Well, we like to open by saying welcome first to those of you that may be joining us for
the first time here in our sanctuary or if you're joining us online for the first time,
yeah, welcome.
We're so glad you're here to worship with us today.
I am Pastor Nathan and this morning we're going to be looking at the seventh seal in
Revelation and the first four trumpet judgments of Revelation.
I titled this study Trumpets of Woe.
Some people call it Trumpets of Doom.
Doom, woe, whatever negative term you could think of is kind of where we're getting into
the book of Revelation.
The end of the world is a fascinating subject.
It's an interesting subject for many.
There's been movies made about the end of the world.
Books have been written about the end of the world.
It's just interesting.
When I was in eighth grade and I went to summer camp at First Baptist Church of Bellflower,
they had this little chapel on the edge of the camp territory.
It was kind of like a prayer chapel, but it had this really big illustrated scary important
looking Bible sitting on the little altar in there.
Me and my friends would go to this camp.
We didn't know Jesus at all, but one of the things we always found interesting was going
to that chapel and turning to the book of Revelation because it was the scary book.
It was the action book.
It was the end of the world book.
Some Gallup polls that are taken say that the end of the world is one of the top issues
on people's minds.
Really people have been thinking about the end of the world since the beginning of the
world.
When is the end going to come and what's that going to look like?
On top of that, the end of the world, it's an area of biblical study all on its own.
The term for this is eschatology, if you're familiar with that.
That comes from the term eska, which means end things.
So eschatology is the study of end things.
There are theology classes in Bible schools and universities worldwide.
Entire sections are devoted to eschatology, the study of the things of the end times.
It's an important biblical concept.
It's something the Bible talks a lot about.
Prophecy deals with the end times in great detail.
In the book of Daniel, the phrase the time of the end is used five different times.
In the New Testament, we see Jesus using the term the end of the age a whole bunch of times.
But really the question that comes up for some people when we're studying things like
the book of Revelation or studying eschatology is what is the point and the benefit to the
believer today in studying the end times?
What is the point?
Well, among many, I think one of them is found in Matthew chapter 24 verse 35.
And Jesus said this, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
You see, in studying Revelation, in studying the words of God in the Bible, seeing what
is taking place in our world today, seeing the darkness that is falling in our world
today, the study of these things for us today is meant to bring us peace.
It's meant to bring us peace and hope.
It's meant to bring us to a place where we place our trust in God fully because we know
how the story ends.
We know how things are going to unfold.
We know the purpose and plan of God for His people, at least as it is revealed in His
word.
And so those that believe, the Bible tells us, will be saved.
Those that have put their faith and hope in Jesus Christ will be saved.
Sin and Satan will be dealt with.
And we have peace today, knowing our future, knowing that our future is secure and knowing
in the face of all the sin we see in the world today that justice will be done.
Last week we saw an intermission, if you will, between the sixth and seventh seals, an intermission,
a pause in the action as we looked at really something taking place after God had begun
to release His judgments on the earth.
Through chapter six we saw as the seals began to be opened, we saw how the Antichrist was
allowed to step into the earth and take control of the earth, conquering the earth, if you
will, not through warfare initially but through a false peace, allegedly solving all the problems
of the planet, solving all the conflicts and everybody's issues.
But that peace quickly turned into war as we saw the red horse and then the black horse
and then the pale horse come in as war entered into the earth.
And then we saw a picture of people being murdered for their faith, people who had turned
to God during this time of tribulation, daring to cry out to Jesus Christ for salvation,
daring to preach that Jesus is the answer as it's always been preached.
And yet they were murdered for their faith and then we see them crying out to God to
avenge them.
And then we see the beginning of the devastations of the creation by the Creator as God starts
to pour out signs and wonders and destructions upon the earth.
And even in that we saw that mankind still, instead of turning to God in the face of these
judgments, still would turn to the creation for protection as they went and hid in the
rocks and the mountains and crying out to the rocks and mountains to save them instead
of the Creator.
And then we saw just before things start to get even worse, God's seal.
During this pause between the six and seven seals of Revelation, God then seals 144,000
people from His chosen people, the Jews, Israel, to preach the gospel worldwide.
And we saw them called and protected to do that work, to preach that Jesus is the Messiah
worldwide.
And then we saw this picture where that led to this vast uncountable multitude coming
to Christ over the course of this tribulation period, a multitude so huge it couldn't be
counted.
And then we saw worship taking place there in heaven.
But yet there are others still on earth clinging arrogantly to their sin, clinging arrogantly
to their sinful ways and their rebellion, refusing to acknowledge God as Lord, as Master,
refusing to accept Him as Savior.
And so the judgments continue to escalate with the opening of the seventh seal.
And with that then comes the commencement of the seven trumpet judgments, the second
section of judgments that God is pouring out on the earth during this time.
So that's what we're going to be looking at today in Revelation chapter 8, but before
we do that we're going to spend some time in worship.
