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The little phrase, the calm before the storm, may find its origin in Revelation chapter

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8 and verse 1, where we find the opening of the final seal on the scroll which the lamb

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has taken in his hand.

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One way to view these series of judgments in the book of Revelation is to see the trumpets

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that we'll look at tonight and later the bowls of wrath poured out from God as all proceeding

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from the seventh seal that is now to be opened.

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In other words, the seventh seal that is opened leads to most of the rest of the book of the

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Revelation.

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Now some wag has stated that Revelation 8-1 is proof that there are no women in heaven

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because there is silence there for half an hour.

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I would never say that.

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That is an insensitive remark and I would not say that but somebody did.

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The half hour of silence is a time of building tension.

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Can you imagine with all of the shouting and all of the singing and all of the movement

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that has taken place in heaven in Revelation up to this point that now when the last seal

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is opened everything stops and for a half an hour nothing is said.

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There is just silence.

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The tension builds toward the next action.

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There is an expectancy mingled with foreboding in this half hour.

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John says, �And I saw seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets.�

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The fact that they stand before God tells us that there are seven angels of special

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service and perhaps even authority and to each of them is given a trumpet.

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Trumpets were used in ancient Israel to call an assembly together.

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They were used to begin the march of the various camps in the tribe of Israel.

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The blowing of the trumpet gave an alarm in the time of war.

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The trumpets were blown at the beginning of each of the feasts of the Lord.

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So the trumpets were used for communication.

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These trumpets that we look at here signal something.

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They signal judgments that God is going to pour upon the earth.

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Judgments which are different from the seven seals that we have seen open or the six seals

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that we saw before this one was opened.

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There seems to be some intensity in the judgment.

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There is a different order in some of the things that take place.

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There may be some recapitulation but for the most part what we see here is another series

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of judgments poured out in chronological order after the opening of the seals.

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It may be good to mention that these trumpets have nothing to do with the last trumpet which

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shall sound which the Apostle Paul said would call the church upwards at the rapture.

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These are seven trumpets of judgment.

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Then another angel says having a golden censer came and stood at the altar and he was given

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much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden

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altar which was before the throne.

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Now here is the real tabernacle scene.

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God which was on the earth was a picture of the heavenly, the true tabernacle.

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John sees in heaven this altar which is there in the presence of God and the angel takes

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a censer made of gold.

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It is filled with incense and he brings it to the altar of God and there offers it with

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the prayers of the saints.

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The question is what are these prayers?

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They may well be the prayers that we saw earlier under the fifth seal back in chapter six,

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the prayers of God's martyrs, prayers that will now be answered more fully as vengeance

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from God is poured out upon the earth.

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They may also be the prayers of living tribulation saints who are crying out to God at that time

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but I think in another sense we can look upon them as your prayers in mind.

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As we have asked God as Jesus taught us to ask, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on

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earth as it is in heaven.

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God is going to bring his will to earth.

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He is going to bring ultimately his kingdom to earth and what is about to happen is part

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of the process leading up to that glorious day.

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The events that are going to take place now as the trumpets are blown are best understood

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literally.

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There may be symbolic aspects or elements in them but it seems to me we have no reason

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not to take them literally and we need to understand them as falling out in fairly rapid

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succession.

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There is not great time between these series of judgments but they come one right after

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the other.

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Well it says the smoke of the incense of the prayers went up before God and the angel took

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his censer, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth.

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Normally the censer was taken with the coals to the altar but here instead of being presented

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before God this censer is thrown out upon the earth and the result of that is noises,

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thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake.

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Now where do those take place?

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Well it is hard to imagine an earthquake in heaven.

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He is talking about events that unfold upon the earth because of this censer being poured

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out or thrown out actually upon the earth.

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And so the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

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The first angel sounded and then we have the first judgment.

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It is a judgment of hail, fire and blood.

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It says that hail and fire followed, mingled with blood and they were thrown to the earth

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and a third of the trees were burned up and all grass, all green grass was burned up.

