Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Yes, environmental problems are the result of human activity, sin. But the greatest assault on the environment is yet to come, and it will come from the hand of Almighty God. And it's the event we're going to look at today as we discover what's going to happen to the earth when Gabriel blows his horn. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. In our lifetime, we have witnessed tremendous destruction from natural disasters.
But nothing we've seen will even come close to the ecological devastation that will take place during the final seven years of Earth's history. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the horrors that will unfold during the Great Tribulation. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome to a brand new week of Bible teaching on Pathway to Victory. Today and through the end of September, we're conducting a study in the fascinating book of Revelation.
I'm calling this series Final Conquest. Many people find the book of Revelation intimidating because of all the strange imagery John included in his writings. He talked about the beast out of the sea and the harlot of Babylon, just to mention a few. Well, to help you navigate these unfamiliar people and scenes, I've written two helpful resources that represent decades of personal study about biblical prophecy. The first is a booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. My new booklet explains 15 different figures that you need to know related to Bible prophecy. And second, I've written a brand new book called Mysteries of the End Times, five little known truths about God's plan for the future.
Now, if you think you already own one of these, you can't possibly because they're both brand new. In Mysteries of the End Times, I've answered five common questions, questions such as, where is America in the end times? A copy of my new book is yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. And when you respond today, I'll be sure to include my booklet, The Major Characters of the End Times, as well. When John wrote the book of Revelation, he told us about seven mysterious seals. In the passage we're looking at today, Jesus breaks the seventh and final seal.
This leads to another sequence of seven mysterious items. We'll title today's message, When Gabriel Blows His Horn. If you have your Bibles, turn to Revelation chapter 8, chapter 8 verse 1. When the Lamb, that is Jesus, broke the seventh, the final seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, not one with a trumpet, but another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all of the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and he filled it with the fire, that is the coals of the altar, and he threw it to the earth. And there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. You probably wonder, what in the world is this talking about?
Here's the picture. The tribulation is in full force at this point. The great judgment of God against the earth is the result of the prayers of God's people. What of God's people being praying for thousands of years? Thy kingdom come, God.
Thy will be done on earth as it's being done in heaven. Christians of every age have been praying for justice. They've been praying for the return of Jesus Christ. That is the prayer of every true Christian. And now the angel is pouring out those prayers on the earth and saying those prayers are about to be answered. That's what these Christians through the ages have been doing.
They have prayed the future, God's future judgment and Christ's future return into being. And now we are ready for the sounding of the first four of those trumpet judgments. You'll notice that the first four of these trumpet judgments are against the earth, against nature.
And the final three are against mankind. Let's look at that first trumpet, fire on earth. Verse seven, the first trumpet sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth.
We don't know for sure what John is describing here. Perhaps it's a result of the volcanic activity mentioned in verse five when John talks about the thunder and lightning and earthquakes. Perhaps these earthquakes have caused volcanic activity throughout the world that is causing lava and rock to be spewed into the atmosphere and it returns as what looks like hail or meteors striking the earth. But whatever it is, the devastation is real. Notice the results, a third of the earth was burned up. Not only that, a third of the trees were burned up. And not only that, all the green grass was burned up. Just imagine the tremendous damage to our ecosystem if you lost a third of the green grass in the world. You know, as I read about this first trumpet judgment, the natural world, the third of the world burned up, the trees destroyed. And then I read further as we'll see in a moment, the marine life, a third of all marine life destroyed. I think about all of this ash and smoke going into the atmosphere. I can't help but think about the current discussion going on in our country right now, in our world about the environment and concern about the environment.
Now let me be very clear. I believe we ought to take care of the environment. I think we are stewards of the world that God has given us.
I have no argument with that. I think that's biblical. But today there seems to be those who have put so much emphasis on the creation, they have forgotten the creator. They make the same mistake that those in Romans 1 make. Paul describes those who have been darkened in their understanding because they worship the creature rather than the creator. There are people today who are worshiping the creation instead of the creator. I read this week, Elizabeth Warren said, the survival of our planet depends upon the 2020 election.
No, it doesn't. The survival of our planet depends upon Almighty God. And the greatest danger this world faces is not what the hands of man do to the environment. The greatest threat to this environment is what the hand of God is going to do to this world. And don't get alarmed by all of these people who say, we only have 12 years left as a planet. Have you heard that? Only 12 years left as a planet if we don't do blah, blah, blah.
Don't believe any of that. 2 Peter 3.7 says very clearly, the present heavens and the earth are being reserved. They are being preserved for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. God is preserving this planet right now.
He's the one who's preserving it, but he's preserving it for the time he's going to destroy it by fire. And that's not going to happen one second sooner than God has already ordained. That's what the Word of God says. And you know, it's going to be interesting in those final seven years for people to see who have worshiped the earth and put so much concern in this world to see God destroy the world that he created.
