what it says in verse number 12 it says I looked when he broke the six seal so the breaking of the six seal produces seismic solar lunar Stellar disturbances in the whole world in the whole universe Celestial and terrestrial con convulsions interrupt the orderly process of nature something that we depend upon every day we depend that the sun rises and Falls uh every day we depend that the sun’s going to be shining and the moon’s going to be there at night we depend on those things but there’s going to come a time during this time in human history that the physical creation will be affected and for one reason and the reason is that the world is going to know who’s doing it there’s not going to be a doubt in anyone’s mind who’s doing it in fact there’s six events that make it clear that God has showed up in judgment look notice in verse number 12 and there will be a great earthquake now we already know from scripture that earthquakes were often used to introduce God’s judgment but this is way more than an earthquake Jesus says in Matthew 24 and the heavens will be shaken so the physical creation is being affected chaos enters into uh the physical creation which has been so regular until this point of time they all begin to shake it could be more than an earthquake which it is but a shaking a kind of dislocation of the universe that all these signs of God visiting the world in judgment is saying that God has the world’s attention they he has the world’s attention and then notice in verse number 12 and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair the Sun that we depend on so much will be blacked out this is a blackout and then the next verse and the whole Moon became like blood a moon’s redness that it will not Shine the way it does it will not provide navigation at night and brightness at nightl as it once once has done God is doing something and then notice and the stars of the sky fell to the Earth as a fig tree cast its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind now the word star there is actually a word that can mean uh not only star are that we would see but it mean could mean asteroid or meteors and these actually shower down on the earth like here the illustration is that like a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a strong wind so in other words that it wasn’t right the right time of the year for those figs to fall off that tree something had to shake it to get those unrip figs were not ready to fall from the BR anch es yet onto the ground and so that’s what we have here and then notice in verse 14 the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up now that’s hard to really even think about or imagine in your mind that the sky seems to roll back like a scroll you know a scroll when you roll it out it has a scroll on one and end one you let it go and that’s kind of like what with the picture he’s giving here in fact the very Prophet that told us that Jesus was going to come in the world as a virgin is the same Prophet now you may want to take your Bibles quickly turn to Isaiah chapter 34 I’ll just read one passage there but Isaiah the prophet who clearly gave us all the details about the coming of Messiah as a baby born in Bethlehem born of a virgin is the same one and we know that when he prophesied that everything came to pass just just like he said it literally came to PR pass but notice in is Isaiah 34:4 just one verse he Isaiah the prophet says this and all the hosts of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll and their hosts will also wither away as a leaf Withers from the vine or as one Withers from the thick tree so in other words that the writer of Revelation understands what the prophet said there now it’s time to write it down to let people know this is coming and then notice back in Revelation 6:14 it says in every mountain and Island were moved out of their place so that means the mountains and the islands uh some great tectonic plates on which geologists tell us the continent float a top top an inner core of molten materials and beneath the earth’s thin crust will be a dynamic agitation everything will be moved out of its place everything will be will not be normal in the world wherever you go wherever you look you see that God showed up in judgment so all these cataclysmic events strike fear in the heart of all people Terror will even grip world leaders who will be powerless to prevent these calamities from happening see these events are so obviously they’re so obviously uh Supernatural that even unbelievers are convinced of God’s intervention into the world The God Who created the Heaven and the Earth is speaking loudly to the people who are on this earth now some people say well uh which I completely disagree with that this is all spiritual that this is this can be interpreted other than literal I I have a hard time to even look at the scriptures and say how could that be especially when you look at the details of the text because the next one number four would be the the Lamb’s wrath has a compreh is comprehensive in its very nature in verse number 15 that every stratum of society will be affected by the Judgment under the six fielded and so that what’s going to happen during that six field there’s going to be Universal fear from the top down notice what it says in verse number 15 then the kings of the earth that means presidents Prime Ministers ministers heads of state Lords dictators God has their attention secondly in verse number 15 and great men socialites capitalists 15 and the commanders Chief captains generals military forces and figures verse 15 the rich wealthy the influential the powerful the oligarchs also in verse 15 the strong the Mighty Men the industrialists the engineers the scientists the entrepreneurs and then included in verse 15 are every Slave people in slavery and in slave camps and in prisons and then free men citizens of the Free World see so no matter how great and powerful and wealthy or whatever social status a person may find themselves Rich poor bound or free these will all be subject to the Judgment of almighty God God that all these thought that they were too great and too strong and too wealthy they did not need God and could do fine without him matter of fact we’ve been doing fine without him but then they find out they rejected God’s provision for sin Jesus Christ so it’s only after Century upon Century of the grace of God that God unleashes his punishment required for sin that so if man rejects God’s kindness and tolerance and patience not even realizing often that God’s kindness should lead one to repentance in fact again turn back to Romans Chapter 2 because Paul speaks of this right in in the beginning chapters of his book about some of the things that are going on in the world especially when people misinterpret that when God is gracious to someone when God is merciful to someone when God is kind to you when he allows to the rain to fall in the just and the unjust don’t take for granted of that that is the time to realize it’s time to come to the lord it’s time to realize that I have an eternal Destiny I’m going to die someday and I’m going to be stand before someone to be judged notice says in Romans chapter 2:3 it says but do you suppose this oh man when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself that you will escape the Judgment of God verse number four or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance it’s it’s during the times of graciousness and kindness and peace that people should be com to the Lord because there may not be a day like that stay there right there in Romans for a second because after people have rejected God’s kindness for ages the dam of God’s patience breaks and his judgments Rush upon the world look at verse number five of Romans Chapter 2 it says but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God God is already telling them listen if you don’t come when things are going good usually when things go bad you’ll curse me and so you’ll have a stubborn unrepentant heart and you’ll blame God for things in your life instead coming to him humbly and saying Lord I want to trust you as my savior because of your kindness to me and your graciousness to me so under this the Lamb’s wrath it’s comprehensive in nature is that it’s there’s Universal fear everybody knows what’s going on nobody has a doubt in their mind that God is bringing judgment to the world during this time God has made it clear to them but what do they do go back to Revelation chapter 6 again and look at verse number 15 you know what they do this is what they do you know when somebody says hey bombs are dropping take cover that’s what they do there’s Universal cover that goes on that all the categories all categories feel and experience the effects of God’s judgment and people take measure to protect themselves and people in other words people seeking somewhere to hide look at Revelation 15 the middle of the verse it’s chapter 6 it says then the kings of the earth and the great men and the command ERS and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains so how do they respond to God’s judgment they run to hide so there’s great fear uh and they run to to get cover so the isn’t that the first instinct of sin you hide yourself you hide from other people you try to hide from God where does that go that goes all back all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 right who what do that in the Garden of Eden it says when they heard the sound of the Lord walking Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God Among the Trees of the garden why do they hide themselves Adam and ID hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God because they knew they were guilty they knew they were guilty of the Disobedience of sin so this is always the reaction of that we have to sin we want to hide we want to cover we want to not let anybody know and we think we can hide it from God we we can de deceive ourselves to the point where we think what we’re doing can we can hide it from God and you know what we cannot hide it from God so this brings me to the last thing the Lamb’s wrath comparatively is greater than death itself in verse 16 and well just look there when when Sinners what Sinners really dread most is not death at least in this case but the revealed presence of God who what are they running from in order to hide they’re running from God himself look what it says in verse 16 it says and they said the mount they said to the mountains and to the Rocks fall on us hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne that’s the father and from the Wrath of the Lamb that’s the son hide us from these two they clearly know who they’re running from they clearly know that they are they have to give an account as does everybody everybody knows God’s given everybody a conscience he’s given he’s stamped on their their their inside already an understanding of who God is they know God created the world they know someday they’re going to have to stand before God everybody knows that but they take that knowledge and they push it down they suppress it till their their heart gets calloused and they don’t believe it anymore and then they make up other things and then there’s hundreds of thousands of religions in the world that they can go go flock to to soo their conscience but here they want to run from the one who sits on the throne and