The trumpets do not follow the seventh seal. They are the seventh seal. The seven bowls do not follow the seventh seal. They are the seventh seal. They come at the end of the seventh trumpet.
So you've got seven seals, okay? That seventh one unleashes seven judgments of trumpets and seven judgments from the bowls. That's 14 waves, and it's global. It's not all in one spot. You're listening to Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston.
Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 8, with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Revelation chapter 8.
Verses one through four. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about Half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, Having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense.
That he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar. which was before the throne. and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God. from the angel's hand. This chapter resumes the opening of the seven seals.
There was this pause, chapter. 7 was a parentheses chapter, and it said, Well, this is what's going on with the believers while this tribulation period is. unfolding. And then it comes to chapter 8, and it says, okay, now let's go back to this seventh seal. And millions of people will be saved during These apocalyptic events But billions will be lost due to their own stubbornness.
Many of them given over to strong delusion.
Some will see and believe. Most will see and refuse to believe, but God has vindicated through all of this, His methods. It's not as though he is saying, I'm just going to pour this wrath on humanity 'cause I'm s about sick and tired of them. It's I'm going to pour wrath on humanity. Because of their blasphemies and their persecutions and the wickedness, but I'm also going to be able to save through this time of tribulation souls that otherwise could never have been saved.
And that is the grace and the mercy of God in the midst of such horrific events. Psalm 96. Say among the nations, Yahweh reigns. The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved. He shall judge the peoples righteously.
Well, that's just one part of a psalm taken out that expresses so much that is true. Many verses say the same thing in different ways. In fact, The second Psalm sort of covers the Great Tribulation period.
Sort of this little microcosm of an overview of here's the great tribulation for messing with. God.
So, the first three and a half years, as we put this puzzle together, we take the puzzle pieces or the fragments. We collect them. From various parts of the scripture, and we put them together, and some of it becomes very clear, and some of it is debatable, but not harmful. And so you have differing views on how this revelation is going to unfold, but For the most part, amongst the good Bible teachers, there's no great departure from any truth. There's no departure from truth.
It's just a different view of how this might happen. And whoever gets to speak gets to share their understanding of how the parts come together. The first three and a half years will involve the rise of Antichrist. It will include world war and apocalyptic events and much death. And we saw this in the coming of the four horsemen, beginning to introduce this great tribulation period that Jesus was very clear about.
He says, such as the world's not seen, And no one would survive. If God does not interfere. Which brings us to the next three years, because it's a seven-year period. And that next three and a half year period sees Antichrist fully demonized now, energized. by Satan And of course, he turns on the Jewish people.
He breaks his covenant, and he looks to wipe them out. There will be heightened demonic activity. There will be continuation of wars, and there will still be apocalyptic upheavals. On the earth. Tsunamis, earthquakes, sinkholes, storms, forest fires, landslides.
nuclear exchanges It will be happening. And the details of that seven and a half year period are in this, they're packed into this seventh seal. the intensified judgments. that bring about seven trumpet blast of woe, And the last three trumpets are super bad. Comparatively, so the scripture tells us.
And then there are seven bowls that are poured out. Those seven trumpets and those seven bowls are the seventh seal. They're not additional that's the seventh seal. Opening up And God saying, this is what's going to go on. And when this arrives, And it will.
You can either convert in the midst of it all, or you can harden your heart against God continuously, suffer within the great tribulation period, then stand before me and perish your soul will still perish. And so, as we go through now this eighth chapter, I should add, I will purposely omit much of what you might find in your study Bibles and commentaries, not because it's wrong, some of it I don't disagree with, some of it I find it's just kind of filler. They didn't know what to say, and they just threw that in there.
So, don't be surprised if I skip over many things when they say, Well, the stars are this and the stars of that, and I remain silent on that. Verse 1: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Well, this can't be good. The seventh seal covers the end of the world, or human rule that is. Seven, that number of completions, finalizing everything. Back in 1993, some of you remember the Branch Davidians under the lunatic David Koresh, the false prophet. We got so many people killed, men, women and children.
And there was a documentary that was taking place about that time concerning this cult. And there was this young woman I remember in the interview that had gotten mixed up with this group. And Sh it was because of her quest for knowledge that she got in trouble. No, there's no problem with having the quest for knowledge that is within the limits of God. But when you want to go past that, then you have a problem.
And this is the story of Eve in Eden. God had made his revelation and expressed his will, and Satan said, There's more to be gotten, sweetheart. And she took the bait, and we know what happened.
Well, that woman, she said that only David Koresh could answer what the seventh seal meant.
Well, she was wrong and she paid for it with her life and so did her children. And so, you know, this quest for knowledge, again, is a good thing, but it has to be under the control, as we Christians know it, of the Holy Spirit. And if you're not a Christian, well, you've got other issues you've got to take care of so that the Holy Spirit can befriend you, but He will not do that without your permission. He continues here in the first verse: There was silence in heaven for about half an hour. This dramatic pause is intentional.