Because even though we're looking at this horrible time of tribulation, the picture
of this, the picture of this is how serious God takes sin and what God's judgment of sin
is going to look like during the tribulation period.
But today we are saved.
We have been saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and hallelujah, that is something
to praise God for, amen.
Let's worship God, or let's pray, then we'll worship God.
We thank you Lord so much for your salvation.
We thank you God that you died on the cross, Lord, that the entire wrath of God in this
age of grace started with the wrath being poured out on you.
As you stepped into our place to take our punishment, our penalty for our sin, that
Lord we would be able to find salvation in you through faith in your work, faith in you
as God, faith in what you did for us.
And Lord we say thank you for that.
But Lord we know that this time, this age of grace, where people have the opportunity
to come to you before the terrible time of tribulation, Lord we know time is running
out.
And your word encourages us to redeem the time for the days are short.
And so Lord we are so grateful for the salvation you've given us God.
And I pray Lord that as we worship you this morning and open today and worship God that
we would remember what you've done for us and remember the call Lord, the call to go
out and tell others that don't yet know you about that.
Because judgment is coming.
The time of the end is coming Lord.
And God we want as many as will to be saved and to come to heaven with us.
But Lord you are almighty and that is worth worship.
You are just, that is worth worship.
You are holy, that is worth worship.
God you are perfect.
We worship you now.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
All right we are in Revelation chapter 8 and so if you will read with me starting in verse
1.
It says when he opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about a half an
hour.
Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God.
Seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel with a golden incense burner came and stood at the altar.
He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on
the golden altar in front of the throne.
The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up in the presence of God
from the angel's hand.
The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar and hurled it
to the earth.
And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
So verse 1 here of chapter 8 it's a pretty significant contrast to what we've read so
far taking place there in heaven.
If you remember over the last couple chapters there has been a lot of noise in heaven.
Lots and lots of noise, joyful noise.
Worship has been taking place as the angels are worshiping and the saints are worshiping
and the elders are worshiping and the four living creatures are worshiping.
And so chapters 4 and 5 are all full of heavenly worship, loud singing.
And then in chapter 6 the angel comes along and calls out to John and says, come and see.
Come and see.
Come and see over and over as the seals are opened.
The martyrs we see under the altar saying, Lord, how long?
How long until you avenge us?
So there's lots of activity, lots of talking, lots of worshiping, a whole lot of noise.
And then silence.
Silence.
It says there's silence upon the opening of the seven seal for about a half an hour.
It's an ominous phrase.
It's intended to be an ominous phrase.
Now half an hour may not seem like a long time to any of you.
It really isn't a long time in the context of time, right?
But in terms of a dramatic pause, it's a long time.
Try it.
Try and just be still.
Be quiet.
No rustling, no sound, nothing for a half an hour.
And you'll find out how uncomfortable it can be.
You know, Pastor Gary was known to do these dramatic type pauses when making decisions.
If you ever had the opportunity to sit with him during one of those moments, they were
long and uncomfortable at times.
You know, when I first was asked to come on staff in 2000, I think it was, as the junior
high leader, I was in a meeting with Pastor Gary and he was sharing with me what God was
doing with the ministry.
I was a counselor in the ministry at the time.
And I remember he said, hey, there's an opportunity to come up and we would like to offer the
junior high ministry to you.
We would like you to take over leadership of it.
And I was super blessed and honored and scared.
But for some, I can only call it youthful arrogance reason.
I said, I won't do it unless you bring me on staff full time.
And he looked at me and he did that Pastor Gary head tilt.
Some of you have seen that, right?
Can be terrifying.
Kind of furled his brow a little bit, rubbed his cheek and didn't say a word.
Silence.
Dramatic pause.
Now, it was a terrifying pause.
And to be honest, I wasn't sure if he wasn't figuring out a way, how do I kill this arrogant
punk?
Right?
At least that might have been what I was thinking at the time.
Later I learned that during those dramatic pauses, it was Pastor Gary praying and going,
Lord, what do you think?
Lord, what's your direction?
What's your will?
And something, a great habit that I learned from him.
And the pause was probably no more than 30 seconds.
But man, it felt like 30 minutes.
It was very uncomfortable.
And here we see this picture in heaven.
Every angel, every elder, every creature, all the martyrs, everybody there in heaven.
Silent for 30 minutes.
Now contextually, because we have the whole book of Revelation, we know that the silence
is the calm before the storm of the escalating judgments that are about to fall upon the
earth.
This chapter opens up as the seventh seal is open.
The seventh seal, the last of the seals that were keeping the scroll that was closed, the
scroll that the lamb purchased with his blood, the scroll now being fully unraveled, fully
unfurled.
And the implication there is that everybody in heaven that is there present could see
this scroll being unfurled.
And as they observe the scroll being opened, everyone is silent.
Almost like they're holding their breath.
It's like there's a waiting in this dramatic pause.
All the worship stops.
All speaking stops.