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And so the trumpet that is sounded first affects the plant life.

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That was the first to be created and now it is the first to be affected in this series

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of judgments.

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Of course the two great enemies of plant life, of vegetation are hail and fire.

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And so now even the elements of nature itself bears the judgment of God for the sin of mankind.

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And it says that these elements of hail and fire are mixed with blood in some sense.

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Perhaps that is the result of their devastation.

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Perhaps they actually fall out of heaven with blood substance on them because it is the

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blood of the martyrs that has been shed that God is now taking vengeance for as he brings

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this judgment.

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This one by the way compares to the seventh Egyptian plague back in the time of the Exodus

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although it is a much greater intensity here and it is apparently a global effect, not

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a local effect in one nation as was true then.

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The second trumpet appears to be a falling meteor.

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It says the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was

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thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the living creatures

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in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed.

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So John is describing a burning mass, a literal mass of some sort that comes out of the sky

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and hits the seas of the world.

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Could he be talking about some kind of explosion of a hydrogen bomb perhaps, something of that

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sort?

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Well, it may be that God is using that but it seems to me better to understand it as

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something that comes out of the heavens, a falling meteor.

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Did you happen to see in one of the news magazines some time ago the radar image of a meteor

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that was still like two million miles from the earth?

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They actually got a picture of it by radar.

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It was five miles in length and I think it was three miles wide and they spoke in the

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article, the devastation on the earth had this near miss as they called it in the terms

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of space, had this near miss actually been a hit on the earth.

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What we have here it seems is a huge meteor that God has prepared out there in space somewhere

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and when it hits the atmosphere of the world it is going to burst into flames and come

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and do tremendous devastation in the sea.

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A third of it becomes blood.

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A third of the sea creatures die as a result and a third of all the ships are destroyed.

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Once again this might be compared to one of the Egyptian plagues, the first one when the

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Nile River was turned to blood.

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You can see that from the devastation that takes place in these first two of these judgments

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there will be massive famine as a result.

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With the damage that is done to the vegetation of the world and now the seas being affected

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and the ships and the ability to transport things we see here also a major crippling

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of the world commerce.

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The third judgment begins in verse 10.

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It says then the third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a

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torch.

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It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

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The name of the star is wormwood and a third of the waters became wormwood and many men

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died from the water because it was made bitter.

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So we see again some kind of an object falling out of heaven.

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It is called here a star but it may well be a meteor again and this time it is the fresh

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water of the world that is impacted.

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A third of it is made undrinkable.

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Those who drink of it are poisoned by its bitterness.

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It is called wormwood which is a common bitter herb in the Middle East.

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It is a term that is used in the Old Testament in a number of different ways but mostly it

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pictures woe and sorrow that accompany God's judgment and certainly here it is judgment

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for sin that brings woe and sorrow to those upon the earth.

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Then the fourth judgment concludes chapter 8.

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It says the fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon,

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and a third of the stars so that a third of them were darkened.

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A third of the day did not shine and likewise the night and I looked and I heard an angel

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flying through the midst of heaven.

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So we have the fourth trumpet.

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This time it affects the sun, the moon, and the stars.

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A third of them it says are darkened.

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Man of course depends upon these for light, for warmth, for proper growth of crops, for

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health, and perhaps increasingly for energy.

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And so now God simply makes a one-third power reduction to the earth.

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It may be that this is caused by some kind of an atmospheric interference.

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God could use man's own devastation of the earth to create this.

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Maybe it's pollution.

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Perhaps it's going to be the result of nuclear war.

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Perhaps God does something beyond anything that man does to create this one-third power

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reduction but that's the case.

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This of course is reminiscent of the ninth Egyptian plague which affected the light and

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there was darkness in all of Egypt but here it is the earth as a whole.

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And there is some suggestion here, some say that the day will actually be decreased instead

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of 24 hours to 16 hours.

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Now it seems to me that that would require some speed up of the earth's rotation which

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would have a lot of other impact.

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And so probably it's better to understand it merely as a third reduction in the amount

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of light that is available.

