1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,920 Revelation chapter 9, I forgot to plug in my tablet. 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:14,880 I realize that at 5.10, 5.15 today, where all my sermons are. 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,200 So I charged it for however much I had. 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,080 It gave me about 20%. 5 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:26,480 Luckily for you folks, I can just wing it if I have to. 6 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:32,360 In chapter 9, we are continuing this section on the 7 trumpets. 7 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,640 We started this a couple weeks ago. 8 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:41,560 Last week in particular, we were really focusing on that 5th trumpet. 9 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,880 This is a very confusing section of Revelation. 10 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:50,000 We are on trumpets 5 and 6. 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:51,640 We'll get to 6 tonight maybe. 12 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:56,160 But trumpet 5, and we spent all of our time last week talking about that 5th trumpet and 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:57,600 what's going to happen. 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:03,360 But since it is a confusing section, we need to recap a little bit. 15 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:05,240 So just follow along kind of. 16 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:07,120 I won't read every verse. 17 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,520 But just remember that when the angel blows the 5th trumpet, you see this star that's 18 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:13,520 going to fall. 19 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:21,320 So we have a star and it's falling from heaven in order to unlock open the bottomless pit. 20 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:24,560 And what comes out of the bottomless pit do we remember? 21 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,760 Locusts. 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:30,640 We get some locusts coming out of the bottomless pit, but these are special locusts. 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:32,000 They're not just locusts. 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:33,680 So let's backtrack. 25 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,360 This falling star, remember it didn't refer to it as an it. 26 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,320 It referred to it as a he. 27 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:41,880 So who did we say the falling star is? 28 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:43,880 Everybody remember? 29 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,000 Yeah, so that's Satan. 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,840 And so Satan goes down and he is given the keys. 31 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,080 So remember Satan has no authority of his own. 32 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:55,520 He has no power of his own. 33 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:01,960 It's granted to him from God to open the bottomless pit or the abyss, whatever your translation 34 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:02,960 says. 35 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,720 And he unleashes these locusts upon the earth. 36 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,360 Now what was special about the locusts? 37 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:10,160 They're not literal locusts. 38 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,880 What are they? 39 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:17,080 Demons. 40 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,960 That's right. 41 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:22,120 Good job guys. 42 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,040 They're demons, right? 43 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:25,280 We learned this last week. 44 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,560 You look at the descriptions and they're not literal locusts because, I mean, just look 45 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,000 at how they're described here. 46 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,360 They're not literal, but they're the swarm of demons that are coming out. 47 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:45,400 And I don't know how to draw this, but with the locusts, something like this, that's a 48 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:46,400 smoke. 49 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,560 It looks more like a smog cloud. 50 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:51,360 Called to be a pastor, not an artist. 51 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:52,360 Just trying to help. 52 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:57,160 So this smoke also rises with the locusts. 53 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,520 And we said that this is a spiritual aspect here. 54 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,600 The smoke is darkening things, right? 55 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:06,160 So like when a room fills up with smoke, you can't see anything. 56 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:07,160 Your eyes hurt. 57 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:08,160 You have to shut your eyes. 58 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:14,280 So the smoke that comes with these demons, they are darkening the minds of unbelievers. 59 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,880 Because remember, the locusts demons, they only target unbelievers. 60 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,040 They don't touch any Christian. 61 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:26,200 He says only those who do not have the seal of God on them. 62 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,640 So anybody who's not a Christian, they are targeted by these locusts demons. 63 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:31,360 And the smoke comes with them. 64 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:37,160 And that smoke is darkening the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the glorious light 65 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,120 of the gospel of Christ. 66 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,760 So they are keeping people in spiritual darkness. 67 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,960 Now we'll elaborate on that in a second, but here's my question to you. 68 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,360 You remember why it was appropriate for the Bible to describe these things as locusts? 69 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,960 Because you're looking at these, you're like, okay, well, it's got the face of a human, 70 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:58,400 but it's dressed like a horse ready for battle. 