You know, one of the patterns you see in both the Old and New Testament is this. God loves to destroy idols. You know what an idol is?
It's anything you love, anything you focus on more than God himself. That's what an idol is. An idol doesn't have to be a little six-inch figurine that you bow down and worship. Your career can be an idol. Your family can be an idol. Your money can be an idol. An idol is anything that you love more than God. And many times, God will destroy your idol right before your very eyes. He'll take away that relationship.
He'll end that career. He'll consume your money, not because he hates you, because he loves you. He wants you to know that there's only one person worthy of your worship and love, and that's God himself. In these final seven years, those who dwell on the earth are going to see the idol they have made of the world, Mother Nature. They're going to see that destroyed before their very eyes. But that's just the beginning. There is a second trumpet, and it results in blood in the sea.
Look at verses 8 and 9. 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, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. This is something, John says, it looks like a great mountain coming to earth.
It doesn't take much imagination to have to know what that is. He's probably talking about a large meteor, an asteroid that breaks up at some point and hits different parts of the earth, all assigned by God himself. You remember in 2013, there was a large meteor that streaked through the Russian skies. It was 65 feet in width, and it didn't hit the earth. It exploded in the atmosphere. But the force of that giant asteroid exploding was measured to be 20 to 30 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
It could have a devastating consequence if you have a large asteroid or meteor that is blown apart in the atmosphere and strikes various parts of the earth. The Bible says when this happens and it came into the sea, a third of the sea became blood. We don't know if he's speaking figuratively.
He could be speaking literally there. The water turned to blood. Think of losing a third of all marine life, what that would look like, or the lives of human beings who are lost at sea. It became like blood.
It became blood. And notice the result, a third of the creatures who were in the sea and had life died. We don't know how many sea creatures there are.
Scientists estimate that there are anywhere from 700,000 to a million different species of those creatures that live in the sea. Imagine again the effect on the environment. You lost a third of the dolphins and the whales and the other important creatures to our ecosystem. Not only that, he says, a third of the ships will also be destroyed. Again, if these large meteors hit, there will be tidal waves, tsunamis, that will result in a third of merchant ships being destroyed. And then the third trumpet, a contamination of fresh water.
Look at verses 10 to 11. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. That word star we've seen before doesn't have to mean a literal star. The word can refer again to a meteor or an asteroid, some kind of heavenly body, and it breaks up apparently.
When it enters the atmosphere. But instead of striking the seas, these stars are directed, divinely so, to fall on a third of the rivers and springs of waters. This is an attack on the fresh water that our world enjoys. You know, there are about 165 major rivers in the world along with their contributing tributaries. Imagine if a third of those fresh water supplies are removed from the earth. In fact, the World Health Organization tells us that about 900,000 people die every year from contaminated water.
Imagine what would happen if you lost a third of the fresh water supply. By the way, this star that breaks up and falls to earth has a name. Did you know God has named every star of the trillions of stars in his universe? Ladies, if your husband or significant other tells you for Valentine's Day he's naming a star for you, have you seen where you can send in $10 and get a star name? Don't fall for that.
It's all a scam. The stars already has a name to it, okay? And God named every star. Isn't that amazing to think? God has a name for every star. And the God who knows the names of trillions of stars, he knows the number of hairs on your head. That's the kind of God we serve.
He has a name for this star. It's called wormwood. Wormwood is a word that referred to bitterness, a bitter plant.
You remember in Exodus chapter 15, I believe it is. Yeah, Exodus 15 at Marah, the children of Israel came and the water was bitter tasting. And God, through their prayers, changed the bitter into sweet. Well, this water isn't only bitter tasting.
It becomes poisonous and results in the deaths of millions of men and women and children. And then the fourth judgment, the fourth trumpet, darkness of the heavenly bodies. Verse 12, and the fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it and the night in the same way. Darkness is always symbolic of evil and God's judgment. But I don't think we have to take this as symbolic.
I think this is literal. What John is seeing is the light from the sun and the moon and the stars was reduced by eight hours a day. How does God accomplish that? In what sense is the intensity reduced that comes from the sun?
That's really not hard to figure out. When you look at the first judgment, think of all the smoke coming up from a third of the world being destroyed by fire. Think of all the ash being spewed into the air through this unusual amount of volcanic activity.
Think of what it would do in blocking or diminishing the sunlight that comes to the earth. You know, in the early 19th century, two different volcanic eruptions propelled enough smoke and ash into the atmosphere that it reduced global temperatures by five to ten degrees. Do you remember back in the 1990s? It seems weird to say back in the 1990s. But remember the Persian Gulf War? Remember when Saddam Hussein marched into Kuwait and we drove him out of Kuwait?
But as he left Kuwait back across the Iraqi border, he set the oil fields on fire in Kuwait. And all of those poisonous chemicals and smoke that were propelled into the sky for nine months, it took nine months to extinguish those fires. And the result was the average temperature in the Middle East decreased by 20 degrees.