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Darkness is sometimes associated with the judgment of God.

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In Isaiah 13 10, Joel 2 10, Matthew 24 29 it says that the day of the Lord which is

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that period we're dealing with here, that the day of the Lord will be characterized

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by darkness.

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That is the darkness that accompanies the judgment of God.

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We see darkness too at the time of Christ's crucifixion.

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Matthew records for us that there were three hours when darkness fell upon Jerusalem, a

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supernatural darkness that accompanied the judgment of God upon his son as he bore the

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sin of the world.

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And then John sees this angel or some manuscripts say an eagle, the two words are fairly close

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in the Greek language and so there is a scribal difference here in the manuscripts that are

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available.

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The impact is really very small.

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But John sees this being flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice,

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woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth.

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Now the triple repetition here of woe merely underscores how terribly difficult and painful

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this whole experience is going to be.

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It is going to be woe or judgment or suffering unlike any that has been upon the earth before.

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It is going to come with the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are

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about to sound.

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And that brings us now to the fifth judgment which is the same as the first woe.

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And you will notice that John gives more information about these following two judgments really

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than he did about the first four.

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He says the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.

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And so it involves a star falling from heaven.

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The star however is not a mass of material or some physical element that comes out of

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the heavens.

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But the language suggests here that this star is a person.

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This star acts with intelligence and with authority.

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And so it has a personal identity.

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You say well how is a star, why is he a star in that sense?

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Well certainly not in the same way but we use the word star today in referring to personalities.

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We just observed the 57th or 58th birthday of the king of Elvis.

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You remember Elvis?

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A star.

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Well here we have a star that is also a personality and personally I think the best understanding

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is that this is likely Satan.

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A picture of him fallen from heaven to the earth.

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And it says to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

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Literally he says the key to the long shaft of the abyss.

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The abyss is it seems a place in the earth that is a prison for demons.

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Jesus was dealing with some demons in Luke chapter 8 and they said you're not going

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to send us to the abyss prematurely are you?

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Same word the abyss.

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And so we understand the abyss to be a place of incarceration for some demonic spirits.

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Probably not the same as Tartarus which is another name for a location given by Peter.

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But nonetheless a real place in the earth and there is apparently a shaft like a well

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shaft somewhere upon the earth that leads to that place of confinement for these demons.

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And on this occasion this one who is cast to the earth is given a key to this prison.

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The demons do not want to be cast into that place now because they are there confined

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and cannot roam the earth.

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They cannot do their evil.

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They cannot afflict and cause suffering of human beings.

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They do not want to go there.

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But some are there however they will be released it seems.

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Because this star opens the bottomless pit he opens up this shaft and smoke arose out

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of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace.

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And so you get this picture of the eruption like of a volcano.

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The horrific pictures that were snapped of Mount St. Helens is what comes to my mind

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when I see this.

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The smoke and the dust that was blown into the atmosphere, the rolling of all of that.

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And here we see this pit opened up and the smoke just boils out of it and the sun and

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the air were darkened because of it.

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And out of that smoke it says, locus came upon the earth.

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To them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power.

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They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree.

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Of course locus have through the centuries been a plague upon vegetation.

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But these particular locus do not harm vegetation but only those men who do not have the seal

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of God on their foreheads.

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And they were not given authority to kill them but to torment them for five months.

231
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And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

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In those days men will seek death and will not find it.

233
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They will desire to die and death will flee from them.

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00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,480
And the shape of the locus was like horses prepared for battle.

235
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:56,040
And on their heads were crowns something like gold and their faces were like the faces of

236
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:57,780
men.

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00:21:57,780 --> 00:22:03,640
They had hair like women's hair and their teeth were like lion's teeth.

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And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the sound of their wings was like

239
00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:13,980
the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

240
00:22:13,980 --> 00:22:19,260
They had tails like scorpions and there were stings in their tails and their power was

241
00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:22,200
to hurt men for five months.