71 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:02,320 And it's also got women's hair and a tail like a scorpion. 72 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:07,000 And yet you look at that, I would never describe it as a locust, but the Bible does. 73 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,600 Why is it appropriate that they're described as locusts? 74 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:13,960 Anybody remember? 75 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,880 What's the locust eat? 76 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:18,880 They eat what? 77 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,000 A harvest, right? 78 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Locust eat a harvest. 79 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,200 They're destructive animals that come to the harvest fields to destroy them, to eat them 80 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:28,200 up, right? 81 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,240 Well, do you remember what Jesus said? 82 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:36,200 When he looked out at the world, he said, the what is ripe for picking? 83 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:37,200 What did he say? 84 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:39,120 The harvest is plentiful, right? 85 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:40,840 The harvest is plentiful. 86 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:42,880 The problem is we don't have any laborers. 87 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:47,200 So Jesus looks at the world, he sees this great big harvest and he says, all right, 88 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:49,720 it's ready, you know, go out and pick it. 89 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:55,960 And at the same time, Satan sends his demons to the same harvest. 90 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:00,320 And so you have one thing, I'm not going to take the time, but let's just, let's pretend 91 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,720 these are the harvest fields, okay? 92 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:05,480 These are the harvest fields. 93 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:10,120 And you have two groups of people who are simultaneously headed for these harvest fields. 94 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:14,720 You have the Christians who were called to go and reap the harvest for the Lord. 95 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:20,680 And at the same time, you have these demonic forces sent from Satan to go and destroy the 96 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:25,920 harvest before the Christians get there to take that which the Lord would have as his 97 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:26,920 own. 98 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,480 So that's the situation we're dealing with. 99 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:33,320 And we're saying that these demons are being unleashed. 100 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:37,600 They're coming with them, this smoke, these fogs. 101 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:39,440 And they have these, these tails. 102 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:40,440 You remember the tails? 103 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,200 They're like scorpion tails and it stings people. 104 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:50,400 And we were saying that it's not like a physical harm because when the, the locusts from trumpet 105 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:52,600 five or release, they're not killing people. 106 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:53,600 They're tormenting people. 107 00:05:53,600 --> 00:06:01,680 And we said it's this psychological, spiritual, mental, emotional torment that they're experiencing. 108 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,520 And they're, the, the torment is such that they long to die. 109 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,520 Do you remember that? 110 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:08,520 They look for death. 111 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:09,520 They're seeking death. 112 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:10,600 They want to die. 113 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,120 But the ironic part was what? 114 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,760 Death escapes them because we learn actually they're afraid of it. 115 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,120 And that's what we see in our world so often is that people are depressed. 116 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:22,120 They want to die. 117 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:23,240 They don't want to keep on living. 118 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,840 And yet at the same time, there's this great irony that so many people who want to die 119 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:29,000 are afraid of death. 120 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:30,560 And it's exactly what the Bible is saying here. 121 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:31,560 They're seeking death. 122 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,560 They long for death, but death escapes them. 123 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:39,840 And so we see that they're just tormenting all of humanity. 124 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:46,680 And so what you're seeing here when the smoke rises with them is that you see all the effects 125 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,520 that are present in our world today. 126 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:55,320 Remember what we said, you know, this is something that you can actually see today. 127 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,200 For instance, yeah, disinformation. 128 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:00,680 That keeps people in the dark. 129 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:05,960 A couple of examples we said last week is, you know, I was thinking about a gay pride 130 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:12,480 rally, gay pride parade, people marching in supporting these this this thing that the 131 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,280 Bible calls an abomination is literally sin that's being celebrated. 132 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:22,440 And I was saying, when you see that, the Bible says what you're actually looking at is a 133 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:29,760 swarm of locusts, a whole horde of locusts that have descended upon the earth to destroy 134 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:36,760 the harvest of God and to keep people in darkness. 