from the Wrath of the lamb but you know what’s really strange here there’s a there’s a universal cry that come from them too look what it says in verse 16 and they said this is this is a very strange prayer meeting they said suddenly they recognize that they are being judged and will be conscious that there’s no place to hide but what do they do they call out to the mountains and the Rocks as if in their mindset possibly showing the idolatry in their own own religious mindset maybe worshiping creation worshiping mountains worshiping rocks having them fall on us and hide us from the Wrath of the land but they do not SE God see that’s the strange thing here in this prayer meeting they cry out but they don’t cry out for God see there’s no place to run and be safe from God’s wrath so the Wrath of the lamb and the day of the Lord and the time of tribulation have come indeed in this time in history so Anarchy ensues and people begin to flee from the wrath of God but here’s the very sad sad sad part of it rather than to turn to Jesus in faith and be rescued from his wrath and the day of the Lord they desire to run and hide and not turn back there was one man who said uh this and I thought it was very clear he said that the terrible thing about Sin is that it makes a person a fugitive from God and the Supreme thing about the work of Christ is that it puts a person into a relationship with God in which he no longer needs to hide and seek or seek it seek to hide and why is that because they know they can cast thems on the love and the mercy of God so if you done that if you cast yourself on the love and the mercy of God then you’ll be part of that group that is going to be exempt from the wrath of God in the Judgment of God in the tribulation but if you have not you may be living when the Lord allows these times to happen and you may slip into the tribulation period but it says in Thessalonians to that group of people I believe there’s going to be strong delusion that they’re going to believe a lie and they’re going to believe that Satan is the Messiah and they’re going to reject Jesus as the Messiah but I want you to notice in verse 17 it says this very clearly it says for the great day of their wrath has come come and here’s the question who’s able to stand who’s able to stand what’s the answer to that no one can stand no leader no government no power can stand against what is taking place so I I I you look at a passage of scripture like this is this is very sobering almost to think you know what I I I don’t even know what it sounds even that it’s not even going to happen but it’s going to happen and we’re very close to it happening closer than any generation ever who’s walked the face of this Earth we’re able to see things that no one else is able to even fathom and we are part of that so the church has to be more faithful now than ever to make sure that this information is passed on and make sure that people have it and know about it and are not ignorant of the fact that these things will take place don’t blow it off if you don’t know Christ today you have never come and trusted Christ as your lord and savior today is the day to call upon him call upon him and cast yourself on the mercy and grace of God and if you have already done that then you have to be like the martyrs hold to the word of God and be faithful to the testimony of Christ till the last day be faithful and God will PR preserve us because these things will take place amen amen amen let’s pray Lord thank you again for this day for this word thank you Lord for your holy spirit that comes and convicts us of sin of righteousness and of judgment thank you Lord that you grant to all those who come to Jesus the grace and the faith that they need to believe and then Lord you give them your word to teach them what your mind is in what you’re doing and then they realize that they are safe in Christ that they can not only see the kingdom but enter it through the only door into the kingdom and that’s Jesus Christ himself so I pray Lord that up until this day if somehow we we have not trusted you as Lord and Savior I pray today would be the day but I pray Lord also you would make us sober to what will take place and Lord as far as your timing it could happen the way the world looks today any time these things could take place and Lord so many things are in place for this to happen I just pray Lord that we would not be concerned necessarily about the timing that’s in your control we would be most concerned about being faithful to you to the end and not giving up no matter what is throwing our way no matter what wind of teaching blows against us that we would not give up our testimony and our love for Christ and I pray this in jesus’ name amen

January 19, 2025
The True Church Will Escape the Tribulation

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okay this morning I am going to preach uh and teach I said last week we’ll have more of a teaching sermon today because I ended last week saying that I would like to um share with you why the church will escape the tribulation I know that end times uh teaching is a very complex uh subject it’s probably one of the biggest subjects to study uh in the Bible and so there’s a lot to know because it’s ex expands all of scripture uh and so there’s many passages of scriptures that needs to be looked at now I can’t look at all those passages today but there are some I do want to look at and I pray when I get to them and I mention them that you would turn to those passages and look at them with me this morning because I think it is such an important subject even though we’ve been singing about the first coming of the Lord I am going to be talking more this morning about uh the second coming especially that of the Rapture of the church that the true church I believe from scripture will escape the tribulation all the tribulation all seven years of it so let’s pray Lord this morning I pray as we look look at the word of God that you would use me today to bring the word of God to your people I pray as we see the Old Testament text and the New Testament text and the things that are said about what’s going to surround your coming and what’s going to happen in the world and why it’s going to happen Lord your scripture addresses it all over the place and so I pray Lord you would give us a sense that you would help us to begin to think on the things that will take place Lord for the very fact that we would get ready for it that we would get ready for your coming that we wouldn’t be slacking off as Christians that we would be sober minded in everything that we do that our worship would become more intense and more intimate as we know that we’re approaching that day and Lord it seems like the world and what’s going on in the world that we’re really on the brink of that day so I pray Lord Jesus you would challenge us today to not only understand what’s going on but to make ourselves ready for that day and I ask it in Christ’s name amen so get ready to use your Bibles this morning because I don’t have one specific text I have several texts so our Focus as I already said this Lord’s day is to consider that the true church will escape the tribulation and I’m stressing the true church that the true church has no part in the day of Vengeance that is the seven-year tribulation period on Earth in other words that the church has not been appointed to wrath so it will be raptured out before God’s Wrath is poured upon the world as it says in Thessalonians I mentioned last week it says when the Thessalonians got saved they didn’t get saved to get set up to enter into tribulation but to wait for his son from Heaven who he raised from the dead that is Jesus is who rescues us from the Wrath to come so Jesus came the first time in the character of humiliation he will come the second time in the character of his Sovereign lordship and his Divine judgment again the Thessalonians passage I already mentioned last week that he will come dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel Gospel of the Lord Jesus they will pay the penalty of Eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power so it is during this period as I mentioned last week in Revelation chapter 6 that the period of Vengeance that the seals of God’s judgment will be broken and so last week we were introduced to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the first four of the Seven Seals were broken by the lamb the first three and a half years of tribulation is re referred to in scripture as the beginning of birth pangs and the second three and a half years is referred to the Great Tribulation now we saw of course in the Revelation chap 6 that there would there’s going to be an outpouring and a broke these seals are going to be broken by the Lamb of God and it’s going to be something when it’s broken there’s going to be uh each time there’s going to be something that happens in each section of the the seal and it’s going to be poured out on the world now the passage I would like you to look at right now is Matthew 24: 5-8 because here it does mention the first part of the tribulation when the White Horse and of course the red horse which is war the black horse which is famine and the Ashen horse which represents death and all the Dreadful judgments that are going to come on the world that’s considered in the first part of the tribulation for it says in Matthew 24:5 for many will in my name saying I am the Christ and will mislead many you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars see that you are not frightened for those things must take place but that is not yet the end for nation will rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes but all these things are merely the beginning of birth pain so in that first half of the tribulation these things are going to be taking place so we Christians who are part of the body of Christ the true church on Earth we won’t be there for the outpouring of God’s Wrath we won’t be there for that he has promised us Christians that we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation and as Believers in Christ Jesus we will be caught up we will be caught up to be with him before the Judgment Falls the Rapture of the church will already have taken place now all Christians living now will be with the Lord before the manifestation of the White Horse and the red horse and the Black Horse and the Ashen horse and all the Dreadful judgments that come with them because it does say to us those who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we always be with the Lord and we’re to comfort one another with those words now but before examining the 10 scriptural considerations of why the true church will escape the tribulation first we must consider consider actually three things the nature the meaning and the purpose of the tribulation and first I would like to look at the nature of the tribulation and these uh the main scriptures that speak of this period of unequaled Sorrow are several of them there’s a couple of them I would like you to look up the first one is Jeremiah 30 verse 4-7 and this section stresses the time of Jacob’s trouble or the time of Jacob’s distress where it says in Jeremiah chap 30 in verse number four now these are the words which the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah for thus says the Lord I have heard a sound of Terror of dread