242
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:30,040
And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in Hebrew is

243
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:36,680
Abaddon but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

244
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:43,480
And so we see this plague of locus that comes upon the earth that will last for five months

245
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which suggests to us that that is their life span.

246
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,960
They cause physical anguish but not death.

247
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:56,960
In fact it says here that God takes away the power of death during that time.

248
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Men will be unable to die.

249
00:23:00,500 --> 00:23:01,640
They will want to die.

250
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They will seek to commit suicide.

251
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:14,220
But they will be unable to die because God will make them face this judgment.

252
00:23:14,220 --> 00:23:19,160
You will notice that there is a king over these locus.

253
00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:24,380
His name is Destruction or Destroyer.

254
00:23:24,380 --> 00:23:28,180
He is the exterminator.

255
00:23:28,180 --> 00:23:35,280
And it seems to me that again the best understanding is that this angel of the pit is Satan, probably

256
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:41,800
the same star that opened the pit with the key that was given to him by God.

257
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These locus are unlike anything anyone has ever seen except John.

258
00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,760
They are demonic in nature.

259
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:59,640
It may be that they are a particular type of demon that take this form.

260
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,640
Whatever they are, they are beyond the natural.

261
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:09,800
They have an element of supernatural about them and can inflict great suffering.

262
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:15,800
It is said that they have a stinger in their tail.

263
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,800
They look like a horse with armor on.

264
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,000
They are crowned with a gold color.

265
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:29,520
They have a face like the face of a man, hair like a woman's hair, and teeth as of lions.

266
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:34,360
They have breast plates that are like in scales.

267
00:24:34,360 --> 00:24:41,400
And the sound of their movement is like an army of chariots.

268
00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:45,960
Now the best way to understand this is just to take it the way John wrote it.

269
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,480
And we see here ugly, ferocious, and terrifying creatures.

270
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:54,480
However, there are those that take these in other ways.

271
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:59,520
And there has been one author at least who has suggested that what John is describing

272
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:04,760
here in the language that only he could use in the first century, that he is describing

273
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,280
helicopters.

274
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:12,240
You can see some interesting parallels to some of the modern warfare and the kinds of

275
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:20,720
sounds that they make and the instruments, the weapons located in the tails and the front

276
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:21,720
and so on.

277
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:28,840
But it seems to me there is something here beyond helicopters.

278
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:36,160
There is five months of torture by the result of these scorpion stings.

279
00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,960
The sixth trumpet sounds in verse 13.

280
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Well we skip verse 12.

281
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:46,680
It simply says one woe is past, two more are coming after these things.

282
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,920
The sixth trumpet is the second woe.

283
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:54,560
And it seems as though the seventh trumpet is the third woe.

284
00:25:54,560 --> 00:26:01,200
But as we will see when we get there, the seventh trumpet basically does what the seventh

285
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:08,440
seal did, and that is to open to another series of judgments.

286
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:09,960
Well let's look at the sixth trumpet.

287
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:16,800
It says the angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which

288
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,160
is before God.

289
00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,600
And so here is a voice.

290
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:30,320
It is undoubtedly the voice of God or of a powerful angel in the presence of God.

291
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:37,280
And it says to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound

292
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,960
at the great river Euphrates.

293
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:46,800
The Euphrates is one of those ancient rivers, still flows today.

294
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:55,040
It is being used today in a number of hydrological projects.

295
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:56,040
Dams have been built.

296
00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:01,480
It provides irrigation, electrical power, and so on.

297
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:07,020
But it has traditionally been the dividing line between east and west.

298
00:27:07,020 --> 00:27:11,320
And when you look at the land that was given to Abraham and to his descendants, you find

299
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:18,440
that that territory extends as far as this river, the great river Euphrates.

300
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:25,280
Now the angel is told to release at this river four angels who are bound there.

301
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:30,280
Now the question of course comes to mind, who are these angels?

302
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:36,600
We have no other examples of elect or holy angels who are bound.