135 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:43,760 Yeah. 136 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:47,760 Yeah. 137 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:55,760 Name the sea. 138 00:07:55,760 --> 00:08:02,320 Right. 139 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:04,080 That's a prime example. 140 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,600 When you look in the world and you see other things like like, I mean, even the education 141 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:12,680 system, which we've gone on about before to with what they're teaching, what they're 142 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:18,080 not teaching, what they're putting in pushing today, that's the smoke coming from the abyss 143 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,200 that keeps people in spiritual darkness and keeps them from seeing the glorious light of 144 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:23,200 the gospel. 145 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:24,700 That's literally what you're seeing there. 146 00:08:24,700 --> 00:08:29,440 I mean, when you see people who are like marching for abortion rights and things like that, 147 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,960 or you see these gay pride parades where I've told you before, there was this this trans 148 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,400 parade going on and they were literally saying, we're here, we're queer, we're coming for 149 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:40,960 your children, just chanting it. 150 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,760 And you look at that and if you're looking at that and you you're looking from a worldly 151 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,440 perspective, you say, OK, I may or may not agree with it, but you know, to each their 152 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:48,440 own. 153 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,840 But as a Christian, you're like, there's the swarm of demons. 154 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,000 Those are the ones coming from the abyss. 155 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:55,000 They're here on earth. 156 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,120 They're a destructive force. 157 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:01,960 They're coming to the harvest fields and it's distorting what people are understanding today 158 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,560 and keeping them in spiritual darkness. 159 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:08,840 And so this is stuff that we're already seeing in our world today. 160 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,120 It doesn't look like a locus like you would imagine. 161 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:16,360 But remember, as we started Revelation, we said that Revelation is a picture book that's 162 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:21,680 trying to give us a new way to view reality through the lens of God. 163 00:09:21,680 --> 00:09:24,240 And so it's not just like, OK, we're going to dissect everything. 164 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:29,560 It's like learn to view the world in terms of a story in a picture book where there are 165 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:36,160 actual evil forces present in our world today that are seeking to do real harm in this world. 166 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,320 And so the question that I want to pose is we're starting going to get into verse seven 167 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:45,680 here in a second is when does all this occur? 168 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:54,920 So all this that we talked about, when does it occur? 169 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:55,920 Happening now? 170 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:56,920 OK. 171 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:59,800 I would agree with you 100%, Doug. 172 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,760 Here's my question because there are those who would disagree with me, which is fine. 173 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,520 We've said the whole time through Revelation we can disagree, but we all love Jesus. 174 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:10,200 So that's what matters. 175 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:15,200 Is there a way to prove from this passage that this is already taking place right now 176 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:20,920 today, apart from me trying to give you real world application examples based on my understanding 177 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:21,920 of the text? 178 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:27,000 Is there a way to actually look in this passage and say this is happening now? 179 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:32,080 It started a long time ago, I would argue, in the ministry of Jesus and continues to 180 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:33,080 happen today. 181 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,240 Can you do that? 182 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,240 How so, Doug? 183 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,240 OK. 184 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:50,720 Can anyone point me to a verse in chapter nine where you say this is a pretty key indication 185 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:57,440 that this is already happening, that this started a long time ago, it's happening today? 186 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:05,800 I'm going to give you, it's not a hint, it's just an answer. 187 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:15,440 This is verse one say, the store is falling. 188 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:16,940 OK. 189 00:11:16,940 --> 00:11:18,920 So let's talk about that for a second. 190 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,240 If this store is Satan, do we all agree it's Satan? 191 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:28,480 We don't have to all agree, but I think pretty consensus would say it's Satan. 192 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:35,840 Now it falls, here's my question, has Satan already fallen from heaven? 193 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,320 Happened a long time ago, right? 194 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:43,760 I mean in Jesus' ministry, right, when the apostles are coming back and they're like, 195 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:50,160 oh, this is amazing, we did this and did that, and Jesus says, I saw Satan falling from 196 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,160 heaven like lightning. 197 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:58,960 It happened a long, long time ago, so if the fall of Satan has already happened, and it 198 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,720 says that after this store falls, he opens the abyss, I think there's a clear indication 199 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:08,360 in the text that this started a long time ago and continues today, and I argue it will 200 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,840 continue on until Jesus returns. 