and there is no peace ask now and see if a male can give birth why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in childbirth and why have all faces turned pale Al last for that day is great and there is none like it and it is a time of Jacob’s distress but he will be saved from it so that is a first passage of scripture a second one that I will just mention to you that it will be a time of Jacob’s trouble a time of distress for the nation of Israel but also it will be when Israel Shall Pass under the rod of God’s judgment and it says this in Ezekiel that I will enter into judgment with you declares the Lord I will make you pass under the rod and I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant and I will Purge from you the rebels and those who transgress against me so again Israel’s the focus there that he’s going to bring this Rod of God upon Israel and they are going to be judged then also in Daniel the Prophet Daniel chap 12 and verse number one it’s going to be the time of trouble and distress again for the Jewish people where it says in Daniel 12 verse number one now at that time Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise and there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time and at that time your people everyone who is found written in the book will be rescued so we see here that again the focus is Israel and then the passage we read this morning in our scripture reading it’s going to be a time of Darkness of Trials of suffering of Sorrow it’s mentioned in Matthew 24 it’s mentioned in Mark 13 and all these references are to the final tribulation while the passage we read today in Luke Luke 2 21:20 is reference ref to the the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD and from Luke 21: 24- 2038 Luke continues his account of the times of future tribulation and then in Revelation CH 6 and verse number 19 it’s going to be a time when a succession of terrible judgments fall Upon A Christ rejecting world now these references show that the tribulation is still yet future and the awful suffering is largely to do with the Jewish people and it is a judgment through which God actually the God-fearing Jews must pass to fit them to be God’s Jo chosen people in the millennial Rule and reign of Christ so that first is the nature of the tribulation now secondly I want to look at the meaning of the tribulation because it’s a little different than the first because there’s three factors that must be understood when considering the situation that’s going on in this 7-year tribulation period on Earth and there’s three factors that must be understood when considering it and the first factor is this the factor of Israel the tribulation will be for her as I already read and mentioned it will be the Melting Pot for Israel it will be the refine re refining Pro process for Israel it will be a time of distress it will be a time of trouble it will be a rod of suffering it will be a day of Vengeance for Israel that’s the first Factor the second factor is the Nations that the tribulation will be for the Nations and it will be a dark and cloudy day it will be a time of rage and War for the Nations now again if you’re looking at the Bible Ezekiel chap 30 in verse number three again these passages are stressing that it is going to be for the nations of the world also not just Israel it says in Ezekiel 30 verse3 for the day is near even the day of the Lord is near it will be a day of clouds a time of Doom for the Nations and then again in the Jeremiah passage of scripture just read listen what it says it says for thus the Lord God of Israel says to me take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send it to drink it and then in Jeremiah again it talks about all the inhabitants of the world and then in Jeremiah CH 25 verse 31-33 again the stress is on the Nations it says a glamour has come to the end of the Earth because the Lord has a controversy with the Nations and then he goes on in verse 32 to say thus says the Lord of hosts behold evil is going forth from Nation to nation and in verse number 33 those slain by the Lord on that day will be from one end of the Earth to the other they will not Lament gather or bury people they will be like dung on the face of the ground meaning that there are going to be so many people that die in that period of time they have no time to bury them and no time to have funerals and no time to mourn the dead at all whatsoever as I mentioned that last time we know that in uh there’s going to be over two billion people that are going to to be slaughtered in the tribulation it’s probably more than that but that’s an estimate and so again the factors are it’s for Israel it is going to be for the Nations and then thirdly the third factor to understand the tribulation it is going to be for the apostate Church the apostate church now to see that I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 17 because here the apostate Church yes there will be a church in the tribulation period the tribulation will be to the apostate Church a time of judgment and she will be the professing church left on Earth after the true church has been translated to Heaven at the Rapture that the apostate church is picked Ed in Revelation chapter 17 and 18 and she is called there in those chapters she is called the [ __ ] she is called the Harlot and the reason why she is called that is because of her spiritual infidelity and the prostitution of spiritual powers that she prostituted to the world now if you look at Revelation 17 just to get a glimpse of what the Bible says about her she’s called the mystery the her mystery name in Revelation 17:4 it says the woman was clothed in purple and Scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and Pearls having in her hand a gold cup full of the Abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality and on her forehead a name was written a mystery Babylon the great the mother of harlots and of the Abominations of the earth so in other words that the apostate church will be the counterfit bride of Christ the church and her bridegroom will be Antichrist she will be co-partner with Godless politicians organized religious systems and political Babylon as we go into the rest of Revelation and we see that so apostate christiandom headed up under the false prophet there in the tribulation and she will consist of the worldly branches of christiandom and the tears of the organized Church however even though the apostate Church cooperates with political Babylon she will be thrown to the curb and destroyed so that the Antichrist will be the sole object of worship in the tribulation he uses the religious system until he doesn’t need the religious system anymore and throws the religious system to the curb now if you’re still in Revelation 17 look at verse 15 it says and he said to me the waters which you saw were the Harlot where the Harlot sits are the people and multitudes in Nations and tongues and the ten horns which you saw and the Beast these will hate the Harlot and will make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and will be burned up with fire so in other words that this apostle a church will be used by the Antichrist and by the false prophet to get everybody to worship the Antichrist and then they will kick this religious system to the curb and take over everything politically and everything religiously in the world so that means the third thing is the purpose of the tribulation which I I’m just going to summary of all the things I just said that there’s a two-fold Divine Purpose or reason for the tribulation of course the first one would be to fulfill The Sovereign purpose of God because it’s always been God’s program that there would be a tribulation now in that time in his Sovereign program is that it’s going to be it’s going to be regarding to certain things regarding Satan and sin which must receive punishment and defeat at the hands of a just and holy God regarding God’s son who must be Vindicated before the world and shown as king of kings with none around to dispute his sovereignty his Sovereign uh control and power over all things that must be seen in the tribulation and then regarding Israel they must see the god-given Divine davidic government F fulfilled they must see that because that’s been the promise of Israel all along and of course during that time they will be refined and restored they will be saved in their land nationally as a people they will be grafted back into the original olive tree that they were cut off from because remember right now Israel is in a place where in the past they were um in the past they were actually uh picked by God and then during the present they are they they are actually actually in a place where they’re rejecting God but in the future they will accept him and they will accept him as they can get converted in the land so that is the the first purpose the second purpose is to manifest rebellion and the perversity of sinful man and why is that he refuses to turn from Idols to serve a loving and merciful god he refuses to he resists actually the grace of the gospel and presents the filthy rags of his own righteousness as a substitute for salvation he hates God sinful man he hates God’s book he hates God’s church he hates God’s people because he hates God’s anointed one and then also he Rebels against the government of God and refuses to recognize the claims of Christ upon his own soul so that is the purpose of the tribulation and that is of course the character and nature of the tribulation so the theory and I’m calling it a theory that the true church will pass through the tribulation has no scriptural support of that idea now I know that there’s several positions out there which I’m not going to mention now but as you really look at scripture and what it’s talking about you must conclude that this tribulation period is focused in in on Israel it is focused in on the Nations and it is focused in on the apostate Church the true church is not there and we’re going to find out some of the reasons why uh I believe scripture teaches that so the theory that the true church will pass through the tribulation has no scripture to support the idea the church has no part in the day of Vengeance the seven year tribulation period on Earth in other words the church has not been appointed to wrath as I’ve been mentioning and you will see that there is a distinction between the church which is the bride of Christ and National Israel so the church doesn’t replace Israel the church and Israel are distinct and God has a program for the church which is the bride of Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture of the church and then after that he now grafts Israel back in during the tribulation and they get saved in the land and then there’s the whole people of God that get saved and we have uh already seen in Scripture that uh that is the case at least in the few passages that I read this morning so God’s Wrath was not delivered upon on Sodom until after lot was delivered from the wicked City then God poured down his wrath Enoch really a type of translated Saint was carried into heaven before the Judgment of the worldwide flood so God delivers his people before the Wrath Falls now let me just share with you at this point at least 10 scriptural considerations which G which I believe G gives significant proof that the church has no part