And they're in silence.
I believe it's a silence of awe.
We know scripture tells us to be still and know that I am God.
And I believe the silence is a moment where they're realizing it's about to happen.
The judgments have started to unfurl.
And as mankind is still rejected God and still chosen to deny God and still chosen their
rebellion as the scroll is finally fully opened, there's a silence of awe.
There's a silence of dread at what's about to happen.
Silence because of the terrible, terrible judgments that are about to fall upon the
earth.
But I also believe it's a silence of joy.
A joyous silence, an eager anticipation because the day has finally come.
The moment, the time of history has finally arrived that wickedness is finally going to
be dealt with on the earth.
Sin is finally going to get what's coming to it if you will.
Remember those martyrs are under the altar having been slain for their faith going, Lord,
how long till you avenge us?
It's something that we could find ourselves thinking in today's world, right?
When we hear stories about murderers and rapists and pedophiles and we're like, Lord, how long
are you going to continue to allow this type of sin to be present in the world?
When are you going to deal with it?
And the moment has arrived and everybody is silent in anticipation about what's in the
presence of what is about to fall.
Sin will be dealt with.
Satan will be destroyed.
Sin will be gone.
Jesus will finally reign forever.
God is finally taking it all back and there's this reverent, awe-filled silence.
And then verse two, it says, I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God.
Seven trumpets were given to them.
Now it's interesting there because when it says the seven angels, the is a definite article
in the original language, definite article.
What I mean by that, he doesn't just say and seven random angels.
The seven angels.
It's referring to seven specific angels.
Specific angels with some type of rank or position or authority that are different from
the other angels there.
And it says the seven angels and it qualifies them who stand in the presence of God.
And you might think, wasn't everybody standing in the presence of God there in heaven at
this point?
Yes.
But the definite article there means that this standing in the presence of God is some
descriptor of their special nature, these particular seven angels.
And it shouldn't be strange for us to consider that because throughout scripture we see that
there's rankings of angels.
Paul in the New Testament spoke about this.
He said there's principalities and powers and rulers and others that are entitled dominions.
He referenced this kind of ranking of position or authority that angels have.
We know that scripture mentions archangels and cherubim and seraphim and so there's many
different rankings of angels in the heavenlies.
What's really interesting I find regarding these particular seven angels who stand in
the presence of God is we might already know one of them by name.
You see in Luke chapter one verse 19 it tells us the angel answered him, I am Gabriel who
stands in the presence of God.
And that word presence there in Luke chapter one is the same exact word for presence used
here in Revelation chapter eight verse two.
That's speculative I know but it's an interesting detail nonetheless.
But these seven angels it tells us they were handed these seven trumpets and they take
these seven trumpets as verse six tells us and they're ready to sound them.
Now John who is recording all of this for us being a Jew himself would be very familiar
with the trumpet.
The trumpet as an instrument in the context of his culture and in the context of the history
of Israel because a trumpet if you go through the Old Testament and you study the history
of Israel and the Jewish people you'll find that the trumpet is likely the most significant
instrument in Israel.
It's the most significant instrument of the nation.
It was used in scripture more than any other instrument.
You know you have lyres, you have harps, you have timbrels but the trumpet we see in scripture
is used in the nation of Israel more than any other instrument.
It played a big role in all the meetings of the people of Israel.
It was used to call the people together right.
They would sound the trumpet, they would sound the horns and the people would come together.
It was also something used to declare war that when the trumpet was sounded war was
declared.
It was used during special festivals for different elements of the festivals but it's all over
the place.
You know when the law was given at Mount Sinai it tells us a trumpet was sounded.
When the children of Israel were at Jericho when they marched out and ended up leveling
that city through the power of God what it tells us is that trumpets were sounded.
In first kings trumpets were sounded when a king was inaugurated or a king was anointed
to rule.
In Revelation chapter 1 John said that he heard the voice of Jesus and it sounded like
a trumpet.
In Revelation 4 it says the voice of that trumpet or the voice like that trumpet is
what called him up to heaven which I personally see as a picture of the rapture of the church.
Prior to the judgments taking place, prior to the seals being opened John is called up
to heaven with a voice of the trumpet and that lines up with 1st Thessalonians chapter
4 verses 16 through 18 where it says for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with
a shout and that word shout there means a command.
I don't know maybe a command like come up here is what we see in Revelation chapter
4 but it says he will descend from heaven with a shout with the archangel's voice and
with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are still alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Encourage one another with these words.
I'm encouraged by those words.
I hope you're encouraged by those words where like we see in Revelation chapter 4 that we
are called with that voice like the trumpet we are called before the seals, before the
trumpet judgments, before the bowl judgments that pour out upon the earth that we are called
up.
That's not encouraging to me to think no God's going to leave me here as his child, as his
saved forgiven child and then pour out all this wrath on the world and let me who believes
in him now experience all that.