201 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:16,720 It will only get worse as we're going to see as we go through out revelation, but it started 202 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:18,040 a long time ago. 203 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:27,080 It continues to this day, because let me just remind you, Satan is not in heaven. 204 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:28,080 He's here on earth. 205 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,560 I feel like we forget that sometimes as Christians, don't you think? 206 00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:36,120 I mean we walk around like everything's all fine and dandy, like the greatest enemy of 207 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:41,800 God, who's ever existed, isn't just walking around the earth somewhere, the Bible says 208 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,000 he's prowling around like a lion seeking someone to devour. 209 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,720 He's here on earth probably not easily. 210 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,440 He can only be in one place at one time. 211 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:52,440 Maybe Washington, D.C. 212 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:53,440 I don't know. 213 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:56,560 He's somewhere, but he's here on earth, not in heaven. 214 00:12:56,560 --> 00:13:00,560 He's already fallen, so I would say that this is happening now, and we're going to learn 215 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:05,880 more about this in chapter 12 when it really talks about what Satan is up to during this 216 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,640 time between Jesus' ascension and his return. 217 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,400 But what we're going to learn from chapter 12 is one of the main things that he's doing 218 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:19,400 is he's going around trying to cause as much trouble as he possibly can until Jesus returns. 219 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:21,480 He knows that he's a defeated enemy. 220 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:23,760 He knows that his kingdom will never prosper. 221 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:28,000 He knows that he's been defeated, and so he's just trying to cause as much trouble as he 222 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,200 possibly can until Jesus returns. 223 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,920 One of the ways that he does that is by unlocking the bottomless pit and unleashing this swarm 224 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:45,040 of demons on the earth to torment people, to destroy the harvest of God, and try to thwart 225 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:46,360 the plans of God. 226 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,360 The question is, well, how do we recognize these demons? 227 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,200 This is where I want you to start looking at verse 7. 228 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:54,680 How do we recognize these demons? 229 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:58,360 If you see something that looks like this. 230 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:04,600 Verse 7, in appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. 231 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,000 And their heads were what looked like crowns of gold. 232 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,920 Their faces were like human faces. 233 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:14,480 Their hair, like women's hair, and their teeth like lion's teeth. 234 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,680 They had breastplates, like breastplates of the viron. 235 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:23,280 And the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing 236 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:24,560 into battle. 237 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:29,160 They have tails and stings, like scorpions. 238 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:34,040 And their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 239 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,680 They have a king over them. 240 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:45,880 The angel of the bottomless pit, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek is a polyon. 241 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,640 And so I think this description that you see here, it goes to further prove that these 242 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:51,800 are not literal locusts. 243 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:56,040 Locusts, I don't know if you know this about, they don't have tails. 244 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:58,400 Just one thing, but these do. 245 00:14:58,400 --> 00:14:59,400 So they're not literal. 246 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:03,440 Also locusts usually have human faces and hair like women's hair. 247 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:09,320 So these aren't literal locusts, but you have to understand what's going on here is under 248 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:15,880 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John is seeing this vision and he's trying to communicate 249 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:17,960 it the best he can. 250 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,120 Because you know sometimes something happens to you or you see something or experience 251 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,120 something and it's just hard to put into words. 252 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:29,480 And so oftentimes what you do is you relate how you feel or the impression that something 253 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,760 left on you rather than a literal description. 254 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:36,920 So if you went to like an amusement park, you might not describe every ride, but you 255 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,960 might say, man, I had the time of my life. 256 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,280 I had so much fun while I was there. 257 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:45,960 You focus more on the impression that you had of the thing rather than all the details 258 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:47,600 of the thing itself. 259 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:52,200 So for instance, I mean just look at something like the tails, right? 