in the day of Vengeance and as I was studying them I found out there are more than 10 but I had no time to share with those with you this morning but I’ll just pick out 10 that I said I would uh give to you from last week so in other words because the church has not been appointed to wrath and there’s a distinction between church and Israel then what does the Bible say about these considerations which give proof really that the church will not go through any part of the tribulation and here’s the first one that we already learned from Revelation 4 and 5 that the whole body of the redeemed Saints is represented by the 24 elders and are already glorified crowned and reigning with Christ before the seals are broken in Revelation chap 6 which Herald the tribulation and is broken of course by the lamb so in other words the church is already there that’s why the Bible says come up here and there’s the church that comes up and now is with the Lord at the Rapture of the church now that’s the first one the second one is this that Jesus will not split his church he will not split his church now the only thing that prevents Jesus coming is his incomplete body the church is his body and it’s not likely Jesus is going to leave part of it on earth when he comes for it now the church is a United body of Believers what right now part of it is in heaven and part of it is on Earth and it would be kind of absurd to presume that Jesus would take a mutilated body to be his bride now what do I mean by that well the Ephesians pass take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians 5: 25 now this is a very familiar passage of scripture but I want you to look at it in light of what I am saying here and it’s this that the church is the bride of Christ and because the church is the bride of Christ the church has a special place in the program of God and of course Ephesians 5:25 it says husbands love your wives how just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word why in verse 27 that he might present to himself the church in all her glory having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she would be holy and blameless so if this is the church the church has no need to go through the tribulation because she is already spotless already holy and ready to be glorified before the Lord now that’s why when Jesus comes in the clouds for his church he will take all the rest left on Earth their bodies so that he has a complete body or a complete bride now in saying that let’s go back to the 1 Thessalonians chap 4 verse 16-8 passage and I want you to think of it because when I was looking at this passage even years ago I would look at this passage and I say hm why is it said like this and so 1 Corinthians chapter uh Thessalonians 1 Thessalonians chapter 4: 16 says this for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of an archangel with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first verse 17 then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord therefore Comfort one another with these words in other words the Lord is not going to leave one last person who is part of his church on Earth that the Lord will make sure everyone is in his presence before the day of the Lord begins that the church has a unique nature and place in the mind of God and its Destiny as the body and the bride of Christ in fact the the passage of scripture that is very familiar to us as Christians is in Matthew 6:18 this Proclamation by Peter the Lord says to him I also say to you that you are Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it it’s interesting that this word my is a possessive word and it is it means literally the Church of me it’s also in the Greek in the genitive case and it denotes possession in other words the church is Christ’s own the first Adam had his bride Eve for his helper and companion the second Adam Christ has his bride the church for his fellowship and service and it tell tells us all of the word of God that we are members of his body so Jesus is going to take his bride complete and three promises are given to the true church the promise of the holy spirit’s present the promise prise of Supernatural power to live the Christian Life and the promise of the imperishability of the church that once we are in Christ no one can pluck us from his hand we have a double and triple security as Believers and so in other words when the Lord comes in the Rapture he will not only take those who have died in Christ he’s going to take everybody who remains so there’s nobody here left when the tribulation is poured out you understand that that’s a very significant point because he’s not going to allow his bride to go through the tribulation he wants his bride with him and so we will be raptured up into heaven into his presence and because we are raptured into heaven into his presence the Bible always said in John where he went will also be able to go that’s the promise he gave his disciples so that’s number two number three it follows that we are certain that most of the church cannot go through the tribulation because most of the church is already at home with the Lord waiting for their Resurrection bodies doesn’t it say in um second Thessalonians or 2 Corinthians 58 to be absent from the body is to be where to be present with the Lord so in other words that God wants his people with him and therefore if we are alive and remain when that time comes he will take every last one of us that’s on this Earth to be with him forever therefore Comfort one another with these words how can we Comfort one another if we’re going to go through tribulation we’re not going to go through tribulation number four would be this the appearance of all the members of his church before the Judgment seat of Christ is necessary If he if he is to judge his Saints to give reward and loss of reward for it says in uh Second Corinthians that we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ even Paul mentions that again in Romans chapter 14 we will all stand before the Judgment seat of God and then why do we do that so then each one of us will give an account of himself to God so on that time when we are with the Lord there’s going to be and we’re raptured with the Lord what are we going to be doing there’s there’s going to be the BBC judgment in which the whole bride of Christ will be there the whole church will be there there will be nobody left on Earth in the true church so that is the fourth thing the fifth thing is that the church is made ready for his coming by Sovereign Grace not by works or endurance or purification or persecutions or sufferings again the passage I mentioned at first when the Thessalonians got saved they turned from their Idols to serve the Living God right to what to wait for his son from Heaven well how where do they get that idea from and then it goes on to say who rescues us from the Wrath to come not only the eschatological Wrath but the wrath of hell too so they were told not to wait for tribulation but to wait for his son from Heaven that’s who are they wait for they going to wait for him to come number six when the Lord returns as king his Saints will come with him therefore he must have taken them out of the world to be able to bring them back as it says in June 14 behold the Lord came with many thousands of his holy ones the Lord’s going to come back with us and we’re going to rule and reign with him on the earth for a thousand years but we’ve been in heaven while the tribulation has been going on on Earth and number seven would be the Antichrist will not be revealed until the church and the Holy Spirit have gone remember the restraining power in Thessalonians that’s holding back the mystery of iniquity and holding back this man of sin to be revealed is the church itself so the church has to be gone and the presence of one regenerate believer on Earth would mean that the presence of the holy spirit is still here hence all the church must be absent from the tribulation number eight the last state of the church on Earth is not one of persecution and tribulation even though the church has gone through persecution and tribulation from time to time in history this time they will not because the church is mentioned by the Apostle Paul as being in declension and backsliding and ease that’s the picture he gives number nine that the day of Lord if it’s contrasted with the other phrase used in scripture the day of Jesus Christ which are two different things the day of the Lord is the day of Vengeance Darkness Gloom and judgment it’s the day of tribulation where it says in Joel for the day of the Lord is near and it will come as destruction from the almighty but the day of Christ as mentioned in several other passages is the day of the bridegroom it’s the day that relates wholly to the rewards and the blessings of the saint as at his coming and a few passag of scriptures that tell us that is 1 Corinthians 1: number eight who will also confirm you to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ and then in Philippians he who began a good work in you will perfect it when until the day of Jesus Christ and then Paul also says in Philippians holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to Glory because I did not run in vain or toil in vain so in other words in the day of Christ is going to be a day of blessing it’s going to be a day of reward it’s going to be a day of encouragement that my labor wasn’t in vain that everything the Lord said was true and then number 10 that Jesus coming for his church is associated with praise and reward as I just mentioned and his coming with his church is associated with judgment upon his enemies like I said there are more of those those are 10 that I can give you right now now these scriptural considerations conclusively really give ample proof that the church has no part of the day of Vengeance and the seven-year tribula that seven year tribulation period on Earth that in other words the church will be raptured up uh and and be at rest with God while there’s tribulation going on on the earth now when you consider all those things there’s a practical purpose of all end time teaching that when we Christians know these things that we bear a responsibility to to comprehend what time is it in which we live and we comprehend that when we comprehend that we are we do it in a way in order to organize our life accordingly the Apostle Paul at the end of a very weighty and Theological epistle said that at the end of the book of Romans he said this that the night is almost gone and the day is near that’s Romans 13:12 now these words mean that the last order of things has arrived if it’s arrived to them then how much it more has it arrived to us now when we see a global situation when we have communication that’s so lightning fast we can know things going on the second the second after it happens and sometimes even before that with the satellites we live in a very unique time and we know that all these things going on the Antichrist is going to use to the fullest to control people and to control everything that’s going on in the world world the law the prophets the apostles the church have done their job and the last revelation of God’s Will has been made we have reached the last watch of the night now the truth of the second coming of Christ presses upon and it should press upon the Believers a practical Duty that we all have