303
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:46,200
And so we would therefore conclude that these are demons, that these are fallen angels who

304
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:55,640
have been prior to this time, who perhaps even now are bound in the spirit realm there

305
00:27:55,640 --> 00:28:02,720
at the great river Euphrates.

306
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:08,200
And it says that they are released and the four angels who had been prepared for this

307
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:21,160
hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.

308
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:26,680
It's worth pointing out that these angels have been prepared and the question is by

309
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:27,680
whom?

310
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,400
The answer is by God.

311
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:41,480
God didn't create them as evil, but they having become evil have been assigned this

312
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:46,480
task by God which they now will fulfill.

313
00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:53,040
And God has appointed this moment in the history of the world for their release.

314
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,720
And the purpose is dreadful.

315
00:28:55,720 --> 00:29:03,840
They are going to bring about the killing of a third of all the people of the world.

316
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:12,480
Now if you back up and remember we had a seal which involved the death of one fourth of

317
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,640
all the people in the world.

318
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:23,000
And so already there has been devastation because of the great judgments of God.

319
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:29,320
Now another third of the population will be killed and depending upon how you calculate

320
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:35,440
that, it is either one half or more than one half of all the population of the world which

321
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:44,000
will die in what is probably the first half of the seven year tribulation period.

322
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,340
You think about that.

323
00:29:46,340 --> 00:29:50,920
You think about the population of this metroplex being reduced.

324
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:59,360
That one out of every two people is gone over a period of a year, two years, whatever it

325
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:00,360
is.

326
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:06,480
And not just merely a peaceful death but terrible death, judgment from God.

327
00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:11,560
Suffering, famine, war, disease.

328
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,720
And you see the kind of devastation that has come upon the earth and why this being is

329
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:26,200
flying in the heavens and saying woe to those who dwell upon the earth.

330
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,800
Verse 16 has been debated.

331
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:39,600
The number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million.

332
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:49,200
Most Bible commentators take this as symbolic.

333
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:55,800
They argue there has never been a force in the history of the world this size.

334
00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:00,400
And there are generals, in fact I think it was William K. Harrison, a very fine general,

335
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:06,400
I believe a Christian, who said that it would be impossible for any nation of the world

336
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:11,880
or for any group of nations to field an army of 200 million people.

337
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:20,160
That the logistics of that are just beyond what can be accomplished.

338
00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:27,520
And so it is said that these are not 200 million human soldiers but what we're dealing with

339
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:38,240
here are myriads and myriads of demons, demonic soldiers that are unleashed upon the earth

340
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:39,640
at this point.

341
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,760
And that is a possibility.

342
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:48,600
However, before we just say it's impossible for there to be an army of this size, it might

343
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:56,760
be well to remind ourselves that back in 1965 in Time magazine, China boasted then more

344
00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:04,320
than 25 years ago that it could field an army of 200 million and they used that exact figure.

345
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:09,040
I don't think it was because they read Revelation chapter 9.

346
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:14,560
But they did choose that exact figure and they said they could put an army together

347
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,320
of that size.

348
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:27,600
W.A. Criswell has calculated that if the 200 million were a cavalry, as is suggested here

349
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:35,140
by this scene, that it would be a cavalry a mile wide, just one horse after another

350
00:32:35,140 --> 00:32:45,280
for a mile, and 87 miles long.

351
00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:50,760
Back in World War II, if you added together all of the armies of the allied and the Axis

352
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,120
powers, you would have a total of 70 million.

353
00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:55,680
70.

354
00:32:55,680 --> 00:33:03,360
So what we're dealing with here, if this in fact is an army of men, which I lean toward,

355
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:08,960
it is three times, nearly three times larger than any military force that the world has

356
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:13,960
ever known.

357
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:21,360
The reason that I think it is literal is because John says, and I heard the number of them.

358
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:27,080
In other words, this number is not something he added up on a calculator.

359
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,360
It's not a guess he took.

360
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,880
But he is saying that he heard this number.

361
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:39,320
Therefore, I think he's trying to underscore the fact that this is not some symbolic thing.