You don't read this in this eighth chapter. If you read the book of Revelation, it's one of the things that you just remember. this moment of silence. It's not out of place. It's like the silence in the courtroom.
When the judge says to the jury foreman, Have you reached a verdict? And everybody goes quiet. Anticipating What's coming? Because all heaven knows what's coming with this seventh seal. Humanity has never seen anything like it.
and has no idea, apart from God's revelation, what this is going to be. And this is a good chapter to preach the gospel from. The truth and the consequences of lies. Verse 2: And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Again, these trumpets They might as well be cannons because They unleash everything that you don't want to be on the receiving end of.
The trumpets do not follow the seventh seal. They are the seventh seal. The seven bowls do not follow the seventh seal. They are the seventh seal. They come at the end of the seventh trumpet.
So you've got seven seals, okay? That seventh one unleashes seven judgments of trumpets and seven judgments from the bowls. That's 14 waves, and it's global. It's not all in one spot. Verse 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.
He was given much incense, and that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God. From the angel's hand.
Well the scene now shifts to heaven. And well, it's been in heaven for this first paragraph. These are the prayers of the believers. to God to deal with wickedness on the earth. They've been collected.
They've been preserved. God has kept score against wickedness. And I emphasize in the reading all the prayers of all the saints. Because I think these are the prayers The saints from Abel all the way into the Revelation, asking God to do something about their persecutors. Look at James the Apostle was killed with the sword.
Well, there were Christians praying that he would not be killed with the sword, and he was. God heard those prayers. And here they are. Collected by God. Psalm 94, verse 3.
Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
Well, until his return. They will have, you can't say enjoy victories, but they will succeed. And doing much evil, but from the midst of all of that, souls get saved, and Satan hates it so much. The much incense indicates the many prayers. over the ages.
Now we look at the New Testament church age.
Now the church at this time is gone, is not on the earth. True Christians are not allowed to assemble. Because they've stood against the administration of Antichrist and the world, and they've been outlawed. and they are hunted down and they are killed. Israel is safe for three and a half years, and then her head goes on the chopping block.
Well, back in the Gospels, when before the church age, when Jesus was. rolling it into existence. You know, we remember he went and he preached and he was rejected in a particular place. And we read in Luke chapter 9, and when his disciples, James and John, their names listed, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven? and consume them just as Elijah did?
Well, there's some know-it-all students for you. These guys could do nothing. What do you mean you could call fire down like Elijah did?
Well, anyway, of course, the Lord rebuked them, said, You don't know what spirit you're from. This is not how we're doing it right now. But it's going to change. And so we fast forward to Revelation chapter 6. And as that fifth seal is opened, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?
Well, that time is about to happen now. These are called dispensations. When God says, There's a time for that. And this isn't it, or there's a time for that, and this is it. In the church age, God appealed to Scripture and truth, and we're in the church age.
We live in that dispensation. And you look at history, we're not in the age of the patriarchs, you know, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We're not in the age of Noah. We are in the age of the church. Where God is appealing to souls through the Scripture and the truth of the scripture.
and with reason. But in the Great Tribulation, God will appear through appeal to lost souls through predictive prophecy. That's how the millions are going to get saved.
Somebody's going to point it out.
Someone's going to say, look, this has been recorded in Scripture. The apocalyptic wrath and the awe. and be converted. and the others strong delusion.
So it's Strong delusion for some, repentance and conversion for others. Paul said, because they did not receive the love of the truth, but had pleasure in a lie. God will send them strong delusion. You tell somebody, Well, if I get raptured, you just read this and you'll get saved.
Well, don't be so quick to say that. I'm not so sure the Bible's teaching that. You can say that, but I think it's a better thing to say to them, look at. Today is the day. Not to harden your heart.
Don't go playing games with God thinking that somehow you're going to land on your feet. Because you're not. And if you wait too long, you've had it. And there's no need to wait. Another second.
And if you're here listening online or watching online or in the church and you've not opened your heart to God, you have made yourself. An opponent to God Almighty, and you will be treated as an enemy combatant. But it doesn't have to happen that way. You have a say so in this matter. Step forward and make the move.
And you know, you know, if you're not saved and you're in a church, I don't believe anybody goes to a Bible-teaching church by accident. I believe it is an act of the Holy Spirit. Wooing that individual to come to Christ.
Well, verse 5, then the angel took the censer, filled it. with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, And an earthquake. They're like a holy hand grenade. It's got all of these prayers of the saints.
And it is thrown to earth, and creation is shaken the day of judgment on humanity for their insolence. And their blasphemies has arrived. It's here. The prayers of the saints Return to earth the collected prayers in wrath. that all men Be a liar, God is not mocked.