260 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:59,360 It's not a literal tail of a scorpion, but like scorpions, these demons have the ability 261 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,480 to inflict terrible pain on others. 262 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,680 So John isn't saying, hey, these things, whatever they are, they have these literal 263 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:07,680 tails. 264 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:12,520 He's saying these things, like a scorpion, have the ability to inflict a lot of great 265 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,080 pain on other people. 266 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,120 And you might be thinking, well, why does he say it's a tail? 267 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:20,320 Well, that's how they did things back then. 268 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,000 It's how we still do things today, right? 269 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,640 If I were to tell you, hey, my buddy, he's got a silver tongue. 270 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,280 Anybody in here think that my buddy actually has a silver tongue? 271 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,080 No, what am I saying? 272 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:33,080 He's a smooth talker, right? 273 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:37,480 I mean, this guy, he's like, and I actually do have a friend in mind. 274 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:39,120 He does have a silver tongue like that. 275 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:44,720 Or, you know, what if I said that this other guy, no, he's got a fork tongue? 276 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:46,560 Does he actually have a fork tongue? 277 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:48,360 No, I'm saying he's deceitful. 278 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,360 He can't really be trusted with the things that he says. 279 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:56,480 I mean, we do this all the time, silver tongue, fork tongue, heart of gold, cold shoulder, 280 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:58,480 cold feet, sweet tooth, all ears. 281 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,120 I mean, we do this with body parts all the time. 282 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,720 Are we literally saying this person is just all ears? 283 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:05,240 No, he's a good listener, right? 284 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:06,960 That's what John's doing here. 285 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:12,720 He's using something that he knows from his world like a scorpion sting and saying, those 286 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,160 things hurt and have the ability to inflict pain. 287 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,480 And these things, these demons, they do as well. 288 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:19,640 So it's metaphorical. 289 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,280 And he does this with all these descriptions, right? 290 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:24,600 So they're like horses prepared for battle. 291 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:25,600 Why? 292 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:30,360 Because this swarm of demons is here to wage war on humanity. 293 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:31,560 That's how you would describe it back then. 294 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:38,160 If your primary means of going into war was a war horse that's battle armored on it, you'd 295 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,880 say, okay, whatever this thing is, the swarm of demons, they're ready for war. 296 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,280 They're kind of like horses like that. 297 00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:47,520 You go on and you see they have these golden crowns. 298 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:56,640 What would that be trying to communicate, you think? 299 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:01,760 Golden crowns, yeah, that's good. 300 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:08,640 So he sees golden crowns because these things, these locusts have been given the authority 301 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,560 to go and harm humanity. 302 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:15,280 So they're representative of the authority they have to go and inflict this pain and 303 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:17,840 this torture upon humanity. 304 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:24,400 And then notice this, these locusts, demons, they also have human faces and hair like women's 305 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:25,400 hair. 306 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:32,400 What would that be trying to communicate? 307 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:38,920 Yeah, that's right. 308 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:45,320 So we said this a couple of weeks ago, but if you were to ask Hollywood, what's the devil 309 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:46,320 look like? 310 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,840 They're going to draw like a red guy with some horns and a fork tail and a pitch fork 311 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:50,840 and everything. 312 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,520 That's not what he looks like. 313 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:55,960 Or if you were to ask us, hey, what does a demon look like, we might draw a monster of 314 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:57,460 some kind. 315 00:18:57,460 --> 00:19:01,720 And John says, actually, I'm looking at these things, they've got human faces and some 316 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:02,720 beautiful hair. 317 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:10,880 No, no, no, no, no, not like that. 318 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:11,880 Not like that. 319 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:18,680 But like Michael said, basically the idea is these things look like everybody else does. 320 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:19,840 They're hard to distinguish. 321 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,880 We've got this idea of a monster and so as we're going in our lives, we're thinking as 322 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:29,000 long as I don't come in contact with a monster as I typically think of one, I'm good. 323 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:34,240 And John's saying, actually, these demons are here present on earth and they could look 324 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:36,320 just like we do. 325 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:39,920 You could be interacting with one. 326 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:40,920 That's right. 