in light of these last days the Apostle Paul using in the re in Romans 13:12 through 14 he uses the word therefore with great force to link the doctrine of the Rapture and the second coming of Christ which really go together with the believer’s personal Holiness in other words what are we to do as we wait for his coming what what do we do what do we what do we do what are we to do how are we to be in light of what we know from scripture because what does it say in Romans chapter 13 it says therefore let us lay aside the Deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light let us behave properly as in the day not in carousing or in drunkenness not not in sexual promiscuity or sensuality not in strife and jealousy not but but then he says but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh in regards to its lust so in other words studying end time scriptures have an eminently practical purpose to them in fact a search of scripture plainly links the Lord’s coming with personal Holiness that the Lord wants his bride to become more and more holy even in your own personal life even in your families your marriages your relationship with other people he wants you to be that light and that salt that’s in the world that makes the rest of the world ready to hear the gospel so they too can be saved now let me just mention a few two passages and you will at once know here or at least see what I mean Philippians chapter 4:5 listen what it says let your Gentle Spirit be known to all men the Lord is near and then in Colossians it says set your mind on the things above and not on the things of the Earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God and when Christ who is is our life is revealed then you also will be revealed with him in glory and then it says this therefore consider the members of your Earthly body as dead to immorality to impurity to Passion to evil desires and greed which amounts to idolatry so you see that the second coming and knowing about the second coming and getting ready for it has everything to do with our whole Holiness and our godliness and our putting off sin and even the book of Hebrews bids their readers not forsaking the assembly together of yourselves as a habited son but encouraging one another as you what see the day Drawing Near That means gathering together in God’s Church on a regular basis every Sunday every Lord’s day is something that we should not forsake why the Lord is coming that’s why he is near he is nearer today than ever and then second Peter tells us but according to his promises we are looking for what a new Heaven and a new new Earth in which righteousness dwells isn’t that what we’re looking for there’s no righteousness here on this Earth there never will be so we not even should look for very much of it we’re looking for a new Heaven and Earth where righteousness dwells and then it says then therefore beloved since you look for these things be diligent to be found by him in peace spotless and blameless that’s the admonition given to the church in light of what the scriptures tell us about the come the Lord is near so if you are following the plain language of these texts you cannot and I cannot avoid their Force because they link the coming of Christ and the day of Glory with the admonition of increased Holiness in his people now Paul does say this in Romans 13 and the question should be how do you put into practice the admonition therefore lay aside the Deeds of Darkness how do you do that well well there’s several things you can think about that you ought to lay aside everything in your life and habits that will fall under the Light of Christ appearing and make it a principle of conscience to do nothing you would not like to be found doing if Jesus comes also we should Implement a daily Readiness to judge ourselves that we be not judged by the the Lord that in other words search Your Inner Man search your imagination and if you find anything in you affiliate it with Darkness pluck It Out cast it away from you put it to death put down every questionable habit and doubtful practice that’s going on in your life right now you know what the internet and all the social media presents to you and I prenty plenty of Temptation to wander off in a place that we ought not to be and get involved with conversation that we all ought not to be involved with also we need to smash every Idol anything that could Rob your affection that should be for Christ needs to be gone and cling to nothing that would cause you to blush under the Pierce and gaze of Jesus Christ balance out all your amusements all your activities all your relationships and companionships so that your whole manner of Life reflects a repentant fruit bearing Christian who loves the Lord Jesus Christ and wants to be found holy that’s in private as well in public now that would be a good example of casting casting off the works of darkness but then the second part of the passage says this put on the armor of light and what is that what would that entail well it may entail this to aim for every Grace and habit which is becoming of the child of God with the goal to Adorn the Gospel of Jesus Christ it would entail pursuing holiness and righteousness and spiritual maturity as your goal every day of your life it would mean to labor to wear the armor of light now of course Ephesians says it like this the girdle of Truth the breastplate of righteousness the preparation of the gospel of peace The Shield of Faith the helmet of salvation or hope and the sword of the spirit why so you can stand in God’s strength against the strategies of the enemy especially in these days which he is out in the open now he’s no longer hiding himself and he hates the church and he hates your holy life so he will take a particular day as it says in Ephesian and direct his attention at you and try to tempt you away from your Fidelity to Christ I think we Al also need to seek to have a taste so Heavenly an affection so spiritual and a will so bent towards God’s Will and a mind so unworldly that when Christ appears you may be thoroughly in tune with the kingdom of God you’ll not skip a beat because you’ve been used to it the only thing is you’ll drop off these old bodies who give you all these trouble right and and go right into the presence of God so this would be a good example of putting putting uh on the armor of light and then you know what you do after that this is what you do you live each and every day as if as if it was your last right how many ways how many ways is there to die you know what there’s a million and one ways to die right and when you least least expected the Lord may call you now that’s a scary thought I I admit that myself but I also know that we uh this is this is a way to be found ready this is a way to be found ready when Jesus comes because we know that according to scripture all the things that already have taken place in Prophecy and have come true have come true exactly the way the Bible said it well why would we think that the rest of it won’t right all these things will take place and I just pray for myself and for you that we would be ready that when that day comes we would be ready so even though the bride is special all right we also have a great responsibility to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord amen let’s pray Lord thank you so much for your word Lord even when we we look at the word of God and we see the the weight of it and the seriousness of it Lord I pray that we wouldn’t walk away and say okay I know that and just go about our old way of living I pray things would change every day in our life that we would be examining ourselves every day that we would be readjusting things every day and I pray Lord you would you would keep bending our mind toward your will so we would truly know what is the good and acceptable and the perfect will of God and I pray Lord that in light of what we know from scripture it would produce in us a desire for Holiness a desire to want to please you in all areas of our life and Lord we know we can’t do that in our own strength we know it’s only by the strength to the holy spirit that we can possibly carry out these mandates but I pray Lord for your church and your bride make us pleasing before your sight and make us usable in your church in this world until you decide for that time to come and Lord raise up a faithful group of people an immovable group of people a dedicated group of people a group of people who know what they believe and know where it’s written in Scripture that no one can move them and I pray Lord that you would use us your church to uphold the gospel of Christ as we saw in the first chapters of Revelation that you walk amongst the lampstands to see how they’re doing how your churches are doing and I pray Lord that we would continue to bear that light to hold up the light that the gospel of Christ may go to that last person who’s going to hear it and believe and come into your church and become part of the bride of Christ Lord Make Us Faithful to the end

December 8, 2024
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

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hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving ate a lot of uh turkey and ham and whatever else you make on that day I must admit that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because there’s not a whole lot of huah but there’s a lot of fellowship and food and just relaxing right and so I’m glad you’re here today hey this morning I’m going to be back in Revelation so let’s take our Bibles there but before you turn while you’re turning there I want you to turn to also Luke 4 Luke chapter 4 and as you do that let me have a word of prayer Lord this morning I thank you for your great kindness to us your longsuffering and patience with us I pray that we would exemplify the same with others and Lord I Thank thank you for the word of God because in it it is the only book that tells us your plan and so Lord we thank you that you have preserved it and today we can open up and be very confident that we are preaching from the word of God and I pray Lord as the word of God is heralded each week Lord make us not only hearers of the word of God but make us doers of the word word of God and let us be faithful in putting into practice the things that we’re learning develop our Doctrine so our Doctrine rises from the word of God and I pray our Doctrine would inform our life and our thinking that Lord we may live in a way that is honoring to Your Great Name and I pray this in Christ precious name amen before I look at Luke 4 and then Revelation and and some other passages also I just want to share a story with you six Lads were in uh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania in a juvenile court and they were picked up because they had been found guilty of entering someone’s home and stealing from them and as each the first two of the four already confessed their sin but the other two were waiting for the judge to ask them to speak and then he asked the fourth young man uh who really was the part personification of Innocence because he kept repeating and declared all I did was listen to the radio I didn’t take a thing however at that moment a maintenance man in the yard outside of the courthouse hosing down a section of the courthouse accidentally turned his hose on the electrical Transformer and there