Verse 6: So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. What a solemn moment, the quiet, the silence in heaven. belligerent humanity. They wanted to fight with God. They got worse.
than they could imagine. Man cannot imagine what What awaits them, they They cannot Reason through it though, or else no one would get saved. They wanted A one world government and they will get a one world judgment. Matthew 28, Jesus said, All these are the beginnings of sorrows. There's a lot more to come.
Don't think that, well, you know, how can a loving God, how can he not? How can he not judge? The wicked for the things that they do. Wh why has there been restraint? During this nuclear age?
How come we've only really seen just the the two bombs on Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we haven't really seen any more? Why? Man is wicked enough. They've got stockpiles of these things as they're still developing them. They're probably putting them in space so they can fire from out of space.
It's divine It's sovereignty. Divine prohibition. keeping these weapons of mass destructions from being unleashed. But it ain't going to hold forever. And we're going to read about it and some of it in this chapter and the chapters to come.
Because even though man will unleash his wickedness against man, there will still be these demonic activities that will heighten unlike ever before. And we'll get that in chapter 9. And not only chapter 9. Wrath comes to press sinners to repentance. without totally destroying them.
There will be enough survivors For the battle of Armageddon, when Christ does come back.
So the prophets they foretold of Christ coming. and it's been fulfilled to the letter. We boast of it as Christians. We talk about how many prophecies were made and Christ has fulfilled them and nobody else has come close.
Well, the prophets have also foretold of God's coming global wrath. Why would you doubt that? It's guaranteed. But oh, how difficult it is to get a stubborn heart to open to the Saviour. In verse seven The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, And they were thrown to the earth.
Yeah. and a third of the trees were burned up. and all green grass was burned up.
Well, that can't be good. There's got to be a lot of death going on in the midst of these things. The first trumpet vegetation is struck. This is again the first of 14 salvos of judgment that are coming. The blood mingle blood here is from war.
Perhaps It's an initial strike. which will result in counter strikes, like when we get to verse eight and nine. Again, referring to you who are prophecy students to the 38th and 39th chapters, just a quick overview. My take on chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel is: 38 is Antichrist coming to power, dealing with the Russo-Islamic alliance. And then chapter 39 is Armageddon.
The other view is that they're all Armageddon, but there's too many discrepancies for me to agree with that one.
Well, during that. Coming to power of Antichrist when he's fighting the wars of the red horse that comes on the scene, as we read. Chapter 6, we read in Ezekiel, And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him. flooding, rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
But that's not it. That doesn't end the earth. That's just one theater of war. The thirds that are mentioned here, a third of the trees here in verse 7, were burned up. And of all the green grass.
And the green grass, the specification of green is likely telling us what year it's not wintertime. This is one of those little things put in there that makes a point that will be not wasted on people living through these things. Anyway, the thirds are not necessarily confined to one region. striking the vegetation hits land life pretty hard. Animals need the grass.
I mean, you know, the people will need the vegetables and things like that. Lumber and livestock will be affected. This is making life miserable for people not in the theater of war. These are spread out globally. Earthquakes may occur in the Pacific, a little tsunami may and that will come with that.
But you might have volcanoes or war breaking out in the Baltics. I mean, it's again, this is a global deal. This could be a mention of targeting the food supplies of the armies. The hail and the fire, they do speak of judgment. In the book of Joshua, when He was going against the Amorites.
God sent hailstones down to destroy the army of the Amorites on behalf of God's people.
So, God has always flexed His sovereignty when He's felt good and ready to do so, and we have no reason to doubt it will not be that way at this time. They were thrown to the earth. Violent events. And a third of the trees were burned up.
Well, wildfires, yes. But isn't it interesting that many of the nuclear missiles are on mobile Launchers. And these mobile launches are often concealed in wooded areas, particularly amongst. The Russian army.
Well, they're going to be targeted. with the missile launchers that are concealed in those wooded areas. and all the green grass burned up. Within the territories of the combatants or their suppliers. Verse eight.
Then the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
Well, on this one, here's one of the reasons why, you know, I said I'm not don't expect me to always agree or comment on what Others are saying. We get here in many of the commentators: so, this is a meteor or a comet hitting the earth.
Well, if that were so, John would have said it was a meteor or a comet. That wasn't a foreign item to them. He's saying it's like a mountain burning, coming to the earth. He doesn't know what this is. Or at least he doesn't know.
How to. Express it. And this may be the counter-strike. to events in verse 7. And here the salt water is first mentioned, then the fresh water inland.
And one of the points about that is: well, in the saltwater, that's where your big navies are. And as you get into the fresh water, that's your brown water, that's where you have populations. But when he says, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea.
Now this is one of my takes on what this Mountainous fireball looks like. These are warheads being released. This has been Cross-Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston. This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand.
Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