327 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,640 You could be interacting with one and they could be seeking to cause you the type of pain 328 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,120 that we read about here. 329 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:53,080 And to torment you and cause you all sorts of psychological, mental and spiritual torture. 330 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:59,880 And then he goes on and he says their teeth are like lions teeth. 331 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,240 And that's a way of pretty much communicating the idea that the destructive nature of their 332 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:10,480 mouths, basically they use their words to kill and inflict spiritual, mental and psychological 333 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,280 pain on others. 334 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:19,880 I mean, you would say that this person, he uses his mouth for evil to cause pain for 335 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:20,880 others. 336 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,440 So their teeth, they're like lions teeth in that regard. 337 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,960 And again, he says, talking about the breastplate to show that they're ready for war and battle 338 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:35,080 and the scorpion tale is a way to talk about the fact that they're here to inflict this 339 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,560 pain on other people and cause them great torment. 340 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:44,120 And we learn that they are under the authority of another, right? 341 00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:51,200 It says that there is a king over them and that king is the angel of the bottomless pit 342 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:52,520 in his name. 343 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:57,520 In Greek is a polyon and in Hebrew it's Abaddon. 344 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:04,240 And both these names, I mean, just roughly translated into English, they would mean destroyer. 345 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:10,480 So it's really cool right now, I'm getting to read the Pilgrim's Progress with my oldest 346 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,880 son, the one who's pitching the temper tantrum earlier. 347 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:15,720 And it's a kid's version of the Pilgrim's Progress. 348 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,080 And so it's a picture book and everything. 349 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:18,360 It's one of my favorite stories. 350 00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:19,640 And we're getting to read it. 351 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:25,080 And the other night we got to the section where Christian, the main character, encounters 352 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,640 a polyon who's a dragon in the story. 353 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,720 And Christian is coming from the city of destruction. 354 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:39,120 And he learns in that moment that the dragon, a polyon, is the king of the city of destruction 355 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:41,240 because he is the destroyer. 356 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:46,080 And so Judah was thinking it was so cool to see Christian fight this dragon and slay 357 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:47,080 him and all this kind of stuff. 358 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,080 And I was like, buddy, do you know that's in the Bible? 359 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:50,840 And he's like, what is in the Bible? 360 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,600 So we got to have a really cool story about that. 361 00:21:53,600 --> 00:21:57,960 But both of these are just references, again, to Satan. 362 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,680 These are names that would be associated with Satan. 363 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:07,120 And what's interesting is, in particular, if you look there, the word Abaddon. 364 00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:10,520 So you'll find that all throughout the Old Testament. 365 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:16,040 And what's interesting is Abaddon, in the Old Testament, it normally refers to the place 366 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,080 of death. 367 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:23,080 So it's kind of like a similar case to Sheol, the place, the realm of the dead. 368 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:26,560 So Abaddon, all throughout the Old Testament, it refers to the place of the dead. 369 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:32,200 And so what you have here is this terrifying picture where, in the mindset of those who 370 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:38,000 are reading this in the original languages, it looks like death has come to life. 371 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:43,400 The place of the dead has now been personified in this person. 372 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,440 So you have Satan here, who is the king of the abyss. 373 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:51,200 And the terrifying picture is, as you finally are introduced to the king of the abyss or 374 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,200 the king of the bottomless pit, and he has this name that refers to the place of the 375 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,200 dead. 376 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:59,960 And what's coming from this place is death personified. 377 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:09,480 And coming with him is a swarm of demons that are come to inflict and torment humanity. 378 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:14,000 So this terrifying picture is what we're met with here. 379 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:21,520 And I just want to remind you that as they're coming, the only people who are safe are those 380 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,680 who are sealed by God. 381 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,760 And so we get into the sixth trumpet, and I want you to start looking there at verse 382 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:30,760 12. 383 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,320 We'll read through this pretty quickly. 384 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,560 The first woe has passed, behold, two woes are still to come. 385 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:42,160 The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden 386 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:47,760 altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels 387 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,640 who were bound at the great river Euphrates. 