That's not encouraging to me and I know there's different interpretations of these things
but what I see here is this picture that we are called out but this trumpet is used in
all these different pictures.
These seven trumpets that John now sees taking place and it's a reoccurring note I keep pointing
out that John who represents the church being caught up to heaven is observing these things
from heaven.
He's observing what is taking place on earth from heaven.
He now sees these trumpets but they're not trumpets of festivals.
They're not trumpets of inauguration.
They're not even the trumpet of rapture because that has already happened.
They are trumpets of woe.
When they sound the trumpet and what comes from the sounding of these seven trumpets
we see in verse seven, verse eight, verse ten, verse twelve, chapter nine, verse one,
chapter nine, verse thirteen and chapter eleven, verse fifteen.
But before we get to those trumpets we see something that is taking place here in heaven,
verse three of Revelation eight.
Another angel with a golden incense burner came and stood at the altar.
He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on
the golden altar in front of the throne.
The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up in the presence of God
from the angels hand.
Now in the book of Hebrews it teaches us that the tabernacle of God that existed on earth,
the tabernacle that traveled the Jewish people had in the wilderness as they traveled through,
that tabernacle that we see in the Old Testament was an earthly model of heaven, of the throne
room of God if you will.
And so in the tabernacle that we have on earth and you could study this in the Old Testament
there are actually two altars.
In the outer court you had what was called the brass altar or the brazen altar and that
was the altar where the animal sacrifices were killed, where the sacrifice would be
brought in, the sacrifice that was there for the people's sin.
It would be slaughtered on that altar, it would be burned on that altar but in the holy
place which was the place where the priest can go before the veil which separated the
holy of holies which only the high priest could go into, in the holy place there was
a much smaller golden altar in the tabernacle.
And what would happen is that the priest would take coal from the altar of sacrifice where
the sacrifice was burned, he would take one of the hot coals and he would place it inside
this incense burner and you might have seen pictures of these, it's kind of like you got
a handle and a chain and there's this bowl kind of dangling from it and they would swing
it around and the incense burning would spread the smoke around and so he would take a coal
from the altar of sacrifice, put it in this incense burner and then he would walk from
the outer court into the holy place where the altar of incense was, he would take the
coal out of the incense burner, place it on the altar, sprinkle more incense on it and
the smoke would just go up and fill the holy place.
Now the incense would rise up as a sweet aroma to the Lord as it was said, a sweet smelling
aroma to the Lord but all of that, that whole picture was that in the holy place, in God's
throne room right before the throne which was just separated by the veil at the time
because Jesus hadn't died yet, the prayers of the people would go up into the presence
of God and that's what all this incense represented in the tabernacle and we see that very same
picture taking place here in the heavenlies.
David used the same picture in Psalm chapter 141 verse 2 where he said, may my prayer be
set before you as incense.
And so we see that very same thing happening here in heaven.
It says the incense is mixed with the prayers of the saints and in heaven it all goes up,
it says it went up to the presence of God.
Now this is a picture of the prayer, all the prayers, past and present of all the saints
because it says they're the prayers of all the saints right?
So in one way you could look at it and see that it's a symbolic picture of every prayer
of every saint and what they do, they go up to God.
God hears our prayers, our prayers reach him is what it's showing us and he answers those
prayers.
The Bible tells us that God hears our prayers and he answers.
He doesn't lose them is the idea.
He doesn't misplace them.
Like we're not going to get to heaven one day and say God I was praying for that thing
you know for 10 years and I never got an answer from you and he's going to be like what?
Hold on, rifle to the file cabinet, oh shoot I misfiled it sorry.
That's not going to happen, that's not the picture.
God hears your prayers and he answers.
Now you might be saying but wait a minute, I've prayed lots of things that haven't been
answered right?
I think we all feel that way at times.
Well just as a quick reminder you know and you've probably heard different variations
of this over the years but there's four basic answers to prayer, four basic answers to prayer
that I see biblically.
One of them is no, I love you too much to allow that in your life.
That's an answer to prayer.
You see we often think God didn't answer my prayer because he didn't answer in the
affirmative, he didn't give me what I want.
Parents you're very familiar with this aren't you?
No is often an answer to your kids desires because you know it's bad for them, you know
it's going to be detrimental for them, you know it's going to be harmful.
So one of the answers to prayer is no I love you too much to allow that.
One of the other answers to prayer is no not yet.
The timing isn't right and we hate that one, we hate that answer.
In this age of instant everything right?
Like I'm part of one of those meal plans where they send you food in the mail right and it's
frozen and it just works for me right?
But sometimes when I look on the back and it says five minutes I'm like I'm going to
starve to death.
You kidding me five minutes for this thing to get ready?
You know the breakfast ones only take three minutes come on right?
I mean we live in this age where we're so used to things being instantaneously available.
You can get all the information you want on your phone instantaneously about anything.
So but sometimes it's no not yet wait.
The third answer is yes I thought you'd never ask right?