I think that's what you're seeing here. A result of these judgments and all of the ash and smoke and poisons released in the atmosphere have blocked off the sunlight for an additional eight hours a day. Can you imagine again the effect that would have on our growing of food, of the ecosystem, if we lost eight hours of sunlight every day? And think about emotionally what that would do.
To have 16 hours of darkness or 20 hours of darkness every day, think about the violence, the looting, the rioting that would take place. These are awful judgments that God sends against the natural world. And yet, the worst is yet to come.
And that's why we find this pause in verse 13. Then John says, I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to come. As I said a moment ago, these final three trumpet judgments will be against man himself. And they're going to result in some of the worst human suffering the world has ever known.
The Bible says it's going to last for five months. And people who are affected by this judgment are going to be in such agony and pain that they will cry out to God to be able to die, but God will not allow them to die. It is an agonizing judgment that is yet to come. That word woe is always a pronouncement of divine judgment.
He doesn't say it once, but he says it three times. There are three coming judgments, woe, woe, woe, to those who are unfortunate enough to dwell on the earth. I want you to think about that phrase for just a moment. To those who dwell on the earth.
Who is going to receive these awful judgments yet to come? To those who dwell on the earth. You're going to say, Pastor, that's pretty obvious who he's talking about, people who are living on the earth.
That's not all that he's talking about here. The word to dwell on the earth, there are two Greek words used to describe earth dwellers. One word in Greek is paroikeo. It's a word to refer to those who are sojourners on the earth.
They're passing through this world. It's a word used to describe Abraham in Hebrews 11, verse 9. Abraham, you remember, was a wealthy man, but he knew this world wasn't his home. He lived in tents, not in a permanent dwelling. He was always ready to go wherever God sent him. He was a sojourner. He was an alien on this earth, the Bible says. His focus wasn't on this world. Verse 10 of Hebrews 11 says, he was focused on that city whose founder and architect is God. Even though he dwelled on this earth, he was focused on the next earth, the new heaven and the new earth. That's the word paroikeo, a sojourner. But that's not the word we find here in Revelation 8, 13. This judgment is not against those who just geographically live on the earth. The second Greek word is kataoikeo, kataoikeo, those who dwell on the earth.
It refers not just to our geographical location, but the location of our heart, the focus of our life, kataoikeo. It refers to people whose whole life and focus is centered around this world, their family, their careers, their bank account, their entertainment, their sports activities. That's all they think about. That is all that they talk about. And it is those who dwell on the earth, who have made this world their home, that are so focused on the temporal, they've not taken care of eternal matters.
They have neglected the most important gift of all, the gift of God's forgiveness. Let me ask you an all-important question as we look at these awful judgments that await mankind. What is the focus of your life right now? What is it you think about?
What is it you talk about? What is it that you give your energy to? Is it the things of this world or the next world? Are you focused on the temporal or are you focused on the eternal?
The best indicator of your future eternal destination is your present focus. And that's the focus of this brand new study in the book of Revelation called Final Conquest. I want you to see what's coming ahead on God's timeline so that it radically alters the decisions you make right now.
You see, the devoted follower of Jesus, when truly understanding Revelation, will prepare for the future. And to that end, I've written two brand new resources that I'd like to send to your home. The first is a book I've written called Mysteries of the End Times, Five Little Known Truths About God's Plan for the Future. You're invited to request your copy of my book when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And when you respond today, I'm also going to include a copy of another new resource I've written for you. It's called The Major Characters of the End Times.
Most Christians would be hard pressed to describe references in the Bible about bizarre figures like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or the Satanic Trinity. But in my new booklet, I've given you clear biblical teaching on 15 different characters associated with the end times. So be sure to get in touch today to request my book, Mysteries of the End Times, and this new booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. Thank you so much for giving generously to Pathway to Victory. Your consistent support is making Pathway to Victory one of the fastest growing Christian media ministries in the world. As we reach more and more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. David?
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. To request your copy of the brand new book, Mysteries of the End Times, simply contact Pathway to Victory with a generous gift. Plus, you'll receive a copy of the booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. Here's the phone number to call, 866-999-2965, or go online to ptv.org. Now when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also include the complete CD and DVD teaching sets for this month's series on the book of Revelation.
Plus, you'll get a copy of the bestselling book by Dr. Robert Jeffress called Final Conquest. Again, call 866-999-2965, or go to ptv.org. You could write to us if you'd like, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's P.O.
Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you to join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress talks about the heightened demonic activity that will occur during the Great Tribulation. That's Tuesday, here on Pathway to Victory.
Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Imagine waking up to the sight of Alaska's majestic coastline or spotting wildlife from the deck of a luxurious cruise ship. Experience these unforgettable moments on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska with Dr. Robert Jeffress. Relax with us in Alaska, and I guarantee you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. To book your spot on the 2024 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, go to ptv.org.
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