was an electrifying crackle and all the lights went out and that did it the young lad leaped to his feet obviously terrified to the point of hysterics and shouted yes I did I did take it I did take the books I did take the stamps I did take and he went on and on and on and it was like a A Rush of Niagara Water over the falls and all the words tumbled out of his mouth and as he confessed his sin as soon as he finished he fell back in his chair rolled his eyes heavenward and started weeping and wiping his brow of the sweat on his forehead see the fear of the Lord had indeed accomplished a miraculous confession from this young man but if a little water on a Transformer can achieve such results what will be what will it be like when the sinner actually faces The Angry God whose laws he flaunted and whose son he rejected Hebrews 10 verse number 31 says the son it says it really sums it up it says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God yes the Bible frequently addresses the fearful subject of God’s judgment and in particular the day of Vengeance that will fall upon the whole world the same Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is the same lamb who stands in Revelation to pour wrath upon the world he’ve always he he’s always the word of God has always said judgment will come in fact some people say that if judgment was taken out of the Bible we would have a little left the Bible speaks often of judgment and sometimes people do not really take that seriously but we already saw in Revelation from the scenes of worship from our last passage to the grander in heaven with singing and praising God to seeing those the one who was worthy to take the scroll with the Seven Seals from his father’s hand Christ the lamb the one standing in front of the father where it says in Revelation 5 uh and I saw between the throne and with the four living creatures the elders and the elders a lamb standing and it says and he came and took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne so our focus goes from heaven where the church has been raptured and will M because it has been not been appointed to wrath as Thessalonians tells us that when the Thessalonians got saved they were to wait for his son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead and that is Jesus who rescues us from the Wrath to come not only the wrath of and the end time wrath but also the wrath of hell that will fall upon those who’ve never trusted Christ as Lord and Savior so when the Lord stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and I want you to look now at Luke chter 4 look at verse number 18 he stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and he took the book of the prophet Isaiah and he began to read at a place where it is written and I want you to notice in verse number 18 it says this the spirit of the Lord is upon me Jesus read reading because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to Proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set free those who are oppressed and then verse 19 to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord now of course he is quoting from Isaiah 61 but what is interesting about this passage M of scripture is Jesus stopped at the words to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord that is he stopped in the middle of the sentence closed the book and sat down in fact if you look at verse 20 of Luke 4 it says and he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing now which meant that his Earthly Ministry connected to Isaiah’s prophecy started on that day and the very next clause in Isaiah chapter 61 says this and the day of Vengeance of our God so he stops in the middle of the sentence he didn’t finish the sentence he closed the book because why did he do that well the portion that Jesus quoted had to do with his first coming and the dispensation of Grace the part that he did not read had to do with his second coming and the day of the Vengeance of our God which belongs to the tribulation period in human history that is the second coming time so it’s a ation that leads to the second coming so Jesus came the first time in the character of humiliation he will come the second time in the character of sovereign lordship as a Divine judge in fact Thessalonians again tells us in a passage in verse uh 8 and9 of chapter 1 it says dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus these will pay the penalty of Eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might of his power so it is during the period of Vengeance that the seals of God’s judgment will be broke in Revelation CH 6 and now I i’ like you to turn there to Revelation chap 6 because here we begin to see now that the trumpets the seals and then the trumpets and then the bowls will be sounded and will with their accompaniment it will be the the violence that comes upon Israel as God’s people it will it will be the judgement that comes upon the Nations and it also will be the Judgment that comes upon the corrupt Church in the tribulation oh yes there will be a somewhat Church in the tribulation it will not be the real church so the the vials of God’s Wrath will be let loose and the guilty sons of men at the coming of the king will receive the judge that will fall upon them and the Armageddon the bloodiest of all battles will end the false prophet will be cast into the Lake of Fire that burns with Brimstone and all this has been documented by the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians chap 2: 1-12 so Revelation picks up on this and the message is who can open the book and break the seals well if you look at Revelation 5 verse number two it says and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and break the seals and no one in heaven or on Earth or under the Earth was able to open the book and look into it then I began to weep greatly that’s the Apostle John because no one was found worthy to open the book and to look into it and so great sadness we see here in this passage came because no one was found worthy then the elders who know who is worthy and that is the Lamb of God and of course in chapter in this chapter and in chapter six we we we know that uh this is a picture of the Rapture scene where the church is taken out and that the elders here in this passage represent the complete body of Believers that is the church and that the church in heaven knows who is the mediator of the New Covenant so one of the elders stand up and they say to John that stop crying John the lamb is is found worthy Jesus Christ is the Lamb the slain one was found worthy to take the scroll from God the Father and Jesus is the central personage in all the Book of Revelation actually and he is able to take the seals and open the book and without getting lost in the details this whole vision is pointing to a main point and the point is what the Seven Seals actually are and what they represent so then we are ready to to look at our passage now for the actual Vision um this is the part one of this section and the content is to be found from Revelation 6 all the way to Revelation 8:5 and the main thrust is the vision is to be understood and that vision is the vision of the Seven Seals now most people have never heard an explanation of this vision and often refuse to confront the possibility that these events will ever happen and even reject the idea that God will someday act in judgment they don’t even want to think about that thought let let alone talk about it and then even in talking about it how do you talk about it but according to scripture God will come in judgment J M and the time has come for the outpouring of God’s wrath upon man because of his continued sinfulness and rejection of the Savior and then in the passage of scripture we read this morning in Matthew 24 13 times it uses the word will that means it expresses aity of these things actually happen that many will come and his name many will be misled many will hear of wars and rumors of wars Nations will rise against Nations there will will be earthquakes and famines see you will be killed it says you will be betrayed by other people lawlessness will increase and most people’s love will grow cold and then it says then the end will come so with the use of that word will there is an assurity in Scripture that these things will take place they haven’t taken place yet but they will take place so the content here is what is the content of each of the seals so let’s watch the pattern of the vision that we are going to examine this morning in Scripture that you are going to find that there are four things that are the same and there are two things that are not alike the four things that are the same are going to be the horses and the two things that are not alike are the last two of the fifth and sixth seal martyrdom and Celestial disturbances in the universe and then right after that there’ll be a parenthesis but before we get there I want you to notice in chapter 6 in verse number one it says this then I saw when the lamb broke one of the seven seals see Roman law said that a will was to be sealed seven times historically the wills of Caesar Augustus and Emperor Vespasian were sealed this way so that that means that some have concluded some see that this scroll as the last will and testament of the one who died for us containing the terms of his wrath upon those who reject his love and his sacrificial death now that could be connected to it it seems like it it would fit a historical context but again in verse number one of chapter 6 is then I saw when the lamb broke one of the Seven Seals and I heard one of the four living creatures creatures say as with a voice of thunder come so this command to come is thunderously shouted and it and it is a call that directs each of the horsemen and bids them to be on their way to their work and each of the horsemen are introduced by four living creatures one for each one because the living creatures are the Earthly agents of God’s Providence or the angels and so there are seven seals but today we’ll look at the four first seals which are called of course uh the more known title will be the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse so today let’s take our Bibles and look at verse number two and here’s the first seal broken by the lamb the first seal broken by the lamb is the White Horse and this seal represents Conquest now look what it says in verse two and I looked and behold the White Horse and he who sad sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer now here’s the first uh Horsemen it is he’s riding riding on a white horse and you see that the spotlight is on the White Horse and notice though the one sitting on the horse has several things he he obtains one thing and he’s given another thing it says he had a bow now a bow is a weapon a bow actually at that time a bow was a feared weapon of attack used by all nations because the bow is for fighting from a distance you can be quite stealth and use a bow with arrows to take care of your enemy and they wouldn’t even see you like a sniper today who are hidden away so it signifies though military power so the one riding on this horse had military power he had a genius about military power but he was given also something else it says in the passage he was given a Crown this is a stefanus crown so it would be a crown of Victory but also it would be a Victorious King