Because the Bible tells us we have not because we ask not.
The Lord loves answering the prayers of his people and sometimes he loves answering yes
I've just been waiting for you to ask me.
I own the cattle on a thousand hills.
I'm the creator of everything.
Trust me just come to me with your needs.
And then sometimes the fourth one is yes and here's much more than you asked because the
Bible tells us that he does exceedingly above all that we ask or think.
So those are the four basic answers to prayer and so keep praying and trust God.
But don't ever be tempted to think he's not hearing your prayers.
We see this picture that all the prayers of the saints they go up to the presence of God
but but do these prayers in Revelation chapter 8 do they refer to anything specific?
I believe it's very likely because what we see in verse five or six here read with me
it says the angel then took the incense burner filled it with fire from the altar and he's
referring to that altar of incense that golden altar before the throne and he hurled it to
the earth.
There were peals of thunder rumblings flashes of lightning and an earthquake and then the
seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
You see on the day of atonement down here on earth in the tabernacle the high priest
would would again take a call put it in the incense burner walk into the holy place and
you would put it on the altar and you would sprinkle incense on it right.
But the high priest on the day of atonement he also had in his other hand blood from the
altar of sacrifice so he had the incense and he had the blood from the altar of sacrifice
and so after the incense had burned on the altar of incense he would then the high priest
one day a year would walk into the holy of holies the inner place where where the ark
of the covenant was the mercy seat array it was it was the picture like this is literally
God's throne where he's seated and he would go in there that that one time a year with
that incense burner still full of burning incense and the blood and he would sprinkle
that blood on the altar and this whole presentation was was casting the the sins of the people
onto the mercy seat and saying God please forgive our sins.
And then of course we know that God would then forgive the sins for the people that's
it he would atone for those things that's what I call it was the day of atonement right
the people were atoning for their sins the animal would take the death the blood sprinkled
upon the mercy seat but the whole picture of that of sin was judged in that moment in
that moment sin was judged the wrath of God if you will was was appeased was held back
for another year but here in Revelation 8 we see a twist instead of the angel with that
incense burner having gone to the altar and the prayers lifting up and then and then filling
that incense burner again with the firing fiery coals instead of walking to the throne
where God since and saying okay God forgive our sins instead of doing that that whole
picture there that sensor which is now full of fire is hurled to the earth for judgment.
Hurled to the earth for judgment where the people of earth who refuse God's payment for
sin are getting the opportunity to pay for it themselves through this tribulation period.
With peals of thunder rumblings lightning and earthquake it says here and it's interesting
picture to me because the picture is that these judgments that are falling upon the
earth during tribulation appear to be a direct response to the prayers of God's people.
The prayers of God's people whereas today as I said earlier sometimes we pray God how
can you allow that to happen when are you going to judge that when is justice going
to come why do the wicked seem to prosper when are you going to deal with it when God
when that's what we see taking place here in response to the prayers of God's people
judgment the fire is now cast down to earth not thrown upon the altar that time has passed
the time where the wrath of God has been cast upon Jesus himself taking the full wrath of
God for our sin the age of grace that we live in now at this point that time has passed
we are now in tribulation.
We are now in tribulation where God is going look I'm pouring out my judgment now I'm not
holding it back now yes during this time there is still the opportunity for people to finally
go God I'm so sorry I repent of my sins I believe you're God please forgive me and he
will do that but in the midst of all that wrath has finally come upon the earth for
its sin and then whereas once it was God forgive me and the judgment fell on Jesus now it's
God when will you judge those and God is judging those.