388 00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:54,720 So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year 389 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,360 were released to kill. 390 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:57,560 So notice there's a progression. 391 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:03,320 We're going from torment to now we're killing a third of mankind. 392 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,400 The number of mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000. 393 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,080 I heard their number. 394 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:12,960 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision, those who rode them. 395 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,400 They wore breastplates, the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur. 396 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:22,040 And the heads of the horses were like lions heads and fire and smoke and sulfur came out 397 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:23,480 of their mouths. 398 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:28,520 By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire, the smoke and the 399 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:30,560 sulfur coming out of their mouth. 400 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:34,240 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. 401 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,040 For their tails are like serpents with heads. 402 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,160 And by means of them, they wound. 403 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:44,400 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works 404 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:49,720 of their hands, nor did they give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze 405 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:55,200 and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders 406 00:24:55,200 --> 00:25:00,160 or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. 407 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:06,160 So I want you to notice how this woe here, it's very similar to the Horde of Locus, right? 408 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:11,920 You have another group of beings coming out this time, horses with riders on them, and 409 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:17,160 they have been given the right, the ability to unleash three plagues upon humanity, and 410 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:21,120 by these plagues a third of humanity will die. 411 00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:26,280 And like the Locus, the horses' power is in their mouths and in their tails, and they 412 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:31,440 use them to inflict pain and suffering and now death upon humanity. 413 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,920 So we can get bogged down in the details, but since it's so similar to the Locus, we 414 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:37,920 don't need to. 415 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:43,600 What you need to focus on is verses 20 and 21, because notice what happened, right? 416 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,480 Verses 20 and 21, that's the important part to focus on. 417 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:53,000 The plagues are supposed to in some way be a warning to the rest of the world. 418 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:58,440 The demons unleash these plagues and they cause unbelievers to die, and the rest of 419 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,880 the world is meant to see what happens to those who do not repent of their sins, who 420 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:09,080 do not trust in Christ, and they are to respond with repentance and faith, but what does the 421 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,240 Bible say happens here? 422 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,440 It says the rest of the world, even after seeing what will happen to those who do not 423 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:21,000 turn, they refuse to turn from their sins and trust in Christ. 424 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,160 They refuse to give up worshiping false gods and idols. 425 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:28,360 They refuse to repent of all of their sins. 426 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:34,760 They see what will happen and yet they continue in their sinful ways. 427 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,040 That's the part you've got to focus on, because that's the part that's mind blowing, is it 428 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:40,040 not? 429 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,760 I mean, no one else would do this, right? 430 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:47,520 If you see people reach, imagine the first person who ever sees a fire and the guy just 431 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:51,680 reaches his hand in there and you're watching and immediately the dude gets burned. 432 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,160 Are you going to go and stick your hand in there at that point? 433 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:55,160 No. 434 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:56,720 You're going to be like, okay, I saw what happened. 435 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:57,720 That's not for me, right? 436 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:58,720 I didn't look fun. 437 00:26:58,720 --> 00:26:59,720 I don't want any part of that. 438 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,720 You learn from what happens to other people, but you see the world here. 439 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:04,920 You see the unbelievers here. 440 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:11,400 They see what happens to those who die apart from Christ and yet they do not turn. 441 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,000 They continue to deny God. 442 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,640 And so here's what I want you to take away from this. 443 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:22,400 As we look at this, the first thing I want you to notice is that God takes sin very seriously. 444 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,520 I know that we tend to downplay it. 445 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,600 We can be lax on sin, but God is not. 446 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:32,480 God hates sin and he will leave no sin unpunished. 447 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:38,560 If he leaves even one sin unpunished, he is not a just God, right? 