who sits on this horse riding on this white horse with a weapon and he’s going out trying to conquer in order to win that is his goal conquering in order to conquer and in other words he intends to be victorious he doesn’t intend to go out and lose the battle the horse is a is always signified as a Fearless creature especially in battle horses are always used in battle they are not afraid when it comes to war and conquest and Triumph and everybody who knows anything about a horses just don’t stand behind them because they’ll kick you right you want to you don’t want to spook them but they are Fe fear Fearless animals when it comes to Warfare now at a quick glance from in our passage the White Horse may bring to your mind a conquering Christ but that is not the case here the rider on the White Horse is not Christ in fact the color white is used as deception to deceive those to think that the writer is the true Christ in fact it is the false Christ it is the Antichrist it is the man of sin that Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of Destruction that’s who sits there on that white horse and remember scripture teaches that Satan is a counterfeit so we should not be surprised that the Antichrist is to resemble the Christ because we see that throughout the Book of Revelation we’ll see that happen over and over again he is mimicking the real Messiah just like it says in Corinthians for such men are false Apostles deceitful worker workers disguising themselves as Apostles of Christ and no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of Light so the white can refer to something else also it can refer to peace see the lack of the mention of arrows is because the Antichrist makes peace through diplomacy and not war the future world dictator will begin his career as a peac maker a bow with no arrows so how will he do it he’ll do it through deceptive treaties and negotiations Antichrist will rise to power and enlarge his influence and control he’ll start off small and he’ll get greater and more powerful and more more powerful so this too has its connection to Daniel the Prophet Daniel Antichrist is known in Daniel as the little horn Daniel 7 ver number 8 he starts off small in Daniel but moves to a place of power and prominence now take your Bibles and turn to Daniel and I want you to see what Daniel said about it and about what was going to happen during this period of time Daniel chapter 8 and look at verse 23 to 25 because it gives us a picture In this passage of the character of the one who sits on this white horse and notice what it says Daniel 8: 23 in the latter period of their rule when the transgressors have run their course a king will arise insolent and skilled in intrigue verse 24 of Daniel 8 his power will be Mighty but not by his own power he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will he will destroy Mighty Men and holy people verse 25 and through his shrewdness he will cause deceit to to succeed by his influence and he will magnify himself in his heart and he will destroy many while they are at ease in other words while everything seems peaceful and going in the right direction and then it says and he will even oppose the prince of princes and he will be broken without human agency and that just tells us that he’s going to be destroyed but not by a human Army by God himself so back to Revelation many people will think that they have found the solution for their problems when Antichrist begins to rign it’s just like today when there’s a political leader that we think is going to change everything and we vote for them and hope change will come it’s the same over and over again but we know human leaders are not going to bring the change that we really all desire so see the problem is that uh it seems as if the world here has finally found a man able to bring an end to war an end to suffering and an end to Strife strife and to have some kind of normal SE in the world and yet that’s not that will not be the case he will be widely accepted as the absolute Sovereign ruler of the world we’re talking about the world leader not a country a world leader and he will wor be worshiped by many the Jews will receive him as their messiah in fact the words of the Lord bear the reality that the Jews did not receive Jesus Christ as the Messiah but rejected him but there will come a time when they will receive another as their messiah in fact in in the place of Jesus Christ the real Messiah uh John gave a an illusion to this when in John 5:43 it says I have come to I have come in my father’s name and you did not receive me as we’ve been seeing in the Gospel of John and then it says this if another comes in his own name you will receive him so Jesus even gave illusion too that the own nation of Israel will receive this one riding on the White Horse who de sees them that he is the Messiah and he is the one that they have been looking for and they will believe him to be the one that will save them and save their Nation however if you are back there in in Revelation chap 6 it will be a false peace the Peace of achieved by the Antichrist will not last now let’s look at the second seal broken by the lamb the second seal broken by the lamb the second Horseman is the red horse and this signifies War notice in verse number three of Revelation 6 when he broke the second seal I heard the second living creature saying come and another a red horse went out and to him who sat on it it was granted to take peace from the earth and that men would slay one another and a great sword was given to him so here we have the red horse of the apocalypse and it marks the beginning now let me say this that the White Horse was the first half of the tribulation so 3 and 1/2 years he made himself to be the Messiah he made himself to be the world ruler the whole world was looking for but now the red horse this is the middle of the tribulation this is when the Antichrist breaks his Covenant with Israel he allowed them to build their Temple to have their sacrifices to go about their normal uh way of worship and now right in the middle of the tribulation the red horse shows up and the red horse marks the beginning of Great Tribulation and that is what is spoken of by the prophets the Antichrist has now established himself and his position in this world as the world leader as the only world leader in fact it even says in Revelation 13:4 and they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the Beast and they worshiped the Beast saying who is like the Beast and who is able to wage war with him nobody can go up against him he had come to the place where he has established himself and so no one could come up against him and if you notice in verse number four and five that the red horse he was granted to take peace from the earth so the red horse went out to take what was an established and it seems like an ongoing peace to take it from them and if there’s no peace what remains well it would be false the false peace leads to war and it leads to much Bloodshed as it says in verse four that men would slay one another so there will be an increase of hatred and division among people as the gospel of Matthew warned us in the reading this morning and at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another and many false prophets will arise and will mislead many because lawlessness is increased most people’s love will grow cold there’ll be no love there there be no peace there’ll be no rest during this time in history it will be a horrible time in history it’ll be the worst that has ever been from the beginning of time and if you notice also in our passage he was given a great sword and that just is a picture of saying he was given the ability to wage war globally that there’s a spread of worldwide war with this great store sword Antichrist exchanges his bow with no arrows for a great sword so this world ruler has Authority and influence over the Affairs of the whole planet an antichrist real purpose for world domination becomes evident as he launches attacks on other nations a worldwide war will ensue during the Great Tribulation antichrist’s true nature becomes evident to the whole world at least to the believing community at that time there will be tribulation Saints people will be getting saved in the tribulation and we’ll look at that a little later on but so we see that his true nature becomes evident maybe not to the whole world immediately but to those who are believing they’re realizing he is not the real Christ he is the Antichrist and so it becomes evident that he no longer has to masquerade as the Prince of Peace because there’s no peace in him so this marks again the beginning of the Great Tribulation now Antichrist Christ focuses his hatred upon the tribulation saints that have come to believe in Jesus Christ Revelation 13:7 says and it was also given to him to make war war with the Saints and overcome them so after the restraining power of the Holy Spirit has been removed and the church is gone all hell breaks loose in which the world has never seen such hatred such conflict such War such Devastation and that means that the for the three and one half years the world will be rocked by strife and by Revolution and by death culminating of course in the dreaded battle of Armageddon so the dire Prophecies of Daniel 11 and Zechariah 14 and Revelation 16 and verse number 19 will be fulfilled they’ll all be fulfilled but that’s not done we’re not done yet I want you to notice the third seal Revelation 6: 5 and 6 the third seal notice broken by the lamb the Wrath of the Lamb is what we’re talking about here and the third Horseman is the Black Horse and he represents and will be able to Dole out famine over the whole world notice what it says in verse 5 when he broke the third seal I heard the third living creature saying come and I looked and behold a black horse and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand so here’s the third seal broken and the black horse stands up for his orders and if you notice he has something in his hands a pair of scales now what are scales used for they’re used for measuring things so these scales were for careful measuring and what for measuring what for rationing food now we all know that when there is a significant storm or that is announced that in 3 days the shelves at grocery stores are pretty much bare so when tragedy strikes like war and civil unrest the most important Commodities are going to be food and water everything else is less important your gold in your silver is not going to help it’s going to be whether you can get food and get water now look at verse number six it says and I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying a quart of wheat for Denarius and three quarts of barley for Daenerys and do not damage the oil and the wind now what’s going on here why why is that there well a court of wheat for a Daenerys 1.92 pints equal a daily ration of food for one person so a Daenerys was a silver coin equivalent to one day’s wages so you have for for one day’s wages you can just buy enough food for that day also it says three quarts of barley for Daenerys barley was largely food for the poor it Rel it was relatively cheap and 3 quarts of barley was maybe maybe enough for to feed your wife and family for a day with nothing left for the other necessities of life so here’s here the sense is bread will be sold for an