I believe in this picture we're encouraged to keep praying yes in this age of grace we
are called to pray for our enemies to pray for those who persecute us right we're called
to turn the other cheek go the extra mile yet we're called to live and behave in all
of these examples in actions of grace right why because we're in the age of grace we're
in the age of God's long suffering and we as his people are called to be like him long
suffering graceful merciful and yet we are still called to pray to pray Jesus taught
us to pray our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven that's what we're waiting for in this age we are waiting for
God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and I think you might agree as you
look around the world today with all its sin and all its perversions and all its wickedness
well you know what I don't really see God's will being done on earth in the way it is
in heaven now you might argue with me and go well wait a second God's omniscient and
he's allowing things okay sure but people aren't following God's will on earth the
way they do in heaven today in this age but one day one day this prayer will be answered
and that is what I believe we're seeing here in Revelation chapter 8 he's taken it all
back his will is being enforced sin and Satan is being dealt with Jesus is going to be exalted
his power and glory are being made manifest and as horrific as it is it really is a wonderful
picture of the power of prayer that God hears and God will answer and does answer but it's
always according to his timetable now what unfolds moving forward is is what Paul spoke
about in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 Paul said this in 2nd Thessalonians 1 6 through
9 he said it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give
relief to you who are afflicted along with us this will take place at the revelation
of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels what is the book of Revelation the
revelation of Jesus Christ when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don't know
God and on those who don't obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will pay the penalty
of eternal destruction from the Lord's presence and from his glorious strength and so again
just in a couple previous chapters the saints praying oh Lord how long until you avenge
us a prayer that many of us pray today when we hear or see different things and now that
prayer is being answered God is stepping in he turns up the judgment on those who are
rejecting him he is turning up the judgments on those who have persecuted and harmed those
who are his and so we will be looking at the first four trumpet judgments in the last 15
or 20 minutes of service today here the first four are what is the conclusion of chapter
8 the first four are natural judgments meaning that they are judgments that fall upon nature
they fall upon the physical creation and then the second two judgments which we will look
at next time are supernatural and these are judgments that are dealing with demonic forces
being unleashed upon the earth we are actually going to look at that in two weeks because
next week is Father's Day and we are going to take a moment to honor the fathers here
in our congregation but when we get to it we are going to see a picture that is a picture
of real judgment real judgment falling on earth and it is indeed these first four trumpets
earth itself that is being judged read with me in verse 7 the first angel blew his trumpet
and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled to the earth same word hurled so a third of
the earth was burned up a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was
burned up now this is something that was prophesied in the old testament Joel the prophet Joel
in chapter 2 verse 30 said I will display wonders in the heavens and on the earth blood
fire and columns of smoke it is something that we have seen in God's judgment in prior
times of judgment you remember how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah fire from the sky you guys
remember the plagues of Egypt one of those plagues was great hail stones falling from
the sky and so here we see this hail and this fire but it says it is mixed with blood that
is an interesting picture right now again this is one of those things where we do not
know exactly what it is we can speculate and conjecture about it but it could be something
related back to verse 5 where it says that sensor was hurled down to the earth and then
there was thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake this is the second mention of an
earthquake and revelation you remember there was already one large one here and these this
blood could be something that is possibly coming from these earthquakes right such severe
tectonic shifting worldwide that there are then volcanic eruptions on a worldwide scale
lava being spewed all over the place Dr. Henry Morris is a scientist from San Diego California
said this it is possible that a worldwide volcanic explosion would be a normal consequence
of a worldwide violent earthquake the masses of water vapor blown skyward might well condense
in the intense updraft as hail stones and then showers of burning lava might well then
come down with them upon the earth the blood of entrapped men and animals might be mingled
with all of this or possibly showers of liquid water drops might be so contaminated with
dust and gases that they would appear blood red so it's a picture of this horrific upheaval
upon the earth now what is the target of all of this well you see there the target is the
trees and the green grass it's all the green vegetation of the earth it's the land that
is the target imagine the upset to the balance of nature the ecological disaster that would
take place as a third of the trees are gone and a third of the green grasses right we
know that trees are a part of making the oxygen we breathe what's that going to be like when
a third are suddenly gone grasses make up pasture lands that then cattle and things
graze on to produce the the milk and all the stuff that we get from imagine when a third
of that is gone the word trees here in the Greek is dendron and in the Bible that word
dendron is often used to refer to fruit trees in scripture fruit trees trees that bear fruit
and so this whole picture is is that grains and vegetables and fruit are going to become
scarce and what's that going to do drive up the cost you think things are expensive now
and then imagine with a third of the trees going what housing costs are going to do as
the cost of lumber goes through the roof as as lumber itself becomes scarce it's just
it's going to be incredible now it's interesting in Romans chapter one as as we see this first
trumpet judgment falling upon the land the earth itself Romans one tells us that creation
shows the attributes of God right there's this whole section there where it talks about
that that who God is is very clearly seen in the creation we see around us and the perfect
balance of things the perfect creation of things right all those little nuances like
if we were one degree closer to the sun we'd burn up if we were one degree farther away
we'd be an ice cube and all this different stuff we see in the very perfect balance of
creation and Romans one says yeah duh it shows you that there's a creator and honest scientists