448 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:40,480 No sin will go unpunished. 449 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:45,840 And so these verses, when you look at the horrific consequences of your sin and remaining 450 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:51,880 in your sin, it should call you to repentance, to turn from your sins, to stop taking them 451 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:58,440 lightly, to stop playing around with them, to put your sin to death in your life and 452 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:02,920 then to turn to faith in Christ because this swarm of demons, as we've already said, they're 453 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,520 already on the loose, right? 454 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:11,560 They're coming for each and every person who is not sealed by God. 455 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:17,600 And that should cause us to see how terrible sin is and the consequences of that sin. 456 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:22,920 Listen, it's only going to get worse because they think that's bad, then you die and guess 457 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:23,920 what happens then? 458 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:29,360 Then comes the judgment and then you stand before the Father and you see the Son and 459 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:31,520 the Son says, I never knew you. 460 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:32,520 Depart from it. 461 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,720 Denies you in front of the Father and then you go into eternal torment and you never 462 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:37,720 get used to it. 463 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:39,440 You know how sometimes you get used to pain? 464 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:40,920 In hell you never get used to it. 465 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:46,560 It is eternal torment, nonstop for all of eternity. 466 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:48,600 That's what this passage is warning us of. 467 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:56,000 But then my call to the Christians tonight is to reap the harvest before it's destroyed. 468 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:01,400 So this passage should help you see the consequences of sin, the severity of sin, but then there's 469 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:06,000 an urgent call here for Christians to get active because you look at this passage and 470 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,560 you see that the Lord has already said, hey, the harvest is ready. 471 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:10,760 I just need some laborers. 472 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,200 I need some people who are going to go and reap the harvest. 473 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:19,480 And at the same time you see that Satan, the enemy of God has said, we can get there first. 474 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:25,800 He sends the swarm of demons out to the harvest fields to try to get the unbelievers before 475 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:29,240 they can be converted to Christ and receive his seal. 476 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,120 And so the question is, well, who's going to get there first? 477 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:38,720 It's a call for Christians to wake up and realize that there are literal actual people 478 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:44,200 who are going to be attacked by these demons unless they have the seal of God. 479 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:53,320 And God's means of securing the harvest fields and reaping the harvest is his followers. 480 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,320 We talk about all the time, well, what happens to those who never have a chance to hear the 481 00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:58,320 Gospel? 482 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,480 There's actually going to be a great podcast episode on that, releasing next week if you 483 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:02,800 want to listen to that. 484 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,040 But what happens to those who never hear the Gospel? 485 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,040 And what gets me is I'm saying, people will look at that and they'll go, well, God's 486 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:12,280 unjust, God's evil because he sent people to hell who had never even had the opportunity 487 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:13,280 to hear. 488 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,760 And I'm going, God's not evil, Christians are lazy. 489 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:18,560 It's not God's problem. 490 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,960 He already came up with a solution. 491 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,440 Did Jesus not say go and make disciples of all nations? 492 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:25,920 He's told us what to do. 493 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:26,920 He's given us the Holy Spirit. 494 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:28,440 He's given us the Gospel. 495 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:31,040 He's given us our calling orders. 496 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,720 God's not at fault here. 497 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:33,720 It's us. 498 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:37,440 The problem is we don't actually have a heart for the lost. 499 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,360 We don't actually have that burden to go and reach them. 500 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:45,080 We just sit back and say, hey, I'm going to heaven, so what does it matter to me? 501 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:50,440 There's a call here to say, get up, get active, go tell people about Jesus and get the Gospel 502 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,960 out there because there are people who are going to die in their sins apart from Christ 503 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,520 and this is the fate they will meet. 504 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,440 There's a harvest out there, church. 505 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:01,440 It's ready. 506 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:06,160 The question is, who's going to get there first? 507 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:12,240 That's all we got for tonight and that's all my tablet has for tonight. 508 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:40,040 Michael Stevenson, give us a word of wisdom as we close.