exorbitant price wheat here is 5 to 12 times normal price ordinary ordinarily in the Bible times uh a Daenerys would buy 16 to 20 quarts of wheat so the tribula in the tribulation people will work just to buy food that is available and one little piece of bread one piece of bread May cost you $10 very high price and this is government rationed food a government rationed food uh food program now we we’ll find out in the rest of Revelation as we get there if you’re going to buy and sell you have to have the mark of the beast right so that means that there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to die especially those who are coming to know Christ as their lord and savior but I want you to look again at verse number six the last part of verse number six it says this and do not damage the oil and the wine why would it say that but don’t hurt the oil and the wine now this would mean that the rich are not affected the oil and the wine were not touched most likely because only the ones who could afford it were the we y so it it did not hinder the supply of wine and oil so wine and oil became a luxury for only the ones who could afford them you know what that also means it means that there’s going to be a two- class World rich and poor no middle class the middle class is decimated and the middle class is always the branch of people that uphold the economy they they’re always the one who are bearing the weight of things that are being done in a particular country so during the tribulation extreme inflation will ensue in which prices for the bare necessities will Skyrocket and a person will have to work a whole day just to earn enough money to live with nothing left over for other things so this will be a time of great desperation in which people will do anything they need to they need to just to survive another day and you know what happens when people get desperate especially when it comes to eating and feeding their family they’ll do anything and that’s why hatred will abound that’s why the love of many will will not be found anymore and that’s why it says in our text it says in our text that people will kill each other why for food for anything that will get them through another day so famine and hunger starvation desperation is always the result of great Wars and it’s always the result of an oppressive government that has control over the people so that is the third horse now I want you to notice back in Revelation verse 7 and 8 the fourth seal broken by the lamb the fourth Horseman the Ashen horse it says in verse number seven when the lamb broke the fourth seal I heard the voice of the four living creatures saying come and up until this point the four horsemen indicate the hor mendous times ahead in the Great Tribulation when Antichrist arises and violence and famine and pestilence and death are rampant everywhere in the whole world and notice in verse number eight and I looked and behold an ashen horse that means a kind of a sickly Pale Horse a a brownish green horse picture of death because the fourth seal or the the fourth seal is a picture of death death will be everywhere notice in verse number eight and I looked behold an ashen horse and he who sat on it had the name death and Hades was found with him so the one writing on the Ashen horse or better the S sickly Pale Horse or the horse that looked like the picture of death because his name was death and even the colors of the horses tie into everything that is being said Hades will follow him it says a place of the Dead a place where dead people go the place Hades was following him the grave will claim the body and Hades will claim the soul following to scoop up the dead when they die and hold them so he was given in a sense a bag full of tricks to cause death over a fourth of the earth and there’s four agencies of death that are given to him notice what they are in verse number eight he will kill with the sword and that that sword would be as the government instituting this particular killing it will be by famine the shortage of food rationed by the government it will be pestilence that means diseases pandemics all over the place and then notice in verse number eight and by wild beasts of the Earth in other words by wild animals creation is out of control being allowed by God himself in this judgment so the Apostle Paul tells us that this fourth Horseman will be giving given authority over one quarter of the Earth’s population to cause death now by today’s figures the Earth’s population as of 2023 is 8 million .025 excuse me 8 billion which means two two billion or more people will die in the tribulation in the Holocaust which was a travesty of our times during the second world war six million Jews died and who and countless soldiers died in the battles but two billion plus people that’s a lot of people and of course the population then could be more than now for the L for so the four living creatures and of course that is God’s Angelic host as the prophets Daniel during the pro prophets Daniel time participated in the works of Divine Providence and divine plans so these four living creatures participate in the Divine Providence and divine plans to take out the plans of God and pour out the wrath of God upon the Earth so these four Horsemen have not yet ridden forth but during the days of tribulation they will be on their way to their work and no one no one no thing will be able to stop them because it is the Lamb’s day of Vengeance so Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read Isaiah 61 stopped at the first part because that was his first comany coming as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world now here’s the Lamb of God who takes judgment on the world and of course Matthew that we read again this morning says and then there will be Great Tribulation that has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will unless those days have been cut short no life would have been saved but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short in other words if God didn’t cut it short there’d be nobody left now you may be asking yourself what about me what should I do will I go through these times and let me assure you that you don’t have to fear this future day if at least two things happen happen the first is that you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you know that God will take care of you he will keep you from all harm he will keep especially the harm that will come to the and could be the danger for your soul but if terrible times of persecution and suffering will come and have come in the past we have assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ Jesus and we learned that from Romans chapter 8 a second thing I also can speak with Biblical certainty when these events take place we Christians who are part of the body of Christ the true church on Earth we won’t be here now I as I’ve been saying this is the time of the outpouring of God’s Wrath and he promised us Christians that we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 so as Believers in Christ Jesus we will be caught up to be with him before the judgments fall before the white horse rides on the scene so the Rapture of the church will already have taken place in other words before the White Horse that takes away uh the White Horse which would be false peace the red horse that brings War the black horse that brings famine the astion horse that brings death and all the Dreadful judgments that go with now the seals all being broken which leads to the trumpets which leads to the vials and poured all poured out because it does say in Thessalonians then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord he’s takes the church out before all these things and then he says Comfort one another with these words those words are definitely words of comfort but however if you are not a genuine biblical Christian today day in view of this passage dark days are ahead for you and if you remain unrepentant in unbelief and sin the outpouring of God’s wrath upon unrepentant sinful mankind is at hand and There Is No Escape in fact the people possibly that go from the time that they are living into the tribulation without Christ they’re going to believe a lie they God’s going to send strong delusion that they’re not going to be able to see the truth but in the tribulation like I said people will be saved so the only answer the only answer my friend is to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ right now and receive him as your own personal Lord and Savior that’s the only thing that will rescue any one of us not only from the Wrath that’s going to fall upon the Earth but also the wrath of Hell which will be the final Judgment of God upon Humanity as it says in Acts 20: 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ repent to the father and the solution to cover my sin is Jesus Christ that’s the only way to be saved there’s no other way to be saved now as you look at a passage scripture like this there’s a kind of cloud that comes over us a heaviness that comes over us and rightfully so because judgment judement and the Judgment of God is no joke it is a serious subject that should be taken very serious by those who do know Christ and the seriousness should come in the way we live our life that this is coming how are we living now are we living with wholeheartedly for the Lord are we giving it all are we using our gifts are we being Witnesses see that has to be something the believer considers when we consider the Judgment of God because even Believers are going to stand before God in the beacy Judgment when we’re in heaven and he’s going to judge us based on our works after conversion not on our sin sin has been taken care of by Jesus on our works and God knows everything we’re doing doesn’t he so we can’t escape any of that now saying all that next week I’ll be doing a teaching sermon on at least 10 scriptural considerations which give significant proof that the church is no part of the day of Vengeance because some people may have questions on that amen or oh me amen or oh me which one is it let let’s pray Lord I I just pray today Lord in a passage like this which is heavy on the soul but you lord it’s it’s truth it’s something you have been saying a long time it’s been in the prophets all along and Lord this day has not yet come but we know it will because you said it will and we see the whole world world even now being set up for it we went from a local economy to a global economy we know things that are going to happen that have happened in the world and two seconds later we can know what happened Lord that wasn’t like that even 15 years ago so Lord time is is moving quickly and I just pray Lord you would use this message to make Christians much more sober on how they’re living and those who don’t know you they would come and believe in you as Lord and Savior today they would call upon your name they confess you as Lord with their mouth and believe in their heart that you come to die in their place to take the wrath of God for them on the cross and then to rise from the grave to give eternal life and to save your people from what is coming so I pray today Lord that you would use the truths of the word of God to do a work in our heart so Lord we live for you every day with all our heart mind soul and strength and I pray this in Jesus Christ’s name amen let’s stand

December 1, 2024