362
00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:43,600
This is to be understood literally.

363
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:49,800
And thus he says, I saw the horses in the vision.

364
00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:57,880
Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow.

365
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:03,240
And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions.

366
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:10,120
And out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

367
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:16,320
By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire, the smoke, and the

368
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:20,080
brimstone which came out of their mouths.

369
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:25,600
For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents

370
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,960
having heads.

371
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,160
And with them they do harm.

372
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:37,520
Well, you can see why some take this symbolic, because it's difficult to understand how this

373
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:45,680
could be literal horses and what kinds of creatures are these if they are not demonic.

374
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:50,240
There have been those who have conjectured that John is here using the language of the

375
00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:58,600
first century to describe tanks armed with atomic weapons or mobile missile launchers

376
00:34:58,600 --> 00:34:59,920
and that sort of thing.

377
00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:03,540
And maybe that's the case.

378
00:35:03,540 --> 00:35:15,520
But as a result of the movement of this massive force, a third of mankind is killed.

379
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:18,280
And what is the result of all of this?

380
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:23,160
You might think that with all of the death and the devastation, the disease, the famine,

381
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:28,080
the supernatural sights and sounds that are taking place, that surely men would be ready

382
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,080
to repent.

383
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:35,560
As it says in verse 20, the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not

384
00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,320
repent of the works of their hands.

385
00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:48,000
Of course, we're not dealing with those that were sealed, the elect, in chapter 7, nor

386
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:52,440
with that massive group of people who are saved out of the tribulation.

387
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:53,520
There will be many saved.

388
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:57,560
But John is dealing here now with the remainder of mankind.

389
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:02,360
And he says that instead of softening them up for the message of repentance, that in

390
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:06,000
fact it even hardens their hearts.

391
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:12,560
He says they did not repent of the work of their hands, that they should not worship

392
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:20,280
demons and idols of gold and silver, brass, stone and wood, which can neither see nor

393
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,160
hear nor walk.

394
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:31,600
And they did not repent of their murders, of their sorceries, of their sexual immorality,

395
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:35,460
or their thefts.

396
00:36:35,460 --> 00:36:41,640
You get the picture here of a violent society.

397
00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:45,960
And if we are not living in a society headed in this direction today, I don't know where

398
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:52,160
we are.

399
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:59,960
The people of that day will be apparently involved in raw paganism.

400
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:04,720
Isn't that the direction of man's religion?

401
00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:13,640
A return to just the raw elements of worshiping the elements of the earth in witchcraft and

402
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,280
Satanism?

403
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:22,120
There is much more of that than you and I could dream about in our world today.

404
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:27,040
And I'm talking about in the United States of America.

405
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,000
And that's going to increase.

406
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:34,680
As men turn from God in the knowledge of the truth, they are turned to that which is false.

407
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,720
They are turned to the lie.

408
00:37:37,720 --> 00:37:41,760
And by the time that these events take place, this will be very common.

409
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,240
The worship of demons.

410
00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:47,480
You say, whoever would worship demons?

411
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,720
We have people doing that all over the place in the United States of America today.

412
00:37:51,720 --> 00:38:01,840
In the New Age movement, this is exactly what the New Age movement is about.

413
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:09,340
It's not overt demonism necessarily, but they are touching powers of the occult.

414
00:38:09,340 --> 00:38:16,560
And they are finding there a certain thrill, a certain sense of excitement that is causing

415
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:21,520
many to be sucked into the occult, even unawares.

416
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:27,760
But they are really worshiping demons, as are those who worship idols.

417
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,800
They did not repent of their murders.

418
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:38,080
Were you as sickened as I was by what happened in Palatine this weekend?

419
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:39,920
They did not repent of their sorceries.

420
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:45,800
The word here, as you probably know, is pharmakeia, where we get our word pharmacy.

421
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:51,880
It's talking about witchcraft, but tied together with witchcraft in that day was the use of

422
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:53,320
drugs.

423
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,320
And it is exactly true today.