today admit the impossibility of evolution and yet even though creation itself speaks
of a creator even though this perfect delicate impossible balance of all things speaks that
someone created it that there was an intelligence behind it God duh man still denies a creator
Romans one says man should have been able to just look at the environment and say you
know what there's a God there's a creator out there and he should be worshiped because
if he was powerful enough to create all of this he is almighty and worthy to be worshiped
instead Romans one says they took God's creation and started worshiping it we're going to worship
mother earth we're going to worship the created thing and they worship the created they worship
the creature instead of the creator Romans one says and there's thousands and thousands
around the world today that do indeed worship mother earth Gaia she's the one that we worship
she's the one that we bow down to you know nature is God God is nature and guess what
God the real God God Almighty will judge their God that they think is all powerful and some
are going to be like how dare he he made it it's his he can do whatever he wants with
it it's his creation he made the rules he's the one that that defined all of that he is
free to do with it what he pleases but the point of all this is to say earth is not God
because I look what I'm doing to it it can't save you only God can save verse eight the
second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was
hurled into the sea and so a third of the sea became blood a third of the living creatures
in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed so it's interesting there here it
says something like a great mountain ablaze with fire something like we don't know exactly
what it is for sure right there is a very specific Greek word that that John uses that
we get our word asteroid from he actually uses that in the next trumpet judgment but
he doesn't use it here so it could be this great gigantic rock ablaze with fire could
could be a picture of a comet finally striking the earth that's one of the speculations about
this and it strikes the sea specifically but but look how precise these judgments are right
if God is not flexing here look at how precise it's exactly a third and a third and a third
and first he strikes the land now he is striking the sea and exactly a third of the green vegetation
was affected when he struck the land and now it's exactly a third of the creatures in the
sea and the ships upon it now the sea here it's specifically referencing salt water sources
right but it was interesting because there's there's a bunch of websites out there where
you could kind of see how many ships are currently on the ocean kind of stuff you know and it's
one of those like Google Earth types of things that you'll spend way too long perusing if
you're into that kind of stuff no personal experience right so but one of these ship
finder websites said that there's currently 58,000 merchant ships trading on the international
waters as of 2022 58,000 ships just plying the oceans cargo ships container ships all
this type of stuff this isn't recreational stuff this is just stuff that has to do with
the economy and the and the moving of goods right and it says that a third of all these
ships are going to be destroyed that would be 19,000 of the existing merchant ships on
the ocean just shut suddenly being destroyed imagine what that's going to do to the global
economy Amazon's probably not going to have to two-day shipping anymore at that point
and then it says the demise of a third of all the ocean creatures that can explain the
sea becoming blood right the creatures that live in the ocean whales dolphins fish everything
that's out there all the stuff we know and even the stuff we don't know but a third of
it dying suddenly that would explain this the ocean becoming blood and it doesn't say
becoming like blood which is very interesting John's very specific sometimes when he says
it looks like something he always uses the word like here it says very clearly that the
ocean became blood that's interesting too because according to I forgot to write down
the website but some some species ocean species census website I visited I can't remember
the name of it but it said that there have been 1.2 as of 2023 1.2 million species identified
in the ocean there's 1.2 million different species of creature living in the ocean yet
they say that only accounts for 9% of everything they think is out there that as of 2023 today
91% of ocean species have yet to be classified what does that tell me there's a lot of creatures
in the ocean and when a third of that dies the oceans become blood now again as God was
judging people lifting up the land and worshiping the land I believe God is in judging people
lifting up sea life and those types of things you know and trying to call them something
to be elevated right creatures are already being elevated in our culture Malibu in the
past here past laws this is Malibu in California past laws to give dolphins and whales human
rights and equal citizenship with humans they worship the creation rather than the creator
but God says no no no the creation is not to be exalted again this stuff was predicted
by the prophets Hosea chapter 4 verse 2 cursing lying murder stealing and adultery are rampant
one act of bloodshed follows another and for this reason the land mourns and everyone who
lives in it languishes along with the wild animals and the birds of the sky even the
fish of the sea disappear and Zephaniah 1 3 says I will sweep away the people and animals
I will sweep away the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea and the ruins along with
the wicked I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth this is the Lord's declaration
revelation 8 verse 10 the third angel blew his trumpet and a great star blazing like
a torch fell from heaven it fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water the name
of the star is wormwood and a third of the waters became wormwood so many of the people
died from the waters because they had been made bitter and so another cosmic entity falls
to the earth here now again this is fresh water sources right rivers and springs of
waters but it's interesting it's it's something strikes exactly a third of the rivers worldwide
so this could indicate something hitting the atmosphere exploding in the atmosphere then
spreading around the globe to fall then into these fresh water sources it could be that
as I mentioned already when it says a great star that word start there is the Greek word
asterose that's where we get the English word asteroid right and so this is very similar
to in chapter 6 when it says the stars of heaven fell to the earth same word asterose
and so the speculation is it's talking about asteroid strikes on earth but it calls this
one a great star a great star just referencing the the size and impact of this particular
thing possibly an asteroid hitting the earth but according to the National Geographic Society
currently in the world today we have 100 principal rivers in the world the longest one is the
Amazon 4,000 miles long the longest in America is the Mississippi River 3710 miles long but
a third of these are struck and all these fresh water sources then become wormwood it
says wormwood just is a word that means bitter it refers to a plant that has a root that
exudes like this dark green oil and it's very bitter but the idea here of this star being
called wormwood called bitter causing our rivers to become bitter the idea here is that
the fresh water sources are becoming undrinkable possibly poisonous so again that which we
need to survive water humans need water clean drinking water becomes very limited or unavailable
around the world you know and in judging the world in judging the God that mankind has
propped up the God of the God that is creation right the earth itself in judging that God
we've seen is judged the sea with the first trunk or the land with the first trumpet the
seas with the second trumpet the fresh water sources with the fourth trump our third trumpet
and now with the fourth trumpet he turns to the air we read in verse 12 the fourth angel
blew his trumpet and a third of the sun was struck a third of the moon and a third of
the stars so that a third of them were darkened and that's the point of this particular judgment
a third of the day was without light and also a third of the night so as the earth is being
afflicted I imagine mankind is probably getting together and having a lot of you know climate
change conferences and you know we need to fix it we need to have seminars we need to
bring in the experts about climate change because oh my gosh look what's taking place
and as they're trying to figure out what to do about the land and the sea and the rivers
and all this stuff the sky goes the sun the moon the stars are all affected it's this
could be eclipses we don't know for sure again but some speculate that as a part of the war
that comes with the second seal being unleashed that there's possibly localized nuclear detonations
around the earth and it's known that nuclear detonations can cause what's called a nuclear
winter affecting the skies affecting the weather and the temperatures but regardless of what
it is the point here is that light will be diminished what a picture of mankind right
who has decided to live in darkness and diminish the light light is now diminished in creation
and with the sun being diminished it's likely the temperature drops so so much for global
warming we know the psychological effect on places where the sun doesn't shine for six
months at a time can you imagine the depression and all that's going to take place as the
world is darkened Jesus said in Luke chapter 21 that there would be signs in the sun and
signs in the moon and signs in the stars and he said that men will faint from terror apprehensive
of what is coming upon the world and then verse 13 John says I looked and I heard a
flying eagle an eagle flying high overhead crying out in a loud voice whoa whoa whoa
to those who live upon the earth because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three
angels are about to sound if you thought these four were bad wow wait for the remaining ones
what's to come is even worse that has already happened and that word whoa there whoa it
means oh disaster oh horror is what that word whoa means now all of this sounds terribly
grim terribly grim and it's only going to get worse but it's all because the world has
pushed away and rejected the gospel for so long has pushed away God and rejected him
blasphemed his name denied him and God has been patient he is patient now during this
age but one day he will not be one day his judgments will fall upon this earth and regardless
of how man might to might try to judge God it's not fair what you're doing it's not
fair it is because God is just he is and for those that will cry out during this time he
is given ample time but we're not there yet we're not there yet mankind is on this earth
without Christ has always been about itself we as as as as our people without God we are
selfish creatures we're about self-preservation and self-preservation and self-exaltation
that's that's the sin nature that we have as mankind right it's my life and my earth
in my environment in my house in my stuff in my pleasure and my rules in my way it's
about my kingdom my control my influence my authority my will and that's how man lives
but no it's not it's not about any of those things it's not at all about those things
no matter how you build how you live what you do here and now regardless the end comes
for every single one of us the end will come for all of us and Jesus said heaven and earth
will pass away if all of your hope is in this earth if all of your hope is in this kingdom
if all your hope is in the mountains and the rocks if all your hope is in yourself and
your accomplishments and your will and your efforts if all your hope is in all of that
what a tragically sad day it's going to be when you realize it was all for nothing so
why do we need to know the future why do we need to study eschatology well for the world's
perspective because like rebellious children we all need to be warned it's almost in a
sense where you know sometimes parents go okay I'm going to count to three God's counting
God's counting and the people of this earth need to be warned they need to wake up they
need to give their lives to Christ they need to cry out to him for salvation today to be
saved because he is the only hope he is the only way he is the only truth he is the only
life there is salvation in none but him and we today as believers have the opportunity
to take that message to a world that desperately needs it you know we have opportunities like
Harvest Crusade and our evangelism ministry and our outreach teams and tracks one of our
faithful brothers here just provided tracks for the church they're over on the table take
as many as you want pass them out the idea is is judgment is coming let's get busy yeah
we got to work yeah we got to pay bills yeah we got to handle our stuff but let's not get
so distracted by those things that we forget the big picture of eternity what God is doing
today what he is going to do in the future to have that passion that he has for the lost
to have a broken heart for those that don't yet know him that we would do everything we
can in kindness in love intact to be able to get the gospel to them to encourage them
to be saved today to redeem the time in their life now because the days are short let's
pray father we love you God it can be hard sometimes to look at these things it can be
hard sometimes to see what you're going to do as you pour out your judgment upon sin
the sin that mankind brought into this earth but Lord it's all simply a picture of your
holiness and I pray God you would help us to see that at the same time Lord we wouldn't
look at any of this as saved believers and find any joy in it God because Lord this represents
people dying without you yes Lord we want to see your justice fall yes Lord we want
to see you deal with these horrible things people do in this world but God you said yourself
that you so loved creation and everything in it Lord the entire world the cosmos that
you gave your only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but
have everlasting life Lord we know you take no joy in judgment may we as your kids never
take joy in judgment but at the same time Lord that we would be encouraged to know that
justice is coming however in the meantime Lord let us be people that are about the gospel
of Jesus Christ to share the truth of salvation with those who desperately need it because
the time is short we thank you Lord fill us with your spirit we love you and it's in Jesus
name we pray amen let's worship guys.