424
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,640
Drugs lead to witchcraft.

425
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:00,800
The two go hand in hand.

426
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,400
Drugs open the door to demons.

427
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:14,040
They cause a passivity in the human being that is just an open door to demonic invasion.

428
00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:18,320
They did not repent of their sexual immorality.

429
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:23,400
I need say nothing about that, nor of their thefts.

430
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:30,520
And so we see that in a sense, this day is little different than ours.

431
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:31,520
It's more intense.

432
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:39,440
It's worse than ours in terms of the evil, but we see our culture heading in this direction,

433
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:40,440
described here.

434
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:48,600
And when I say it's no different than ours, I mean that even today, warnings of the coming

435
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:52,160
judgment of God do not cause men to repent.

436
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:57,640
And then the falling out of these judgments will not cause men to repent.

437
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,020
What is it that causes men to repent?

438
00:40:01,020 --> 00:40:04,800
The kindness and the goodness of God alone.

439
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:10,040
Else the sinful human heart will not turn from its evil, and the judgments from God will

440
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,360
indeed only harden the heart.

441
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:18,520
Only the goodness of God leads man to repentance, Romans 2, 4.

442
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,960
Man is not changed by punishment.

443
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:29,660
Man is changed rather by the new birth, by which he then believes and is saved.

444
00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:34,840
And so we come to the end of the six trumpets and their judgments.

445
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:39,880
A fierce series of judgments.

446
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,520
God willing, next week we'll take up chapter 10.

447
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:47,920
But I want to close tonight with this reassuring thought that God is sovereign and God is control

448
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,440
of all of this.

449
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:56,240
The one to whom we bow our knees and to whom we lift our voices and we say, our Father

450
00:40:56,240 --> 00:41:01,520
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

451
00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,840
That is the God that we see acting here.

452
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:10,160
It is the God that we know, the God that we trust, the God who is faithful.

453
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:16,040
We need not be fearful in light of these things, but we ought to be stimulated to be faithful

454
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:21,520
ourselves in representing him and proclaiming the gospel of Christ to a world.

455
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:27,680
It is not our business whether people respond to that message.

456
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:28,680
We want that.

457
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:29,680
We pray for that.

458
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:31,640
We seek to persuade them.

459
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:33,800
The results are God's work.

460
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:40,160
But our job is to be faithful in the proclamation and in representing Jesus Christ.

461
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,720
And so may we be that.

462
00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:45,040
May we be God's people in these days.

463
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,720
Would you bow with me please as we pray?

464
00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:57,400
And now Father, as we have studied your word tonight and we see the fierce and horrifying

465
00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:03,760
judgments that will come upon the earth in the tribulation period.

466
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:09,320
How glad we are and how grateful we are for your saving grace in our lives.

467
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:15,160
For surely were it not for that grace and that goodness leading us to repentance, we

468
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:19,080
would be a part of a crowd like that.

469
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:26,000
We would still be in our sins and hostile toward you and haters of God, wicked in our

470
00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:27,480
evil works.

471
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:35,720
But you and your grace and kindness reached down and you caused us to be born again by

472
00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:36,720
your Spirit.

473
00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:39,600
And you brought us into your family.

474
00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:43,920
You have forgiven us and you have given us a place in Christ.

475
00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:47,720
And there we are kept and preserved.

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00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:50,920
And we say to you, praise the Lord.

477
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:59,200
And we also petition you that you would strengthen us by that same Spirit who caused us to become

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00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:00,460
alive.

479
00:43:00,460 --> 00:43:03,880
You would strengthen us to be your people in this day.

480
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:08,400
That we might be faithful proclaimers of the word of God.

481
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:16,760
And faithful livers out of the love of God that you might use us to call others into

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00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,920
the kingdom.

483
00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:27,120
We also pray as you taught us to pray, Lord, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

484
00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:28,900
as it is in heaven.

485
00:43:28,900 --> 00:43:33,600
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

486
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:35,600
Amen.

487
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:37,760
Good night.